Santa Monica Observer - Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Keeping physical distancing and mask protocols in place, the Volunteer Guild's boutique committee will offer a delightful assortment of gifts for everyone on your list. Offerings include nutcrackers...

It's been almost two weeks since the City's Planning Department hosted their first webinar about the Housing Element Update - the plan to zone for an additional 8,874 residential units as ordered by...

Two Los Angeles County Supervisors led a failed attempt to reverse the county Department of Public Health's decision to close outdoor dining at area restaurants. Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice...

The Pier is open, Pacific Park is closed. And the Ferris wheel is displaying a turkey design for Thanksgiving. "Pacific Park will be "Talkin' Turkey" on it 90-feet tall Ferris wheel while featuring...

President Donald Trump tweeted today that he will begin the transition process to a Joe Biden presidency. General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy on Monday told President-elect Joe...

Reacting to a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health issued new restrictions, including a 10 pm cutoff hour for non-essential businesses - with the...

I'm not a fan of holidays while in prison. No mail. Nothing on TV. Time seems to slow down. The state of California usually opens up visiting for the specific holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New...

According to several posts on Twitter, and this author's own experience with $500 of Orchid disappearing; the world's largest system for trading cryptocurrencies went down Monday night, 11/23/20,...

California Governor Newsom was outed as having flouted his own state's guidelines and rules when he was caught attending a birthday party on November 6 at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant in...

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tells the administration of Donald J. Trump to either put up or shut up. "No more of the pitching this stuff on national TV," said Shapiro. If this is show and tel...

"Vote, Vote, Vote!" was the common call-out by every politician last month. So I did. I voted in person, I voted by absentee ballot, and I voted by mail-in ballot. No one stopped me. No one checked...

The SMFD responded to a brush fire on the side of the Santa Monica freeway. This closed the interstate at Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica, according to an alert from the City of Santa Monica. The area...

Santa Monica city staff plan to propose making "parklets" permanent, the outdoor dining areas set up in parking areas along city streets. The otherwise illegal outdoor dining, usurping parking spots,...

The Santa Monica Planning Commission approved a permit for 7-Eleven convenience store to move into the former Bank of America building on Wilshire at Berkeley. The applicant requested the store be...

As of Tuesday, a full week after the national election, California has only counted 82 percent of the vote. An estimated 2,740,846 ballots have not yet been counted. If this were a battleground...

Update 11/15: USA Today and other main stream media sources have labelled the OANN report and other reports about Dominion software, a debunked conspiracy theory. See Fact check: "Dominion voting...

Several major networks have called the 2020 US presidential race for Democrat Joe Biden, after his lead in Pennsylvania widened to over half a percent. The move was hardly unexpected, given the Democr...

In an historic repudiation of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, Phil Brock and Christine Parra appear to have won seats on the Santa Monica City Council. More incumbent city councilmembers (three) we...

According to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters, George Gascon has been elected Los Angeles County District Attorney. Gascon won 54% of the Los Angeles County vote, about 1.5 million in raw...

There are few positions where experience matters as much as the head of the largest prosecutorial office in the country. George Gascón, candidate for Los Angeles County district attorney, seeks to...

As you no doubt know, California ballots were mailed to voters the first week of October. About 9 million ballots have already been cast, easily breaking the California records for early voting....

Protests sponsored by Black Lives Matter had wound down during October, prior to the national election on November 3. Even activity by Antifa had abated in Portland, where the group has besieged...

In Italy, new restrictions started last week. By the weekend, we were seeing the same ol' game of getting stricter without much warning. People are not taking it well, though, this time around. The...

Courts & Rulings Gang member's life prison sentence upheld for Long Beach student's murder A state appeals court panel Thursday rejected an appeal filed on behalf of a gang member serving a life...

All summer long, the country has been rocked by street protests and outright riots, most organized by either Black Lives Matter or Antifa. But abruptly, after October 10 - roughly three weeks before...