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Caught in the cross-hairs of California's state budget crisis, the Los Angeles Superior Court - the largest trial court system in the nation - this week laid off 329 employees and closed 16 courtrooms. Facing an unprecedented $79 million shortfall, Presiding Judge Charles W. McCoy said that the courts will lay-off an additional 500 workers and shutter up to a total of 50 courtrooms come September. Announcing the cutbacks in a courtroom closed months ago to save money, McCoy said, "Today is a sad day for justice in Los Angeles." With attrition, McCoy expects the 5,400-employee court...
...closed courtrooms handled criminal, family law, civil law along with complex litigation and small claims case loads. Similar cuts are taking place in courts across the state. McCoy says the 100,000 Angelenos who use the courts each day can expect growing case backlogs, longer lines and delays in processing judgments. Among those losing their jobs: clerks, court reporters and supervisors. Judge Marjorie Steinberg says her family law departments are losing mental health professionals who help parents negotiate their disputes before they go to court: "You can imagine how tough that is on a family, and on the children, whose...
...scandal has even spread to the famous Regensburg Cathedral choir - which was led by the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger for 30 years - and there've been up to a hundred allegations of abuse at a boarding school run by Benedictine monks in Ettal, Bavaria, which was raided by state prosecutors. Germany's Catholic Church has pulled out all the stops to convince parishioners that it's doing everything to prevent such abuse cases from happening again. It is setting up a nationwide hotline for victims of abuse on March 30 and has pledged to step up preventive measures...
...Mexico's absence has left a critical leadership hole in the hemisphere's midsection. But as Calderón gets set to host U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on March 23, he looks determined to fill that void again. Last month he convened a summit in Cancún to create a multilateral organization promoting regional unity - a body that includes all 32 Latin American and Caribbean nations but pointedly excludes the U.S. and Canada. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) "makes possible an old desire that [we] have [our] own space for dialogue and political...
...security crisis will top the agenda when Calderón meets this week in Mexico City with Clinton and other officials from the U.S., which is funneling some $1.5 billion in antidrug aid to Mexico. Calderón will also be the guest of honor at a White House state dinner on May 19. Mexico will probably always be "so close to the United States" - but for the sake of its future as well as Latin America's, it's a good thing that it's decided to get closer again to the world beyond its other borders. - With reporting...