Showing posts with label The Los Angeles Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Los Angeles Times. Show all posts

Monday, March 16, 2015

LAPD Ambush in Los Angeles?

March 16, 2015 Kate Linthicum , Kate Mather 0 Comments
Two LAPD officers shot in Florence believe they were targeted

By Kate Mather, Matt Hamilton and Kate Linthicum, Mar. 15, 2015, Latimes.com

Two plainclothes Los Angeles police officers were shot at Sunday evening while driving through a South L.A. neighborhood, prompting an exchange of gunfire that caused several suspects to scatter, authorities said.

The officers were fired upon near 65th Street and Broadway in the Florence neighborhood just before 5:45 p.m., Det. Meghan Aguilar said. The officers then returned fire.

Aguilar said the officers, assigned to the 77th Street Division narcotics section, were driving in an unmarked police car. She said there was no indication they were caught in crossfire between rival groups but rather believed the shots were meant for them.

"Of course, because it's an active scene, that's our preliminary investigation," she said. "There's going to be several thorough interviews of the officers. But right now they believe they were the target."

Read the full story:  www.latimes.com

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

How about "unauthorized houseguests"?

September 02, 2014 Illegal Aliens , Illegal Immigration 0 Comments
LA Times Now Describing Illegal Aliens As 'Informal Workers' Who 'Labor Unofficially'

By Tim Graham, Sept. 2, 2014, Newsbusters.org

Via Weasel Zippers, we learned the Los Angeles Times has a new term for illegal aliens in the work force: they’re “informal workers,” and that doesn’t mean they don’t arrive on the job in a tuxedo.

Times reporter Tiffany Hsu (a "UC Berkeley grad") began her Saturday story with the new I-word (and illegal immigrants also “labored unofficially” in "gray employment"):

Informal workers are growing part of California’s economy — a shift keenly felt in the construction industry, where 1 in 6 workers is either off the books or misreported, new research has found.

Construction businesses in the state employ roughly 895,000 workers, according to a report by downtown Los Angeles research group Economic Roundtable that was released Sunday. In 2011, 143,900 of those workers labored unofficially...

In specialty trades such as drywall and flooring, a quarter of laborers are considered informal, according to the Economic Roundtable.

Construction in California is a $152-billion industry, one in which so-called gray employment has surged 400% since 1972. The upswing has been especially pronounced since the most recent recession because only two-thirds of the formal construction jobs that disappeared have since returned...

The Economic Roundtable report recommends a wage floor that allows informal and formal workers to be paid the same amount and also suggests that legislators enact policies that reward on-the-level contractors.

The headline on the website was "1 in 6 California construction workers labors in shadows, study finds."

Read the full story:  www.newsbusters.org

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Friday, May 23, 2014

LA Times: Donald Sterling Wants His Wife To Negotiate Forced Sale Of Clippers --Latest gambit

May 23, 2014 Donald Sterling , ESPN 0 Comments
Donald and Shelly Sterling
By James Rainey, May 23, 2014, Latimes.com

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling would like to allow his wife, Shelly, to negotiate the forced sale of the NBA team in order to end a monthlong furor surrounding his racially charged remarks about African Americans, The Times confirmed Friday.

The news, first reported by ESPN.com and TMZ.com, could end the owners’ dispute with the pro basketball league, whose commissioner, Adam Silver, had asked that the Sterlings be ejected from the league.

Related story: Text from V. Stiviano: 'LET THE GAMES BEGAN'READ THE STORY

Fellow NBA owners are set to hear evidence on June 3 in New York at a hearing to determine whether the Sterlings should be able to keep the team, which they jointly own through a family trust. Three-fourths of the owners must approve the ouster of the Sterlings for it to become effective.

All indications had been that the Sterlings would fight to hold on to the team they have owned for 33 years. But a Donald Sterling confidant said Friday that Sterling, the team’s controlling owner, would like to turn the Clippers over to his wife to complete a sale.

Read the full story:  www.latimes.com

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Thursday, May 8, 2014

NBA Owners Committee Meets Again To Discuss Donald Sterling's Removal --NBA better hope he slips on a banana

May 08, 2014 Andy Roeser , Donald Sterling 0 Comments
By Mike Bresnahan, May 7, 2014, Latimes.com

The NBA's advisory and finance committee met via conference call Wednesday and addressed the process and timing regarding the termination of Donald Sterling's ownership of the Clippers, according to a statement released by the NBA.

The committee, which vowed last week to work "expeditiously" toward prying the team from Sterling, planned to meet again next week.

It is made up of 10 NBA owners, including Jeanie Buss of the Lakers, who could not be reached for immediate comment.

The committee also reviewed the status of the search for a new chief executive for the Clippers. Andy Roeser, the team executive in charge of business operations, took a forced leave of absence Tuesday. He was regarded as Sterling's right-hand man.

Read the full story:  www.latimes.com

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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

LAUSD Quietly Disbands Miramonte Child-Abuse Investigative Panel --Fear of additional liability

May 07, 2014 Connie Rice , LAUSD 0 Comments
By Howard Blume, May 6, 2014, Latimes.com

The Los Angeles school district has quietly shut down a high-profile special investigative panel intended to review the Miramonte Elementary child-abuse case, citing its cost.

The school system had pledged to form the commission in 2012 as a measure of its commitment to protect students after the arrest of veteran elementary teacher Mark Berndt, who was charged with lewd conduct.
I don't care about the lawsuits. I care about the kids.- Connie Rice, civil rights attorney

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who was asked to lead the commission, said she believes that L.A. Unified feared increasing its liability if the panel found fault with the school system. The district has paid about $30 million to 63 students and their families to settle civil lawsuits, along with millions more in legal fees and other costs. Other litigation is proceeding to trial.

"Their legal counsel didn't want me or the commission anywhere near this," Rice said. "But I don't care about the lawsuits. I care about the kids."

Supt. John Deasy had announced a series of efforts two years ago aimed at rebuilding the confidence of parents and others. These included the investigative commission to be headed by Rice and retired state Supreme Court Justice Carlos R. Moreno. Deasy also ordered the entire Miramonte staff to be replaced and directed administrators to scour old records to turn up potential problem employees. Deasy also formed an internal investigative team and strengthened record keeping.

As recently as November 2013, the district touted the commission. But the panel had been shelved a year earlier, as indicated in an email obtained by The Times.

"As you will recall, in a July 24 e-mail, I confirmed the Superintendent's commitment to fund the work of the commission," said Greg McNair, a senior L.A. Unified attorney, in the Nov. 5, 2012, message. "Since then, however, the financial outlook for the District weakened. The Superintendent now finds himself in the unfortunate position of being unable to finance the commission's work unless either Proposition 30 or Proposition 38 passes."

Previously undisclosed accusations against former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt reveal a more widespread pattern of alleged abuse, with more than 100 possible victims, including some children who said Berndt molested them

Prop. 30 passed — raising new tax revenue for schools across the state. But there was no additional communication with Rice.

McNair said Tuesday that the superintendent has made efforts behind the scenes to seek outside funding, but without success. He did not provide evidence of this outreach; nor was there any public acknowledgment.

"We haven't yet found anyone who is willing to fund the commission and it would be awkward to mention the names of the people who said no," McNair said.

Read the full story:  www.latimes.com

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Saturday, May 3, 2014

Not Too Long Ago, The LA Times Lavished Praise on Don Sterling --$ can't buy happiness, but it can buy praise

May 03, 2014 Donald Sterling , Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation 1 Comments
Sandy Banks
Columnist for 
The Los Angeles Times
By Jeffrey Lord former Reagan White House Political Director, May 3, 2014, Newsbusters.org

And so, what many suspected is documented.

