Results tagged “fine”

The California Department of Public Health announced today that thirteen hospitals have been fined $25,000 per violation "after a determination that the facilities’ noncompliance with licensing requirements has caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients." Of the thirteen statewide, nine of those are within the Los Angeles region, ten if you count San Diego in the mix. Is one of them yours? Check below for the list of SoCal hospitals and what they did. These fines stem from incidents in 2007 and 2008:

Parents, take heed. If your kid tags, sticker slaps or otherwise destroys property by defacing it, you may be stuck with the bill. The Los Angeles City Council preliminarily approved a new graffiti ordinance today, but will have to approve it once more next week because not enough members were present at today's meeting. If a minor is found guilty, the parents could be liable up to $25,000. Get nerdy below and read the full blown ordinance below:

Can a transit agency be considered "green" if they aren't meeting their emission level standards? The state Air Resources Board thinks not, and have hit Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus line with a $21,000 fine "for failing to conduct required diesel emissions testing and maintaining appropriate records, among other violations," according to LA Now. Per the regulator, the popular fleet of around 200 buses "also failed to keep emission levels at no more than 60% of 2005 levels as required." Recently, the Big Blue Bus announced they'd be further greening their fleet by purchasing hybrid buses from a SoCal company with federal stimulus funds. This fine stems from "a legal case settlement," that also stipulates the transit agency school their employees on being "green" and requiring their drivers spend less time idling.

Yesterday was about more ire than tobacco sparking on the streets of Glendale, as it marked the kick off for a new ban on "smoking in hallways of apartment complexes and in public areas - including parks, parking lots and parking structures, and even standing in line to use the ATM."

Signed into law in 2004, the Silly String law is meant to curb the amount of silly string that used to trash Hollywood streets during Halloween. The city reasoned that the cans were a safety hazard, causing people, horses (for police) and motorcycles to potentially slip and fall in additional to being used as a drunkenly weapon projectile. The string itself, they say, would clog storm drains, ultimately causing an environmental hazard traveling to the ocean.

The LAPD is gearing up for January 1st, 2009 when texting while driving will be added to this year's earlier cell phone ban. "Nationwide studies have linked cell phone use, including texting, to driver distraction resulting in traffic collisions,” Chief William Bratton said in a statement. “Drivers can lose substantial cognitive awareness with the situation on the road when they divert their attention away, for any reason, including cell phone texting. In fact, there were two recent fatal traffic collisions which occurred in the City of Los Angeles where it was determined that cell phone texting was a significant causal factor in both collisions." The law imposes identical fines to those associated with failing to use a hands-free device when using a cell phone while driving: $20 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses (but don't forget to add in court fees, etc, making the fines actually much higher).

Earlier this month, the FBI raided three local hospitals for alleged Medicare fraud. Then yesterday, the state fined eighteen hospitals $25,000 each "for state health code violations in which patients died from various mishaps such as an improperly inserted tube and a ventilator that wasn't turned on," according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "Other violations include surgical tools left inside patients after surgery."

Thirteen hospitals statewide were fined on Wednesday by the California Department of Public Health. In total, five from the Los Angeles area were cited: Pomona Valley Medical Center, Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance and Los Angeles County Olive View- UCLA Medical Center in LA County and Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, according to wire reports. Reasons varied from dumb mistakes to deadly ones: