Jeffrey Anderson

{mosimage}With a city election a month away, the name John Noguez is on the tip of many Huntington Park residents’ tongues, as the incumbent mayor is running for re-election.But public records regarding John Noguez, as well as complaints from two City Council candidates who oppose the rising Democratic political star,......

RICHARD MERUELO WALKED OUT OF COURT one day last month looking like he needed some air. The 41-year-old land banker, who owns more downtown real estate than anyone, had just been accused of real estate fraud and telling lies in a long-standing fight over an $11 million Skid Row warehouse......

JOE SANTOS KNEW A CONFRONTATION would be risky. For months, his boss had brushed off his concerns about possible waste on the federal earthquake-safety project that was supposed to be making hundreds of L.A.’s public school classrooms safer. But Santos didn’t want to be part of anything questionable — especially......

The 1982 murder trial of Adam Miranda and its aftermath played out like a particularly salacious episode of Law & Order. There was the key witness, a stripper named Donna Navarro, testifying against her former classmate, and the prosecutor, Curt Hazell, an ambitious young lawyer, who was the college roommate......

EVERY CRIMINAL DEFENDANT needs a good lawyer. Better if the lawyer is a close personal friend of District Attorney Steve Cooley. The benefits of such coziness are described in an 11-page memo by a former Los Angeles prosecutor who resigned over what he considered to be questionable backroom deals that......

An updated version of this article appears here. L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley is a guy who looks out for his friends. How else to explain a touchy situation involving sex and a prosecutor in his office that is just now coming to light? Two decades ago, his former college......

ONLY ONE COUNCILMEMBER, it seems, is concerned that the city’s coziness with Playa Vista developers could be setting the stage for a potential disaster. The lone voice last January in calling for stronger environmental review at the $7 billion, 1,100-acre development, Councilman Bill Rosendahl lashed out at his colleagues. “Many......

A GROUP OF ACTIVISTS asked a Los Angeles judge Friday to hold the city in contempt of court for failing to ensure the safety of methane-gas-mitigation measures at the enormous Playa Vista project, a violation of a judge’s order and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Department of Building......

CITY CONTROLLER LAURA CHICK’S scathing audit this week shows an out-of-control Department of Building and Safety that allows developers to have their way with Los Angeles at the expense of public safety. Keeping with the harsh tone of the draft audit obtained two weeks ago by the L.A. Weekly, Chick......