Voters approved a ballot measure Tuesday that restricts the number of medical marijuana dispensaries.

The approval of Measure D comes after more than five years of wrangling over regulation of the businesses. D was one of three initiatives on Tuesday's ballot involving medical marijuana dispensaries.

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Measure D, which garned 63 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting, restricts the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to the original 135 approved before a 2007 requirement that dispensaries register with the city. The measure would apply a tax of $60 for every $1,000 in sales.

A rival proposal was placed on the ballot after a signature drive. Measure F would allow for unlimited dispensaries and call for a 20-percent sales tax.

A third measure would, like Measure D, would have capped the number of dispensaries at 135, but had little chance of passing. Measure E, which includes no new taxes, was placed on ballot by the United Food and Commerical Workers union, which withdrew support and backed Measure D.

The winning measure required a majority of the vote. If no measure gained more than 50 percent of the vote, the issue likely would have returned to the Los Angeles City Council.

As of 5:45 a.m. with 100 percent of precints reporting, these are the results for the trio of marijuana measures, according to LA City Clerk:

Measure D

• Yes: 63 percent
• No: 37 percent

Measure E

• Yes: 35 percent
• No: 65 percent

Measure F

• Yes: 41 percent
• No: 59 percent

After two years of campaigning bolstered by record contributions, the mayoral race between City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel comes to a close Tuesday as voters take to the polls.

The winner of the run-off election to replace outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will give the city of Los Angeles either its first female or first Jewish mayor—a leader who will inherit a city still struggling to pull itself from an extended fiscal slump.

In their sprint to the finish line, both Democratic contenders with similar voting records tried to differentiate themselves from each other in down-to-the-wire pitches to undecided voters.

“If you want an independent mayor with proven results, somebody who’s delivered neighborhood turnaround, who’s balanced budgets, I’m your guy," said Garcetti, who was leading by 7 percentage points in the most recent USC Price/Los Angeles Time poll released Friday.

Greuel, who has racked up endorsements from high profile figures, including former President Bill Clinton and Magic Johnson, emphasized her experience as the city government's top critic for the last three years.

“My history has been one of stepping up to the plate and being that tough fiscal watchdog,” she said. “My history has been for standing up for the taxpayers of L.A. and that’s what I’m going to do as mayor.”

The contest to succeed Villaraigosa, who leaves office at the end of June with high marks from his constituents, broke spending records Saturday as outside contributions topped $33 million.

The candidates have received rival endorsements—Greuel from the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, the Daily News and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer; Garcetti from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the L.A. Times and Newark Mayor Cory Booker—but the money and attention the race has garnered is not expected to be matched by voter turnout.

When the two faced off in March for a primary contest, which failed to give either the majority needed for an outright victory, only 21 percent of the city’s registered voters cast a ballot in the race.

Leading up to Tuesday's runoff election, both candidates have made more aggressive attempts to woo Latinos, which represent nearly half of the city's population and roughly a third of eligible voters.

Garcetti, a Spanish-speaker who leads among the coveted demographic, according to recent polls, has talked about his paternal grandparents' emigration from Mexico. Greuel, who has endorsements from prominent Latino leaders, has stumped before Spanish-speaking crowds.

"The candidates are reaching out to the Latino community because they know, with ... a few hundred votes, they can change the entire makeup of the city," Elisa Sequeira, the head of civic engagement for California's National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials told NBC 4 LA.

Just 400,000 of the city's 1.8 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the election Tuesday. A smaller voter pool, however, does give some advantages to those who do participate.

“These smaller elections, when you vote for city council, mayor, you have more say. Your vote counts more and as an individual, it affects us more,” web designer Mary Jane Zorick told NBC 4 LA.

Voters will also select  a new city controller and city attorney Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. and results can be monitored here.

Angelenos will take to the polls Tuesday to choose the city’s next mayor, attorney and controller after the candidates in those three major races failed to secure a majority of the vote in the March 5 election.

Decision 2013: Find Your Polling Place | Full Coverage

Here’s a look at each candidate:

Mayor

Eric Garcetti

• Job Title: Los Angeles City Councilman since 2001
• Age: 42
• Background: As a city councilman, Garcetti deployed LA’s first constituent smart phone app that lets residents snap a picture of graffiti or a pothole and report it to the city. He served as Council president from 2205 to 2009 and his district, which includes Hollywood and Echo Park, was ranked top in job growth by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
• Education: Bachelor of arts and masters of arts from Columbia University
• Personal: A San Fernando Valley native and a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy reserve, Garcetti lives in Silver Lake with his wife and 1-year-old daughter.
• Website: www.ericgarcetti.com

City Controller Wendy J. Greuel

• Job Title: Los Angeles City Controller since 2009
• Age: 51
• Background: As city controller, Greuel has performed more than 60 audits to uncover wasteful spending in city agencies, including $7 million I missing gasoline and $2 million in salaries paid to employees of a defunct city campsite. In her online biography, she touts her “relentless pursuit of filing (sic) every pothole in her council district.”
• Education: UCLA
• Personal: She lives in Studio City with her husband, Dean, and their son.
• Website: www.wendygreuel.org

City Attorney

Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich

• Job Title: Los Angeles City Attorney since 2009
• Age: 61
• Background: Trutanich served as a deputy DA in the LA County District Attorney’s Office before moving to the department’s hard-core gang unit and then the newly created environmental crimes/OSHA unit. He managed two private law firms from 1998 to 2009
• Education: Bachelors and master’s degrees in business administration from USC
• Personal: Has four children with his wife, Noreen, and has three grandchildren.
• Website: http://www.nuch13.com/

Mike Feuer

• Job Title: Assembly Member for California’s 42nd District since 2006
• Background: Feuer authored and helped pass the half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, Measure R, and its extension; he co-authored the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights. He made an unsuccessful bid for City Attorney in 2001.
• Education: Graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School
• Personal: Has two college-aged children with his wife of 28 years.
• Website: http://votemikefeuer.com/

City Controller

Ron Galperin

• Job Title: Chair of Commission on Revenue Efficiency (CORE); business owner and attorney
• Background: Galperin chairs the commission tasked with reforming how the City generates revenue and funds projects and operations. He has served on the United Way / L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Homelessness Task Force.
• Personal: Galperin has lived in Los Angeles for more than 25 years. He has “started and managed several successful businesses, and has served as a Cantor for more than 25 years – including two decades at a congregation in Los Angeles.”
• Website: http://www.ronforla.com/

Dennis P. Zine

• Job Title: Los Angeles City Councilman since 2001
• Background: Before being elected to the City Council, Zine worked with the LAPD for 33 years and rose to the rank of sergeant. During his tenure on the council, Zine led the effort to cancel the city’s red-light camera contract and disconnect 32 red-light camera intersections. He allocated more than $1 million to the Los Angeles police and fire departments to buy “critical supplies and equipment,” and has championed several public recreation projects in the San Fernando Valley.
• Personal: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Zine is the father of two sons, one is an LAPD officer and the other is a professional pilot.
• Website: http://www.zineforcontroller.com/

An issue that politicians have tried for years to resolve -- how to regulate Los Angeles' medical marijuana dispensaries -- will be on the ballot Tuesday when voters decide on three measures involving the number of dispensaries and sales taxes.

Decision 2013: Where to Vote | View Sample Ballot

LA has tried for more than five years to balance medical needs with neighborhood concerns about medical marijuana dispensaries operating in the city. Three measures on Tuesday's ballot seek to either curb the number of dispensaries or allow new ones to open.

Measure D would restrict the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to the original 135 approved before a 2007 requirement that dispensaries register with the city. The measure would apply a tax of $60 for every $1,000 in sales.

