Greuel, Garcetti close in money race

The top two contenders in the L.A. mayor's race remain in close fundraising contention as they enter the final 5 1/2 weeks before the primary, but two outside groups also posted significant sums, demonstrating their potential to upend the race.

City Controller Wendy Greuel edged Councilman Eric Garcetti by collecting $130,644 to his $84,188 during the fundraising period from Jan. 1 to 19. But Garcetti, who served as council president between 2006 and 2012, holds a considerable lead over Greuel in cash on hand, with $3.55 million to Greuel's $2.94 million.

The new filings show that Greuel reported about $101,000 in unpaid bills to Garcetti's $45,000. A key portion of Greuel's spending over the past month was on slate mailings to registered voters with a high propensity to cast ballots — just as vote-by-mail balloting is set to begin early next month. She also paid a significant amount to the Washington, D.C.-based polling firm Lake Research Partners.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents downtown and South Los Angeles, collected about $16,000 during the first 19 days of this year. With city matching funds, she has raised more than $2 million and reported $1.2 million in cash on hand at the end of the filing period.

A fifth candidate, technology executive Emanuel Pleitez, reported that he has nearly $320,000 to spend before the March 5 primary.

Attorney and former radio talk show host Kevin James, who has accumulated more than $534,000 for his bid, including matching funds, collected nearly $15,000 during the first part of this year and has about $49,000 left in his account. That means that his hopes of making the mayoral runoff will largely depend on spending by an outside group, Better Way L.A., which can collect unlimited donations to boost the candidacy of the former prosecutor.

The group has raised $700,000 from just two donors. During the January filing period, Better Way L.A. received the bulk of that in the form of a half-million-dollar contribution from top GOP donor Harold C. Simmons, a Dallas-based billionaire who contributed more than $20 million to the super PACs that tried to defeat President Obama in 2012. Last year, Simmons; his wife, Annette; and his Contran Corp. donated $20.5 million to American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by Karl Rove, and $2.3 million to a pro-Romney political action committee.

At a candidates' forum on Thursday night sponsored by the League of Women Voters, James said he does not have a personal relationship with Simmons, but that the two met at a fundraiser for him last year. Republican advertising specialist Fred Davis, who formed Better Way L.A., has said he hopes to raise $3.5 million to make James a presence on television before the primary.

But Better Way L.A.'s influence may be checked by an outside group known as Working Californians, which is backing Greuel. James and Greuel are competing for many of the same moderate and conservative voters in the San Fernando Valley, the area that Greuel represented as a councilwoman.

Consultants for Working Californians have said that entertainment industry executives and labor unions — including the union that represents Los Angeles city utility workers — are joining forces to fund the outside effort to help Greuel, who handled government relations at DreamWorks before being elected to the City Council in 2002.

Working Californians is expected to raise at least $2 million, which could help boost Greuel's profile on television in the final weeks of the race. The first report this week showed an initial $250,000 contribution from the political arm of the public utility union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18.

maeve.reston@latimes.com

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AEG, Koreatown developer help fund L.A. sales tax campaign

The developer of a proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and the company behind two planned apartment towers in Koreatown have provided about two-thirds of the funds for the group backing a half-cent sales tax increase in the city, according to the first report released in the campaign.

The committee for Proposition A on the March 5 ballot reported that it had raised $185,000 by Jan. 19, with $100,000 coming from stadium developer Anschutz Entertainment Group. The City Council, which is seeking the tax increase to address a $220-million budget shortfall, approved AEG's proposed stadium last year, which involves the demolition and reconstruction of a section of the city's Convention Center.

An additional $25,000 came from 3150 Wilshire, a company created by real estate developer J.H. Snyder Co., which received $17.5 million in financial assistance to build two residential towers in Council President Herb Wesson's district.

Wesson, who launched the sales tax campaign last fall, has been raising money for the measure. Kacy Keys, senior vice president of J.H. Snyder, said Wesson is "a great leader" who has been pivotal in getting her company's Koreatown project off the ground.

"I know this [ballot measure] is Herb's effort, and we wish Herb well," she said.

The city provided a $12.5-million loan for J.H. Snyder's Koreatown development that can be repaid, in part, from new property taxes generated by the project, Keys said. An additional $5-million redevelopment loan does not need to be repaid until the developer sells or refinances the building, she said.

