For the better part of a decade, during the region’s worst drought in 1,200 years, the City of Long Beach failed to take any punitive action for water waste, even after tightening water-use restrictions and soliciting the general public for reports of violations, which came in by the hundreds each month.
When questioned last year, Dean Wang, the Long Beach Water Department’s manager of water resources, told Random Lengths Newsthat because of staffing shortages and poor record-keeping the department may not have been sufficiently diligent in taking action against the worst chronic offenders; and that the department was rejiggering its database so as to keep better track of which customers are consistently alleged to be in violation of waste-use regulations. “When there’s a drought and the need for these rules,” Wang said, “we will definitely be stepping up that enforcement.”
But in the wake of a single relatively rainy year, Long Beach Water has gone in the other direction, loosening restrictions while at the same time becoming less transparent than formerly regarding water-use complaints, denying the public the opportunity to get a sense of how many customers appear to be chronic violators.
In response to a 2023 request for records of water-use complaints, Random Lengths News ascertained that the Long Beach Water Department had hundreds of customers who between May 15 and October 15, 2022 were regularly accused of numerous water-use violations, in some cases upwards of 20 separate occasions.
This year, in response to a request seeking the same records for May–December 2023, Long Beach Water redacted all 736 reported addresses of over 2,000 alleged violations, making it nearly impossible to ascertain whether any property owner is alleged to be guilty of a single violation or a hundred.
But under current policy it almost doesn’t matter. Although in response to alleged violations Long Beach Water may send a letter “to advise you of water-use restrictions” which “include[s] a list of water saving tips,” the department will not issue an official warning letter — the first required step to possibly issuing a fine of effecting water shut-off — unless staff directly witnesses a violation.
Does that mean, for example, that if the department received 100 videos from from 100 different people documenting violations at a single address within a single month, this would be insufficient for the department to issue a warning letter? “Correct,” Wang says.
But even when staff does witness repeated violations at a location, at least sometimes the department refuses to act. A case in point is 100 Oceangate, a commercial customer whose chronic water-use violations Random Lengths News has independently verified and regularly reported to the Long Beach Water— in each case with video evidence —for over two years. Wang claims the department spent “many hours over the past year in-person at [the address in question] to try and observe the irrigation system running on the wrong days/times or causing excessive runoff” but “did not witness those violations occurring during our numerous in-person inspections.” Wang says no records were kept of this field time beyond “[p]hotographs taken during inspections.”
But contrary to Wang’s claim, those photographs confirm that on July 31, 2023 and then again on August 9 and September 25, Long Beach Water staff photographed evidence of various violations, including watering landscape on prohibited days/times and “watering landscape or using water that results in runoff that flows onto neighboring properties, sidewalks […] roadways, parking lots or structures.”
Wang justifies department inaction in the wake of the July 31 violations by calling the evidence “circumstantial,” saying “A violation was not actively occurring when our staff was present. It would be speculative to assume to when an actual violation occurred.” However, because the photographs, taken on a Monday, documented standing water at the bottom of planters and runoff into the gutter, the only way a violation did not occur was if the flora had been watered the prior Friday and the water had not evaporated as of Monday morning — a physical impossibility, considering that there no rainfall that weekend and daytime highs in the 80s each day.
Ten days later, staff caught 100 Oceangate in the act of committing the same violations, yet the department still chose not to issue a warning letter. It was only the following month, when staff caught 100 Oceangate committing the same violations yet again that Wang says a warning letter was finally sent.
To date, 100 Oceangate has never received a fine, although Random Lengths News has documented violations on multiple occasions since September. (Random Lengths News cannot confirm that 100 Oceangate has ever been sent a warning letter: Wang says the department does not keep copies.)
Because of unusually high rainfall totals last year, California has emerged from its three driest years in recorded history. But as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notes, “Drought in California and Nevada is a common occurrence that can last for multiple years.” And almost 50% of the Colorado River Basin — which supplies Southern California with over 30% of our water— remains either in drought or “abnormally dry.”
