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Today Councilman Jose Huizar will announce he plans to join with community activists and seek a full ban on the businesses, because a recent court decision will create severe limitations on how the City of Los Angeles can “effectively regulate” those medical marijuana operations. more › Read more here: City Councilman: If We Can’t Really Regulate Medical Marijuana, Let’s Just Ban All Those Businesses in L.A.
SAN DIEGO — A 25-year-old man was stabbed during a fight in the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot after the Oakland Raiders’ victory over the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night, police said. Two men started fighting after the game and it doesn’t appear the fight had anything to do with a sports rivalry, San Diego police Officer David Stafford said. The injury doesn’t appear to be life-threatening, Stafford said. The victim was treated at a hospital for a stab wound to the abdomen. Stafford said there is no suspect description at this time. He said the victim was uncooperative with police. The stabbing is the second violent incident after a Raiders’ game this season. On Aug. 20 following San Francisco’s exhibition victory over the Raiders, two men were shot in the Candlestick Park parking lot. A 24-year-old man, who reportedly was wearing a “F— the Niners” T-shirt, was hospitalized in serious condition after being shot several times in the stomach. A second victim, a 20-year-old man, was treated for less serious wounds in a separate shooting. Those attacks came nearly five months after San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was severely beaten by two men in Los Angeles Dodgers gear outside Dodger Stadium after the archrivals’ season opener in Los Angeles. Two men charged in the beating, Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood have pleaded not guilty. Stow, a Santa Cruz paramedic, sustained severe brain injuries and remains hospitalized in serious condition. Original post: Man Stabbed After Raiders-Chargers Game
It was Aaron Mankin’s first chance at combat in Iraq. As a part of Operation Matador, he was going door-to-door looking for traces of weapons or explosives in an effort to sweep the insurgency towards the Syrian border. On May 11, 2005, the seventh day of the mission, Mankin and 16 other marines riding inside a 26-ton track vehicle drove over a roadside bomb. “It threw us 10 feet in the air,” he said. “Seconds later, I realized I was on fire. I dove out of the back of the vehicle and dropped and rolled and rolled — so much so that I exhausted myself and just lay there burning. Thoughts of my family and friends went through my head as I laid there, waiting to die.” 6 of Mankin’s fellow marines were killed instantly by the roadside bomb. Everyone else in the vehicle was burned or otherwise wounded. Within 48 hours, Mankin had been transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was surrounded by family and friends. “I had second and third-degree burns on both arms from my finger tips to shoulder blades. Every feature on my face was burned away,” he said. “Ears gone. Nose gone. My mouth detracted so far back that my mother had to feed me through a funnel for weeks … I wasn’t ready to look at myself for weeks. I would hold my arm up in front of my face so I could only see my eyes.” But after nearly 40 life-saving surgeries in San Antonio, Mankin was grateful to be alive and began to resign himself to looking the way that he did. And yet, he felt like he had “more to do, more to give back” — so he began speaking out about his experience. In November 2006, philanthropist Ron Katz, a board member at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and his late wife saw Mankin on CNN. “Aaron’s face was extraordinarily devastated; it was in shambles,” Katz recalled. “From all of that, which would be catastrophic to most people, there was this immense wonderful personality. He told CNN that he had gone through dozens of surgeries. When asked what he was going to do next, Aaron, with his facial skin to the bone, looked up and said, ‘I have to fix the beautiful part!’” Katz called it a “fortuitous” moment. Inspired by Mankin, Katz began to lay the groundwork for Operation Mend, a partnership program that flies patients from all over the country to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to undergo face and hand reconstructive surgeries. “My wife and I soon realized that there were dozens of Aarons out there,” Katz said. “These men and women deserve not only the best that the Defense sector has to offer; they deserve the best that the private sector has to offer as well.” As it happened, Mankin became Operation Mend’s first patient. In September 2007, he flew to Los Angeles to begin a series of 20 facial reconstructive surgeries at UCLA. “They took the cartilage from what was left of my ears and put it onto my forehead. It looked like I had horns for several months,” Mankin said. “The cartilage became a ‘flap,’ which they peeled off, twisted over and folded down onto where my nose was supposed to be. Those horns became my nostrils. For several weeks, when I touched my new nose, I felt my forehead. Around my mouth, countless scar release procedures allowed me to have an adequate smile and eat a burger again.” Mankin also opted for prosthetic ears. “In the morning, I glue them on and, at night, I take them off,” he said. “Like contacts!” Mankin said that his new face has enabled him to be himself in public and regain a sense of who he was before his injuries occurred. Of the more than 50 other service members who have since undergone Operation Mend surgeries, he said, “Just look at their pictures and focus on the eyes. You can see a rejuvenated spirit behind those eyes.” A full-time single dad in San Antonio, Mankin lives with his 4-year-old daughter Maddie and 3-year-old son Hunter. Operation Mend “has shown my kids that Americans want to help,” he said. Mankin has another Operation Mend surgery scheduled for late November and anticipates it will be one of his last. “I guess I would say the marines, medical community, doctors and nurses saved my life,” he said. “My family kept me alive. And Operation Mend gave me a life worth living.” Operation Mend is entirely funded by private contributions; click here to donate. Katz told HuffPost that he strongly encourages any young men or women who are interested to contact the partnership. All photos courtesy of Operation Mend . The rest is here: ‘A Life Worth Living’: UCLA Gives Severely Burned Soldiers New Faces