Wesson said he hopes to raise $2 million for the sales tax campaign and secure endorsements from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and others. "I think this is a very good start," he said.

Neighborhood activist Jack Humphreville, who signed the ballot argument opposing the sales tax increase, said Proposition A backers are getting big donations from companies that had received "special treatment" from the City Council.

The campaign contributions are "a cheap price for these special interests to pay."

AEG President and Chief Executive Tim Leiweke said Police Chief Charlie Beck asked him to help with the campaign but did not specify a dollar amount. Leiweke said he contributed out of a fear that the Los Angeles Police Department force would have to be reduced if Proposition A fails.

"I think, quite frankly, that it's difficult to keep on taxing businesses and individuals in the state of California. And if we're not careful, eventually we're going to make it difficult to do business in California and in the city of L.A.," Leiweke said. "That said, I don't see another path."

The Proposition A campaign also received $25,000 from Excel Paving, a company that has received city contracts in recent years, and $25,000 from Crew Knitwear, a Los Angeles-based apparel company.

A $10,000 donation came from a political action committee representing the California Assn. of Realtors. Real estate groups lobbied successfully last fall to stop Wesson and his colleagues from pursuing a ballot measure that would increase the tax on property sales.

Wesson and his colleagues went with the proposed sales tax increase instead.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

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Venezuela prison riot leaves dozens dead

A handout photo by El Informador newspaper shows emergency crews tending an injured person at the Barquisimeto city hospital in northeast Venezuela after a prison riot that left dozens dead. (Misael Castro / EPA / January 25, 2013)

From the Associated Press

January 25, 2013, 10:31 p.m.

CARACAS, Venezuela—

Venezuelan media reported Friday that dozens were killed in a bloody prison riot, and the government said it was investigating.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the violence tragic early Saturday on television and said the authorities had launched an investigation.

He and other officials did not give a death toll from the riot at Uribana prison in the central city of Barquisimeto.

The newspaper Ultimas Noticias reported on its website that 54 were killed. The television channel Globovision reported about 50 killed. Both cited Ruy Medina, the director of Central Hospital in the city, who also said that dozens were hurt.

Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said earlier on television that the riot broke out when groups of inmates attacked National Guard troops who were attempting to carry out an inspection.

Varela said the violence had affected a number of prisoners and officials, but said the authorities would hold off until control had been re-established at the prison to confirm the toll. She said the government decided to send troops to search the prison after receiving reports of clashes between groups of inmates during the past two days.

The death toll provided by Medina rose late Friday after he had initially reported four killed and dozens injured.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles condemned the government's handling of the country's overcrowded and violent prisons.

"Our country's prisons are an example of the incapacity of this government and its leaders. They never solved the problem," Capriles said on his Twitter account. "How many more deaths do there have to be in the prisons for the government to acknowledge its failure and make changes?"

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Palmdale woman accused of torturing her children

Neighbors of a Palmdale woman charged with assaulting and torturing two of her children said Thursday that they never even realized she had kids.

The siblings — a boy, 8, and girl, 7 — did not play outside and were rarely seen, said Cynthia Otero, who runs a day care center at a home opposite the house in the 39000 block of Clear View Court where Ingrid Brewer is alleged to have mistreated the youngsters.

Otero said that when she recently spotted the children getting out of a car, she thought Brewer, 50, "might be baby-sitting."

So neighbors in the suburban cul-de-sac were the more shocked when word spread that Brewer was arrested on suspicion of crimes against her children, she said. Brewer is being charged with eight felony counts, including torture, assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to a child.

According to authorities, Brewer reported the children missing Jan. 15, prompting a search by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Palmdale Station. The youngsters were found hours later hiding under a blanket near a parked car on a street close to their home. They were without winter clothes in 20-degree weather, authorities said.

Sgt. Brian Hudson, a spokesman for the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau, said the children told investigators they ran away because Brewer deprived them of food, locked them in separate bedrooms when she went to work each day, bound their hands behind their backs with zip ties and beat them with electrical cords and a hammer. The youngsters also said that when they were locked in the bedrooms and needed to use the bathroom, they instead had to use wastebaskets, Hudson said.

