TRONC sells off the Los Angeles Times, Southern California's big presences at the Winter Olympics, the LA Phil's big centennial schedule.
LA Times sold to local billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong
Dem dollars: CA's GOP lawmakers are up against a wave of blue money
For Democrats hoping to take back control of the House this year, California is key.
Grassroots groups have sprung up around the state in recent months. Many of them are backing candidates hoping to challenge incumbent Republicans. But you can't run a campaign on pure enthusiasm; it takes money.
Well, according to campaign filings, that's just what Democrats have.
At least half of 14 incumbent Republicans were outraised by opponents in 2017. But is money an indicator of future success?
Professor Jack Pitney says it definitely doesn't hurt.
It doesn't necessarily guarantee success, but failure to raise money guarantees defeat.
When you're able to collectively raise more money than the incumbent, that's clearly a sign of incumbent weakness and strength from the challenging party.
Pitney is the Roy P Crocker Professor of Politics at Claremont McKenna College.
LA City Attorney on solutions for the vicious cycle of homeless citations
A Los Angeles Times report earlier this week showed a 31 percent increase in homeless arrests around the city, despite an overall drop in arrests in L.A. since 2011. The main reason was failure to pay off a ticket and appear in court. The tickets had been given out for a variety of infractions.
"The top one that we saw in our reporting was lying, sleeping or resting on the sidewalk, which is pretty much [an] offense that is only committed by homeless people," said L.A. Times reporter Gale Holland. "At other times, they have ticketed people for jaywalking, throwing a cigarette butt in the street or public urination."
Holland noted that a majority of homeless people do not have the resources to pay for such citations, or even appear in court to fight them.
One approach the city has taken to try and manage this revolving door of homeless debt and arrests in L.A. is something called a "citation clinic."
"These clinics are really quite extraordinary," said City Attorney Mike Feuer. "We say to a homeless person who might have an outstanding citation that is impeding him or her from getting a job, or accessing basic services, that we will help you eradicate those fines and citations in exchange for you performing a community obligation at a location where a service provider can lift you out of homelessness."
In two-and-a-half years, Feuer said the clinics have helped more than 2,000 people, but more still needs to be done.
Downtown LA gets new homeless donation meters
It's getting easier to use your spare change to make positive change for people who live outdoors. We're all familiar with parking meters. Now there are homeless donation meters.
Bright orange and smiley-faced, six of the new meters were unveiled in downtown Los Angeles Thursday, letting people donate coins or use a credit card to help a homeless outreach program. The money collected will go to the C3 Alliance, based in Skid Row, which helps homeless people in the area find housing.
The homeless donation meter program is the result of a collaboration between City Councilmember Jose Huizar and the nonprofit Flintridge Center. Huizar and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis are financially sponsoring two of the meters in Grand Park, with $3,500 per year. The other four meters are at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument.
Santa Ana considers rent control as housing costs rise
California's influence in the 2018 Winter Olympics
This coming Friday, February 9th is the date for the 2018 Winter Olympic opening ceremony. Taking place in Pyeongchang, South Korea - it will feature fan friendly sports like hockey, speed skating, snowboarding and of course ... curling.
But maybe you might not know that Los Angeles has a pretty rich representation of participating in the Winter Games, especially in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, when skier, and San Fernando Valley native, Bill Johnson hit the world stage.
We talk to Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, about all of the California athletes participating in the Games, and who might bring home the gold.
And tomorrow is the NBA trade deadline, and for the past year or so Lakers fans have been pinching themselves with anticipation because it was believed that the team was going to position itself to eventually land megastar Lebron James, or Paul George ... but according to Brian, that hope might be as good as a punctured basketball.
Unfortunately what the Lakers are doing is recalibrating based on new information, and that information might be that those guys aren't coming ... Lebron, it appears that LA is a city that's not really high on his radar and Paul George ... he's talked about coming to LA a lot, but the team he's currently playing for, the Oklahoma City Thunder are playing pretty well, and the partnership between George and another LA native, Russel Westbrook has really gotten very good. And so George has spent the last three weeks or so talking about how he likes it in Oklahoma City, and how much he likes playing with Westbrook - and that he's probably going to stay.
Oh well, there's always next year.
The LA Philharmonic is celebrating 100 years in epic fashion
The Los Angeles Philharmonic turns 100 this year and the orchestra has a lot of big events planned for the centennial season.
Some of the upcoming highlights include:
- California Soul, the opening night concert and gala on September 27, 2018 at 7 pm. This start to the season is a celebration of Golden State creativity, from John Adams to Frank Zappa.
- Celebrate L.A., an all-day free event on September 30, 2018. Walt Disney Concert Hall will be connected to the Hollywood Bowl in a giant street festival. The event ends with a concert at the Bowl, featuring Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and very special guests.
- WDCH Dreams, the opening week of concerts from September 27- October 6, 2018. Walt Disney Concert Hall will take the spotlight as media artist Refik Anadol transforms the Hall through projections on its steel skin using light, data and machine intelligence that allows materials from the LA Phil’s digital archives to “dream."
The Philharmonic's Chief Operating Officer, Chad Smith, who oversees programming, said this season, the orchestra is turning to its city for inspiration.
"The celebration of our 100th anniversary, we want it to be less about us and more about the amazing city that we occupy and that we share space with and the incredible creative talent that populates our stages. So throughout the season you'll see a real focus on Los Angeles."
This year orchestra is also looking to expand its audience by increasing inclusivity and making its concerts and programs more accessible, Smith said.
The Philharmonic has a goal of doubling the number of students in its "Youth Orchestra L.A.", which provides free music instruction to young people in under-served communities. In honor of the centennial season, Smith said there will also be a program called "100 for the 100," giving away 10,000 free tickets to various concerts this year.
"Historically there are lots of barriers that have been put up to people exploring and enjoying classical music and orchestral music, and one of those is an economic barrier, sometimes it's viewed as being very expensive... So we're trying to create that idea that our music is and can be accessible to the widest population of Los Angeles."
Smith said that it was the orchestra's responsibility was to expose as many people as possible to music, and that means expanding their programing to include a wider array of artists and musical styles.
As the Philharmonic looks back at its 100 years, Smith said the group's biggest achievement is being an example of success to others in the industry.
"The orchestral world tends to get beat up a little bit, and I think what we have found is if you program boldly and if you engage deeply with your community and you support the philanthropic community and you engage with community parters, it can be a success."