The Criminal Grand Jury of Los Angeles County attends hearings brought by the District Attorney’s Office . The objective of this jury is to determine, on the basis of evidence presented by the District Attorney’s Office, whether certain persons should be charged with crimes an d required to stand trial in Superior Court. The Criminal Grand Jury is an accusatory body and not a trial jury; therefore, the burden of proof is much lower. Specifically, the Criminal Grand Jury must decide if there is a strong suspicion the individual committed the alleged crime.

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution.

Volunteer hosts went to the airport, picked up assigned students, fed them dinner, took them to the opening lecture at the Clay Center, put them in spare bedrooms for the night, then fed them breakfast this morning and will deliver the outstanding teens to buses that convey them to the mountain retreat where they undergo a month of intensive science training and outdoor fun.

Luckily, this year, enough local families volunteered to host all the brilliant youths. In the past, the number of guest homes sometimes fell short, and some of the visitors slept on cots and sleeping bags at local churches. They're adventurous teens and don't mind this makeshift camp-in but it's better if friendly hosts give them a more personal welcome for their stay.

The main function of the Civil Grand Jury is to investigate county, city, and joint - power agencies. This is a significant civil function. The Grand Jury acts in a watchdog capacity by examining carefully and completely the operations of various government agencies with in Los Angeles County. The Civil Grand Jury cannot investigate state or federal agencies, which lie outside their jurisdiction. Part of the investigation of governmental agencies includes the ability to audit operations, accounts, and records of officers and departments within the agency under investigation. The Civil Grand Jury is further charged with investigating individual complaints from citizens. By statute the Grand Jury is required to inquire regarding the conditions and management of all public prisons within the County of Los Angeles.

The Marion County Board of Supervisors has appointed a newly established Workforce Investment Board (WIB) , which will implement the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. WIB’s mandate is to provide key policy decisions affecting the local workforce development system, and to identify and certify the areas within Marion County where WorkSource Texas Centers are located to be designated as Workforce Investment Areas.