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Governors BRIEFS: California Students Start Riding Clean Buses and $1.2 Billion Invested In Supply Chain

California Charging Ahead With Zero-Emission School Buses

SACRAMENTO – Thousands of California kids are now riding to school in zero-emission school buses. According to a new report published Oct. 12 by the California Air Resources Board or CARB and the California Energy Commission or CEC) , 1,800 zero-emission buses are operating or on order in California — more than double the number of clean school buses in the rest of the U.S.

There are more than 560 clean school buses operating on California roads — 327 of which are in the state’s most pollution-burdened communities — with more than 1,200 on order, bringing the state’s total to 1,800 buses. By comparison, 888 zero-emission school buses have been awarded, ordered, or deployed across the U.S. outside of California, as of 2021, according to a CALSTART report.

To date, the state has invested more than $1.2 billion to clean up old, diesel-burning school buses with an additional $1.8 billion going out over the next five years for zero-emission school buses and associated charging infrastructure.

The funding is part of the California Climate Commitment, a record $54 billion investment in climate action, which includes $10 billion for accelerating California’s transition to zero-emission vehicles with significant consumer rebates and funding for charging infrastructure.

In addition to state funding, late last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would nearly double the funding awarded through its Clean School Bus Program this year to $965 million following increased demand, with school districts from all 50 states applying for 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates.

Click Here to Learn More About School Bus Cleanup

 

Gov. Newsom Invests $1.2 Billion in California’s Supply Chain to Support the State’s Ports and Freight Corridors

SACRAMENTO – With the focus turning to long-term supply chain improvements, the California State Transportation Agency today issued final guidelines and a call for projects for the $1.2 billion in one-time state funding for port and freight infrastructure projects to build a more efficient, sustainable and resilient goods movement system.

Finalized in the state budget at the end of June, the port and freight infrastructure program aims to make long-term upgrades that will increase the capacity to move goods throughout the state while lessening environmental impacts on neighboring communities.

Seventy percent of the program funding will go to projects that support goods movement through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – the busiest ports in the Western Hemisphere – and 30% will fund ports and goods movement infrastructure in the rest of the state.

The Port and Freight Infrastructure Program is a result of the executive order Gov. Newsom issued last October that called on state agencies to develop longer term budget proposals that support port operations and goods movement. The program builds off the successful short-term actions by the state to address supply chain congestion.

Project applications are due Jan. 13, 2023, and CalSTA expects to announce the funding awards in March 2023.

Details: here.

Brother of Former Councilman José Huizar Admits Lying to Investigators about Converting Cash to Checks for Ousted Politician

LOS ANGELES – Salvador Huizar – the brother of former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar, who faces federal racketeering charges stemming from a “pay-to-play” scheme – admitted in a plea agreement filed Oct. 10 in United States District Court that he took cash from José Huizar on numerous occasions and immediately wrote checks back to him or arranged to pay his expenses, and then lied about his actions to federal investigators.

Salvador Huizar, 57, of Boyle Heights, agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of making false statements to federal investigators, acknowledging that he repeatedly lied about accepting cash from his brother, including to a federal grand jury and most recently two weeks ago during an interview with FBI agents and federal prosecutors.

“Between at least November 26, 2013, and August 22, 2018, upon José Huizar’s request, [Salvador Huizar] accepted envelopes of cash from José Huizar on at least 20 occasions,” Salvador Huizar admitted in the plea agreement. “In exchange, [Salvador Huizar] contemporaneously wrote checks, or facilitated electronic payments from [his] own bank account, to either José Huizar directly or to pay José Huizar’s expenses in the same amounts as the cash provided by José Huizar.”

Even though Salvador Huizar asked his brother on multiple occasions about the cash, José Huizar said “it was better that [Salvador Huizar] did not know the source of the cash,” according to the plea agreement.

Salvador Huizar admitted he lied to FBI agents on November 17, 2018, when he falsely stated that José Huizar never asked him to write any checks, except on two occasions and for which he was not paid back. However, on at least 20 occasions, José Huizar gave his brother an envelope of cash and asked him to write checks or facilitate electronic payments to José Huizar or for his expenses, the plea agreement states.

Salvador Huizar also admitted he made false statements to the FBI and federal prosecutors on January 30, 2020 – when he said cash from his brother was to pay off a debt or that he received cash later, after the check was written – and two weeks ago when he reiterated these false statements before recanting and saying José Huizar regularly had cash with him and gave Salvador Huizar cash at the time he wrote the checks.

