Monday, October 13, 2025
spot_img
spot_img
Home Blog Page 74

Get Free Tax Help. Sign Up for Prep Events in the 65th Assembly District

Reporters Desk
-
0
Get Free Tax Help. Sign Up for Prep Events in the 65th Assembly District

Assemblymember Mike Gipson invites those who have not filed taxes for the past year to join for a tax prep event in March. Both events coming up are free, but appointments are required. For more information, call the assemblymember’s district office at 310-324-6408.

Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., March 8

Venue: Community Resource Center of Long Beach, 5599 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach


Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., March 22

Venue: Community Resource Center of Wilmington, 911 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington

Assemblymember Gipson’s staff will be available to take your RSVP by phone between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

To be eligible for this free service, you must meet the following criteria: earn $64,000 or less annually. Additionally, you must also meet the following document requirements:

These appointments are available for individuals earning $64,000 or less annually.

For married couples filing jointly and wishing to file electronically, both spouses must be present to sign the necessary forms.

Both spouses must be present when filing jointly.

A government-issued photo ID is required for both individuals, including for the spouse.

Expired IDs will not be accepted.

Important: Please review the information below before your visit. Don’t forget to bring your documents:

Proof of identification (photo ID)

Social Security cards for you/your spouse/dependents

An ITIN assignment letter may be substituted if you do not have a Social Security Number

Birth dates for you, your spouse and dependents on the tax return

Wage and earning statements (Forms W-2, W-2G, 1099-R, 1099-Misc) from all employers

Interest and dividend statements (Form 1099)

Health Insurance Exemption Certificate, if received

Last year’s federal and state tax returns, if available

A blank check or other proof of bank account routing and account numbers

Total paid for daycare provider and provider’s tax identifying number

Forms 1095-A, 1095-B, and 1095-C, health coverage statements

Copies of income transcripts from the IRS and state, if applicable

Spots are still available, so register today. Tax filing help in 45-minute timeslots are available while space lasts.

Trump’s Speech

Reporters Desk
-
0
Trump’s Speech

 

We are living in a pivotal moment in our country’s history. And how we respond to this moment will impact not only our lives, but the lives of our kids and grandchildren.

As you heard last night, President Trump has been very effective in creating a parallel universe. A set of ideas that either have no basis in reality, or are nowhere near the most important concerns of the American people.

He does it through the concept of the BIG LIE, and boy did we hear that last night. He says something that is grossly false, says it over and over again, and has right-wing social media blast it out endless times until people believe it.

The purpose of all of these lies is not just to push his hateful right-wing ideology. It is a masterful effort to deflect attention away from the most important issues facing the people of this country — issues Trump and his billionaire friends do not want to address because it is not in their financial interests to do so.

Trump spoke for almost 100 minutes and he almost completely ignored the issues keeping working people up at night as they worry about how their families are going to survive during these tough times.

100 minutes and he did not have one word to say about the economic realities facing 60% of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck.

100 minutes and not one word to say about our broken, dysfunctional and expensive health care system that has left 80 million Americans uninsured or underinsured or why we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and 1 out of 4 Americans are unable to afford the medicine their doctors prescribe.

100 minutes and not one word to say about the major housing crisis in America that has left 800,000 Americans who are homeless and the millions who spend more than half of their limited income on housing.

100 minutes and not one word to say about the massive income and wealthy inequality that has three Americans owning more wealth than the bottom half of our society.

100 minutes and not one word about a corrupt campaign finance system that allows a handful of billionaires to buy elections.

100 minutes and not one word to say about the fact that our life expectancy is four years lower than other wealthy countries, and the bottom 50% of this country live on average seven years shorter life than the top 1%. In other words, being poor in this country is a death sentence.

100 minutes and not one word to say how we are going to address the planetary crisis of climate change.

And the reason he had very little to say about the crises working families are facing is because he has no plan or desire to address them. Despite some of his rhetoric, Trump and his billionaire friends could not care any less about the concerns of the working people of this country.

He did urge Congress to pass his big beautiful budget…

But he left out the part that that budget would cut Medicaid by $880 billion.

According to one estimate, it means up to 36 million Americans including millions of children would be thrown off the health care they gave. Think about it — we’re talking about people who own their own spaceships who are trying to take away health care from millions of kids. It’s a disgrace.

A 100 minute speech, not one word about that.

I guess he forgot…

Friends, let me be direct:

At this particular moment in history, despair is not an option. None of us have the privilege of hiding under the covers. Let us never forget that real change only happens when ordinary people stand up — by the millions — against oppression and injustice.

I am going to do my part, and I need you with me.

We just had two large and successful rallies in Iowa and Nebraska recently. Thousands of people turned out.

This weekend, I’ll be going to Michigan and Wisconsin where thousands more have already RSVP’d to attend those events.

But that is not all. I’m going to continue running around the country talking to people about what Donald Trump is trying to do — and to talk about our vision for an agenda that works for the many and not just the few.

We can win. We will win. But only if we go forward together.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

County Probation Dept. & Sup. Hahn Address Probation Officer Indictments in Official Statements

Reporters Desk
-
0
County Probation Dept. & Sup. Hahn Address Probation Officer Indictments in Official Statements

 

“The Los Angeles County Probation Department fully supports and applauds the Attorney General and his office for today’s indictments. Our department sought the assistance of law enforcement authorities when misconduct was discovered, which eventually led to the AG’s office investigation. Since then, we have fully collaborated with our partners. At the same time, we have been conducting our own internal inquiries. The current staff named in today’s indictments have all been placed on leave without pay. Accountability is a cornerstone of our mission, and we have zero tolerance for misconduct of any peace officers, especially those dealing with young people in our system.”

“While these incidents are deeply troubling, we believe this marks an important step toward rebuilding trust and reinforcing our commitment to the meaningful changes we are proposing in our juvenile facilities. Our vision for them is one that prioritizes rehabilitation, support, and positive outcomes for justice-involved youth, as well as upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity for our staff. We remain dedicated to fostering an environment that is safe, restorative, and aligned with best practices.”

 

Hahn Issues Statement after California AG Indicts 30 Probation Officers

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has issued the following statement regarding California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s indictment of 30 probation officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall:

“I appreciate the Attorney General for filing these charges. The young people in Los Padrinos are not only in our custody, they are in our care. It is unacceptable that probation officers who were entrusted with this responsibility would use their power to abuse these kids. The probation officers who were involved in this abuse were put on leave last year and I support the Chief Probation Officer in firing any officers who are found guilty. This is only further proof that the culture of our probation department needs to change dramatically.”

The Dark Side of Daylight Saving

Reporters Desk
-
0
The Dark Side of Daylight Saving

How Time Changes Can Impact Your Health

Long Beach — On March 9, clocks will “spring forward,”losing an hour as daylight saving time or DST begins at 2 a.m. While longer daylight hours may seem beneficial, the abrupt shift in time can have serious health consequences—especially when we lose sleep.

Research has shown that the transition into daylight saving time is associated with an increase in health and safety risks. A study published in Current Biology found a six percent increase in fatal car crashes in the U.S. in the week following the switch to daylight saving time. Additionally, the loss of sleep has been linked to a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and workplace injuries.

“The good news is that there are steps you can take to minimize the impact of the time change,” says Dr. Jim Keany, Chief Medical Officer at Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center. “Start adjusting your sleep schedule a few days before the switch by going to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier each night. In the morning, expose yourself to bright light to help reset your internal clock. Avoid caffeine and heavy meals close to bedtime, and make sure to prioritize getting at least seven hours of sleep in the days following the transition.”

The disruption to the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, plays a key role in these negative effects. Extended evening light delays the release of melatonin, the hormone that signals the body to wind down for sleep. This can lead to shorter and lower-quality sleep, leaving many people groggy and less alert during the day. Sleep disturbances are also linked to a higher risk of mood disturbances, including depression and anxiety.