They fled because "they were tired of being tied up and beaten," Hudson said.

Hudson said both children had injuries consistent with the alleged abuse, including marks on their wrists indicating they had been restrained and "numerous bruising and abrasions over their bodies." They told investigators the mistreatment had been happening since Halloween.

Neighbors interviewed by authorities said they had never noticed anything suspicious but "hardly ever saw the two children," Hudson said. Otero and another neighbor said Brewer did not make friends on the block.

Otero said Brewer was "unfriendly" and typically ignored verbal greetings and waves.

According to sheriff's officials, Brewer, a certified nursing assistant who works in Los Angeles and has adult children, adopted the young siblings about a year ago from foster care. They were home schooled.

Neil Zanville, a spokesman for the county Department of Children and Family Services, said his agency was legally prohibited from disclosing any case-specific information about past or present clients. But in a written statement, the agency's director, Philip Browning, called the report disturbing.

"While we cannot confirm or deny whether this family is under our supervision, I am personally looking into this situation to determine what role, if any, our department had in these children's lives," Browning said.

Sheriff's officials said Thursday that the children were "doing great" despite their injuries.

Otero lamented that they had been made to suffer.

"It's just so sad," said the neighbor, who has a 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old twins. "I wish they would have knocked on my door. I would have helped them."

Brewer is in the custody of the Sheriff's Department, with bail set at $2 million. She is scheduled to appear in court Thursday, Hudson said.

ann.simmons@latimes.com

Times staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report.

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Security boosted for Orange County gun show

As the nation debates the idea of new gun laws, the decades-old Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds this weekend will be business as usual, organizers said — with the exception of increased security.

The fairgrounds, whose relationship with the Utah-based Crossroads company spans nearly 25 years, receives about $600,000 from parking, rent, food and beverages from the shows, which are held several times a year, said Jerome Hoban, chief executive of the O.C. Fair & Event Center.

"We're increasing the security because these gun shows are wildly popular, and we want to make sure it's a secure and safe event," he said. "With more people, it's more security, and that's with any event."

Gun shows are under scrutiny from local governments nationwide following the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting last month and after accidents at three recent gun shows left five people injured. The Glendale City Council this week took the first step toward banning gun shows and banning all firearm sales on city-owned land.

Also motivated are gun enthusiasts who fear new regulations; they are stocking up on ammunition and guns. The recent Ontario gun show, also sponsored by Crossroads, was packed.

The state-run fairgrounds has its own on-site security and contracts with the Orange County Sheriff's Department for supplemental help.

Four deputies are scheduled to patrol the show, in addition to the two at the fairgrounds' weekly Orange County Market Place, said sheriff's Sgt. Scott Baker.

"We're not foreseeing any problems," he said. "I know there is a heightened sense with all the stuff going on, but we haven't addressed it any further than that."

Having four deputies on patrol is more than have been on hand for past shows, Baker said.

"It's about as safe as you're going to be," he said. "We're not projecting any problems.... We're not going to a higher level because of the situation, or anything of that nature."

Hoban expressed confidence in security at the fairgrounds. "We don't take any event lightly," he said. "If we have the public on our facility, it's our responsibility to keep everything safe."

Sales of handguns and rifles at the show are subject to state and federal mandates, organizers said. "The rules aren't changing because it's a gun show, or you get an exemption. … The rules still apply there," Baker said.

State laws include a 10-day waiting period, valid identification and a registration fee.

"It's not the kind of event where everybody's walking out the door with firearms," Hoban said.

Bob Templeton, owner of Crossroads, said the Costa Mesa show typically draws 10,000 to 14,000 but that number could swell to 20,000 this weekend. "People are concerned about all the discussions at the national level about gun control and so forth," he said.

He said he expected 8,000 people at the recent Ontario gun show but 16,000 showed up — as did some protesters. The Costa Mesa show will have a "free-speech area" for people to voice their opinions, Baker said.

Templeton called the fairgrounds "a very local event." He said about 80% of those who attend the five shows a year live in Orange County.

Despite increased security, some have reservations.

Kevin Wilkes, a Costa Mesa resident and father of a 7-year-old girl, said the event is too close for his liking to Costa Mesa High School, Orange Coast College and parks. He alluded to the recent gun show shootings and the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting.

