A Los Angeles City Council committee that has struggled for more than two years to draft an ordinance for Airbnb and other short-term rentals approved a set of potential regulations for the industry Tuesday.
The panel had been trying since 2016 to craft a policy that pleases both short-term rental hosts who say their livelihood depends on the practice and critics who say it is contributing to the city’s housing shortage and adversely affecting the quality of life in some neighborhoods.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The governing board of Southern California’s largest water wholesaler voted Tuesday to spend billions more dollars on a water-delivery tunnel project, despite objections by Los Angeles’ representatives on the board and concerns it will sharply raise residents’ water rates.
The California WaterFix project is designed to divert water from the Sacramento River as it enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and carry it to existing federal and state pumping stations in the southern part of the delta through one or two 35-mile tunnels.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Many Los Angeles County residents who make less than $54,000 a year are eligible for free tax preparation help, county officials said Tuesday as the April 17 tax deadline nears.
The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs has partnered with Free Tax Prep LA to match IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers with residents eligible for earned income tax credits.
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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) – A man in his mid-30s was seriously injured Tuesday in a fire at a four-story apartment building in Hollywood.
The blaze was reported about 3:55 p.m. in the 700 block of North Gramercy Place, according to Amy Bastman of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
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SANTA ANA (CNS) – Depending on who you talk to, a bloody brawl at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana two years ago was started by a foul-mouthed defense attorney or an expletive-spewing Orange County District Attorney’s Office investigator.
Attorneys presented opening statements Tuesday morning before a federal jury tasked with deciding the dueling lawsuits filed by attorney James Crawford and Dillon Alley stemming from their March 9, 2016, courthouse dust-up.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – One of two men accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a Boyle Heights park bathroom was in custody Tuesday and investigators were seeking the second suspect.
Two witnesses told officers they went into a bathroom at Hollenbeck Park, located in the 400 block of South St. Louis Street, about 3:45 p.m. Monday and saw two men, one of whom was on top of a woman who asked for help, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tony Im.
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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) – Actor/comedian Tracy Morgan, who spent seven seasons as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and co-starred in the NBC comedy “30 Rock,” received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday.
The ceremony coincided with the airing of the second episode of his TBS comedy “The Last O.G.”
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed a $10,000 reward Tuesday for information on the whereabouts of a reputed gang member accused of gunning down a 19-year-old man in Artesia in 2013.
Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended extending the reward, saying detectives believe it may encourage reluctant witnesses to come forward with information on Boren Lay. The reward, which was set to expire April 18, will now be available for at least the next 90 days.
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NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) – A fire at a single-story motel in Newport Beach Tuesday damaged about five of its 12 rooms, but nobody was hurt.
Firefighters sent to 6302 W. Coast Highway at 5:27 a.m. extinguished the flames in an hour and 15 minutes, a dispatcher said. The cause of the two-alarm blaze was under investigation.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Dodger Stadium will play host to the 2020 All-Star Game, the first time the team has hosted the mid-season classic since 1980, team co-owner Earvin “Magic” Johnson confirmed Tuesday.
“We as the Dodgers ownership group are extremely excited to host the 2020 MLB All-Star Game,” Johnson wrote on his Twitter page. “I know Los Angeles is going to make this the best All Star yet.”
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VALENCIA (CNS) – Searchers in Mendocino County were continuing their search Tuesday for an SUV that was swept into a river last week, and which matches the description of a vehicle in which four members of a missing Valencia family were riding on a trip from Portland, Oregon, to San Jose.
