Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Articles from the August 20, 2023 edition


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  • Tropical Storm Hilary Arrives in LA, Downs a Few Power Lines, Causes a Few Traffic Accidents. #LARain

    David Ganezer, Observer Staff Writer|Aug 20, 2023
    1

    8/20: The rain began to fall in my Westside neighborhood at 9:15 or so Sunday morning. It looked and felt a lot like, well, rain. Los Angeles County does get 14 inches of rain a year, most of it in the winter and not in August. I did see a video of floods in Mexico where the Category One storm came to shore. The tropical storm is expected to lose power and wind speed as it moves further north into Southern California. But on Twitter (now X), people pilloried Hilary and those who exaggerated her...

  • A Sustainable, Affordable, and Compassionate Solution for Our Homeless Crisis

    Houman Hemmati MD PhD, Special to the Observer|Aug 20, 2023

    Dear Mayor Davis and Members of the Santa Monica City Council, I am writing to express my deep concerns over the proposed plan to address our homelessness issue by constructing multi-million-dollar accommodations in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world. Not only is this approach economically imprudent, it would likely be ineffective in achieving our overarching goal: providing safe and stable housing for every homeless person in our city. I would like to present an...

  • SMMUSD Plan to Buy Civic Auditorium Disregards its History, the Needs of Public, and Prohibitive Cost

    Houman Hemmati, Special to the Observer|Aug 20, 2023

    My open letter to SM City Council and School Board on the quarter billion $+ plan to acquire the Civic Auditorium: Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, Santa Monica City Council, Mayor Gleam Davis Dear Members of the SMMUSD Board of Education, City Council, and Mayor Gleam Davis, I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of Santa Monica and a parent of two school children in the SMMUSD. The proposed plan to purchase and repurpose the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is...

  • Tear Up The Tracks: Santa Monica's Crime Train

    Jon Berg, Special to the Observer|Aug 20, 2023
    5

    For quite some time---maybe, even, years---I've been working out in my head a piece dealing with a curse that arrived in Santa Monica at 9:49 AM on May 20, 2016. At that moment---cheered on by people who had had a hand in its gestation and birth, including (now convicted felon) Mark Ridley-Thomas, the now conveniently exiled hapless Eric Garcetti, and last but not least, the now blessedly-disappeared Pam O'Connor, Sheila Kuehl, and Kevin McKeown---the first train from downtown L.A. pulled into t...

  • Earn Too Much and Social Security Will Withhold Payments

    Rusty Gleer, Association of Mature American Citizens|Aug 20, 2023

    Ask Rusty – Why is Social Security Withholding My Monthly Payments? Dear Rusty: I have been working since I started collecting Social Security when I turned 62. Last year I was apparently overpaid because of my job. I made $37,000 and now the Social Security Administration says I owe them $8,800 dollars because I made too much, and they have withheld my $2000 monthly SS payment. I am close to the maximum allowable again already this year. So, I am looking at quitting my job so I don't go o...

  • Xylazine Veterinary Anesthetic Found in Illicit Drugs in Los Angeles County

    LA County Department of Public Health|Aug 20, 2023

    The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Scientific Services Bureau (Crime Lab) has detected xylazine in limited quantities of illicit drugs seized by local law enforcement in Los Angeles County, signaling that the substance is present in the local drug supply. Xylazine is a veterinary anesthetic that is not FDA approved for human consumption; it can cause dangerously low blood pressure, a decrease in breathing rate and heart rate, and damage to tissue which can lead to skin wounds, large...

  • Celebrity Gets Harshest Possible Sentencing for Shooting Celebrity in Gascon's "Justice Reform" World: Ten Year Prison Sentence for Tory Lanez Shooting Megan Thee Stallion

    Alyssa Erdley, Observer Staff|Aug 20, 2023

    August 9, 2023 - "Justice Reform" Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced yesterday a ten-year prison sentence for rap artist Tory Lanez for shooting another musical artist, Megan Thee Stallion in a 2020 incident in the Hollywood Hills. Tory Lanez's legal name is Daystar Peterson and Megan Thee Stallion's legal name is Megan Pete. Gascon has advanced a soft-on-criminal approach since taking office in December 2020. His theory is that long prison sentences do not stop...