LOS ANGELES — Jurors considering the case against Michael Jackson’s doctor ended their first day of deliberations Friday without reaching a verdict or asking any questions indicating how far along they have gotten in their discussions. The seven-man, five-woman panel was given highlighters and blank forms to request evidence after starting deliberations around 8:30 a.m. They recessed around 4 p.m. and were set to resume discussions Monday. The jury must reach a unanimous verdict to either convict or acquit Dr. Conrad Murray of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s June 2009 death. Jackson died from a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol; Murray has acknowledged giving Jackson propofol to help him sleep. The jury is not sequestered and will deliberate during the court’s regular hours. A verdict will be read the same day it is reached. During closing arguments of the six-week trial, attorneys for the Houston-based cardiologist attacked prosecutors and their witnesses, saying they had over time developed stories and theories that placed the blame for Jackson’s death squarely on Murray. Prosecutors countered that Murray was an opportunistic and inept doctor who left Jackson’s three children without a father. They said that Murray giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid violated standards of care and amounted to a secret experiment in which the doctor kept no records. Media were stationed Friday outside the courthouse and in the courtroom where the jury’s decision will eventually be read. Attorneys handling the case will receive a two-hour notice when a verdict is reached. Murray waived the need for his presence if the panel asks any questions, but he must be present when a verdict is announced. Jurors heard from 49 witnesses and have more than 300 pieces of evidence to consider. They were given lengthy instructions by the judge about how to deliberate. If Murray is convicted, he faces a sentence ranging from probation to four years behind bars, and he would lose his medical license. The sentence will be decided by Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor after receiving input from attorneys for both sides and probation officials, if necessary. A recent change in California law means that Murray, 58, might serve any possible incarceration in a county jail rather than a state prison. A prison term could be shortened by overcrowding. If acquitted, Murray could still be pursued by medical licensing authorities in the states of California, Nevada and Texas. ___ AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report. ___ McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP See the original post: Jury In Conrad Murray Trial Ends First Day Of Deliberations Without Reaching Verdict
Some Info About Beverly Hills: Beverly Hills is an affluent city in the western part of Los Angeles County, California , United States . Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles . The area’s “ Platinum Triangle ” of affluent neighborhoods is formed by Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Bel Air and Holmby Hills . The population was 33,784 as of the 2000 census. Beverly Hills is home to Hollywood celebrities, and many corporate executives and numerous other wealthy individuals and families. Beverly Hills is bordered on the north by Bel-Air and the Santa Monica Mountains , on the east by West Hollywood, the Carthay neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, and on the south by the Beverlywood . In 2007, Coldwell Banker lists Beverly Hills as the most expensive housing market (second year in a row) in the United States, with a median home price of over $2.2 million. [3] These homes range from the extravagant and luxurious in size, to the more elegant and modern homes, and then to the many small duplex rental units and detached homes with less than 2,000 sq ft (185 sq meters). Geography Beverly Hills is nearly entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, sharing only a portion of its eastern border, primarily along Doheny Drive, with West Hollywood . The precise limits of Beverly Hills are complex, and therefore hard to describe; however, the city limits can be roughly described as the area surrounded by the Los Angeles Country Club and Century Park Drive to the Southwest, Whitworth Drive to the South, variously Doheny Drive/Robertson Blvd/San Vicente Blvd to the East, and the Hollywood Hills to the North. Major east-west thoroughfares in Beverly Hills include Wilshire Boulevard , Santa Monica Boulevard , and Sunset Boulevard . Shopping is prevalent along Beverly Drive and the world-famous Rodeo Drive . Coldwater Canyon Drive is the main road out of Beverly Hills to the north into the San Fernando Valley . Beverly Drive and Roberston Blvd exit to the south into the city of Los Angeles. In spite of the city’s name, most residents live in the “flats” of Beverly Hills, a relatively flat land that includes all of Beverly Hills south of Sunset Blvd. The homes in the hills north of Sunset Boulevard have a much higher value than average homes in the rest of Beverly Hills, and the most expensive homes in Beverly Hills are all in the hills. Santa Monica Boulevard divides the “flats” into two areas, locally known as “North or South of the tracks,” referring to the train tracks that were once used by the old Pacific Electric streetcar line that traversed Beverly Hills along Santa Monica Blvd. Homes south of Wilshire have more urban square and rectangular lots, generally smaller than those to the north. There are also more apartment buildings south of Wilshire Blvd than anywhere else in Beverly Hills, and the average home value south of Wilshire is the lowest in Beverly Hills. Nearly all businesses and government offices in Beverly Hills are located south of Santa Monica Boulevard, two notable exceptions being the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Beverly Hilton Hotel . Just outside the city limits to the west lies the Los Angeles Country Club . Other locations commonly associated with Beverly Hills include the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Beverly Center , just outside city limits to the east. Demographics As of the 2000 census , there were 33,784 people. The racial makeup of the city was 85.1% White , 7.10% Asian , 1.80% African American , 1.50% from other races , 0.10% Native American and 4.60% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [1] Like the rest of Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills is home to a large Persian / Iranian community. According to a 2006 NPR article, Iranians represent 20% of the city’s population and 40% of the students in its schools. [17] This estimate is not immediately evident in Census Bureau data as the Census Bureau defines the “White” race category as including “people having origins in any of the original peoples of .. the Middle East ..” [18] In the city the population was spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age for the city was 41 years old. [1] There were 15,035 households out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 3.02. Local government The Beverly Hills City Hall, built in 1932, was featured prominently in the Beverly Hills Cop films Beverly Hills Civic Center Beverly Hills Police being inspected in the late 1930s Of the 21,426 registered voters in Beverly Hills; approximately 50.3% are Democrats and 25.9% are Republicans . The remaining 23.8% are Independents or are registered with one of the many smaller political parties, like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party . The heavy Democratic advantage makes Beverly Hills one of the more liberal cities in Southern California. In 2004, John Kerry won 62% of the vote compared to 37% for George W. Bush . In the 2006 state governor election, Arnold Schwarzenegger got nearly 45% of the vote but won a second term by a state-wide majority, while Democratic opponent Phil Angelides had just over 54%. Beverly Hills is a general law city governed by a five-member City Council including the mayor and vice mayor. City Council hires a city manager to carry out policies and serve as executive officer. Every odd-numbered year either two or three members are elected by the people to serve a four-year term. Each March the City Council meets and chooses one of its members as mayor and one as vice-mayor. Jimmy Delshad is mayor and Barry Brucker is vice mayor. Jeff Kolin is city manager. The other three city council members are Nancy Krasne, Dr. William Brien and John Mirisch. In city council meetings, a few celebrities have shown up to speak on local political issues. The Beverly Hills Police Department and the Beverly Hills Fire Department serve as emergency response for the city. BHFD has the privilege of being distinguished as “Class 1″ in fire protection by an insurance industry rating service. See also: Mayor of Beverly Hills County, state, and federal representation Beverly Hills Post Office The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Beverly Hills. [19] The department operates the Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica , serving Beverly Hills. [20] In the state legislature Beverly Hills is located in the 23rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Fran Pavley , and in the 42nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Mike Feuer . Federally, Beverly Hills is located in California’s 30th congressional district , which has a Cook PVI of D +20 [21] and is represented by Democrat Henry Waxman . The United States Postal Service operates the Beverly Hills Post Office at 325 North Maple Drive, [22] the Crescent Post Office at 323 North Crescent Drive, [23] the Beverly Post Office at 312 South Beverly Drive, [24] and the Eastgate Post Office at 8383 Wilshire Boulevard. [25] [26] The Beverly Hills Post Office received listing in the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985. [27] Economy The former Hilton Hotels Corporation headquarters in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is home to one Fortune 500 company, Live Nation Entertainment , as well as the private equity firm Platinum Equity . The Los Angeles-area offices of Aeroflot and El Al are in Beverly Hills. [28] [29] At one point Hilton Hotels Corporation had its corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills. Originally GeoCities (at first Beverly Hills Internet) was headquartered at 9401 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. [30] Underneath the city is the large and still-productive Beverly Hills Oil Field , serviced by four urban drilling islands which drill diagonally into the earth underneath the city. The most notorious of these drilling islands occasioned a 2003 lawsuit representing former attendees of Beverly Hills High School, approximately 280 of which had suffered from cancers allegedly tied to the drilling operations. [31] Top Employers According to the City’s 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, [32] the top employers in the city are: # Employer # of Employees 1 Beverly Hilton Hotel 1,093 2 City of Beverly Hills 1,080 3 Beverly Wilshire Hotel 750 4 Endeavor Talent Agency 750 5 William Morris Agency 711 6 Beverly Hills Unified School District 600 7 Beverly Hills Hotel 520 8 The Peninsula Hotel 460 9 Saks & Co. 340 10 Nelson Shelton & Associates 300 Diplomatic missions Beverly Hills has three consulates ( Brazil , [33] Colombia , [34] and Ecuador .) [26] [35] Education Public schools Beverly Hills High School Gymnasium Beverly Hills is served by Beverly Hills Unified School District ; which includes four K-8 schools (Hawthorne, El Rodeo, Beverly Vista, and Horace Mann), Moreno High School, and the Beverly Hills High School . [ edit ] Private schools Beverly Hills also has several private schools. Good Shepherd School , a PreK-8 school in Beverly Hills, is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles . Other Beverly Hills private schools include Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, Emanuel Academy of Beverly Hills, and Page Private School. Marymount High School in nearby Westwood , across from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), is in close proximity to Beverly Hills. Climate Beverly Hills has a warm and moderate Mediterranean climate , with an average high of 85 degrees in August, and an average high of 64 degrees in January. Beverly Hills also receives on average 18 inches of rain. Summers are marked by warm to hot temperatures with very little wind, while winters are moderate to cool with occasional rain alternating with periods of Santa Ana winds. During Santa Ana events, gusts up to 40 mph are common. [ citation needed ] Snow has been witnessed only in 1882,1922,1932 and 1949. Landmarks Sign marking the Beverly Hills city limits Beverly Gardens Park Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills Hotel Beverly Wilshire Hotel Electric Fountain Greystone Mansion Greystone Park La Cienega Park Pickfair Virginia Robinson Gardens Greenacres Beverly Hills Police Department Roxbury Park Will Rogers Memorial Park Beverly Hills City Hall Walden Drive Rodeo Drive Via Rodeo and Spanish Steps The Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills Beverly Hills Public Library Derivative nicknames The name Beverly Hills has often been employed as a nickname for a fashionable, affluent area. For example, View Park , an unincorporated area in southwestern Los Angeles County, has been dubbed the “Black Beverly Hills”. [36] Similarly, the city of Scottsdale has been given the nickname “Beverly Hills of Arizona ” for its stately homes, high end shops, the extensive Fashion square mall, Fashion week, resorts and high household income. [ citation needed ] Calabasas , California located in the San Fernando Valley is considered the Beverly Hills of the valley. Beverly Hills, Michigan is known for its large affluent office buildings and nice homes all located in the affluent areas of Metro Detroit . Respectively, Buckhead , the uptown district of Atlanta , has been dubbed “The Beverly Hills of the South” due to the large number (as well as the highest concentration) of upscale shops, elaborate homes, and high average income. [ citation needed ] Beverly Hills in popular culture Beverly Hills has been featured in a number of television shows and movies set in Beverly Hills, including The Jack Benny Program (1950 to 1954) (and on his radio program from 1932–1955), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 to 1971), the Beverly Hills Cop movies, Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990 to 2000), and 90210 (2008 – ). 90210 90210 is one of five ZIP codes for Beverly Hills, [2] and perhaps its most-famous, gaining popularity with the 1990s television series Beverly Hills, 90210 and its 2008 spin-off 90210 (TV Series) . Other series to feature it in its title are Dr. 90210 , a reality show featuring Beverly Hills plastic surgeons. and High Maintenance 90210 , also a reality show. The other four, less-celebrated ZIP codes for Beverly Hills are: 90209, 90211, 90212 and 90213. [2] Other pop culture Replica Beverly Hills sign in Universal Studios Florida theme park The animated series Totally Spies is set in Beverly Hills. Another animated series “ Beverly Hills Teens ” is about young teens who live in Beverly Hills in the 80′s The opening scene of The Andy Griffith Show showing Sheriff Taylor and Opie carrying fishing poles was shot at the Franklin Canyon Reservoir at the north end of town just west of Coldwater Canyon. In Walt Disney’s movie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua , The main character, Chloe, lives in Beverly Hills, 90210. In the 2009 Simpsons episode, Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh , there exists a spoof version of Beverly Hills, nicknamed “Waverly Hills”. Ted’s of Beverly Hills is a fictional steak restaurant on the Phil Hendrie radio show. The first track on Weezer’s Make Believe album is entitled “Beverly Hills” and is one of their most popular songs. The 1965 Beverly Hills Public Library building facade was featured regularly on the Brady Bunch as Mr. Brady’s office building. The 1995 Film, Clueless (film) is set in Beverly Hills same with its 1996 TV Spin-off Clueless (TV series) The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is currently airing on Bravo.
