Urban News

(LOS ANGELES) -- Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies backed up by SWAT team members searched the offices of the rap record label Tha Row -- formerly known as Death Row Records -- and the homes of Death Row founder Marion "Suge" Knight in raids Thursday in connection with an undisclosed number of unsolved homicides.

Police arrested three people on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. Theodore Peter Kelly, 29, was arrested at That Row. Michael Leroy Payne, 25, and Kordell Depree Knox, 37, were arrested at other, undisclosed locations. All were being held without bail late Thursday.

Officials would not say which murders -- or how many -- were involved in the investigation. The sheriff's department would not say if investigators were looking for information connected to the unsolved killings of rap stars Tupac Shakur or Notorious B.I.G.

Knight was behind the wheel of the car in which Shakur was shot to death in 1996 on the Las Vegas Strip. Notorious B.I.G., a New York-based rapper described as a rival of Shakur, was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1997.

Two other former associates of Knight have been shot to death this year. Alton McDonald, 37, a former Death Row Records production manager, was killed as he pumped gas at a service station in Los Angeles last April. Henry Smith, 33, who designed the electric chair logo for Tha Row, killed as he sat in his parked SUV last month.

Authorities said Knight was not considered a suspect in any of the murders, but a spokesman for the sheriff's department said there was "some connection to Tha Row Records."

(NEW YORK) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday he will take steps to reduce the New York City work force by 8,000 in response to a possible $6.4 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year.

The mayor said he would resort to layoffs if he cannot reduce the city work force of about 250,000 through attrition.

"I believe we can continue through early retirements and buyouts to downsize the labor force without layoffs," said Bloomberg. But the mayor said he would lay off workers "if we cannot get through this any other way" by 2004.

Bloomberg also said property taxes would have to be raised, and commuters would have to pay an income tax if the city is to avoid the kind of fiscal crisis that made New York a national symbol for urban failures in the 1970s.

"We cannot let that ever happen again in this city," said the mayor. "We have to proactively go and take the steps necessary so that this city does not lose control of our own destiny."

The city faces a $1.1 billion deficit in the current fiscal year, following six years of budget surpluses.

(DETROIT) -- According to a report in the Detroit News, the Motor City will get top consideration for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The paper reported that Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe promised the city would get special consideration for 2008, after the party announced that it would hold its 2004 convention in Boston.

"Detroit is a great city," said McAuliffe. "In 2008 you bet it will be a great site possibly for our next convention."

Boston won out for 2004 over a short list of finalists that included New York and Miami as well as Detroit.

Part of Detroit's problem for 2004 was a shortage of convenient hotel rooms and up-front money from the corporate community. The paper reported that delegates would have had to stay in Canada -- or as far away as Ann Arbor.

A spokesman for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the city will "aggressively" pursue the 2008 convention. The next bid could be helped by the addition of 1,200 hotel rooms in Detroit casinos, and city officials reportedly plan to announce soon that more luxury hotel rooms will be added to the city's mix.

(CINCINNATI) -- Greater Cincinnati could be facing expanded motor vehicle smog-check programs, restrictions on the kinds of gasoline drivers can use and even a ban on outdoor grilling, under new federal rules scheduled to take effect in April 2004, according to a report in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The paper also said the deadline to impose the rules -- set Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- could also lead to tougher restrictions on factory emissions for industries in the region. The EPA has agreed to adopt tougher standards for ozone in April 2004 -- which would represent the first tightening of air standards since 1979.

Ozone -- a colorless, odorless gas that results when motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions and chemical solvents come into contact with sunlight -- can cause a variety of diseases in humans and damage crops and trees.

The Enquirer said the EPA action was intended to avoid a lawsuit by several environmental groups, including the American Lung Association, the Sierra Club and the Ohio Environmental Council. The environmental groups said the tougher rules would affect cities in 38 states.