latimes--2020-02-24--Death of rocket man 'Mad Mike' Hughes ends years of close calls

In 2002 , daredevil “ Mad Mike ” Hughes successfully jumped a Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine 103 feet at the Perris Auto Speedway in Riverside County .
The stunt landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest limousine ramp jump , beating a previous 75-foot jump Hughes made in Las Vegas .
He seriously injured his back when a mountain of car tires intended to cushion his landing separated , and he crashed into a wall .
But Hughes was not deterred .
The next year , he tried for a new record of 125 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrap and gunning his 3-ton white Cadillac limousine up a ramp at 65 mph at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino .
He flipped over before reaching a cushion of tires but was unhurt .
“ Sometimes , I feel like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote , when he suddenly runs off a cliff , ” Hughes told The Times ahead of the jump .
“ But it ’ s the price I pay for a life that ’ s not boring.
” After years of close calls , the 64-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was killed during the launch of a homemade rocket gone awry outside Barstow .
It ’ s not clear what went wrong .
Dramatic video footage of the botched stunt posted on social media appears to indicate that there was a problem with his parachute .
“ Like any daredevil , I think they ’ re driven by a sense of that need to do something incredible but also to risk their life , ” said Toby Brusseau , who directed “ Rocketman , ” a 2019 documentary about Hughes .
Originally from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ races with his father at 2 months old and began racing motorcycles at the age of 12 , according to an author biography for his 2007 self-published book , “ What Does A Limo Driver Know About NASCAR.
” In 1974 , he turned pro , and in 1979 , he became the top Ice Speedway motorcycle racer in the U.S. , the biography says .
In the 1980s , Hughes worked as a fabricator and body specialist on cars for NASCAR drivers Randy Lajoie and Rob Moroso , and as a crew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington , before moving to Las Vegas in 1994 , according to a Las Vegas Sun column .
The column detailed a 1999 attempt by Hughes to build a car from leftover pieces and use it to qualify for NASCAR ’ s Winston Cup Series .
It ’ s not clear if he was successful .
In Vegas , Hughes became both limousine chauffeur and daredevil ; he took to referring to himself as “ the world ’ s most famous limo driver.
” “ He wanted to do something original , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jumping a limo , ” Brusseau said .
Hughes ’ 2002 feat in Perris , California still holds the world record for longest limousine ramp jump , according to the Guinness World Records ’ website .
That might be because no such category had existed until he contacted the record-keepers to ask if they would be interested .
Hughes was always planning his next stunt , with each one taking him higher than the last .
He built his first manned rocket in 2014 — a contraption he called the “ X-2 SkyLimo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 1,300 feet over Winkelman , Ariz. , he told the Associated Press .
Afterward , he reportedly collapsed and needed several days to recover .
Over the next couple years , Hughes began saying in interviews that he believed the earth was flat — “ Frisbee-shaped , ” and that he wanted to go up into space to make sure .
It ’ s not clear how strongly he held the conviction , or if he really believed it at all .
His publicist , Darren Shuster , said Saturday that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a PR stunt we dreamed up ” to get publicity and attract sponsors for the rockets that the self-taught engineer made in his garage at his home in Apple Valley , Calif .
But Michael Linn , Brusseau ’ s partner on the documentary , said that , based on his conversations with Hughes , the belief appeared to be genuine .
“ He was a lonely guy , ” Linn said .
“ He had a lot of time to surf YouTube and he went down the YouTube rabbit hole and developed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hughes successfully launched himself in a rocket nearly 1,900 feet in the air and landed in the Mojave Desert near Amboy , Calif. , a feat captured on camera for “ Rocketman.
” “ When we were filming it , we were thinking to ourselves , ‘ Wow , this is dangerous , ’ ” Brusseau said .
“ I think that ’ s what hit us then and there : this is completely dangerous .
And luckily it didn ’ t turn out that way for us that day.
” The documentary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the filmmakers wish translated to real life .
“ I love that ending , where he was able to be successful , ” Brusseau said .
“ Regardless of what happened , he still built a rocket and he launched a rocket .
And when it comes down to it , he deserves kudos for that.
” Saturday ’ s launch was to be Hughes ’ highest yet ; he was attempting to travel 5,000 feet into the air .
His journey was to be featured on “ Homemade Astronauts , ” a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ launch was initially scheduled for last August but was moved several times due to technical difficulties .
Even that was supposed to be merely the lead up to what Hughes spoke of as the ultimate launch , one that would take him 62 miles up , to a designation known as the Karman Line , which marks the border between Earth ’ s atmosphere and space .
“ Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike Hughes ’ family and friends during this difficult time , ” a spokeswoman for the network said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ always his dream to do this launch , and Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey.
” Hughes had no close relatives and lived alone in Apple Valley with his four cats , Brusseau and Linn said .
“ It made him feel alive to do these types of stunts .
There was no stopping him , ” Linn said .
“ There was part of me that wished he would find a hobby that was fun for him but had less of a chance of dying , maybe training his cats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t have done it for him.
” In the days leading up to the fatal crash , Discovery.com posted a video of Hughes showing off the rocket in his front yard .
“ People ask me why I do stuff like this , ” he said .
“ And basically , it ’ s just to convince people they can do things extraordinary with their lives , and maybe it pushes people to do things they normally wouldn ’ t do with their life that maybe will inspire someone else .
”

In 2002, daredevil “Mad Mike” Hughes successfully jumped a Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine 103 feet at the Perris Auto Speedway in Riverside County.
The stunt landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest limousine ramp jump, beating a previous 75-foot jump Hughes made in Las Vegas. He seriously injured his back when a mountain of car tires intended to cushion his landing separated, and he crashed into a wall.
But Hughes was not deterred.
The next year, he tried for a new record of 125 feet, covering his body in bubble wrap and gunning his 3-ton white Cadillac limousine up a ramp at 65 mph at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. He flipped over before reaching a cushion of tires but was unhurt.
“Sometimes, I feel like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, when he suddenly runs off a cliff,” Hughes told The Times ahead of the jump. “But it’s the price I pay for a life that’s not boring.”
Advertisement
After years of close calls, the 64-year-old Hughes met his end Saturday when he was killed during the launch of a homemade rocket gone awry outside Barstow. It’s not clear what went wrong. Dramatic video footage of the botched stunt posted on social media appears to indicate that there was a problem with his parachute.
“Like any daredevil, I think they’re driven by a sense of that need to do something incredible but also to risk their life,” said Toby Brusseau, who directed “Rocketman,” a 2019 documentary about Hughes.
Originally from Oklahoma City, Hughes started attending car races with his father at 2 months old and began racing motorcycles at the age of 12, according to an author biography for his 2007 self-published book, “What Does A Limo Driver Know About NASCAR.”
In 1974, he turned pro, and in 1979, he became the top Ice Speedway motorcycle racer in the U.S., the biography says.
In the 1980s, Hughes worked as a fabricator and body specialist on cars for NASCAR drivers Randy Lajoie and Rob Moroso, and as a crew chief on a Craftsman Truck team in Washington, before moving to Las Vegas in 1994, according to a Las Vegas Sun column. The column detailed a 1999 attempt by Hughes to build a car from leftover pieces and use it to qualify for NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series. It’s not clear if he was successful.
In Vegas, Hughes became both limousine chauffeur and daredevil; he took to referring to himself as “the world’s most famous limo driver.”
“He wanted to do something original, and he came up with the idea of jumping a limo,” Brusseau said.
Hughes’ 2002 feat in Perris, California still holds the world record for longest limousine ramp jump, according to the Guinness World Records’ website. That might be because no such category had existed until he contacted the record-keepers to ask if they would be interested.
Hughes was always planning his next stunt, with each one taking him higher than the last.
He built his first manned rocket in 2014 — a contraption he called the “X-2 SkyLimo” — and managed to launch himself more than 1,300 feet over Winkelman, Ariz., he told the Associated Press. Afterward, he reportedly collapsed and needed several days to recover.
Advertisement
Over the next couple years, Hughes began saying in interviews that he believed the earth was flat — “Frisbee-shaped,” and that he wanted to go up into space to make sure.
It’s not clear how strongly he held the conviction, or if he really believed it at all. His publicist, Darren Shuster, said Saturday that the “flat Earth thing … was a PR stunt we dreamed up” to get publicity and attract sponsors for the rockets that the self-taught engineer made in his garage at his home in Apple Valley, Calif.
But Michael Linn, Brusseau’s partner on the documentary, said that, based on his conversations with Hughes, the belief appeared to be genuine.
“He was a lonely guy,” Linn said. “He had a lot of time to surf YouTube and he went down the YouTube rabbit hole and developed some weird beliefs.”
In 2018, Hughes successfully launched himself in a rocket nearly 1,900 feet in the air and landed in the Mojave Desert near Amboy, Calif., a feat captured on camera for “Rocketman.”
“When we were filming it, we were thinking to ourselves, ‘Wow, this is dangerous,’” Brusseau said. “I think that’s what hit us then and there: this is completely dangerous. And luckily it didn’t turn out that way for us that day.”
The documentary has a happy ending, one that the filmmakers wish translated to real life.
“I love that ending, where he was able to be successful,” Brusseau said. “Regardless of what happened, he still built a rocket and he launched a rocket. And when it comes down to it, he deserves kudos for that.”
Saturday’s launch was to be Hughes’ highest yet; he was attempting to travel 5,000 feet into the air. His journey was to be featured on “Homemade Astronauts,” a series on the Science Channel. The launch was initially scheduled for last August but was moved several times due to technical difficulties.
Even that was supposed to be merely the lead up to what Hughes spoke of as the ultimate launch, one that would take him 62 miles up, to a designation known as the Karman Line, which marks the border between Earth’s atmosphere and space.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike Hughes’ family and friends during this difficult time,” a spokeswoman for the network said in a statement. “It was always his dream to do this launch, and Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey.”
Hughes had no close relatives and lived alone in Apple Valley with his four cats, Brusseau and Linn said.
“It made him feel alive to do these types of stunts. There was no stopping him,” Linn said. “There was part of me that wished he would find a hobby that was fun for him but had less of a chance of dying, maybe training his cats or something, but that wouldn’t have done it for him.”
In the days leading up to the fatal crash, Discovery.com posted a video of Hughes showing off the rocket in his front yard.
“People ask me why I do stuff like this,” he said. “And basically, it’s just to convince people they can do things extraordinary with their lives, and maybe it pushes people to do things they normally wouldn’t do with their life that maybe will inspire someone else.”
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this story.


latimes--2020-02-24--A new voting system in L.A. raises the stakes for California's primary

When Los Angeles County set out to build a new voting system from scratch more than a decade ago , election officials knew the challenges in serving an electorate larger than those found in any of 39 states .
But what they didn ’ t know was that their efforts were on a collision course with a series of statewide election changes and the most consequential presidential primary in modern California history .
Should Angelenos not understand what to do or where to go , the effects could be felt both statewide and — in terms of the Democratic presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There ’ s a lot riding on this , ” said Rick Hasen , an election law professor at UC Irvine .
“ Any time you ’ re making so many changes at once , people can lose confidence in the system.
” The list of changes is long : L.A. ballots have been fully redesigned ; thousands of neighborhood polling places are gone , replaced by fewer regional voting centers ; and once there , millions of Angelenos will use new touch-screen devices approved by state officials just weeks ago .
Voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the new process over the weekend .
In some cases , it was not what they had hoped for — sporadic reports about miscues that election officials promised would be resolved as election day approaches .
Dean Logan , the registrar of voters in Los Angeles County and architect of the new $ 300-million voting system , said in an interview earlier this month that his staff is prepared to address any problems as they arise .
“ I don ’ t ever go into an election anticipating that everything is going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I think doing that would be naive.
” Few counties have modernized their elections less frequently — the new system marks just the third major modernization of voting in Los Angeles since 1968 .
Local officials stubbornly held on to the “ Votomatic ” punch-card system for 35 years , scrapping it three years after similar hole-punching machines in Florida sparked the “ hanging chads ” furor of the 2000 presidential election .
L.A. then switched to the “ Ink-a-Vote ” system , in which voters marked ballots with a pen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fix while the county prepared to switch to electronic voting machines .
But after a storm of criticism over security concerns scuttled that effort , Los Angeles County decided to build its own system from the ground up .
The end result — known as “ Voting Solutions for All People , ” or VSAP — has been in limited use ahead of the March 3 primary .
Though Logan has said those who have used it so far reported a positive experience , a statewide primary in which most of the county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could reveal issues not found during earlier tests .
“ There ’ s a learning curve associated with all changes in voting rules , ” Hasen said .
“ I always say , you don ’ t premiere your brand-new play straight to Broadway.
” Logan , who has led the county ’ s election team since 2008 , said there was no other choice .
He noted the Ink-a-Vote marked-ballot system was a poor fit for voters with physical disabilities or those who use any of Los Angeles County ’ s 12 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the final blow , he said , came when a number of L.A. communities switched away from odd-year elections to hold contests in tandem with California ’ s statewide primary .
“ With the consolidation of the cities and the districts onto the ballot , the Ink-a-Vote system literally did not have the physical capacity for the length of the ballot and the number of contests and measures , ” Logan said .
Designed through years of community input , the county ’ s VSAP system uses a touch-screen for in-person voting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to review before they ’ re cast .
Voters who want a faster experience can make selections ahead of time online and transfer them with a smartphone and a QR code to the machine that prints them on a completed paper ballot .
The system also required a redesign of absentee ballots , which will be counted using the same new devices that count the ones cast in person .
“ I think the VSAP system does a good job at addressing a lot of problems we ’ ve seen in L.A. , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation .
Those changes alone would be a lot for Los Angeles County voters to absorb .
But the use of the new machines and ballots will take place under provisions of a 2016 state law that radically retools the election experience .
It allows counties to swap traditional polling places for multipurpose “ vote centers ” and requires those facilities to open starting 11 days before election day .
Five counties used the new procedures in 2018 and 10 more will adopt the changes for the March election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to mail every registered voter a ballot in exchange for closing neighborhood polling places .
But L.A. County received a special — and controversial — exemption from that rule .
The result is that as many as 2 million voters will have neither a local polling place nor a ballot mailed to them — unless they request an absentee ballot by the statewide deadline on Tuesday .
It ’ s why some voting rights advocates will be watching the county ’ s election operations closely .
“ I think L.A. County is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stein , voting rights manager for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus .
He said it ’ s not far-fetched to envision “ significant challenges ” for local voters on election day .
Marilú Guevara , executive director of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles , said she ’ s heartened by the recent mailings to all households that explain the new system and vote centers .
Yet she still worries that longtime voters won ’ t be aware of the change and will go to their former polling place out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through rush-hour traffic to find one of the new vote centers .
“ I hope that now more people who didn ’ t know about the changes coming to voting will start asking questions , ” Guevara said .
“ I just hope it ’ s not too late for a large part of our electorate.
” Guevara ’ s worries could be justified .
Only 38 % of Los Angeles County voters surveyed in a USC poll released last week knew there had been changes made to the way in which they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When state lawmakers in Sacramento were drafting the new election law , known as the Voter ’ s Choice Act , Los Angeles County lobbyists argued that the exemption was needed to “ mitigate the bill ’ s operational and fiscal impact on the county.
” In an interview with The Times , Logan said that some voters want to cast a ballot in person and that the new system makes that easier .
“ I don ’ t think they ’ ve lost access to a polling place , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think they ’ ve gained access to a place to vote over the course of 11 days.
” For those in-person voters , L.A. election officials will use 22,000 ballot-marking devices , to be set up in vote centers of various sizes beginning this weekend and lasting through election night .
An additional 6,000 machines will be available as backups if needed .
Though the machines have been tested by state officials and by voters — a mock election was held in September and the new devices were offered as an option in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last fall — there have been errors , many of them over the last two days as the first vote centers opened across the county .
Complaints were lodged on social media that some of the ballot-marking devices and electronic “ poll books , ” which verify a voter ’ s registration , had failed to work .
Some of the problems seemed to mirror acknowledgments by Logan in December , including that vote center staffers had been late in getting the machines working .
On Sunday , Logan said on Twitter that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” but noted that the “ equipment performed well and voter feedback on usability was positive.
” In the soft debut of the machines last year , some of the ballot-marking devices experienced paper jams .
In December , experts hired by the state raised concerns that inadequate security seals might not reveal if the ballot box attached to a device had been tampered with .
The November mock election also exposed problems with the printing of ballots , causing delays in tallying about 1 % of the votes .
A similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of thousands of ballots , adding more time pressures to a process already closely scrutinized for how long it takes .
In a December report to Los Angeles County supervisors , Logan said his staff has recalibrated printers .
Problems with the touch-screen machines — which electronically mark paper ballots — were also discovered during the mock elections , including what Logan informed supervisors was a “ small number ” of paper jams and incomplete error code messages that confused poll workers .
In addition , the highly touted smartphone feature “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mock election , according to the December report to county supervisors .
Election officials say the software has since been updated .
On Jan. 24 , Secretary of State Alex Padilla laid out a series of needed changes .
“ I am insisting on some essential modifications to the system and requiring on-going reports from Los Angeles County so that we can continue to improve the voting experience for Angelenos , ” Padilla wrote in his letter certifying the various VSAP components .
Logan told county supervisors that he would address Padilla ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mock election and the pilot election , we did make improvements and refinements , ” Logan said during a board meeting on Jan. 28 .
“ Every voting system certified in California has conditions.… We are confident that we can meet those conditions.
” One of those conditions is that every Los Angeles vote center must ensure there ’ s some way to cast a ballot if the new machines should fail .
In the other California counties implementing the Voter ’ s Choice Act , there are on-demand printers that can generate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ L.A. , where Logan points out there are some 62,000 different ballot configurations with municipal candidates and measures , there is no backup method to print ballots .
Instead , the state ’ s largest county will rely on the most rudimentary of backup plans : blank write-in ballots , forcing voters to write out a candidate ’ s name in every race in which they want to participate .
“ That ’ s a fail-safe in the event that the entire system was down , a stopgap to make sure voting never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expects as many as 16,000 people will staff the vote centers , each person receiving an eight-hour instruction course .
As in all elections , training is key : A social media posting that went viral this month wrongly said that all newly registered L.A. voters would have to show ID at vote centers — in fact , it only applies to a very small subset of voters whose initial registration material doesn ’ t comply with an 18-year-old federal law .
California has no broad-based ID requirements for voters who show up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who has written extensively on how voting systems can be compromised by simple mistakes , said the early voting period — beginning this weekend and running through Monday , March 2 — will be a crucial test .
“ There ’ s so much angst right now about voting systems , ” he said .
“ And a lot of people are going to be surprised by all of this.
” Alexander ’ s nonpartisan group is urging L.A. voters to review voting information now and not be put off .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wait until the night before the election to open that mailed packet , ” she said .
“ I think elections officials should be making contingency plans if there are really long lines .
”

When Los Angeles County set out to build a new voting system from scratch more than a decade ago, election officials knew the challenges in serving an electorate larger than those found in any of 39 states.
But what they didn’t know was that their efforts were on a collision course with a series of statewide election changes and the most consequential presidential primary in modern California history. Should Angelenos not understand what to do or where to go, the effects could be felt both statewide and — in terms of the Democratic presidential race — across the country.
“There’s a lot riding on this,” said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at UC Irvine. “Any time you’re making so many changes at once, people can lose confidence in the system.”
The list of changes is long: L.A. ballots have been fully redesigned; thousands of neighborhood polling places are gone, replaced by fewer regional voting centers; and once there, millions of Angelenos will use new touch-screen devices approved by state officials just weeks ago.
Voters across the county had their first experiences with the new process over the weekend. In some cases, it was not what they had hoped for — sporadic reports about miscues that election officials promised would be resolved as election day approaches.
Advertisement
Dean Logan, the registrar of voters in Los Angeles County and architect of the new $300-million voting system, said in an interview earlier this month that his staff is prepared to address any problems as they arise. “I don’t ever go into an election anticipating that everything is going to go picture-perfect,” he said. “I think doing that would be naive.”
California Sweeping change is coming for L.A. County voters. If things go wrong, he’ll get the blame Starting in spring, some 5.2 million Los Angeles County residents will change the way they vote. If the plan goes awry — either in the March primary or in the November election, in which President Trump is likely to be on the ballot — blame will likely fall on Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s registrar-recorder and clerk.
Few counties have modernized their elections less frequently — the new system marks just the third major modernization of voting in Los Angeles since 1968. Local officials stubbornly held on to the “Votomatic” punch-card system for 35 years, scrapping it three years after similar hole-punching machines in Florida sparked the “hanging chads” furor of the 2000 presidential election.
L.A. then switched to the “Ink-a-Vote” system, in which voters marked ballots with a pen, intended to be only a short-term fix while the county prepared to switch to electronic voting machines. But after a storm of criticism over security concerns scuttled that effort, Los Angeles County decided to build its own system from the ground up.
The end result — known as “Voting Solutions for All People,” or VSAP — has been in limited use ahead of the March 3 primary. Though Logan has said those who have used it so far reported a positive experience, a statewide primary in which most of the county’s 5.5 million voters cast ballots could reveal issues not found during earlier tests.
“There’s a learning curve associated with all changes in voting rules,” Hasen said. “I always say, you don’t premiere your brand-new play straight to Broadway.”
Advertisement
Logan, who has led the county’s election team since 2008, said there was no other choice. He noted the Ink-a-Vote marked-ballot system was a poor fit for voters with physical disabilities or those who use any of Los Angeles County’s 12 official languages other than English.
But the final blow, he said, came when a number of L.A. communities switched away from odd-year elections to hold contests in tandem with California’s statewide primary.
“With the consolidation of the cities and the districts onto the ballot, the Ink-a-Vote system literally did not have the physical capacity for the length of the ballot and the number of contests and measures,” Logan said.
Designed through years of community input, the county’s VSAP system uses a touch-screen for in-person voting that marks choices on paper ballots for voters to review before they’re cast. Voters who want a faster experience can make selections ahead of time online and transfer them with a smartphone and a QR code to the machine that prints them on a completed paper ballot.
The system also required a redesign of absentee ballots, which will be counted using the same new devices that count the ones cast in person.
“I think the VSAP system does a good job at addressing a lot of problems we’ve seen in L.A.,” said Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation.
Those changes alone would be a lot for Los Angeles County voters to absorb. But the use of the new machines and ballots will take place under provisions of a 2016 state law that radically retools the election experience. It allows counties to swap traditional polling places for multipurpose “vote centers” and requires those facilities to open starting 11 days before election day.
Five counties used the new procedures in 2018 and 10 more will adopt the changes for the March election. Fourteen of those counties are required to mail every registered voter a ballot in exchange for closing neighborhood polling places. But L.A. County received a special — and controversial — exemption from that rule.
The result is that as many as 2 million voters will have neither a local polling place nor a ballot mailed to them — unless they request an absentee ballot by the statewide deadline on Tuesday.
It’s why some voting rights advocates will be watching the county’s election operations closely.
“I think L.A. County is the real hot spot,” said Jonathan Stein, voting rights manager for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. He said it’s not far-fetched to envision “significant challenges” for local voters on election day.
Marilú Guevara, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, said she’s heartened by the recent mailings to all households that explain the new system and vote centers. Yet she still worries that longtime voters won’t be aware of the change and will go to their former polling place out of habit — causing them to dash through rush-hour traffic to find one of the new vote centers.
“I hope that now more people who didn’t know about the changes coming to voting will start asking questions,” Guevara said. “I just hope it’s not too late for a large part of our electorate.”
Guevara’s worries could be justified. Only 38% of Los Angeles County voters surveyed in a USC poll released last week knew there had been changes made to the way in which they’ll vote in the upcoming election.
When state lawmakers in Sacramento were drafting the new election law, known as the Voter’s Choice Act, Los Angeles County lobbyists argued that the exemption was needed to “mitigate the bill’s operational and fiscal impact on the county.”
In an interview with The Times, Logan said that some voters want to cast a ballot in person and that the new system makes that easier. “I don’t think they’ve lost access to a polling place,” he said of those voters. “I think they’ve gained access to a place to vote over the course of 11 days.”
For those in-person voters, L.A. election officials will use 22,000 ballot-marking devices, to be set up in vote centers of various sizes beginning this weekend and lasting through election night. An additional 6,000 machines will be available as backups if needed.
Though the machines have been tested by state officials and by voters — a mock election was held in September and the new devices were offered as an option in roughly 40 polling places during municipal elections last fall — there have been errors, many of them over the last two days as the first vote centers opened across the county.
Complaints were lodged on social media that some of the ballot-marking devices and electronic “poll books,” which verify a voter’s registration, had failed to work. Some of the problems seemed to mirror acknowledgments by Logan in December, including that vote center staffers had been late in getting the machines working.
On Sunday, Logan said on Twitter that the rollout was “not without hiccups,” but noted that the “equipment performed well and voter feedback on usability was positive.”
Not without hiccups and first day issues, the new voting model in #LACounty is underway. #VSAP equipment performed well and voter feedback on usability was positive. More work ahead to ensure better coordination of facilities and logistics as we set course for the ten days ahead. — Dean Logan, RR/CC (@LACountyRRCC) February 23, 2020
In the soft debut of the machines last year, some of the ballot-marking devices experienced paper jams. In December, experts hired by the state raised concerns that inadequate security seals might not reveal if the ballot box attached to a device had been tampered with.
The November mock election also exposed problems with the printing of ballots, causing delays in tallying about 1% of the votes. A similar delay in a major election could affect tens of thousands of ballots, adding more time pressures to a process already closely scrutinized for how long it takes. In a December report to Los Angeles County supervisors, Logan said his staff has recalibrated printers.
Problems with the touch-screen machines — which electronically mark paper ballots — were also discovered during the mock elections, including what Logan informed supervisors was a “small number” of paper jams and incomplete error code messages that confused poll workers.
In addition, the highly touted smartphone feature “did not operate properly” during the mock election, according to the December report to county supervisors. Election officials say the software has since been updated.
On Jan. 24, Secretary of State Alex Padilla laid out a series of needed changes.
“I am insisting on some essential modifications to the system and requiring on-going reports from Los Angeles County so that we can continue to improve the voting experience for Angelenos,” Padilla wrote in his letter certifying the various VSAP components.
Logan told county supervisors that he would address Padilla’s conditions.
“Based on the mock election and the pilot election, we did make improvements and refinements,” Logan said during a board meeting on Jan. 28. “Every voting system certified in California has conditions.… We are confident that we can meet those conditions.”
One of those conditions is that every Los Angeles vote center must ensure there’s some way to cast a ballot if the new machines should fail.
In the other California counties implementing the Voter’s Choice Act, there are on-demand printers that can generate the correct ballot. But in sprawling L.A., where Logan points out there are some 62,000 different ballot configurations with municipal candidates and measures, there is no backup method to print ballots.
Instead, the state’s largest county will rely on the most rudimentary of backup plans: blank write-in ballots, forcing voters to write out a candidate’s name in every race in which they want to participate.
“That’s a fail-safe in the event that the entire system was down, a stopgap to make sure voting never stops,” Logan said.
Logan expects as many as 16,000 people will staff the vote centers, each person receiving an eight-hour instruction course. As in all elections, training is key: A social media posting that went viral this month wrongly said that all newly registered L.A. voters would have to show ID at vote centers — in fact, it only applies to a very small subset of voters whose initial registration material doesn’t comply with an 18-year-old federal law. California has no broad-based ID requirements for voters who show up to cast ballots in person.
Hasen, who has written extensively on how voting systems can be compromised by simple mistakes, said the early voting period — beginning this weekend and running through Monday, March 2 — will be a crucial test.
“There’s so much angst right now about voting systems,” he said. “And a lot of people are going to be surprised by all of this.”
Alexander’s nonpartisan group is urging L.A. voters to review voting information now and not be put off.
“A lot of the time, voters wait until the night before the election to open that mailed packet,” she said. “I think elections officials should be making contingency plans if there are really long lines.”


latimes--2020-02-24--He was touted as the Mojave Desert's savior. Authorities said it was all a ruse

At 13 , Jim Mattern was selling punk rock fanzines .
At 16 , he said he ran a lucrative pornography website .
He saw himself as a born entrepreneur , and so , after moving to California in 2008 , the desert became his product .
In 2012 , he pitched himself as Death Valley Jim and led paying customers on trips to remote archaeological sites , Old West ruins , abandoned mines and natural wonders deep within the national parks of Death Valley and Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve .
He became widely known for his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekly radio program .
In 2016 , Newsweek magazine described Mattern the California desert ’ s “ best last hope.
” Death Valley Jim ’ s mythmakers apparently never realized this expert tour guide never obtained the federal permits required to lead his tours .
His downfall came in 2016 when a seemingly cheery young couple hired him to take them on a tour of Death Valley ’ s petroglyphs .
“ They seemed to really like me ; we were friends , ” Mattern , 41 , recalled in a recent interview @ @ @ @ @ @ @ learn they were undercover officers.
” In November , Mattern pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Fresno to a criminal charge of receiving payment for unpermitted tours within a national park .
He was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation , fined $ 1,000 and ordered to cease operation of his Death Valley Jim website , according to court documents .
In addition , he was banished from Death Valley National Park , Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve for the length of his probation .
But that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Mattern said he is keeping an extremely low profile because of a ugly feud with an ex-wife .
He now works as a short-haul truck driver because his probation terms prohibit him from leaving the state .
“ I ’ m a ghost , man ” said Mattern , who lives near Fresno .
“ And I prefer to keep it that way.
” Perhaps because of its isolation , the Mojave Desert has long attracted flamboyant characters , including charlatans and hustlers peddling hidden treasure .
Scotty ’ s Castle in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named for Walter Scott , who lured investors into financing bogus gold mines and later occupied the castle , turning himself into a local tourist attraction .
Mattern contends he never deceived any of his customers and doesn ’ t fall into that category .
But that is not the story told by his ex-wife , a self-described wiccan pagan , who publicizes his whereabouts on social media and calls Mattern “ a con man , braggart , narcissist , misogynist and worse.
” In a recent interview , Meghan Mattern , 37 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life miserable after he disclosed he had fallen in love with a 20-year-old woman .
That was the last straw , and it came after Meghan discovered that Mattern had launched a book project that involved photographing nude women in the desert .
Beyond that , critics were sounding the alarm that his books and tours invited vandalism of sensitive desert sites by listing their GPS coordinates .
“ You know what , Jim ?
” she said she told him .
“ That Death Valley Jim act of yours is history .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ seven hells behind my back to tear apart everything you do from now on.
” A few weeks after their divorce was finalized in May 2018 , Mattern married the woman half his age .
But as he tells it , his ex-wife continues to follow him on social media , tormenting him wherever she can .
“ She has no reason to contact me , ” he complained .
Mattern grew up in Pennsylvania , the precocious son of an Air Force officer .
At 13 , he was publishing punk rock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and word of mouth .
Three years later , he transformed a punk rock website into a porn hub of material he bought from networks of providers .
“ It started making serious money , ” he recalled .
“ So , I built more of those sites.
” “ By 18 , I was pulling $ 10,000 a month , ” he said , “ which I blew as fast as it was coming in on the best of everything : fancy restaurants with friends , leather sofas , hardwood furniture and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was 18 and Meghan Elizabeth Russel was 14 when they met on an online chat room .
Even before she cast eyes on the stocky man with a goatee and crew cut , the slender , fresh-faced teenager said she felt something confident , smart and inviting in his words .
Those words seemed to reach out of the computer and grab ahold of a girl who had endured what she said was “ a very , very rough childhood.
” “ I was looking for someone to love me and take care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Jim promised all those things .
He said , ‘ When you ’ re old enough , you can live with me.
’ ” Meghan said she was impressed by Mattern ’ s claim that he ’ d sold one of his porn sites for $ 25,000 and shut down the rest .
Shortly after they married in 2002 , however , she learned that he had shut the websites down in 1999 , around the time he was charged in Pennsylvania with a count of sex with an underage person .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ comment on the matter except to confirm that he was convicted and served 11 months in jail , details that were corroborated by Centre County , Pa. , court documents .
In 2008 , the couple moved to California , where Mattern became infatuated with the desert spots with alluring names featured in naturalist Bill Mann ’ s 1998 book , “ Guide to 50 Interesting and Mysterious Sites in the Mojave.
” Among them : Afton Indian Trail .
Birdman Petroglyph .
Spooky Canyon .
The Rock Igloo .
“ As a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Death Valley Jim , ’ ” his ex-wife said .
He ended up adopting it as a handle in a new career as a desert tour guide , radio program celebrity , movie location scout and author of self-published books such as “ Secret Places in the Mojave Desert ” and “ Hidden Joshua Tree.
” Between 2014 and 2016 , the “ Death Valley Jim Radio Program ” aired weekly on AM radio across the desert from Palm Springs to Twenty-nine Palms .
It opened with punchy heavy metal rock music and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a platform from which to pitch their agendas , businesses and books .
Among them was Joshua Tree National Park Supt .
David Smith , who took that position in 2014 .
“ I was on Jim ’ s show once or twice , and I enjoyed it , ” Smith said in an interview .
“ I found him to be very engaging and knowledgeable about the desert .
We talked about hiking , safety and wildlife at a time when we were experiencing a huge upswing in visitation.
” The National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2016 , after Newsweek published its profile of Death Valley Jim .
“ There was a lot of concern about archaeological sites , ” Smith said .
“ We ’ re precluded by law from revealing the locations of such sites to the public on public lands.
” Critics felt Mattern ’ s ruminations were sophomoric , and he had a tendency to mispronounce names of people and places .
“ I had friends who didn ’ t think Jim was on the up and up , ” filmmaker Robert Lundahl said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their minds , for example , when he ’ d say ‘ Chemy Wabe tribe ’ instead of Chemehuevi tribe.
” Meghan came to believe the critics were right , and she let him know it .
“ You ’ re a phony , Jim , ” she claims to have told him .
Looking back , Mattern said he has no regrets about his life as Death Valley Jim , the tangible remnants of which include stacks of books and promotional materials that he said are “ gathering dust in a storage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to visit the places I took them to on public lands , ” he said .
“ I did a lot of good things .
I helped organize cleanup efforts and educational programs , and showed people places they might not have known about.
” He also says he alerted officials about archaeological sites that had been looted .
But he has no intention of stepping foot in Death Valley when his probation expires in October .
“ My passion for the desert was quashed , ” he said , “ not by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my ex-wife , who won ’ t stop slamming me on the internet.
” To hear her tell it , “ Jim is no oracle of the desert .
Never was .
”

At 13, Jim Mattern was selling punk rock fanzines. At 16, he said he ran a lucrative pornography website. He saw himself as a born entrepreneur, and so, after moving to California in 2008, the desert became his product.
In 2012, he pitched himself as Death Valley Jim and led paying customers on trips to remote archaeological sites, Old West ruins, abandoned mines and natural wonders deep within the national parks of Death Valley and Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
He became widely known for his Jeep tours, self-published books and a weekly radio program. In 2016, Newsweek magazine described Mattern the California desert’s “last best hope.”
Advertisement
Death Valley Jim’s mythmakers apparently never realized this expert tour guide never obtained the federal permits required to lead his tours. His downfall came in 2016 when a seemingly cheery young couple hired him to take them on a tour of Death Valley’s petroglyphs.
“They seemed to really like me; we were friends,” Mattern, 41, recalled in a recent interview. “I was shocked to later learn they were undercover officers.”
In November, Mattern pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Fresno to a criminal charge of receiving payment for unpermitted tours within a national park. He was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to cease operation of his Death Valley Jim website, according to court documents.
In addition, he was banished from Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve for the length of his probation.
But that is not the only the punishment he faces. Mattern said he is keeping an extremely low profile because of a ugly feud with an ex-wife. He now works as a short-haul truck driver because his probation terms prohibit him from leaving the state.
“I’m a ghost, man” said Mattern, who lives near Fresno. “And I prefer to keep it that way.”
Perhaps because of its isolation, the Mojave Desert has long attracted flamboyant characters, including charlatans and hustlers peddling hidden treasure. Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley, for example, is named for Walter Scott, who lured investors into financing bogus gold mines and later occupied the castle, turning himself into a local tourist attraction.
Advertisement
Mattern contends he never deceived any of his customers and doesn’t fall into that category. But that is not the story told by his ex-wife, a self-described wiccan pagan, who publicizes his whereabouts on social media and calls Mattern “a con man, braggart, narcissist, misogynist and worse.”
In a recent interview, Meghan Mattern, 37, said she vowed to make his life miserable after he disclosed he had fallen in love with a 20-year-old woman.
