Once hailed as “Las Vegas’ first 21 Century resort,” The Mirage Hotel & Casino confirmed Wednesday that its iconic volcano outside of its front entrance is going dormant less than a quarter of a century into the new millennium.
Owner Hard Rock International announced the hotel will cease operations on July 17, with bookings being accepted until July 14. The iconic resort — sporting a jungle-fantasy theme —was perhaps best known for its exploding 54-foot man-made volcano, magicians Siegfried and Roy, and its white tigers and dolphins.
“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” said Jim Allen, Chairman of Hard Rock International in a statement.
The resort is expected to be redeveloped into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, with the volcano giving way to a nearly 700-foot guitar-shaped hotel. The project is expected to open in spring 2027. A similar 638-room hotel stands in Hollywood, Fla.
The Associated Press reported that more than 3,000 employees will be laid off. Hard Rock acknowledged it would pay roughly $80 million in severance packages for union and nonunion labor.
The Culinary and Bartenders Union accounts for about 1,700 Mirage workers. It announced Wednesday that its workers have two options.
The first was a severance package of $2,000 for every year of service plus six months of pension and health benefits. The second option gives employees a lesser, undisclosed amount while maintaining seniority rights for the duration of the property’s closure along with 36 months of recall rights for jobs at the new hotel.
“Culinary Union members at The Mirage have a strong union contract, ensuring that workers are protected, even as the property closes its doors entirely for three years from July 2024 – May 2027,” said Ted Pappageorge, Culinary Union secretary-treasurer, in a statement Wednesday.
The new hotel is projected to employ nearly 7,000 employees, according to Hard Rock management, while 2,500 construction jobs are expected during the rebuilding process.
Hard Rock said that all reservations beyond July 14 would be canceled and that guests should contact the guest services department or booking agency for a refund.
The Mirage’s closure is the second on the strip this year.
In April, the 66-year-old Tropicana closed its doors to make way for a 30,000-seat stadium that is expected to serve as the home of the Oakland A’s.
The Mirage’s opening by casino tycoon Stephen A. Wynn in 1989 was hailed as the ushering of a new era of resorts. It was the first strip hotel to open since the MGM Grand in 1973.
Wynn shelled out $600 million, then the most expensive casino project, for the sprawling 103-acre property.
Integration meant operating and treating all facets of the resort, including casino, food and beverage, retail, entertainment and convention space, with equal importance, according to Feldman, who rose to become an executive with the Mirage and stayed from 1989 to 2019.
Feldman said hotel owners previously cared first about the casino and “everything else was last.”
“They gave away entertainment, food and rooms as long as someone came and played,” said Feldman. “The Mirage was the first to believe you could actually make money in these areas if you invested enough.”
Its glistening 30-story white-and-gold towers were said to make neighboring Caesars Palace look “retiring by comparison.” Traffic occasionally backed up on the strip as engineers tested gas-flared flames 40 feet into the air every few minutes.
“People just got out of the cars and went over to see what was going on,” one limousine driver said at the time.
The hotel included a 20,000-gallon fish tank at its reception desk and 3,049 rooms.
The Mirage’s opening kicked off a resort building and remodeling spree that included the debut of the Circus Circus’ Excalibur in June 1990, the $250-million renovation of Caesars Palace and the opening of Treasure Island in 1994.
Ever since mortgage interest rates jumped in 2022, some Californians have had a strategy: Buy now and, once rates drop, refinance to save hundreds of dollars each month.
The idea — pushed by some real estate agents — was supposed to be a trade-off. The buyer could pick up a home in a slower market, and though interest costs would be high, they wouldn’t stay that way.
The strategy may still work, but so far, high borrowing costs are here to stay. In recent weeks, rates have climbed higher, surpassing 7% for the first time since last year.
If you bought a home with this strategy, The Times would like to speak with you about how it has worked out.
Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay start the show by addressing the new theme song and reaction from our Thought Warriors (00:15). Then, they give their impressions of the bizarre new Drake-produced AI track (20:56), and the internet’s reaction to Stephen A. Smith’s comments on Donald Trump’s relatability (38:36). Later, they expand on the surprise that their birthday month falls during Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi, and the reason behind its existence (1:18:34).
Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Ashleigh Smith
A veteran Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy has died six months after he was severely burned in a fire at one of the department’s mobile shooting ranges, a family spokesperson said Sunday.
Alfredo “Freddy” Flores, 51, of Sylmar, died Saturday evening at Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where he was being treated for third-degree burns suffered when a tractor-trailer range where he was getting re-certified burst into flames last October in Castaic.
Flores, and a second injured deputy serving as range master, were initially taken to a local hospital in critical but stable condition and sent to Los Angeles General Medical Center for further treatment. Flores was transferred to Valley Presbyterian and never left the Van Nuys hospital, said attorney and family spokesman Joe A. Nunez.
Flores was a 22-year department veteran who worked at the North County Correctional Facility, Altadena Station and, at the time of the accident, Court Services West Bureau. “He was well-respected in the department and in the community and his passing will leave a huge void in the hearts of many who knew him,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The department did not provide an update on the condition of the other injured deputy.
The blaze started around 9:30 a.m. Oct. 10 in the trailer, which was parked next to the men’s jail at Pitchess Detention Center. At the time, Sheriff Robert Luna said the department would conduct an investigation to find out the cause and “get to the bottom of it so we prevent it from happening again.”
The Department has relied on more than a dozen range trailers so thousands of deputies can test their skills four times a year as required by department policy. After the fire, the department shut down all of its mobile firing ranges, launched an internal investigation and called in the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for help.
It was at least the fourth time in less than a decade that a Sheriff’s Department mobile range caught fire.
In 2016, a contractor working on a trailer parked at the department’s Tactics and Survival Training Center using a metal grinder sparked a blaze. It is unclear how much damage it caused or if anyone was injured.
In 2019, a mobile trailer being used by sheriff’s deputies at the Marina del Rey sheriff’s station during a training exercise caught fire when a non-explosive device used to simulate a stun grenade started a fire that engulfed the trailer. All the deputies escaped injury.
That same year, a trailer parked near the Castaic jail complex caught fire. As with the 2016 blaze, officials said the cause was a contractor with a power tool. The department did not offer additional details.
Multiple range experts told The Times last year that mobile range fires appear to be rare but there is a risk of fire from unburned gunpowder at any range that isn’t adequately cleaned and ventilated.
In a statement, Nunez said Flores’ family was “acutely aware of the inherent risks associated with the position” but nothing could have prepared it for “his untimely departure due to injuries sustained stemming from the malfunction of equipment during a training drill.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn released a similar statement Sunday, saying that though Flores “put his life on the line every day to protect the communities he served, it is a terrible tragedy that he lost his life from what should have been a routine training exercise.”
Nunez said the family was thankful the department is not using mobile shooting ranges and would not comment if they would be filing a wrongful-death lawsuit. He said he was serving as a family spokesperson.
Funeral arrangement have not yet been completed, he said.
Times staff writer Keri Blakinger contributed to this report.
Would the new ride vehicles be purely electric? Or would they be hybrids that still burned some climate-wrecking, oil-based fuel? And how long would it take for Walt Disney’s creative and engineering heirs to make the long-overdue switch?
After I wrote a story breaking the news about the company’s plans, a coalition of electric vehicle activists launched a campaign to pressure Disney to commit to electric vehicles — not hybrids — and to phase out gasoline within two years.
On Thursday, those activists won.
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In a written statement, Disneyland spokesperson Jessica Good confirmed to The Times that electrification “means fully electric — it does not mean hybrid or any other version of a gasoline combustion engine.” She added that the theme park “will no longer be using the current engines within the next 30 months.”
That means by fall 2026, Disneyland guests will no longer have to worry about breathing lung-damaging exhaust as they wait in line for Autopia — and park employees won’t have spend hours-long shifts inhaling those fumes as they work the ride.
It’s not yet clear when the newly electrified Autopia will reopen.
“Reimagining an attraction does take time, so we don’t have a reopening date at this time,” Good said.
Zan Dubin, the electric vehicle advocate leading the pressure campaign, was thrilled when she heard Thursday’s news. She called it a “huge victory” and a powerful reminder that climate activism works.
“All it takes for bad stuff to keep happening is for good people to do nothing,” she said, paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln. “And we refuse to stand by and do nothing.”
