I’m picky about my desk setup. I love working from home with my laptop stand, monitor, mechanical keyboard, and mouse, and I hate using just a laptop most of the time. But sometimes I want to work from the library or my sister’s kitchen counter without losing all the convenience of my peripherals. Enter Logitech’s Casa Pop-Up Desk.
The Pop-Up Desk weighs about 2.7 pounds and, when closed, looks like a small textbook. That means it fits in most backpacks and tote bags so you can take it anywhere. You open it to find a wireless keyboard and trackpad in their designated spots. Just pop ’em out and then configure the case into a stand to keep your laptop at eye level, using magnets to connect the platform to the edge of the case.
There’s also a compartment to hold the USB-C charging cord (it doesn’t come with a power block) that charges both accessories. It’s not big enough for much else, but it could also hold your phone charger too, a pen, and maybe a thin stack of Post-it Notes.
Photograph: Medea Giordano
Desk Mate
Logitech makes reliable keyboards, and we recommend many of them. I wish the Casa Pop-Up Desk included a cute mechanical keyboard, like Logitech’s Pop Keyboard, instead of a quieter membrane keyboard. I like clicky-clacky keys, but that would likely make the whole thing bigger, bulkier, and more expensive.
Still, the Casa Keys keyboard included here works well, with a slight incline for comfortable typing. It’s a compact keyboard, so it doesn’t have the numpad or function row. I prefer a full-size keyboard, but for use when I’m away from my desk it’s perfect. If you typically use your laptop keyboard anyway, you won’t be disappointed with it.
The president of Sonoma State University has retired from his role after being placed on leave for issuing a controversial campuswide message on the Israel-Hamas war.
California State University chancellor Mildred Garcia said in a statement Thursday that President Ming Tung “Mike” Lee informed her of his decision to retire. Garcia placed Lee on leave for “insubordination” on Wednesday, one day after he released a message in support of a boycott against Israeli universities and said that the university would pursue “divestment strategies.” Garcia said Lee did not receive approval for the message.
In a letter to the community, Lee apologized for the “unintended consequences of my actions” and acknowledged that his message had not been reviewed by CSU officials.
“I want to be clear: The message was drafted and sent without the approval of, or consultation with, the Chancellor or other system leaders. The points outlined in the message were mine alone, and do not represent the views of my colleagues or the CSU,” Lee wrote.
Amy Bentley-Smith, Cal State director of strategic communications and public affairs, said “there is no written policy” when it comes to approval from the chancellor’s office over campus leadership’s communications related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“The chancellor and presidents have been in constant communication during protest activities on campuses with the intent that decisions at the university level are made in consultation with the chancellor’s office and align not only with shared university values and mission, but with applicable CSU system policies, and state and federal laws,” Bentley-Smith said.
While the university system’s 23 campus presidents report to the chancellor, they are considered the executive officers of their respective campuses and have some autonomy over campus decisions.
Also Friday, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) sent a letter to Garcia and University of California President Michael V. Drake, calling for accountability when a campus leader appeals to “antisemitic demands of encampments.”
“There is an urgent need for system-wide action in both the UC and CSU systems to restore order on campus, stop the adoption of [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] policies, and, where appropriate, appoint new campus leadership,” wrote Kiley, who previously called on Lee to resign.
Other state lawmakers had raised concerns over Lee’s message. Sen. Bill Dodd’s (D-Napa) office reached out to the chancellor’s office Wednesday to ask if Garcia had approved the message, press secretary Paul Payne told The Times.
Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) also expressed opposition.
“This is horrific and wrong,” Wiener told KRON-4 this week.
The chancellor said she will continue to work with acting President Nathan Evans and the Board of Trustees during this “transitional period.” In a statement to the Sonoma State community, Evans said that Lee’s retirement will not overshadow Saturday’s commencement activities.
“We will create spaces and places to process President Lee’s retirement and other recent developments as a community in the coming days and weeks. For now, I encourage all of us to focus on our graduates and their supporters,” Evans said.
Lee worked at Sacramento State for 28 years. He came out of a brief retirement in 2022 to become Sonoma State’s president after Judy Sakaki resigned amid outcry over sexual harassment and retaliation allegations against her and her husband.
Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.
A 19-year-old was shot and killed by a motorcyclist early Saturday morning on the eastbound 10 Freeway in Covina.
The rider of a black Harley Davidson-style motorcycle fired multiple shots into the passenger side of a white Chevrolet Camaro, striking the car and killing the 19-year-old driver, according to a news release from the California Highway Patrol.
The driver was from Bloomington in San Bernardino County, the release said. He was identified by the medical examiner’s office as Alexander Espino.
Police responded to the attack at 2:16 a.m. A male passenger in the Camaro, who was unharmed, helped steer the car to the Via Verde Street offramp of the freeway and called 911, police said.
Espino was pronounced dead at the scene by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The CHP closed the freeway for the investigation into Espino’s death, reopening the route about 8 a.m. Saturday.
CHP investigators are determining what led to the shooting and searching for the suspect. Any witnesses or anyone with further information are encouraged to contact CHP investigator M. Prado at (626) 338-1164, the release said.
Hello media consumers! On the Final Edition, Bryan is joined by Julia Turner—one of the hosts of Slate’s Culture Gabfest! They get into the following topics:
Jack Shafer’s story in Politico about “journalistic swagger” (1:20).
Ben Smith of Semafor’s interview with New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn regarding the 2024 election (20:26)
The Apple ad about the new thin iPad (32:56)
An Office spinoff, but for a newspaper company (35:26)
Reggie Miller has learned something from Bryan and other podcasters (40:00)
Kyle Chayka’s, of The New Yorker, story: “The Revenge of the Home Page” (42:59)
Then, David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline.
Host: Bryan Curtis Guest: Julia Turner Producer: Brian H. Waters
The bodies were recovered south of the city of Ensenada, according to a statement from the state prosecutor’s office. The statement did not confirm the identity of the dead, but said authorities discovered the bodies while searching for the missing men.
Three people who were being questioned in the case have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, the statement said.
The disappearance of Callum Robinson, 33, his brother Jake, 30, and friend Carter Rhoad, 30, triggered a massive search involving local authorities, the FBI and the Mexican marines.
The men were outdoor enthusiasts who crossed from the United States into Mexico last month to explore Baja California’s renowned surf breaks.
Callum Robinson, a high-level lacrosse player, documented the trip on social media, showing himself, and his brother, a doctor, and their friend sipping coffee on the beach, befriending street dogs and relaxing in a hot tub. Rhoad, from Atlanta, founded an online apparel company in San Diego, according to his Facebook profile.
According to a social media post made by the Robinsons’ mother, Debra Robinson, the group was supposed to check into an Airbnb in Rosarito Beach last weekend after camping for several days on a remote stretch of beach south of Ensenada. But they never checked in. The last time their relatives heard from the men was on April 27.
Authorities searched near the town of Santo Tomás, where the men had been camping. They first located their tents and the burned-out remains of the white Chevrolet pickup the men were traveling in. Authorities did not provide information about where exactly they located the bodies.
Baja California’s rugged coastline has long drawn surfers and other tourists from north of the border. But in recent years, the state has contended with some of the highest rates of violence in Mexico. In 2023, authorities recorded 2,116 homicides in the state, many of them connected to the drug trade.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed to reduce violence in Mexico. But while homicides have fallen slightly during his six-year term, they continue to hover near record highs.
