End Suddenly in Sight for Seemingly-Endless 'Day Fire'
The 'Day Fire' in Ventura County has blackened more than 160,000 acres, but after almost four weeks, victory may be at hand. Thanks to calmer winds, cooler temperatures and the fire laying down, firefighters finished almost 34 miles of fire line, Friday. Los Padres National Forest spokesman Charley Johnson says the brush and timber fire is 63% contained and should be fully contained by Monday night. Evacuated residents of rural Lockwood Valley and nearby mountain towns have been cleared to return home. Johnson says it's cost more than $57 million, so far, to fight the fifth-largest wildfire in California history. The Ventura County Fire Department says fire crews saved $20 million worth of property.
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Private Funds Reportedly Paying for Governor's Public Appearances
The Los Angeles Times reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is tapping a tax-exempt group he set up in 2004, to help pay for splashy bill-signing photo ops as he runs for re-election. That saves taxpayers' money on official functions that do double duty as re-election campaign appearances. However, the Times reports there's no accountability. Money donated to the Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth is not covered by campaign-contribution limits or financial-disclosure requirements. Major donors include the Southern California Edison Company, the San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Company and other corporations with business before the state.
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UCLA May Save King-Drew Hospital for LA County
First, he signed a bill encouraging, but not requiring Los Angeles County Supervisors to organize a task force to evaluate the finances and operations of the county's health care system. Now, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'll look into ways of keeping the county's embattled Martin Luther King, Jr.-Drew Medical Center open. Los Angeles County Supervisors seem to be leaning toward handing King-Drew over to management at the much better-run Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The County Health Services Department will make its own recommendations, Tuesday. Scandal-plagued King-Drew recently failed a do-or-die inspection by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and will lose all $200 million of its federal funding by the end of the end of the year. There has been talk of selling it to a private company or turning the hospital into an out-patient clinic.
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Santa Rosa Island Hunting Bill Pushed Through
Despite a previous federal court ruling to the contrary, deer and elk trophy hunts will continue on Santa Rosa Island off the Santa Barbara coast, under a measure that San Diego-area Congressman Duncan Hunter (D-Alpine) inserted into a defense spending bill. The appropriations bill has been agreed upon by House and Senate negotiators, meaning it will likely become law. Hunter has said he wants Santa Rosa Island to become a hunting preserve for disabled military veterans, but veterans' groups say the island terrain is too rough for people in wheel chairs. The deer and elk are not native to the island and were scheduled to be removed. Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) has been fighting Hunter, with support from California US Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
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Hollywood's Landmark Capitol Records Building Sold
The iconic Capitol Records building in Hollywood -- that looks like a giant stack of 45-rpm records topped by a spire resembling a phonograph needle -- has been sold. Capitol's parent company, EMI Records, announced it's selling the 13-story tower at the corner of Hollywood and Vine to New York-based Argent Ventures for $50 million. Argent is a real estate development firm. As part of the deal, Capitol Records and Capitol Studios will stay in the building, built in 1956. Singers Johnny Mercer, Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys are among the legends who have recorded songs in the Capitol Studios. At night, a light on top of the tower spells out "Hollywood" in Morse code.
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Massive Labor Day Fire Not Going Away
Some 4,400 firefighters battling the 159,000-acre Day Fire in Ventura County were worried that erratic winds and dry weather would cause flare-ups Thursday, as flames burning in thick chaparral and dense stands of pine trees continued threatening hundreds of homes in rural Lockwood Valley and nearby mountain towns. Los Padres National Forest Resource Officer Melody Fountain says fire crews made a stand in Lockwood Valley Wednesday night, saving 40 homes. US Forest Service spokesmen say fighting the fire has cost more than $53 million. Some of the bills will be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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Survey Says CA Economy Downshifting
California's slowing housing market will keep dragging down the state's economy next year, but will not lead to a recession, says the latest economic forecast from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The hardest-hit industries are home construction, home sales and home loan financing. The Anderson Forecast predicts California will run into an economic speed bump about the same time as the national economy hits a rough patch. Among other things, UCLA economist Ryan Ratcliff expects 100,000 California construction jobs will be lost before things bottom out in 2008.
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LA Told to Get Off Dime, Fix Owens River
Once again, the City of Los Angeles has been told to restore a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens River that it largely sucked dry, along with Owens Lake, early in the 20th Century. The Los Angeles Times reports a Riverside state appeals court has upheld a lower court order blocking use of the 200-mile Second Los Angeles Aqueduct until the river is back to normal. The LA Department of Water and Power originally agreed to recharge the Lower Owens River aquifer and restore its riparian habitat back in 1997. Officials say the DWP has missed 13 deadlines. Last year an Inyo County judge hit the city with fines of $5,000-per-day for non-compliance. The fines have been piling up since September 5, 2005.
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IE Leaders Want In on LA Port Planning
Diesel freight trucks and trains heading into and out of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are clogging freeways and dirtying up the air in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, say Inland Empire political leaders who want a voice in regional planning around the ports. They met Wednesday at San Bernardino's historic Santa Fe train station. San Bernardino County Supervisor William Postmus says “There are tendencies by leaders in Los Angeles County and legislators from Los Angeles to focus on goods movement as a port issue only.” Truck traffic on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway and the Pomona (60) Freeway is expected to double by 2025, according to the Southern California Association of Governments.
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Santa Barbara News-Press Workers Vote Union
The fight goes on between Santa Barbara News-Press employees and publisher Wendy McCaw, with journalists voting Wednesday to join the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The News-Press issued a statement suggesting employees were coerced by union organizers, adding “the paper will consider all its options.” The bad blood blew up in public over the summer, when more than a dozen top editors, reporters and a four-decade columnist quit, accusing McCaw of meddling with news coverage. The National Labor Relations Board must certify the 33-to-6 vote in the Santa Barbara newsroom election.
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Schwarzenegger Leads Angelides, but by How Much?
Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger leads Democratic challenger Phil Angelides by 17 percentage points among likely voters, says a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. The PPIC gives the governor 48% support, versus 31% for the state treasurer. That's a four-point gain for Schwarzenegger since last month. But, a new poll by the Field Research Corporation shows the governor up by "just" 10 points, a two-point gain in two months. The second survey gives Schwarzenegger the backing of 44% of likely voters compared to 34% for Angelides. That's down from a 17-point Field Poll lead enjoyed by the governor back in February 2005.
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Massive 'Day Fire' Threatens Rural Ventura County Homes
Flames from the nearly 149,000-acre Day Fire in Ventura County jumped a fire break Tuesday, racing to within a half mile of some homes in rural Lockwood Valley. US Forest Service spokesman Larry Comerford says fire crews turned back the flames with the help of water-dropping aircraft. More airplanes were called out Wednesday. Authorities have suggested that Lockwood Valley residents clear out, but many are staying. Firefighters say six cabins, barns and other unoccupied structures burned down during Tuesday's flare-up. The brush and timber fire burning largely in Los Padres National Forest is the biggest wildfire in the country.
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Drug Offenders Will Be 86'ed from LA's Skid Row
It's an untested legal clean-up tool: people convicted of drug crimes will be barred from hanging out on downtown LA's Skid Row while on probation, under a new policy put together by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Los Angeles police, the county probation department and LA County superior courts. DA Steve Cooley says judges will issue "stay away" orders covering the Fifth Street corridorbetween Broadway and Central avenues, when sentencing people for drug convictions.
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LA Supes Focus on Fate of King-Drew
Los Angeles County will appeal Martin Luther King, Jr.-Drew Medical Center's looming loss of all federal funding to an administrative law judge in the US Health and Human Services Department, says county Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke. The board finished a second day of closed-door huddling over the hospital's fate, Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times reports county supervisors will focus on two possible options: turning King-Drew over to a private hospital company or to managers of another LA County-owned hospital.
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