| LA County wants Sylmar armory to become a year-round shelter for homeless women |
| An armory in Sylmar that sits vacant for most of the year is being considered as a year-round transitional housing facility for women experiencing homelessness, but who are close to securing permanent places to live.
In an open letter sent Friday to Sylmar stakeholders, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said she and her staff based the proposal on community input and on a report on homeless women and their needs. [Article] |
| by SUSAN ABRAM, Los Angeles Daily News. 2017-09-19 |
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| Trump plan: Southern California monuments would be spared, six others would be reduced |
| Under recommendations sent by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to President Donald Trump, six national monuments would be reduced in size, with millions of acres of protected lands opened to grazing, logging and oil and gas exploration, but Southern California’s monuments may be spared.
Zinke did not offer changes to two local monuments: The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, a 346,177-acre swath of the Angeles National Forest from Santa Clarita to Mt. Baldy, and the Mojave Trails National Monument, a 1.6 million-acre desert landscape that bridges the area between Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. [Article] |
| by STAFF REPORT, Los Angeles Daily News. 2017-09-19 |
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| Southern California home prices jump again. Lots of residents worry about affordability |
| The Southern California real estate market continued to sizzle in August as home prices jumped 7.5% from a year earlier, highlighting new poll results showing widespread concern about the state’s housing affordability.
Across the six-county region, the median price increased to $500,000 from $465,000 a year earlier and down slightly from $502,000 in July, according to a report Tuesday from data firm CoreLogic.
In Los Angeles County, the median price surged 9.4% to a record $580,000. The previous record of $575,000 was set in July.
It was the best August for home sales since 2006. Total sales in Southern California were up 3.2% year over year but surged 13.3% from a sluggish July, CoreLogic said. [Article] |
| by JIM PUZZANGHERA, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| Leaving America: With shaky job prospects and Trump promising crackdowns, immigrants return to Mexico with U.S.-born children |
| The girl clutched the goodbye card her friend Emily handed her that morning.
“All thou we’ll be a few miles apart you allways be my best firend.”
Luz Madrigal, 6, sat in the back seat of the car with her little brother Alejandro, heading south to the U.S.-Mexico border and a new home more than a thousand miles away.
Faced with diminishing job prospects and a president who promised to make life harder for them, Luz’s mother and father — immigrants in the country illegally — decided to go back to Mexico.
They joined more than 100 people voluntarily returning since January to Mexico with the help of consulates in Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago.
An hour into the drive, Luz watched the urban blur pass by the car window under a gray sky. She pointed out tall buildings a little ways off in the distance.
“Is that Guatarajara?” she asked.
Her mother did not correct her pronunciation of Guadalajara.
“No,” she said. “We still have a long way to go.” [Article] |
| by BRITTNY MEJIA, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| 'My daughters are going to be OK.' Then Trump phased out DACA |
| Behind closed doors, Bertha Martinez and her husband, Victor Soriano, often discussed how they would tell their oldest daughter that she was in the country illegally.
“We didn’t want to hurt her,” Soriano said.
Paying someone to sneak 7-year-old Brenda and 3-year-old Diana across the border in the back of a minivan had seemed like the right choice in 2002.
In their L.A. apartment, the girls’ happy portraits and their many certificates of achievement were testament enough that coming to the U.S. had been good.
But as Brenda grew older, as she headed toward college and work, the potential consequences of her legal status weighed more heavily on Soriano and Martinez.
President Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program relieved the pressure for this couple and thousands of other parents, many in danger of deportation themselves.
Their children — nearly 800,000 — were given the chance to drive, study and work without fear of deportation.
“My daughters are going be OK,” Martinez thought.
Then came the Trump administration’s announcement that it would phase out DACA — and day after day of mixed messages since.
These are the stories of parents whose children’s futures again are in limbo. [Article] |
| by ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| California's bullet train isn't just fast transit, it's a way to bridge the divide between rich and poor |
| In the seesaw battle over California’s bullet train, it’s easy to overlook the reasons why the project should be built — and why there’s still a good chance that it will be.
On the seesaw’s upside, construction for the train’s first phase, which will connect Silicon Valley and the Central Valley, is underway. Project planners say that by 2025, passengers will be able to travel between San Jose and Fresno in an hour, a prospect they hope will build support for the rest of the project.
But the downside seems ominous. Next year, voters will decide on a ballot measure that would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to use the state’s cap-and-trade revenue to fund the train. Republicans devised the measure as a way of stopping the project.
On top of that, two convoluted recent court decisions — one in the California Supreme Court and the other in federal appeals court — increase the likelihood that the train will face a spate of environmental-impact lawsuits. Such suits probably won’t kill the train, but they could delay it.