Still balancing your laptop on a stack of old books? It’s time to upgrade. Having the right laptop stand can make life more comfortable, so you can stop craning your neck while you work. The best stands raise your laptop’s screen (or external monitor!) close to eye level, which is better for maintaining a healthy posture. Some can even fit into a backpack for easy travel or switch configurations from sitting to standing. These are our favorites.
Need more options for your home office? Read our guide to work-from-home gear.
Updated April 2024: Our favorite stand from ObVus Solutions has been discontinued. We’ve moved the Branch stand to the top spot. We’ve also added Logitech’s Casa Pop-Up Desk as a pick, as well as a few more additions to the honorable mentions.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Peripherals Are Important
Snagging one of the laptop stands below is one of many ways you can improve your posture when sitting at a desk for long periods. You can also connect your laptop to a separate second computer monitor. You’ll be able to multitask more easily with two screens, and you won’t have to strain your neck as much.
Some of these laptop stands are best paired with a separate keyboard and mouse. These peripherals mean you can set your laptop farther away and at various heights, and you won’t need to stretch your arms in awkward ways to type. The right mouse can prevent muscle strain and wrist problems, so check out the picks in our Best Keyboards and Best Gaming Mouse guides. (You don’t need to be a gamer to use a gaming mouse!)
How to Pick
We recommend several different types of laptop stands. To figure out which one is for you, first you’ll have to determine how you want to use it, then you can decide on price and aesthetics.
Do you need something portable? There are stands that collapse down and fold to easily fit in a bag. Some even double as cases, like Moft’s Carry Sleeve.
Do you want to raise, lower, or angle your computer? Look for an adjustable stand like our top pick from Branch, with hinged legs and top. Just needone height? Go with something like the Grovemade Walnut Laptop Stand.
Is this for a laptop or your monitor too? For the latter, you’ll need something bigger with a fixed height, like the Superjare Dual Monitor Stand Riser.
Will you use a separate keyboard and mouse? If not, you need a stand that’s strong and stable like Branch’s. Some can wobble a bit while typing on them.
Want to standsometimes too? Some of the adjustable picks may allow for standing, depending on your height, but there are also sit-stand converters so you don’t need a whole new desk. Our favorite is no longer available, so we’re looking for a new top pick now.
Do you take a lot of notes? Whether you’re in school or working in a job that requires lots of jotting down ideas, you may opt for typing notes on a laptop, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. Putting real pen to paper also just feels good. However, having a digital backup is convenient for on-the-go organization and studying.
There are E Ink tablets, smart pens, and notebooks made to save digital files of your handwritten notes or drawings. You can save files as PDFs, images, and Word Docs, or transcribe them to a text file in Google Docs to make all your notes searchable. Some of these devices can record too, which is great for lectures and interviews. If your notes need an upgrade, we recommend giving these a try. Be sure to check out our Best Dorm Essentials guide, as well as our Best Tablets, Best Laptop Backpacks, and Best Totes guides.
Updated April 2024: We’ve added the Boox Note Air3 C and Supernote Nomad as new picks. We’ve also added notes about Kobo’s newest e-reader with writing capabilities, the Kobo Libra Colour.
California’s attorney general filed criminal charges Wednesday against one of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s top advisors, who supervises high-profile and sensitive cases including police misconduct, fraud and public corruption.
Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced the 11 felony counts against Assistant Dist. Atty. Diana Teran in a press statement. He accused her of improperly downloading confidential records of police officers in 2018 while she was working for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Teran then “impermissibly used that data” after joining Gascón’s office three years later, Bonta said.
The confidential records concern 11 sheriff’s deputies, according to a criminal complaint filed in L.A. Superior Court. The deputies’ names were not included in the court filing.
The announcement of criminal charges against one of Gascón’s top advisors — particularly one so closely tied to his agenda of law enforcement accountability and criminal justice reform — sent shock waves across the state’s legal community and was expected to have a far-reaching impact on active and future criminal cases handled by Gascón’s office, while also fueling fresh controversy as he pursues reelection this year.
“No one is above the law,” said Bonta, a fellow Democrat and police reform advocate, in a statement issued by his press office. “Public officials are called to serve the people and the State of California with integrity and honesty. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the people of California and hold those who break the law accountable.”
Teran referred questions to her attorney, James Spertus, who called the case “dead on arrival” and said he was stunned to see the charges, since his client had been cooperating with a criminal investigation into the allegations.
“They’re charging her for doing something within the scope of her employment, that she has a duty to do,” Spertus said in an interview Wednesday.
Teran, who has been a lawyer for more than 35 years, worked for years as a deputy district attorney in L.A. County before assuming posts involving law enforcement monitoring and oversight. In 2018, she served as a constitutional policing advisor to the Sheriff’s Department, then as a consultant to the Office of Inspector General, which provides oversight to the department. In 2019, she became a law enforcement accountability advisor with the L.A. County public defender’s office.
After Gascón’s election victory, Teran joined his administration in early 2021 as a special advisor and later began running the Justice System Integrity Division, or JSID, which handles prosecutions of police and attorney misconduct. Her hiring was one of many criticized by longtime prosecutors frustrated by Gascón’s willingness to empower attorneys who had previously done defense work.
Gascón recently promoted Teran to assistant district attorney, giving her supervisory authority over units that prosecute organized crime, white collar crime and corruption, as well as crimes by law enforcement and attorneys.
Teran’s current employment status is unclear, and a spokesperson for Gascón’s office declined to specify whether she remains an assistant district attorney.
The criminal complaint offers little detail about the underlying allegations. A source familiar with the case who was not authorized to speak on the record said the charges related to documents that Teran had downloaded while she worked at the Sheriff’s Department and were subsequently provided to the discovery unit at the D.A.’s office.
Spertus said that the investigation into his client was sparked by a complaint from former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who routinely clashed with those who attempted to provide oversight of his department, including Teran. In a livestream Wednesday evening, Villanueva echoed that, saying that in 2019 he alerted the FBI and the attorney general to concerns about Teran downloading information he described as a “massive data breach.”
Though the complaint does not spell out what data Teran may have illegally misused, Spertus said he believed state prosecutors were erroneously trying to charge Teran for uploading public documents to the district attorney’s “Brady List.”
Under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors must turn over evidence favorable to defendants, which could include information that undermines a police officer’s credibility or reveals past dishonesty or wrongdoing. The Brady List refers to a database of law enforcement officers who have been accused or convicted of on-duty misconduct.
Spertus believed the documents and data in question were either obtained through public court files or involved findings of dishonesty against sheriff’s deputies, which would be public record under Senate Bill 1421, California’s landmark police transparency law.
That law, which makes information about serious uses of force, allegations of sexual assault or dishonesty by California police officers a public record, did not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2019. Teran is alleged to have obtained the information in question in 2018.
“It’s unsustainable on its face,” Spertus said of the allegation. “You don’t need permission to use public information. They can’t say that she wrongfully took anything,” he said, adding, “She had documents in her possession. She had an obligation to her employer to build out the Brady database.”
In a statement to The Times, Villanueva called the charges against Teran “a vindication of my administration” and credited state prosecutors with uncovering “the truth.”
“Many more public corruption cases involving Los Angeles County elected leaders and their appointees are being investigated by Mr. Bonta’s office, and based on what I know of the evidence, I expect further indictments,” Villanueva added.