The members of the Thottapilly family — father Sandeep, 42, mother Soumya, 38, and their two children, son Siddhant, 12, and daughter Saachi, 9 — “suddenly stopped communicating with family in Valencia” last Thursday, and a notice of the family’s absence was posted Monday on Facebook as a “Missing” poster, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
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SANTA ANA (CNS) – State officials Tuesday agreed to keep the winter season homeless shelters in Santa Ana and Fullerton open for another 90 days in an effort to help officials continue moving transients out of the Plaza of the Flags area next to the Central Justice Center courthouse in Santa Ana.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who has been overseeing a federal lawsuit challenging the enforcement of anti-camping laws, last week said he was concerned about how county officials would handle the “download” of transients from the armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton when other county shelters are near capacity as transients are being moved out of the Civic Center area in Santa Ana.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Two Los Angeles police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man with a toy gun who was also run over by their squad car were cleared of any wrongdoing Tuesday by the city’s Board of Police Commissioners.
The civilian body that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department agreed unanimously with the findings of Chief Charlie Beck that the shooting was justified and within department policy.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Paralympic gold medal-winning sled hockey player Ralph DeQuebec of San Pedro was honored Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
The 5-foot-10-inch, 185-pound defenseman had three assists in three games as the U.S. won the gold medal in the Pyeongchang Paralympics last month.
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CARSON (CNS) – More than 1,000 job seekers are expected to attend a job fair Wednesday at a Carson community center, featuring 65-plus companies with hundreds of positions to fill.
The 2018 Spring Into Summer Hiring Spree is touted as one of the largest job fairs of its kind in the region this year, according to organizers.
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PASADENA (CNS) – Two men pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an attempted murder charge stemming from a shooting in Pasadena that left a woman wounded.
Khy Charles, 21, and Davian Thomas, 23, both of Pasadena, were arrested March 23 in connection with the shooting, which occurred about 10 p.m. March 3 in a residential neighborhood in the 1200 block of North Los Robles Avenue.
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POMONA (CNS) – A woman was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in state prison for running over her boyfriend with a car outside a La Puente motel after an argument in May 2016.
Sharon Kay Hood, 54, pleaded no contest Feb. 28 to one count of voluntary manslaughter and admitted personally using a deadly weapon — a car.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A San Pedro man is expected to plead guilty next week to threatening to kill Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.
Anthony Scott Lloyd, 45, faces up to 10 years in federal prison on the single count of threatening a United States official, according to a plea agreement filed March 26 and obtained by City News Service. He is scheduled to enter his plea Monday before U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in downtown Los Angeles.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Criminal charges were filed Tuesday against a Ventura County man who allegedly stole a Los Angeles Police Department patrol SUV in Hollywood and led officers on a chase to the San Fernando Valley last week.
Ethan Rutland, 28, is set to be arraigned Wednesday on one felony count each of driving or taking a law enforcement or fire department vehicle without consent and fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A City Council committee Tuesday approved a $4.9 billion contract for the design and construction of the planned Automated People Mover system at Los Angeles International Airport that will carry passengers among terminals and connect with nearby rail lines.
The 30-year contract, awarded to a consortium of companies known as LAX Integrated Express Solutions, also covers operation and maintenance of the 2.25-mile elevated guideway.
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EAST LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Detectives Tuesday released images of a man suspected of stabbing and critically injuring a fellow passenger aboard a transit bus in East Los Angeles.
The attack took place about 10:15 a.m. Monday in the 5700 block of Whittier Boulevard aboard a Montebello Public Transit bus, according to Deputy Sara Rodriguez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to have the county’s auditors review changes made by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to resolve past-due payments to service providers and better position the agency to manage a big jump in Measure H revenues.
A county audit released last week concluded that LAHSA was understaffed and had routinely failed to pay service providers on a timely basis, based on data for the period ended Oct. 25.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – An 18-year-old former Palos Verdes High School student accused of driving the getaway car in a fatal South Los Angeles shooting last year was ordered Tuesday to stand trial.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar rejected defense attorney Jovan Blacknell’s motion to dismiss the case against Cameron Terrell, who is charged with one count of murder for the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting death of 21-year-old Justin Holmes and two counts of attempted murder, along with gang and gun allegations.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Board of Supervisors approved a $20,000 reward Tuesday for information in the case of three friends from the Antelope Valley who went missing in January and are presumed dead.
Jose Lara, 65, Cuauhtemoc Lara, 39, and 49-year-old Julieta Arvizu disappeared in mid-January, leaving what seemed to be all their possessions behind, according to authorities.
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LYNWOOD (CNS) – Four people suffered apparent drug overdoses Tuesday in Lynwood, leaving three of them in cardiac arrest, authorities said.
Firefighters located the victims after being dispatched about 3:05 p.m. to the 4200 block of Cortland Street, according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department inspector.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Los Angeles County prosecutors determined that reasonable force was used during an officer-involved shooting last year that wounded an admitted gang member charged with killing his cousin in East Los Angeles and then opening fire on two other Whittier police officers, killing one and injuring the other.
In a four-page memorandum released Tuesday, prosecutors found that Whittier police Officers Thomas Osendorf and Patrick Hazell “used lawful force to take an armed and dangerous felon into custody” on Feb. 20, 2017.
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INGLEWOOD (CNS) – Inglewood Mayor James Butts and an attorney for the city Tuesday lashed out at the owners of the Forum over a lawsuit they filed challenging the city’s effort to build an arena to house the Los Angeles Clippers, calling the legal action a “sham.”
“We plan to defend the lawsuit vigorously,” Inglewood attorney Skip Miller said. “And I look forward to our day in court. Normally a defendant doesn’t say that, but I’m saying it here. Bring it on.”
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles City Council approved $50,000 rewards Tuesday in two unsolved homicide cases.
On Feb. 3 just before 2 a.m., police found Yonathan Delgadillo, 34, lying on the ground of a laundromat parking lot near the corner of 27th Street and San Pedro Street. He had been shot in the chest and was transported to USC-Medical Center, where he died on Feb. 28 due to complications from his injuries.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to get a full update on seismic retrofits required by law in roughly 15,000 buildings, a move that comes as the city is also exploring the creation of a program to help property owners pay for the upgrades.
The council passed an ordinance in 2015 requiring the retrofitting, but the high up-front costs can cause enormous financial strain on property owners and could prevent its implementation, according to a motion introduced by Councilman Mitchell Englander and approved last month.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A judge has ordered a film production company to pay Kevin Costner $985,000 to satisfy his claim that the firm used his name to attract investor interest in the movie “Shanghai Sojourners” at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2016, then later fired him, court papers obtained Tuesday show.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly Kendig said during a hearing last Wednesday that she will sign a judgment in favor of the actor-director on April 23 that will include any interest owed.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A transient accused of trying to scale the wall of a Beverly Hills mansion owned by singer Taylor Swift was charged Tuesday with trespassing.
Justin Christoph Lilly, 23, is set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon at the Airport Branch Courthouse on one misdemeanor count of trespassing and refusing to leave private property, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Special food items featuring ahi tuna and pork belly will be available at Dodger Stadium for the two-game interleague series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics that began Tuesday evening.
The Oaktown Poke Nachos consist of ahi tuna on top of cream cheese wontons, drizzled with eel sauce, spicy mayo, green onion, black sesame seeds and bonito flakes.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) – An Uber passenger is suing the ride-hailing company after he lost both legs in a traffic accident while helping his driver push his vehicle onto a freeway shoulder in Orange County in March.
Brendan Brock’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit names as defendants Uber Technolgies Inc., Uber driver Gregory Raymond Lopez, Uber insurance carrier Rasier-CA LLC, Hertz Vehicles LLC and Jonathan Aukusotino Tavita, who was allegedly driving a second vehicle that struck Brock.
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RESEDA (CNS) – Authorities Tuesday identified a man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Reseda.
Daniel Carver, 29, died at the scene of the shooting, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. Monday in the 6500 block of Corbin Avenue, said coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter. His home town was not known.
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IRVINE (CNS) – A water main break in Irvine Tuesday flooded some streets, police said.
The problem was reported about 3 a.m. near Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive, according to the Irvine Police Department.