"Why don't we start with a conservative strategy?" said Los Angeles Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, who credited medical marijuana with helping his fight against cancer. "We take a deep breath, see how it goes, and then we can go from there."

A rival proposal was placed on the ballot after a signature drive. Measure F would allow for unlimited dispensaries and call for a 20-percent sales tax.

The measure would require worker background checks and several stringent requirements, according to supporters. Proponents also claim zoning language, which outlines where dispensaries could operate, in the measure ensures the number would be limited to about 400.

"Proposition F provides a sufficient number of dispensaries that allows patients to have the access they need to medical marijuana," said Michael Bustamante, of the "Yes on F, No on D" campaign.

A third measure would, like Measure D, cap the number of dispensaries at 135, but appears to have little chance of passing. Measure E, which includes no new taxes, was placed on ballot by the United Food and Commerical Workers union, which has since withdrawn support and backed Measure D.

"There's been absolutely no control, and that's what has hurt the city," Brennan Thicke, who runs a pot clinic called the Venice Beach Care Center, told the Associated Press. "At this point, voters need to finally decide this issue. There's been an overwhelming belief in this city that medical marijuana should not go away."

The measure with the most votes wins, but only if it collects a majority of the vote. If no measure gains more than 50 percent of the vote, the issue could return to the Los Angeles City Council.

The council has been unsuccessful in the past when it attempted to manage medical marijuana dispensaries.

The council required dispensaries to register in 2007 and approved an ordinance three years later that limited the number of shops from about 1,000 to 70. That led to lawsuits from operators and the ordinance expired last year.

Last summer, the city approved a ban that was repealed just two months later after enough signatures were gathered to get the measures on the ballot.

The election will come just days after the California Supreme Court ruled that neither the state's voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana nor a companion measure adopted by the Legislature prevent local governments from using their land use and zoning powers to prohibit storefront dispensaries. The ruling came in a legal challenge to a ban enacted by the city of Riverside in 2010.

The race for Los Angeles mayor, two key city offices and three medical marijuana propositions are on the  Tuesday ballot in the General Municipal Election.

Find Polling Place | View Sample Ballot

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Election day features the race for LA mayor involving councilmember Eric Garcetti and city controller Wendy Greuel. The candidates, vying for the seat vacated by outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, were the top two vote-getters in the March primary election.

Four measures are on the ballot, including three medical marijuana issues that seek to either curb the number of dispensaries or allow new ones to open.

The proposition with the most votes wins, but only if it collects a majority. If none of the measures pass, the issue could return to the City Council.

Businessman Ron Galperin and LA City Councilman Dennis Zine face each other in the race for controller. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich faces Assemlyman Mike Feuer in the city attorney's race.

 

President Barack Obama is delivering a statement on the growing IRS scandal.

Critics of California's controversial prison "realignment" program are now looking to repeal it -- at the ballot box.
           
Leading the charge for an initiative campaign is former lieutenant governor Abel Maldonado, who's raising money to run for governor.

Since October 2011, under Assembly Bill 109, newly sentenced, non-violent, "low-level" felons have been serving time in county jails. 
           
Meantime, with crime rates having increased in all major categories in San Diego County in 2012, calls have been mounting to unwind the system.

Maldonado prominently added his voice during a sidewalk news conference Monday outside the county’s central jail downtown.

"This was not designed to hold four, five and six-year sentences!" he exclaimed, waving an arm at the jail entrance as journalists and news photographers recorded the event.

Maldonado said he’s concerned that ex-convicts locked up for misdemeanors since late 2011 can be released early to make room for newly sentenced felons -- and then go on to commit serious crimes all the way up to murder.

"In the olden days, pre-early release, the District Attorney could say, 'This is a threat,' and send them back to prison,"  Maldonado said.
           
But with federal courts ruling California's prisons overcrowded to the point of "cruel and unusual punishment", there's no room in the penitentiaries.
           
Maldonado said that means new prisons should be built, current ones expanded, and old ones re-opened.
           