Dubin had been planning to lead a rally outside Walt Disney Studios in Burbank on Sunday, to urge the company to do better on Autopia. She’s told me she’s moving forward with the event, although she said it will now be more of a celebration.
“We are thrilled,” she said.
The stories that Disney tells at its theme parks — and on its streaming services, cruise ships and other platforms — are far more than entertainment. They play a powerful role in shaping how we understand our world and ourselves. That’s why the company’s decision to close Disneyland’s Splash Mountain ride — which was based on a racist film — and its increasing embrace of LGBTQ+ characters in its films have become such political flash points. The opponents of progress know that these choices matter.
If you care about climate progress, you should care about Autopia.
Disneyland visitors wait to exit the Autopia attraction in March.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
When the attraction opened in 1955 as a centerpiece of Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland, it helped cement the idea in the American consciousness that gas-guzzling cars — and endless freeways — were the way of the future. Within a year, President Eisenhower had signed the bill that would create the Interstate Highway System as we know it today.
Nearly 70 years later, cars, trucks and other modes of transportation are the nation’s largest source of heat-trapping emissions — emissions that have fueled record global temperatures for 10 straight months, resulting in deadlier heat waves, fires and storms. Fossil fuel combustion also produces regular old air pollution that researchers say kills millions of people each year.
Mining to supply lithium for lithium-ion electric car batteries can be environmentally destructive in some places. Freeways have historically been built through low-income communities of color, tearing apart vibrant neighborhoods. The more we can rebuild our cities around public transit, electric bikes and green space — and less around cars — the happier and healthier we’ll be.
Beyond Autopia, Walt Disney Co. has an opportunity to promote that kind of future in Tomorrowland.
As I wrote earlier this month, Disneyland fans agree that the once-futuristic land hasn’t been especially forward-thinking for a long time. To my mind, clean energy and sustainability would make the perfect theme for a new and improved Tomorrowland. There’s already a major public transit element in the Monorail. Throw in some gas-free induction stoves at the main restaurant, some solar panels, some environmental films at the currently empty movie theater — it could be pretty awesome.
But even short of all that, we’re going to need a lot of electric vehicles, fast, to get the climate crisis under control. And for Disney to start telling the story of those EVs at Autopia is a big deal. The company deserves credit for getting it right.
“I’m glad they’re stepping up and doing the right hitting,” said Joel Levin, executive director of Plug In America, a national electric vehicle advocacy group that’s sponsoring this Sunday’s rally. “It’s a great way for the public to experience electrification, to turn it into a teachable moment, rather than the experience of standing next to a gas lawnmower, which is what it feels like now.”
DAYTON, OHIO – The Montgomery County Educational Service Center (MCESC) today announced a partnership with mental health provider Cartwheel to bring students and families rapid access to mental health care via telehealth with Ohio-licensed clinicians.
“Post-COVID, mental health challenges have gone up significantly across the country and in Montgomery County. Long waitlists for care have impacted students, families, and school staff,” said Amy Anyanwu, Assistant Superintendent, Montgomery County Educational Service Center. “It’s crucial to recognize that students grappling with deep sadness or anxiety shouldn’t be turned away or endure a four to six-month wait to see a therapist. Every child deserves timely access to the support they need during such challenging times. Our community health partners are doing what they can, but they are outnumbered. With our Cartwheel partnership, we’re taking one more step to get students access to the care they need when they need it.”
The partnership comes as youth mental health needs reach an all-time high in Montgomery County, Ohio and across the nation. According to the Montgomery County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS), more than 20% of young people are experiencing a mental health disorder. In Ohio, suicide is now the second leading cause of death among youth. These mental health challenges have also spilled over into the classroom, for example by increasing chronic absenteeism and disciplinary issues such as suspensions and expulsions.
Nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the share of high school students feeling persistently sad or hopeless increased by 40%, and the share creating a suicide plan increased by 44% compared to prior decades. Over the past decade, suicide rates among youth have increased by 57% overall.
Four districts in Montgomery County have already joined the program, including Kettering, Miamisburg, Brookville, and Jefferson Township. Approximately 15,000 students across 27 schools in these districts can now access mental health services they wouldn’t otherwise have due to waitlists, insurance issues, language availability, transportation, and other barriers. Cartwheel’s services help address a range of common mental health conditions, from anxiety, depression, and executive functioning challenges, to loss and grief, stress, sleep issues, technology use, trauma, and more. The Montgomery County Educational Service Center has room to add a few districts to the partnership for the upcoming school year.
“Our goal for partnering with MCESC and Cartwheel is to support our families in filling the gap between when mental health services are needed and when a student is actually connected to a provider. Our parents were consistently telling us that mental health support in our area was difficult to navigate and took an inordinate amount of time to access. Because of the long wait time, students were not getting the help they needed. Within a short period, we are helping to close the gap – and Cartwheel has been instrumental in that effort. Since January, we’ve already referred 30 students,” said Kathleen Lucas, Director of Student Services at Miamisburg City School District.
Cartwheel’s program works as follows:
Cartwheel works with each school to customize a referral process that fits seamlessly into their current system of mental health support.
Once a referral is made, Cartwheel contacts the family within two days to schedule a one-hour virtual intake assessment with a licensed therapist.
After the first session, students can join ongoing weekly therapy sessions for up to 6 months. Sessions are held via a secure telehealth platform during the day as well as evenings, weekends, school breaks, and through the summer.
If requested by the student and family, Cartwheel’s team of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners can also support medication evaluation and management.
For students who need more than 6 months of care, Cartwheel’s team of bilingual case managers assists families with referrals for longer-term services.
For students who are too young to join telehealth sessions, their parents can meet one-on-one with a Cartwheel therapist for guidance sessions on how best to support their child.
Since Cartwheel accepts all major Ohio insurance plans, including Medicaid, services are free or low cost for the vast majority of families.
“I’ve been a clinical social worker for 30 years and am excited to support students in Montgomery County who are struggling with anxiety, depression, stress management, trauma, and life transitions,” said Kristin Rinehart, an Ohio-licensed therapist and Clinical Supervisor at Cartwheel currently working with students in Miamisburg, Kettering, Brookville, and Jefferson Township school districts.
Cartwheel’s services also help address record rates of chronic absenteeism, with 26.8% of students in Ohio chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year, up from 16.7% in the 2018-2019 school year.
“Mental health services delivered via telehealth can be highly effective in helping students manage anxiety around attending school, which when left unaddressed leads to school refusal, school avoidance, and chronic absenteeism,” said Dr. Juliana Chen, Chief Medical Officer and Ohio-licensed child-adolescent psychiatrist at Cartwheel. “We’re excited to partner with Montgomery County Educational Service Center and local school districts to address these challenges.”
As part of the program, districts are also receiving clinical consultations, parental education on mental health topics such as depression and anxiety, and ongoing case management to support students with longer-term or more specialized care needs. A clinically licensed Program Manager from Cartwheel is available to consult with school staff on student cases, family engagement, and staff professional development.
About Montgomery County Educational Service Center
The Montgomery County Educational Service Center (MCESC) is a premier provider of high-quality, cost-effective, education services in Ohio. The MCESC serves 16 public school districts in Montgomery County and more than 130 educational entities in counties across the state of Ohio. MCESC provides direct student support services to districts as well as training for educators to improve teaching and learning and to develop teacher and administrative leadership. For more information, visit https://www.mcesc.org/.
About Cartwheel
Cartwheel is the trusted mental health partner to schools, delivering rapid access to care for students and helping schools build stronger mental health programs that catch kids before they fall. Our evidence-based mental health program is designed around the entire school community. Our licensed therapists and child psychiatrists are diverse, culturally sensitive, and committed to affordable care for everyone—including uninsured families and those covered by Medicaid. Kids shouldn’t just aspire to get out of bed and drag themselves to class. They should be able to experience joy. They deserve to envision and build a life they’re excited to live. For more information, visit www.cartwheel.org.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
One year ago, Los Angeles’ “mansion tax” took effect. It has either been a godsend or an absolute disaster, depending on who you ask.
The transfer tax, formally known as Measure ULA, levies a 4% charge on all property sales above $5 million and a 5.5% charge on sales above $10 million, with proceeds funding affordable housing and homelessness initiatives.
When L.A. voters approved the measure in November 2022, it quickly became the dominating storyline in L.A. real estate.
Proponents say the tax generates crucial funding to address L.A.’s housing crisis, and they’re right. In its first year, Measure ULA has raised roughly $215 million, according to the L.A. Housing Department.