To help with the transition, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises individuals to be extra cautious while driving and performing tasks that require full attention in the week after the time change. Gradually adjusting sleep and wake times in the days leading up to DST can help ease the body’s adjustment, reducing the risk of accidents and health complications.

 

Details: youtube.com/dignityhealthsoutherncalifornia

 

The Washington Post is Dying in the Darkness of Jeff Bezos’s Latest Opinion Page Edict

Reporters Desk
-
0
The Washington Post is Dying in the Darkness of Jeff Bezos’s Latest Opinion Page Edict
Veteran journalist, commentator and advocate for systemic change.

I am both a native Washingtonian and a former editorial page editor, so of course I would have considered it a privilege to be on the editorial board of The Washington Post.

It’s a good thing that never happened, because today I would have quit—or been fired.

The precipitating event would have been the announcement by Post owner Jeff Bezos that the opinion pages of the Post will from now on only print commentary that supports “personal liberties and free markets.”

What could possibly be wrong with that? As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Bezos argues that “a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.”

But another big part of America’s success is that we have continuous, often contentious, debates about what “freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else” should look like.

One vision of a free-market economy is that it should be a virtually unrestrained, predator-infested jungle in which the only key objective is to maximize profit and minimize the expense—such as product or service quality and worker wages — incurred to obtain those profits. This vision of the economy argues that there is little use for government regulation to protect consumers (hence the enthusiastic evisceration by the Trump administration of such government cop-on-the-beat agencies as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and certainly no warrant for elements of the corporate, profit-making economy, such as health care, to be reimagined as public enterprises that are motivated by maximizing public benefit rather than private profit.

Likewise, one person’s “personal liberties” is another person’s active threat. We only need to peruse social media platforms — or sometimes the comment sections of online news sites like The Post — to see the consequences of people taking the “personal liberty” to spew hate — and worse — upon other people, especially when such invective is rooted in misinformation and disinformation. The toxicity of our dialogue is actively harming millions of us emotionally, and sometimes physically. Yet, the mantra of “personal liberty” is adamantly invoked especially on the right as a license to inflict this harm without consequence or accountability. Empowering bullies and those who can afford outsized megaphones to drown out the speech of those who prize civility and those of humble means is not free speech — it is tyranny.

In our continually evolving society, we need to keep contesting these basic principles of freedom — not to abandon them, but to keep them from being seized by those whose narrow visions and understandings will in fact choke the very life out of them. What free markets and free speech should look and feel like should be informed by the views of consumers who feel fleeced by big banks and corporations, transgender people struggling to make themselves understood, workers who feel their labor is devalued, marginalized groups bringing to light our nation’s unfulfilled promises, and communities who feel plundered and despoiled by a capitalism that is allowed to privatize gains and socialize the consequences of those gains.

Finally, let’s acknowledge the reality that The Washington Post is Jeff Bezos’s house and if he wants to turn it into a dank cave of Neanderthals, it’s his right. Freedom of the press, as the cynical saying goes, belongs to those who own one. But the fact that you can do something does not mean that you should. The Post over many decades earned the right to be one of our most important platforms for arguing what it means to be a democracy and, yes, what it means to believe in personal liberty and free markets. Turning it into an Amazon echo chamber is not what the nation needs right now at a time when so much of the American promise is under assault.

The Post has already lost talented staff in the wake of its decision to spike an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president last fall. Today, in the wake of Bezos’s latest edict, it is no wonder that the Post’s editorial page editor, David Shipley, decided to walk away. I suspect many of The Post’s subscribers will continue to do the same.

