Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Sorted by date Results 207 - 231 of 514
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...
Update: The woman in this accident reportedly later died. The Santa Monica Police are appealing for the public's health in identifying a hit and run driver who struck a pedestrian an hour after midnight on Halloween morning. On October 31, 2021 at about 12:57 am, the vehicle pictured above, struck a pedestrian in the crosswalk at the intersection of 3rd Street and Wilshire Blvd., causing serious bodily injury to the pedestrian before fleeing, writes SMPD Lt. Rudy Flores. "The...
Courts & Rulings Qualified immunity: Supreme Court sides with police, overturns denial of immunity in two cases The Supreme Court sided Monday with police in two cases in which plaintiffs claimed officers used excessive force, overturning separate lower court rulings that had allowed the officers to be sued for civil rights violations. In two unsigned opinions, the court stressed police are entitled to be shielded from liability unless it is "clear to a reasonable officer"...
One local resident reported that a suspect had attacked four people in the parking lot at Chase Bank, corner of Olympic Blvd and Westwood. The suspect had fled to a backyard on Midvale. After a search including a police helicopter LAPD apprehended the suspect, who was placed under arrest for attempted armed robbery. Residents of the normally quiet 2200 block of Midvale Avenue in West LA, were confronted late Saturday morning with heavy LAPD presence. At 11 am, about 20 LAPD...
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...
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón's focus is not on prosecuting crimes, but on resentencing defendants who were convicted, sentenced and had their appeals denied, sometimes decades ago. Even more disturbing is that the Los Angeles County public defender's office is writing some of these resentencing motions for prosecutors to file, which deliberately omit or, at best, gloss over adverse controlling case law. All this is happening under the supervision of a deputy...
October 19, 2021 - A mentally ill woman from Fresno attacked three people early in the morning on October 14, including a former "Survivor: Fiji" contestant, Michelle Yi. The suspect, identified as Alexandria Diaz, 25, from Fresno, stabbed Yi in the bicep with the blade and hit her on the hand and head with the baton. Yi's Apple watch was shattered, and she had to receive several stitches in her eyebrow because of the blow from the metal baton. Diaz apparently also attacked...
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...
October 7, 2021 - Police have released composite sketches of the two suspects in a shooting involving an attempted carjacking in the early morning of September 22. At approximately 3:00 am on that Wednesday morning, Santa Monica police received multiple calls regarding the sound of shots fired. Shortly thereafter, the victim himself called police, reporting he'd been shot in the face. The victim had been sleeping in his car in the area of Ocean and Pacific. Two suspects...
After the second killing of one homeless man by another at a homeless encampment on San Vicente on September 14th, local officials said they would redouble efforts to house the veterans elsewhere. Neighbors in Brentwood who have always been less than thrilled about the row of tents on some of the world's most expensive real estate, were naturally disgusted by the violence. Some of them demanded that authorities do something about the violence that naturally ensues when drug an...
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted four Southland residents in connection with an alleged fraud scheme that induced people into purchasing thousands of Target gift cards, which were then used at stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties to purchase electronics and other goods. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, charges U.S. citizen Blade Bai, 33, of El Monte; and Chinese nationals Bowen Hu, 26, of Hacienda Heights; Tairan Shi, 27, of Diamond Bar; and Yan Fu,...
September 23, 2021 - At approximately 3:00 am on Wednesday morning, Santa Monica police received multiple calls regarding the sound of shots fired. Shortly thereafter, the victim himself called police, reporting he'd been shot in the face. The victim had been sleeping in his car in the area of Ocean Avenue and Pacific Street. Two suspects approached his car, demanded he give them the keys to the vehicle, and then abruptly shot him. Following this assault, they fled in another...
A Santa Monica business executive pleaded guilty on Thursday to a federal charge of conspiring to make and conceal conduit and excessive campaign contributions during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and thereafter, court officials said. Stevan Hill, 70, of Santa Monica, conspired with his business associate, Ahmad "Andy" Khawaja, and others, between March 2016 and June 2018, to make unlawful contributions to several political committees, thereby circumventing contributi...