The L.A. City Council passed a $150-million spending plan for ULA funds in August, and the money has been flowing into six programs: short-term emergency rental assistance, eviction defense, tenant outreach and education, direct cash assistance for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, tenant protections and affordable housing production.
Critics, including many L.A. real estate professionals, claim the tax has hampered the market — not just luxury home sales, but also multifamily developments and commercial properties, since the tax applies to all property sales above $5 million.
They’re also right.
When the tax first took effect on April 1, 2023, it all but froze L.A.’s luxury real estate market, with many sellers pulling their homes off the market at the prospect of paying an extra few hundred thousand in taxes if they sold.
A year later, the market is still just as icy.
The striking slowdown is partly due to chilled buying across Southern California, as soaring interest rates keep many prospective buyers out of the house hunt altogether. But in L.A. — the only city affected by the tax — home sales above $5 million have plummeted at twice the rate of other affluent cities, as buyers opt for homes in neighboring areas that aren’t subject to the tax.
From April 2022 to March 2023, the year before Measure ULA hit, L.A. had 366 single-family home sales of $5 million or more. In the 12 months since, there were just 166 — a drop of roughly 68%.
Luxury sales in nearby cities have slowed, but not nearly at the same rate, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service.
In Beverly Hills, single-family sales dropped 24%.
In Santa Monica, single-family sales dropped 29%.
In Malibu, single-family sales dropped 28%.
“My clients are leaving L.A.,” said Jason Oppenheim, a luxury real estate agent who stars in the real estate reality show “Selling Sunset.” “We can’t keep pushing the wealthy out of our city.”
Oppenheim and his team spent much of the seventh season of the show speaking out against the tax, which they claim pushes prospective buyers out of L.A. and into other affluent areas.
“This tax has not had the effect that was promised, and it’s time for everyone to put aside their egos and realize this was a mistake,” Oppenheim said.
The drop-off comes from a few different factors. Many luxury homeowners moved to sell their properties last spring before the tax took effect, including celebrities such as Mark Wahlberg and Brad Pitt.
Others explored loopholes to avoid paying the tax, such as splitting properties into multiple parts and selling them separately to stay under the $5-million mark.
As a result, Measure ULA hasn’t raised nearly as much as originally projected.
Early proponents of Measure ULA estimated the tax would raise roughly $900 million per year. Last March, a report from the City Administrative Office lowered that number to $672 million.
At $215 million, the total is well short of initial projections, but Greg Good, a senior advisor on policy and external affairs for the L.A. Housing Department, said he expects it to be much higher going forward.
In the first three months of Measure ULA, the tax raised $15 million, only $5 million per month. But from July 2023 to February 2024, the tax raised roughly $200 million, or $25 million per month. Projections for the city’s fiscal year, which starts on July 1 and ends on June 30, would be around $300 million.
“Despite litigation, despite the chilled market, despite the wealth defense industry designed to help the rich protect their money from taxes, that’s $300 million for housing and homelessness initiatives,” Good said.
So far, the city has spent around $28 million in aid to distressed tenants and landlords, $23 million on eviction protection and tenant outreach and $56.8 million on loans to accelerate the development of affordable multifamily housing projects.
“None of that happens without ULA,” Good said.
L.A.’s real estate community has fought the tax tooth-and-nail, campaigning against the measure when it was on the ballot in November 2022 and trying to find ways to overturn it after it was passed.
The latest challenge — a lawsuit claiming the tax was unconstitutional — was shut down in October, when an L.A. County judge dismissed the case, but the plaintiffs are in the process of appealing the decision.
The next hurdle the measure will face comes in November, when Californians will vote on a statewide ballot initiative called the “Taxpayer Protection Act.” If passed, the act would require special taxes to be approved by two-thirds of the vote instead of a simple majority, applying to all measures adopted after Jan. 1, 2022. Since Measure ULA was adopted in 2023 and only received 57% approval, it could require another vote or potentially be repealed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom filed an emergency petition to remove the initiative from the ballot, but the status of the petition is unclear.
“This is a David-vs.-Goliath story. Moneyed interests are trying to stop Angelenos from addressing this existential crisis, but I believe voters will flip the script at the polls and beat it back,” Good said. “We’re going to attack the housing crisis with vigor and zeal for as long as it takes.”
CoSN2024’s Virtual offering is “The CoSN Experience.” The event will no longer be a hybrid event, but a fully virtual experience.
Program description: An immersive virtual collaboration cafe series that invites you to embark on a journey of monthly conversations and knowledge sharing. Join forces with like-minded colleagues as we collectively empower ourselves with expertise and agile strategies tailored to address local demands from April – November 2024 (six live experiences – approximately one per month).
Key Program Highlights
Access to “The Best of the Best of CoSN2024” in recorded sessions and highlights.
Monthly virtual gathering from May to November, ensuring a continuous learning journey.
Complimentaryto all registered CoSN2024 in-person registrants- A valuable addition to your professional development.
For those who cannot attend CoSN2024 in person, they are offering the following registration fee:
Member: $249
Non-member: $349
The CoSN Experience
Schedule of Events
Lessons from Successful 1:1 Programs with Leandro Folgar, President, Ceibal and Scott Smith, Chief Operations Officer, Mooresville Graded School District, NC Wednesday, April 24, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Digital Equity Dashboard: Empowering Schools Through Data-Driven Decisions with Lucy Gray and team. Wednesday, May 22, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Building Unity in Teams: The ASBO Guide to Effective Collaboration with Jen Lotze. Wednesday, July 24, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Revolutionizing Fairness: Unleashing AI Through the Lens of Equity with Michael Trucano and Pete Just. Wednesday, September 25, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Shaping the Future: Exploring the National EdTech Plan for Transformative Education with Carla Wade, CoSN and Zac Chase, U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology. Wednesday, October 23, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
To Be Unveiled!! Wild Card Session: The most Popular Session from CoSN2024! Wednesday, November 20, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
The drivers would circle Koreatown, piloting a van filled with party girls. The so-called doumi — decked out in bikini tops, short skirts and tight dresses — were looking to get hired at one of the many karaoke bars that fill the neighborhood.
Doumi drivers, named for the hostesses they transport, could make $40 an hour for each passenger hired to party with karaoke customers. And each month, drivers would pay a portion of their profits to Daekun Cho, a well-known figure in Koreatown.
Authorities arrested Cho last year, and he’s since been charged with 55 counts of extortion, one count of attempted extortion and another of carjacking.
In a federal trial that unfolded in downtown L.A. this month, prosecutors painted Cho, 39, as a gangster who for years extorted monthly protection fees from karaoke bar owners and doumi drivers, many of whom were in the country illegally and did not speak English fluently.
He carried out acts of violence on those who did not pay or who violated his rules, they said in court, including beating one driver with a baseball bat and shooting a doumi in the neck. Prosecutors displayed photos from Cho’s Instagram account and images of his tattoos to identify him as a member of the Grape Street Crips, a predominantly Black gang based in Watts’ Jordan Downs housing project.
By the end of the five-day trial, jurors would walk away with a better understanding of Koreatown’s underbelly and be left to determine Cho’s role in it.
“He wanted everyone in Koreatown to know about his power and that he had to be paid or else,” Asst. U.S. Atty. Jena MacCabe told the jury at the trial’s start.
But defense attorneys argued that drivers and karaoke bar owners paid Cho to be part of an “association,” akin to a union member paying dues, and that in return he kept new clubs and drivers from horning in on their businesses. They said there was no definitive proof Cho was behind the baseball bat beating or the shooting.
“He tried to bring some order into this otherwise chaotic, gray market economy,” Karen Sosa, who represented Cho, said in her opening statement. “Everybody in this case was paying to play.”
Joo Hun Lee testified during the trial that he first met Cho — known in the neighborhood as “DK” — when Lee planned to start a company called Plus driving doumi around Koreatown.
“I was told if you want to start this kind of work, you will have to get permission from an individual called DK,” Lee said through a Korean interpreter. He testified that Cho told him he was “a Korean gangster member.”
When Lee started Plus with a business partner, Yun Soo Shin, around 2019, they began paying Cho $100 each month, through cash or at times on Venmo, Lee testified. If he and his partner didn’t pay, he said, “we were not able to work.”
Drivers would pay a starting fee of around $1,500 and then a monthly association fee, according to court testimony.
On any given night, Lee testified, he and Shin would transport 10 to 15 women — whom they recruited through Craigslist — to different karaoke bars in the neighborhood. Sometimes they drove from 8:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. The drivers waited to see if the doumi were hired. If they were not, the drivers didn’t get paid.
“These girls would go inside the clubs, and they’d be paraded in front of middle-aged businessman … and these middle aged businessmen would decide whether to hire any particular girl based upon her looks, correct?” Cho’s attorney, Mark Werksman, asked.
“Yes,” Lee responded.
Werksman referenced the rules Lee and Shin set for the women they hired. Among them: no sex with customers and no drugs. Each woman was expected to work at least four nights a week.
One rule, displayed in court, instructed doumi not to lie to clients and drivers about money, stating that they only charged $120 plus tips for the first two hours and $60 plus tips for every additional hour.
Cho also set rules, witnesses testified. If he told drivers not to go to a certain karaoke bar and they went, they would be penalized. The same went for karaoke bar owners who called drivers who Cho told them were banned.
The first penalty was $200. The next, $400, according to texts sent by Cho that were presented in court.
“If u violate our rule one more time,” one text to a driver read, “U gonna see the real demon.”
Shin testified that he and Lee stopped paying in early 2021, after Cho raised prices. Within months, Shin testified, Cho and another man confronted him outside McQueen Karaoke on Western Avenue, dragged him out of his car and beat him with aluminum baseball bats, breaking his arm.
The other assailant then stole the Honda Odyssey that Shin had rented to drop off two doumi that night.
Shin said Cho was wearing a mask with a skeleton on it during the attack, but that he was able to identify him by the top half of his face and his voice. Prosecutors displayed a photo Cho posted on Instagram after the attack wearing what appeared to be the same mask.
The partners closed their business soon after, and Lee left the state.
Another witness, who said he works at Concert Karaoke, testified that he had to pay Cho $600 each month because “he threatened that if we don’t pay, we’ll lose business and he’ll do something to us.” After he stopped paying, he told the jury that Cho threatened him that he better not see him in the neighborhood.
The witness said he stopped going to Koreatown.
Prosecutors played surveillance footage depicting a shooting outside a karaoke bar on July 15, 2022, which they said was carried out by Cho. Police body camera footage showed a doumi who had been shot in the neck saying, “Help, help. Please, help.”
Sang Heun Shin, another doumi driver, testified that he had paid Cho every month for four years before deciding to stop. Then, one night in January 2023, Cho punched him in the face and threatened to kill him, he said. Sang Heun Shin began working with investigators and agreed to wear a wire the next time he made a payment.
Cho changed the meeting location three times, asking at one point, “U called cops?” before finally telling the driver to give the cash to an intermediary, according to text messages displayed in court.
During the trial, Werksman and Sosa sought to cast doubt on the credibility of the witnesses, painting them as having motive to lie. They highlighted their immigration status and referenced their potential to obtain U Visas, which give immigrant victims of certain crimes the chance to live and work legally in the U.S. if they cooperate with authorities.
In his closing argument, Werksman called the witness testimony “muddled,” “evasive” and “incomplete.” Werksman referred to the drivers and Cho as “bros.”
“These drivers formed an association to bring a modicum of order to the jungle,” Werksman said.
Werksman added that the payments to Cho were a “pittance.”
“Was that a protection racket or was it a voluntary, if at times slightly chafing and unwelcome, association of street rats who needed to band together to achieve their common goal of exploiting hard-working, sexy young women who earned a few hundred dollars of cash every night abasing themselves for the pleasure of karaoke bar patrons?” Werksman said.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Kevin Butler said the 56 counts tied to an extortion payment are “just a fraction of the real amount of extortion that [Cho] was responsible for.”
“Cho was a predator. He preyed and stalked and hunted — as he called it — his victims: people in Koreatown who he thought either could not or would not go to police,” Butler said during his closing argument. “He gave each one of them an impossible, false choice: Pay him or get banned. Pay him or face the consequence. Pay him or flee the state. Pay him or get ripped out of your car and beaten with aluminum baseball bats. Pay him or get shot in the neck.”
On Tuesday morning, the jury came back with its verdict: Guilty on all counts.
For more than two hours, Emmett Brock waited outside a Downey courtroom. He sat, he stood, he fidgeted, he paced in the emptying hallway. Finally, he heard his name and went inside.
It was March 8, 2024, exactly 392 days after he’d been beaten by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in front of a 7-Eleven, then arrested and accused of biting the lawman who pummeled him. Afterward, he’d been sent to the Norwalk station lockup and booked for three felonies and a misdemeanor. By the time prosecutors dropped the case seven months later, he’d already lost his high school teaching job.
It had been a painful year, and to put it behind him Brock wanted a judge to declare him innocent. His lawyer had filed the paperwork, and now Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Evan Kitahara was going to decide on the request.
Twenty minutes after entering the courtroom, Brock walked out an innocent man.
Just over a week later, he filed a federal lawsuit accusing the deputy of“felony crimes” and alleging the department had covered them up.
“I can finally exhale,” Brock told The Times after learning of the judge’s decision. “It felt like I’d been holding my breath for over a year.”
Even if the new developments bring some peace of mind for the Whittier man, they could signal trouble for the deputy who arrested him. When Deputy Joseph Benza made the February 2023 arrest, he signed a declaration under penalty of perjury saying Brock had bitten him.
At this month’s hearing, Kitahara determined there was “no evidence” of that.
Benza is “susceptible to being decertified,” said Brock’s attorney, Thomas Beck, suggesting the deputy could lose his California peace officer certification for alleged dishonesty and be banned from working in law enforcement.“And on the use-of-force issue, he could be prosecuted.”
According to documents Beck filed in court, the FBI has been looking into the case since last year. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office confirmed to The Times this week that local prosecutors are reviewing the matter as well.
Attorney Tom Yu, who is representing Benza, has maintained for months that his client did not do anything wrong. And records show a Sheriff’s Department review last year cleared the deputy’s use of force.
“I wholeheartedly disagree with Mr. Beck’s representation of what occurred,” Yu wrote to The Times in an email. “I am confident that the federal judge will throw all of the suspect’s claims out during this litigation.”
The Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Monday that it had not been served with the lawsuit but confirmed the incident had been investigated and the findings are under review.
“Our top priority is the safety of everyone involved in any encounter,” the statement said.
On the morning of Feb. 10, 2023, Brock had just left work at Frontier High School when he spotted a deputy who appeared to be berating a woman on the side of the road. As he drove by, Brock casually threw up his middle finger, thinking the deputy wouldn’t see it.
Emmett Brock was driving home from his job as a teacher when he was stopped and beaten by a deputy outside of a 7-Eleven.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
According to the lawsuit filed this week, the deputy abandoned the roadside confrontation, hopped in his cruiser and started tailing Brock. Each time Brock made a turn, the cruiser mirrored his move — but the deputy inside didn’t turn on the lights or sirens and didn’t try to pull him over, Brock said.
Fearing he was being followed by someone impersonating a police officer, Brock called 911 and asked what to do.
“If he hasn’t pulled you over, he hasn’t pulled you over,” the dispatcher said, according to a recording of the call shared with The Times.
But a few minutes later, Brock pulled into a 7-Eleven parking lot on Mills Avenue in Whittier. As he stepped out to buy a drink, the deputy approached him.
“I just stopped you,” Benza said, without explaining why.
“No, you didn’t,” Brock replied, according to an audio recording captured by the deputy’s body camera.
“Yeah, I did,” the deputy said, grabbing Brock’s arm. The deputy then “overwhelmed young Brock,” according to the lawsuit, and “without uttering another word, violently took Brock to the pavement.”
For the next three minutes Brock struggled as the deputy held him down, all of it captured on the 7-Eleven’s surveillance camera.
“You’re going to kill me! You’re going to f— kill me,” Brock shouted, screaming for the deputy to stop.
“Instead Benza rained at least 10 closed fist punches at Brock’s head and face,” the suit says, “while Benza used his greater body weight to pin the plaintiff to the ground as he continued to angrily pummel Brock with both fists, scraping his knuckles in the process.”
After Brock was in handcuffs, the deputy put him into the back seat of his cruiser. Brock was bloodied and his glasses were broken but, according to the lawsuit, the deputy still hadn’t explained why he’d stopped him.
When a sergeant arrived on scene, Brock told him he’d been beaten in retaliation for giving a deputy the finger — an act that could have been a violation of the department’s policy explicitly banning the use of force in retaliation for disrespect.
“Instead of immediately recognizing Benza had committed a felony crime of assault against Brock,” the suit said, the sergeant “purposefully ignored plaintiff’s complaints and took no action.”
As other deputies arrived, Benza showed them his bruised knuckles and blamed Brock — but he didn’t say anything about being bitten, according to the lawsuit.When paramedics arrived, the suit says, he didn’t tell them anything about a bite, either.
Before leaving to go back to the station, Benza and several sergeants walked into the 7-Eleven, according to a 32-page innocence petition Beck filed in court on Brock’s behalf. The lawmen went into the store’s camera room and stayed there for a little over 10 minutes, “presumably screening the audio-free 7-Eleven video recording of the assault,” Beck wrote in the petition.
“With knowledge of this damaging evidence,” Beck continued, the deputy drove back to the station and “falsely reported” to a supervisor that he’d only thrown punches because Brock had bitten his hands.
Then, the petition says, Benza went to urgent care and said he’d been bitten on his right hand — though the physician assistant who treated him wrote in his report that there was bruising but “no bite marks.”
After he left urgent care, Benza filed his declaration under penalty of perjury saying he’d been bitten on his left hand. He said the incident started when he’d been on a routine patrol and decided to stop Brock after spotting an air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror. He left out any mention of stopping a woman on the side of the road and said nothing about Brock giving him the finger.
In an interview with The Times last year, Benza’s attorney said that’s because the person Brock passed on the side of the road wasn’t his client, but another law enforcement officer probably from another agency.
Now, Beck said, there’s evidence to disprove that.
“I have been advised that the FBI has downloaded Benza’s cell phone GPS data and was able to corroborate Mr. Brock’s claim of being pursued along the route Benza claimed he never took,” Beck wrote in the innocence petition. (The FBI told The Times this week that it does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations.)
When he was taken to the Norwalk station for booking — on offenses including mayhem and injuring an officer while resisting arrest — Brock was asked to give a statement, during which he explained he is transgender. One jailer asked if he was a girl, he said, and another asked to see his genitals before deciding to put him in a women’s holding cell.
Though his family bailed him out, Brock said, he lost his job when state authorities notified the school of his arrest. County prosecutors initially charged him with two misdemeanors, but dropped the case in August.
Last fall, Beck said, federal prosecutors reached out, handing over some of the materials he hadn’t been able to get from the Sheriff’s Department and asking to interview Brock. With the new materials, Beck filed a petition asking a court to declare his client innocent.
Now in graduate school, Brock showed up to the hearing this month flanked by his mother, several classmates and a professor. Dressed in a black suit and a green tie, he stood in front of a judge as his lawyer explained the case, arguing for a declaration of “factual innocence.” The prosecutor agreed, and the judge entered a tentative ruling finalized last week.
“Though I am happy that I am factually innocent, I don’t think it will ever be over for me in my heart,” Brock told The Times. “It’s something that I still think about every single day.”
The Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) has re-endorsed Classworks® for an additional three years. The CASE Executive Committee designated the award-winning platform as a CASE-endorsed product that delivers high-quality assessment and instructional resources to special education teachers and students.
CASE has recognized Classworks as a tool that “successfully addresses the inherent challenges of special education,” since 2010. This month, CASE re-endorsed Classworks as a top-tier special education resource through 2027. Every three years, the platform undergoes a rigorous evaluation by the CASE Executive Committee. As part of the review process, CASE considers the impact on achievement for special education students as well as any new enhancements. In addition to the tremendous impact Classworks has on special education students, two significant product changes were made:
Classworks released a new student experience focused on student ownership over their learning and growth
Dyslexia and Dyscalculia indicators were added to the screener assessments
These and several other new Classworks enhancements answer the imminent need in the marketplace for comprehensive, valid and reliable programs that simplify processes for special education teachers, and provide a more engaging and motivating experience for students.
“Our special education teachers are dedicated to creating high-quality IEPs customized to each student’s areas of need. However, that process can be cumbersome without the right data and tools. Classworks data is easy to understand and gives us exactly what we need to create meaningful goals,” states Katrina Jackson, director of special education, Montgomery Public Schools, Alabama. “Teachers are thrilled that they have reliable data and documentation. Classworks has cut their IEP writing time in half!”
With Classworks, educators have access to assessments to identify present levels of performance and develop ambitious annual goals, progress monitoring to measure and document progress toward goals, and evidence-based, individualized, Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) to help students achieve their IEP goals. Classworks screener and progress monitoring assessments are validated by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII). Learn more.
About Classworks
Classworks leverages technology and evidence-based learning practices to transform how school districts support students’ academic, social-emotional, and behavioral needs. Our CASE-endorsed, comprehensive Special Education and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) solution includes academic screeners, math and reading interventions, specially designed instruction, progress monitoring, and powerful data. Classworks Universal Screener and Progress Monitoring Assessments are validated by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII).
About The Council Of Administrators Of Special Education
The Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) is an international professional educational organization affiliated with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). Members are dedicated to enhancing the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of each individual in society. The mission of CASE is to provide leadership and support to members by shaping policies and practices that impact the quality of education. For more information, visit www.casecec.org.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
Southern Californians can brace for another round of wet weather, with a storm expected to hit the region early next week to cap off a month of historically wet weather.
The slow-moving storm is expected to reach the Los Angeles area by Monday night or Tuesday morning before tapering off later Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. It’s projected to drop between a quarter of an inch and half an inch of rain in coastal areas and valleys and up to an inch in the mountains.
The storm isn’t expected to pack the same punch as the storms earlier this month.
“It’s considerably weaker,” said Mike Wofford, a NWS meteorologist in Oxnard. “This would be a light storm even in a fairly quiet winter pattern.”
But because the ground is still saturated from the back-to-back historic storms earlier this month that triggered debris and mud flows, damaged homes and killed several people across the state, there’s still the risk of landslides in areas adjacent to hills. That includes the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Rancho Palos Verdes area and anywhere in the Hollywood Hills.
“Landslides can happen at any time now that the grounds are so wet,” Wofford said. “Any additional rain would make it worse. That’s something people will have to live with for a while until things dry out.”
Downtown Los Angeles has received 17.79 inches of rain since the water year began on Oct. 1 and 12.56 inches in February alone, making it the fourth-wettest February since the weather service started keeping records in 1877. This February is also the wettest month in 26 years and is tied for the seventh-wettest month ever.
To put things into context, downtown L.A. usually gets about 10 inches by this time in the typical water year and about 15 inches over a 12-month period.
“If we didn’t get any rain between now and October, we’d be almost three inches above the normal for the entire year,” Wofford said. “That’s telling.”
Following three years of severe drought, California is now experiencing one of its wettest years on record. Elsewhere in the state, the storms dropped enough snow on the Sierra Nevada to eradicate fears of a “snow drought” and build up the snowpack to 86% of normal for the date.
California’s major reservoirs are also at 118% of their average levels for this time of year.
“Some of the reservoirs had to do releases ahead of approaching storms so they can take in the water that falls,” Wofford said. “That’s not something we normally have to deal with in a typical winter.”
All dogs may go to heaven, but California landlords aren’t as accommodating.
Pet owners can have a tougher time finding apartments because of the surfeit of landlords who don’t allow dogs, cats or other animals in their buildings. A new bill, however, seeks to open more apartments to renters with pets.
The legislation, in fact, would allow landlords to ask about pet ownership only after a tenant’s application has been approved, says Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), author of the bill.
Haney’s proposal would end blanket bans on specific pets, he said, adding that the measure would help ease California’s housing crisis.
Haney introduced Assembly Bill 2216 earlier this month, which he said in a news release requires landlords to “have a reasonable reason[s] for not allowing a pet in a rental unit.”
“I’ve heard from many constituents about the incredible hurdles and challenges they faced in finding homes simply because they own pets,” Haney told The Times on Wednesday. “They’ve been repeatedly denied because they have a dog — even if their dog is an emotional support animal — and they need accommodations.”
Haney said he found inspiration from a British bill introduced in Parliament in May that makes pet ownership “an implied term of an assured tenancy,” unless “the landlord reasonably refuses.”
Haney said that landlords’ restrictions on pets are crippling for the majority of California renters.
He noted that nearly 70% of the state’s 17 million renting families are pet owners and, of those, nearly 3 million live in Los Angeles County.
Statistics on pet ownership vary.
