A bill to overhaul how California punishes sex offenders
was approved
unanimously by the state Senate on Tuesday, a rare
bipartisan
endorsement of a crime bill designed to put state resources
into
treatment and punish criminals most likely to strike
again. read more »
Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, appearing on KUSI's Good
Morning San Diego
program Wednesday morning, lauded the passage of Chelsea's
Law and said
proper implementation will be the key to its success. "You can
have all the laws in the world," Fletcher said, "but
if someone's not
doing oversight to make sure they're enforced... it's
pointless." Fletcher
said the bill represented a community effort. "There
was something
special here. There was a compelling story, and then
there was Brent
and Kelly. San Diego was 100 percent behind this."read more »
Politicians were putting out a lot of fires Saturday
— just not the figurative kind they’re used to.These were real — though safely controlled — fires. The officials wore firefighting gear and jumped out
of fire trucks
and scrambled up ladders and lugged hoses and rushed
into burning
buildings.read more »
SACRAMENTO — Now just two steps away
from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk, Chelsea’s Law could transform
California’s approach to sex offenders through a balance of longer
sentences, tougher parole conditions and targeted treatment.“We’ve stayed focused on the worst of the worst,” said Brent King,
father of the slain Poway teenager whose name on the
bill serves as a
lasting memorial.read more »
After the kamikazes and the chaos, after Iwo Jima and
Nagasaki and the Battle of Midway, it was finally over.Emily Drake, Jerry Kranz and a thinning number of other
San Diegans
can still express the spirit of the day, Aug. 14, 1945, when Japan
surrendered to the United States and World War II ended.read more »
California Lawmakers to Take Up Chelsea's LawFew political issues are as difficult to tackle as
laws dealing with California's ever-growing number of convicted sex offenders.For years, experts on the issue have complained that
state laws were determined more by sound-bite politics than policies that improve public safety
and protect children. Elected leaders, wary of accusations
that they were being soft on sexual predators, have
historically stayed clear of reforming such laws, except
to make them harsher.read more »
Local experts say document leaks are dicey, not disastrousBY STEVE SCHMIDT, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERJEANETTE STEELE, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER San Diego military veterans and political affairs experts
saw no bombshells in the classified Afghan war documents
leaked Sunday, but they said the disclosure could harm
the nation’s ability to gather the intelligence needed to keep
its troops ahead of the enemy.read more »
Local veterans groups said Friday that the state’s new Operation Welcome Home program for veterans will
be ineffective unless it gets more funding from the
California Legislature...Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, said California ranks 38th of the 50 states in federal money going to veterans benefits,
even though the state has the largest veteran population
at about 2.1 million.read more »
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today endorsed “Chelsea’s
Law,” providing fresh momentum to the measure as it maneuvers
through
the Legislature.
“It is our job to make sure that we have the right laws
in place that
will keep our children safe,” the governor said in a statement.
The legislation inspired by murdered Poway teenager
Chelsea King
sailed through its first hearing Tuesday, passing the
Democrat-dominated
Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously.read more »
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—A bill that would mandate life sentences for some
convicted child molesters cleared its first legislative
committee after a
grieving father evoked the memory of his slain daughter.read more »
