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Locals set up nonprofit to clothe kids

DISTRICTWIDE — Some people have closets bursting with clothes, be they’re last season’s leftovers or gifts that never quite fit. Jake Wachtel and Suzanne Goldman wish they had that problem. The duo began a nonprofit called Threads that takes gently used or new clothes and gets them to local people in need, and the Santa Monica and Malibu communities have backed them up. The concept was born last year when Wachtel’s daughter, a third grader at Grant Elementary at the [...]
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Education Featured News Public
Man pleads to stealing over 40 bikes

CITYWIDE — A Los Angeles man is responsible for stealing over 40 bicycles mostly from carports in Santa Monica, authorities are reporting. Pedro Ayala, 45, was arrested on May 6 by Santa Monica Police Department detectives. Ayala plead no contest to one count of grand theft and was sentenced on May 16 to 180 days in county jail and three years of probation, a spokesperson with the District Attorney’s Office said. Most of the bicycles were beach cruisers and mountain [...]
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Crime Featured News
Bulger’s ex-enforcer grilled about varying stories

BOSTON — A former hit man who admitted killing 20 people insisted Wednesday that he told authorities the truth when he implicated James “Whitey” Bulger in 11 slayings, but he acknowledged lying in the past, including to a close friend just before he shot him in the head. John Martorano is one of three former Bulger loyalists who agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Bulger at his racketeering trial. Bulger is accused of playing a role in 19 [...]
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Crime Featured News
Brief: Relay for Life returns

The American Cancer Society celebrates its 100th anniversary as the Relay for Life fundraiser returns to Santa Monica College on July 20 and 21. The 24-hour event brings together the community to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember lost loved ones and fight back against the disease, all while raising funds for the American Cancer Society. “The thing about relay that stands out to me in particular is its scope. It’s an event designed to appeal [...]
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Briefs Featured News
Brief: Book giveaway

On Friday, June 21 and Monday, June 24 the education committee of the Santa Monica Palisades Masonic Lodge will give away about 500 books to children in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District summer reading program. The giveaway will take place at McKinley Elementary School from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on both days. Children from second to sixth grade and those in the special education program will each receive a free book of their choice from a variety of [...]
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Briefs News
Brief: Help white sharks

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife seeks public comments on whether the northeastern Pacific Ocean population of white sharks should be listed as a threatened or endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Game Commission declared the white shark as a candidate species March 1 after receiving a petition for candidacy in August 2012. State wildlife officials are now conducting an in-depth status review slated for completion by March 2014 to provide the commission with [...]
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Environment News
The new age of Ophelia

Puppetry is the art of pulling strings to animate inanimate objects. You could say this about City Garage’s new production “Opheliamachine” as well as the Geffen’s “Yes, Prime Minister.” Each involves the act of being manipulated by forces outside oneself. In the case of City Garage, once again this outstanding local company engages in thought provocation. In contrast to the antic treatment of Hamlet and Ophelia in Santa Monica Rep’s “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” which closes on [...]
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Culture Watch Featured Life
Stamp your feet with joy

How do you get an overweight, out-of-shape Jewish lady “of a certain age” to join a flamenco class? You nag. You nudge. You kvetch. You promise her ice cream. Or you take her to see Stephen Sachs’ new play “Heart Song” at The Fountain Theatre. Sachs, The Fountain Theatre’s co-founder and co-artistic director, has had a string of award-winning plays in recent years (including “Cyrano” and “Bakersfield Mist”), but this latest is in reality a love sonnet to a dance [...]
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Featured Life Play Time
Honoring Lautenberg’s commitment to chemical safety

The American public lost a strong champion for chemical disclosure and health and safety oversight when Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) died on June 3. The nation mourns his passing. Elected to the Senate in 1982, Sen. Lautenberg introduced the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which established the Toxics Release Inventory. This law requires a number of industries to publicly report the toxic emissions their facilities produce; this exposure has significantly reduced pollution. Taking the lead on this legislation was [...]
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Columns Opinion Your Column Here
Letter: Renters first

Editor: Here they go again! Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights every year has to think up more and more devious tricks on apartment owners to get re-elected. They have ruled over us for 35 years by kicking apartment owners and scaring renters into voting them back in, even after they have sold us out long ago to developers and tourism and their union cronies. This year they did a double whammy by increasing rents by only 1 percent and forcing [...]
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Letters Opinion
Letter: George saw this coming

Editor: Since it is obvious to me that approximately 99 percent of Santa Monicans are against overbuilding, I’ve been trying to figure out who the powerful few are that always go against the will of the people and get their way in spite of it. What are they thinking? Why do they win? In the last city election, I tried to vote for candidates who would slow growth, but it was very hard to sort out the facts about candidates [...]
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Letters Opinion
Letter: Ray of hope

Editor: Since Santa Monica’s transformation into Dubai by the bay, its warmth and charms are gone. It has turned into a money pit for developers, plain and simple. The Coastal Commission has it right as far as a height cap of 45 feet. That isn’t going to happen, instead we are going to see 84-feet buildings being built in Downtown. That’s six-story buildings where one- and two-story buildings once stood. I would love to see a freeze on all development [...]
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Letters Opinion
Man pleads guilty to assault with bicycle

THIRD STREET PROMENADE — For the first time in Santa Monica someone plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon after seriously wounding a pedestrian last year while recklessly cycling near the bustling Third Street Promenade, police said. Rocky Martin, a 38-year-old Los Angeles resident, was sentenced to three years formal felony probation and 30 days of community service on May 31 for striking a female pedestrian with his bike on June 24, 2012 after failing to stop at a [...]
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Crime Featured News Transportation
L.A. tentatively bans plastic bags

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles is one council vote away from becoming the nation’s largest city to pass a ban on plastic grocery bags, which officials say will stop the flow of 2 billion single-use bags that are distributed each year and often end up in gutters and on beaches. The City Council voted 11-1 Tuesday in favor of the ban. Since it failed to earn unanimous approval, the ordinance will face a second vote next week. The Santa Monica [...]
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Environment Featured News
New fund to address community violence

VIRGINIA AVENUE PARK — City, school district and Santa Monica College officials announced the creation of the Youth & Family Violence Prevention Fund Tuesday that they hope will propel forward efforts to address violence in the wake of three shootings in early June. The fund, which received $50,000 in seed money from a private donor, will be used to put in place a “whatever it takes” program that chooses at-risk youth between the ages of 14 and 24 and provides [...]
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Education Featured News Public Santa Monica College
Basketball: Samohi’s Jackson picks Sac State

SAMOHI — Former Santa Monica star point guard Trevis Jackson has picked Sacramento State to continue his basketball career. After leading Samohi to its first CIF-Southern Section championship in the sport since 1987 and an appearance in the state Division 1 title game, Jackson liked what Sac State had to offer. “I picked Sac because it was one of the schools that would allow me to pursue my dream of playing basketball at the Division 1 level,” Jackson said. “Also, [...]
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Featured High School Sports