Monday, November 21, 2022

CHP Announces Four-Day Thanksgiving Holiday Maximum Enforcement Operation

CITY NEWS SERVICE

California Highway Patrol officers will be out in force over the Thanksgiving weekend, on the lookout for people driving drunk or impaired, or violating other traffic laws, authorities announced Monday.

“As millions of people venture out for the Thanksgiving holiday, the CHP is preparing for one of the busiest travel weekends in the nation,” CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray said in a statement.

“Enjoy your Thanksgiving festivities, but please celebrate responsibly, wear your seat belt, and always designate a sober, nondrinking driver,” Ray said.

The CHP’s “maximum enforcement period” will begin at 6:01 p.m. Wednesday and continue through 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

“As with every holiday, the CHP will work to keep motorists safe as they travel to gatherings with friends and family,” Ray said. “Our officers will be on patrol to take enforcement action as necessary and to provide assistance to motorists who are stranded or in need of help on the side of the road.”

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Villanueva Concedes, Luna Is New Sheriff in Town

STAFF REPORT

A defiant Sheriff Alex Villaneuva conceded defeat Tuesday in his re-election bid, but in doing so, he again lashed out at his critics for pushing what he called “false narratives” about his leadership of the department.

Villanueva has been consistently trailing former Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna as results from last week’s election continued to be tallied.

“I want to wish the incoming sheriff well,” Villanueva said during an afternoon news conference.

But in his news conference, Villanueva blamed his loss on what he called a sweeping misinformation campaign and the use of “false narratives” focused on issues including alleged deputy gangs, his alleged resistance of oversight by the county and Civilian Oversight Commission and other allegations of internal harassment and retaliation against purported whistleblowers.

He said he was victimized by a “weaponized political machine” operated by the county, which he described as a “corrupt criminal enterprise.”

He then rattled off a list of what he called major accomplishments during his tenure,

Monday, November 14, 2022

Altadena Town Council Votes Are In!

STAFF REPORT

The votes have been tallied and the results of the Altadena Town Council are in! There were 11 candidates running for six of the eight census tracts. With almost 300 votes cast for Census Tract representatives, the winners are as follows:

CT 4602
Nic Arnzen

CT 4603.02
Chris O’Malley

CT 4610
Roderick Anthony Bryce

CT 4611
Alan Peck

CT 4612
Doug Colliflower

CT 4613
Diane Marcussen

The Council would like to thank everybody who decided to run and all the Altadena residents who took the time to come out and vote. It is your participation and involvement that make Altadena the incredible town that it is!

There will be an upcoming special election for Census Tracts 4601 and 4603.01. Information about how to apply for one of the two open seats will be forthcoming.

Any questions or concerns can be addressed to Sylvia Vega,

Friday, November 11, 2022

Luna Maintains Lead in Battle for LA County Sheriff

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Former Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna maintained and even slightly extended his lead Thursday over incumbent Alex Villanueva in the race for Los Angeles County sheriff.

Updated totals from the Tuesday election showed Luna with nearly 58% of the vote, and Villanueva with just over 42%. Semi-official results released early Wednesday morning had Luna with 57% and Villanueva with 43%.

The updated total released Thursday had Luna with a total of 770,084 votes and Villanueva with 563,482.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office on Wednesday estimated that roughly 1 million ballots still remained to be counted — 985,000 vote-by-mail ballots, 21,000 conditional voter-registration ballots and 300 provisional, or questioned, ballots.

The update released Thursday included a tally of 134,099 of those outstanding ballots, according to the county. Another update is expected to be released Friday, then every Tuesday and Friday until all ballots are counted — a process that could last until the end of the month.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

LA County to Explore Purchasing Student Debt of Some Employees

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County will look into ways the county can purchase student loan debt that is unpaid or defaulted on by county employees who earn less than the median income of the area they live in, after a Board of Supervisors vote Tuesday.

Introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Holly Mitchell, the motion requires the county government to report back to the board in 120 days with suggestions of how to purchase county employee’s student debt, what the most appropriate debt to purchase is, criteria that county employees will have to meet, ways the county can recoup debt payments if an employee leaves the county within five years of the debt being purchased, and ways to fill job vacancies by implementing the initiative.

