ROAD TRIP: The first Los Angeles City...

ROAD TRIP: The first Los Angeles City Council meeting outside of City Hall in six years will be held Oct. 17 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. . . . In a motion made last week, Councilwoman Laura Chick asked for the meeting to “bring city government closer to its residents and make it easier for them to participate.”

FREE AT LAST: Thai women who had toiled in slave-like conditions at an El Monte sweatshop rejoiced at their freedom Saturday at the Wat Thai Buddhist temple in North Hollywood, long a center of religious and cultural life for the Valley’s Thai Buddhist community. “We were longing to come to the temple,” said one of the women, “but we never thought we would ever be able to be here.” (B1)

ON THE BEAT: COPPS, Glendale’s program of community-based policing, is winning kudos, including praise from enthusiastic officers. “It’s like the old days in middle America, when everybody used to know their neighborhood cop,” said Officer Ron Gillman. “The people are glad to see us, the kids love us, and we get to . . . solve some real problems. It’s very gratifying.” (B3)

NO COUNTRY CLUB: A softball league and other recreational activities at the state prison at Lancaster reflect a philosophical split between advocates of retribution and rehabilitation. See Valley Sports (C8)

FAMILY GRIEVES: Yesenia Medina, 7, and her brother, Carlos, 11, clung to life Saturday at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. Their parents were killed in North Hills early Friday when the driver of a stolen Ford Bronco crashed into their car while fleeing from police. Grieving friends and family questioned whether police, who said they gave up the chase shortly before the crash, waited too long to call off the pursuit. In a separate accident, the teen-age driver of a car reported stolen from Van Nuys was injured in a collision with another vehicle while trying to outrun police. (B2)