The Lobster Fest is running from Sept. 13 through Sept. 15.
First class tickets are selling for $41. Ticket includes a lobster meal and drink with your own dining area and a weekend of entertainment. $13 of your ticket will be donated to the Harbor Interfaith Services.
The festival is open 5 to 11 p.m. Sept. 13, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sept. 14 and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 15.
Details: (310) 831-0603; www.lobsterfest.com
Venue: Ports O’ Call Village
Location: 6th Street and Harbor Blvd., San Pedro
Lobster Fest
El Dorado East Dog Park Groundbreaking Ceremony
Aug. 24
El Dorado East Dog Park Groundbreaking Ceremony
The El Dorado East Dog Park groundbreaking ceremony will take place 10 a.m., Aug. 24 in the southeast corner of El Dorado East Regional Park Area 2.
The park will be one and a half acres in size and will have separate sections for larger and smaller dogs.
Construction is due to be complete at the end of the year.
Aug. 28
6th District Budget Summit
The 6th District Budget Summit will take place 6 p.m., Aug. 28 at the Ernest S. McBride Sr. Park.
Long Beach representatives will discuss the 2014 City of Long Beach Budget. The city is not faced with a budget debt this year and has room to allocate $3.5 million to restoration and construction throughout the city.
Details: (562) 570-6816
Location: 1550 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Long Beach
Sep. 7
Volunteer Garden Restoration
Help maintain the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum 9 to 11 a.m., Sep. 7.
Volunteers remove overgrowth and invasive species and clear debris and sweep the walkways of a shaded area behind the museum.
The eventual goal is to restore the beauty of the historic garden and its once-flowing waterfalls.
Details: (310) 603-0088
Location: 18127 S. Alameda St., Rancho Dominguez
POLA Shows Emission Reduction
SAN PEDRO — The Port of Los Angeles’ Inventory of Air Emissions, released Aug. 22, shows the port is at its lowest level in harmful emissions since it implemented a plan to reduce them about seven years ago.
The Inventory of Air Emissions is a report of test results based on harmful emissions through port operations. Reporting is done annually and compared with results from 2005 through the present time of the findings.
The results of the port’s 2012 Inventory of Air Emissions show a 79 percent reduction in diesel particulate matter since 2005. It also showed emissions related to moving 10,000 20-foot containers were 81 percent lower than they were in 2005.
Sulfur oxide emissions have fallen to 6 percent from 25 percent in 2005 and nitrogen oxide emissions have dipped to 3 percent from 5 percent in 2005. The port’s nitrogen oxide emission reduction has already exceeded 2014 expectations.
2012 has seen the largest percentage drop in harmful emissions than any other year since reporting has been done in 2005.
Committee Approves Medi-Cal Program Audit
SACRAMENTO —The Legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved of a request of an audit of California’s Drug Medi-Cal program due to media reports of widespread fraud.
The media investigations were done by CNN and the Center for Investigative Reporting. The audit will take place over the next several months.
Fraud was widespread in Los Angeles and Long Beach, with cases accounting for more than 50 percent of the total.
One example of the fraudulent actions is one drug rehabilitation program took care of 31 patients, but billed taxpayers for 179 of them. Other accusations include clinics paying patients to attend so they can bill the state more, counselors abandoning sessions, clinics billing people that didn’t have a drug problem and ones which are dead.
The audit plans on: Examining the last five fiscal years and determining how extensive the fraud was. Was correct action taken when facilities were caught committing fraudulent behaviors? Overlook effectiveness of state and county coordinated oversight. Ensuring felons and other prohibited persons don’t run the clinic. Are there enough regulators to prevent fraudulent actions? What laws need to be changed to prevent fraudulent action in the future?
Bill Mandates Full Restitution to Taxpayers for False 911 Calls
SACRAMENTO — On Aug. 19, the California Assembly approved a bill giving taxpayers responsibility of restitution for those convicted of filing false 911 reports.
The bill which is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Police Department comes after numerous false reports of threats and invaders in California homes.
The bill would transfer the onus of a several thousand to $10,000 to the malicious reporter.
Government Secrets: First they come for the files, then they come for the journalists and then they come for you
James Preston Allen, Publisher
Pvt. Bradley Manning sentencing to 35 years in prison with possible parole for his releasing of classified documents to WikiLeaks was announced as I was writing this column today. This is a victory of sorts, I suppose. He could have gotten 90 years.
We ran one of the first reports on the documents Manning leaked to WikiLeaks three years ago. The documents released included a video of a U.S. Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and several civilians. It was this one video along with thousands of other classified files that troubled Manning and ultimately got him arrested on espionage charges. It was his act of courage that broke open the gates of secrecy surrounding our war in Iraq.
Should Businesses Allow Customers to Use E-Cigarettes?
By Greggory Moore
Not so long ago electronic cigarettes were little more than a rumor, a technology most of us encountered only via late-night commercials, the sort that bring the term “boondoggle” to mind, full of seemingly non-legitimized claims as to their harmlessness and effectiveness as tools to wean smokers off of cigarette.
Whatever the truth about such claims, the e-cigarette has become a genuine fad, popping up in manifold forms, from simulacra of the real thing to elegant little machines of shiny metal and glass. But they all have one thing in common: they—or actually, their users—spew clouds of vapor into the air.
Long Beach Politicos On the Lookout for Shenanigans in Three-Way Council Combat for Mayorship
By Greggory Moore
What do you get when you take nine high-profile, powerful people whose job it is to work together for the common good and have a third of them compete for a single, even higher-profile and more powerful position?
If that’s the setup of a joke, you’ll have to wait until April 8 for the punchline, because this is exactly what is happening right now on the Long Beach City Council. No fewer than three councilmembers—Robert Garcia (1st District), Suja Lowenthal (2nd District), and Gerrie Schipske (5th District)—are in it to win it, with the brass ring being a one-way ticket to succeed Bob Foster as mayor of the 36th most populous city in the United States.
Friendship Neighborhood Hosts 2nd Friend
The Friendship Neighborhood continues their effort to spark relationships among neighbors with their second Friend Fest event, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 31, at Drake Park in Long Beach.
The intention of this series of outdoor community events is to create a viable network of friends within the underserved Willmore City/Drake Park area of Long Beach and, through these relationships, find a sustainable way to counteract and reduce the incidents of violence in this area.
Friendship Neighborhood is sensitive to the problems that can accompany gentrification and well-meaning but sometimes exclusionary attempts to “clean up” an area. Instead, they hope to create a safe space where neighbors can become friends and get to know each other, where talents can be celebrated, and where ways to help each other can be realized. The series of Friend Fests is intended to help work toward the mission of celebrating the diversity of the residents in the area while finding ways to connect and improve communication between neighbors.
Groups such as Centro CHA, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Foodscape Long Beach, Green Long Beach!, The Long Beach Time Exchange, The Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse, Willmore City Heritage Association, Friends of Drake Park, Housing LB, and Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach will provide flyers and other informational pieces to let people know what these groups are doing or offering, and how one can get involved. As they did for the inaugural event, The Miguel Contreras Foundation will once again be on-site, registering voters.
Long Beach favorites Romero Y Perez will return to entertain attendees with their crowd-pleasing Spanish guitar, and other popular aspects of the event such as the The Long Beach Free Store Book and Clothing Swap, face-painting by The Painted Life, and community potluck will be featured once again. The festival will provide a variety of interactive opportunities and skill-share workshops, including one on seed planting by Foodscape Long Beach, a creative reuse arts and crafts station by LB Riot Grrl and a DIY non-toxic cleaning products workshop by sisters Micky and Ana Belen Salatino, with supplies provided free for all of the above while they last. There will also be several raffles open to all attendees – the last event had children toting away brand new bicycles as well as several basketballs and soccer balls (gifts made possible by a grant awarded to The Friendship Neighborhood by Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach).
For most of the organizers, the highlight of the day was seeing the two children who had shyly offered their help all day long happily rolling their new bicycles away while many others gleefully filled their arms with free books from The Free Store. Attendee Ebony Batups appeared on VoiceWaves (a Long Beach youth-led journalism and media-training project) to say that she appreciated the uniqueness of the event and the fact “that it brought people together on a hot summer day to simply enjoy life.”
Attendees are encouraged to bring a dish of their choice for the community potluck and/or gently used clothes and books for the Free Market, but, no one will be required to bring anything in order to participate fully. Reusable water bottles, plates and utensils are encouraged – fresh water will be provided by local organization Green Long Beach! via a free hydration station and a free raffle ticket will be given to all attendees. Event will be hosted in English and Spanish.
Animal Care Services Spay, Neuter Vouchers in August
Long Beach Animal Care Services will be distributing spay and neuter vouchers in person at the PD Pitchford Companion Animal Village.
Animal Care Services usually offers a limited number of vouchers on the first Thursday of the month; however, thanks to the generous support of our community the program has been increased this month and vouchers are being offered each day Animal Care Services is open in August.
Vouchers are only valid at participating veterinary hospitals and clinics, and will only be distributed to Long Beach residents and the Long Beach Animal Care Services contract cities of Los Alamitos, Cerritos, Seal Beach and Signal Hill. Only one voucher will be distributed per household. Additional vouchers may be distributed upon request subject to availability and supervisor approval.