Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

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  • Santa Monica Pier is Happy with a C Grade on the Heal the Bay Beach Report

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jul 4, 2019

    According to Heal the Bay's annual Beach Report Card, the beach at Santa Monica Pier improved its water quality. For the first time since 2013, the Pier missed getting put on Heal the Bay's "Beach Bummer List." The beach at this location did receive a C grade, however, even in dry weather, when bacteria levels are usually lower. Heal the Bay assigns A-F letter grades for 500 California beaches with the grades based on the weekly levels of bacterial pollution found in the water. In the 2018-2019...

  • A Devout Muslim Advocates for Gender Equality, Freedom of Conscience and Expression. And People Hate Him

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jun 20, 2019

    Normally, there is one security guard standing outside the door of Kehillat Ma'arav Synagogue in Santa Monica. For this Sunday morning lecture, however, there were two guards. The reason: the speaker was Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a medical doctor and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). Jasser, a devout Muslim, began AIFD in order to advocate for Muslim communities around the world to embrace the principles of gender equality, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech and...

  • Starbucks Coffee Cup Finds it's Way Onto Game of Thrones Set

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|May 6, 2019

    Apparently, A Man Needs caffeine to get through a dark and stormy night on Westeros. A Starbucks coffee cup was spotted in a scene of "Game of Thrones" on Sunday night. Many such errors have become famous in movie making. Nevertheless, the coffeecup took on a life of its own on Twitter after the episode aired. "Movie blunders: Daenerys' Starbucks cup. Because even the Mother of Dragons needs a good cup o' Joe." wrote former US Presidential candidate, Ted Cruz. "Surprised ppl joking around about...

  • SMPD Arrest in 2017 Party Bus Shooting of De'Ommie de la Cruz

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Feb 18, 2019

    Over a year after the fatal shooting of a young woman on a party bus and the shooting injuries of four others, the Santa Monica Police have arrested a man as a person of interest. Camron Aaron Lee, 22, a resident of Los Angeles has been booked for murder, according to Lt. Saul Rodriguez of the SMPD. Lee has three prior felony and one misdemeanor arrests. Lee is the first arrest made in this party-bus murder, a situation which was highly publicized at the time. The shooting occurred early in the...

  • Fire Scorches Apartment Unit at the Santa Monica Shores So Tower

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Feb 15, 2019

    The greatest concentration of population anywhere in Santa Monica is the Santa Monica shores, at 2800 Nielson Way. Built in the 1970's the apartments start at around $5000 a month for two bedrooms. They can be double that with a view. Somehow a unit in the pricey South Tower caught fire Friday evening, February 8th 2019. At 7:15 p.m., the SMFD responded to the 14 floor tower, to investigate a fire alarm activation. When firefighters discovered smoke billowing from an apartment balcony on the...

  • Kamala Harris, the Harpy of Climate Change and Poster Child of By Any Means Necessary

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Feb 4, 2019
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    In her first campaign speech as a presidential hopeful for the 2020 election, Kamala Harris, presently the junior Senator from California, roused the crowd with her progressive agenda and enthusiastically included the now-requisite alarm sirens regarding climate change. "Let's speak truth - climate change is real, and it is happening now," Harris told her adoring crowd. She added, "Everybody here knows from wildfires in the west to hurricanes in the east, to floods and droughts in the...

  • Do You Hate Football? Free Admission to LA Museums for Superbowl Weekend

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Feb 1, 2019

    I must confess nothing about the Superbowl is interesting to me, except the guys at football parties. Do you secretly feel like I do? If you don't want to watch the superbowl, the Los Angeles Area museums are offering free admission on Superbowl weekend. The following museums will be open both Saturday and Sunday: Armory Center for the Arts Automobile Driving Museum The Broad (Free advance general admission tickets strongly recommended to avoid waiting in the standby line. Visit...

  • Jeff Bezos said: "Alexa: Get me a Victoria's Secret Model."

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jan 15, 2019

    Now why would the richest man in world history leave his wife and 4 children? For a good friend's wife, that's why. Numerous sources report that Jeff Bezos had a long time affair with a married woman named Lauren Sanchez, a judge on "So you think you can dance." See for example, https://www.ccn.com/jeff-bezos-affair-with-married-lauren-sanchez-puts-worlds-largest-fortune-at-risk/ Jeff and MacKenzie were friends with Lauren and her husband, a talent agent named Patrick Whitesell. Both Lauren and...

