TODAY

NEWS FROM BLOGS
From Patterico, a Los Angeles deputy District who blogs at Patterico's Pontifications, "L.A. Times Story on Alleged Serial Murder Fails to Report that L.A. Times Could Have Stopped Alleged Serial Murderer." (At a minimum, they could have stopped a child pornographer.)
UPDATE: Alcala found guilty.
UPDATE (March 1): It gets worse fo the Los Angeles Times. Alcala was a convicted child rapist showing child porn to fellow employees. via Patterico

TaxProf Blog follows tax laws so you don't have to. So he was quick to notice those pesky details from Frank and Jamie McCourt's divorce. The owners of the L.A. Dodgers made $180 million from 2004 to 2009. Astonishingly, they paid no taxes. No state, no federal taxes. None. Nada. Zilch.
One commenter remarked, "It looks legal to me. It's not like Geithner or Rangel prepared their tax returns."

OTHER NEWS
FORCED RELOCATIONS IN DETROIT?
Unless I am reading it wrong, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is saying that he plans to cut off services to parts of the city, relocate people to parts of the city where he will provide service and, thereby, "shrink the city." The city has a $300 million debt.

In all of this, Bing is being aided by top aide and ex-felon Charlie Beckham who served two years in federal prison after he was found guilty in 1984 of illegally taking $16,000 from a sludge-hauling company.

U.S. News & World Report's Peter Roth on the failure of liberalism epitomized by Detroit.

Those who think the government actually can run the healthcare system better than the private sector would do well to study the example of Detroit, which the mayor argues must now ration government services on the basis of local geography and demographics--and at the expense of the liberty of the people who still live there.

Bing's relocation initiative is a remarkable admission of failure, not just of his administration but of decades of Democratic rule in the city once known proudly as "Motown," a failure of central planning and state-based renewal efforts that deserves national attention.

In the meantime,the arrest warrant for the former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been put on hold while he is given another opportunity to make restitution. The probation violation hearing will continue.

HACKERS IN LATVIA EXPOSE GOVERNMENT HYPOCRISY.
To the horror of Latvia’s political establishment, hackers downloaded more than 7.5 million documents, including VAT receipts and income tax returns, from the State Revenue Service (SRS). They posted the salaries of Latvian police chiefs and bank executives from banks that were bailed out to a website. Look for more of that in other countries.

WHY INDEED. Why Canadian premier seeks health care in U.S. by Sally C. Pipes, a former Canadian, is president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute.

GREECE IS IN A MELTDOWN and they were helped to hide the fact by American investment banks. "Mr Bernanke also said that the Fed was investigating the role played by Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street companies in Greece’s debt dilemma. American banks entered into currency swaps with Greece almost ten years ago that allowed the country to postpone recognising its debt."
Der Spiegel on the role of Goldman Sachs.