UFCW Local Unions: Ouster of Kroger CEO Brings Opportunity for Changes

Reporters Desk
-
0
UFCW Local Unions: Ouster of Kroger CEO Brings Opportunity for Changes

LOS ANGELES — After a series of failed corporate initiatives and years of hostile labor relations, the announcement, March 3, that Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen has been ousted is welcome news to UFCW Local Unions. McMullen weakened the company with his strategy of replacing workers with giant, automated warehouses that didn’t work as promised and thousands of self-checkout scanners that frustrated customers. Though that strategy benefited Wall Street investors in the short term with a $7.5 billion stock payout that McMullen orchestrated in what now seems like a last-ditch effort to save his own job, customers and workers suffered. This leadership change represents an opportunity for the company to adopt a new approach centered on reinvesting in its staff and stores to improve customer service and grow sales.

“Now is the time for the changes we have been pushing for: Kroger should stop investing in failed tech and mergers and instead invest in stores and communities with lower prices, more stores, and workers with better staffing and better wages,” said Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 3000 in Washington State. “These changes, especially addressing the staffing crisis in our stores, are what our locals are calling for in our contract negotiations this spring in Colorado, California and Washington.”

The coalition of UFCW 770 locals was the most outspoken and consistent opponent of the proposed $25 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons/Safeway. UFCW 770 were the ones who fought for the right to wear masks early in COVID-19 and earned hazard pay. Kroger retaliated by closing stores in Seattle, LA and Long Beach, the very cities where hazard pay had been passed. UFCW 770 unions collectively coordinated contract negotiations in 2022 and underwrote the “Hungry at the Table” report by the Economic Roundtable that exposed the high levels of homelessness and hunger of Kroger workers. That report, alongside a January 2022 strike in Colorado and massive preparations for strikes in the west in the states of California and Washington all contributed to significant gains in wages.

“Those gains we made in the 2022 negotiations were nowhere near enough for workers, and the ongoing trend of reduced staffing in stores has made a bad situation worse. We have deli and meat departments with reduced hours, unstocked shelves, long check-out lines, and low morale”, said Kathy Finn, President of Local 770 in Southern California. “Adding insult to this injury to workers and customers, evidence that came out in the merger trials showed how Kroger was gouging customers with high prices. All this needs to change, and a new CEO can be an opportunity for change that improves stores for workers, shoppers and communities across the US.”

How Trump and the GOP Fixed the 2026 Election — Yes, 2026

Greg Palast
-
0
How Trump and the GOP Fixed the 2026 Election — Yes, 2026

Here’s how they are already stealing it…

Greg Palast is a forensic economist and recipient of the Global Editors Award for Data Journalism. Watch Palast’s latest film, “Vigilantes Inc: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen,” produced by George DiCaprio and Martin Sheen.

You can ignore Trump slyly hinting to the Lord’s chosen that he just might call off the next election.

“Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”

But don’t ignore this: Trump won’t be calling off the election because he doesn’t have to. The Fix for 26 is already in.

The Republican plan is to win next year’s election this year. Yes, the voting will be bent, jacked and hammered this year, 2025, one year before the official voting. Because this is the year of The Great Purge.

And if The Great Purge doesn’t do the trick, Republicans are ramping up other vote suppression tactics they rolled out to win 2024, including a private army of MAGA-nauts who challenged over a million voters’ ballots in 2024 and plan on way more by the 2026 midterm.

As I detailed in my analysis for The Hartmann Report, vote suppression cost Kamala Harris at least 3,565,000 votes. And now that Trump and his attack Doge have their sticky fingers in the electoral process, we could look back at the 2024 vote suppression spree as the good old days of democracy.

I’m a committed non-partisan data journalist who has gone after both parties. But for this past election and the one coming, it is the GOP which is cranking up these racially-poisonous purges and challenges to new pain levels. Here’s what to expect:

The Great Purge of 2025

What is a “purge”? In 2000, George W. Bush won the presidency by just 537 votes in Florida — after the state’s Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris “purged,” i.e. removed from voter rolls, tens of thousands of African-Americans because they were, supposedly, ex-cons ineligible to vote. In fact, not one, our investigators at BBC Newsnight found, was an illegal voter.

