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Courts & Rulings No decision is reached on Gascón's hiring practices Still lingering is the question of whether Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón acted unlawfully in hiring three deputy public defenders who supported his campaign effort as prosecutors without them having passed a Civil Service exam. A motion for a preliminary injunction, filed by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, came before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff on W...

Some people call it the "The Manhattan of Antarctica." By far the largest of 100 or so bases in Antarctica, is McMurdo Station at McMurdo Sound. Located at the furthest latitude South that a ship can sail in the Antarctic summer, the 75 year old American base is the situs of important research. It is also a logistical facility that supports South Pole Station and other bases. In a locked glass cabinet in the Station Master's office is the only firearm for 2,000 miles, a 12...

In the heart of Temecula Valley Wine Country and surrounded by 63 acres of beautifully tended vines, you'll find family-owned South Coast Winery Resort and Spa. Bask in an idyllic setting and experience Southern California's wine country for a peaceful sojourn. Delight in an unforgettable wine-tasting occasion. Bring the kids (and dog), stay for the weekend, and immerse yourself in a complete wine country adventure. Temecula Valley is the inland oasis to enjoy when looking...

January 7, 2022 - During her weekly press conference yesterday, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health, appeared optimistic about the apparently lower hospitalization and death rate during the latest surge of Covid-19. In just one week, Omicron went from 54% of sequenced samples to 85%. The number of Delta variant cases in the population is lower than at any time since that variant crowded out the previous version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, sometime during last summer....

Courts & Rulings Judge halts California earlier releases for repeat offenders A judge on Wednesday temporarily halted California's plans to speed the potential prison release dates for repeat offenders with serious and violent criminal histories under the state's "three strikes" law. California corrections officials had filed emergency regulations to boost good conduct credits for second-strike inmates serving time for nonviolent offenses who are housed at minimum-security...

December 30, 2021 - New numbers released by the Los Angeles County Health Department show that vaccinations are providing ever decreasing protection from infection by Covid-19. Of the new cases identified since November 27, 66.4% were in fully vaccinated individuals. The percent of the county population fully vaccinated is 68.5%. Therefore, vaccines appear to give only marginal protection from infection compared to no vaccine. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Pub...

Russia has 175,000 troops massed along the border with Eastern Ukraine. But he has placed calls to US President Joseph R. Biden, offering peace talks. What exactly does he have in mind? This is clearly the size of an invasion force. The United States had only 120,000 troops in Saudi Arabia before she invaded Iraq in 1992. Vladimir Putin is a strongman, and his Country loves him for it. He has been in office for 20 years. At 68 he could win another 3 or 4 elections in Russia....

Courts & Rulings The Supreme Court found a Sonoma County man's arrest illegal. A state appeals court upheld his conviction anyway Six months ago, a North Bay man who was pursued into his garage by police scored a rare defense victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, which limited officers' authority to enter a suspect's home without a warrant. That meant the entry into Arthur Lange's garage was illegal - but because the officer couldn't have known that in advance, Lange's...

Despite the fires and the drought, Christmas trees arrived in Santa Monica on time this year. Jerry's Liquor Store's parking lot has been transformed into an urban forest of Christmas trees. And for a few dollars, you can take one home yourself. That's right, a good old fashioned Christmas tree lot run by local boy scouts, right here in Santa Monica. Featuring Oregon grown trees! For about the 50th year, Boy Scout Troop 2 is conducting a Christmas Tree sale. "These kids are...

Courts & Rulings Judge stops LAPD union's request to nix COVID vaccine mandate The union representing LAPD officers lost a round Monday in its lawsuit alleging unfair labor negotiations related to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for municipal employees - with a judge denying its members' request for a preliminary injunction against the directive. The Los Angeles Police Protective League alleges the city failed to negotiate in good faith by withholding information about the...

Courts & Rulings Judge Ito spurns DA's entreaty to vacate death sentence Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roger Ito on Friday rejected a stipulation by the Office of District Attorney George Gascón and the defense that a death sentence be vacated, saying that this is the first time as a bench officer that he has not accepted a proposed stipulation between the parties. The California Supreme Court ordered a hearing as to whether the defendant, Samuel Zamudio, who was...

Hot Creek, starting as Mammoth Creek, is a stream in Mono County, within the Inyo National Forest. For years it has been a comfortable place to swim. But this summer, bathers noticed it had become too hot for comfort. "You used to be able to swim in it," writes one poster on social media. "There were two huge hot springs in the middle of an ice cold river, and you could find a perfect temperature in key places where the hot and cold water mixed. Unfortunately, the spring...