LOS ANGELES — While the defense was on the verge of its counter attack in the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor, the prosecution dramatically shifted the focus from personalities to science – its most powerful weapon in the courtroom battle.. Its star witness, a scientist with a reassuring witness box manner, had jurors on their feet straining for a better view of his show-and-tell demonstration. It was the closest they would come to seeing a purported re-enactment of how the King of Pop died. Dr. Conrad Murray, charged with causing Jackson’s death, watched intently as Dr. Steven Shafer closed the case against him holding a bottle of propofol, an IV bag and a tube carrying the milky white liquid downward. That was how it happened on June 25, 2009, said Shafer. He was certain. On Monday, a defense attorney will try to shake his testimony and later a fellow scientist billed as “the father of propofol,” will offer another theory. Whether Dr. Paul White can absolve Murray of blame for the singer’s death remains to be seen. But the defense is just beginning. “He will have to stand firm on the fact that reasonable minds can differ,” said Marcellus McRae, a former federal prosecutor and trial attorney who has been following the case closely. “He will have to change the landscape here and show some reasonable doubt. The question is will this be enough.” Murray, a Houston based cardiologist, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. McRae said calling Shafer as the final prosecution witness was a master stroke. “Brick by evidentiary brick, Shafer has built a wall of scientific reasons for the jury to conclude that Dr. Murray was criminally negligent,” he said. “It allows the prosecution to tell the jury that their case is built on science rather than shifting theories.” In addition to making the science understandable, Shafer offered some colloquial phrases that may resonate with jurors including the words “crazy” and “clueless.” He called Murray’s unorthodox use of propofol as entering “a pharmacological never-never land “and said the doctor was “clueless” when it came to helping his dying patient. And he denounced a defense theory that Jackson could have awoken from sedation and given himself the drugs that killed him during a few minutes that he was left alone by Murray. “People don’t just wake up from anesthesia hell-bent to pick up a syringe and pump it into the IV,” Shafer said, reminding the jury that the procedure was complicated. “It’s a crazy scenario.” Shafer stood in the well of the courtroom with an IV pole, a bag of saline solution and a bottle of propofol, showing how the drug could have run quickly into Jackson’s veins while his doctor was out of the bedroom. He drew a scene in which Murray, lacking the proper equipment to measure doses, left Jackson on an IV drip of the powerful anesthetic flowing quickly under the pull of gravity into the sleeping singer. It was the explanation, he said, of how Jackson died of a propofol overdose with no one present to see that he had stopped breathing. “This fits all of the data in this case and I am not aware of a single piece of data that is inconsistent with this explanation,” Shafer said. In early cross-examination, defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked Shafer if that wasn’t “a bold statement.” “It’s an honest statement,” he replied. Shafer’s mathematical calculations projected on a large screen concluded that Murray had not given his patient the minimal 25 milligrams he claimed, but had started a vastly larger infusion of a 100 milliliter bottle, containing 1,000 milligrams of the drug. No, Shafer said, Jackson had not given himself an additional infusion of propofol. “He can’t give himself an injection if he’s asleep,” he said. Shafer was the prosecution’s closer. An anesthesiology professor and researcher at Columbia University Medical School, he wrote the package insert instructing doctors how to use propofol. He listed 17 “egregious” violations of the standard of care by Murray, chief among them leaving his anesthetized patient alone and failing to call 9-1-1 when he found Jackson not breathing. . Deputy District Attorney David Walgren concluded a key day of Shafer’s examination by asking: “Would it be your opinion that Conrad Murray is directly responsible for the death of Michael Jackson for his egregious violations and abandonment of Michael Jackson?” Shafer replied, “Absolutely.” Just giving Jackson the anesthetic as a sleep aid in a home setting was unconscionable, Shafer testified. It is intended for surgery in hospitals where resuscitation equipment is available. “We are in pharmacological never-never land here, something that was done to Michael Jackson and no one else in history to my knowledge,” he told jurors. Gray haired and amiable, Shafer entranced jurors with his easy manner, speaking directly to them as he made molecules understandable and led them through complicated graphs projected on a courtroom screen. When Chernoff accused him of trying to send a message to jurors, he responded calmly, “I’m trying to make it easy for the jury. These are complex graphs and I’m trying to explain to the jury a very complex pharmacology. There is no other agenda as you’re suggesting.” McRae gave Walgren and co-prosecutor Deborah Brazil high marks. “Good trial lawyers know that you have to persuade on the law, persuade on a factual level and then persuade on a moral and common sense level,” he said. “Even though you’re not going to hear an instruction about morality, the jury has to feel they’re making the right decision on a gut level.” “I think the prosecutors here have done a very effective job of hitting the human element, the moral element and now the factual element.” he said. A parade of 32 witnesses had testified before Shafer took the stand and stole the show. They included Jackson’s household personnel, security guards, paramedics and a business associate. Jurors heard about the legendary singer’s final day on earth — singing and dancing at a rehearsal for his comeback concert, reveling in the adulation of fans who showered him with gifts. And then a night of horror, chasing the most elusive treasure he craved — sleep. Most dramatic were two recordings — one of the heavily drugged singer dreaming aloud to his doctor about future triumphs and then the doctor himself being interviewed by police two days after the death that shook the world of pop culture. All of it told a compelling story structured by prosecutors Walgren and Brazil to prove that Murray, who had been hired by Jackson for $150,000 a month as his personal physician, was responsible for his famous patient’s death. With the trial winding down, they brought on the experts, a coroner and two doctors who evaluated Murray’s conduct for the California Medical Board. Dr. Nathan Kamangar, described Murray’s conduct as “unethical, disturbing and beyond comprehension.” Dr. Alon Steinberg enumerated deviations from the standard of care, and said, “If all of these deviations didn’t happen, Michael Jackson might have been alive.” See the original post: SCIENCE: ‘The Most Powerful Weapon In The Courtroom Battle’
In tonight’s Extra, Extra, there are meteor showers tonight, Metallica is coming out with a 3D movie and the medical association’s pro-legalization stance is scrutinized. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook , and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports . more › Read more from the original source: Extra, Extra: Meteor Showers, Metallica 3D and Medical Pot
The California Medical Association , the state’s largest doctor group, has shocked the nation by officially calling for legalization of marijuana. The CMA, which represents 35,000 physicians statewide, has adopted their pro-legalization position as the first major medical association in America to urge marijuana legalization. The statewide doctors’ association proposes that cannabis be regulated in the same manner as alcohol and tobacco currently are. The California Medical Association’s announcement is predictably receiving opposition from law enforcement bureaucrats in the state. “I wonder what they’re smoking,” said John Lovell of the California Police Chiefs Association. “It’s just an unbelievably irresponsible position.” Law enforcement has a political and economic interest in keeping California jails at maximum capacity, say critics. The U.S. government considers cannabis as having “no medical use”, however, the California Medical Association now wants the Obama administration to reclassify marijuana to promote further research on the potential of cannabis as medicine. The feds recently rejected a request to reclassify marijuana, but the decision is currently being appealed in federal court by advocates for marijuana legalization. Today, the federal government is cracking down on California’s medical marijuana industry with threats to prosecute property owners who rent buildings to medical marijuana dispensaries. U.S. federal law continues to prohibit the sale or possession of marijuana, while California upholds its state law that classifies possession of less than one ounce of weed as an infraction, not a misdemeanor. Doctors across America have called for further marijuana research, and the American Medical Association has called for the federal government to ease restrictions on cannabis research. Of all the AMA state affiliate organizations, though, it is the California Medical Association now calling for the full legalization of marijuana. California Marijuana Legalization Read the rest here: CA Medical Assoc. Urges Pot Legalization
SEAL BEACH, Calif. — The horror for most people in this quiet seaside town began to unfold with the staccato `pop, pop, pop’ of a handgun as a shooter opened fire in the beauty salon where his ex-wife worked. But for Michelle Fournier, family and friends say, the nightmare began much earlier. Fournier, a stylist at Salon Meritage, was engaged in a long and bitter custody struggle with ex-husband Scott Dekraai for custody of their 8-year-old son and Fournier had recently told friends and family and said in court documents that she feared for her safety as Dekraai became more and more unbalanced. Dekraai, 41, was being held without bail Friday on suspicion of murder after police alleged he barged into the upscale salon and opened fire, killing six women and two men and leaving another woman in critical condition. Police said Thursday that Fournier was among the dead. Fournier’s brother said he saw Salon Meritage on TV and immediately sensed what had happened. “The worst part about it was seeing the news and seeing the awning and knowing exactly what happened without even hearing a word,” Butch Fournier said. “That’s what killed me.” The quaint, sun-splashed town of Seal Beach, with its Main Street of vintage shops, restaurants and boutiques, has had only had one homicide in the previous four years – and this week’s bloodbath left residents reeling. Several hundred attended a prayer service at a church across from the salon on Thursday night and more than 1,500 showed up with candles at a vigil in the parking lot of the shopping center where the salon stands. About a half-dozen therapy dogs, wearing green vests embroidered with names like Anise and Riley, moved through the crowd providing comfort to mourners. “We’ve all heard the expression: Wrong place at the wrong time. But what if you are exactly where you are supposed to be? What if you are right where you had every right to be and to be safe and secure right where you were?” police Chaplain Donald Shoemaker told the crowd, as people wiped away tears. “They got up on Wednesday morning and went to earn an honest living or do something they enjoyed … No amount of planning or decision-making could prepare them and their friends and loved ones for what would unfold.” Dekraai suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from a 2007 tugboat accident that mangled his leg and left a colleague dead but his marriage to Fournier was falling apart even before that, and the court battle over their son was still raging Wednesday before the shooting. Fournier had indicated to friends and in court documents that she was afraid of her ex-husband. Her friend Sharyn White said that just weeks before the killings, Fournier told her that her ex-husband had stopped by and threatened to kill her and others there. White, who is also Dekraai’s step-aunt, said Fournier told her she took the threat seriously, though others in the salon laughed it off. She said Fournier also had told her that when they were still married Dekraai had once held a gun to her head. “She said `Sharyn, Scott has threatened to come in here and kill us,’” White said. There is no sign that Fournier sought a restraining order against her husband, though other friends agree she was afraid. “As recently as a month ago, she told me how scared she was and I offered to hire her bodyguards,” said Tim Terbush, a longtime friend. He said she turned him down because she feared that would only make Dekraai angrier. Police officers who arrived within minutes of reports of shots fired encountered a horrific scene, with bodies of victims scattered throughout the salon and a man bleeding in the parking lot outside. Ron Sesler, working the lunch rush at his restaurant next door, said he thought the rapid “pop, pop, pop” he heard was a jackhammer until a terrified woman ran through the restaurant and into the kitchen, screaming, “They’re shooting people!” Over the next nightmarish minutes, Sesler watched as hairstylists and customers from the next-door Salon Meritage streamed into his restaurant seeking refuge. Hysterical stylists still wearing their smocks with hair clips in the pockets and customers halfway through dye jobs and permanents piled inside Patty’s Place as Sesler locked the door and his wife frantically dialed 911. Police soon showed up and used the restaurant as a temporary base to interview witnesses. “The whole place was filled, it was whoever survived,” said Sesler, 68, still noticeably shaken on Thursday as he tried to resume business as usual. “We just locked the doors and waited for police. It seemed like a long time – minutes – but it was probably seconds.” He said David Caouette, the only victim killed outside the salon, was a regular at the restaurant who just happened to park next to the gunman as he was running back to his truck. “If he was late, the guy would have driven away. If he was early, he would have been in here,” Sesler said. Other victims were identified by police Thursday as Randy Fannin, Victoria Buzzo, Lucia Kondas, Laura Elody, Christy Wilson and Michelle Fast. Fannin was the salon’s owner, according to Sesler and other family and friends. The witnesses who gathered in Sesler’s restaurant, many of them longtime friends, said Dekraai first took aim at Fannin, and shot him once in the head and then turned to his own ex-wife, shooting her three times. Fannin’s wife, Sandy, escaped only because she was in the back, possibly mixing hair dye, Sesler said. A masseuse hid in the massage room with two others and locked the door. Two more hid in the