The American Veterinary Medical Assn. said that, in 2020, 45% of all U.S. households owned dogs and 26% owned cats. Among those, 39% of all renters favored canines and 29% preferred felines.
What is indisputable, Haney said, is the low number of rentals in California that say they are “pet friendly.” His staff identified daily listings over the course of a week on real estate website Zillow that showed 21% of available rentals in San Francisco allowed pets, and 26% in Los Angeles.
“California pet owners are over two-thirds of renters, and they’re excluded from units,” Haney said. “I’m a huge supporter of building access to housing, and this is a housing issue.”
Andrea Amavisca, a senior legislative advocate at the California Immigration Policy Center, said she and her partner spent more than a month trying to find a two-bedroom rental unit in Sacramento that permitted their small mixed-breed dog.
“Landlords that initially liked our application would suddenly stop answering our calls once they found out we had a dog,” Amavisca said in a statement. “Or others would require a pet deposit close to $1,000 that would put the unit totally out of our budget.”
Amavisca said it was unfair that nearly every landlord “had a different pet policy with fees that varied based on discretion,” meaning they could charge what they pleased. Some charged only $20 a month, while others asked for $100 and some wanted four-figure cleaning deposits.
Haney’s bill does not address fees, and the legislation wouldn’t bar landlords from excluding certain types of pets.
“We’re not saying every landlord should have to accept every animal,” Haney said.
Haney’s bill defines “a common household pet” as “a domesticated animal, including a dog or cat, that is commonly kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes.”
When asked if boa constrictors, lizards, fish or other legally acquired pets met the definition, Haney said the bill was centered on “companion animals” such as dogs or cats.
Calls and emails to the California Apartment Assn. and the Apartment Assn. of California Southern Cities seeking comment on this bill were not returned.
California Oaks Property Management, which manages residential and commercial properties in Ventura County, listed a series of cons regarding pet ownership in a 2023 post to landlords that included property damage, noise complaints and liability issues from possible animal attacks.
California Oaks recommended that landlords charge an added deposit of $250 to $500 depending on breed.
Haney said he expected to receive some pushback from landlords.
“I understand some will be concerned about the potential of taking on renters with pets that do damage in ways they want to avoid,” he said. “I’m open to dialogue.”
The bill is in its infancy and has yet to be referred to an Assembly committee, according to state legislative records, although it may come up for a hearing March 9.
President Biden is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles today for a campaign fundraiser at the home of Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban, possibly setting off protests over the U.S. role in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Tension has been mounting within the Democratic Party over Biden’s support for Israel as it bombards the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The Biden administration has been a steadfast ally to Israel, preparing to send additional weapons to the nation even as the president has described the military campaign against Gaza as “over the top” and reportedly privately expressed frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The administration has called for a temporary cease-fire in a draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council, according to a CNN report Monday.
But the issue has divided California Democrats — in November, their convention was shut down early after about 1,000 protesters stormed into the Sacramento venue.
In December, the last time Biden visited Los Angeles to raise money, demonstrators staged major rallies in support of Palestinians, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. financial and military aid to Israel. Vandals spray-painted “Baby killers,” “LA says no to Genocide Joe” and “Ceasefire now!!! End the war crimes!” on buildings in the Westwood area.
Such protests could recur today. Saban is a major Israel supporter, and other hosts of the fundraiser have deep ties to the Jewish community. Co-host Leslie Gilbert-Lurie is a former television executive who has written a book about her experience as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and co-host Nicole Mutchnik is vice chair of the Anti-Defamation League, which fights antisemitism and other forms of bigotry. Other co-hosts include Casey Wasserman, chair of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee; StubHub co-founder Eric Baker; former Obama Ambassador to Germany John Emerson and former studio chief Bob Daly. Tickets for the event cost up to $250,000.
Biden has to thread a careful line, so as to not alienate core segments of the Democratic coalition — Jewish voters, young people and people of color who are key to his reelection effort. Biden administration officials met this month with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Michigan in an attempt to foster relationships with a community that could influence who wins the crucial swing state in this year’s election.
A super PAC supporting former President Trump, Biden’s likely opponent in the November general election, has seized on tension over the Israel-Hamas war as Biden arrives in California. It is running digital ads targeting social media users in Saban’s ZIP Code that focus on White House officials’ meeting with Osama Siblani, a Michigan newspaper publisher who has previously praised the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Joe Biden continues to embrace America’s enemies. The White House’s embrace of Osama Siblani is an affront to the dozens of Americans and hundreds of Israelis who lost their lives on Oct. 7, and the millions of Israelis who wake up every morning under siege by Islamic terrorism,” Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for the MAGA Inc. super PAC, said in a statement.
Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the attack ad.
This is probably Biden’s last trip to California before Super Tuesday on March 5, when California and more than a dozen other states hold primary elections. In the 2020 presidential contest, his campaign raised $145.4 million from Californians, the most of any state in the nation, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. (And that doesn’t include donations to super PACs and other groups that supported his bid.)
His campaign’s fundraising efforts were stymied last year by the entertainment industry strikes.
On Tuesday, the campaign announced that the combined groups supporting Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign raised more than $42 million in January and had $130 million in the bank, the most any Democratic presidential candidate has had at this point in the electoral cycle.
“January’s fundraising haul — driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month — is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
The president is expected to speak at an official event Wednesday before leaving the Southland and heading to the Bay Area, where he is scheduled to hold additional fundraisers before leaving the state on Thursday.
February is Black History Month and we’re celebrating by amplifying Black voices, celebrating Black pioneers in animal welfare, and exploring the ways our community is honoring this month. And we want our APA! community to join in with us on learning something new and honoring the deep and rich Black history so that we may continue to move toward a more equitable future.
Peter Smith, owner of Starlight Cinema Taupō for 43 years (centre) with new owners Tammy and Charlie Prince.
Taupō’s only movie theatre is shutting at the end of the month and the operators have yet to secure a viable alternative venue.
Starlight Cinema’s closure has as much to do with a series of unfortunate events and bad timing as financial viability.
The building which houses the theatre and five retail shops, comes up well short of modern earthquake standards and is set to be demolished, as early as next month.
Previous cinema owner Peter Smith had plans for a brand new purpose-built theatre building in Taupō, but then Covid-19 struck and put a halt to proceedings.
In the meantime, with plans for a new theatre in place, landlord Glynn Pointon purchased the building to knock it down and replace it with three shops at ground level and six subterranean shops accessible from a fully enclosed Starlight Arcade.
In May 2022, with plans for a new theatre building shelved, Smith – who had run the cinema for 43 years – sold it to local couple Tammy and Charlie Prince. Charlie said they were fully aware at the time that the lease on the building would be short-lived.
“So it was coming down either way. We were only guaranteed 12 months in here so we got lucky and got an extra nine months. I didn’t pay a lot for the business. I basically bought the equipment and the stock.”
The building that houses Starlight Cinema in Taupō is old, not up to…
The named defendant in the federal lawsuit was California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, but there was never a doubt that the target was Donald J. Trump.
For a time, as the legal maneuvering proceeded through the fall, it appeared that Los Angeles could be treated to another of its celebrated courtroom dramas, this one a constitutional showdown pitting a colorful civil rights attorney against a volcanic former president in the courtroom of a judge known for his fiery judicial flair.
The case sought an order prohibiting Weber from placing the Republican presidential front-runner on the California ballot, based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
It was also intended to be a trap. If Trump’s legal team took the bait and joined the case, then the former president could be forced to face a grilling under oath on his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
At least that was the theory of Stephen Yagman, an attorney both admired and reviled in local lore for his history of toppling sacred cows.
Over a span of two decades, Yagman broke legal ground in cases against the LAPD and the U.S. government, establishing that Los Angeles Police Department officers and their leaders can be held personally liable for civil rights violations and that prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center had a right to due process. Then he suffered an ignominious fall with a 2007 federal conviction for tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud. In his 70s, more than a decade after serving 29 months in prison, Yagman regained his law license and resumed fighting for indigent victims of government abuse.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, a no less colorful figure than Yagman, has built a reputation for judicial unorothodoxy bordering on heavy-handedness. He’s held court on Skid Row and summoned mayors and supervisors to answer for their ineffective responses to homelessness. In two cases that were active at the time, Carter was holding L.A. County officials’ feet to the fire to extract a commitment for thousands of mental health beds and rebuffing efforts of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to wiggle out of a lawsuit over veterans housing.