"You have kids and sports fields and TeWinkle Park," he said. "It makes you stop and think … we're literally playing with a loaded gun here."

He said he supports the 2nd Amendment but would like to see an assault weapon ban, among other restrictions on gun ownership. He wants a safer environment for his family.

"I don't want to take anything away from people who collect.... I'm gathering most people are good, law-abiding citizens," Wilkes said. "It's just a few who mess it up for everybody else."

bradley.zint@latimes.com

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Senate approves modest filibuster changes

—

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved changes to the filibuster Thursday night, adopting modest limits on the partisan obstruction that has ground action in the chamber to a near standstill.

But the deal reached between the Senate's two leaders — Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — fell far short of sweeping reforms sought by liberal senators and their allies. Left out was the requirement that senators who want to filibuster must remain on the Senate floor, talking the whole time, as Jimmy Stewart's character famously did in Frank Capra's movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

The Senate adopted two packages to alter the procedural rules increasingly employed to thwart legislation and White House nominees. One provision will allow bills to be more quickly brought up for debate. Another will limit discussion on certain White House nominations. The changes were overwhelmingly approved, 78 to 16 and 86 to 9, with dissent mainly from conservative Republicans.

"It's not everything I wanted," said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who led efforts to change the filibuster with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). "This is a small step, but it's a step that moves us in a better direction."

The last few years have seen skyrocketing numbers of filibusters in what has become an escalating procedural arms race. In recent years, Republicans, seeking to block Democrats from pursuing their agendas, have relied heavily on the tactic. In previous years, Democrats employed the filibuster to obstruct President George W. Bush.

A filibuster ties the chamber in knots because it only comes to an end with a 60-vote supermajority, which has proved difficult to achieve with a closely divided Senate in this partisan era. Even if that supermajority is reached, procedures require at least three days for each filibuster to be overcome.

"Too often over the past four years, a single senator or a handful of senators has been able to unilaterally block or delay bipartisan legislation for the sole purpose of making a political point," President Obama said in a statement after the vote. "I am hopeful that today's bipartisan agreement will pave the way for the Senate to take meaningful action in the days and weeks ahead."

Democrats could have used their Senate majority to ram through a rules change at the start of the new Congress — or any time during this session. But they hesitated to provoke McConnell, a shrewd operator who would surely have retaliated.

"It just would have been thermonuclear war," said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Reid who is now a Democratic strategist.

The agreement forged between Reid and McConnell should help move legislation more swiftly in the ponderous chamber.

Senators gave up their ability to filibuster — or hold endless debate — on the procedural step required to take up legislation on the Senate floor. In exchange, both sides were guaranteed the right to offer two amendments to the bill — a particularly important provision for the minority Republicans, who say they are forced to filibuster because Reid prevents them from trying to amend bills with provisions Democrats dislike.

Although senators can still filibuster the actual bill, eliminating their ability to block this procedural step will cut days off the process.

Over the years, senators, many of whom are senior citizens, have reached a gentlemen's agreement not to press the requirement that they remain on the floor talking to filibuster, as South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond once did for more than 24 hours straight during the battles over civil rights legislation.

One aspect of the "talking filibuster" will be implemented, however: Once the 60-vote threshold is reached to end a filibuster and begin voting on a bill, a senator who refuses to waive the required 30 hours of final debate will need to stay on the floor and keep speaking. But that provision was included as a gentlemen's agreement, rather than an official rules change.

"The incremental 'reforms' in the agreement do not go nearly far enough to deliver meaningful change," said a statement from Fix the Senate Now, a coalition of legal scholars and liberal activists that pushed for reforms. Others had wanted the Senate to do away with the 60-vote threshold completely, pointing to changes in 1975 that dropped the two-thirds supermajority requirement to 60.

Also approved was a provision to speed confirmation of most presidential nominees, who are routinely held up as leverage to extract other concessions from the White House.

If a nominee can clear the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster, debate time will be reduced from 30 hours to two for district court judges and to eight hours for sub-Cabinet positions. The lower limits would not apply to nominees for the Cabinet or higher courts.

Another provision reduces the number of filibusters that can be used to delay a conference committee, which is needed to reconcile differences between House- and Senate-passed bills.