9/23: Santa Monica Police called on the LAPD Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT) and the Unmanned Aerial Systems Team (Drone Team) to arrest Eliott Ferrando, 24 of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County District Attorney filed charges against Ferrando for two counts of attempted murder stemming from a shooting on September 6, 2021. Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Officers responded to a report of 'Shots Fired' in the area of Yorkshire and Pico at 1:21 pm on Sept. 6th, Sgt....
9/21/21 - A registered sex offender who was preying on homeless women on the Santa Monica beach was charged yesterday with one count of Assault to commit rape and 1 count of Sexual Battery for two incidents reported to Santa Monica Police this month. Jarvis Mathias Newman, 26, is also known as Marquis Perkings. His residence was not given in the official press release. The first incident allegedly involving Newman occurred on September 12. A female victim had been sleeping in...
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...
Courts & Rulings Federal court upholds ban on seizure of oversize items in public areas by LAPD, sanitation workers A federal appeals panel on Thursday affirmed a ruling prohibiting Los Angeles police and sanitation workers from seizing and tossing oversized items stashed in public places, frequently by the homeless. The split decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena upholds last year's lower court decision that bans the city from enforcing an ordinance st...
September 10, 2021 - Shortly after midnight this morning, a victim was held up at gunpoint outside La Condesa restaurant at 1519 Wilshire Boulevard, and then driven around the block in their own car while they were robbed. At least two suspects then fled in their own vehicle at high speed, crashing at 26th Street and Wilshire Boulevard. Santa Monica Police arrived on the scene, set up a perimeter, and with the help of dogs and a drone, caught one of the suspects. The Beverly H...
Culver City police have arrested two people on attempted murder charges and one man on accessory charges in connection with an ambush shooting last month. One of the suspects was apparently shot by the victim and ended up in a local hospital, according to Culver City Police Department. The shooting occurred around 2:40 a.m. on August 24 in the area of Mentone Ave. and Culver Blvd., said CCPD in a press release. Witnesses told police that they heard gunshots and saw a black...
Los Angeles police are looking for a sexual predator who broke into a Westwood apartment and groped a sleeping woman Friday morning. The assault occurred around 4 a.m. in the 11000 block of Strathmore Drive, near UCLA, according to Los Angeles Police Department. The victim reported that she was awakened by movement in her bedroom. "She saw a white male standing over her," LAPD said in a press release. "He groped her over her clothes before she jumped up and pushed him out of...
In an example of the consequences of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon's zero bail policy, a suspect was able to break into and rob the same restaurant on the Third Street Promenade three times in one week. Jason Tyrone Strickland, 42, allegedly homeless, was observed on surveillance footage breaking into the CULT restaurant on the Third Street Promenade on August 20, 22, and 26. He was issued citations and let go about his business on the first two occasions, which...
California Supreme Court rejects attempt to make it harder to impose death penalty California's top court rejected an attempt to make it harder to impose the death penalty, ruling Thursday in favor of the current system where jurors need not unanimously agree on aggravating factors used to justify the punishment. Jurors already must unanimously agree to impose a death sentence, and to do so must decide that aggravating factors outweigh mitigating circumstances. AP--Judge has...
Courts & Rulings California Supreme Court rules prison inmates not allowed to have marijuana The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state's law allowing the use of recreational marijuana does not apply to prison inmates, overturning a 2019 appellate court ruling that allowed prisoners to possess up to 1 ounce of pot. In a 5-2 decision, the state's high court ruled that "it seems unlikely" voters sought to decriminalize possession of marijuana in prisons....
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that adult film star Ron Jeremy has been indicted on more than 30 sexual assault counts involving 21 victims dating back more than two decades. "Far too often, survivors of sexual assault suffer in isolation," District Attorney Gascón said. "We must ensure that survivors have all options available to help with recovery, including trauma-informed services for healing and support to report such crimes." Ron J...
