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Giffords calls shootings ‘eerily reminiscent’

DOWNTOWN — On the six-month anniversary of the deadly Newtown, Conn. school shooting that shocked the nation and renewed efforts for stricter gun control laws, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords — who was the victim of a shooting in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. in 2011 — called the recent Santa Monica shooting rampage “eerily reminiscent.” In an opinion piece for the Newtown Bee, Giffords and Roxanna Green, whose 9-year-old daughter was killed in the Tucson, Ariz. shooting, called for “common-sense solutions [...]
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Crime Featured News
Ex-hitman was ‘heartbroken’ Bulger was informant

BOSTON — An ex-gangster who admitted killing 20 people was unemotional Monday when describing his line of work at the trial of his former partner, James “Whitey” Bulger, but called himself heartbroken when he learned that Bulger had become an FBI informant. John Martorano gave short answers and spoke nonchalantly when questioned by a prosecutor about a string of murders he committed while he, Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi were members of the Winter Hill Gang. The only flash [...]
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Crime News
Brief: Celebrate America returns

The Celebrate America Independence Day festival, hosted by Santa Monica College, will take place on Saturday, June 29 starting at 5 p.m. on Corsair Field. It will be free and open to the public. Festivities include live musical entertainment by the rock ‘n blues group The Chris Mulkey Band, a regular at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, starting at 7 p.m. followed by a fireworks show at 9 p.m. Guests can visit community service booths, food trucks and [...]
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Featured Life
Brief: Make Music fest coming to town

The city of Santa Monica and Make Music Los Angeles will partner to offer a celebration of music on Friday, June 21 from 11a.m. — 10 p.m. Performers will play at various Santa Monica parks, sidewalks and the beach in addition to a stage set up in Palisades Park from 11:45 a.m. — 6:45 p.m. The day will kick off with The 100 Hohner Harmonica Project, a musical performance with audience participation led by Tom Nolan, leader of the Tom [...]
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Life
History is the foundation

“I grew up in Europe. Where the history comes from.” That’s an Eddie Izzard line. He’s possibly the most intellectually capable comedian alive at the moment who is still touring. In his movie “Dress to Kill” he does a bit about how we in America tear down our history and put in a parking lot. One of his funny bits is that a hotel in Miami was restored to its former luster of “50 years ago.” It’s funny because it’s [...]
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Columns Opinion What's the Point?
Letter: Asking for answers

Will this new column Room for a View by Urban Sense be insightful, or more urban nonsense? I hope you will honestly critique the body of work you have overseen these past years. You establish your authority with positions on the Planning Commission, Architectural Review Board, Santa Monica Conservancy, committee work with American Institute of Architects, and 32- to 41-year residencies. You list your background but choose not to disclose if your clients are the same developers who are pillaging [...]
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Letters Opinion
Work begins on getting riders to Expo Rail

COLORADO AVE — When the Exposition Light Rail Line opens for business in 2015, tens of thousands of people are expected to hop on to get to work, run errands or hit the beach for some sun and surf. Public transit officials are estimating as many as 64,000 daily riders by 2030 and believe the rail line will dramatically change how people get out and about. How those riders will access Santa Monica’s three rail stations is still a work [...]
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Featured News Transportation
Shootings show troubled side of Santa Monica

CITYWIDE — For decades there have been two Santa Monicas. There’s the hip beachfront town that’s packed year-round with tourists who cram its trendy bars and restaurants, stay at its pricey beachfront hotels and frequent the T-shirt shops and carnival rides along its funky, old wooden pier. And then there’s the Santa Monica the tourists never see, although it’s just as real to those who live along its hard-scrabble streets, in a neighborhood hemmed in by a freeway and sometimes [...]
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Crime Featured News
Nurse makes big difference at home, abroad

MID-CITY — Every day that Sarah Nunn shows up to work at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center on Wilshire Boulevard, she can feel pretty confident that she’s making a difference in not one country, but two. The 29-year-old is the co-founder of Teach For Health, a nonprofit organization that trains and organizes health workers in rural communities across the globe to identify and address the health problems that they face. Nunn directs their programs in Nicaragua, a task she manages [...]
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Community Profiles Featured Life People
Column: McKeown’s freeze generates heat

There’s more to a discussion item about Downtown Santa Monica development brought forth by Councilman Kevin McKeown (with support from Tony Vazquez and Ted Winterer) at last Tuesday’s City Council meeting than meets the eye. They hoped that council would approve asking staff to come up with recommendations to freeze approvals of development agreements for three high-rise hotels until after a draft Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) is approved sometime around March, 2014. The discussion item sponsored by the council’s three [...]
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Columns Featured My Write Opinion
Know Before You Go: Road advisories

Expo Light Rail Line Project Note the following activities: 1. Colorado Avenue between Fifth and 17th streets: Expect westbound and eastbound lane closures during daytime hours. Expect reduction of travel lanes during the non-peak day at Ninth Street and Colorado and 10th Street and Colorado. Alleys on the north side of Colorado between 11th and 17th streets will have limited access at Colorado. 2. Colorado Avenue between Main Street and Fourth Street: Expect westbound and eastbound lane closures during [...]
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Featured News Transportation
Going organic keeps growing

Dear EarthTalk: I understand that, despite the popularity of organic foods, clothing and other products, organic agriculture is still only practiced on a tiny percentage of land worldwide. What’s getting in the way? — Larry McFarlane, Boston, Mass. Organic production may still represent only a small fraction of agricultural sales in the U.S. and worldwide, but it as been growing rapidly over the last two decades. According to the latest global census of farming practices, the area of land [...]
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Columns Earth Talk Featured Opinion
Letter: Time not well spent

Editor: Murder, kidnappings, and lots of gun activity and what does our City Council spend Tuesday night discussing? A height limit in Downtown which even the supporters admitted doesn’t do anything (”Development delay stalls at dais,” June 13, page 1). The most honest remark I heard was that it was “just political.” Why do some of the council members continue to waste time kissing up to the unfortunately very vocal minority of residents who just hate everything? Frank Greenberg [...]
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Letters Opinion
Letter: Leave the Miramar as is

Editor: I have lived in Santa Monica for about 20 years. I have enjoyed visiting, eating, and attending events held at the Miramar over the years. This precious landmark needs to be preserved as is and I write to express my discontent with plans to expand and build upward on this historic hotel. Needless to say, the traffic along Ocean Avenue to get home each day is often gridlocked and difficult, due to current traffic. How can anyone think that [...]
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Letters Opinion
The other first responders: How Santa Monica reacted in wake of shootings

CITYWIDE — At 11:52 a.m. on June 7, the first call of shots fired rang into the police dispatch office. It would be the beginning of a 13-minute shooting rampage in which John Zawahri, 23, shot and killed five people before police took him out. In those minutes, first responders ran toward fire and bullets to put a stop to the mentally disturbed young man ripping his way trough the town, and for days after, investigators scoured the remnants of [...]
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Crime Featured News
Family ask for help with funeral costs for mother killed in shooting rampage

PICO BLVD — The family of one of the victims killed during the violent shooting rampage June 7 is reaching out to the community to help defray the unexpected cost of the funeral, which they believe could hit $20,000. Gabriel Torres set up the fundraiser on GoFundMe.com, a site that allows people to donate to causes unlike others which require a tangible product or outcome. The money will pay to bury Margarita Gomez, the fifth victim in a 13-minute shooting [...]
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Crime Featured News