The filibuster has been a storied part of Senate history, and the ability to cut off debate with a supermajority did not come about until 1917. Veteran senators have been hesitant to change the rules of the Senate, a chamber the forefathers designed to move more slowly than the fiery House.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

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Quitting smoking prolongs life at any age

It's never too late to quit smoking, and researchers have new data to prove it. Even at the age of 64, kicking the habit can add four years to a person's life, while quitting by age 34 can increase life expectancy by a decade, according to a study published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

After analyzing health data from more than 200,000 Americans, researchers calculated that current smokers were three times more likely to die during the course of the study compared with people who had never smoked. For the most part, their deaths were caused by smoking-related ailments, including heart and lung disease. Overall, their odds of surviving to age 80 were half as good as for never-smokers.

But the study, one of two large-scale surveys in the journal providing updated information on smoking and mortality, saw significant benefits for those who quit. Giving up smoking between the ages of 35 and 44 was associated with a gain of nine years of life, and those who quit between 45 and 54 lived an extra six years.

"The good news is, because the risks are so big, the benefits of quitting are quite substantial," said study leader Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Global Health Research, based in Toronto.

While the U.S. smoking rate has declined to 19.3% among adults, there are still an estimated 45.3 million smokers in this country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette use is responsible for about 443,000 U.S. deaths each year, the CDC says.

Using the National Health Interview Survey, the researchers followed 113,752 women and 88,496 men in the U.S. between 1997 and 2004, categorizing them as smokers (at least 100 cigarettes within their lifetime), former smokers (no smoking within the last five years) and never-smokers. Former smokers were held to the five-year rule in order to weed out those who were already in declining health because of potentially fatal smoking-related diseases.

The researchers checked death records in 2006 and found that 8,236 of the women and 7,479 of the men had died. By comparing mortality rates among the groups, Jha's team calculated that women between the ages of 25 and 79 who were current smokers were three times more likely to die than women who never smoked. Among men in that age group, those who still smoked were 2.8 times more likely to die than never-smokers. The results were adjusted for age, education, body mass index and alcohol consumption, since smokers tended to be thinner, have less education and be more likely to drink.

The vast difference in mortality rates is partly due to the increasing health standards of the nonsmoking population, Jha said.

The second study examined mortality rates over half a century in 2.2 million people 55 and older — possibly the largest such survey undertaken, said lead author Michael Thun, recently retired from his work as a cancer epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society.

Thun's survey measured trends in death rates across three time periods: 1959 to 1965, 1982 to 1988 and 2000 to 2010.

The analysis revealed a worrying trend that also cropped up in Jha's study: Women's death rates from smoking, which had long lagged behind men's, had pulled even.

Consider lung cancer. In the early 1960s, women smokers were 2.73 times more likely to die from lung cancer than their nonsmoking counterparts; by 2010, they were 25.66 times more likely to die of the disease, Thun found. (Male smokers' relative risk of dying of lung cancer rose from 12.22 to 24.97 over the same period.)

"It's staggering," Thun said.

It's an unsurprising glass ceiling to break, doctors said. Women began smoking routinely after World War II, about two decades after men took up the habit, so it was only a matter of time until their mortality rates caught up.

The two papers did not draw distinctions between people who smoked a pack a day and those who might smoke just a few cigarettes a day, said Dr. Steven Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at UC San Francisco. A next step in terms of study would be "to find out how much less health problems there are for smokers who smoke fewer cigarettes," he said.

Taken together, the studies point to a need for far more effective efforts to reach potential and current smokers, Schroeder added.

The message needs to get out to young and old smokers alike, he said: "There's a ray of hope. It's never too late to quit."

amina.khan@latimes.com

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Optimistic State of the State address expected from governor

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown will deliver a State of the State address Thursday morning that lays out an ambitious and optimistic policy agenda for a state he says is on the rebound.

After persuading voters to erase much of California's budget deficit with billions of dollars in new taxes, Brown is free to shift his focus from patching holes in the government's finances to a longer-term vision.

He is expected to expand on his plans for shaking up public universities, shoring up water systems and boosting the state's international trade.

The governor may also renew his call for changes in the landmark California Environmental Quality Act, which business interests say inhibits growth with onerous requirements.

