| Shelter Partnership in Bell delivers donations to agencies serving the homeless in LA County | abc7.com |
| BELL, Calif. (KABC) -- The Shelter Partnership is a non-profit that has been helping the homeless for decades by delivering donations to agencies across Los Angeles County [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| For Porter Ranch Firefighters And Thousands Of Others, The Aliso Gas Leak Is Not Over: LAist |
| Is it over? This massive 2015 gas leak near Porter Ranch we keep writing about?
You might think so — after all, it's been more than three years since a gas well ruptured at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility near Porter Ranch, putting more than 100,000 metric tons of methane and other chemicals into the air. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| Rotting Trash Piles Sky-High in LA, Attracting Rats and Raising Concerns of a New Epidemic - NBC Southern California |
| Rat-infested piles of rotting garbage left uncollected by the city of Los Angeles, even after promises to clean it up, are fueling concerns about a new epidemic after last year's record number of flea-borne typhus cases. [Article] |
| by , KNBC Los Angeles. 2019-05-21 |
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| The Beach - Beach Water Use Advisory for all Los Angeles County - Santa Monica Daily Press |
| Because of the recent rainfall, Los Angeles County Health Officer, Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, is cautioning residents who are planning to visit Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters around discharging storm drains, creeks, and rivers. Bacteria, chemicals, debris, trash, and other public health hazards from city streets and mountain areas are likely to contaminate ocean waters at and around these outlets after a rainfall. Individuals who enter the water in these areas could become ill. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| Over One Million eConsults Delivered by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services | Business Wire |
| NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Safety Net Connect (SNC), a leading provider of innovative healthcare technology solutions, is pleased to announce that the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LADHS) has delivered over 1,000,000 eConsults using the Converge, next-generation eConsult technology, from SNC. This unprecedented milestone marks the scale, efficacy and success of LADHS’ agency-wide initiative in delivering rapid access to coordinated care for the county’s diverse safety net community. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| A Little Competition Might Help LA’s Cable TV Prices |
| GELFAND’S WORLD--It's almost amusing that there is a move to break up Facebook due to its semi-monopoly power.
But there is one monopoly that's become so entrenched that we take it for granted. We've forgotten how we lost the battle to regulate -- and thereby control prices -- on cable television providers.
Back in the 1980s and '90s. there was a lot of discussion about the development of the new cable television industry. In a large part of the American land mass, there weren't many television stations available to the average viewer using an average roof-top antenna. If you lived in a mid-sized midwestern city or somewhere in eastern California, you might have one local station and, with luck, you might also be able to pick up a station in Indianapolis or Bakersfield or Oklahoma City -- if there wasn't a thunderstorm in between. [Article] |
| by , CityWatchLA. 2019-05-21 |
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| Should the City Use Eminent Domain to Keep Housing Affordable? |
| For more than a decade, Shao Zhao has called Chinatown’s sprawling, green stucco Hillside Villa apartment complex her home. Perched off Cesar Chavez Avenue, the building is just a short jaunt from businesses that cater to neighborhood’s majority-immigrant population, making it the ideal spot for Zhao’s 55-year-old mother, who speaks Cantonese and rarely drives outside the city. For years, the pair never saw a reason to leave. But in spring of last year, they received some startling news: In 12 months, the building’s affordability covenants were set to expire, and their landlord, Thomas Botz, would be raising its rents to market rate. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| Lower pay and higher costs: The downside of Lyft’s car rental program - Los Angeles Times |
| It was an advertisement for Lyft that convinced Chris Berry to leave his small town and head to Nashville.
He could make a comfortable living driving for the ride-hailing service, the Craigslist post read, and Lyft would even rent him a car that met the company’s specs.
So Berry, who was a civilian contractor in the Iraq war and had struggled to find steady work since being laid off from an oil field in 2013, packed his bags and sold his 1998 Toyota Avalon to fund the move across the state.
Four months later, the car he rented from Lyft has become more than his source of income — it was also his home. And Lyft was asking for it back.