What the Republican Party learned from the successful mass purge operation is that simply crossing voters off the rolls, especially Black voters, is a dandy way to win elections. And so, in 2002, President Bush signed the Orwellian-named Help America Vote Act which requires states to purge their voter rolls in the year before each federal election.

In its 2023 report, the United States Election Assistance reported that over 19 million voters were purged from the rolls before the latest presidential election. True, most purged were dead or had moved, but 4.47 million citizens were blocked from voting by what the EAC euphemistically calls “Failure to return confirmation notice,” or what voting rights lawyers call, “Caging.”

For the ACLU of Georgia, my team of experts analyzed every single voter purged by caging in one swing state, Georgia. We found the “error” rate was 63.3% — and shockingly racist. In federal court, the NAACP presented the names and addresses of the 198,000 voters we found who were wrongly removed—but it was too late to save them all.

In 2023, in the lead-up to presidential race, the Georgia Secretary of State more than doubled the number of voters “caged” compared to 2020. He proudly announced he’d targeted over 875,000 voters. For 2026, get ready for a similar rise in the number of voters purged in GOP-controlled states. This is more than likely as the voter protection police, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, under Trump, has been turned into the Civil Wrongs Division.

Today, the caging system used to target voters in 30 states is known by its initials ERIC. A Yale University study found ERIC to be dangerously inaccurate. But the ERIC purge doesn’t go far enough for Trump’s crew. MAGA groups are pushing to move to a cage-and-purge program called EagleAI directed by Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell.

It is no coincidence that EagleAI (which Mitchell pronounces, “Eagle Eye”) is named after the GOP’s infamous Eagle Eye operation which, in 1964, mounted a mass challenge against Mexican-American voters, demanding proof of citizenship from them, a practice since made illegal.

Illegal until now…

Lord, save us from the SAVE Act

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the SAVE Act, would turn the Eagle Eye José Crow operation into national law, requiring that every new voter prove US citizenship.

As Michael Waldman, President of the New York University Law School Brennan Center for Justice, notes:

“More than 21 million eligible voters just don’t have these documents readily available. Most Americans simply don’t have a passport. (How do they summer in France without it?) Millions have a birth certificate but don’t know where it is or have easy access to it. (In a box in my mother’s closet? I know I saw it somewhere.)”

Here’s the bad news for Americans who update their registrations, 31 million voters a year.

The SAVE Act would require them to provide their citizenship papers—in person.

But wait? How many of those 31 million Americans currently registered are illegal aliens?

This whack claim that there are millions of aliens swimming the Rio Grande to vote in our elections, comes from the Heritage Foundation, the folks who brought us Project 2025. Heritage claims that between 500,000 and 1,500,000 aliens vote in our elections. Wow!

The claim that literally millions of aliens voting in US elections comes from Heritage Fellow Kris Kobach, currently Kansas’ Attorney General. In his prior post as Secretary of State of Kansas, Kobach won the right to arrest illegal alien voters. He tried, but could not find a single one. But Heritage crows that they identified illegal alien voters in Texas: three in twelve years.

After Kobach won a proof-of-citizenship-to-vote law in Kansas, he admitted to a federal court that he did not capture a single alien voter. But the law did block 36,000 legal voters, including Air Force officers and thousands of students, from voting in the 2016 election. The Kansas law was thrown out by the court; but Trump’s new federal law, if passed, will likely stand up in his Trumpified courts.

And if you are a woman who’s taken on your husband’s name, good luck with registering to vote. The SAVE Act is a war on the 69 million women who don’t have their “voting” name on their birth certificate.

Even if Trump fails to pass his SAVE Act, the GOP has figured out how to use an administrative tactic to wipe out voters. The Department of Homeland Security maintains the SAVE database of deported aliens. Just this month, Georgia’s Secretary of State officially requested that Noem open the SAVE data base to hunt for aliens on Georgia’s voter rolls.

