Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

Several hundred Los Angeles Unified School District administrators and other employees worked the phones for a day Monday and visited door-to-door in search of truants and dropouts. Their aim was to persuade those young people back into classrooms.

At a boisterous campus rally on Wednesday, California Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico called on CSU Dominguez Hills President Mildred Garcia to end a plan that could lead to the elimination of academic programs and majors if the campus undergoes state budget cuts next year.

While most of the campus endures budget cuts, one academic program at California State University Dominguez Hills began the school year in a much larger facility thanks to a partnership with the Veterans Administration hospital in Long Beach. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez says it’s the state’s only academic training program for people who fit artificial limbs and braces.

First came the picnic; the formal sit-down dinner is next. Five days after a free concert for 18,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl, Gustavo Dudamel is set to conduct the orchestra at his inaugural concert as L.A. Philharmonic Music Director at Disney Hall Thursday. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has more on the orchestral season opener.

A California state senator is now backing editors of the campus newspaper at Los Angeles City College in a struggle with administrators. The newspaper says the college cut its budget in retaliation for articles critical of administrators. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the story.

Eighteen thousand people at a sold out Hollywood Bowl welcomed Gustavo Dudamel on Saturday night as the next musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Elected officials broke ground Wednesday on a two-mile storm drain project in Long Beach that’s set to give relief to residents who’ve endured up to three-foot floods in recent years.

A Los Angeles-based financial literacy group launched a five-year, $20 million national effort to keep teenagers in school by combining lessons in personal finance and life skills. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the story.

More than 500 University of California at Irvine students and employees gathered for a noontime rally at the campus plaza to protest system-wide budget cuts. The action was part of a day of protests at all U.C. campuses.

At their regular meeting in Long Beach Wednesday, trustees of the California State University moved forward with a request to the state that would restore about $800 million to the system’s budget. Outside that meeting, faculty, staff, and students staged a largely quiet demonstration to protest the half-billion dollars in cuts in effect now. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the story.

Employees at the 85-branch Los Angeles County Library system are in contract talks. Fearful of job cuts, they urged administrators to adopt a more efficient book-buying plan to save money. More on the story from KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez.

After eight months and more than 500 gallons of paint, two Los Angeles artists unveiled Friday a mural project that’s reshaped the climate at an 82-year-old middle school. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has the story.