LB City Auditor Laura Doud issues a press release underscoring the need to protect whistleblowers–like the people who routinely tip off journalists and law-enforcement officials about public corruption.  “As a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, I know that fraud is a very serious problem for all local governments including the City of Long [...]

The city sues longtime Queen Mary director Joseph Prevratil. Now we can wonder whether legal action will change Long Beach’s political culture of favoritism for insiders

PHOTO by DANIEL DE BOOM
Oldtimers still tell of the days when Joseph Prevratil roamed the 14th floor of City Hall—where City Council members have their offices—possessed of a confidence and [...]

Petitioners say “Not the Cambodian deputy prime minister!”
The 2008 Cambodian New Year Parade isn’t until some time in April–so far off that folks in the Mayor’s office say they haven’t even set a date. But already tensions are mounting over plans by Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to attend the parade.

The dangers of mixing (criminal) business and pleasure
In addition to giving us a chance to reflect on the power of good journalism (see Will Swaim’s post below), the federal indictments of Sheriff Mike Carona also bring up many important legal and political issues. But it was one of the case’s more tawdry details that [...]

The Press-Telegram yesterday and the New York Times today report on the federal indictment of Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona. We tell you this not to indulge in a vestigial passion for our old beat, but to congratulate our former colleagues at OC Weekly, where investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley broke the story of sheriffial [...]

Our Scott Moxley shot the sheriff
Back when your District Weekly staff was part of the OC Weekly, our colleague R. Scott Moxley wrote countless stories about corruption in the Orange County Sheriff’s office. Now, news that Moxley had it right from the start: federal authorities have indicted Sheriff Mike Carona–Larry King once called him America’s [...]