We’ve seen the SAVE database in action before. In 2012, the state of Florida began to remove 172,000 voters, allegedly aliens, found on the SAVE files. In the end, they could only find one single alien voter to charge, an Austrian Republican, but thousands of Hispanics were barred from voting because their names matched with aliens deported. A lot of Jose Garcia’s were at risk.

Suli Anselmi had to prove his citizenship in court to get his vote back in Florida. He was targeted by the SAVE database which proved itself 99.999% inaccurate for identifying alien voters. Photo: David Ambrose for MoveON

 

Trump Goes Postal and A.I. Vigilantes

In the next weeks, I’ll be reporting on other new and expanded vote suppression weapons of mass voter roll destruction.

Preview: In the last presidential elections, based on EAC data, I could calculate that 1.2 million absentee ballots were disqualified, overweighted against voters of color. In 2026 and 2028, we can expect the pile of disqualified ballots to increase while the total number of mail-in ballots to plummet because 10 Red states passed laws shuttering ballot drop boxes and limiting the right to a mail-in ballot. I cannot yet measure the ill effects on mail-in balloting because of Trump’s moves to sell the Post Office. (Will all forever stamps now have Donald’s and Elon’s portraits?).

Preview: And there are also the vigilante challenges, the mass challenges of voters, not by government, but by self-proclaimed voter fraud hunters. As mentioned, Trump’s lawyer Cleta Mitchell wants to force states to use her EagleAI purge program to cull voters. But if she and Trump can’t bully the states into adopting their voter-roll cleansing lists, then Mitchell promises to field her MAGA posse to individually challenge voters in those states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania, that still allow these Jim Crow challenges.

Hope: Don’t despair. To paraphrase Lincoln, they can’t steal all the votes all of the time. Therefore, my final report in this series will be, How to Steal Back Your Vote.

Rep. Barragán to Host Healthcare Leader Tamra King at Trump’s Joint Address to Spotlight Medicaid Cuts

Reporters Desk
-
0
Rep. Barragán to Host Healthcare Leader Tamra King at Trump’s Joint Address to Spotlight Medicaid Cuts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) will attend President Trump’s first Joint Address to Congress, joined by Tamra King, CEO of Harbor Community Health Centers (HarborCHC), as her guest. Together, they are shining a light on the dangerous Medicaid cuts being pushed by Trump and House Republicans — cuts that would strip healthcare from working and middle-class families, seniors, and vulnerable communities.

Tamra King leads Harbor Community Health Centers, which provides life-saving care to thousands of families in Southern California. Without Medicaid, clinics like HarborCHC would struggle to keep their doors open, leaving countless patients without access to a doctor.

HarborCHC
HarborCHC. Photo by Chris Villanueva

HarborCHC is a nationally recognized provider of high-quality healthcare, recently earning the 2024 Health Center Quality Leader (HCQL) Gold Badge—placing it in the top 10% of health centers nationwide for clinical quality measures. HarborCHC was one of only 15 clinics in California to receive this prestigious recognition.

“Make no mistake: Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to gut Medicaid so they can hand more tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk,” said Rep. Barragán. “Harbor Community Health Centers are a lifeline for our community. These cuts would devastate working and middle-class families who rely on them for care. I invited Tamra tonight because this fight is personal — and I will not stay silent while Trump and Republicans attack our healthcare.”

“I am honored to join Congresswoman Barragán at tonight’s Joint Address,” said Tamra King. “At HarborCHC, we see firsthand how essential Medicaid is for our patients. If these cuts go through, many of them will have nowhere to turn for care. Our communities deserve leaders who will protect healthcare, not take it away.”

For over 50 years, Harbor Community Health Centers has served as a trusted provider of primary care, mental health services, and chronic disease management—ensuring that families receive the medical attention they need, regardless of their ability to pay. But Trump’s budget would gut Medicaid, leaving clinics like HarborCHC unable to provide vital care.

Trump and House Republicans claim their extreme budget is about “fiscal responsibility,” but the truth is clear: they want to slash Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security while prioritizing giveaways to the ultra-rich. Rep. Barragán is standing firm against these attacks and fighting to protect healthcare and retirement security for all Americans.

