LOS ANGELES — Air quality officials say they have not detected increased radiation levels in Southern California from a crippled nuclear power plant in Japan. The South Coast Air Quality Management District said Thursday there’s been no change in background levels of radiation. The agency operates three stations around Southern... Read more →

BETHESDA, Md. — LaSalle Hotel Properties is buying the Viceroy Santa Monica hotel for $80.1 million. The real estate investment trust said Thursday that the 162-room hotel is subject to a ground lease with the City of Santa Monica, which expires on Sept. 25, 2065. The property, which is one block from Santa Monica Beach, will continue... Read more →

SMO — Sixty artists will demonstrate their wares at the fifth annual Airport Artwalk, a festival celebrating local products, food and fun in conjunction with the Buy Local Expo taking place on Saturday. Visitors will get the opportunity to peruse works of art and take in theater, courtesy of the Ruskin Theater group, and tunes... Read more →

CITYWIDE — As news stations play and replay the catastrophic damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami that struck an unsuspecting Japan, the Santa Monica community has banded together to support those affected by the disaster both abroad and closer to home. As of Thursday, nearly 10,000 people are thought to have died in the... Read more →

CITYWIDE — Around Christmas, Dominic Smith began wondering what it would be like to be a soldier in Afghanistan, far from home, family and the comforts of the holidays. Smith, a firefighter with the Santa Monica Fire Department, was bothered by the fact that the Afghan war had dropped from the headlines, and felt that not enough was... Read more →

SUNSET PARK — Jin Yang and his wife, Huili Gao, had a problem that many people in Santa Monica wish they had — a spacious backyard, perfect for gardening. Unfortunately, they also had no time to tend it. Step out of their Sunset Park home, and you see a tiered yard with dedicated plots that boast more weeds than roses, or... Read more →

SMO — As city officials begin to look toward the possibilities of a post-2015 Santa Monica Airport, the commission that is meant to advise them on all things aviation received its fifth member, who has a history of involvement with an anti-airport neighborhood group and, like his four colleagues, has no background in aviation. David... Read more →

CITY HALL — City staff took out a $60 million loan Friday to provide immediate capital for four redevelopment projects that will enter the design and build phases in upcoming months. The deal, struck between City Hall and Wells Fargo, is a boon to the city, said City Manager Rod Gould. “It was a major interdepartmental... Read more →

SAMOHI — On March 18, a bevy of food trucks will descend on Santa Monica streets near the Samohi campus for a lunch period of eclectic eats. While that spells fun for most, Aidan Nathanson and his business partner Sean Robins view it as research. The two seniors plan on operating a food truck themselves under the name of Grub Tough, a... Read more →

Dear EarthTalk: Instances of people with thyroid problems seems to be on the rise. Is there an environmental connection? Dora Light, Waukesha, Wis. The American Cancer Society reports that thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers that have been on the rise in recent decades, with cases... Read more →

CITYWIDE City Hall has created a hotline customers can use to report on the performance of taxi cab companies recently awarded franchises by the City Council. A taxi franchise system was adopted by the council in 2009 that limited the number of cab companies operating in Santa Monica to five. The motivation behind the move was to cut down... Read more →

DOWNTOWN LA — Officials with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District have been ordered to release the personnel file of a high school teacher who sexually harassed a 13-year-old female student at Santa Monica High School. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruth Kwan ruled Thursday that parents who requested the information had a... Read more →

CITY HALL — City attorneys reached a $24,000 settlement with an elderly man that was injured when a Big Blue Bus driver allegedly pulled away from a stop abruptly, causing him to fall. According to a complaint filed on March 10, 2010 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Steven Overoye boarded the BBB line 2 at approximately 7 p.m. on New... Read more →

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. West Coast is under a tsunami watch following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off northeastern Japan. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center says a watch is in effect for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia. The center says people in coastal communities should be on alert and... Read more →

SM BEACH — The Santa Monica Pier and beach parking lots were closed for several hours Friday morning as residents and public safety officials braced for a possible tsunami following a magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan. Small surges of ocean water hit the Southern California coast, but no significant damage was reported. SMPD... Read more →