Nonetheless, until Long Beach Water changes its policies and practices, apparently even the most chronic violators can flaunt City of Long Beach water-use prohibitions with impunity, regardless of who sees them do it.
Talk about a hunt for buried treasure: To find shining legacies of Los Angeles’ golden maritime past, drive to the south end of Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington, take a left and then a right at Port Police headquarters, and continue beyond the pavement’s end. Go slow down a bumpy, dusty gravel road lined by storage tanks, a cement plant, and rusting vehicles, to the murky waters of the Port of Los Angeles’s East Basin. Get out of your car, cross the swaying bridge to the dock, past boats in various stages of decline and repair, and ask Wayne Ettel to part the curtains shrouding a sleeping beauty.
There, in the midst of industrial blight and rubble, floats a goddess herself: Athena, a 47-foot twin-engine cruiser built in 1929 by the Stephens Brothers and lovingly restored and maintained by Ettel and his crew. Her gleaming flanks speak of a time when enjoying the Pacific Ocean on finely crafted personal vessels was as integral to the Southern California lifestyle as film stars, surfing, cars, and aerospace.
“The movie industry was part of the boat-building industry,” says Ettel, whose clients at Boatswayne Ettel have included John Wayne and David Crosby. “The movie stars didn’t buy an airplane, they bought a boat, because that was their escape.”
But soon, even treasure hunters may not be able to find Athena, or Ettel, or the Maritime Preservation Trust he founded to maintain such historic boats, in Wilmington. The Port of Los Angeles is evicting the nonprofit educational program, its wooden ships, and its founder and master craftsman. The planned replacement? A concrete slag processing plant.
Ettel and the generations of sea lubbers dependent on his knowledge and skills see the revocation of his permit as the end of an era and a contradiction of the port’s obligation to the future.
“I just feel like they don’t have their priorities straight, says Sean Murphy, as he takes a break from working on the deck of his Kettenburg 50, made out of rare Honduran mahogany. “They could crush concrete any place.”
“It’s just getting so they’re boxing us in and we don’t have access to the ocean anymore,” says Ettel. “People used to come down here and buy a used boat for pretty cheap and be able to fix it up and go sailing. And you can’t do that anymore.
“We’re land creatures. We don’t have flippers, we don’t have breathing holes in the back of our head. But we have hands to access the ocean. That’s what a port’s for: where we can build the boats and harbor the boats and access the blue part of our planet.”
“A CALIFORNIA KID” Born in San Diego, one of four sons of a welder who worked for the Navy, Wayne Ettel has been around the sea his whole life. “I was just enamored by the water,” the soft-spoken sailor says as we sit in Athena while boats pass in the Dominguez Channel. “I was just one of these kids you couldn’t get out of the bathtub. I love to sail, I love to go scuba diving. I just love the ocean; I love to be on it, in it, around it.”
The Ettels moved to Westminster, where Wayne became a junior lifeguard and certified scuba diver by the time he was 16. Sea Scouts led him to his first job crewing, on the tall ship the Argus. From there followed years of apprenticeships building and sailing. He learned much of his craft in Newport Beach, a community where vintage vessels are appreciated: Athena’s polished wooden decks and cabin recently earned her a Best in Show at the Newport International Boat Show. Romance led Wayne briefly to the East Coast, but “about October it’s getting pretty cold there and they start talking about being snowbound. I’m a California kid, and I’m not sure I’m up for staying inside for days at a time. So I came back to California, hired into a boatyard.”
Ettel has a laidback demeanor, a lowkey chuckle in his throat even though you know he’s grappling with a broken heart. That gentle vocal throb combined with stunning footage of white sails zooming over aquamarine waters should make the videos he posts on the MPT’s YouTube channel ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) viral sensations. Tune in, calm down, and sail away.
