The deadly shooting of a suspected illegal migrant is rekindling the debate over the use of lethal force along the U.S.-Mexican border. Investigators say a man who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent yesterday threw several large rocks, including one that hit the agent in the face. It happened about four miles from San Diego’s Otay Mesa Border Crossing as agents were trying to stop a group from entering the country illegally. The agent suffered minor injuries. The Border Patrol insists the shooting was justified because the agent feared for his life.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese has skirted a public trial by agreeing to pay $13 million to 17 alleged victims of priest abuse. It’s apparently the last of hundreds of cases of clergy abuse that have cost the Church nearly $750 million over the past dozen years. Most of the allegations in the latest case involved Father Nicholas Aguilar-Rivera, a visiting priest from Mexico suspected of molesting more than two dozen boys in 1987. Attorneys for the men accused Cardinal Roger Mahoney and his aides of misleading police, hobbling the investigation and allowing Aguilar-Rivera to flee to Mexico before he could be charged.
The L.A. City Council has decided to conduct an economic review before it acts on a proposal to hike the minimum wage for workers at big hotels to more than $15 an hour, one of the highest minimum wages in the country. Backers say L.A. hotels are thriving, but many workers don’t earn enough to lift them out of poverty. Business groups argue that raising the wage would put L.A. hotels at a competitive disadvantage with hotels in other cities.
Consumer advocates in East L.A. want an investigation into what they call unsafe business practices that pose hazards to customers of El Super Markets. The group, which includes labor organizers and community leaders, claims the company’s stores were stocked with dairy, meat, eggs and milk products that were expired or past their due date. El Super calls the allegations “false and unproductive.” The supermarket chain is currently negotiating a new labor pact with the United Food and Commercial Workers.
Ten communities in California are at risk of running out of water in the next 60 days. And the state Department of Public Health says that list will probably grow longer as the drought drags on. Originally 17 were on the list, but some have since found alternative water sources. Meanwhile, health officials are warning that the drought could put existing groundwater water supplies at risk of contamination. With less water available to dilute contaminants, they become more concentrated in drinking supplies.