dream-awakener

road rage and other news in california

"the shootings have left four men dead and four injured, but investigators are struggling to generate leads and so far have made no arrest" the la times reported in the latest headline on road rage in la. it seems as if the killings happening within such a short period of time have attracted intense media interest, but according to law enforcement there is no indication that freeway shootings have actually increased.

in fact an article today gives a chart of freeway related shootings within the city of Los Angeles:



Year Incidents Fatalities

2001 41 2

2002 46 4

2003 46 4

2004 36 1

2005* 11 2



*Through May Source:LAPD La Times

i guess the other deaths were just outside of the actual city limits of la. i'm not sure what the stats are for the county, but it is kind of interesting that the city of la is actually on a pace to see a decrease in freeway shootings, but you would never know it by the reaction of the media. it's just kind of an interesting thing to me how the media influences our perception in so many ways.

other interesting news is that california growth rate as far as percentage speaking slowed it's pace this past year. the state only added 539,000 new residents, compared to 689,000 in 2000. this is due to a loss in legal and illegal immigration and a stabilization of birth rate. the rise of housing is cited as the reason for less immigration from other countries. nonetheless, the state of california accounts for one in eight americans, according to the state department of finances. the last time a single state represented such a large part of the total population was in 1860 when new york state represented nearly as large a proportion, according to an article in the la times.

los angeles county gained more residents than any other county adding 119,055 new residents and continues to be the nation's largest county with about 10.2 million people. the city of los angeles added more people that any other city, 44,092, to reach a population of 3,957,875. so there is a lot of work to be done in california and in los angeles. keep us in your prayers.

posted by J.R. Woodward @ 12:56 AM