Today’s News: Local impact of Connecticut shooting; Man allegedly threatens LA schools

Shock waves. Reverberations of the Newtown shooting are being felt in Los Angeles and around the state. Mourners attended several vigils around the Southland this weekend, some of them demonstrating to demand tougher gun laws. LAPD Chief Beck wants to beef up patrols around local elementary and middle schools, campuses he says the smaller LAUSD police force can’t adequately monitor. Beck hopes to have a plan in place by the winter break ends in January. All four of the major mayoral candidates in the city of L.A. called for a renewal of the federal assault weapon ban. And California Senator Diane Feinstein vowed to reintroduce legislation to do just that. Feinstein authored a federal ban on assault weapons in 1994, but it was allowed to expire in 2004. Meanwhile, State Senator Ted Lieu says he’ll reintroduce a bill that imposes penalties on schools that fail to document comprehensive safety plans. Lieu’s bill would require school districts to withhold some funding from schools that fail to comply, including charter schools.

L.A. Times,

The Hill

Threat suspect. Police have arrested a man for allegedly posting Facebook threats against L.A. elementary schools. Weapons were reportedly confiscated when the man was arrested at his home yesterday. There’s no word yet on the suspect’s name or the nature of the threats. He’s being held in the downtown jail. KCBS

No offense. Hollywood is changing some plans in the wake of the Connecticut shooting. The premiere of Tom Cruise’s new thriller “Jack Reacher” had been scheduled for Saturday, Paramount Pictures postponed it out of what it said was “honor and respect for the victims.” The movie has a lot of violence, including an opening scene where a gunman fires randomly along a riverfront. Meanwhile, Fox pulled new episodes of “Family Guy” and at least one other show to avoid airing any sensitive material. Hollywood Reporter

Mall shooting. Police say they still aren’t sure what motivated a 42-year-old Garden Grove man to fire some 50 shots from a semiautomatic handgun into the air at the Fashion Island shopping mall in Newport Beach this weekend. The suspect, Marcos Gurrola, is being held on $250,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow. Nobody was hit by the gunfire. O.C. Register

New courthouse. Federal officials are moving ahead with a new downtown L.A. courthouse. The new building will be erected on a 3.6-acre lot on Broadway in the Civic Center area. It will have 24 courtrooms, 32 judicial chambers and space for offices of the U.S. Attorney, Marshals Service and federal public defender. Last-minute opposition to the project came from Congressional Republicans failed to derail the plans. The skeptical lawmakers questioned the government’s plans to sell the old federal courthouse on North Spring Street. L.A. Times