Belmont Beacon
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 - DECEMBER 21, 2014
belmontbeacon.com
VOLUME 1, NO. 33
Ride-Sharing App Uber: Sexual Offenses U.S. Dept. Against Passengers and Lawsuit for of Education Insufficient Background Checks Grants $2.8 Million to by jennifer schlueter CSULB to Help Hispanics Attain Graduate Degrees By Shayne Schroeder
and new housing, retail and a hotel. The project creates thousands of local construction jobs for a decade and will increase revenue for the city so we can reinvest dollars in our neigh-
Thanks to the U.S. Department of Education’s Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans Program, Hispanics will have more opportunities to attain graduate degrees. It has approved the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) project proposal for a grant totaling about $2.8 million over the next five years. The project, Hispanic Opportunities for Graduate Access and Retention (HOGAR), will be used to further postbaccalaureate opportunities for Hispanic and underprivileged students. It will develop the graduate program at CSULB, support student outreach and provide monetary support for recruitment and travel for graduate students. It will also provide funding and mentoring for faculty desiring to engage in grant writing and other scholarly work that includes graduate students. Babette Benkin, director
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- Photo by JD Lasica
Travis Kalanick, founder-CEO of Uber, at the 2014 Launch Festival .
While Uber has been banned in Portland, Nevada, Delhi, Spain, Thailand, etc. for unfair and illegal business practices as well as a rape incident, several other cities and countries are also investigating a potential boycott of the app that is competing
with taxi services. According to the official website, Uber currently provides 52 countries with a (mostly) cheaper alternative for cab rides with private drivers and their cars. As convenient as the services are, stories about (sexual) assaults and kidnappings by
Uber drivers, some of them with a felony background, are surfacing from numerous violated passengers, prompting to question the app’s background check procedures. Last Tuesday, San FranPlease see page 2
New Downtown Civic Center a Game Changer A Letter from Mayor Robert Garcia Last night, Long Beach went big and approved a project team to build a new downtown Civic Center. After many months of public meetings, careful study, and healthy debate, Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners was unanimously se-
lected by the City Council. This is great news for our city: We are going to get a new Civic Center and revitalize our downtown. The project includes a new Main Library, Lincoln Park, City Hall, Port Headquarters,