Outside the KFI building in Burbank today, was a “Day Laborers and their Allies” protest at 10:30am. They claimed that KFI is “racist radio”. The organization brought day laborers to the front of the building! They broke the law right in front of our face. We need you to call the Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, the LA County Sheriff, and the Burbank Police Department and let them know this can’t happen. We can’t have illegals here and something needs to be done! Click here for some pictures of the protest.
Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency
1-866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2-423)
LA County Sheriff
323-526-5541
Burbank Police Department
818-238-3000
Easing Weather Gives Firefighters Hope for Containment
Getting some help from the weather, thousands of firefighters continued to battle the Topanga area fire as officials lifted most of the evacuation orders today.
The fire, which began Wednesday afternoon, has burned about 20,655 acres and was about 20% contained, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. No date was given for full containment by fire units from all over the state led by Los Angeles and Ventura County Fire Departments.
In Burbank, a fire in the Wildwood Canyon wilderness area that began Thursday, flared anew today, burning about 500 acres, according to Dolly Chatham of the Burbank Fire Department. No structures were involved, she said.
Berkeley doctor launches Arnold recall
Perhaps it was only a matter of time: A Berkeley physician announced Wednesday that he will soon start circulating a petition to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“I felt that I’ve helped the poor take one step forward in my medical practice, but the governor makes them take four steps backward,” Dr. Kenneth Matsumura said, claiming Schwarzenegger has ignored the state’s struggling schools and inadequate health care while waging war on public workers such as police and firefighters.
Matsumura, 60, said he will deliver a proposed petition to the secretary of state’s office in Sacramento as early as next week; once it is approved, he will have 160 days to collect at least about 1.04 million valid signatures of registered voters. He has created a Web site, http://www.savecalnow.com, to start signing up volunteers and taking donations. Today at 4pm, John & Ken will talk with Dr. Kenneth Matsumura.
Educator Hits Road to Teach Leno a Lesson
During a monologue on NBC’s “Tonight Show” in late April, host Jay Leno poked fun at a San Francisco group that offered a one-day program to educate prostitutes about the sex industry.
The program, he said, “will teach women how to become prostitutes. Isn’t the purpose of an education so you don’t have to do things like prostitution?”
Leno’s parting shot, though, was what sent Betty Young, president of Northwest State Community College in Ohio, over the edge: “It’s actually less embarrassing than going to a junior college,” he joked.
Young tried to get in the last word during a news conference Wednesday at Los Angeles Valley College, after a nine-day, Ohio-to-California road trip called “The Lessons for Leno National Tour.” Traveling much of the way on her 1992 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail motorcycle, she was eager to garner helpful publicity for the nation’s nearly 1,200 two-year colleges. Tonight at 6pm, Betty Young will share her thoughts about Jay Leno and Community Colleges with John & Ken.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
This is not one of the better titled movies I’ve come across this year – I sort of avoided it until I started hearing that reviewers from “Newsweek”, “The New York Times” and “The Los Angeles Times” were quite taken by it. Descriptions such as “shrewd, agile, incendiary and gripping” are not words I would use in public, but they got my attention. Viggo Mortensen (the hero from “Lord of The Rings”) plays a small town husband and father of two who makes a living operating the six stool, four table local diner. As you watch the first fifteen or twenty minutes of this movie, remember one thing as it may help – you’re supposed to be bored. Viggo and his wife, played by Maria Bello, are quaint, easy-going folk just like you. Their day-to-day concerns include getting the kids off to school, making enough money to pay the bills, and ensuring there’s still something left to keep a romantic spark in their marriage.
(more…)
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
County Supervisor Asks For State Of Emergency Declaration
County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky asked the county’s chief administrative officer to declare a state of emergency today in the fire-charred areas in and around Chatsworth.
Yaroslavsky said the declaration would begin the process of allowing the agencies involved in the ongoing fire-fight to be reimbursed by the state for the costs of the effort.
“At this time, the disaster declaration is not an asset-driven kind of declaration, it’s resource-driven,” Yaroslavsky told NBC4. “It’s to help compensate the local governments for an extraordinary deployment of resources … and the mutual aid all of the agnecies are engaged in right now. There are quite a few as you know right now.”
About 3,000 firefighters from various agencies were battling the Topanga fire, which has so far scorched nearly 17,000 acres since it began around 2 p.m. yesterday.
Residents ordered out as Valley brushfire spreads
A huge wildfire roiled along the northwestern outskirts of the Los Angeles today despite a significant decline in the Santa Ana winds that spread it a day earlier.
At midmorning the estimated size of the blaze took a major leap to 16,975 acres, according to city fire Capt. Carlos Calvillo. The previous estimate had been 7,000 acres.
Localized evacuations were in effect as the fire burned across ridges stretching for 10 miles along the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. More than 1,000 firefighters were on the lines, and a major air attack was under way.
Weather remained hot and dry, but the strong north and northeast winds that blew a small brush fire into a major conflagration Wednesday afternoon did not appear to be returning.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2005
Tom DeLay Steps Down From Leadership Post After Indictment
Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said Wednesday he would temporarily step down as House majority leader after he and two political associates were charged by a Texas grand jury with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme.“In accordance with the rules of the House Republican Conference, I will temporarily step aside as floor leader in order to win exoneration from these baseless charges,” DeLay told reporters.
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the majority whip will step in to take over DeLay’s responsibilities. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., who is deputy whip, will share extra duties and Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., chairman of the Rules Committee, will also help out the leadership in conducting daily business, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announced Wednesday afternoon after a meeting of the Republican caucus.
Local authority cited in fleeing-suspect bill
Moving Tuesday to stamp out a smoldering turf war, two Southern California lawmakers revised proposed legislation the Los Angeles district attorney had said would undercut local authority to pursue cop killers who flee to Mexico.
The legislation by Reps. David Dreier, R-Glendora, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, would continue to make it a federal crime to flee the United States to avoid prosecution for killing a law enforcement officer.
But language added to the bill Tuesday explicitly gives state and local officials authority to prosecute such cases.
It also adds stiffer penalties, demanding the death penalty or life imprisonment for a conviction of first-degree murder and 30 years to life for second-degree murder. Read what Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley had to say about the so-called “updated version” here (.pdf). Also District Attorney Cooley will be on the air with John & Ken at 5pm, tonight.
Weak outlook for state seen Many are working under the table, UCLA group says
California’s economic outlook is “mediocre at best” in the short term, according to an influential forecasting group, which says the state’s job recovery has been too dependent on a housing boom that could go bust.
The report set for release today by the UCLA Anderson Forecast also highlights the growing importance of the informal economy—consisting of nearly 2 million Californians who are working, but not at payroll jobs, in many cases getting paid off the books without having taxes withheld.
The UCLA Anderson report arrives at a time of growing consumer pessimism. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, based on a survey of household spending plans, fell to 86.6 in September from 105.5 in August, its biggest drop in 15 years, the research group said Tuesday.
A Jump in Transit Ridership? Look to Cost of Gas, Gas, Gas
Local transit agencies Tuesday reported hikes in bus and rail use since gas prices began their precipitous rise. But a day after President Bush urged Americans to conserve energy, there were signs of a definite ceiling for the number of Southern California motorists willing — or able — to switch from cars to mass transportation.
Both the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates buses and subways, and commuter-rail operator Metrolink recorded more than 5% increases in passengers in August over the same month last year.
Although officials said they were impressed by the increase, the rises are similar to those in April and March 2004, when gas prices jumped.
This suggests a relatively small percentage of motorists are willing and able to give up driving solo during times of rising gas prices, transportation experts said. And those who do switch tend to have the longest commutes. According to the 2000 census, about 15% of commuters in the Southland carpooled to work everyday and about 5% rode public transit.
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
Brown Shifts Blame for Katrina Response
Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role.
Brown also said that in the days before the storm, he expressed his concerns that “this is going to be a bad one” in phone conversations and e-mails with President Bush, White House chief of staff Andy Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin.
And he blamed the Department of Homeland Security – the parent agency for the Federal Emergency Management Agency – for not acquiring better equipment ahead of the storm.
His efforts to shift blame drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike.
“I’m happy you left,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. “That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren’t capable of doing that job.”
Mayor Orders Probe of Skid Row Dumping
Saying it’s clear that downtown Los Angeles has become “a dumping ground for a number of jurisdictions in the county,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has ordered an investigation into the practice of outside law enforcement agencies bringing homeless people, criminals and others to skid row against their will.
Villaraigosa said Monday he wants City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to look into “what are the legal recourses we have where jurisdictions – including, but not limited to, law enforcement agencies – purposefully drop off the homeless in our city.”
He also wants to examine whether the city should beef up its own ordinances to crack down on the practice.
The investigation is the latest fallout from charges by a Los Angeles Police Department captain last week that he watched two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies drop off a mentally ill man who had just been released from county jail onto skid row.
Police chief says he isn’t done fighting illegal immigration
The police chief who made national news by charging an illegal immigrant with trespassing says he isn’t done yet, despite a judge’s ruling that his methods were unconstitutional.
New Ipswich Chief Garrett Chamberlain, who spoke at a celebration for the signing of the Constitution on Sunday, said he is investigating other methods to discourage illegal immigrants.
He said he is paying special attention to a law that fines businesses $1,000 for every day they employee such people. He said he also will ask the attorney general to set up a task force on the issue.
Last month, a judge dismissed trespassing charges against several illegal immigrants, disagreeing with Chamberlain and Hudson Chief Richard Gendron who used the law because they were frustrated by lax federal enforcement.
Monday, September 26th, 2005
Amid Many Fights Over Qualifications, a Bush Nomination Stalls in the Senate
Faced with accusations that the Bush administration is stocking the government with unqualified cronies, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding up the nomination of a lawyer with little background in immigration or customs to head the law enforcement agency in charge of those issues.
Democrats have seized on the political fury that developed over the apparent lack of qualifications of Michael D. Brown, the director, and others in the Federal Emergency Management Agency who were called on to deal with the calamity caused by Hurricane Katrina. Day after day, Democratic lawmakers have begun aggressively challenging the credentials of people President Bush wants to place in midlevel government positions.
The homeland security chairwoman, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, says she now wants to inquire further into the qualifications of Julie L. Myers to be assistant secretary of homeland security for immigration and customs enforcement.
Bulworth vs. Terminator, a battle made in Hollywood?
Warren Beatty has a message for his old Hollywood pal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: It’s nothing personal.
“Arnold’s always thinking about him, but I’m not,” Beatty said in an interview Thursday night after he’d skewered Schwarzenegger in a speech to the California Nurses Association. “When I do think about him, I’m amused. I’ve always liked him. But I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”
His wife, actress Annette Bening, agreed.
“I think the special election is really dangerous,” she said. “It’s not personal, it’s bigger than that. I don’t see it as personal, and I don’t think Warren does.”
Four Suburbs Said to Have ‘Dumped’ Homeless in L.A.
Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department said they have observed police cars from at least four suburban departments drop off what appeared to be homeless people on the streets of downtown Los Angeles in the last year, their captain said Friday.
The claim comes a day after Capt. Andrew Smith, who commands the downtown division, said he and a partner saw two sheriff’s deputies drop off a mentally ill man in skid row after he was released from the Central Jail.
Officials from three of the departments – El Monte, El Segundo and Pasadena – all said they had no knowledge of their officers driving people to downtown as a way of getting them out of their communities. Though acknowledging that “dumping” was a common practice years ago, the officials now say their departments have strict bans on the practice.
In California, Agriculture Takes Center Stage in Pollution Debate
On a clear day, San Joaquin looks like a bucolic farming community, complete with almond groves, cornfields and orange trees. But most of the time the valley—trapped between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges, with two major highways running north to south through it—is smoggy, filled with air that has fostered widespread respiratory disease.
Fifteen percent of the region’s children have asthma, a rate three times the national average. Fresno—the valley’s biggest city—has the third-highest rate of asthma in the country, and the San Joaquin Valley rivals Los Angeles and Houston for the dubious title of worst air quality in the nation. On bad air days, some schools hoist a red flag so parents can keep their children indoors; on good days, they raise a green flag.