bathroom, Sesler said, according to accounts from people who were interviewed by police inside his restaurant in the immediate aftermath. An elderly woman fled the salon after the shots broke out and seemed frozen on the sidewalk. Sesler’s wife, Patty, grabbed her through the restaurant’s side door and pulled her into the kitchen, Sesler said. The shooter had been staring directly at the woman but didn’t fire, he said. Just hours before the shooting, Sesler said, Michelle Fournier had stopped by the restaurant to ask about the lunch special and promised to come back. Throughout Seal Beach and the nearby city of Huntington Beach, where Dekraai lived, his bitter custody battle with Fournier was common knowledge among friends, and the couple attended what should have been a routine court hearing Tuesday in the matter. While court papers show the case was continued until December, Fournier’s boyfriend said the case had greater importance. He told The Associated Press the judge had pressed Dekraai to explain why he was continuing to push for more time with his boy. A report by a court-appointed psychologist found the current custody arrangement was working and should not be changed, said Michael Warzybok, who dated Fournier for a year. “The judge was like what are you going to come back for?” Warzybok said. “All of a sudden he didn’t get his way.” Dekraai had tried to meet Fournier for coffee the day of the shooting, but she refused. In court documents filed in February, Dekraai said he had 56 percent custody of his son and his wife had 44 percent. He wanted the court to grant him “final decision making authority” when it came to matters involving their son’s education and his medical and psychological treatment. In court documents filed in May, Fournier described her husband as “almost manic” when it came to controlling their son. She said Dekraai “is a diagnosed bipolar individual who has problems with his own medication and his reaction to same, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to have unilateral and unfettered control of any and all medical and psychological aspects of our son’s life.” She said then that giving Dekraai such authority would be akin to “a situation where the inmates are running the asylum.” Fournier also alleged that Dekraai had called 911 at least once and “advised that he was going to kill himself or someone else.” Board-certified psychiatrist Ronald Silverstein told the court that he had diagnosed Dekraai, a tugboat operator, with post-traumatic stress disorder that he determined was caused by the 2007 accident. Court records show a temporary restraining order was obtained by Dekraai’s stepfather in 2007 after the man said Dekraai attacked him, leaving him with cuts and bruises on his face and right arm. The order also said his young son had witnessed the attack. Growing up, Dekraai’s parents had a difficult time raising their son and had to take the door off his bedroom because he was having sex with girls when he was as young as 12, said White, his step-aunt and a friend of Fournier’s. Sometime later, they sent him to live with his grandparents. Dekraai said in court documents that his ex-wife had poor parenting skills and a drinking problem. She called him several times a day, Dekraai said, often screaming at him over the phone and in front of their son. He said she addressed him by an expletive instead of his name and made racist references to his current wife. At the strip mall where the shooting occurred, people streamed by a memorial to pay their respects Thursday. Susan Davenport, who was Dekraai’s neighbor and knew him since his teenage years, choked up as she spoke of Fournier. “She was a loving mom. She was a wonderful woman. She was kind. She was generous. She was all of those things,” she said. __ Taxin reported from Santa Ana and Garden Grove. Associated Press writers John Rogers and Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles and The Associated Press News Research Center contributed to this story. Read the original here: Death Threats Marked Divorce Proceedings
Zsa Zsa Gabor was rushed to the hospital by ambulance unconscious and with internal bleeding as her husband, Prince Frederic , prayed for the life of his famous wife. Francesca Hilton , Zsa Zsa’s daughter, held back tears as she made sure her mother got immediate emergency medical attention. Fans around the world began praying for the Hollywood legend as they heard of Zsa Zsa Gabor’s unconsciousness and dangerously high fever. Gabor, 94, was quickly attended to upon arrival by top-notch doctors and nurses inside the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center emergency room. The skill and expertise of the hospital’s medical staff got Zsa Zsa’s fever down, treated the star with strong antibiotics, regained her consciousness, and scheduled a replacement of a tube that caused her bleeding. After the frightening death scare, husband Prince Frederic von Anhalt happily announced that Zsa Zsa Gabor has opened her eyes, though she cannot yet speak. “Zsa Zsa is a fighter.
