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A Deeply Melancholic State

Terelle Jerricks
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By Lionel Rolfe

A couple of days ago I was in a deeply melancholic state because of various personal struggles, including health and financial issues and an ex-wife I still love, but it all is leavened with the sense that as one approaches the end of life, the world becomes a much more apocalyptical place.

Sitting here in Los Angeles, I gazed at recent photographs of Nelson Mandela in South Africa wearing a kind of a beatific smile. It left me wondering if he really felt that sanguine about the planet he is leaving soon. I pondered these matters in part because it evoked some powerful links in my own life.

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Truth-Telling About a Recent LBPD Anti-Prostitution Sting

Greggory Moore
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Truth-Telling About a Recent LBPD Anti-Prostitution Sting

By Greggory Moore

If I telephone a woman and arrange to meet her at a motel for sex, that’s legal. If I telephone a woman and arrange to meet at a motel so I can give her a dollar, that’s legal, too.

But put the two together and it’s a crime. A crime supposedly so harmful to life in Long Beach that recently the Long Beach Police Department placed fake Internet ads of women offering sex for money, with the purpose of luring the would-be johns to a local motel, where undercover officers arrested them.

“Operations of this type have been due in large part to community concerns regarding quality of life issues in the area,” says the pertinent LBPD press release, which promises that the Department will continue such anti-prostitution activity.

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Back to the Future: Newspapers, Business Districts and Street Fairs

Terelle Jerricks
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By James Preston Allen, Publisher

Just when the motto, “print is dead” is being repeated daily like a mantra chanted by the Hari Krishnas of the iWorld, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, a digital world icon, buys the Washington Post for a mere $250 million. Then there is the sale of the Boston Globeto John W. Henry the owner of the Boston Red Sox for a paltry $70 million. Henry is one of those hedge fund billionaires. And even closer to home, the O.C. Register is planning to launch a new daily paper called the Long Beach Register to fill the vacuous hole of irrelevancy left by MediaNews Group’s, Press Telegram.

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Lieu Pushes Transparency, GPS-Parolee Tracking, Job Creation Laws

Reporters Desk
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Lieu Pushes Transparency, GPS-Parolee Tracking, Job Creation Laws

SACRAMENTO – With Aug. 12’s resumption of California’s 2013 Senate session, Sen. Ted W. Lieu of Torrance has one month to steer through efforts to enact reforms and create jobs.

Below, in bill-number order, are key bills Lieu will be presenting beginning next week.

This bill would impose significant campaign-finance reforms to strengthen the California Political Reform Act through improved enforcement, increased penalties and greater accountability. SB 2 would also require candidates to “stand by their ad.” Next step: Review by the Assembly Elections Committee on , Aug. 13.

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NSA to Replace System Administrators with Computers

Reporters Desk
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Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency , recently announced his plans to replace human system administrators at NSA headquarters with computers.

This is part of the NSA’s plan to reduce and prevent future intelligence leaks in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations on the United States surveillance program. Their plans involve cutting back on the number of human employees working as system administrators. The NSA currently employs approximately 1,000 system administrators.

At a hacking conference, Black Hat, in Las Vegas, Alexander gave a talk trying to garner support from the hacking community and was heckled throughout the hour-long talk. NSA recruiters also made a visit to the University of Wisconsin only to meet another negative reaction from the young crowd.

The Great Mulch Wall in Long Beach

Reporters Desk
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LONG BEACH — This week in Long Beach, noise pollution might be down thanks to the Great Wall of Mulch that has been built along the heavily traveled Terminal Island Freeway.

The wall extends the length of Hudson Park on the westside and is serving as an environmentally friendly buffer zone. It is said to reduce noise and eliminate the eyesore of the busy freeway. The Great Wall of Mulch is 12 feet high and 3 feet wide. It’s made completely out of mulch which is all composed of tree trimmings from Long Beach’s urban forest.

The total project cost is $150,000. The funding also includes further exploration on effectiveness of the mulch wall, including whether it can absorb air pollution such as diesel particulates.

An Object Lesson in Exercising Your Right Not to Talk to Police

Greggory Moore
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An Object Lesson in Exercising Your Right Not to Talk to Police

By Greggory Moore

I could tell by the way the police cruiser was crawling alongside the curb that the officers had taken an interest in me. Since I was simply walking down the street and had not been engaged in any remotely criminal or even suspicious behavior, I could not fathom why. But I was about to find out.

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Kelly Colopy Appointed Director of Health and Human Services

Reporters Desk
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LONG BEACH — On July 29, City Manager Patrick H. West announced the appointment of Kelly Colopy as director of Health and Human Services, effective Sept. 9, 2013.

Colopy has 17 years of professional experience in the field of human services, and currently manages the public mental health network in Salt Lake County, Utah, as Network Director for OptumSaltLakeCounty.

