Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

A Southland composer has set out to introduce and remind listeners about the fundamental beliefs of American democracy. He's doing so through a symphonic work that blends soloists, a choir, a full orchestra, with the speeches of two iconic presidents - and the present one.

Steve Barr, the founder and chairman of the influential charter school company Green Dot Public Schools, is stepping down from day to day activities and his position as chair. A spokeswoman said today Barr is leaving Green Dot to work on “national education issues.” She gave no other details about his departure.

Police arrested 14 protesters at a University of California Regents finance committee meeting at UCLA today.

The first Southland monument dedicated to recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor is about two-thirds finished on a patch of grass next to Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Groups that want to take over governance of several dozen Los Angeles Unified schools have less than a week to apply. The process is part of a major policy change approved three months ago to improve education by handing over control of up to 300 low-performing and new campuses to groups that submit reform plans.

Los Angeles Unified officials and elected leaders cut the ribbon Monday on Central L.A. High School #9, the district’s shiny new arts high school.

Los Angeles city officials have received complaints that dispensaries have opened up within a few feet of public schools. That would be illegal if the L.A. City Council approves new restrictions to regulate the city’s ballooning number of medical marijuana dispensaries.

After a nearly 20-year tenure that saw improvements in academics, finances, and sports, Steven Sample announced Monday he will retire before fall of next year.

The federal government says its economic stimulus package from earlier this year saved or created more than 600,000 jobs. A small portion of those funds went to arts organizations, including some in the Southland that used the money to save jobs.

The Day of the Dead, the Latin American observance that takes place Monday, hasn’t displaced Halloween in the U.S. However, a scholar argues in a new book that the observance is becoming this country’s newest holiday.

Dozens of long-time substitute teachers protested outside Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters Tuesday. They're angry about a deal struck a few months ago between teachers union leaders and district administrators that gives priority for substitute teaching jobs to about 2,000 beginning teachers the district had laid off.

Guy Mehula, the chief of the Los Angeles Unified School District's highly successful school construction program, has retired.