During an appearance before a federal grand jury on March 5, 2020, Salvador Huizar also made false statements when he testified under oath that cash from José Huizar was to pay off a debt and that cash was received only after Salvador Huizar wrote a check to his brother.

As part of his plea agreement, Salvador Huizar has agreed to cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigation and has agreed to testify at the next two trials in this case.

Salvador Huizar is expected to formally enter his guilty plea before a federal judge in the coming weeks. The charge of making a false statement to a federal agency carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Assistant United States Attorneys Mack E. Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; Susan S. Har and J. Jamari Buxton of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; and Patrick A. Castañeda of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section are prosecuting the case against Salvador Huizar.

José Huizar and former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan are scheduled to go to trial on February 21, 2023, on federal charges alleging they conspired to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Huizar allegedly agreed to accept at least $1.5 million in illicit financial benefits and faces dozens of additional federal criminal charges.

Previously in this racketeering case, real estate developer Dae Yong Lee and one of his companies were convicted in June of federal criminal charges for providing $500,000 in cash to José Huizar and his special assistant in exchange for their help in resolving a labor organization’s appeal of their downtown Los Angeles development project and obstructing justice by falsifying financial documents.

The next scheduled trial in this case is scheduled to begin October 25. Shen Zhen New World I LLC, an entity owned by real estate developer Wei Huang, is charged with bribing Huizar related to another downtown Los Angeles development project. Huang remains a fugitive.

Updated on Resignation of Nury Martinez Oct. 12: Martinez Resigns — President, Reps and Labor Demand Resignations from De Leon and Cedillo For Racist Comments

Update: Mayor Eric Garcetti made the following statement after Martinez’s announcement Oct 12, to step down from her city council position as well as her position as president of the council.

Nury made the right decision, one that I realize is painful to her personally but unquestionably in the best interests of a city that I know she loves. Racism and hateful words cannot ever be overlooked by our community or within one’s self, and she needs the time and space to reflect, make amends, and move forward with her life. Her two former colleagues must arrive at the same decision soon, because Angelenos deserve a government focused squarely on meeting challenges in their neighborhoods that are too serious to risk a paralyzed City Council.

In a resignation message Oct. 12 Martinez wrote: “It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home.”

Nury Martinez resigned as City Council President on Oct. 10. Her announcement comes after an October 2021 recorded conversation between Martinez, Councilmembers Kevin de León, Gil Cedillo and an LA County labor official was made public. Both Martinez and de Leon and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor president Ron Herrera apologized Oct. 9, for their comments which included an attack on colleague Mike Bonin, including racist remarks by Martinez directed at Bonin’s young son. Herrera also stepped down as of Oct. 11.

It is not clear who recorded the conversation, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, Council members and a county labor official were discussing redistricting that involved three members of the council. The audio also appeared on Reddit, but was later removed from the site
Find below a portion of Martinez’s statement:

“I ask for forgiveness from my colleagues and from the residents of this city that I love so much. In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends,” Martinez said. “Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council.”

Martinez’s City Council District 6 seat includes North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Sun Valley and other San Fernando Valley communities.

Weighing in from the highest office on the huge controversy, ahead of his trip to California Oct. 13, Joe Biden believes Nury Martinez and other councilmembers should resign from the Los Angeles City Council over racist remarks heard in leaked recordings that were made public this week.

“The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should,” said Karine Jean-Pierre White House press secretary, calling the language recorded during the conversation “unacceptable” and “appalling.”

Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass issued the following statement on Oct. 10:
Los Angeles must move in a new direction, and that is not possible unless the four individuals caught on that tape resign from their offices immediately.
I want to again say to the innocent child who is caught in the middle of this that he is beautiful, brilliant and loved.

This weekend, from some of LA’s most powerful leaders, we heard racism and bigotry against Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, Armenian and other Angelenos, as well as slurs against a child. We also heard them stoking the divide between our city’s Black and Latino communities.
To move forward as a city, we must move past the politics of divide and conquer. There is no place for division and hate in Los Angeles.

Danielle Sandoval tweeted:
I am appalled by the recent leaked audio of the racist sentiments expressed by members of the City Council. There is never room for anti-Blackness, racist sentiments in any factions of government. At a time when we should be and need to be uniting black and Brown communities, establishment politicians continue to seek to divide us. Angelenos are tired of status quo politics that derives from bigotry and corruption. Unity between Black, brown, Asian, LGBTIQA+, is the only way to move forward to ensure a more just and equitable City of LA.