Colopy has been the Network Director of Optum SLCo, since 2012, where she manages the Medicaid Behavioral Health network of 220 service providers providing approximately $60 million in mental health and substance abuse services. Her duties include leading a coordination of care effort to ensure consumers have access to appropriate levels of care. Colopy also served as a member of Optum SLCo’s senior leadership team.

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Lieu Asks State Fire Officials to Review Ranch LPG Safety

Reporters Desk
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SACRAMENTO – On Aug. 1, Sen. Ted W. Lieu called on the California Fire Marshall to review the safety, risk and fires issues related to 25 million gallons of butane and propane storage tanks in San Pedro near Rancho Palos Verdes.

Below is a copy of his letter:

July 31, 2013
Chief Tonya Hoover
State Fire Marshal
PO Box 944246
Sacramento, CA94244-2460

Dear Chief Hoover:

I represent the 28thSenate District, which includes San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes. There have been longstanding concerns raised by constituents and government officials regarding the safety of a liquid bulk storage facility located at 2110 North Gaffey Street in San Pedro. Owned and operated by Rancho LPG Holdings LLC, this facility stores more than 25 million gallons of hazardous material, including butane in two large 40-year-old tanks and propane in other tanks. The tanks are located across a street from homes, businesses, and schools. The recent explosions at the Blue Rhino propane plant in Tavares, Florida on July 29thshow the potentially catastrophic dangers of large butane and propane tanks. Such tanks should not be located near densely populated areas.

In light of the recent propane explosions in Florida—and past explosions in Kansas, Texas, and other places—I am writing to respectfully request that the Office of the State Fire Marshal conduct an investigation and risk analysis of the Rancho LPG facility. After the Rancho LPG facility was permitted, a Los Angeles Times article stated at the time that an adequate safety and risk analysis was not conducted. I am also informed the amount of explosive propane at this facility is 50 times more than the Blue Rhino facility in Tavares, Florida. I am also informed that butane is as hazardous, if not more hazardous, than propane. Some of the issues I would like your office to investigate include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Should massive butane and propane tanks be located near homes, businesses, and schools? If not, how far away from densely populated areas should such a facility be located?
2. If the butane or propane tanks at Rancho LPG exploded, what is the worst case scenario?
3. What level earthquake could the Rancho LPG facility withstand without an explosion or other major catastrophe? What happens if an earthquake beyond the level of which Rancho LPG could withstand were to occur?
4. How susceptible is Rancho LPG to a terrorist attack?
5. What happens if the butane or propane tanks start leaking?
6. What type of insurance, and in what amount, does Rancho LPG carry, if any?
7. What recommendations, if any, are there that could make the facility safer?
8. Would relocating the facility to a further away location prevent loss of life or property should explosions or other catastrophic events occur at the Rancho LPG facility?

As you know, butane and propane accidents have occurred in other locations and have resulted in deaths, injuries, and significant property damage. Last October, a propane company in Kansas relocated its facility after a deadly explosion killed a worker and destroyed homes. In 1987, a butane explosion at a chemical plant in Texas killed three people and blew out windows in buildings six miles away. Butane and propane explosions have also occurred around the world, causing deaths and property damage.

Rancho LPG has already committed a series of environmental violations. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is handling those issues. I am requesting your office to address the safety, risk, and fire issues involved with having massive butane and propane tanks located near densely populated areas in San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I am also happy to meet with you to discuss this issue. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact me at(310) 318-6994.

Sincerely,

Sen Ted Leiu
28thDistrict

AAN Urges Senate to Pass Federal Shield Law

Reporters Desk
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ByKevin M. Goldberg

July 29, 2013 12:30 PM

Reactions

The Association of Alternative Newsmedia was one ofmore than 70 media companies and organizations who signed a letter asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to passS.987, the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill, which was introduced on May 16 by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who has since beenjoined by 19 co-sponsors. It is likely to be marked up by the Judiciary Committee this Aug. 1.

The bill would create a reporter’s privilege applicable in federal proceedings. While latest round of interest from the Senate is attributable to – and much of the media and public focus is on – the seizure of telephone records corresponding to phones owned by the Associated Press and its individual reporters as part of a federal investigation of the leak of classified information, the fight for a shield law goes back more than a decade and would have ramifications for those who never cover the federal government, let alone national security issues.

The House of Representatives has passed a shield law on two separate occasions (in 2007 and 2009). A slightly different bill,HR 1962, was introduced in the House on May 14 by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), who has beenjoined by 44 co-sponsors.

AAN members covering even purely local issues could find themselves forced to testify despite the existence of a strong state shield law or court recognition of a reporter’s privilege if your story somehow results in a federal criminal charge being levied against city or state officials or a federal civil lawsuit arising the subject of (or those quoted in) your story. The Free Flow of Information Act would actually provide a very strong protection for reporter’s asked to testify in civil and even non-national security related criminal matters.

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