And he may reiterate his warning to fellow Democrats that the state's improved finances are not an invitation to spend freely.

Democratic lawmakers hold historic supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, and some have expressed eagerness to fund new programs or to restore the billions of dollars in state services that have been cut out in recent years.

But Brown heads into the second half of his term with more sway over the Legislature than any governor has had in years. His ballot measure to raise taxes amounted to a vote of confidence from the public. And lawmakers are indebted to him for freeing them from having to make deeper cuts in state programs.

Brown's "political capital has never been higher," said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State L.A. "And he's not being bashful about tackling things that mean a lot to him."

The address, at 9 a.m., will be broadcast live by KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles and on KPCC-FM (89.3) radio. It can be seen online at http://www.calchannel.com.

Brown's speech is expected to highlight what has become a trademark over the last two years: simultaneously calling for budget austerity while laying out a vision that would eventually cost billions.

He wants, for example, to build two massive tunnels to move water from the northern half of the state to Southern California, and supports the state's controversial high-speed rail program.

Brown is also expected to turn his attention back to items that were put on hold last year as he focused on his tax-hike proposal. Brown plans to go to China in the spring, a trip he has talked of making since early last year. The state reopened a trade office in Shanghai last fall.

"The goal will be to increase exports from California companies to China and to bring Chinese business and investment to California," said John Grubb, spokesman for the Bay Area Council, a business group raising money for the governor's trip.

"There's no better way to do that," Grubb said, "than actually meet with people face to face."

anthony.york@latimes.com

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Former LAUSD teacher accused of molesting 20 children

A former Los Angeles Unified School District teacher was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of committing lewd acts and sexually abusing 20 children and an adult, law enforcement authorities said.

Robert Pimentel, 57, who taught at George de la Torre Jr. Elementary School in Wilmington, was taken into custody by Los Angeles Police Department detectives, who had launched an investigation in March after several fourth-grade girls said they had been inappropriately touched.

Prosecutors filed 15 charges against Pimentel involving a dozen of his alleged victims. The charges involve sexual abuse and lewd acts on a child and cover the period from September 2011 to March 2012, according to court records. Authorities said the teacher is suspected of inappropriately touching children under and over their clothing.

Detectives suspect Pimentel victimized an additional eight children and the adult, LAPD Capt. Fabian Lizarraga told The Times.

The arrest comes as the nation's second-largest school district has been rocked in recent months by allegations of sexual misconduct involving teachers and students.

In January, a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood was arrested on suspicion of spoon-feeding semen to students in a classroom and taking dozens of photos. Some of the photos show students blindfolded and being fed allegedly tainted cookies.

An audit released in November concluded that the district failed to promptly report 150 cases of suspected teacher misconduct — including allegations of sexual contact with students — to state authorities as required by law. District officials said they have addressed the breakdowns highlighted in the audit.

Wednesday evening, L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy said both Pimentel and the school's principal were immediately removed when the district found out about the allegations in March.

Deasy said he removed the principal because he was "dissatisfied" with how the situation was handled at the school. The principal has not been identified.

Parents at the school were informed within 72 hours after Pimentel was removed from the campus, and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing was promptly notified, the district said.

District officials prepared a "notice of termination" for Pimentel and the principal, which they had planned to present to the Board of Education in April 2012, Deasy said. But both employees retired before the board meeting.

He said Pimentel and the principal will receive their full pensions because they retired before the district took action against them.

"Can you go back and fire someone who's already retired? No, you can't," Deasy said.

Detectives launched their investigation of Pimentel after some of the children told their parents they had been abused, Lizarraga said. The parents then alerted officers at the LAPD's Harbor Division.

Of the 20 children allegedly abused, 19 were students at the school, according to Lizarraga. He said detectives came across the other child as they gathered evidence.

Deasy told The Times that his recollection was that the adult was a co-worker of Pimentel.

Pimentel, who lives in Newport Beach, had been a teacher with the district since 1974, police said. He was taken into custody shortly after noon Wednesday and was being held on $12-million bail. He is expected to appear in court Thursday.

In the Miramonte Elementary case, former teacher Mark Berndt, 61, is charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct and is awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty.

