LOS ANGELES — The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employees can’t win certain damages, back pay or reinstatement even if discrimination played a substantial role in their termination if the employer can prove it would have made the same decision regardless. The court did not clear employers of all liability, however. Employees may still recoup attorney fees and be entitled to injunctive or declaratory relief assuming that they can prove that discrimination was a “substantial factor” motivating their release. [...]
Archive for Category: "Government"
Other News
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Miriam battles the bulldozers
The recent $4 million beautification of Ocean Park Boulevard between Main Street and Lincoln Boulevard has received rave reviews. But Miriam Ginzburg, an Ocean Park resident since 1948, wasn’t one of them. One day during the construction Miriam was sitting in the house she’s lived in since 1957, when she had an unsettling experience. (Pun intended.) When the asphalt-flattening bulldozer rolled back and forth, Miriam’s walls shook, or, as she recalled, “It felt like a 7.0 earthquake.” She suddenly saw [...]
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Columns Featured Laughing Matters Opinion -
Is this really how we honor our nation’s veterans?
Just in time for Memorial Day, we’re being treated to a generous serving of praise and grandstanding by politicians, corporations and others with similarly self-serving motives eager to go on record as being pro-military. Patriotic platitudes aside, however, America has done a deplorable job of caring for her veterans. We erect monuments for those who die while serving in the military, yet for those who return home, there’s little honor to be found. Despite the fact that the U.S. boasts [...]
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Columns Opinion That Rutherford Guy -
Letter: Not a fair measurement
Editor: At the historic Jan. 8 City Council meeting, over 200 people marched to save the Pico Youth & Family Center (PYFC), the only organic youth center built by Pico Neighborhood residents, and decry the City Hall reports as false. Twenty eight of 29 benchmarks were met, yet the city staff, under the direction of City Manager Rod Gould, asserted that PYFC did not pass the test. This is what rhetoric scholar Ralph Cintron calls the “Discourse of Measurement.” The [...]
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Letters Opinion -
Letter: Tax plan
Editor: It seems to me that there is a way to make sure all companies pay their fair share of taxes regardless of where they have set up their corporate offices. My proposed change to the IRS tax code: A corporation selling products or services operating in the U.S. pays taxes on all worldwide sales regardless of where an item was sold. The company can deduct taxes paid to other countries, but must deduct from those tax payments any incentives [...]
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Letters Opinion -
City Hall rethinking water usage
CITYWIDE — Taking a shower, flushing toilets, watering the lawn — daily life requires water, and managing that need in a town of 90,000 residents and upwards of 200,000 workers and visitors is a challenge that City Hall is trying to conquer. City officials saddled themselves with a stringent goal in 2010, the last time that they took on the Urban Water Management Plan required by the state, committing the city to consume only 123 gallons per person, per day [...]
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Environment Featured News -
Mr. Checkpoint goes to court
CITY HALL — A Santa Monica resident known for his website that shares DUI checkpoint locations has found himself on the other side of the coin fighting a civil rights case with City Hall over a 2011 incident in which he was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk. Sennett Devermont, the man behind MrCheckpoint.com, alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that the Santa Monica police officer who pulled him over for an illegal right-hand turn against a red light [...]
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Crime Featured News -
Playoffs: Samohi moves on; New Roads out
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Santa Monica softball used the long ball to dispatch No. 1 seeded Segerstrom from the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs on Tuesday. Samohi’s Sara Garcia blasted two home runs in the contest and starting pitcher Whitney Jones overcame two early runs to shut down Segerstrom’s offense. The win sends Samohi to the third round of the playoffs today, Thursday, at home against Paloma Valley. The game begins at 3:15 p.m. Samohi finished [...]
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Featured High School Sports -
Brief: Art for a cause
The seventh annual ART for CLARE event will be held at Bergamot Station on Sunday, June 2, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The charity event will include an art action with works by Ed Ruscha, Kim McCarty and actor Anthony Hopkins; a silent auction with items ranging from luxury vacations to sports memorabilia; live music and food from some of the area’s best eateries, including Lemonade and El Cholo. Bergamot Station is located at 2525 Michigan Ave. Advance tickets [...]
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Arts Entertainment Life Non Profits -
Brief: Civic to have one more show
The Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra will perform a farewell concert for the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Saturday, May 25, before the historic venue closes at the end of June. The concert will feature works from renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, such as movements from “The Sleeping Beauty Ballet” and his “Fifth Symphony.” The finale of the “1812 Overture” will end the concert. Santa Monica resident, professor of cello at UCLA and Grammy Award-winner Antonio Lysy will be a featured [...]
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Entertainment Featured Life -
Premiere with Placido a rare treat
It’s not everyday that an opera conducted by a superstar premieres in your backyard, but that’s what took place at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica last Friday. LA Opera Off Grand is a new series that will bring opera to venues beyond LA Opera’s Music Center homebase. “Dulce Rosa,” based on a short story by Isabel Allende, marks the series debut and the first time The Broad has hosted a fully-staged opera. LA Opera General Director Placido Domingo conducts [...]
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Culture Watch Featured Life -
If your name is ‘mud’ can ‘grunge’ be far behind?
Matthew McConaughey is the personification of mud, physically and emotionally. “Mud” is the story of a lovelorn loser and the teenage boys who help him evade the avenging family of a man he’s killed. It’s also a love story in which everyone loses. And a bittersweet coming-of-age story — for Mud (McConaughey) as well as for the boys. While the plot and the surroundings would lead one to assume that the film is going to be an emotional downer, it [...]
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Featured Life Play Time -
New source of natural gas
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes. Coal gas had its downside. For one thing, [...]
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Columns Opinion Your Column Here -
Letter: Who’s it for?
Editor: Will the light rail really serve the residents of Santa Monica? The more I read about the Expo Metro rail, the more I get an impression that it is built only to bring more people to Santa Monica and not to serve the residents of the city. There is no mention of the parking arrangements if you want to use the Metro rail. After all, very few people live within walking distance from the rail stations. At least in [...]
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Letters Opinion -
Letter: No civility
Editor: Last Thursday evening I was looking forward to hearing more about the environmental impact report concerning the Miramar Hotel’s proposed development from City Hall’s Planning Director David Martin and his staff. When I got to the library, it was clear that a professionally organized opposition group was hell bent on sabotaging the meeting. Flyers were being handed out which were nothing more than scurrilous attacks on the owner of the hotel, computer innovator Michael Dell. After a short presentation [...]
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Letters Opinion -
City Hall calls for cuts, increased fees to balance budget
CITY HALL — Life in Santa Monica could get more expensive for residents, visitors and businesses as City Hall works to close a potential $13.2 million budget gap that looms within the next four years without cutting services residents have come to expect. The City Council will get its first crack at proposals next week, which include new programs that officials hope will net $1.1 million as well as increased fees that could bring in $1.45 million in new revenue. [...]
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Featured Government News -
UC hospitals say patients safe despite strike
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of workers at University of California medical centers began a two-day strike on Tuesday that prompted the postponement of dozens of surgeries amid reassurances that patients were safe. A union representing some 13,000 hospital pharmacists, nursing assistants, operating room scrubs and other health care workers began the walkout at 4 a.m. at medical facilities in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Francisco and Sacramento. Nurses were not on strike, emergency rooms were open, and about 450 [...]
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