But about halfway through the “MPT Internship Program,” Ettel’s narrative about the crafting skills that the trust is passing on to future generations goes awry – like a needle scratching across the surface of a new age record. The program’s 2023 request for a grant from the port was not only denied but Ettel was put on notice that MPT and Boatswayne, his private company, must leave berth 193.
In 2023 the port released a draft report on the environmental impact of allowing Ecocem Materials to ship slag across the ocean to 100 Yacht Street (ironic address), where it will be turned into concrete and then shipped out on trucks. It’s hard to see how this heavy industry, high-traffic plant aligns with POLA’s website claim to be “setting the standard for responsible, sustainable growth.”
“What we have been doing here at the Maritime Preservation Trust, and what we would like to continue doing, is at the very heart of sustainability,” Ettel says in the video, with more disappointment than anger. “When you can teach people how to take well-built things, repair, rebuild, maintain, and keep using them, instead of throwing them away, you’re nurturing a better lifestyle and future for all of us.” (Full disclosure: My son briefly volunteered at MPT five years ago.)
Port spokesperson Phillip Sanfield issued this statement in response to Random Lengths’ request for information about Ettel’s eviction: “Mr. Ettel has a revocable permit with the Port of Los Angeles. Revocable permits are temporary entitlements which can be terminated by either party with a 30-day notice. The Port has been in discussions with Mr. Ettel since October 2023 about vacating the property. On March 29, 2024, the Port issued a Thirty-Day Notice to Terminate. Mr. Ettel has not vacated the property and was delivered an unlawful detainer summons on May 29, 2024. As this is pending litigation, the Port has no further comment.”
Paul Cole has been working on his 1963 cutter Aquila at berth 193 for two years. “There’s two things,” he says. “One is the MPT: Can you save some of these and actually make them accessible to people, kids, whatever? And the other is, these are beautiful, old artifacts of a period of time.”
“THE GUY THAT CAN FIX ANYTHING” Ettel began his boat repair business in 1986. “I started working on boats because I was the guy that can fix anything, and as this evolved along, I ended up starting a business. And it was great because I would help people fix their boats, and then they would invite me sailing. What could be better than that?”
For all his bon vivant demeanor, Ettel is a serious craftsman. “He’s very meticulous,” says Kaelyn Ibold, who went from volunteering at MPT as a University of Southern California student to running the volunteer program. “There’s absolutely a right way to do everything, and so he’ll sit there and watch over your shoulder and tell you it has to be perfect every time. There’s never the last coat of varnish, you have to do it over and over and over again.”
Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala
That attention to detail takes time. Ettel says he usually has an 18-month waiting list for his services. Often the boat owners, the MPT apprentices, and other aficionados help him get the job done. Long before coworking spaces were a thing, berth 193 was a kind of We Work for wooden boats.
“I figured that I wasn’t going to work for money, I was going to work for friends,” Ettel says. “Because you get into these projects, and sometimes you have to make a concession. I wanted to see my friends go sailing, I didn’t want them to go broke. Together we would do the projects.”
His father, Rolland, worked alongside Wayne after he retired from his Navy civil service job and before he passed. A picture of him hangs in Ettel’s tugboat, still overseeing the wood shop. “He spent every day at my shop,” Ettel says, his calm tone breaking. “The knowledge he had!”
Ettel first set up at berth 58, where AltaSea now is. There is no small irony in the fact port leaders tout AltaSea’s sustainable blue economy in one breath then in the next declare a business that has sustained boats for four decades an “unlawful detainer.” The port moved Ettel to his current location in 2000.
“There were 14 boat and shipyards in the port of Los Angeles,” Ettel says of those early days. “They hired tens of thousands of people. There were hardware stores everywhere. I had accounts at four different lumber yards. This was a working town. And I fit right in. I was part of the team that kept our watercraft seaworthy.”
Many of the boats Ettel has worked on are historic, built by some of California’s greatest shipwrights, and sailed by its stars. The Olinka, a 67-foot Swedish yawl built in 1953, was owned by Tony Bill, producer of The Sting and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The Resolute was built in Wilmington in 1936 and owned by actor Spencer Tracy before landing in the hands of San Pedro’s family the Fabians 82 years ago. I’ve had the good fortune to spend many nights anchored off of Catalina in this two-masted ketch, reading a book in the bunk once favored by Katherine Hepburn, with her classic line describing a handcrafted wooden yacht in The Philadelphia Story in my head: “My, she was yar.”
Ettel restored the Mayan, owned by music legend Crosby. He has fond memories of the first day they sailed the famous schooner after repairs. “We left here, and we put a feathering prop on the boat. The bottom was more fair than it had ever been. I got moving pictures of David. In that video, he has got the biggest smile on his face. We went from LA light[house] to Avalon in about two hours, the boat averaged 11 knots. That was really spectacular.”
“A PIECE OF FLOATING FURNITURE” Without Ettel, boats such as these – as well as the tall ships owned by the Los Angeles Maritime Institute – will have to travel to San Diego or Mexico for the regular maintenance that these vessels require. Wooden boats are sensitive to water and sunlight and can become abandoned hazards. Ettel has experienced his own tragic losses: The Argus sank twice while anchored at his dock, while Athena’s sister, Conquest, exploded and burned in November. Wooden vessels are no longer accepted at most marinas in the port of LA. Athena, Volpe, and Laila have nowhere to go.
Meanwhile, panicked boat owners keep calling Ettel. “People are like, can you finish this project, are you going to be able to help me? It’s just tears in my eyes. I can’t even answer the phone anymore. How do I tell all these people that my services aren’t available?”
In other parts of the world – Seattle, Mystic, Connecticut. – wooden ships are safeguarded as works of art and tourist attractions, even given free dockage. In the Port of Los Angeles, they are endangered species — disposable dinosaurs.
Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala
“There’s a dumpster here they put for recycling for plastic goods and cardboard and paper and tin,” says Murphy. “But they want to destroy all these wooden boats or give them no place to go. You’re not welcome at any of the marinas. And so they’re making it harder and harder and harder to own a wooden boat.
Ettel is one of the last boat builders still standing. He created the MPT to pass on the skills he learned from his father and masters such as Dennis Holland and Bob Sloan – “for the old salts to teach the young pups. The young people would come down here, and they started out washing down the boats and going sailing. And then we would learn what their talents and aptitudes were. We could send them to any facet of the marine industry that they wanted to go in because we do everything here. A boat builder can build a house, he can build furniture, he can build anything. But a furniture builder can’t work on a boat. There’s a level of excellence to achieve the curves and shapes and to do this quality work, because it’s a piece of floating furniture, but it has to hold up to the sea. And so it has to be built strong enough to do that.”
The MPT changed Ibold’s life. She was a film major when a friend took her to Wilmington one weekend to sand and varnish. She sailed for the first time with a USC sailing class on a boat that Ettel had worked on. “I was immediately hooked,” she says. “It was a two-day trip and it just altered the path of my whole life because I was like, this is what I want to do. This is amazing.”
Ibold, 27, now teaches sailing at USC and elsewhere.
Ettel has an ambitious plan to integrate MPT, trash removal from the seriously polluted Dominguez Channel, and the establishment of an environmentally conscious boat removal facility. Some Ettel clients and boat owners are trying to find a new home for MPT. After all, what better attraction to connect LAMI, the hoped-for tourists of West Harbor, and the blue economy hub of AltaSea than these icons of icons?
If these hopes fizzle, Ettel will pack up Athena and take her back to where she was built: Stockton, where there are plans to build a West Coast version of Mystic Seaport and where he and his wife have already bought a house.
But Ettel is a Southern Californian, and the demise of boatsmanship in the city of angels breaks his heart. “We’re losing our maritime heritage because it’s gotten so expensive and so difficult, that people just can’t afford it. They’re getting out of boating…. Fixing up old wooden sailboats and taking them sailing is sustainability. All of these boats, they’re not built with polyester resins. They’re built with wood and metal. They’re built with renewable and recyclable materials. Why can’t we keep doing that? Why do we have to lose all the know-how that it takes to do this?”
Evelyn McDonnell is the author or editor of eight books, an internationally recognized award-winning journalist, and a professor at Loyola Marymount University. She writes the series Bodies of Water – portraits of lives aquatic – for Random Lengths.
Many pundits and others are already calling the presidential debates a-snooze-bout.
By James Preston Allen, publisher
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” ― Angela Y. Davis
Many people are already calling the debate between Biden and Trump “not a game changer” that is unless one or the other falls over dead, the national polls won’t change– as of June 25 the best of these polls has President Joe Biden with a slim one-point lead over the Ex-President that amounts to what would be called in boxing a “grudge match.” This is the rematch and the fat guy in the orange shorts is coming out swinging. And we all know how much the Orange Guy hates to lose, so much so that even after three and a half years he still can’t admit he lost in 2020. It’s a form of grievance politics that has infected the national debates from Congress, down to even neighborhood councils. Representatives can’t set aside their personal battles for what could easily be considered the greater good. The now-convicted former occupant of the White House has even raised $140 million since his guilty verdict as if that will save him in November. One only has to wonder if this is his latest grift. So, what’s in it for Trump to stand on a stage with Biden without a live audience yelling, “Lock him Up”? Oh yes, that was about Hilary, but now it’s turned on him.
You can look at what the Orange Guy is doing as being one big reality TV show. He knows how to play to the cameras ― all of his rallies, speeches, and TV appearances are about being “the Celebrity.” The hairdo, the fake tan, and his bluster of being a “billionaire” are all a persona that he wears to bolster this image– it’s fake. Has anyone actually seen his tax records that he promised back in 2016?
President Biden on the other hand is pretty much what he appears, the average Joe from working-class parents who has worked his way up to the presidency by never giving up. Not even his stutter, his age, nor his personal life tragedies have stopped him from getting to the Oval Office. He, like President Barack Obama before him, is like the model of American values of hard work and ingenuity. Trump as I said is just a grifter who doesn’t like to take no for an answer. Apparently, many conservatives admire this.
What will appear on stage this week on CNN and watched by millions of Americans and others around the globe will be this contrast between an authentic Joe and a BS Don. Will our democracy stand the test of an assault from a neo-fascist?
The question is whether there are enough actual voters who can tell the difference. However, what’s really at stake in this election in November is whether to will be the choice between keeping American democracy, even with all its flaws and all, or allow a to vote for a bully autocrat whothat espouses racism, intolerance, and outright hate to take the reins. It is the outright hate that has pitted various segments of our country to engage in less than civil debate and protests, limiting free speech, attacking journalism, and open discussion of the “greater good” or even what core values are in a diverse society such as ours. At this point, reason seems to have failed us as a nation, or at least half the nation. It was perhaps said best by the American patriot of the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine, “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”. Paine must have known that American democracy would face such a tyrant and would-be dictator. This ultimately is Biden’s challenge to argue reason with the dead.
The true test of a person’s integrity is what they do when they are given a little bit of power over their neighbors, the public purse, and whether they use it for the benefit of all or for their own personal own gain. We’ve seen it at our City Halls and I’ve even seen it in our neighborhood councils. Our governments are only as good as the people we trust to do our business and we are often fooled . However, all of these crimes in office pale against to what he has already been indicted for but for which many of us suspect as being high crimes, fraud, and most likely treason.
The last line I can think of is that tThe price of liberty isin eternal vigilance– attributed to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
LONG BEACH —The Port of Long Beach has entered into a Sister Ports Agreement with the Xiamen Port Authority. The agreement establishes a framework for the ports to share information and best practices and collaborate on issues of common interest, including trade development, port operations, infrastructure development, environmental sustainability and city-port relations. The Port of Xiamen is one of the largest ports in China, the 14th-largest container port in the world, and the Port of Long Beach’s 11th-largest trade partner in terms of containerized cargo volume, valued at $3.2 billion in 2023. The ports held a signing ceremony June 12 at the Port of Long Beach Administration Building and the document was witnessed by representatives from the Xiamen Port Authority, Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, COSCO Shipping and the Port of Long Beach.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:
Brittany Comegna, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the State Rehabilitation Council. Comegna has been founder and CEO of Deaf and Disability Mediation Services since 2024. She was an education coordinator for the Rochester Institute of Technology from 2023 to 2024, where she held several positions from 2013 to 2023, including director, coordinator and admissions counselor. She is a member of the Southern California Mediation Association and California Hands and Voices. Comegna earned a Master of Science degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cinema and Television Arts from California State University, Northridge. She is deaf and her native language is American Sign Language. Comegna receives Department of Rehabilitation services. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Comegna is registered without party preference.
Karen Horne, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Film Commission. Horne was senior vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Warner Bros. Discovery from 2020 to 2023. She was senior vice president of Talent Development and Inclusion for NBCUniversal from 2009 to 2019. Horne was director of Creative Affairs for IDT Entertainment from 2005 to 2006. She was an executive consultant for Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2005. Horne was director of Writer Development and Special Projects for the Walt Disney Company from 1996 to 2000. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Montclair State University School of Communication and Media, the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and the Alliance of Women Directors. Horne earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcasting from Montclair State University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Horne is a Democrat.
Holly J. Mitchell, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Film Commission. Mitchell has served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors since 2020. She served as a Senator in the California State Senate from 2013 to 2020 and as an Assemblymember in the California State Assembly from 2010 to 2013. Mitchell was chief executive officer of Crystal Stairs from 2001 to 2010. She was a legislative advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty from 1998 to 2001. Mitchell was executive director of the California Black Women’s Health Project from 1994 to 1998. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and the California Science Center Foundation Board of Trustees. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Saint Mary’s University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Mitchell is a Democrat.
California to Expand Funding for Children’s Hospitals
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Children’s Hospital Association or CCHA today announced an agreement to expand health care for children in the state. The agreement will provide additional funding for the Department of Health Care Services to support California children’s hospitals now and in the future. This funding will help support medical care for critically ill children and those fighting the most serious and life-threatening diseases.
“State government leaders asked Children’s Hospitals to think outside the box to maximize the use of federal money to achieve our goal of extending life-saving care to more critically ill children,” said Ann-Louise Kuhns, President and CEO of CCHA. “We have found the best path to do so with less stress on the state’s budget for public health, public safety, public education and public infrastructure.”
This agreement is reflected in AB/SB 164. Once this legislation is passed by the Legislature, proponents of the “Affordable, Life-Saving Healthcare for Critically Ill Children” initiative eligible for the November 2024 ballot have agreed to withdraw their measure.
California to focus on Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Through Precision Medicine Research
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom June 25 announced an agreement to enhance the state’s ability to prepare for and potentially prevent the next pandemic by integrating the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine into the California Health and Human Services Agency or CalHHS and broadening its scope to include technologies relevant to pandemic prevention. Precision medicine, particularly when used with advanced diagnostic tools for infectious diseases, has the potential to alleviate the burdens of future pandemics by enabling early detection, faster response, and more effective countermeasures.
Pandemic preparedness and prevention are critical to safeguarding public health and ensuring societal and economic resilience against infectious disease outbreaks. This involves a multi-faceted approach including early detection through advanced diagnostics, rapid response mechanisms, and the integration of data and technology to monitor and predict disease trends. Strengthening healthcare infrastructure, enhancing the public health workforce, and fostering community engagement are also essential components. By investing in precision medicine research to develop next-generation tools and approaches, the state can achieve a more targeted and effective response to infectious diseases.
The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine was launched in 2015 to support collaborative research and foster partnerships between the state, researchers, patients, communities, and industry to further the aims of this approach to health and medicine. Precision medicine aims to use advanced computing tools to aggregate, integrate, and analyze vast amounts of data from research, clinical, environmental, and population health settings, to better understand health and disease, and to develop and deliver more targeted diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention measures.
LOS ANGELES — United Food and Commercial Workers or UFCW Locals 8GS, 135, 324, 770, 1167, 1428 and 1442, together representing more than 6,000 Food 4 Less/Foods Co. workers across California, reached a tentative agreement securing substantial wage increases for all workers, more guaranteed hours, and other contract improvements.
The UFCW Food 4 Less/Foods Co. Bargaining Committee said the following:
“We are proud to announce a tentative agreement with Food 4 Less/Foods Co. that we unanimously recommend to our co-workers. We are grateful for the solidarity and strength our co-workers have shown throughout negotiations as well as the overwhelming support we have received from our customers and community members. We could not have achieved this deal without them. Today proves that when workers stand together, we win. We look forward to discussing the details of this agreement with our co-workers before we make our voices heard during the voting process.” Further details of the tentative agreement will be shared exclusively with union members in meetings held throughout the week. After votes close, the results will be tallied, verified, and shared with members. Vote results and further information on the contract will be shared with the public after membership has had a chance to review and vote on their contract.
Homicide detectives have made an arrest regarding the June 19, murder of Josue Manuel Matos.
Through their investigation, Homicide detectives identified the suspect as Aaron Garcia, a 25-year-old resident of Long Beach. On June 25, officers were assisting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department with an eviction on Cerritos Avenue. During the course of the eviction, officers located and arrested Garcia inside the residence. The suspect was transported to Long Beach City Jail where he was booked for murder and a probation violation. He is being held without bail.
Detectives believe the victim and suspect were engaged in a conversation with each other before Garcia shot the victim. At this time, it is unknown whether the victim and suspect knew each other. The motive is under investigation.
Detectives will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Homicide Detectives Oscar Valenzuela or Leticia Gamboa 562-570-7244 or anonymously at 800-222-8477 and www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Dozens of UN experts are warning weapons makers, governments and investors that they are risking being complicit in “serious violations” of international human rights laws, potentially including genocide, by providing weapons to Israel as it wages genocide in Gaza.
The group of 30 human rights experts, including multiple special rapporteurs to the UN, called out arms manufacturers like U.S. companies Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more, saying that they should end transfers “even if they are executed under existing export licenses.”
“These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components, and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws,” the experts said in a statement.
The recent order by the International Court of Justice or ICJ demanding that Israel immediately stop its Rafah invasion, as well as the ICJ’s finding that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide, have heightened that risk, the experts warned. The group contains experts on a wide range of human rights, and includes Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese.
“In this context, continuing arms transfers to Israel may be seen as knowingly providing assistance for operations that contravene international human rights and international humanitarian laws and may result in profit from such assistance,” they said.
The UN experts also warn investors in these manufacturers, like Bank of America, BlackRock, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, State Farm, Wells Fargo and others, that they could also be liable for aiding human rights abuses against Palestinians. While these financiers may not be directly making the weapons Israel is using in its campaign of extermination, they are making it possible for nations and arms companies to do so.
“Arms initiate, sustain, exacerbate, and prolong armed conflicts, as well as other forms of oppression, hence the availability of arms is an essential precondition for the commission of war crimes and violations of human rights, including by private armament companies,” the group said.
Advocates for Palestinian rights have long targeted arms manufacturers for not just creating the weapons used to slaughter Palestinians, but also profiting from the genocide; the more brutal and prolonged the destruction, the more money the companies and their executives rake in, as arms companies openly tell their investors.
General Dynamics makes the MK-80 series of bombs that Israel has long used in its decades-old campaign against Palestinians; Boeing creates the bomb kits that help Israel level refugee camps and residential buildings; General Dynamics developed and Lockheed Martin makes the F-16 fighter jets bombs are dropped from.
The experts also called out companies with lesser-known ties to Israel’s slaughter, like Caterpillar, which has made the bulldozers that Israel has used to destroy buildingsand cemeteries.
Activists have targeted particularly prolific arms makers and investors with divestment campaigns, while the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has seen a surge in activity since October.
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors June 25 approved a proposal by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Holly Mitchell which identifies funding to launch a pilot program to eliminate medical debt for some struggling LA County residents. The pilot program will use $5 million to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars of debt.
“No one should be driven into poverty because they got sick. But medical debt remains a huge problem in this country, and it can be devastating for families and their financial well-being,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn who has championed efforts to address medical debt for LA County residents. “Luckily for us, we have an opportunity to make a difference. We can purchase medical debt for cents on the dollar and eliminate this burden for tens of thousands of people for a small fraction of what they collectively owe. I think we have a moral obligation to seize this opportunity to help these LA County families.”
Medical debt is often bundled and sold at steep discounts to companies who profit off of collecting on that debt. Since 2014, the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt has leveraged donations to purchase medical debts much like a collection company would, but instead of trying to collect on the debt, they cancel the debt entirely. On average, $1 can purchase and eliminate $100 of medical debt.
Under the proposal, LA County will partner with Undue Medical Debt to launch a medical debt elimination pilot program specifically targeting lower income LA County residents. Public Health estimates that with the up to $5 million identified today for the pilot program, LA County could eliminate $500 million of medical debt for 150,000 lower-income residents.
In addition to identifying funding, the approved motion allows the Department of Public Health to enter into an agreement with Undue Medical Debt to design and execute the pilot program. Details regarding the pilot program, partnerships with the hospital association and other key stakeholders, and the timeline will be worked out and announced in the coming months. Once the medical debt pilot program is completed, the Department of Public Health will report back to the board on its effectiveness and potential scalability.
Medical debt exceeds $2.9 billion for LA County residents, impacting one in ten adults in 2022 and disproportionately affecting families with children, lower-income, Latino, Black, American Indian, and Pacific Islander residents, and people with chronic health conditions. Medical debt has been shown to impede patients’ ability to access necessary healthcare and treatment, creating a cycle of health and financial hardship which affects employment stability, housing security, and overall quality of life.
CARSON — On June 18, Judge Curtis Kin of Los Angeles Superior Court entered judgment in favor of five petitioner cities: City of Carson, City of Redondo Beach, City of Torrance, City of Whittier, and City of Del Mar, all represented through the law firm of Aleshire & Wynder as the litigation lead, in their case challenging the constitutionality of SB 9. Judge Kin’s judgment, which you can find here, states that “Senate Bill 9 (as codified in Government Code Sections 65852.21, 66411.7, and 66452.6) is unconstitutional.” This judgment vindicates the petitioner cities’ raison d’être for bringing this lawsuit: to ensure that the State respects important constitutional values of separation of powers before enacting laws that limit Charter cities’ constitutionally granted local control.
On June 21, 2024, the California Attorney General filed a notice of appeal in an attempt to reverse the judgment. SB 9 has not been amended in any way to cure its constitutional deficiencies since Judge Kin entered judgment in favor of Petitioner cities.
Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes from the City of Carson responded to this appeal, stating, “In Carson, we are pro-housing and have completed many affordable housing projects over the years. For example, we opened a remarkable 51-unit affordable housing complex called Veterans Village where monthly rents run from $15 to $1,800, depending on need. This lawsuit is not about housing, it’s about ensuring that the State follows the constitution.”
