Voters in November are set to decide whether California should more aggressively prosecute shoplifting and drug use as part of a ballot measure that state officials say will result in more people ending up in prison.
Legislative leaders plan to fast-track bills to crack down on retail theft in California and are using the package of reforms to pressure supporters of a proposed tough-on-crime initiative headed for the November ballot to abandon that effort.
A gang member who fatally shot a 20-year-old man during a car-to-car exchange of gunfire that followed a chase stemming from the defendant’s aggressive acts to promote his gang was convicted today of first-degree murder and other charges.