"We have to look at increasing capacity in California,” he said, explaining that providing funding ought to be a top priority in Sacramento. “And it should be the responsibility of the governor and the Legislature -- but mostly the governor.  Governors get what they want.  But since they're not doing anything, we're going to take it to the people of California."
           
But rehabilitation experts argue that prison construction and in-custody programs need to be augmented with post-release transitional assistance that can be provided by community-based organizations.

"Brick and mortar doesn't work --  I mean, there is no such thing as rehab in prison,” says Scott Silverman, founder of With Tough Love and Second Chance, community-based programs for returning troubled individuals to society.  "Putting more people on the inside, in institutions with no tools to prepare them to come outside -- all we're doing is building a bigger, better recidivism machine.”

To that perspective, the Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation's press secretary, Jeffrey Callison, offered this rebuttal: "Scott Silverman is entitled to his opinion, of course ... although his opinion is incorrect.   California has reinvigorated its commitment to rehabilitation, in part thanks to the steep decline in the prison population."

Callison said that under realignment, the state has reduced crowding by some 25,000 nmates in response to judicial mandates.

"However, the federal courts say that is not enough and require further reduction of some 9,500 inmates by the end of this year," Callison noted.  "Under threat of contempt of court, the state produced a plan for continuing population reduction.

"But Governor Brown says such reduction is not needed, is potentially dangerous, and will be expensive, and the state has started the process of appealing the most recent order to the Supreme Court."

     
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore is looking forward to opening a 400-bed "re-entry" facility at the county’s Otay Mesa jail complex, to better prepare inmates for release and reduce a men's jail capacity factor of 99 percent.

“We're looking at alternatives to incarceration, to make beds so we don't have to do early releases for the more serious felons,” Gore said in an interview Monday. "We're doing in-custody ankle bracelets.  We're putting people into work-furlough programs. Those types of programs make room for the people who need to stay in jail."

Gore said he sees no simple, affordable solution close at hand to a problem that’s been developing for two decades: “As the prison population grew, the recidivism rate climbed, and the state did not build more capacity in the system … the state looked at realignment and felt that's the better way to approach this than releasing people early from the state prisons."
           
Maldonado's initiative -- aimed at the November ballot next year -- would require the valid petition signatures of more than half a million registered voters.
           
It's shaping up as the key platform plank of a gubernatorial bid, for which he's established an official.

Mark Zuckerberg has clicked "Like" on the Keystone XL Pipeline — and now his timeline is going to be chock-full of angry.

The Facebook founder and CEO recently started a political advocacy group called FWD.us — and the group is running a series of television ads in support of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

His PAC was created to support immigration reform, but it is also going to support such things as drilling. There are those in Congress who support immigration reform, but who also support drilling, and some say that the PAC funding might be a means to an end.

Feared and loathed by environmentalists, the pipeline would open up Canadian tar sands for oil and gas exploration.

Activists in the San Francisco Bay Area say they are "angered and mystified" over Zuck's turn for the pipe, and a group of about 50 protested Wednesday at Facebook's world headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The protest was timed just before the company released its first-quarter earnings. . Wednesday is also "May Day," a day where many took up immigrants' rights and a path to citizenship as the key causes of the day.

The protesters questioned why Zuckerberg would "spend millions in support" of the pipeline, "among the dirtiest projects on Earth."

And they created an online petition to stop "running ads supporting fossil fuels" which as of Wednesday afternoon had collected more than 18,000 signatures.

Zuckerberg did not come outside the building when the protect occurred about noon, nor did he issue any statement on his Facebook news website.

Supporters, however, point out that that building the pipeline means thousands of jobs.

FWD.us's ads feature Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bashing President Barack Obama for not being supportive-enough of the pipe.

Credo Mobile, the socially-active mobile carrier, says that Facebook has refused to run its ads that blast the pipeline and FWD.us's support for it.

Even though experts say Zuckerberg's primary directive in effecting change in social policy is immigration reform, some are not going to agree with using the pipeline ads as "cover" for that change.

"But invariably there is going to be people who don’t understand and the inevitable result is going to be this type of press fire," Dan Schnur, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times.

Ironically, the Zuckerberg critics have a Facebook page dedicated to their cause.

Federal agents served warrants at six Riverside County homes, including those belonging to members of the Moreno Valley City Council, as part of a corruption investigation.

Agents with the IRS, FBI and U.S Attorney's Office spent several hours collecting items from his home including computer hardware. The raids began early Tuesday.

Moreno Valley Mayor Tom Owings was among the subjects being investigated. He said he did not know specifically why he and his colleagues were part of the probe.

"Obviously, I feel innocent of any wrongdoing," Owings said.

The homes of council members Jesse Molina, Richard Stewart, Marcelo Co and Victoria Baca were also raided.

Investigators would not give any details about the raids, only saying that they are a part of a political corruption investigation.

Moreno Valley residents Deanna Reeder and Nina Ramos Hiers helped create an 800-page complaint about the city leaders, which they gave to the attorney general’s office last year.

"They sold their votes," Reeder alleged.

The complaint accuses the council of engaging in a kick-back system with local developer Iddo Benzeevi, owner of Highland Fairview Developers, which is located a block down the street from city hall.

Federal agents on Tuesday raided the corporate offices of Fairview Developers and the home Jerry Stephens, a realtor who, according to Reeder, has strong ties to Benzeevi.

Critics accuse Iddo Benzeevi of getting sweet land deals from council members on the taxpayers’ dime.

"He seems to be the Godfather of Moreno Valley and we've been yelling and screaming about this man taking advantage of the citizens here," Ramos Hiers said.

Ramos Hiers claims Benzeevi has been giving campaign contributions to the council in exchange for votes on certain high-priced land deals, including a nearly two-million-square-foot Sketchers distribution center.

"Whatever Iddo Benzeevi wants, Jerry Stephens does and so does the council," Reeder said.

When asked about the allegations that he may be a pawn for a powerful business, Moreno Valley’s mayor appeared upset by the question.

"I'm a 63-year-old businessman, I'm no pawn to anybody," Owings said.

NBC 4 tried repeatedly to contact Iddo Benzeevi, but so far the calls have gone unanswered.

A Moreno Valley City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night.

A letter addressed to a U.S. senator from Mississippi tested positive for the dangerous poison ricin, the FBI said Tuesday.

U.S. Capitol Police, which is partnering with the FBI in this investigation, said an envelope containing a white granular substance was intercepted about 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The FBI Field Office in Baltimore said the first test in the field was preliminary. The letter must now be sent for further testing.

 The letter was addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. It was intercepted at the Landover, Md., mail facility and did not reach the Capitol.

Wicker's office has informed the senator's close associates of the tainted letters, a source close to Wicker tells NBC News. The office also is telling associates that no one at the post office was exposed to the substance.

"This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capitol Police and FBI," said a statement issued by Wicker. "I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe."

The letter's appearance "wouldn't raise suspicion," the Senate sergeant at arms said. It was postmarked Memphis, Tenn.

Mail to Senate offices is suspended likely until the end of the week, according to Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Angus King, I-Maine. House leadership said there has been no change in their mail service.

"It was caught at the screening facility,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. “That's why we have the offsite screening facility for mail. And the tests came back positive. And they are shutting down the post offices temporarily to make sure they get everything squared away and we are notifying our state offices what to look for."

McCaskill suggested that officials identified a person of interest.

"Evidently this person, the person that is a suspect, writes to a lot of members," she said.

The off-site screening facility used to review all mail sent to Congress is temporarily shut down while a search is under way for the possibility of any other tainted letters. They are reviewing mail postmarked Memphis.

Ricin is far less dangerous than the anthrax that was found in letters sent in 2001, officials said.