Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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A shooting occurred on the Santa Monica Promenade on the 1300 Block of Third Street, around 1:20 a.m. on May 19, 2025. No life-threatening injuries were reported. No further details from official sources or news outlets are available at this time. A Retail tenant reports that he had to defend his life during the Promenade shooting. The shooting was the second one in Downtown Santa Monica over the weekend. One shooting occurred on Saturday night near the Bungalow, a bar and...
Details are pending, but the SMPD were called to recover a dead body at the City's Homeless Housing, located at 1413 Michigan Ave. This from a reliable source on Monday evening, May 12th. 1413 Michigan Ave is associated with the Michigan Avenue Navigation Center, a facility in Santa Monica providing services and temporary housing for homeless individuals. It's part of the city's efforts to address homelessness, offering case management, meals, and shelter....
Santa Monica Ballet Folklorico stands as the sole folkloric dance company in Santa Monica. Recently, they showcased their talent at the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration at Will Rogers Elementary School, a tradition that has been ongoing for over 25 years. Additionally, the company performed at the 3rd Street Promenade's Cinco de Mayo event this past Sunday. Performing for the community and visitors of Santa Monica is a privilege that fosters unity. Cinco de Mayo, a holiday...
Santa Monica’s financial troubles mirror LA County’s in that legal settlements are a significant drain, but the city’s smaller scale and tourism-dependent economy make its challenges distinct. The $230 million in settlements is a heavy burden for a city of Santa Monica’s size, and the lack of progress on the voting rights case suggests ongoing legal exposure. Blaming settlements alone oversimplifies the issue—declining tourism revenue and high operational costs are equally c...
Local Briefs Santa Ynez Reservoir Still Empty The Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades is not back in service as of the latest available information. It was famously empty for 18 months leading up to the February 7th fire that decimated Pacific Palisades. In April 2025, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) reported that additional small tears and pinhole-sized leaks were found in the reservoir's floating cover during refilling, when it was about 25% full....
May 9, 2025 - An email sent out from Northeast Neighbors requests parents and other residents to protest the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's plan to remove natural grass at two elementary schools and replace it with "synthetic turf" made in Dubai. "TenCate makes a product in Dubai they call "sustainable synthetic grass." Santa Monica-Malibu school district has chosen to install it at Franklin and Grant elementary schools. TenCate claims their plastic grass is...
May 6, 2025: India and Pakistan are not officially at war, but tensions are extremely high, and military actions have occurred, bringing the two nations to the brink of conflict. Here's a detailed breakdown: Recent Military Actions On May 7, 2025, India conducted a significant military operation named Operation Sindoor, where the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force jointly carried out missile strikes on nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). This was...
Update 5/6/25: According to a Newsweek article (published at 10:10 AM PDT on May 6, 2025), the university has already taken a firm stance against the activists’ actions, explicitly opposing antisemitism and confirming the arrests of around 30 individuals. The university’s statement indicates a crackdown on the protest, likely in response to the property damage (dumpster fires) and the occupation of the engineering building. Footage mentioned in the article also shows pro...
A number of cars were reportedly smashed by an older driver in a hit and run on 21st Street and Pearl, in a quiet Sunset Park neighborhood Sunday Afternoon, May 4th 2025. "Urgent!! This car just smashed through the neighborhood and hit and ran a bunch of cars on Pearl and 21st and I chased him to get license plate info!" wrote one poster on Social Media. "It was a gray Toyota Highlander. It should have front left and damage now. An older man, 65+ white short hair, short white...
Rite-Aid Drugstore will close permanently on May 28th, 2025, a store employee confirmed for The Observer. The Rite Aid at 1331 Wilshire Boulevard, near the intersection of Wilshire and 14th Street in Santa Monica, is scheduled to close permanently at the end of May 2025. A notice posted at the store indicates that prescriptions will be transferred to the CVS at 1411 Lincoln Blvd starting May 29, 2025. The store remains open with normal hours as of May 5 2025, but many shelves...
5/1/25: Santa Monica police arrested a 30 year-old homeless man for punching a 70-year-old woman on the promenade, knocking her down. The man who is not immediately identified, tried to run from officers, and they pursued him through the promenade. He protested that he had done nothing, and that he was on probation. There are several reported incidents involving assaults by homeless individuals in the Santa Monica area, including near the Third Street Promenade and...
Please don't eat recreationally harvested shellfish, including mussels, oysters, clams, and scallops, from Santa Monica Bay and other Southern California coastal areas due to toxic algae blooms. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has issued advisories indicating that dangerous levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins, caused by naturally occurring algae, have been detected in recreationally harvested shellfish from Santa Barbara to San Diego...
By Sarah Storkin One man. was arrested in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, for cutting down at least 13 trees with a chainsaw over a 12-day period starting April 13. Samuel Patrick Groft, 44, had been taken into custody on suspicion of felony vandalism. The suspect, identified as a homeless man named Groft, was apprehended after a 12-day rampage during which he allegedly cut down at least 13 mature trees while bicycling in and around downtown LA. The tree-cutti...
In 2021, Chicago launched a counterterrorism initiative to teach city employees to respond to life-threatening injuries caused by dangerous events, like mass shootings. To do that, the city installed more than 1,000 blood control kits in over 500 municipal buildings. Since then, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications has grown the program by partnering with other agencies and departments. The expanded effort, community leaders say, serves a critical purpose:...
Gerardo Valerio had been looking for a bathroom in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood for 20 minutes when he stumbled across a blue and white trailer with "FREE BATHROOM" at the top. At first, he was hesitant to enter the bathroom, which had been installed by the Washington, D.C.-based portable toilet startup Throne. To get in, he had to scan a QR code which pre-loaded a text onto his phone. After sending the text, the door would automatically slide open. "What do I text,...
By Dick Hertz Jean Jordan, the Executive Assistant City Attorney for San Diego, is on a four-month cruise while working remotely and is paid slightly more than $280,000 a year, though she does not permanently live on a cruise ship, and she is not the City Attorney herself. "While Executive Assistant City Attorney Jean Jordan is allowed to work remotely while on a four-month vacation cruise, some taxpayers are left speechless by the arrangement." Said NBC7 in San Diego. "Soon...
Southern California Edison (SCE) announced plans to bury over 150 miles of power lines in response to the devastating Los Angeles County firestorms, specifically the Eaton and Palisades fires in January 2025. According to multiple sources, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Reuters, SCE plans to underground 153 miles of power lines in fire-prone areas of Altadena and Malibu to reduce wildfire risk. The project, estimated to cost between $860 million and $925...
From Europe to North America, an energy revolution is breathing new life into empty, long-forgotten coal mine shafts—by repurposing them into places to store renewable energy. Using "gravity batteries," these underground facilities aim to tackle one of renewable energy's greatest challenges: storage. Reasons to be Cheerful reports that the method is simple: Excess renewable energy is used to power winches that lift heavy weights—such as containers filled with sand or rock — up...
In a small recording studio near Nashville, Tennessee, conservative activist Kelly Schenkoske urged an online audience of parents to scour school district websites for contracts that mention social and emotional learning. "Social-emotional learning is far more than just kindness," Schenkoske said. "It is a bait and switch." The bait, according to Schenkoske and other panelists at the recent Moms for Liberty training event, is small shifts in the school day to introduce student...
ZJ Boarding House is closing at the end of April, after 37 years in Santa Monica. The shop was founded in 1988. Founding and History: ZJ Boarding House, a surf and skate shop located at 2619 Main Street, Santa Monica, was opened on December 16, 1988, by Mikke Pierson and Todd Roberts. Initially a small 2,000-square-foot store, it grew into a cultural hub for the local surf, skate, and snowboard community. Closure in 2025: ZJ Boarding House closed permanently in April 2025 due...
A preliminary 6.0 #earthquake has jolted Southern California. The epicenter was in North #SanDiego County at Julian, near Escondido. This on Monday Morning, April 14, 2025. The earthquake at 10:10 am, was felt over a wide area of Southern California and Mexico. "This the first time I actually got at least a 10 second warning on my phone before feeling the earthquake." posted one man in Temecula. "I placed down my phone, went to get my coffee, then me and my girlfriend heard...
As Missouri lawmakers debate open enrollment for a fifth consecutive year, a new report is shedding light on how public school residency restrictions can discriminate against low-income students The 74 reports. The report, published Feb. 19 by the nonprofit watchdog group Available to All, finds that Missouri has some of the strictest school residential assignment policies in the nation. District attendance boundaries mirror historic racist housing redlining maps and are...
If you're headed to the airport soon, you might want to double-check your identification. Starting May 7, 2025, every resident (18 years or older) of a U.S. state or territory attempting to board a commercial aircraft will need to present security with a Real ID license or identification card, or another acceptable form of identification such as a passport. If you're not able to present a Real ID-compliant card to a Transportation Security Administration agent, you won't be...
A new quarter-cent sales tax aimed at funding homelessness programs in Los Angeles County starts on Tuesday. This increases the county's base sales tax from 9.5% to 9.75%. This change comes shortly after a federal judge raised concerns about how previous homelessness funds were used. Such timing has sparked worries about transparency, especially since there have been indications that millions in public funds may have been mismanaged by agencies meant to tackle homelessness. Th...
We found a seal suffering on Santa Monica beach Saturday. Her stomch was undulating, and she was apparently unable to move away from the waves. We called a rescue organization, and also a marine biologist. "I’d be happy to explain what’s happening to that poor seal in simple terms," he said. "Domoic Acid Toxicosis is a condition caused by a natural toxin called domoic acid, which is produced by certain types of microscopic algae (specifically, a group called diatoms). The...