  • New Year's Day Power Outage In Santa Monica East of 11th St, North of California Ave

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jan 4, 2019

    Update 8pm: power has been restored to affected areas of Santa Monica. A morning transformer explosion dimmed lights in Santa Monica North of California Avenue and East of 11th Street, residents reported. It occurred on New Years Day, a National holiday. Southern California Edison tweeted no statement concerning the outage. Calls to a recorded line said the power would be restored by Tuesday at 9 pm. One resident reportedly heard a transformer explode at at 10:27 am Tuesday, reportedly near the...

  • Venice Homeless Shelter Approved. 154 Beds for temp shelter

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Dec 15, 2018

    On Tuesday, 12/11/18, the Los Angeles City Council voted to construct a temporary homeless shelter on a former Metro bus yard located at Sunset and Pacific Avenues, blocks from the beach. Designated a temporary shelter, it will open next year. Funding will come from Mayor Eric Garcetti's A Bridge Home initiative. In April, Mayor Garcetti announced the initiative he called A Bridge Home. The idea was to see the creation of temporary homeless shelters in each of the city's 15 council districts. Th...

  • City Water Sustainability Delayed 3 Years After A Decade of Non Stop Construction

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Dec 13, 2018

    It may come as a disappointment to city cheerleaders and cause an eye-roll to the rest of us that the city has announced their plan to become "self-sufficient" in water use has been delayed by three years. Back in 2011, the Santa Monica City Council - largely the same people it is today, seven years later - set a goal of reaching water self-sufficiency by 2020. One can only speculate that their idea was it was somehow more environmentally friendly and also cost-efficient to use local well water...

  • LAPD Arrests Big Blue Bus Transit Superintendent Jamieson on Child Pornography Charges

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Dec 9, 2018

    Less than two months after the arrest of Eric Uller, a systems analyst with the Information Services Department, for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, another city-related employee has been arrested for crimes against children. Transit Operations Superintendent Larry Jamieson of Big Blue Bus was arrested on Monday by the Los Angeles Police Department for alleged possession of child pornography. The news of Jamieson's arrest was posted on the Residocracy Facebook page via a photograph of an...

  • Lawsuit over Party Bus Shooting Near SM Pier, Alleges Failure to Provide Security

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Dec 3, 2018

    An early-morning shooting between two party buses near the Santa Monica Pier last year resulted in the death of 28-year-old De'Ommie de la Cruz. Now her friends and relatives are suing the city and the bus company for negligence they say contributed to her demise. De'Ommie de la Cruz was on the Lion Limousine Corp. bus on November 3, 2017 in order to celebrate the birthday of a friend. When the passengers asked for a bathroom break just before 1 a.m., the driver pulled over in the vicinity of Oc...

  • Providence St. John nurses Call 12 Hour Strike for Tuesday, November 27

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Nov 25, 2018

    Providence St. John nurses will strike on Tuesday, November 27 from 8 AM to 8 PM, wrote Labor and Delivery Nurse Lizabeth Baker-Wade, in a post on Facebook. "Since the Providence take over things have gone downhill," she wrote. "Providence is expanding so quickly that the nurses who take care of our community are left with poor staffing, increased workloads, decreased ancillary staff and a host of other internal problems. Providence has seen a profit of hundreds of millions of dollars yet there...

  • HPV Vaccines Prevent Only Some Strains, Cause 20 deaths

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Nov 22, 2018

    In a video posted on YouTube, women charge that Gardisil, a vaccine intended prevent infection with human papilloma virus, instead causes sterility, blindness, autoimmune disorder and death. The problem is that HPV has at least 200 strains that afflict human beings. Vaccines only prevent 10 or 15 of these strains, and while this number does include some of that cause cancer, it does not prevent others. In addition, the vaccines have numerous side effects. At least 20 depths of younger women...

  • SMC Malibu Satellite Campus Begins Construction: Four years to Build 27,500 Square Feet

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Oct 1, 2018

    A project begun in the early 2000s to construct a satellite campus for Santa Monica College in Malibu finally won all the necessary approvals for construction, roughly 18 years later. The 27,5000-square-foot project will include six classrooms and a Los Angeles County Sheriff substation. Located in the Malibu Civic Center near the Malibu Farmers Market and Pepperdine University, it has not yet been decided what classes will be offered in the new building, which is scheduled to open in 2022....

  • Tearful Brett Kavanaugh Denies Having Ever Met Christine Blasey Ford

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Sep 27, 2018

    "Among examples of sexual behavior includes grinding his genitals against someone else, and horseplay." Dr. Ford has stated that somewhere between 5 or 6 people were present at the gathering. You, Mike Judge, Patrick PJ Smith, Dr. Ford, Leland Kaiser and 2 other other people. How do you know Mike Judge? A friend starting in 9th grade. We were a friendly group at Georgetown Prep. He was a funny guy, bright, developed an addiction problem, nearly died from his addiction. I haven't talked to him...

  • SMRR Basically Endorses the Incumbents for Santa Monica City Council

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Sep 24, 2018

    ​Santa Monica has more than its fair share of drama over local elections. The powerful and longtime influential group of Santa Monicans for Renter's Rights (SMRR) has recently noticed fierce (if futile) attacks from new groups of residents opposed to their policies of rampant over-development, unwise fiscal policy, and anti-business positions. Measure TL, which would impose term limits on city council seats that are now effective lifetime positions, is one heroic attempt to wrest some small m...

  • Conversion to Office Space Breaks Ground for Sears in Santa Monica

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Sep 16, 2018

    The Sears building on 4th Street in Santa Monica will follow the trajectory of several Southland sites, moving from retail to office space. Owners Seritage Growth Properties and Invesco Real Estate announced the 100,000-square-foot building, which has landmark status, will continue to support retail and restaurant use, but will also include office space. The building's name has already been changed to Mark 302, but the extensive renovations will not allow it to open until the fall of 2019. Those...

  • Two Million Visitors Worship the Graven Image of a Big Plastic Cow at the Minnesota State Fair, 2018

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Sep 6, 2018

    The Minnesota State Fair's slogan is "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." It is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance. It is also the second-largest state fair in the United States by total attendance, trailing only the State Fair of Texas, which generally runs twice as long as the Minnesota State Fair. The state fairgrounds, adjoining the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, are in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, midway between the state's capital city...

  • Burt Reynolds Dies of Cardiac Arrest at 82. Star of Smokey & the Bandit, Deliverance, etc.

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Sep 6, 2018

    Actor Burt Reynolds has died of cardiac arrest at a Florida hospital on September 6, 2018. He had been suffering from heart problems for a number of years. "Burt Reynolds was one of my heroes. He was a trailblazer. He showed the way to transition from being an athlete to being the highest paid actor, and he always inspired me. He also had a great sense of humor - check out his Tonight Show clips. My thoughts are with his family," tweeted Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Perhaps most famous for the movies...

  • Fireside Cellars: Liquor License Suspended on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Aug 29, 2018

    A sign in the door informs customers that Fireside Cellars has had it's alcohol license suspended by the California State Depart of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). It is unknown why it was shut down--whether they violated the law by selling to minors, or simply didn't pay their fees on time. The ABC was created by constitutional amendment effective January 1, 1955, as an independent department of the executive branch of the state government. The Board of Equalization no longer has any...

  • Conviction in Juan Castillo Murder from February: 18 year old who died outside SM UCLA Hospital

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Aug 23, 2018

    Local Briefs Juan Castillo, 18, was found dead on February 26, 2018 at 5 am, in the 1300 block of 16th Street in Santa Monica. He appeared to be on the way to Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the head, but died outside the hospital. It was a crime that shocked the community. His parents noted that Castillo was a good student, a football player at SamoHi, and not a gang member. On August 21, 2018, following a jury trial, Sherwin Mendoza Espinosa, a 43 year-old male from...

  • Mars Rising Over the Atlantic Visible to Millions, Creating Martian UFO Reports

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jul 20, 2018

    A poster on Reddit recently shared this photo of Mars reflecting off the early evening sky, as it rises in the East. "Right now Mars is closer and brighter than it's been since 2003. It's so bright it's casting a reflection on the ocean as it rises. Took this two nights ago in Rhode Island," writes the Reddit poster, Advillious. "I live in the middle of nowhere, literally middle of nowhere. No light pollution what so ever. Population says 43 if you google my town. It's almost like the "middle...

  • "How to Shop for a Banana Split" Becomes a Viral Video With Unknown Star

    Sarah Storkin, Observer Staff Writer|Jul 9, 2018

    In the video, the woman walks up to a table at a grocery store, picks a banana, then does a split. Simple enough, ehh? Watch it for yourself, when your wife isn't watching you.Men cannot usually do the splits as easily as women, because women are more flexible, some gymnasts say. But who is she? In a video as full of charm as it is of unexplainable sexuality, a young woman and her BF or BFF, have created a viral GIF wherein she shops for a banana. Yes that Laurel and Hardy era source of so much...

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