When his planned Nashville accommodation fell through, Berry resorted to living out of the 2017 Nissan Altima he rented from Lyft for $240 a week. Despite driving 20 to 60 hours a week and giving an average of 45 rides, Berry couldn’t afford to rent an apartment on top of what he owed Lyft. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-05-21 |
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| The U.S.-China trade war just got a lot worse. And there’s no quick fix for relations - Los Angeles Times |
| The Trump administration’s abrupt Chinese tariff hike Friday raises strong doubts on whether the world’s two largest economies can reach a deal to quell their escalating trade war in the coming weeks.
Senior U.S. and Chinese trade officials met over two days in Washington, but talks broke off Friday without signs that they were any closer to resolving their differences. President Trump tweeted that the discussions were “candid and constructive” and that his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping “remains a very strong one.”
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told Chinese journalists before leaving Washington Friday that the two sides would meet again in Beijing for another round of talks, but there was no word on when it would take place.
Trump said Friday that he was in no hurry for a deal. “There is absolutely no need to rush,” he wrote in a Twitter message in which he praised the tariffs he’s already slapped on Chinese goods and touting how much more he can impose. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-05-21 |
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| Imports Flat at Ports of LA, Long Beach as Trade War Continues | Los Angeles Business Journal |
| Imports into the nation’s largest two ports were near flat during April compared to the previous year as exports from China declined amid an ongoing trade war.
The tension with China has affected volumes at the San Pedro Bay ports, where the bulk of the U.S. imports from Asia are delivered.
The twin ports logged a less than 1% increase in imports for April compared to last year, while exports declined 8.9%. It came as U.S.-bound goods from China, the country’s largest trade partner, declined 13%, according to trade research group Panjiva, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| Trump's escalated China trade war could hit California especially hard |
| LOS ANGELES — An escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China, including President Donald Trump’s threat to punish Beijing with additional tariffs, could deal a severe blow to California’s ports and economy, potentially putting at risk thousands of jobs, according to experts.
They say the major California ports, which serve as a gateway to trade with China, have already been hit on the export side due to Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural and other products. For one, China represents about 60% of the trade volumes at the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the nation. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| Trade war rattles confidence among Southern California businesses – Daily News |
| Foreign investment in Southern California remains strong, but trade tariffs and economic uncertainty have slowed its growth, according to a report released Friday.
The Foreign Direct Investment study from World Trade Center Los Angeles shows that about 10,305 foreign-owned firms were operating in Southern California in 2018, accounting for roughly 1.2 percent of all businesses in the region.
Those companies employed an estimated 425,579 workers or 5.4 percent of the region’s overall employment. The workers earned an estimated $31 billion in wages.
“When you add in the trade and logistics sector that’s another 580,000 jobs, bringing the total to well over 1 million jobs that are directly related to international trade,” World Trade Center President Stephen Cheung said.
Cheung acknowledged there are headwinds, and cited the recent trade war with China as an example.
“Some of the trade policies are influencing decision-makers around the world,” he said. “With the U.S./China impact there is a direct correlation. It’s nothing new, as we have been anticipating it for two years … but it has shaken the confidence of both manufacturers and investors.”
Tariffs impact the flow of goods between nations, Chung said, resulting in reduced business and fewer investments. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2019-05-21 |
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| Calfiornia farmers plead for China tariff relief from USDA | The Sacramento Bee |
| California lawmakers want the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide some relief to more farm industries that are affected by the Trump administration’s trade war with China, especially ones that employ thousands of people in the Central Valley.
They are asking USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to make more specialty crops, such as grapes and walnuts, eligible for a trade relief program that gives some farmers direct payments to offset a loss of their income.
It’s designed to help them cope with retaliatory tariffs China has declared on certain U.S. products over the past two years. China just announced another round of those retaliatory tariffs this week, though Canada and Mexico announced Friday they were removing their retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., a win for the agriculture industry. [Article] |
| by , Sacramento Bee. 2019-05-21 |
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| The markets think the trade war stinks. A California garlic grower disagrees - SFChronicle.com |
| A lot of people think the trade war with China stinks.