Gascón did not directly address the charges against Teran, but in a statement he defended his office’s handling of confidential law enforcement records.
“When I took office, we developed a protocol that ensured we complied with our constitutional obligations under Brady — which requires us to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense, a category that includes law enforcement’s prior misconduct — while simultaneously complying with state and federal law around privacy. I stand by that protocol,” Gascón said Wednesday.
Gascón emphasized that the case would not deter him from carrying out his agenda.
“I remain committed to upholding transparency and ensuring police accountability within Los Angeles County,” he said in the statement.
Gascón’s opponent in the district attorney’s race, Nathan Hochman, pounced on the charges.
“This is just the latest example of Gascón’s demonstrated record of poor judgment and lack of leadership in running the district attorney’s office,” Hochman said in a written response. “Promoting Teran to Assistant District Attorney, ironically in charge of ethics and integrity, even occurred despite legitimate objections from many experienced prosecutors.”
This is not the first time Teran has been publicly accused of misconduct while in Gascón’s employ.
Late last year, the former second in command of the JSID unit filed a civil suit alleging that Teran ordered prosecutors to delay announcing the decision not to charge a sheriff’s deputy in a high-profile excessive-force case because of how it might affect the reelection bid of then-Sheriff Villanueva.
Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the union that represents rank-and-file sheriff’s deputies, called for a broader investigation into the “deeply troubling” allegations.
“During her tenure with the sheriff’s department, Diana Teran’s contempt for the people who strive to keep our communities safe was apparent, and so we weren’t surprised to see District Attorney George Gascón place her in a position as one of his top advisors,” Pippin said in a statement Wednesday. “ALADS is demanding a complete investigation of all matters, access to sensitive records and other actions taken by Diana Teran and her staff during her entire tenure. This investigation should not be limited in scope or effort.”
A woman who went missing during a hike near the Angeles National Forest was found dead on Monday, a day after she was reported missing.
Julia Li, 21,was last seen near Bailey Canyon Park in Sierra Madre at 4 p.m. Sunday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Li’s mother reported her missing after they were separated during a hike and Li didn’t meet her at their car at the agreed-upon time, according to KTLA-TV.
Julia Li, 21, was last seen alive near Bailey Canyon Park in Sierra Madre on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
(LAPD)
Early Monday morning, the Sheriff’s Department sent out an alert for Li, describing her as being 5 feet 2 and 110 pounds. Later that day, her body was found by the sheriff’s search and rescue personnel, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The L.A. County coroner’s office listed Li’s cause of death as blunt trauma. The Sheriff’s Department said foul play is not suspected at this time.
A Los Angeles police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old girl through the wall of a changing room at a Burlington Coat Factory store in North Hollywood was cleared of wrongdoing Tuesday by the California Department of Justice.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said Officer William Jones used reasonable force in the 2021 incident because he was responding to a report of a possible active shooter.
That information turned out to be wrong — the suspect, Daniel Elena-Lopez, was carrying a bike lock, not a gun.
Footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department showed that when Jones arrived at the scene, toting a high-powered rifle, he rushed to the front of a phalanx of officers advancing toward the store’s home goods section, where he opened fire almost immediately upon encountering Elena-Lopez.
One of rounds that Jones fired “skipped off” a floor tile, the attorney general’s report said, and sailed into a fitting room where Valentina Orellana-Peralta was hiding with her mother. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting drew widespread outrage and grief, while bringing demands for the officer who killed her to be criminally charged. The Orellana-Peralta family has a pending civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging failures in training and oversight contributed to the deadly outcome. Attorneys in the case did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The LAPD did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the case.
While an internal LAPD review panel was split on whether Jones’ decision to open fire was justified, then-chief Michel Moore ultimately ruled in 2022 that the shots violated department policy and that the officer should have taken more time to assess the situation. In a rare split with the chief, the Police Commission concluded that only Jones’ second and third shots were out of policy.
No LAPD officer has been charged in an on-duty shooting by county or state prosecutors in nearly two decades. Under Dist. Atty. George Gascón, L.A. County prosecutors have been more aggressive in filing cases against law enforcement officers who use force on duty though, bringing assault and manslaughter charges against Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and Torrance police officers in recent years.
The attorney general’s office noted Jones had heard reports that Elena-Lopez was threatening customers at the store with a gun. The information was later amended, but it’s not clear whether Jones heard these later radio broadcasts, the office said. A toxicology report showed Elena-Lopez had been using methamphetamine.
Orellana-Peralta was a bystander in the store. She had arrived from her native Chile about six months prior, her family said, with dreams of becoming an engineer and a U.S. citizen. According to her family’s lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court earlier this month, the girl’s mother “watched helplessly as her daughter died while still in her arms.”
The attorney general’s office said that other officers at the scene had formulated a plan to try to stop Elena-Lopez by firing a .40mm “less-lethal” round at him, but Jones was unaware of their plan. Jones’ perception that he was shooting to stop an armed threat means he can’t be held criminally liable for the errant bullet that killed the teenager, based on a legal theory known as “transferred intent,” the office said.
The attorney general’s report called for the LAPD to improve its communication and coordination in emergency responses, but said it could not pursue charges against Jones because the killing of Orellana Peralta was “unintended and unforeseeable.”
After reviewing the report, civil rights attorney Jim DeSimone, who has brought wrongful-death suits against law enforcement agencies across the state, said the case highlights the need for officers to have better “situational awareness” before opening fire.
“It’s clear that with the number of officers, and less-lethal options, that Mr. Lopez could have been apprehended without killing an innocent human being,” he said.
Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.
More than 1,000 pages of confidential documents from a federal criminal investigation into the Los Angeles city attorney’s office and the Department of Water and Power will be unsealed, a federal judge signaled Friday.
The Times and Consumer Watchdog had requested the documents to better understand the government’s criminal case and whether former City Atty. Mike Feuer bore any culpability for a scandal involving a sham lawsuit and an extortion plot. Feuer has long denied wrongdoing.
In a tentative ruling, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. said the documents, which consist mainly of dozens of search warrants filed during the government’s investigation, will be unsealed, with personal data redacted.
The names of public officials, along with individuals who are “wrongdoers,” will not be redacted, Blumenfeld said at a hearing Friday — a blow to prosecutors who had sought to keep the officials’ names from the public.
The Times and Consumer Watchdog are expected to work with the U.S. attorney’s office to ready the documents for release in the coming weeks.
Much of Friday’s hearing centered on Feuer and whether an FBI agent’s alleged assertions that Feuer lied to a grand jury and lied to the FBI should be redacted.
The FBI agent’s purported comments, made in an affidavit for a search warrant, were revealed in court by a defendant, Paul Paradis, at his sentencing in November.
Paradis, a former attorney turned cooperating witness for the federal government, pleaded guilty to accepting a nearly $2.2 million kickback from another attorney working on the DWP case and was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Paradis had ingratiated himself at City Hall, befriending top city officials. An outside lawyer from New York, he was retained by Feuer’s office to help with litigation related to the DWP, then went on to secure separate contracts at the DWP.
Later, he secretly recorded high-ranking city officials and was present when armed agents raided the home of DWP general manager David Wright, who is serving a six-year sentence after conspiring to give Paradis a lucrative contract.