The district is facing nearly 200 molestation and lewd conduct claims stemming from Berndt's alleged wrongdoing.

In a separate case, a jury recently awarded $6.9 million to a 14-year-old boy who was molested while he was in fifth grade at Queen Anne Place Elementary School in the Mid-Wilshire area.

The teacher in that incident pleaded no contest to two counts of a lewd act on a child and to continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14. He is serving a 16-year prison sentence.

richard.winton@latimes.com

howard.blume@latimes.com

Times staff writer Robert J. Lopez contributed to this report

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Obama signals new focus on climate change

WASHINGTON — After President Obama finished his inaugural speech Monday, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) thanked him for mentioning climate change, a topic environmentalists said Obama had avoided during much of his first term.

"I did more than mention climate change," the president told Waxman.

In discussing the urgency of climate change before a national audience, the president elevated the issue into the top tier of second-term priorities that include fiscal reform, gun control and immigration reform.

"We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," he said Monday. "Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms."

Many environmentalists have come to believe that Obama's more frequent, detailed mentions of climate change since the election could signal a greater willingness to step up reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The president isn't ruling out the idea of a legislative package to combat climate change during his second term, senior officials say. But the political landscape is even less favorable to passage of legislative initiatives than during his first term.

In the near term, Obama will probably rely on his executive authority and Environmental Protection Agency rules to avoid fights with Congress as he works to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.

"I think the president isn't just about talk," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). The administration, she added, has "no choice but to act."

Despite Obama's public reticence on climate change during his first term, his administration moved aggressively on several fronts to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. The administration contends that its first-term rules to boost gas mileage and curtail greenhouse gases from new power plants will have a demonstrable effect on carbon emissions.

The auto standards alone "did more to reduce carbon pollution than any other action that has been taken, in our view," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday. "We need to continue to build on that, and the president intends to continue to build on that progress in the second term."

Supporters and opponents alike are looking for clues about Obama's posture in upcoming decisions. The final rules for greenhouse gas limits from new power plants are due by April. It remains unclear whether the EPA will then roll out new rules for existing power plants, most of which run on fossil fuels. The emissions from existing plants account for almost 40% of the greenhouse gases the country produces.

The administration has also said that it could make a decision by March about approving the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Environmentalists contend that extracting and processing the oil from Alberta's tar sands use so much energy, far more carbon would be pumped into the atmosphere if oil fields were developed to feed the pipeline.

If the Obama administration decides not to give the pipeline a permit, it would be in for a tough fight with those in Congress who would try to legislate approval for the project, said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice, an environmental law group.

The administration could chip away at carbon emissions through other administrative steps, including limiting greenhouse gases at refineries, curtailing the flaring of natural gas at oil wells, and pushing energy efficiency measures and investments in alternative energy. But over the long term, that might not be enough to cut emissions on the scale needed to show the country's commitment to fighting climate change.

"Those actions will bend the carbon curve in the short term, but that curve needs to be bent steeper than those steps will allow," Van Noppen said.

Rep. Edward Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the House energy and power subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, confirmed that administration-backed legislation to address climate change would meet stiff resistance.

"Cap-and-trade legislation already failed in the Democrat-controlled Senate and there is currently no appetite in Congress to go down that path again," Whitfield said of providing a system of credits for limiting greenhouse gases.

Whether it be cap-and-trade, a carbon tax or new greenhouse gas regulations, "House Republicans will continue to oppose any plan that drives up energy costs and puts American businesses at a competitive disadvantage," he said.

Right now, the White House is focused on rolling out a budget, legislative plans on gun control, and immigration. For the time being, aides talk about environmental measures as if they are part of an ongoing project the president already thinks is going well.

Asked about whether the president might push for a big legislative proposal like the failed cap-and-trade plan, Carney suggested the president was more interested in actual change than in proposals for their own sake.

"Deficit reduction, for example, is not a goal unto itself," he said. "We pursue it in a way that helps our economy grow and helps it create jobs. Otherwise, it's not worth the effort, in his mind."

With climate change, he went on, "you don't pursue action that helps deal with that problem just because of the problem itself, but because there are huge opportunities there in alternative energy."

neela.banerjee@latimes.com

christi.parsons@latimes.com

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