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SANTA MONICA – The City of Santa Monica has completed a major phase of street infrastructure work on California Avenue, with crews now transitioning to ongoing improvements along Broadway as part of broader efforts to enhance safety, mobility, and downtown vitality. The California Avenue Street Reconstruction project, which focused on rebuilding roadway surfaces, installing a new storm drain system, and related upgrades between Ocean Avenue and 7th Street, reached s...

Mountain Lion Kittens Spotted in the Santa Monica Foothills (February 2026) Trail cam footage from the Santa Monica Mountains recently captured something rare and adorable: a mother mountain lion leading her two spotted kittens across a fire road at dusk. The family, part of the local puma population monitored by the National Park Service, appeared healthy and well-fed, likely thriving on deer in the chaparral. The sighting thrilled biologists, who note that mountain lion...

Regional Briefs Local Police Response to Iran War By Amanda Hugginkiss LOS ANGELES – Heightened security concerns are rippling through Los Angeles following FBI warnings about potential Iranian retaliation, including unconfirmed rumors of drone attacks targeting California in response to U.S. actions abroad. While authorities have downplayed the immediacy and credibility of any specific threats, the alerts have prompted increased vigilance, particularly in high-profile Westsid...

The poor will always be with you, says the new testament; but does it really have to be in my backyard? In early March 2026, the City of LA had had enough of homeless people living in RV's in residential parts of Playa Vista. Lead by Councilwoman Traci Parks, they conducted a targeted cleanup operation. The focus was an RV encampment located on Alla Road behind the Home Depot and adjacent to Ballona Creek. Crews worked to remove recreational vehicles, makeshift shelters, accum...

Santa Monica, CA – February 26, 2026 – State Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who represents the Westside including Santa Monica, received the highest share of delegate votes among Democratic candidates at the California Democratic Party's state convention held last weekend in San Francisco. According to reports from the convention, Allen garnered approximately 42% (1,056 votes, or 41.7%) of the ballots cast by delegates in the race for Insurance Commissioner. Former San...

Looking for something to watch on this 3 day weekend with your lover, in bed? The 2000s were the golden age of mainstream romantic comedies - a time when Hollywood leaned hard into the formula of meet-cutes, grand gestures, misunderstandings, and happy endings, often with a glossy, feel-good vibe that made them endlessly re-watchable. They were "angsty but hopeful" because they thrived on romantic tension (miscommunications, career vs. love conflicts, self-doubt) while always...

The 25 best places to retire in the US in 2026, ranked by what retirees value most What’s the best place to retire? To answer that question, The Motley Fool surveyed 2,000 retired Americans to understand what matters most in retirement and used those insights to rank the best places to retire across the United States. Based on the survey results, The Motley Fool identified seven key retirement factors and weighted each according to retiree preferences: quality of life (...

Why does your dog get so excited about snow? It’s a delightful scene: The first snow of the year falls, and you get your dog all suited up to venture outside for a walk. The second they lay eyes on the winter wonderland, their ears perk up. Setting that first paw print into the snow, their snout goes into overdrive, and the seemingly endless zoomies start. You may have wondered: What is it exactly about snow that gets them going? Is it the look of it? The texture on their p...

9 everyday things tourists do that are accidents waiting to happen Tourists often move through American cities, beaches, and national parks with a sense of ease, soaking in places locals know can change quickly. Residents in major destinations say many of the mishaps they witness don’t stem from thrill-seeking but from the everyday habits visitors bring with them: stepping into a busy street for a better angle, edging too close to wildlife, or venturing into water that l...

Why January can feel emotionally heavy It’s early January. Your inbox is crowded with fresh-start messages, your calendar looks untouched, and social media hums with promises of transformation. Everywhere you look, momentum seems to be building. Yet you’re sitting with your coffee, feeling oddly out of sync with all this optimism. The gap between January's promises and its reality feels disorienting. While the world races toward change, you might feel a heaviness in these ear...

Chico, California - January 7, 2026 -- Republican U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, who represented California's 1st Congressional District for over a decade, died on January 6, 2026, at the age of 65 following a medical emergency and complications during surgery. LaMalfa, a fourth-generation rice farmer from Northern California, experienced a medical emergency at his home on January 5. He was transported to Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where he underwent emergency surgery...

A new ‘solution’ to student homelessness: A parking lot where students can sleep safely in their cars When Edgar Rosales Jr. uses the word “home,” the second-year college student with a linebacker’s build isn’t referring to the house he plans to buy after becoming a nurse or getting a job in public health. Rather, the student at California’s Long Beach City College is talking about the parking lot he slept in every night for more than a year. With Oprah-esque enthusiasm, R...

jittawit21 // Shutterstock Cheapest gas stations in every state Dec. 23, 2025 Anyone who drives a car understands the sting of having to fill up their tank and pulling into the gas station, only to discover that gas prices have skyrocketed. Paying extra for gas means you have less to spend on other things, which, over time, can really put a crimp in your budget. Cheap Insurance explored some of the reasons behind major changes in gas prices, and compiled a list of the...

As California heads into 2026, the state's gasoline market faces significant disruption from the closures of two major refineries: Phillips 66's Los Angeles-area facility, which ceased operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, and Valero's Benicia refinery, scheduled to shut down by April 2026. Together, these closures eliminate roughly 17-20% of California's in-state refining capacity, raising concerns about supply shortages, increased reliance on imports, and higher prices...

Dear Residents of Santa Monica, When the train finished in 2016, our lives near 9th and Wilshire changed completely. For almost a decade I've written about the decline of the downtown area, being attacked by addicts, cleaning human feces out of our condo's carports, and witnessing a skid row reality take over my local Reed Park. I've become a crank to myself, trying to sound the alarm about a disintegrating city right before my eyes. Before my work responsibilities buried...

Winter health tips for immunocompromised seniors Winter can be a fun-filled holiday season. However, the cold temperature also makes everyone, especially immunocompromised seniors, susceptible to viruses, such as the common cold and flu. A weakened immune system makes you sick more often, and your illness lasts longer. You also have a higher risk of complications, such as pneumonia or bacterial infections. Knowing how to protect yourself is key to enjoying the holidays. While...

The 20 cheapest places in the Northern Hemisphere to ski this winter As snowflakes start to settle on mountain peaks, ski enthusiasts eagerly anticipate another season of powdery trails, cozy lodges, and the thrill of the descent. Yet, in recent years, the allure of skiing has been shadowed by an undeniable reality: The rising cost of hitting the slopes in the United States and Canada. Looking at the top three ski resorts in the U.S. and Canada, you can expect to spend an...

SANTA MONICA - When the curtain rises on Westside Ballet's 52nd annual Nutcracker this Thanksgiving weekend, audiences will witness something increasingly rare in American ballet: a true community production elevated to world-class standards. New York City Ballet principals Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia return as Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier for the November 29-30 performances at The Broad Stage, followed by Los Angeles Ballet company dancer Rony Baseman and Ashley Chung fro...

In the vast, unforgiving theater of space exploration, where heroes are forged in fire and isolation, the human heart remains a fragile engine—prone to overheating, misfiring, and exploding under pressure. Two women, both NASA astronauts, both trailblazers who touched the stars, found their orbits shattered not by cosmic debris, but by the gravity of jealousy. Their stories, separated by nearly two decades, echo like distress signals across the void: reminders that even t...

3 common questions about AI The term “artificial intelligence” was coined at the famous Dartmouth Conference in 1956, put on by luminaries like John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, and Claude Shannon, among others. These organizers wanted to create machines that “use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves.” They went on to claim that “… a significant advance can be made in one or more of these problems if...

Admit it. When you were a kid, you wanted to play that sweet soft music and selling ice cream just as sweet and soft. Now you can fulfill your childhood fantasy and own an ice cream truck. A retired New York Police Department cop became an ice cream vendor. Now he is selling off the remaining three ice cream trucks he built. "I'm a retired police officer," said ice cream man Mike Musancry. "I came here 20 years ago and there were no ice cream trucks anymore in California. So I...

Los Angeles, CA – November 7, 2025, 6:46 PM PST -- Constitutional law attorney Mark Meuser has filed a federal lawsuit challenging California's newly approved Proposition 50 congressional map, alleging it constitutes an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The lawsuit was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Friday, hours after the proposition passed with voter approval on November 5. Proposition 50, supported by the state legislature...

jittawit21 // Shutterstock Cheapest gas stations in every state Anyone who drives a car understands the sting of having to fill up their tank and pulling into the gas station, only to discover that gas prices have skyrocketed. Paying extra for gas means you have less to spend on other things, which, over time, can really put a crimp in your budget. CheapInsurance.com explored some of the reasons behind major changes in gas prices, and compiled a list of the cheapest gas...

Los Angeles, CA - The Los Angeles residential real estate market experienced a significant upswing in September 2025, with closed escrow sales of existing single-family homes rising 20.9% from August, according to the California Association of Realtors (CAR). The increase, reported as approximately 21%, reflects a jump from roughly 4,800 homes sold in August to 5,800 in September, marking a 13.8% year-over-year gain from September 2024. The surge in sales is attributed to a...

Los Angeles, CA - The 20.9% month-over-month increase in residential sales across Los Angeles County in September 2025, driven by declining mortgage rates to 6.4%, has rippled into Westside neighborhoods like Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, and West Los Angeles. While countywide data shows a rebound from summer slowdowns, local trends reveal a mixed picture: robust sales volume in Santa Monica, luxury price growth in Pacific Palisades amid post-wildfire recovery, and steady...