Jerry Flanagan, an attorney for Consumer Watchdog and The Times, told Blumenfeld that the FBI agent’s comments amounted to an “opinion” that wasn’t subject to federal rules that require grand jury information to be kept confidential. Flanagan also argued that the “cat is out of the bag” because Paradis had publicly revealed the alleged comments.
Blumenfeld appeared concerned about protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process and said he would rule later on the issue.
Feuer has said he had no knowledge of any crimes. In a 2022 letter, the U.S. attorney’s office told Feuer that he wasn’t a target in their criminal investigation.
When asked by The Times last November about the FBI agent‘s alleged statements, Feuer pointed to the 2022 letter.
Feuer also told The Times last year that he gave the U.S. attorney’s office his phone in 2020, but investigators did not search his home or office.
A former state assemblymember and L.A. City Council member, Feuer ran for L.A. mayor in 2022 but dropped out shortly before the primary. Last month, he finished fourth in the primary for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Adam B. Schiff.
The 1,400 pages of search warrants and other documents requested by The Times and Consumer Watchdog were issued between 2019 and 2021.
Court filings by prosecutors in the criminal case make clear that some individuals, including city officials who remain anonymous in the filings, took part in or were aware of various schemes.
The criminal prosecution centered on a 2015 class-action lawsuit brought by DWP customers over massive errors caused by a new billing system at the utility.
The lawsuit was covertly written by Paradis, then working for Feuer’s office, who handed the suit to an outside attorney to file against the city.
The goal, according to prosecutors, was to settle all the claims by various DWP customers on terms advantageous to the city.
Prosecutors also uncovered other unethical and illegal schemes, including an illicit payment involving the city attorney’s office.
Blumenfeld said at Friday’s hearing that he expected the name of one person, Julissa Salgueiro, to remain unredacted in the search warrants and other documents.
“Ms. Salgueiro is a quintessential wrongdoer,” Blumenfeld said, describing why her name should be unredacted.
Prosecutors have never named or charged Salgueiro, but their court filings refer to a former employee of a Beverly Hills law firm who threatened to reveal the city’s collusive lawsuit over the DWP billing errors.
The employee had “stolen or improperly retained” documents showing the collusive lawsuit and demanded money for their return, prosecutors said in court documents.
Thomas Peters, a top aide to Feuer, was charged with aiding and abetting extortion after being ordered by unnamed city staff to take care of the employee’s threats, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors never charged any other senior staff members from the city attorney’s office.
Salgueiro’s attorney, William Pitman, told The Times on Friday that he “respectfully disagrees with Judge Blumenfeld’s opinion.” His client has never been charged, indicted and has no criminal history, he said.
“With regard to the unsealing motion, Ms. Salguiero was never notified [of the case],” said Pitman.
Just eight months after being attacked in state prison, the man convicted of killing Kristin Smart was stabbed by another inmate and hospitalized again. The incident is being investigated as an attempted homicide.
Paul Flores, 47, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student last seen on campus with Flores more than 25 years ago and was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for first-degree murder.
On Wednesday at 3:27 p.m., staff at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Calif., witnessed Flores being stabbed by another inmate on the recreation yard, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Responding officers quickly put an end to the incident without using force, according to the CDCR. Two inmate-manufactured weapons were recovered from the scene.
An injured Flores was transported to an outside medical facility for a higher level of care. He has since returned to the prison and is in fair condition.
No other staff or incarcerated people were injured.
The person who attacked Flores, whose name was not disclosed, has been placed in restricted housing as the investigation continues, the CDCR said.
The prison’s investigative services unit is looking into the incident, and the Office of the Inspector General has been notified.
CDCR has not released any other details.
The facility did not clarify whether this was the same person who stabbed Flores last August.
In the first attack, Jason Budrow, 43, stabbed Flores in the neck, causing Flores to be hospitalized for two days, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.
Budrow is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for two separate murders, one being the murder of Roger Reece Kibbe, the serial rapist and killer known as the “I-5 Strangler.”
Flores was arrested in connection to Smart’s disappearance in 2021 after San Luis Obispo County resident Chris Lambert released the “Your Own Backyard” podcast series, which unearthed information previously unseen by the local sheriff’s office.
Smart’s body has never been found. Flores was convicted in October 2022 of murder for killing Smart, his classmate, during an attempted rape in his dorm room in May 1996.
Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, could not be reached for comment. KSBY reported that Mesick said he plans to request that Flores be moved to another facility.
(Associated Press) – The man accused of starting a fire outside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Vermont office a week ago has had past brushes with the law involving guns and a history of traveling from place to place, prosecutors say in court filings arguing that he should remain detained.
Security video shows Shant Michael Soghomonian throwing liquid at the bottom of a door opening into Sanders’ third-floor office in Burlington and setting it on fire with a lighter last Friday, according to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Seven employees working in the office at the time were unharmed and able to evacuate. The building’s interior suffered some damage from the fire and water sprinklers. Sanders, an independent, was not in the office at the time.
Soghomonian, 35, who was previously from Northridge, California, had been staying at a South Burlington hotel for nearly two months and was spotted outside Sanders’ office the day before and the day of the fire, according to the special agent’s report.
He is facing a charge of maliciously damaging by means of fire a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce. Soghomonian is currently in custody. He was scheduled for a detention hearing on Thursday but it was postponed until next week. The Associated Press left a telephone message seeking comment with his public defender.
Prosecutors argue that Soghomonian is a danger to the community and a flight risk and should remain detained.
“The risk to the structure and the lives of the building’s occupants was substantial, showing the defendant’s disregard for the safety of the building’s occupants and the community at large,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher wrote in his court petition. “The defendant then fled the area to avoid detection and apprehension.”
In August, Illinois State Police who had stopped Soghomonian for a possible traffic violation seized an AK-47 rifle and two magazines from his vehicle, along with 11.5 grams of cannabis and a book titled “How to Blow up a Pipeline,” prosecutors say. The book makes “an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse.”
During the traffic stop, Soghomonian produced an invalid Oregon driver’s license, prosecutors say. He told police he was traveling to the West Coast. In August alone, his vehicle had been in New York, then Illinois, California and Pennsylvania, Lasher wrote in his petition.
When Soghomonian was in his mid-teens, he was detained for an assault with a firearm in Glendale, California, in 2005, according to prosecutors, who say the case appears to have been later dismissed.
“In other words, defendant has a history of itinerancy, firearms possession, and lack of candor with law enforcement, all exacerbating his risk of flight,” Lasher wrote.
What began as a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration on Friday afternoon at Pomona College, quickly devolved after protesters stormed and then occupied the college president’s office. By the end of the evening, 20 students had been arrested and booked by riot-gear-wearing local police forces.
Nineteen students were charged with misdemeanor trespassing, and one with obstruction of justice, according to the Claremont Police Department. Police from Claremont, Pomona, Azusa, and La Verne responded to the scene.
The protest started over the college’s dismantling of a piece of student-erected pro-Palestinian protest art on the Claremont campus, which had been standing since March 28.
The 32-foot-long, eight-paneled “apartheid wall” outside the Smith Campus Center was a physical and artistic protest designed to highlight “the unequal treatment of the Palestinian people living under the brutal conditions of the illegal Israeli Occupation,” and underscore the administration’s refusal to heed the will of students, who voted in February for the college to divest from companies seen as aiding Israel.
“Civil disobedience and peaceful protests by students were met with tactical gear and assault rifles,” wrote members of the Claremont Consortium Faculty for Justice in Palestine in a statement about the event. “Students who are scheduled to graduate in less than a month are being threatened with suspension for non-violent protest. This response is shameful.”
A letter sent out Friday by Gabrielle Starr, the Pomona College president, described the situation as “an escalating series of incidents on our campus, which has included persistent harassment of visitors for admission tours.”
She said protesters had refused to identify themselves to campus authorities, and had verbally harassed staff, “even using a sickening, anti-black racial slur in addressing an administrator.”
On Friday morning, students were told the campus would be taking down the wall. Many students had been camping there since the wall was erected in late March, but according to Eve Oishi, a professor of cultural studies at Claremont Graduate University, had packed up and disassembled their encampment.
Oishi said she stopped by the wall late Friday morning in order to drop off books and snacks for the few students sitting at a table nearby. They requested “unhealthy snacks,” she said, because they’d been living off donated and shared granola bars for days.
The wall consisted of eight wooden panels including maps of Palestinian territory since 1946, and large lettering with phrases such as “Disrupt the Death Machine,” “Apartheid College; We are all Complicit,” and “Smash Imperialism, Long Live Int’l Solidarity.”
Oishi said the wall “was not highly unusual at all” in terms of the kinds of art, installations and protests often seen around campus. “I don’t understand why it was seen as such a threat.”
At around 1:15 p.m., college staff began to take apart the wall “in preparation for events scheduled on Sunday, and in line with our policy,” wrote Starr in a statement, describing the “occupiers” as masked — which is against college policy.
It was at this point, alleged Starr, that the students “proceeded to verbally harass campus staff” and used a racial slur.
According to a statement from the Claremont Consortium Faculty for Justice in Palestine, college staff removed half of the installation’s panels, while students “protected the other panels from removal.”
At 4 p.m., 18 of the demonstrators entered Alexander Hall, “under false pretenses,” according to Starr, and made their way up a staircase and into Starr’s office.
According to a news release from Pomona Divest Apartheid, “the 18+ students sitting in Starr’s office were barricaded in by Campus Safety Officers, who positioned themselves in front of the exits.”
Fifty more protesters spilled into the building in a second wave, after a protester unlocked a door to let them in. They occupied the hallway outside Starr’s office.
According to the Claremont Courier, local police arrived roughly an hour later in riot gear, and then exited with 19 arrested students.
Social media photos and videos of the events show police physically pushing student reporters out of the room, and closing window blinds to prevent them from documenting the situation.
The arrested students were taken to the Claremont Police Department, where a demonstration quickly grew.
At 12:20 a.m., the 20 students were released.
According to Oishi, the students were from Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer colleges. She said the students have been expelled from campus and “not allowed back into their dorm rooms. Some of them are a month away from graduation. They have no place to to stay. No way to eat, no way to get to finish their classes.”
In Starr’s statement, she wrote that any Pomona students involved in the protest would be subject to immediate suspension, whiles students from the other Claremont Colleges would be banned from Pomona’s campus and “subject to discipline on their own campuses.”
Oishi said faculty would be looking into the “due process policies that the President used extraordinary emergency powers that were not merited, given the lack of community threat.”
She said campus security had sent out an announcement saying there was no threat to the community.
“So why were heavily armed and militarized police necessary?” she said.
More than three years after the California Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the troubled Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the case is finally headed toward a sprawling settlement agreement expected to touch on issues including jail conditions, deputy gangs and staffing, according to sources familiar with the matter and emails viewed by The Times.
The investigative findings — which remain secret — span over 100 pages and sources say they include controversial recommendations for deputies to curtail making traffic stops, stop enforcing some drug laws and complete hundreds more hours of training.
Initially launched in January 2021 under Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general at the time, the probe came amid a string of controversial shootings, costly lawsuits, repeated allegations of deputy misconduct and then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s resistance to oversight.
Though a new administration is in place, many of the same problems remain – some of which the state detailed when presenting the findings of its investigation to department officials and other stakeholders in a recent meeting, according to four sources who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
Already, the findings and recommendations have sparked pushback, some from oversight officials who raised concerns about the lack of transparency and some from union leaders who questioned the practicality of the state’s nearly 400 recommendations.
“Preventing deputies from conducting traffic stops and enforcing drug laws might seem like a good idea to those living in gated communities or with armed protective details,” Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, wrote in a recent message to union members. “But ALADS knows our community partners in the contract cities and elsewhere will be shocked by some of these proposals that are best described as elitist and unrealistic.”
The Sheriff’s Department said this week it was “not at liberty” to discuss the matter, while Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office did not respond to The Times’ request for comment. Lawyers for Los Angeles County said only that they’d been in communication with the state and “hoped to avoid litigation.”
The Sheriff’s Department is already subject to five more narrowly targeted settlement agreements overseen by federal courts. One centers on racial profiling and policing practices in the Antelope Valley, while the other four relate to the conditions and treatment of inmates in the county jails. The oldest of those cases dates back to the 1970s, but it remains open because the department has never fully complied with the settlement terms.
Given the scope of the state’s latest investigation, a new settlement agreement could be far broader than those already in place. And given the sheer size of the Sheriff’s Department — the largest in the country, with a $4-billion budget — it could be one of the most expansive that the California Department of Justice has ever entered.
Word of the state’s voluminous findings began making the rounds last week, after Sheriff Robert Luna sent a lengthy email to deputies offering a vague update on the status of the case.
“As some of you may know, three years ago in January 2021, the California Department of Justice (CAL-DOJ) began a civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to determine whether the LASD has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing,” the email began, according to a copy reviewed by The Times.
“We have been communicating with the CAL-DOJ officials and look forward to addressing the issues of concern and coming into compliance,” the sheriff continued. “We expect further communication with CAL-DOJ in the weeks and months ahead regarding proposed corrective actions.”
The email did not offer a clear timeline for the next steps, but Luna wrote that the department, county lawyers and “other key stakeholders” would need to evaluate the findings and recommendations, which he said would touch on more than a dozen areas, including use of force, arrests, deputy gangs, internal investigations, discipline, oversight, community engagement, training, staffing and conditions in the jails.
A state civil rights probe was already underway when Sheriff Robert Luna took office in 2022.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
Any agreement reached between CAL-DOJ and the Sheriff’s Department will help make sure the department complies with state laws and standards and could improve trust from the community, he said.
“As we work towards finalizing the specifics, we will keep you informed of any developments or changes as we work through this together,” Luna wrote. “Community trust is at the core of our work in public safety and with this agreement we will improve our systems and Department to better serve the citizens of Los Angeles County.”
California law allows the attorney general to investigate law enforcement agencies suspected of engaging in a “pattern or practice” of violating state or federal law. Unlike with criminal investigations that focus on specific incidents, a pattern or practice investigation looks more broadly at whether a law enforcement agency routinely violates people’s constitutional rights.
When he first announced the Los Angeles County investigation in late January 2021, Becerra raised concerns about the lack of comprehensive oversight of the department as well as allegations of retaliation, excessive force and other misconduct.
“There are serious concerns and reports that accountability and adherence to legitimate policing practices have lapsed at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” he said in a statement at the time. “We are undertaking this investigation to determine if LASD has violated the law or the rights of the people of Los Angeles County.”
At the time, Becerra did not specify a focus for the investigation, saying that his office was “not placing a particular scope and time or place, or person” in the crosshairs.
Though Becerra initially said a thorough report on the investigation’s findings would be made public, it is not clear whether his successor still plans to do that. One county source familiar with the matter said it was likely the detailed findings would remain secret, though a signed settlement agreement would eventually become public.
The original announcement of the investigation three years ago came after a series of high-profile shootings by deputies that triggered widespread protests and demands from community organizers and lawmakers for independent investigations. Those calls were amplified after the June 2020 killing of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot five times in the back by a deputy assigned to the Compton station.
Last year — a few months before both that deputy and his partner were sentenced to federal prison for an unrelated incident — The Times obtained a leaked email showing that the California Department of Justice had taken up the Guardado case. It’s not clear if that became part of the civil rights probe or if it is being handled separately, though the California Constitution grants the office the power to review cases where the “law is not being adequately enforced” by a local or county agency.
When Becerra opened the broader civil rights probe in 2021, local activists and oversight officials heralded the move. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, called it “a step forward in the names of people like Dijon Kizzee and Andres Guardado and so many others” killed by L.A. deputies, adding that she hoped it would uncover corruption in the department and bring an end to deputy gangs.
Robert Bonner, a former federal judge who now serves on the watchdog Civilian Oversight Commission, said at the time that he hoped the investigation would focus on deputy cliques and would eventually lead to a consent decree requiring their elimination.
Though Villanueva didn’t learn of the probe until it was announced publicly, he said in 2021 that he welcomed the attorney general’s investigation and promised to cooperate.
“Our department may finally have an impartial, objective assessment of our operations, and recommendations on any areas we can improve our service to the community,” he said. “We are eager to get this process started, in the interest of transparency and accountability.”
This week in an email to The Times, Villanueva — whom voters replaced two years ago with the current sheriff — took a dimmer view of the state’s investigation.
“The entire premise of their investigation was political retaliation by the Board of Supervisors and their political appointees,” he wrote, accusing supervisors of lobbying the attorney general to open the case. “With federal consent decrees covering most of LASD operations already, there is little room for state intervention,” he added.
Union officials also worried about the burden of adding new requirements from another sprawling settlement.
“The report clearly indicates that every deputy would be required to complete hundreds of hours of training to satisfy even the baseline requirements,” Pippin wrote in his message to union members. “The report also challenges the direct authority of the sworn chain of command and moves much of the power and decision-making authority to offices or groups with zero operational experience,” he continued, saying the state’s recommendations would “create confusion in the chain of command.”
Meanwhile some oversight officials worried about the apparent lack of outside input.
“I just hope the attorney general and the county officials will take input from the community before reaching a final settlement,” said Sean Kennedy, who chairs the Civilian Oversight Commission. “No real solution can be forged without hearing from the people most affected by decades of unconstitutional policing.”
At the outset, it was expected that the inquiry would involve interviews with local officials, members of oversight panels and community groups — though it’s not clear who has been interviewed or what the investigation ultimately entailed. Kennedy said the oversight commission has not been included in “any of the settlement meetings to date.”
A similar investigation of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office that started in 2016 led to a settlement agreement four years later, when the agency agreed to implement a laundry list of reforms that included a ban on the use of chokeholds, a new procedure for reporting deputy shootings to the public and stricter rules governing deputy searches.
Nearly a decade earlier a two-year probe overseen by then-Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown found that Maywood, a small city in southeastern Los Angeles County, was patrolled by “rogue cops” who arrested people without probable cause and routinely used excessive force.
The Maywood Police Department reached an agreement with the state that required the city to raise its hiring standards, publish annual audits of the department’s operations, and equip officers with audio recorders and their cruisers with video cameras, among other reforms. A year after entering the agreement, Maywood disbanded its police force and instead contracted with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
The owners of Television City have scaled back their plans to enlarge and modernize the landmark Los Angeles studio where CBS began making shows to broadcast nationwide at the dawn of the television age.
Formerly known as CBS Television City, the studio sits next to popular tourist attractions the Original Farmers Market and the Grove shopping center in the Fairfax district where it has been operating since 1952 as a factory for such hit shows as “All in the Family,” “Sonny and Cher” and “American Idol.”
CBS sold the famous studio for $750 million in 2019 to Hackman Capital Partners, one of the world’s largest movie lot owners and operators. CBS continues to occupy Television City as a tenant.
An architect’s rendering of the planned office and production space at Television City, an entertainment studio in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles.
(Courtesy of Foster + Partners and Television City)
Hackman Capital announced a $1.25-billion plan two years ago to expand and upgrade facilities on the lot at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in hopes of harnessing strong demand in the region for soundstages, production facilities and offices for rent on studio lots.
Hackman Capital on Friday will update its application to the city to enhance the studio, saying it is responding to feedback about the project from nearby residents, stakeholders and city officials. If approved, the new project is expected to be completed by 2028.
The studio owners also brought in a new design architect, Foster + Partners. The London-based firm is led by Norman Foster, a prominent architect whose designs include the pickle-shaped Gherkin skyscraper in London and the master plan for the $2-billion One Beverly Hills condominium and hotel complex under construction in Beverly Hills.
Hackman Capital, which operates studios in the U.S., Canada and U.K., is also responding to changing conditions in the office rental market, which has contracted since the COVID-19 pandemic drove many companies to work remotely at least some of the time. Plans still call for creating new offices, but there would be fewer of them.
Foster’s new design eliminates a 15-story office tower on the west side of the lot, cutting 150,000 square feet of offices to rent to entertainment-related firms. Another 15-story office tower remains in the plan, but other building heights have been lowered, particularly along the perimeters, Hackman Capital said.
An architect’s rendering of plans for Television City.
(Courtesy of Foster + Partners and Television City)
The plan still represents an addition of more than 980,000 square feet to the 25-acre site at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue that retains a suburban-style low-density appearance with soundstages, low-rise offices and support facilities flanked by asphalt parking lots.
The company’s proposal calls for combining old and new space to create 700,000 square feet of offices to support production on the lot and an additional 550,000 square feet of offices for rent to entertainment and media companies, the company said.
Office space behind studio gates is in high demand in the Los Angeles area and has been snapped up at other studios by such big Hollywood players as Netflix and Amazon.
“The industry wants to have a location where they can do production and have offices in a self-contained campus environment,” said real estate broker Jeff Pion of CBRE, who represents Hackman Capital. “Having all of the different components that make up production in one location is very attractive to the industry.”
Plans for Television City also call for a new commissary and more than four acres for production base camps. The streetscapes would be improved to be more visually appealing to passersby, with wider sidewalks.
On Fairfax Avenue, where pedestrians now pass by a fenced parking lot, there would be shops and restaurants serving the public on the ground floor of office buildings that could be reached only from inside the lot.
The separation is part of the balancing act Hackman Capital is attempting to make Television City feel more friendly to the neighborhood while retaining the security and exclusivity of a closed campus that appeals to celebrities and others who make movies and television shows.
Landlords can also charge a premium for office space on movie lots because they are close to the action for independent production companies and offer the cachet prized by many in the entertainment industry.
Filming activity in Los Angeles has fallen off substantially in the wake of strikes by writers and actors last year, according to FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that tracks on-location shoot days and filming permits in the region. The downward trend compounded a dip that emerged in late 2022 as on-location filming in Los Angeles took a dive as studios pared back movie and TV production that surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A rendering of the entrance to the planned mobility hub on Fairfax Avenue where shuttle buses from a nearby subway station would come and go.
(Courtesy of Foster + Partners and Television City)
California is finding it particularly hard to rebound from the strikes because it’s more expensive to shoot here, multiple production executives told The Times. That makes Los Angeles less attractive to studios looking to cut costs after major industry disruption.
To Hackman Capital Chief Executive Michael Hackman, the downturn and filming pullback from California suggest that regulators and studio operators should further support production companies.
“Our actual customers tell us all of them want to stay in Los Angeles,” he said. “We have the best crews in the world here, but we don’t have enough modern soundstages in premier locations. We also have to push the state on tax incentives so that we don’t lose business outside of the city.
“The entertainment industry is our city signature industry and if we don’t invest in the future, we’re really at risk of losing it,” Hackman said. “We’re still emerging from a once-in-a-generation dual strike. And the production stoppage cost Angelenos approximately $6.5 billion or more in lost wages and economic activity, which makes it clear how important this industry is to our city, and especially the people who work in entertainment every day.”
Hackman Capital’s proposal calls for raising the number of Television City stages to at least 15, from 8, along with production support facilities.
To make room for the planned additions, parking would be converted from surface lots to garage structures and underground spaces capable of parking 4,930 vehicles.
Two stages built in the 1990s on the east side of the lot would be demolished as part of a planned reconfiguration of the site.
The four original stages built by CBS in 1952 would be preserved along with other historical design elements created by Los Angeles architect William Pereira, who also designed such noteworthy structures as the futuristic Theme Building in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport and the Transamerica Pyramid office tower in San Francisco.
Pereira’s long-range plan for Television City conceived in the 1950s was expansive, said Bob Hale, creative director of Rios, the master plan architect of Hackman Capital’s proposed makeover. Hale said Pereira’s original concept called for the complex to grow to 24 stages and 2.5 million square feet of production space, including several multistory office buildings.
“It was built in a way that it could be disassembled and incrementally extended,” Hale said. “For a number of reasons, that didn’t happen.”
In an effort to make it happen now, Hackman Capital set out to get the support of Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky and the surrounding community. Over five years, the company met with nearly 3,000 neighbors, Hackman Capital said.
Among the groups supporting the project are the Holocaust Museum LA, Los Angeles Conservancy, Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, Mid City West Neighborhood Council and FilmLA, Hackman Capital said.
The first proposal drew fire from neighboring businesses the Grove and Farmers Market, which sent letters to residents in 2022 calling the Television City project a “massively scaled, speculative development which, if approved, would overwhelm, disrupt, and forever transform the community.”
In July 2022, an executive representing Grove owner Rick Caruso appeared before a committee of the Mid City West Neighborhood Council and said the Television City project would create “complex” issues for the neighborhood, including traffic, parking and construction. Caruso himself has said he does not oppose the redevelopment of Television City.
The Beverly Fairfax Community Alliance, which was founded by the Grove and Farmers Market, has been more blunt, warning that the expanded site would clog Fairfax Avenue, Beverly Boulevard, La Brea Avenue and 3rd Street with traffic.
The signature red awning at Television City as seen from Beverly Boulevard.
(Courtesy of Foster + Partners and Television City)
“Even those accustomed to living with L.A. traffic and parking nightmares will be shocked at how much worse it can be,” the group said on its website.
To address such concerns, Hackman Capital said the new plan will reduce the number of estimated daily car trips to Television City by 5,000 to 8,700. The landlord also plans to move its “mobility hub” from The Grove Drive on the east side to Fairfax at 1st Street on the west side of the lot. The mobility hub would serve public transit, rideshares and other passenger drop-offs as well as employee shuttle buses to the subway stop being built at Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevard.
“Our goal with Television City, particularly along the perimeter on our public edges, was to find a really great interface with the community. So it wasn’t just a studio with a blank wall, but we were active and engaged,” said Brian Glodney, a development executive for Hackman Capital.
Community members told Hackman Capital said they want the streets outside the studio to have a sense of connection between mom-and-pop businesses on Fairfax, the Farmers Market, the Grove and Pan Pacific Park, Glodney said.
Outlets on the edge of the lot such as shops and restaurants will be limited to a total of 20,000 square feet, he said, “just enough to help activate the streets but not compete with our neighbors.”
SAN JOSE — The decision by two tenants to exit downtown San Jose might worsen the maladies that already afflict the urban core’s economy in the wake of the coronavirus.
PwC, a professional services titan, and its recently purchased tech company, Surfaceink, are poised to leave downtown after PwC signed a lease for a big chunk of space in a new office building at Santana Row in west San Jose.
The prospect of tenant departures comes at a time when downtown San Jose already struggles with office vacancy levels that have soared to worrisome heights.
“This is going to raise the vacancy rate in downtown San Jose,” said David Taxin, partner with Meacham Oppenheimer, a commercial real estate firm. “With the amount of vacancy downtown, this won’t help the cause.”
At the end of 2023, downtown San Jose’s office availability rate was at an all-time high of 35.7%, according to a report from Savills, a commercial real estate firm. Office availability measures the combination of empty office space offered directly by building owners and space that tenants are offering through sublease.
As further evidence of a feeble real estate market in downtown San Jose, within the last four months, two large office properties were sold at a big loss compared with their prior sales.
In December 2023, an office tower at 303 Almaden Boulevard was bought for slightly under $23.8 million — which was 70% below the price paid for the highrise at the time of its prior sale in 2017 for $80.2 million.
In February 2024, a two-tower office complex at North Market Street and West St, John Street was bought for $34.2 million — a nosedive of 77% compared with the $141.4 million paid in 2019 for the highrises.
While the price declines are jaw-dropping, experts such as David Sandlin, an executive vice president with Colliers, a commercial real estate firm, point out that the newly established prices at least set a current value for office buildings for office buildings in downtown San Jose.
“We now know the price that a Class A building in San Jose will trade for,” Sandlin said in a prior interview with this news organization on the topic.
The price for the 303 Almaden tower worked out to $151 a square foot while the price for the 111 Market Square tower was $105 a square foot. Some experts note that the 303 Almaden highrise is deemed to be of greater quality than the two-tower office complex.
Also of interest with these deals is that the buyers of each of the office properties are separate groups that both are headed up by George Mersho, chief executive officer of Morgan Hill-based retailer Shoe Palace.
PwC, as a result of its decision to move to Santana Row, a destination mixed-use neighborhood in San Jose, will also shift its new subsidiary, Surfaceink, into the same One Santana West office building near the corner of South Winchester Boulevard and Stevens Creek Boulevard.
“The great thing about the PwC deal is that they stayed in San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. “With the amenities at Santana Row, it’s understandable why PwC would go there.”
About 1,200 PwC employees will be located at the One Santana West office building. That move is slated to occur in 2026.
Still, downtown San Jose appears more than capable of being a vibrant host for office tenants and conventions.
The recent Nvidia artificial intelligence convention, in addition to compelling keynotes and packed events, was also the catalyst for lively crowds that poured into the downtown in search of meals, drinks, or entertainment.
“The activation of downtown San Jose and the energy downtown is what is going to appeal to companies with younger employees,” Staedler said. “Having a constant stream of events and activities such as jazz festivals, live performances and other exciting events is the way to attract companies to downtown San Jose.”
PwC is expected to vacate 80,000 square feet at an office tower in downtown San Jose, property experts say. Surfaceink leased 7,000 square feet on Stockton Avenue on the western edges of the downtown.
“You could get a new AI company or software company that wants to be in an urban environment in the PwC spaces,” Staedler said.
Political and city leaders will need to adjust their thinking regarding the downtown in order for the city’s urban core to truly rebound.
“Antiquated dreams of a Trader Joe’s or a Safeway in the heart of downtown are days gone by. They are over,” Staedler said. “Downtown needs to focus on vibrancy.”
Arnel Management Co. has agreed to settle allegations it illegally withheld security deposits, the California attorney general announced Friday.
The move came nearly eight years after a Times story detailed reports from tenants who alleged that the major Orange County landlord deducted hundreds of dollars for unneeded cleaning and repairs even when residents left their units spotless.
“For many renters, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, affording a security deposit entails a great deal of sacrifice,” Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We are holding Arnel accountable.”
Arnel has 19 apartment complexes in Southern California, with all but one in Orange County. The other is in Los Angeles County.
In 2016, the company — then owned by billionaire political power broker George Argyros — was the fifth-largest landlord in Orange County.
It’s unclear what Argyros’ current role is with Arnel. The company and its attorney did not return messages seeking comment.
Under California law, landlords cannot withhold a deposit to clean an apartment left in the same condition as when a tenant moved in, or to pay for fixing ordinary wear and tear.
According to the attorney general, Arnel charged for unneeded cleaning and repairs and treated part of its tenant’s security deposit as nonrefundable no matter the condition of the apartment.
The announcement Friday wasn’t the first time Arnel has faced similar allegations. In addition to tenants The Times spoke with in 2016, Arnel settled allegations it illegally withheld security deposits in 2001.
The state office took over that case after Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas — who had accepted campaign cash from Arnel — was widely criticized for taking a personal role in his office’s investigation.
That settlement paved the way for Argyros to become ambassador to Spain, an appointment that had stalled amid the controversy.
As part of the new settlement, Arnel must pay $1.15 million, with $650,000 going to legal aid organizations in Orange and Los Angeles counties. The attorney general’s office also said Arnel would be “subject to more stringent injunctive terms to deter future misconduct.”
The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission has privately accused City Councilmember Curren Price of voting on a number of matters in which his wife had a financial interest, echoing charges filed last year by L.A. County prosecutors, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.
The commission, which has the power to enforce conflict-of-interest laws, notified Price of the accusations last week, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
One of the sources said the filing accuses Price of 21 violations of the city’s ethics laws, many of them similar to those filed by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón against Price last year.
In the criminal case, Price is accused of voting to support projects for developers that had done business with a consulting company founded by his wife, Del Richardson Price, who specialized in tenant relocation services. He faces five counts of embezzlement, two counts of conflict of interest and three counts of perjury.
The allegations from the Ethics Commission mostly involve violations of conflict-of-interest laws or the council member’s failure to fully disclose economic interests he held in relation to Richardson Price’s business, according to one of the sources.
Ethics Commission spokesperson Nancy Jackson said this week that city law bars the department from confirming or denying the existence of a complaint or investigation.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office and an attorney for Price declined to comment.
The violations alleged by the ethics commission cover a larger span of time than the criminal complaint, which focuses on the period between 2019 and 2021, one source said.
In a court filing earlier this year, L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Casey Higgins made references to other instances where Price allegedly had a conflict, voting on projects whose developers paid Richardson Price as far back as 2015. It was not clear why those instances did not result in criminal charges.
The Ethics Commission typically holds an evidentiary hearing after an accusation is publicly issued. Commission members then determine whether the alleged violations occurred and, if so, what penalties should apply. The document Price was served with is known as a “probable cause report,” the sources said.
In the criminal complaint filed last year, prosecutors alleged Price voted on matters connected to his wife’s business and perjured himself by failing to reveal his financial interest in those matters on disclosure forms that must be filed with the city.
Prosecutors said Price voted on two affordable housing projects whose developers paid his wife more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021. Neither project is in Price’s district. One is on the Westside, and the other is in South Los Angeles.
Price also faces embezzlement charges for obtaining spousal health benefits for Richardson Price through the city while he was still legally married to his first wife.
Price has repeatedly declared his innocence. His lawyer has said that prosecutors failed to show that the developers’ payments to his wife’s consulting company had any influence on his votes on those projects. The votes cast by Price were routine and noncontroversial, on proposals that passed by large majorities, according to Price’s lawyer, Michael Schafler.
A judge rejected Price’s bid to have the case thrown out earlier this year. A trial date has not been set.
Last month, a former aide to Price filed a civil claim against the city alleging the council member’s staff harassed her on the belief that she was a “snitch” and had cooperated with the district attorney’s investigation. The woman, Hawthorne City Councilmember Angie Reyes English, said she suffered retaliation at work and ultimately was fired in January, according to the suit.
Her attorney, Greg Smith, told The Times that Price’s office had the false opinion that Reyes English was a whistleblower who went to the district attorney.
A spokeswoman for Price has denied Reyes English’s allegations.
At a court hearing earlier this month, Higgins expressed concern that Price and his allies might be improperly interacting with witnesses in the case. Higgins said he had received information that Richardson Price “hired lawyers for witnesses,” including one person who is now refusing to speak with prosecutors.
“That raises some concerns for us … they shouldn’t be talking to any potential witnesses except for an attorney of record,” Higgins said.
Richardson Price didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Schafler, the attorney for Price, denied “the suggestion of any impropriety relating to any witnesses in this case.” He declined to say if Richardson Price had actually retained counsel for any potential witnesses.
Price is one of several city council members to face criminal charges in recent years. In 2020, former Councilmember Mitchell Englander pleaded guilty to providing false information to federal investigators. He served a short stint in prison.
Former Councilmember Jose Huizar was recently sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering and tax evasion charges. Meanwhile, a jury convicted former Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud charges last year. He has appealed the verdict.
The Ethics Commission has a separate case against Councilmember John Lee, who has been accused of violating laws regulating the acceptance of gifts and the reporting of those gifts. Lee has been fighting that case, which could result in financial penalties.
Voters in his northwest San Fernando Valley district reelected Lee to another four-year term earlier this month.
Price is due back in court in late April, when the Los Angeles city attorney’s office is expected to try to quash a subpoena from prosecutors seeking communications between the city attorney’s office and Price. The city attorney’s office has argued the materials are protected by attorney-client privilege.
Los Angeles city and county leaders launched a legal service program Thursday that helps unhoused people resolve legal problems that could limit their access to housing and social services.
The Community Outreach Court, the first of its kind in the city, aims to streamline the criminal court process for homeless people and those at-risk of homelessness. It provides various legal aid services, such as resolving outstanding fines and fees and misdemeanors, expunging convictions and clearing bench warrants, while connecting participants to other much-needed services and job opportunities.
Established six months ago as a pilot program, the Community Outreach Court has helped about 190 people, including those at risk of losing their homes, officials said. The official launch marked the end of the program’s pilot status.
“When unhoused individuals are summoned to court, they are often reluctant to appear in court sometimes because they have no place to store their belongings or are afraid of losing them,” said L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, whose office is spearheading the program. “This is our effort to bring our courts directly into the community to help solve these challenges.”
The Community Outreach Court is a collaborative effort that includes the L.A. County Superior Court, L.A. mayor’s office, county public defender’s office and county alternate public defender’s office.
