Under a pilot program approved Tuesday, Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils (LANC) would be able to hand up motions or resolutions to the City Council.

The two-year program would allow the 89 LANCs to introduce three motions and/or resolutions per year, of which must be seconded by another LANC before being filed with the City Clerk’s office for inclusion on an agenda.

The program will come before full City Council for a vote next Tuesday.
 

The national unemployment rate inched up .03 percentage points to five percent in December compared to 4.4 percent a year earlier.

The rate for African Americans was nine percent, up .06 percentage points over November, and .07 points above the same time last year.

The nation-wide figure reflects some 7.7 million people without jobs plus another 363,000 so-called discouraged workers—people who are outside the labor force and or no longer searching for work because they believe their job hunting efforts would be unsuccessful.