But one Bay Area business is breathing easier: Christopher Ranch, the nation’s largest commercial garlic grower, which stands to gain from a 25% tariff the Trump administration imposed on Chinese garlic and other goods this month.
“This is a unique moment,” said Ken Christopher, the executive vice president of the Gilroy company, who said he was “elated” when the news was announced. A photo on the ranch’s Facebook page shows Christopher celebrating by jumping in a bin of garlic skins and throwing them into the air like confetti. [Article] |
| by , San Francisco Chronicle. 2019-05-21 |
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| Southern California lacks 759,000 affordable homes, report says – Orange County Register |
| Fewer than a third of low-income families have access to housing they can afford in Southern California, a housing advocacy group reported Tuesday, May 21.
The report shows a shortfall of nearly 759,000 units affordable to low-income renters in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties as of 2017, according to the California Housing Partnership, a state-created nonprofit dedicated to promoting affordable housing.
At the same time, state and federal funds for building or preserving low-income housing in the four-county region decreased by almost $900 million, or 75%, from 2009 through 2018.
The good news is the size of the affordable-housing shortfall shrank slightly as more housing was built, wages improved or low-income residents moved to areas with more affordable housing, the report showed. And more state funding for housing programs is on the way within a year, thanks to $6 billion in housing bonds voters approved last November. [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2019-05-21 |
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| Moulton Niguel Water District agrees to pay $4.8 million in wastewater dispute – Orange County Register |
| The Moulton Niguel Water District has agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle a 3-year dispute with South Orange County Wastewater Authority, which processes a portion of the district’s wastewater, according to a settlement agreement released Monday.
Moulton Niguel wanted to terminate funding obligations for a treatment plant run by the wastewater authority, the Coastal Treatment Plant, because the water district has rarely needed the sewage capacity since signing a use-agreement in 1999. Instead, it has been able to rely on other plants and has said its customers shouldn’t have to pay for something they didn’t use. [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2019-05-21 |
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| 5-year sentence for Fullerton hate crime draws criticism from OC district attorney – Orange County Register |
| A man who angrily confronted, threatened and yelled racial slurs at a pregnant African-American woman at a Fullerton bus stop was sentenced Monday to five years in prison over the objections of prosecutors who said he should have received a longer sentence because of his violent past.
Tyson Theodore Mayfield, 43, accepted a court offer requiring he plead guilty to making criminal threats and violating someone’s civil liberties and admitted to committing a hate crime.
The case drew the personal attention of Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who along with several senior members of his staff attended a pair of hearings in recent weeks opposing the offers presented to Mayfield by Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B Robbins. The judge initially offered Mayfield two years behind bars, Spitzer said, before upping it to five years in prison, a sentence prosecutors still say is too light. [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2019-05-21 |
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| Transient gets plea deal in O.C. hate crime over protests of victim, D.A. - Los Angeles Times |
| A transient convicted of a hate crime accepted a plea deal Monday from an Orange County judge, over the objections of Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, and was sentenced to five years in prison for preying on a pregnant black woman at a bus stop while spewing racial epithets.
A previous two-year prison offer from Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger Robbins was also decried by Spitzer, prompting the revised plea bargain that was accepted by Tyson Theodore Mayfield. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2019-05-21 |
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| San Diego County: Nearly $2 million spent for migrant support |
| SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- The County of San Diego has spent nearly $2 million to support migrants after the federal government ended the Safe Release Program, according to county officials. [Article] |
| by , . 2019-05-21 |
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| City, County Leaders Call For Federal Aid As Migrants Fly To San Diego | KPBS |
| Local elected officials on Monday called for additional resources from the federal government to help deal with hundreds of migrant families expected to be flown to San Diego from Texas in the coming weeks. [Article] |
| by , KPBS - San Diego. 2019-05-21 |
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