Courts & Rulings 'Inventory search' of lawfully parked car was pretextual The exploration by sheriff's deputies of the content of an automobile, in the absence of a warrant, cannot be justified as an inventory search incident pursuant to an impounding of the vehicle being driven by an unlicensed driver where that vehicle was in a public parking lot, the Third District Court of Appeal has held. Acting Presiding Justice Coleman Blease wrote the opinion, filed Wednesday and not...

Saving the United States Postal Service and stopping disingenuous forces from dismantling and privatizing it must be a national priority. We have witnessed the destruction of our post office and that must end, service levels must be restored and expanded, postage rates reduced; PO box rental prices slashed and new PO boxes added, local post offices re-opened, mail boxes that this postmaster general blatantly confiscated weeks before a national election must all be returned;...

The 7 man, 5 woman jury in Kenosha Wisconsin has reached a verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial. Rittenhouse is on trial for the death of two men and the wounding of a third, during the Blake Edwards riots in Kenosha in August 2020. The defense has claimed that the 17 year old acted in self defense. The trial has gripped the nation. The judge called the jury into the courtroom to read the verdict at noon on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. Not guilty of the murder of Rosenbaum. Not...

Global Citizen Live Los Angeles was the last location of the 24 hour worldwide broadcast to fundraise to defend our planet and defeat poverty by petitioning world leaders, philanthropists, and the private sector to give priority and commitments towards climate change, starvation, and vaccine equity. This spectacular concert took place on Saturday evening, September 21, 2021 at the Greek Theatre, located at the south section of Griffith Park, 2700 North Vermont Ave, Los...

Courts & Rulings California high court refuses to hear Brad Pitt's appeal in child custody battle The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider Brad Pitt's appeal of a lower-court ruling that disqualified the judge in his custody battle with Angelina Jolie. The court denied a review of a June appeals court decision that said the private judge hearing the case should be disqualified for failing to sufficiently disclose his business relationships with Pitt's...

Violinist Geneva Lewis, accompanied by pianist Marisa Gupta, comes to Pepperdine University's Raitt Recital Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 5, 2021 as the first performer of the Recital Series for the 2021–2022 season. Lewis' program, entitled Joachim & Friends, includes Robert Schuman's Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 105, Clara Schumann's Three Romances, Op. 22, Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004, Joseph Joachim's Romance in B...

Courts & Rulings Judge denies LAPD officers' request to block elements of the employee vaccine mandate A federal judge in Orange County has denied a request from a group of LAPD officers to block the city of Los Angeles from imposing certain elements of its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city employees. In a six-page decision U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner said the police employees had failed to show the city's requirements for exemption requests had caused any a...

Courts & Rulings 6th Circuit sides with student-athletes: Western Michigan University's vaccine policy 'burdens their free exercise of religion A Michigan attorney was preparing to file another lawsuit Friday on behalf of student-athletes who were banned from playing despite religious and medical vaccine exemptions when an appellate court issued a precedential ruling in an identical case. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided with 16...

California federal court announces vaccine mandate for workers--The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California now requires all employees, volunteers and judiciary contractors working onsite be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Kiry Gray, the clerk of the court, issued the policy on Friday. The announcement referred to the mandate as "necessary to combat the spread of Covid-19 and protect the health and safety of the court's employees, volunteers and...

Courts & Rulings Judge: California prison guards can't invoke qualified immunity after sticking homicide victim into cell with Aryan Brotherhood killer A year after hearing arguments, a federal judge has given the green light to a lawsuit alleging prison officials were negligent when they placed a man listed as an Aryan Brotherhood enemy into a cell with a gang member who stabbed him to death within minutes. Bay Area Newsgroup Presiding Judge Eric C. Taylor amends general...

Courts & Rulings California court overturns murder convictions, cites racism A California appeals court on Friday overturned the convictions of three Black men over a double slaying, saying prosecutors dismissed a Black woman from the jury pool for racial reasons. The prosecutor in the Contra Costa County case inappropriately questioned the 25-year-old woman's support of the Black Lives Matter movement and dismissed her for reasons that "were plainly tied to race," said a...

9/24: Last weekend, our photographer Mary Leipziger captured these photos of kids and adults playing beach volley ball on Santa Monica beach. The modern game originated on Santa Monica Beach. An annual tournament played in Ocean Park in August attracts players from around the world. During the academic year, an after school program for kids called West Coast Beach Volleyball operates from 3-5 pm daily, says Mary. Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two...

Courts & Rulings Ninth Circuit denies bid by California DAs to challenge death penalty moratorium In a divided opinion, a Ninth Circuit panel upheld a lower court decision that prevented a group of district attorneys from intervening in a case where Governor Gavin Newsom stayed all executions in the state of California via executive order. "The district attorneys have no authority to choose the method by which California will execute condemned inmates," U.S. Circuit Judge...