Home Blog Page 993

An Elusive Utopia By The Sea

Reporters Desk
-
1
An Elusive Utopia By The Sea

By Lionel Rolfe

Venice, CA: A City State Of Mind by John O’Kane. Hard cover edition is $26.95.

The traditional happening places for the arts in Los Angeles are two–and it’s been this way since the ’20s and earlier. One is Echo Park near downtown and the other is Venice by the sea. But Venice has captured more of the romance, perhaps because its history has been rich and porous enough there’s this terrible tendency to want to sum it all up, to say what exactly it means.
John O’Kane’s at times rambling but nonetheless intriguing book length essay sums up the history, the observations, the artists and writers and poets great and famous and obscure who have lurked among the dark shadows of this Nirvana by the sea. O’Kane has lived long enough in Venice to know a lot of the characters personally, and he describes walking the famed boardwalk or supping at coffeehouse tables with many of them in engaging and vivid terms.

Continue

Local Food Providers Making It Easier for Us to Change the Status Quo of Eating

Greggory Moore
-
0
Local Food Providers Making It Easier for Us to Change the Status Quo of Eating

By Greggory Moore

The concept is as old as humanity itself: Humans eat, and the Earth provides.

But over the last century, that inescapable reality has become increasingly remote for an ever-greater percentage of homo sapiens, who find ourselves acquiring our caloric intake from companies, corporations, and machines, a caloric intake that is often more a product of the laboratory than of sea or soil.

A network of local food providers is aiming to bring us back to the past by connecting local residents to the growing number of natural food-acquiring alternatives hiding in plain sight right here at home. That connector is knowledge. And because the aphorism “Knowledge is power” appertains to your health as much as to anything else, it’s fair to say that Shift LB’s Long Beach Guide to Local Food Networks, which these self-proclaimed “greenhorns” are freely making available to as many people as possible, has the potential to be a powerful tool.

Continue

Owner of Marijuana Stores in Orange, Los Angeles Counties Sentenced

Reporters Desk
-
0
Owner of Marijuana Stores in Orange, Los Angeles Counties Sentenced

SANTA ANA, California – A San Clemente man who owned and operated a string of nine illegal marijuana stores that generated at least $25 million in profits was sentenced, July 22, to 262 months in federal prison for drug trafficking and tax evasion.

John Melvin Walker, also known as “Pops,” 56, of San Clemente, was also ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service $2,415,409.29 and to pay the California State Board of Equalization $1,857,280.00 in restitution.

Walker pleaded guilty in April to two felony counts – one count of conspiring to distribute well over a ton of marijuana and maintaining drug-involved premises, and one count of tax evasion.

Walker was the lead defendant in a 14-defendant indictment returned by a federal grand jury this past fall. The indictment outlined a drug-trafficking conspiracy led by Walker, who owned and operated at least nine marijuana stores in cities across Los

Angeles and Orange counties. The nine marijuana stores were in Long Beach, DanaPoint, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Santa Fe Springs, Costa Mesa, Whittier and San Juan Capistrano.

Walker was “the kingpin of a large, organized criminal enterprise awash in narcotics, firearms, and, most of all, money,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing brief.

Walker admitted in the federal tax case that he earned approximately $25 million from marijuana sales over the course of six years. Walker specifically admitted that he earned $11.4 million in 2009, but reported to the Internal Revenue Service only a tiny fraction of that income. As part of his plea agreement, Walker agreed to pay the IRS more than $2.4 million in back taxes for years 2006 through 2011, as well as $1.8 million in restitution to the California Board of Equalization. In addition to the $4.2 million he has agreed to pay to federal and state tax authorities, Walker agreed to forfeit to the government $25 million in illegally obtained income, which includes, among other assets, more than $500,000 in cash previously seized by law enforcement authorities, his multi-million dollar home in San Clemente, a string of mobile homes in Mammoth Lakes, rental properties in Long Beach, and his interest in two strip clubs.

Walker, a twice convicted felon, also admitted that he possessed firearms in relation to the drug-trafficking offense. Authorities discovered in one of Walker’s “stash houses” an AK-47-style assault rifle, three other firearms and ammunition.

Walker has been in custody since pleading guilty in this case on April 1.

Beware the Woman with the Hatchet

Reporters Desk
-
0

The Long Beach Police Department arrested a 33-year-old woman threatening to kill her husband with a hatchet July 20, officials said.

Police officials say Melanie McGhee of Long Beach was found standing over her husband with hatchet, at about 11:05 p.m. near 11th Street on Walnut Avenue in Long Beach.

When McGhee refused to follow officers’ orders, an officer shot his weapon to stop the attack. McGhee, who was not injured, surrendered and was taken into custody on $500,000 bail. Her husband was not injured by the attack.

Anyone with details regarding this incident is asked to call (562) 570-7244.