The liberals of Los Angeles loved Donald Sterling. So much so that the liberal Los Angeles Times – acknowledging the paper knew of stories alleging Sterling was a bigot – headlined and sub-headlined a loving profile of Sterling on January 3, 2010 by reporter Sandy Banks this way:

Donald Sterling is generous, impolitic and eager to be liked

The Clippers owner has one of the largest real estate empires in Southern California, gives money to charitable causes and has been accused for years of being a bigot.

And oh so much money to liberal causes did Donald Sterling give. The Los Angeles Times was thrilled. Reported Ms. Banks:

I walked into the penthouse reception prepared to skewer Donald Sterling. But I had barely gotten through the door when I wound up in a group hug with the Clippers' owner and the NBA's top draft pick, heartthrob Blake Griffin.

Sterling might be a tight-fisted egomaniac, but he's also smart enough to know that it's hard to savage a man in print when he introduces you to the crowd as the "beautiful, fabulous writer for the Los Angeles Times. Here to make life better for underprivileged kids."

That's not exactly why I was at the Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation Summit, held Tuesday at his Sterling World Plaza in Beverly Hills.

You can't flip through our newspaper these days without spotting the giant ads Sterling buys promoting his awards and donations, his smiling face plastered among a jumble of names and cut-and-paste photos.

I wangled an invitation because I wanted to meet him. I was curious about the man -- and the motives -- behind the generosity. Sterling has been dogged for years by claims that he's a bigot. Was this simple image repair or true redemption, I wondered.

Banks spends a nanosecond noting that Sterling had previously had problems with a:housing discrimination lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department for $2.7 million. Four years ago, he spent millions to settle a similar lawsuit brought by a fair housing group…. Both accused him of trying to exclude blacks, Latinos and families with children from renting apartments in buildings he owns.

But hey. What’s a little bigotry between a rich donor to liberal favorites and the Times? So….on gushed this ace reporter from the Times in the Times:

Yet there he (Sterling) was last week playing Santa, handing out $1 million from his private charitable foundation to 10 high schools in South and East Los Angeles and 20 charities across Los Angeles County.

Got that? A million Sterling bucks to ten high schools in South and East LA plus 20 charities across Los Angeles County.

Ten high schools in South and East Los Angeles? Hmmm. The Times not long ago put together a project called Mapping LA, which naturally included a look at South and East Los Angeles. The paper reported that South LA has an ethnic background that is 56.7% Latino, 38% black, 2.2% white, 1.6% Asian and the rest “other”. And East LA? The paper ranked East LA as the least diverse in the city, with 96.7% of the population being Latino, the remainder miniscule populations of blacks, whites and Asians.

This is another way of saying, if the liberal political wisdom that minorities are all liberals is to be believed, Mr. Sterling was in fact doling out his bucks in big time fashion not just to the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. He was also handing out dollars big time to schools concentrated 100% in the heavily Latino and black areas of Los Angeles. The Times story is replete with Sterling quotes that he has donated to “another fabulous Hispanic charity”, a high school “"with all the Hispanic kids” and so on.

The now-resigned head of the local NAACP chapter, Leon Jenkins, (whose resignation was caused by the Sterling kerfuffle) makes an appearance in the 2010 Times story, notably misidentified by Sterling as "Leroy" Jenkins. The Times purrs that Sterling calls Jenkins "one of the most fabulous men ever to run a charity." The paper also reports that

Leon Jenkins' NAACP chapter honored Sterling last spring with its coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his achievements: Giving away thousands of free Clippers tickets to underprivileged children, filling rows of empty Staples Center seats.

The NAACP was not the only African-American group to be receiving Sterling’s money reported the paper. Writes reporter Banks: “The Black Business Assn. gave Sterling its Humanitarian Award in 2008 and enlisted him to chair last year's awards dinner. "I don't feel like he's a racist," president Earl "Skip" Cooper told me Tuesday night.”

And what about those twenty charities that the Times mentioned?

Over here at the Jewish Journal a spotlight on the relationship between the leadership of LA’s liberal Jewish community and Donald Sterling has switched on, creating a deer-in-the-headlights result.

Reports the Journal:
“Recent comments attributed to Donald Sterling, the Jewish owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who was banned for life from the league by the NBA's commissioner on April 29, have been denounced as racist by numerous area Jewish organizations, some of which have received donations amounting to tens of thousands of dollars from the embattled owner. 

A search of public records, made available through the website Guidestar.com, indicates that from 2010 to 2012, the Donald T. Sterling Charitable Foundation gave at least $10,000 to groups including The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Jewish Vocational Service of Los Angeles (JVS) and the Museum of Tolerance. 

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance, supported NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s actions. The museum received three donations of $10,000 between 2010-2012, according to Guidestar.com.” 

….(Jewish) Federation CEO and President Jay Sanderson made clear in an April 29 phone interview with the Journal that his organization also would not consider future donations. It received $10,000 in 2012.”

The Journal also publishes this list of recipients of Sterling money:


• Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles: $50,000 (2010).

• Beit T’Shuvah: $10,000 (2010); $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Jewish Vocational Service of Los Angeles: $10,000 (2010); $10,000

2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Los Angeles Jewish Home: $10,000 (2010); $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust: $10,000 (2010); $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Museum of Tolerance: $10,000 (2010); $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Vista Del Mar: $10,000 (2010); $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Guardians of the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging: $10,000 (2011); $10,000 (2012).

• Creative Arts Temple: $10,000 (2012).

• The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles: $10,000 (2012).

• Temple of the Arts: $10,000 (2012).


Read the full story:  www.newsbusters.org

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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Don't Tell Sterling--But There's A Black Person On The Other Page!

April 27, 2014 Donald Sterling , Los Angeles Clippers 0 Comments
By Kevin Drum, Apr. 27, 2014, Motherjones.com

I don't have much to add about the whole Donald Sterling affair. The appalling nature of his comments is pretty obvious, after all. But for those of you who don't live in Los Angeles, I thought I could at least acquaint you with a tiny tidbit about the guy's titanic level of egotism that you might find fascinating. Sterling is a major advertiser in the LA Times. I don't mean Sterling's companies. I mean Sterling, himself. He gives away lots of money, and when he does he makes sure everyone knows about it. Ads thanking Sterling for his good deeds simply litter the Times.  (Below, today's Los Angeles Times)

Today's Los Angeles Times

Read the full story:  www.motherjones.com

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NAACP-LA Names Don Sterling 2014 Lifetime Achievement Honoree--Despite Housing Discrimination History --Bad optics

April 27, 2014 Donald Sterling , Los Angeles Clippers 0 Comments
By Tom Blumner, Apr. 27, 2014, Newsbusters.org

Last night (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that Donald Sterling, owner of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Clippers, was allegedly caught on tape chiding a person who is apparently his girlfriend for "taking pictures with minorities" and "associating with black people." He also tells her that she is a "delicate" "Latina or white girl," and because of that doesn't understand why she would "associate with black people." He doesn't want her bringing black people, including NBA legend Magic Johnson, to games.

It turns out that Sterling must be known in liberal and politically correct circles for far more than the few small political donations from two decades ago identified in last night's post. The Clippers owner is scheduled in less than three weeks to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP at its 100th anniversary event, where Al Sharpton and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti will also be honored as persons of the year (HT to a NewsBusters commenter):
David Zahniser of The Los Angeles Times reports:

"Mayor Eric Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA." 
Read the full story: www.latimes.com

 The lifetime achievement award decision should already have been highly questionable before Sterling's alleged race-based rant.

NewsBusters' late Noel Sheppard, in a 2009 post, noted that shortly after the PC crowd expressed horror at the prospect of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh having partial ownership of the NFL's St. Louis Rams (Limbaugh was dropped from the ownership group after likely pressure from the league and/or the players union, i.e., the intimidation campaign against him worked), Sterling was settling a government lawsuit relating to ... wait for it ... race-based housing discrimination — the second such settlement in less than five years.

Read the full story: www.newsbusters.org

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