More to the point of Yagman’s case, Carter had found in a 2022 ruling that stripped Trump legal adviser John Eastman’s attorney-client privilege that the two had “more likely than not” attempted to illegally obstruct Congress, calling it “a coup in search of a legal theory.”
Would Carter, who drew Yagman’s case because it was related to the earlier one, follow through with that reasoning? Yagman hoped so.
When Trump’s lawyers took the bait and petitioned Carter to intervene, Yagman virtually frothed with anticipation.
“This court, right here and now, has a unique opportunity to prevent a truly deranged and dangerous fool, Donald Trump, who perpetrated an assault on American Democracy, from again being president of the United States,” he wrote in a motion, noting that Trump “improvidently (for him) has intervened to make himself a party-defendant to the instant action.”
He buttressed his ever eccentric legalese with a flight of literary allusion invoking both Socrates and The Rolling Stones.
“Trump is a vile man. He has no virtue whatsoever,” Yagman wrote, appending a long footnote on the Greek philosopher’s concept of civic virtue.
“And contrary to what the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger sings … Trump, as today’s embodiment of the devil … deserves no sympathy….”
But it was to no avail. Not once, but twice in the months that followed, Trump’s lawyers raised legal technicalities to knock down Yagman’s flaming rhetoric.
The first was based on standing, a slippery legal concept meaning something akin to skin in the game.
Yagman’s case made the tortuous argument that his client, a Republican voter who planned to vote for Trump, would be disenfranchised if, after the March California primary, Trump was ruled ineligible to be president.
Carter dismissed the case in November, finding his client did not have standing because “the harm he alleges is too generalized.”
Yagman had a backup strategy, an amended complaint changing his case to a class action representing all Republican voters and naming Trump himself as a defendant on a novel theory of negligent infliction of emotional distress.
His clients, he argued, were “direct victims of Trump’s acts in creating and participating in insurrection,” both on Jan. 6 and in the “innumerable viewings of those acts on television, on the radio and in numerous publications….”
Reconsidering, Carter set a hearing for Jan. 8. But, over the holidays, Trump’s lawyers convinced the judge that a hearing was not necessary. In a Dec. 22 filing, Shawn E. Cowles of the Dhillon Law Group gave eight reasons why the case had no merit, ranging from presidential immunity and 1st Amendment protection to “reasons to doubt the veracity of Plaintiff’s claim that he is a registered Republican voter in Los Angeles County.”
The argument that carried the day for the former president was based on the statute of limitations. Ignoring Yagman’s contention that the injury was repeated every time Jan. 6 imagery appeared on TV, radio or in print, Carter ruled the case “time-barred” based on California’s two-year statute for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Yagman, whose past victories included establishing that lawyers cannot be sanctioned for making disparaging comments about their judges, showed uncharacteristic magnanimity in defeat.
Carter, he said, is a good judge and decent human being.
“I’m happy enough with it because it’s him,” he told The Times. “Part of me is really sorry to see it go, I really wanted to depose Trump. But I’m ashamed of that because it would just be me playing games. I wouldn’t get anything out of that except chuckles.”
Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this story.
Ben Jealous, the first Black executive director of the Sierra Club, couldn’t make it to a recent news conference in South L.A., held in the shadow of the monument to Martin Luther King Jr. at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.
But if he had, I suspect he would’ve told the same story he told me.
“You know the great actor Louis Gossett Jr.?” he asked. “My last year at the NAACP, at the 2013 Image Awards, he said to me, ‘You know, Ben, I’ve been in this racial justice movement my whole life, but you know, sometimes, brother, I feel like we’re fighting over who’s in first class. What we should be doing is looking out the window, because the plane has fallen like 20,000 feet in the last two minutes.’”
Jealous recalled being confused.
“He said, ‘The planet is dying. It doesn’t matter who’s in first class on a dead planet.’ And that phrase, it’s stuck with me for the last decade, and I just keep coming back to it.”
This, Jealous explained, is why he decided that his venerable environmental organization would be among the first to support an upstart AM talk radio station in Los Angeles in its campaign to elevate climate change and environmental justice as priorities for people of color.
Other backers of the $2-million campaign include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metro, CalTrans, the California Endowment and the California Community Foundation.
But really, it’s the vision of Tavis Smiley, the longtime radio host and founder of KBLA 1580, that could help bring the voices of Black and Latino Americans, who are harmed most often by the climate crisis, more fully into policy discussions about how to solve it.
At that news conference Jealous couldn’t attend, Smiley went so far as to connect the fight MLK waged for racial equality to the current fight for the future health of the planet.
“Climate is king,” Smiley declared with a grin. “You see what I did there?”
While amusing, I can understand why some people might see this as a stretch. After all, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always been a holiday dominated by discussions of fairness and freedom, and the barriers to both. Barriers of systemic racism that have left Black people on the worst rungs of the socioeconomic ladder and, as such, with little energy to deal with existential crises, because there are so many immediate ones, like housing discrimination and police brutality.
But like Gossett Jr., I’m starting to get the sinking feeling that just fighting all of these immediate racial justice fights is ultimately a little like — to extend a bad analogy even further — rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Sure, it’s important to fight the good fight against efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, for example, and against banning books on Black history in public schools. But it’s reasonable to wonder what good winning those fights will do if we fail to mitigate the upheaval of a rapidly changing climate that can deliver misery to all of humankind.
We’ve all seen the troubling surge of extreme weather and the way it has crippled or, in some cases, decimated entire communities. Just this month, climate scientists with the European Union announced that 2023 was officially Earth’s hottest year on record, and, as my Times colleague Hayley Smith reported, this year is likely to be even hotter.
“Our cities, our roads, our monuments, our farms — in practice, all human activities — never had to cope with a climate this warm,” Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, told reporters. “There were simply no cities, no books, agriculture or domesticated animals on this planet last time the temperature was so high.”
As Mayor Karen Bass put it at the news conference: “We know that low-income neighborhoods of color are disproportionately harmed by air and toxic pollution. A few years ago, the leading cause of death of Black babies was asthma that was directly related to freeways and air pollution. So when we say disproportionately impacted, that’s not just rhetoric.”
And yet, politicians rarely bring up climate change or environmental justice as a true priority when they are talking to people of color.
Take, for example, the speech President Biden gave earlier this month at Mother Emanuel AME Church, billed as an attempt to repair his relationship with Black voters amid flagging poll numbers. He spent 35 lackluster minutes at the pulpit of the historic church in Charleston, S.C.
Priority topics included Donald Trump, the Civil War, white supremacy, the Jan. 6 insurrection, high-speed internet access, prescription drug prices, housing and student loan debt. Finally, Biden got around to some vague and uninspiring statement about how his administration is “producing clean energy” so people can “finally breathe clean air without leaving home.”
He talked about spending a childhood surrounded by air-polluting oil refineries in Claymont, Del.
“I grew up with asthma, and most of us did, because of the prevailing winds,” Biden said. “We’d go — my mom would drive us to school in the morning … there would be an oil slick on the wiper. Because, guess what? It’s all the fence-line communities who get hurt.”
Surely, the president can do better than this with his messaging.
Getting people of color to care about such things, and demand more from Biden or Newsom, is sure to be a challenge. Many people can’t afford to think about problems beyond next week, much less next year or in the next several decades.
But it’s not impossible. Because with every passing year, every extreme weather event that devastates an already vulnerable community of color and every generation that becomes more aware of the pollution that is ruining their quality of life, it becomes clearer that environmental justice is racial justice.
“Poll after poll shows upward of three-quarters of us consider ourselves to be environmentalists,” Jealous said of Black people. “What we’ve been doing wrong as a movement is failing to meet people where they are.”
The Queen Mary has for years been a landmark for the city of Long Beach, an iconic ocean liner that acted as a majestic sentry at the port and a popular attraction for both tourists and locals.
But the aging ship has in recent years become more of a white elephant in need of millions of dollars in repairs just to stay afloat.
Years of mounting financial woes, a pandemic shutdown and much-needed repairs made for an uncertain future for the Queen Mary. Financial audits showed the ship was running a deficit, and at least one report warned that it was at risk of sinking if it didn’t get millions of dollars in repairs.
But now, the 90-year-old ship seems to be headed for smoother sailing, with financial records showing it is finally turning a profit for the city of Long Beach.
On the ocean liner that has been turned into a hotel and tourist attraction, rooms are being booked, visitors are touring the ship, and the Queen Mary’s operator said the number of visitors has been outpacing the figures from before the COVID pandemic, signaling a new, hopefully better, era for the famous ship docked in the Long Beach Harbor.
But the recent financial turnaround will do little in the short term to address the hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs needed to keep the ship afloat and open to the public.
The Queen Mary closed for more than three years because of the pandemic, and stayed closed due to much-needed repairs. But once the ship reopened in April — this time under the city’s direction instead of a leaseholder — visitors began to return in greater numbers. The ship has about 200 rooms and several large halls that can be booked for weddings and other gatherings.
“Even though it’s been here since 1967, it was kind of a relaunch — a new Queen Mary if you will,” said Steve Caloca, managing director of the ship under the contracted operator, Evolution.
It was a slow reopening, with just over a dozen rooms booked in the Queen Mary in all of April. But financial records obtained by The Times show the number of bookings quickly multiplied in the coming weeks.
By July, more than 4,300 room nights were booked in the Queen Mary, and the ship’s operator has seen at least 3,730 bookings a month since.
“We reopened after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, which is nice, and we’re making money, which is nice,” Caloca said.
The Queen Mary was still operating in a deficit during the first two months it reopened, according to financial information provided by the city. By June, however, the ship’s revenue began to outpace its expenses.
According to city records, between June and October of last year, the ship generated more than $12.6 million in revenue and more than $3 million in profits.
It’s not just rooms in the ship’s hotel that are bringing in visitors and their cash either, Caloca said.
“We were getting the word out that there are things to do here,” he said. “It’s not just a beautiful ship.”
The Queen Mary began to offer old and new tours of the 1,019.5-foot ship, and hosting events to draw in locals, like $10 entry fees on Tuesdays, he said.
A game room and revamped observation bar are there for overnight and day guests, and the ship also rolled out the commodore’s office, where officers are available to answer guests’ questions about the ship.
“We asked, what can guests do now that they’re staying at the Queen Mary, what kind of content can we provide?” Caloca said. “We’re able to create things for people to do here in Long Beach.”
But the ship has also needed, and continues to need, repairs and maintenance, he said.
Much of the work done on the ship has centered on keeping the ship safe for visitors, as well as regular upkeep like painting, new flooring and lighting, and replacing new boilers and electrical transformers on the ship.
For the Queen Mary, which has been in dire need of repairs and work for years, turning a profit in 2023 is a significant turnabout in its recent history.
Financial audits of the ship obtained by The Times shows that from 2007 to 2009, the Queen Mary continued to see losses of more than $31 million.
A profit could mean the ship could get some much-needed TLC to keep it financially, and literally, afloat.
“When we get excited about the money, it’s not that we made a profit,” Caloca said. “It’s that we made money, but now we can put it back on the ship that we love so much.”
The city of Long Beach took over the Queen Mary in 2021, after worries that the aging ship was not being maintained. One 2017 study of the ship found that it needed up to $289 million in upgrades and renovations, including much-needed work to keep parts of it from flooding.
Making the ship a profit center for the city has been a challenge for several lease operators — including the Walt Disney Co. — that have been hired to operate the ship over the last few decades.
Now, the profits coming in can also be geared toward new activities and entertainment to keep attracting guests into the Queen Mary, Caloca said.
This summer, operators hope to reopen a movie theater at the ship, which can also double as a lecture hall and host other events, Caloca said. Another 100 rooms are expected to open by April.
“It’s not just, ‘Let’s fix it so it doesn’t break,” Caloca said. “It’s also, ‘Let’s fix it and make it so people want to come.’”
While California lawmakers feel pressure to address concerns about crime, the murky and sometimes contradictory evidence of an increase in lawlessness has put legislators in a bind.
Recent studies show that retail theft has increased in some of California’s big cities — with shoplifting rates jumping nearly 50% in San Francisco since 2019 — while some rural and suburban areas of the state have seen a drop in those crimes.
Adding to the confusion, the National Retail Federation retracted a claim in an April report that said organized retail crime was responsible for $94.5 billion in missing merchandise nationwide in 2021. In reality, that number was discovered to be much lower.
Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who sits on a recently formed special committee to address retail theft, said the inconsistent information makes it difficult to assess the issue as lawmakers prepare to reconvene in January and draft proposed laws to combat the rash of highly publicized thefts.
“I am concerned the way social media is not fully representing the extent of the incidences of crime we are experiencing or the root cause of that crime,” Bonta said.
Some California prosecutors and business leaders blame the state’s “toothless” laws against nonviolent retail theft, saying the problem has grown worse because of the lack of serious consequences for offenders.
They want to see changes made to the decade-old ballot measure, known as Proposition 47, that classified as misdemeanors certain drug possession offenses and nonviolent property crimes that do not exceed $950 in value.
But civil rights advocates are skeptical about returning to a tough-on-crime approach.
“I think it’s difficult. The reality is public safety issues are easy issues to get quickly driven by hyperbole and fear,” said Lenore Anderson, co-founder and president of Alliance for Safety and Justice and co-author of Proposition 47. “That’s part of the reason we’ve struggled as a state.”
There have already been two hearings this monthto address this issue in Sacramento, one held by the bipartisan retail theft committee and the other by the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency that was asked by the Legislature to examine these issues. Some lawmakers expressed frustration about how to move forward without clear data.
“For people in my district, the one bill people know is Prop. 47. But there is a lot of misinformation around that,” said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth), a member of the newly convened 11-member committee, which met for the first time in December to address these issues.
The criminal penalty for nonviolent retail theft that does not exceed $950 of merchandise is typically up to six months of jail time and no state prison time, but opponents assert that few serve their full sentences and some don’t show up to court. Critics also say that the measure doesn’t target repeat offenders.
Since 2019, shoplifting in San Mateo and San Francisco counties has increased 53% and 43%, respectively, the highest out of California’s 15 largest counties, according to Magnus Lofstrom, a policy director at the Public Policy Institute of California who detailed his report at a hearing this month before the Assembly Select Committee on Retail Theft.
A 2018 report from the PPIC found that recidivism rates decreased after Proposition 47 and that violent crime did not increase as a result of the measure.
But one leading organization of state prosecutors says that has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic distress caused by job losses and government shutdowns.
Social media posts and news coverage showing brazen shoplifters smashing windows and grabbing whatever items they can have fueled fears that the more lax punishments under Proposition 47 opened the door to more crime.
Rachel Michelin, the president of California’s Retail Assn. and a panelist at a hearing last week, supports revising Proposition 47 in a November ballot measure, saying “it’s not about putting people in jail.”
“Our goal is to stop people from stealing [and] to deter the behavior,” she said. “Right now, the perception is you can go into a store, pack your bag up with stuff and there won’t be a consequence.”
Jeff Kreshek, a senior vice president at Federal Realty Investment Trust, which he said owns 102 shopping centers nationally and across California, said the problem is more pervasive and pronounced in the Golden State “than any other place we have property.”
But when asked to provide data by lawmakers at last week’s hearing, he came up empty-handed.
“I asked 15 retailers for data [before this] and they couldn’t provide it. I realize it makes your job harder,” he told the committee. “My data is stores closing, retailers not being able to hire. Consumers telling us they don’t feel safe going out.”
Many speculate that data collection on these crimes is so scattered because not every incident is being reported and there are inconsistencies in how police agencies categorize the incidents.
Lynn Melillo, who sits on the board of the California Grocers Assn., said at the hearing held by the Little Hoover Commission this month that their “biggest” spending goes to security guards.
“It feels like there [are no consequences],” she said. “We feel we stand alone because we do call the police […] they’re not always responsive.”
Several lawmakers on the committee agreed that these crimes could be prevented once there are restrictions on selling stolen goods online.
A bill from Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) addressed this issue and went into effect this year. The law requires online marketplaces to request certain tax, payment and contact information from high-volume third-party sellers to limit the sale of stolen goods. It also authorizes the attorney general to penalize any sellers or platforms that violate the bill’s requirements.
The newly appointed Labor and Employment Committee chair, Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro), said there “are still loopholes” in that law that need to be addressed.
“[That] is an area I really want to work on,” she said.
Kreshek of Federal Realty said regulating the sale of goods on platforms such as Amazon and Facebook Marketplace is “no small task.”
“But is that a part of a solution? Absolutely,” he said. “You need to take away the vehicle through which merchandise is sold. If you don’t make it harder to sell, you don’t resolve the problem.”