Ports Announce CAAP Award Winners

Reporters Desk
-
0
Ports Announce CAAP Award Winners

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach honored five companies for their extraordinary efforts to fight harmful emissions at the 6thAnnual Clean Air Action Plan Air Quality Awards, July 18, in San Pedro.

Awards this year were made in three categories:

Air Quality Leadership at the Corporate Level

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics –Since 2004, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has adhered to a 1.5 percent global fleet sulfur fuel policy, though regulations called for less restrictive limits between 3.5 to 4.5 percent. In addition, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics’ new, ultra-modern “Salome” vessel was the first to qualify in 2012 for an incentive under the Port of Long Beach’s Green Ship Incentive Program, a voluntary clean air initiative that rewards ocean carriers whose ships are equipped with Tier II or III engines. To further demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has also voluntarily allowed for third-party verification of its greenhouse gas emissions annually since 2009, the results of which are published in an annual Environmental Sustainability Report.

Continue

Hahn Votes “No” on Cutting Educational Funding

Reporters Desk
-
0

Washington, DC— On July 19, Rep. Janice Hahn, District 44, voted “no” on the Student Success Act of 2013, which would drastically cut educational funding for vital programs that help disadvantaged students, English learner students and students with special needs.

The bill, written by Republican John Kline, of Minnesota, passed the House of Representatives with a 221-207 vote.

The bill reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education act, known as the No Child Left Behind Act.

While the Student Success Act requires states to adopt standards in reading and math, the bill does nothing to ensure that state standards are rigorous enough to make sure students graduate from high school. What’s more, the bill does not require states to set targets and goals to evaluate whether schools are improving student achievement and graduation rates.

Similar to the No Child Left Behind Act, the Student Success Act requires states and districts to annually assess students in reading and math and publicly report those results to parents. Beyond that, however, states and districts have a great deal of discretion over what needs to happen to underperforming schools. Chronically underperforming schools can continue to conduct business as usual.

The Student Success Act neglects to close a federal loophole that allows districts to allocate fewer total dollars to high-poverty schools compared to more affluent schools.

The Student Success Act also removes federal requirements that ensure states and districts maintain their share of education funding from year to year.

False Bomb Threat Gets Pedro Man in Jail

Reporters Desk
-
0

LONG BEACH — A San Pedro man was arrested for making a bomb threat to a Walmart in Long Beach on July 21.

Thirty-year-old Patrick Quintana, allegedly phoned in a bomb threat, at about 8:30 p.m. July 21, to the Walmart at the CityPlaceShopping Center in Long Beach, officials said.

Police say the store was evacuated and a search was conducted but no device was found. Through their investigation, the suspect was tracked to San Pedro and taken into custody. He was booked for making a false bomb threat, along with other warrants that included annoying phone calls, stalking, burglary and driving under the influence. His total bail amounted to $410,500.

Investigators presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The office filed count of criminal threat and one count reporting a false bomb charge.

Young Mother Killed in Long Beach

Reporters Desk
-
0

LONG BEACH — A 23-year-old woman was killed on the morning of July 25, near 5th Street on Walnut Avenue in Long Beach.

At about 6:20 a.m., Long Beach Police Department officers found Jazzmine Wash dead at the scene, laying on the courtyard of an apartment complex on Walnut Avenue, officials said.

Wash had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene by Long Beach Fire Department paramedics.

The preliminary investigation indicates that the victim had arrived at the home of a relative to drop off her 3-year-old child. She walked back out of the residence to go get a diaper bag. Residents in the area then heard several shots fired.

A motive for the shooting is unknown, no suspect information is available, and investigators are urging anyone with information to come forward.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Long Beach Police Homicide at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted at (800) 222-8477 or www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Stuck On Stupid

RLn
-
0

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.”

—Fredrick Douglas, address on West India Emancipation, 1857

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

I find it enlightening that the above quote is most often recognized among my friends of color. That quote was the starting point in the preface of civil rights lawyer Connie Rice’s book, Power Concedes Nothing—One Woman’s Quest for Social Justice in America. To say the least, I was quite moved by her story, the tragedies and challenges, and then the amazing resolution. I doubt that I can do justice to this book here in so few words, except that I highly recommend it to anyone trying to make sense out of the recent verdict and the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

What I can tell you is that Ms. Rice, the cousin of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Bush administration, has spent many years in Los Angeles courtrooms, suing the Los Angeles Police Department and others over discrimination, police misconduct and violations of civil rights laws.

You might surmise that such a person would be persona non grata inside the fortress of Parker Center or that her perspectives would be routinely dismissed by those leading the “thin blue line” of Los Angeles policing. What we have seen instead, however, is an amazing about face in the racist Los Angeles Police Department culture that once guarded the “safe neighborhoods” of the city while suppressing the “dangerous ones” following the Los Angeles riots following the not guilty verdicts of the officers involved in the Rodney King videoed beating in 1992.

If you’ve lived in this country for any time over the past 40 years, you’d recognize “safe neighborhoods” as a euphemism for white middle class areas and the“dangerous ones” as black and brown ghettos, to speak plainly about it.

Since the bygone days of California red-lining and racial covenants in certain areas, we have this belief here in the Golden State that we are well on the path to racial equality and the end of discrimination, but that there is much that you just can’t legislate. Furthermore, the path out of poverty in this country is fraught with domestic landmines, like the 60 percent incarceration rate of young black males compared to their corresponding graduation rates from inner city schools. As Rice writes so movingly in her book, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream has still not been fulfilled, nor will it be until every child has the right to safety in their schools and neighborhoods. And this safety is from both the gangs and the cops.

She writes, “We must rekindle the hope of the hopeless—dismantle the new Jim Crow and remove the threat posed to us all by the deadly conditions festering in the hot zones. We must invest the cost of achieving our greatest credo, E Pluribus Unum, or pay the price of losing the greatest democracy ever created.”

Rice was eventually invited inside of the LAPD police union to investigate and report on the Rampart division scandal, where afterward she surmised that the system was just “stuck on stupid.” Here investigation resulted in a report entitled: “Rampart Reconsidered: The Search for Real Reform Seven Years Later.” In the report, she noted that the entrenched police department’s culture was resistant against change to a better policing model. She took special note, however, of then-Capt. Charlie Beck who made a 180 degree turn-around that changed (and saved) the Rampart division.

Beck (now Chief of the LAPD) realized mid-career that the traditional “suppression” or hammer model of their CRASH units was not winning the fight against gang wars that were raging in Los Angeles at the time.

There is a greater cautionary tale to be understood from her story of the LAPD’s changing trajectory. And that is, we are plagued by the “bollix of bureaucracy” on many levels and that the stuck on stupid mind set is often at the core of the resistance to change. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t, is the cliché that comes to mind. It’s true, institutions don’t like to change. They resist change. And on the rare occasion they do change, it is only when it is faced with an institutional crisis, a court order or a political uprising demanding that power concedes. However, real change only comes when those on the inside, like LAPD Chief Beck, come to the epiphany and embrace change.

It is said that you can’t legislate morality. But as current events show, “power concedes nothing, without a demand.” And as a citizen of this country and this city, we must learn to effectively demand concessions and not to be complacent with stupid.

www.powerconcedesnothing.com

Quinoa: The Ancient Grain Superfood

RLn
-
0
Quinoa: The Ancient Grain Superfood

by: Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe, Contributing Writer

Popularity of this nutrient-rich “pseudo cereal” has exploded in recent years.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is called the ancient grain super food, having been cultivated in the Andes mountain regions of South America for five millennia. Along with maize, quinoa was the main food source of the Incas.

Gluten-free, high in protein, with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities and a good source of fiber alas, it is not a grain at all, but a seed. It is called a pseudo cereal because it is a broadleaf plant that is grown for grain, unlike most cereals, which come from grassy plants. Its scientific name is Chenopodium quinoa. Chenopods are herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which also include spinach and beets. There are more than 200 hundred varieties of quinoa that have adapted to diverse growing conditions -high altitudes, thin air, cool nights, dry weather. Peru and Bolivia are the largest commercial producers.

Now that the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has declared the year 2013, “The International Year of Quinoa.” It’s time to give this versatile, easy-to-prepare super food a try.

Seeds can be black, red, pink, orange, yellow, or white in color. Quinoa is prepared in a method similar to rice. Simply bring one part rinsed quinoa and two parts water to a boil, then simmer, covered, until cooked, about 15 minutes. When the quinoa is ready, the germ, appearing as a translucent white spiral will be evident in each seed. Cooked quinoa is fluffy like couscous, creamy like rice, slightly crunchy with a nutty taste reminiscent of sesame seeds. Enjoy it for breakfast, tossed in a salad, stirred into soup. Serve it as a substitute for noodles or rice. Add cooked quinoa to ground beef to increase fiber and nutrients in burgers or let quinoa shine on its own, as a bright side dish or a vegetarian main course.

My “Sweet Sour Spicy Quinoa” makes a terrific side dish for grilled meat, chicken and fish.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked white quinoa

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoon lime juice

zest from 1 lime

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 Serrano peppers, finely sliced

1/2 cup scallion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup pineapple, small dice

1/4 cup papaya, small dice

1/3 cup pomegranate arils

10 basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons

1/4 cup slivered almonds

 

Recipe:

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Meanwhile combine olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, ginger, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add Serrano, scallion, pineapple, papaya, and pomegranate arils. Let fruit mixture sit to meld flavors while quinoa comes to room temperature. Combine quinoa with the fruit mixture. Taste and adjust salt, olive oil, or lime juice as needed. Just before serving, toss in the basil and almonds. Super food!

Lori Lynn Hirsch Stokoe blogs about food, wine, and entertaining at Taste With The Eyes http://www.tastewiththeeyes.com and tweets as Tasteblog at https://twitter.com/tasteblog.

1...992993994...1,056Page 993 of 1,056