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UCLA awarded $20M to establish center for study of microbial organisms
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M O N D AY, F E B R U A RY 20- F E B R U A RY 26, 2023
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V I S I T PA S A D E N A I N D E P E N D E N T. C O M
V O L U M E 27,
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Mayor Bass’ encampment reduction effort expands to Miracle Mile By City News Service
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city program aiming to provide housing to those living in encampments in Los Angeles is launching in Miracle Mile, Mayor Karen Bass and Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky announced Thursday. The specific encampments are located near the intersection of Sixth Street and Fairfax Avenue. According to Bass’ office, the Inside Safe Initiative will work to identify the “highest need encampments” that have a chronic and high demand for services. Using citywide coordination between various departments and agencies, the plan calls for identifying interim housing and eventually permanent housing resources for each person living in the encampments. Bass announced the program after declaring a local state of emergency over homelessness in her first week in office. Officials with the mayor’s office said more than 100 people were
LA Mayor Karen Bass tours an Inside Safe initiative location. | Photo courtesy of Mayor Karen Bass/Twitter
housed as a result of the first two Inside Safe sites in Hollywood and Venice.
“Inside Safe is about putting quick fixes aside,” Bass said in a statement.
“Together — with the county and service providers, this new program
is a real solution that proves there is hope in Los Angeles. Together, we
will confront this crisis by bringing unhoused Angelenos inside for good.” The initiative also launched in South Los Angeles earlier this month. Yaroslavsky and Bass announced the initiative a day after Yaroslavsky voted against expanding zones where the city’s anti-camping law would apply. She cited a lack of coordinated engagement strategy in making credible offers of housing and services across the city’s 15 districts, and criticized how the 41.18 ordinance enforced had been enforced in her district prior to her taking office in December. “For many of the people brought inside today, tonight will be their first night sleeping in a bed in years,” Yaroslavsky said of Inside Safe. “And tomorrow, they will wake up with services and stability to help them get back on their feet.”
Man suspected in shootings of Jews leaving synagogues in Pico-Robertson district arrested By City News Service
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man suspected of shooting two Jewish men after they left synagogues in the PicoRobertson district less than 24 hours apart was in custody Friday. “The facts of the case led to this crime being investigated as a hate crime,” according to a Los Angeles Police Department statement. Federal civil rights charges will be filed against the man, who “has a history of animus towards the Jewish community,” according to a statement from the Jewish Federation of
Greater Los Angeles. The suspect was tracked to an area in Riverside County and investigators began working collaboratively with federal and regional partners to locate him, police said. The suspect was arrested at 5:45 p.m. Thursday without incident, police said. Detectives recovered several items of evidence including a rifle and a handgun, police said. The suspect’s name was not released. The LAPD announced before the arrest it was
“re-allocating police resources to provide a highly visible and preventative presence in the area.” “In an abundance of caution, there will continue to be an increased police presence and patrols around Jewish places of worship and surrounding neighborhoods through the weekend,” the department announced following the arrest. The first shooting occurred around 9:55 a.m. Wednesday in the 1400 block of Shenandoah Street, near Pico Boulevard, between Robertson and
La Cienega boulevards. A man in his 40s was shot in the back while walking to his vehicle, authorities told the Los Angeles Times. The second occurred at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of South Bedford Street, two blocks south of Pico Boulevard and one block east of Shenandoah Street. The man was shot in an arm, The Times reported. Both victims survived. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna wrote on his Twitter page that his department “will increase
patrol checks around Jewish synagogues and Jewish centers in our jurisdictions. Patrol stations will remain vigilant and report any threats of violence to Major Crimes.” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that “antisemitism and hate crimes have no place in our city or our country” “Those who engage in either will be caught and held fully accountable,” Bass said. “At a time of increased antisemitism, these acts have understandably set communities on edge.
“Just last December, I stood blocks away from where these incidents occurred as we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah together. Now, my pledge to the Pico-Robertson community and to the city of Los Angeles as a whole, is that we will fight this hatred vigorously and work every day to defeat it.” Anyone with information on the shootings was urged to call the LAPD at 877-5273247. Anonymous tips can be made through Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or at www.lacrimestoppers.org.