Hahn Calls for Council President Nury Martinez to Step Down
“The racism, bigotry, and cruelty revealed in this leaked audio is appalling. Words matter. The anti-Black prejudice on display in this conversation compromises the confidence any residents had in these council members’ leadership. Councilwoman Nury Martinez must step down from her position as President of the council immediately before her colleagues have to do it.

And how sad that Mike and Sean’s young son Jacob, who is the grandson of the late great ILWU labor leader Dave Arian, was the brunt of such heartless and vicious words.

What this city now needs is a Truth and Reconciliation process with real accountability and repair. I love this city and we need to find a pathway forward where all people can feel represented equally.”

AFSCME 3299 Reacts To LA City Officials’ Comments
The recently revealed anti-black and anti-Indigenous sentiments expressed during a meeting of several LA public officials and a labor leader are reprehensible. We condemn these attacks and stand in solidarity with our communities who experience the harms of colorism and anti-black racism.

President Kathryn Lyberger issued the following statement:
In the labor movement, we must hold ourselves to the core principle of solidarity and live the credo: An Injury to One is an Injury to All. This is central to building the trust and unity that is the bedrock of workers’ power.

Today, that trust and unity is broken. It has been broken before, and rooting out racism requires constant work and acts of solidarity from everyone in labor. It is incumbent on our leaders to repair beyond apology, with action and accountability.

Those individuals who are implicated in the recording and who are elected to represent the people must resign now. Labor must hold labor accountable but resignation is the only way to restore the trust that has been broken.

UTLA Calls for Resignation of LA City Councilmembers and Labor Leader After Racist and Colorist Statements

As educators, we are here to make sure our students and our communities do not face this type of harm. We expect better, and Los Angeles deserves better than political leaders who perpetuate cycles of violence and freely spew viciousness behind closed doors when they think they cannot be heard and held accountable.

It is deplorable that this is what is thought and said about the most marginalized in our communities by leaders in the halls of our city and in the house of labor. It is shameful what is not said in response; silence is complicity. And it is reprehensible to know this is taking place when and where decisions are being made that will have ongoing effects and repercussions for generations of citizens.

UTLA calls for the immediate resignations of Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmember Kevin de León, Councilmember Gil Cedillo, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.

California Legislative Black Caucus Calls For Immediate Resignations of LA Councilmembers and Labor Fed President
The California Legislative Black Caucus is appalled at reports of racist and homophobic comments from Los Angeles City Council president, Nury Martinez and quips from Kevin de Leon, Gil Cedillo, and Los Angeles Labor Fed president Ron Herrera.

We are hurt, we are angry, and we are disappointed in Nury Martinez for the disgusting comments about Councilmember Mike Bonin’s young child.

The conversation among Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon, Gil Cedillo, and Ron Herrera reveals an appalling effort to decentralize Black voices during the critical redistricting process, and once again paints the Black community as an enemy of our Latinx brothers and sisters with whom we share a great deal of mutual love and respect. Angelenos should not be baited into a proxy war for politicians to keep a paycheck. Angelinos deserve better than to be manipulated into the false premise that one community must suffer for another community to survive.

Finally, no matter how nuanced you try to spin it, repeatedly referring to the only two openly gay councilmembers as “diva” and “little bitch” are just synonyms for more aggressive anti-gay hate speech. This rhetoric is purely homophobic and shows a deep lack of respect for the communities we are entrusted to represent.

It is clear that you are not the best of us and that your personal interests outweigh any semblance of respect for the Angelinos you represent. African Americans have been bridge-builders for over 400 years yet are constantly being tossed into the river by individuals within the groups we march alongside. We need true allies, not wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Therefore, we, the members of the California Legislative Black Caucus, call for the immediate resignations of Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon, Gil Cedillo, from their posts on the Los Angeles City Council and Ron Herrera from his post with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

LA City Attorney Mike Feuer’s Comments
As I said yesterday, those horrifying comments are shocking. There can never be any room for racism, or homophobia, in Los Angeles. We must be better than that. With society riven with division, all of us, especially public officials, have the responsibility to value and respect each other—and to use words and take action, that brings our City together. We cannot allow these grotesque remarks to impede us from that essential effort.

But that effort will be much more arduous now. The wounds from these hateful comments are profound and will continue to reverberate. Momentary condemnation will not get us past this moment. These leaders have lost credibility and forfeited the privilege of public service. For the good of a City that must begin to heal and move forward, all involved should resign.

LASD is Asking for Help Locating Missing Person Kristi Lee Lozano San Pedro

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit investigators are asking for the public’s help locating missing person Kristi Lee Lozano. She is a white, 52 year-old female who was last seen in May of 2022 in San Pedro. Kristi has not been in contact with her family since June of 2021.

Kristi is 5’06” tall, 185 lbs, with brown long hair and green eyes.

Her family is concerned with her well-being and asking for the public’s help.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500, or anonymously at 800-222-8477, or http://lacrimestoppers.org

Great California ShakeOut Tour to Stop in LA Prior To Statewide Earthquake Preparedness Day

MATHER — The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services or Cal OES is hosting a statewide tour with an earthquake simulation trailer, known as the Great California ShakeOut Tour.

Leading up to the Great ShakeOut Day Oct. 20, where millions of Californians will participate in an earthquake drill, Cal OES and other local and state partners are leading the effort to provide life-saving earthquake preparedness tips to six California cities, all while feature a simulator that offers a real-life sense of an earthquake.

The earthquake simulator provides users the opportunity to experience simulated shaking intensity, similar to that caused by magnitude 7.0 earthquakes.

The tour, which will allow visitors to ride in the earthquake simulator as well as receive important earthquake preparedness information, will make stops in six California cities.

Los Angeles stop:

Time: 8 a.m.to 12 p.m., Oct. 19

Details: https://earthquake.ca.gov/.

Venue: Homeboy Industries, 130 Bruno St, Los Angeles

Lomita Winners Announced at Lemonade Day National Conference

Photos courtesy of the Lomita Chamber of Commerce

After the successful Lemonade Day Lomita during the summer, there’s even more to celebrate: Lomita recently received two awards from Lemonade Day National at the conference in Houston.

Represented by Lomita Chamber of Commerce president/CEO Heidi Butzine, it was announced that Lomita’s local youth entrepreneur of the year, Pearl DiMassa, owner of Lucky Lemonade Co. also won 1st Runner Up for 2022 National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year. Lomita has several motivated and talented youth entrepreneurs as last year’s local entrepreneur Brianna Garcia of Bri’s Frozen Lemonades won the national title for Youth Entrepreneur of the Year – the year the event was launched.

Lomita also won the award this year for the Small City Most Business Results.

Details: click here.

Don’t Just Worry About Nuclear War — Do Something to Help Prevent It

This is an emergency.

Right now, we’re closer to a cataclysmic nuclear war than at any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. One assessment after another has said the current situation is even more dangerous.

Yet few members of Congress are advocating for any steps that the U.S. government could take to decrease the dangers of a nuclear conflagration. The silences and muted statements on Capitol Hill are evading the reality of what’s hanging in the balance the destruction of almost all human life on Earth. The end of civilization.”

Constituent passivity is helping elected officials to sleepwalk toward unfathomable catastrophe for all of humanity. If senators and representatives are to be roused out of their timid refusal to urgently address and work to reduce the present high risks of nuclear war, they need to be confronted. Nonviolently and emphatically.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled, extremely reckless statements about possibly using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. At the same time, some of the U.S. government’s policies make nuclear war more likely. Changing them is imperative.

For the last few months, I’ve been working with people in many states who aren’t just worried about the spiking dangers of nuclear war they’re also determined to take action to help prevent it. That resolve has resulted in organizing more than 35 picket lines that will happen on Friday, Oct. 14, at local offices of Senate and House members around the country. (If you want to organize such picketing in your area, go here.)

What could the U.S. government do to lessen the chances of global nuclear annihilation? The Defuse Nuclear War campaign, which is coordinating those picket lines, has identified key needed actions. Such as:

** Rejoin nuclear-weapons treaties the U.S. has pulled out of.

President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile or ABM Treaty in 2002. Under Donald Trump, the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. Both pacts significantly reduced the chances of nuclear war.

** Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.

Four hundred intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs are armed and ready for launch from underground silos in five states. Because they’re land-based, those missiles are vulnerable to attack and thus are on hair-trigger alert allowing only minutes to determine whether indications of an incoming attack are real or a false alarm.

** End the policy of “first use.”

Like Russia, the United States has refused to pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

** Support congressional action to avert nuclear war.

In the House, H.Res. 1185 includes a call for the United States to “lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.”

An overarching need is for senators and representatives to insist that U.S. participation in nuclear brinkmanship is unacceptable. As our Defuse Nuclear War team says, “Grassroots activism will be essential to pressure members of Congress to publicly acknowledge the dangers of nuclear war and strongly advocate specific steps for reducing them.”

Is that really too much to ask? Or even demand?

____________________________________

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of a dozen books including War Made Easy. His next book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, will be published in Spring 2023 by The New Press.

October Live Webinars for Tenants and Landlords

Allowable Rent Increases in the City of Los Angeles

Join the Los Angeles Housing Department at one of its weekly webinars to discuss the current rent freeze in rental units subject to the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance or RSO due to the ongoing Emergency Declaration. The webinar will also provide information on rent increases allowed under State law AB-1482, the Tenants Protection Act of 2019, which became effective on Jan. 1, 2020, and applies to properties that are 15 years and older.

The one-hour sessions include a Q & A period. Presented by the LAHD’s Rent Division staff. Sessions will be held via Zoom. Register to attend.

October 2022 Webinars

Time: Wednesdays at 3 p.m.

Oct. 12 – English, Oct. 26 – English and Oct. 19 – Spanish

Details: to sign up; https://tinyurl.com/y7ebz6ur; or call 213-928-9075

Help for Truckers Days Returns October 18, 19

Truck drivers and others can sign up for various official programs and certifications they need to work at the San Pedro Bay ports complex at a one-stop event at the Port of Long Beach scheduled for Oct. 18 and 19.

The “four in one” event will allow truckers to enroll with the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, register for the Clean Truck Program, obtain radio frequency ID tags and sign up for the port’s Truck Alert traffic notification system.

The Port of Long Beach is hosting the event in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration and the identity certification company IDEMIA.

The “four-in-one” event is scheduled for Oct. 18 and Oct. 19. Free tacos will be available to participants from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, while supplies last.

TWIC appointments and pre-enrollment are available at universalenroll.dhs.gov/programs/twic. Click New Enrollment, complete the information and in Step 9 – Select Appoint Location, choose “Pop Up: Port of Long Beach, 10/18-10/19.”

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Oct. 18, 19

Cost: Free

Details: 866-721-5686; cleantrucks@polb.com.

Venue: Port of Long Beach Terminal Access Center, 1265 Harbor Ave., Long Beach (southwest corner of Harbor Ave. and West Anaheim St.)

Three Long Beach Men Charged in $2.6 Million Robbery in Daylight Smash-and-Grab Theft

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury today indicted three Long Beach men who allegedly participated in the daylight smash-and-grab robbery of a Beverly Hills jewelry store in which more than $2.6 million worth of merchandise was stolen.

The two-count indictment returned today charges Long Beach residents Jimmy Lee Vernon III, 31, Ladell Tharpe, 37, and Deshon Bell, 20, with conspiracy and interference with commerce by robbery or Hobbs Act.

According to the indictment, on March 23, the defendants and other co-conspirators drove in tandem in three vehicles headed from Long Beach to Beverly Hills. Once outside the victim jewelry store, Vernon and other co-conspirators allegedly got out of a Kia vehicle, smashed the store’s exterior glass cases multiple times, and then stole merchandise worth at least $2,674,000.

Vernon and the others then ran out of the store to a nearby alley, leaving behind their Kia vehicle – which had been reported stolen out of Long Beach four days before the robbery, according to an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint in this case. During the robbery, Vernon’s cell phone fell out of his sweatpants pocket while he smashed the jewelry’s store’s window, was left behind and later recovered by law enforcement, the affidavit states.

Bell allegedly waited in a car near the victim jewelry store and served as the getaway driver for Vernon and the other co-conspirators.

The defendants allegedly stole property consisting of approximately 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces, a pair of obelisks, eight rings, and 20 watches.

On March 25, Tharpe posted on his Instagram account numerous photographs that included large stacks of money and a message praising his “robbery gang,” according to the indictment.

Law enforcement arrested the defendants last month. Vernon is in federal

custody, was ordered jailed without bond, and his arraignment is scheduled for October 13 in United States District Court. Tharpe is in state custody and are expected to be remanded to federal custody in the coming weeks. Bell was released on $15,000 bond and his arraignment in federal court is scheduled for October 20. A juvenile, who is not charged in the federal indictment, also was arrested in connection with the robbery, and is charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with commercial burglary.t.

If convicted of both charges, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count.