PAID POST WHAT IS THIS?
5 Things to Know About Lodi: How to Experience This Wine-Centered Town
A message from Lodi Wine
Even if you’ve never been to Lodi, California, the odds are high that you’ve tasted it already.
SEE MORE [Article] |
| by JACQUES LESLIE / OPINION, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| Hyperloop One Considers Texas Route from Dallas to Austin |
| (TNS) -- Dallas has one more mode of futuristic transportation to dream about, along with bullet trains and flying Uber cars. It's made the short list for Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles-based company that wants to replace long flights and road trips with a quick ride through a low-pressure tube.
The Texas route is one of 10 routes that the company is considering, according to a Thursday news release. It would cover about 640 miles and connect Dallas-Fort Worth to Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Laredo.
Hyperloop One launched a contest in May 2016, asking individuals, universities, companies and governments to submit proposals for routes in their region. The company narrowed the field from hundreds of applicants to 10 teams. It will now start researching the commercial viability of the possible routes and look at factors like economic benefits, regulatory environments and passenger demand, according to the news release. [Article] |
| by MELISSA REPKO, Government Technology. 2017-09-19 |
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| DFJ’s Steve Jurvetson thinks Elon’s Boring Co. will win with short tunnels first |
| Noted Silicon Valley investor and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson is probably better positioned than most to know what Elon Musk is thinking with The Boring Company, his project to build a better tunnel boring concern, which he created essentially because he was fed up with sitting in traffic in L.A.
Though The Boring Co.’s most recent headlines have hailed Musk’s plans to potentially build a city-to-city underground hyperloop network, Jurvetson talked about the near-term potential of shorter tunnels, and tunnels designed specifically for electric vehicles. [Article] |
| by DARRELL ETHERINGTON, Government Technology. 2017-09-19 |
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| Six 'Dreamers' sue Trump to block repeal of DACA |
| Six California beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program sued the Trump administration Monday for rescinding protections for young immigrants without legal status.
In the 46-page suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco just after midnight, the so-called Dreamers claimed Trump’s decision to phase out the DACA program over the next six months “was motivated by unconstitutional bias against Mexicans and Latinos.”
The federal DACA program shields from deportation nearly 800,000 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, providing recipients with renewable two-year work permits.
The lawsuit seeks to block the Trump administration from ending the program. [Article] |
| by HAILEY BRANSON POTTS, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| Trump may strip protections from 10 national monuments |
| The Trump administration’s plan for shrinking and diminishing protections at America’s national monuments appears far more expansive than previously reported, targeting 10 of the nation’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes and marine preserves.
The plan, which the White House has been keeping secret since it was submitted by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke late last month, would shrink the borders at half a dozen monuments and ocean preserves and open four others up for uses such as commercial fishing, logging and coal mining, according to a copy of the blueprint obtained by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. [Article] |
| by EVAN HALPER, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| Our rivers, ourselves: One artist's very personal take on the impact of dams |
| Carolina Caycedo’s exhibition at Commonwealth & Council continues her project “Be Dammed,” in which she investigates the socio-environmental impacts of dams, often in collaboration with local activists protesting their construction. The current iteration, “El Hambre Como Maestra/Hunger as Teacher,” was inspired by a quote from Brazilian activist Raimunda Silva: “Hunger taught me to fish.”
Most of the works employ fishing nets in hanging sculptures, creating elegiac volumes in the gallery. “Big Woman/Mujer grande” is the most literal of these, depicting a female figure draped in net. The sculpture is talismanic in tone but also a tribute to Latin American female activists celebrated in a nearby drawing, two of whom were killed for their activism in 2016.
Also hanging nearby is the drawing “Pisisbaiya,” an illustrated fable that Caycedo wrote in the voice of the river we know as the Colorado, charting its multicultural history and influence and lamenting the construction of dams that keep it from flowing freely. [Article] |
| by SHARON MIZOTA, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| August home prices dip amid strong sales |
| The median price of an Orange County home dipped to $685,000 in August, down $10,000 from the 2017 price peak reached in May and June, home data firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Prices still were up 5.5 percent from August 2016 levels, CoreLogic figures show, perpetuating a 64-month streak of year-over-year home-price gains. [Article] |
| by JEFF COLLINS, Orange County Register. 2017-09-19 |
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| Orange to look deeper into city’s response to growing homeless population |
| In the wake of action taken by the county and Anaheim last week, the Orange City Council asked to see how their city might escalate its action in response to the increasingly controversial homeless population living along the Santa Ana River.
The council meeting was held the same day the Orange County Board of Supervisors decided to begin Orange County Sheriff Department patrols of the Santa Ana River, and ran parallel to an Anaheim City Council meeting at which a state of emergency was declared. [Article] |
| by JONATHAN WINSLOW, Orange County Register. 2017-09-19 |
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| Activists push for more affordable housing, rent control in Santa Ana |
| A coalition of Santa Ana community groups has launched a “week of action” to highlight renter’s rights in Orange County’s second-largest city, with the goal of enacting protections like rent control and “just cause” evictions.
Local activists also are pushing Santa Ana leaders to develop more than 90 city-owned parcels for public benefits such as open space, affordable housing and economic opportunities.
Activities from Monday through Saturday include a renter’s rights workshop, a march on City Hall, a bike ride, and a film and art exhibit. Participants also will join an annual church drive to wash the clothes for the homeless. [Article] |
| by JEFF COLLINS, Orange County Register. 2017-09-19 |
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| Amid power-play allegations, state legislature freezes board makeup of CalOptima, Orange County’s $3.4 billion health care plan |
| The California legislature has won its fight with the Orange County Board of Supervisors about who will oversee the county’s $3.4 billion public health care plan, CalOptima, which covers nearly 800,000 low-income, disabled and elderly residents.
The legislature passed Senate Bill 4 last week, codifying the composition of CalOptima’s governing board after local health care executives alleged that county Supervisor Andrew Do tried earlier this year to overhaul the nine-member board solely to retaliate against people who denied him the role of chairman. [Article] |
| by JORDAN GRAHAM, Orange County Register. 2017-09-19 |
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| UCI receives historic $200 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to create health college |
| Orange County philanthropists Susan and Henry Samueli will donate $200 million to UC Irvine, one of the largest gifts ever to any public university, to create a college that educates medical students in holistic practices as well as traditional ones and treat patients with a wide-ranging perspective.
The gift will create the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, which UCI says will be the first facility on a university campus to incorporate integrative health research, teaching and patient care across its schools and programs. [Article] |
| by ROXANA KOPETMAN, Orange County Register. 2017-09-19 |
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| UC Irvine aims to transform public health with record-breaking $200-million donation |
| Susan Samueli caught a cold while visiting France more than three decades ago. Instead of the usual medicines, a friend suggested aconite, a homeopathic remedy derived from a plant in the buttercup family.
She was cured — and became a lifelong advocate of homeopathy and other alternative healing methods to complement conventional medicine. Her husband, Henry — the billionaire co-founder of Broadcom, the Irvine semiconductor maker — says he was initially skeptical but found the integrative health approach helped him easily shake off colds and flus and kept their children healthy without antibiotics.
Now the couple’s passion for integrative health has led to the largest donation ever made to UC Irvine. On Monday, UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman announced that the Samuelis have donated $200 million to launch what he billed as the nation’s first universitywide enterprise to embed integrative health approaches in research, teaching and patient care. [Article] |
| by TERESA WATANABE, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| In San Diego, hundreds line up for hepatitis A vaccinations after deadly outbreak may have hit restaurants |
| fter news that San Diego’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak may have infiltrated the food service industry, more than 200 people this weekend lined up for vaccinations as restaurants reinforced their health safety measures.
“All eyes are on San Diego,” Steve Zolezzi, president of the Food & Beverage Assn. of San Diego, said of the outbreak, one of the nation’s largest in decades, which prompted county officials to declare a local public health emergency earlier this month.
Miguel Valle, a 65-year-old resident of East San Diego, was one of dozens who lined up early to get a free vaccination at the county’s North Central Public Health Center on Saturday, many of them fearful they may have been exposed at a Pacific Beach restaurant.
“I’ve got things to do this morning but I wanted to get this taken care of, get some peace of mind,” said Valle. [Article] |
| by ROB NIKOLEWSKI, Los Angeles Times. 2017-09-19 |
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| Hepatitis A: frequently asked questions |
| The ongoing hepatitis A outbreak, which surpassed 400 cases this week, has many across San Diego County asking questions about this viral illness.
Here are some common questions and answers:
Q: How does a hepatitis A outbreak start?
A: Public health officials have said that the strain of the virus that is causing the outbreak is commonly passed from person to person rather than through a particular food or drug. The virus is present in people, and unsanitary conditions allow it to spread wider than it usually does. [Article] |
| by PAUL SISSON, San Diego Union-Tribune. 2017-09-19 |
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| City and County Taking Precautions to Stop Hepatitis A Outbreak |
| One of the worst Hepatitis A outbreaks in San Diego County history is likely to continue for up to six months and lead to more victims, health experts said Tuesday. County and city officials also suggested not everyone needs to get a vaccine. [Article] |
| by ASHLEY MATTHEWS, KNSD NBC San Diego. 2017-09-19 |
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