Metro Board Approves Hahn Motion to Expand Weapons Detection Pilot Program

Reporters Desk
-
0
Metro Board Approves Hahn Motion to Expand Weapons Detection Pilot Program

 

LOS ANGELES — The Metro Board of Directors Feb. 27 approved a proposal by Metro Chair Janice Hahn to expand a weapons detection pilot program and deploy concealed weapon passenger screening systems in more Metro stations.

From August through December 2024, at Hahn’s request, Metro piloted weapons detection technology at Union Station and APU/Citrus College Station. Passenger screening systems were tested at both stations in which riders walk between sensors which detect concealed weapons without requiring them to stop and remove any belongings. Metro also tested video analytics systems at Union Station which scan CCTV video feeds in real time to identify threats, including someone brandishing a weapon, and sends alerts to law enforcement.

A report by Metro shows that the passenger screening system technology proved to be effective. While no weapons threats were identified on passengers, the systems detected officers’ service weapons with 100% accuracy.

During the presentation to the board, Deputy Chief of System Security & Law Enforcement Robert Gummer said that officers saw individuals leave the station when they saw or were told that weapons screenings were happening, indicating the technology may be an effective deterrent. Primary screening of passengers took less than two seconds, while secondary screenings of passenger’s belongings if flagged took less than 15 seconds.

The public’s reception of the screenings was positive with multiple passengers telling staff it made them feel safer.

Hahn’s motion, which was coauthored by Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Supervisor Hilda Solis, Mayor Karen Bass, Whittier Councilmember Fernando Dutra, and Inglewood Mayor James Butts, extends and expands the deployment of the weapons detection system pilot for 12 months to additional high-traffic transit stations. It also directs Metro to conduct a 12-month pilot of weapons detection technology on buses and provide quarterly reports on upgrading Metro’s CCTV system to include the integration of the brandished firearm detection analytics.

UPDATE Murder Investigation Arrest – Long Beach

Reporters Desk
-
0
UPDATE Murder Investigation Arrest – Long Beach

Homicide detectives have made an arrest regarding the Feb. 16, 2025 murder of Edgar Ortiz-Escamilla, a 32-year-old resident of Long Beach.

Through their investigation, Homicide detectives identified the suspect as John Paul Mcintyre III, an 18-year-old resident of Long Beach. On Feb. 28, special investigations detectives, with the assistance of the LBPD SWAT team, arrested Mcintyre in the city of Los Angeles at a residence.
Mcintyre was transported to Long Beach City Jail, where he was booked for murder. Bail was set at $3,000,000 bail.

The motive and circumstances of the incident are still under investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Homicide Detectives Eric Thai and Chasen Contreras at 562-570-7244 or anonymously at 800-222-8477,www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Originally Published Feb. 17

Homicide detectives are investigating the murder of a male adult victim that occurred on Feb. 16, 2025 in the 1700 block of Long Beach Boulevard.

About 4:30 p.m., officers responded to the 1700 block of Long Beach Boulevard regarding a shots call. Upon arrival, officers located a crime scene and evidence that a shooting occurred. Shortly after arriving on scene, officers were notified that two male adult victims with gunshot wounds had been dropped off at a local hospital. Officers determined the victims were from the shooting incident on Long Beach Boulevard.

One of the victims, identified as Edgar Ortiz-Escamilla, a 32-year-old resident of Long Beach, later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The second victim was listed in stable condition.

Homicide detectives believe the incident to be gang related, however, the motive for the shooting and the circumstances of the incident are currently under investigation.

1...737475...941Page 74 of 941

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Real people. Real news. Random Lengths is the Los Angeles harbor area's remaining independently owned progressive news magazine. We cover news in Carson, Wilmington, Long Beach, Lomita, Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro.

Contact us: letters@randomlengthsnews.com

FOLLOW US

© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv