Topline:
More than 20 firefighters lost their homes while fighting wildfires in Maui. Now firefighters in Los Angeles are reaching out to help by donating recreational vehicles to displaced firefighters and their families on the island.
How RVs help: Other housing options like Airbnb or adopt-a-family housing groups on Facebook are popping up, but Woody Faircloth, who runs Emergency RV, says RV donations provide something more stable.
Read on ... to see how this effort came together.
More than 20 firefighters lost their homes while fighting wildfires in Maui. Now firefighters in Los Angeles are helping out by donating recreational vehicles to displaced firefighters and their families on the island.
Woody Faircloth runs Emergency RV, the nonprofit facilitating the donation. He told Colorado Public Radio that he started the charity five years ago, when a wildfire largely destroyed the town of Paradise in Northern California.
"People want to help, they just often don't know how to help," he said. "We kind of stumbled on this perfect transitional emergency housing solution in the form of RVs back in 2018 with the Camp Fire, and we've been helping following natural disasters ever since."
Faircloth said when the fires hit Maui, the group immediately started looking for RVs to donate that were already on the island, but there weren't any available.
It didn't seem like there would be a way to get RVs out to Maui, but the California Fire Foundation stepped in to help. They introduced Faircloth to some of the firefighters who lost their homes, and found a ship to send the RVs on. Faircloth just had to get them to San Diego for shipment.
When he put the word out that his charity was looking for RVs to send as temporary housing for firefighters who lost their homes in Maui, Faircloth said people were quick to respond. They ended up with eight RVs, five of which came from Los Angeles County firefighters.
The first shipment of five RVs left Wednesday.
Faircloth said he hopes this will provide quick and comfortable shelter for people on the island, because it can take a while for more permanent options to pan out.
"FEMA and the Red Cross swoop in and they do great work, but it'll take FEMA a full year to get housing units there," he said. "That's just too long to wait... these folks are still working every day and not having a place to go home to, especially when they have families, is something that we just don't think should happen."
Other housing options like Airbnb or adopt-a-family housing groups on Facebook are popping up, but Faircloth said RV donations provide something more stable.
"Fatigue will kick in and that stuff will kind of dry up because these are other people's homes and they use them for rental income," he says. "There's all kinds of complexities there, so having a place of your own is just invaluable and something that's longer term."
Another shipment of RVs is set to go out next week.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
Topline:
Tarell Alvin McCraney is a playwright best known for his script which was the basis for the Oscar award-winning film, Moonlight. But as the Geffen Playhouse's artistic director, he transforms his art of storytelling into an organization's vision.
The backstory: McCraney won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie Moonlight, but today, he's more focused on the stage. Almost two years ago, the Geffen Playhouse hired McCraney to be artistic director. Tapping a screenwriter for the position was a first for the theater. But McCraney said the roles actually overlap in more ways than one.
Navigating the change from screen to stage: "The job of the screenwriter most times is to make sure that everybody is understanding where the story is going and what the 'action' of the piece is," McCraney said. "So, it's not that much different than being an artistic director. My job here is to set the artistic goal for the organization. [To] point out its virtues and pitfalls, the dangers and the obstacles, and then move collectively as a single storyteller towards that goal."
Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie Moonlight, but don't expect to see him at this year's Oscars ceremony.
"I tend to stay away from the awards show," McCraney said. " I think I might have PTSD."
McCraney is referring to the viral moment from the 2017 Oscars ceremony, where La La Land was mistakenly announced as the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight.
McCraney isn't new to theater. In fact, you could consider it his original home before his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue launched him into the Hollywood spotlight. But when the Geffen Playhouse asked him to be their artistic director two years ago, it called him back to the stage in a different way. Tapping a screenwriter for the position was a first for the theater, but McCraney said the roles actually overlap in more ways than one.
"The job of the screenwriter most times is to make sure that everybody is understanding where the story is going and what the 'action' of the piece is," McCraney said. "So it's not that much different than being an artistic director. My job here is to set the artistic goal for the organization. [To] point out its virtues and pitfalls, the dangers and the obstacles, and then move collectively as a single storyteller towards that goal."
McCraney said one of the great things about living in Los Angeles is its nuanced racial and ethnic communities, and he rides his bike around the city to better experience them.
"The landscape is constantly shifting and changing," McCraney said. "For example, Westwood has drastically changed over the past 15 years and will change irrevocably with the coming of the new train station down on Wilshire. It will change again with LA28 happening."
Just like Los Angeles, the Geffen Playhouse has had multiple transformations over its more than 30 year existence. Their world premier show, Silvia Silvia Silvia, is playing until March 8. Dragon Mama, starring Sarah Porkalob, begins March 4.
"Sarah is an incredible singer and writer and has created this incredible arc through a family that is both powerful and witty, but also deeply nuanced," McCraney said. "She's sharing that family with us, and family is our first community. They are the people we learn the most from. We learn unconditional love. We learn collective bargaining. Investigating family, investigating why we stay together and how we stay together through dire circumstances is a critical investigation for us right now."
When it comes to this year's Oscars ceremony, McCraney said he's rooting for all the nominees.
"It's been an incredible season," he said. "But Sinners is an incredible film that I've seen three or four times, so I'm really excited to see how it does."
The public can begin taking the Metro D Line from downtown L.A. to Beverly Hills starting May 8, Metro Board Director Fernando Dutra announced Thursday.
New stations: Currently, the D Line runs from downtown L.A. to Koreatown. The 4-mile extension of the train will continue under Wilshire Boulevard and include stops at La Brea, Fairfax and La Cienega.
20 minute ride: With the extension, Metro estimates riders can get from downtown to Beverly Hills in around 20 minutes. “That’s transformative,” Dutra said at the board meeting Thursday.”That’s the kind of world-class transit system Angelenos deserve, and it’s about time.”
One of three extensions: Metro estimates the next two extensions of the D Line will be complete in time for the 2028 Games. The second extension, which will shuttle riders further west through Beverly Hills and Century City, is slated to open to the public in spring 2027. The final extension will bring riders to Westwood and the VA hospital, and is slated to open in fall 2027.
Topline:
The Long Beach Community College District has agreed to pay $18 million to more than 1,450 part-time professors to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged they were forced to work unpaid hours outside the classroom, grading papers and tests, meeting with students, preparing lessons and other duties.
More details: The settlement, which the district board quietly approved last month, still needs the judge overseeing the case to sign off. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s likely that Judge Stuart Rice will approve the deal. Last year, he ruled that the part-timers, commonly called adjuncts, were entitled to the pay they sought, writing he found “a myriad of problems” with the district’s claims that its practices did not violate state law.
Why it matters: The case has made “a major impact throughout the state already,” as some districts have begun negotiating contract terms to give adjuncts what they’ve long sought — pay for time they spend prepping and grading, not just for class time, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer Eileen B. Goldsmith, in an interview. (EdSource published an investigative series in the issue, Gig By Gig At California’s Community Colleges, in 2022.)
Read on... for more about the settlement.
The Long Beach Community College District has agreed to pay $18 million to more than 1,450 part-time professors to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged they were forced to work unpaid hours outside the classroom, grading papers and tests, meeting with students, preparing lessons and other duties.
The settlement, which the district board quietly approved last month, still needs the judge overseeing the case to sign off. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s likely that Judge Stuart Rice will approve the deal. Last year, he ruled that the part-timers, commonly called adjuncts, were entitled to the pay they sought, writing he found “a myriad of problems” with the district’s claims that its practices did not violate state law.
The case has made “a major impact throughout the state already,” as some districts have begun negotiating contract terms to give adjuncts what they’ve long sought — pay for time they spend prepping and grading, not just for class time, said the plaintiffs’ lawyer Eileen B. Goldsmith, in an interview. (EdSource published an investigative series in the issue, Gig By Gig At California’s Community Colleges, in 2022.)
The Long Beach district recently set aside $20 million for the settlement and associated costs, its spokesperson, Stacey Toda, told the Long Beach Post in an email. “Resolving this matter allows the District to avoid prolonged litigation and manage risk responsibly, consistent with standard practices across public higher education,” Toda wrote.
The settlement “is a big deal, it is tremendous,” said John Martin, chair of the California Part-Time Faculty Association, and a community college adjunct professor in Shasta and Butte counties.
Martin, a long-time advocate for better pay for adjuncts, is also the plaintiff in similar ongoing lawsuits, including one against the state Community College system.
In legal papers filed in the Superior Court, Goldsmith wrote that the proposed settlement, if approved, will result in 1,456 class members receiving more than “$11,000 — a very meaningful result for these class members, particularly given the novel issues in this litigation.”
The Long Beach Post contributed to this story.
EdSource is an independent nonprofit organization that provides analysis on key education issues facing California and the nation. LAist republishes articles from EdSource with permission.
Topline:
Within hours of FBI searches of the home and office of Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the district’s board of education scheduled a special meeting Thursday to discuss his employment.
What happened? The reason for the searches is unknown, although they have been the subject of widespread speculation. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency had a court-authorized warrant, but declined to provide additional details. The FBI told LAist’s media partner CBS LA that the underlying affidavit remained under court-ordered seal.
About the superintendent: Carvalho has been superintendent of LAUSD since 2022, and the board unanimously renewed his contract in 2025. Prior to coming to L.A., Carvalho had worked for the Miami-Dade County School District for decades, 30 years as a teacher and the last 14 years as the district's supervisor.
What does the board say? “The LAUSD Board of Education understands that today’s news has raised questions across our school communities,” the board posted in a statement Wednesday. “The Board’s priority remains ensuring that our students, families, and employees experience a safe and welcoming learning environment. Teaching and learning continue across our schools.”