According to the county’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, 9.8% of Californians have some form of student debt. The motion from the Board of Supervisors states that “Black women in particular are most severely impacted”

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

County Board of Supervisors Proclaims Nov. 13-19 “United Against Hate Week”

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday proclaimed Nov. 13-19 as “United Against Hate Week.”

Proposed by Supervisor Hilda Solis, the week is meant to increase awareness of the county’s “L.A. vs Hate” program, including its hotline for reporting hate crimes, discrimination and bullying and its work to connect people to counseling services.

The declaration is designed as a sign of “solidarity with targeted communities through a robust public campaign, utilizing traditional and ethnic media outlets, digital media, community-based organizations, and virtual and in-person community events,” according to the motion.

L.A. vs Hate will be sponsoring events throughout the county to celebrate United Against Hate Week.

According to the motion, the L.A. vs Hate reporting line logged 1,235 cases of hate, discrimination and bullying in its first two years of existence, from 2019 to 2021. The line received 491 reports from October 2019 to September 2020, and then 744 reports from October 2020 to September 2021,

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

County Backs Policy Requiring All-Gender Bathrooms in New Buildings

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a policy Tuesday requiring the inclusion of single-user, all-gender bathrooms at all newly built, leased or renovated county buildings.

The move follows a 2016 vote by the board that required all existing single-user restrooms in county facilities to be converted to all-gender restrooms, a requirement that was later echoed in state law.

The policy approved Tuesday requires that single-user, all-gender bathrooms be installed during construction of new county buildings or renovation of existing buildings. They will also be required in any buildings leased by the county.

A report to the board noted that despite the 2016 vote requiring that all single-user restrooms be considered all-gender, there was previously no official county policy requiring such facilities to be included in new, renovated or leased facilities.

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Assemblymember Chris Holden Presents Budget Check to the Altadena ($1.5 million)

Assemblymember Chris Holden presented his legislative update to the Altadena Town Council which included local budget victory for the La Vina Trail Completion for 1.5 million.

The effort to reconnect the western side of the Altadena Crest Trail has gone on for nearly two decades. On June 30th, the Legislature and Governor Newsom approved $1.5 million for the La Vina Trail Completion in Altadena. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) in their pursuit of creating two new trails that will provide public access for all to the Altadena Crest Trail, Chaney Trail, and the Angeles National Forest’s extensive network of trails.

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Los Angeles County, and Outward Bound Adventures are partners on this project. The trails are rooted in community, including community leaders from the Altadena Crest Trail Restoration Working Group, who advocated that the trails be built. Outward Bound Adventures will lead the effort to actualize the trails.

“This budget victory for Altadena helps create open spaces in Assembly District 41 for families,

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Girl, 11, Reported Missing in Altadena

[CITY NEWS SERVICE]

An 11-year-old girl was reported missing in Altadena Tuesday.

Lea Fonseca was last seen about 8 a.m. in the 2100 block of Lake Avenue, near Eliot Arts Magnet, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Lea is Hispanic, 4 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 134 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue pants, and was carrying a black backpack.

Anyone with information on Lea’s whereabouts was asked to contact the LASD Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

LA County Looks to Partner With Metro to Reach Homeless Aboard Trains, Buses

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday called on its Homeless Initiative staff to work with Metro to explore ways of coordinating outreach and service delivery to growing numbers of homeless people who seek shelter aboard trains and buses and at rail stations.

The board backed a motion introduced by Supervisor Janice Hahn that calls for the county and Metro to discuss ways of expanding outreach teams to the homeless who take advantage of the Metro system, and to consider development of round-the-clock “navigation hubs” within the Metro system where the homeless can be connected with social services.

Such hubs could potentially be used to provide direction to shelters for homeless people who exit trains at the end of the service day — a response to recent concerns expressed by Long Beach residents describing an influx of homeless who exit Metro A (Blue) Line trains in that city’s downtown area when the trains stop running in the early morning hours.