That was the last straw, and it came after Meghan discovered that Mattern had launched a book project that involved photographing nude women in the desert. Beyond that, critics were sounding the alarm that his books and tours invited vandalism of sensitive desert sites by listing their GPS coordinates.
“You know what, Jim?” she said she told him. “That Death Valley Jim act of yours is history. I’m coming after you with seven hells behind my back to tear apart everything you do from now on.”
A few weeks after their divorce was finalized in May 2018, Mattern married the woman half his age. But as he tells it, his ex-wife continues to follow him on social media, tormenting him wherever she can.
“She has no reason to contact me,” he complained.
“But somehow,” he added glumly, “she manages to find me.”
::
Mattern grew up in Pennsylvania, the precocious son of an Air Force officer.
At 13, he was publishing punk rock fanzines that were sold via mail order and word of mouth. Three years later, he transformed a punk rock website into a porn hub of material he bought from networks of providers. “It started making serious money,” he recalled. “So, I built more of those sites.”
“By 18, I was pulling $10,000 a month,” he said, “which I blew as fast as it was coming in on the best of everything: fancy restaurants with friends, leather sofas, hardwood furniture and $200 sunglasses.”
James Bradley Mattern was 18 and Meghan Elizabeth Russel was 14 when they met on an online chat room. Even before she cast eyes on the stocky man with a goatee and crew cut, the slender, fresh-faced teenager said she felt something confident, smart and inviting in his words.
Those words seemed to reach out of the computer and grab ahold of a girl who had endured what she said was “a very, very rough childhood.”
“I was looking for someone to love me and take care of me,” she recalled. “Jim promised all those things. He said, ‘When you’re old enough, you can live with me.’”
Meghan said she was impressed by Mattern’s claim that he’d sold one of his porn sites for $25,000 and shut down the rest.
Shortly after they married in 2002, however, she learned that he had shut the websites down in 1999, around the time he was charged in Pennsylvania with a count of sex with an underage person.
In an interview, Mattern declined to comment on the matter except to confirm that he was convicted and served 11 months in jail, details that were corroborated by Centre County, Pa., court documents.
In 2008, the couple moved to California, where Mattern became infatuated with the desert spots with alluring names featured in naturalist Bill Mann’s 1998 book, “Guide to 50 Interesting and Mysterious Sites in the Mojave.” Among them: Afton Indian Trail. Birdman Petroglyph. Spooky Canyon. The Rock Igloo.
“As a joke, I started calling him ‘Death Valley Jim,’” his ex-wife said. He ended up adopting it as a handle in a new career as a desert tour guide, radio program celebrity, movie location scout and author of self-published books such as “Secret Places in the Mojave Desert” and “Hidden Joshua Tree.”
Between 2014 and 2016, the “Death Valley Jim Radio Program” aired weekly on AM radio across the desert from Palm Springs to Twenty-nine Palms. It opened with punchy heavy metal rock music and provided desert characters of every stripe with a platform from which to pitch their agendas, businesses and books.
Among them was Joshua Tree National Park Supt. David Smith, who took that position in 2014. “I was on Jim’s show once or twice, and I enjoyed it,” Smith said in an interview. “I found him to be very engaging and knowledgeable about the desert. We talked about hiking, safety and wildlife at a time when we were experiencing a huge upswing in visitation.”
The National Park Service launched its investigation of Mattern in 2016, after Newsweek published its profile of Death Valley Jim.
“There was a lot of concern about archaeological sites,” Smith said. “We’re precluded by law from revealing the locations of such sites to the public on public lands.”
Critics felt Mattern’s ruminations were sophomoric, and he had a tendency to mispronounce names of people and places.
“I had friends who didn’t think Jim was on the up and up,” filmmaker Robert Lundahl said. “Red flags went up in their minds, for example, when he’d say ‘Chemy Wabe tribe’ instead of Chemehuevi tribe.”
Meghan came to believe the critics were right, and she let him know it. “You’re a phony, Jim,” she claims to have told him.
::
Looking back, Mattern said he has no regrets about his life as Death Valley Jim, the tangible remnants of which include stacks of books and promotional materials that he said are “gathering dust in a storage locker.”
“People have a right to visit the places I took them to on public lands,” he said. “I did a lot of good things. I helped organize cleanup efforts and educational programs, and showed people places they might not have known about.”
He also says he alerted officials about archaeological sites that had been looted.
But he has no intention of stepping foot in Death Valley when his probation expires in October.
“My passion for the desert was quashed,” he said, “not by the National Park Service, but by my ex-wife, who won’t stop slamming me on the internet.”
To hear her tell it, “Jim is no oracle of the desert. Never was.”


latimes--2020-02-24--Skelton: Newsom hopes to broker a peace treaty in California's water war. Some worry he'll cave to T

Skelton: Newsom hopes to broker a peace treaty in California's water war. Some worry he'll cave to Trump

Gov .
Gavin Newsom may be piloting a lifeboat that will rescue the sinking California Delta .
Or he may be in water over his head on a doomed mission .
The governor gets angry with skeptics who say he ’ s being delusional .
But history sides with the doubters .
“ I love reading all that , ‘ Hey , he ’ s naive .
He ’ s being misled , ’ ” Newsom recently told a forum sponsored by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California , his voice rising with a touch of sarcasm .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little different.
” No California water hole has been fought over more than the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta .
It ’ s right up there with the Owens Valley and the state ’ s share of the Colorado River .
The delta supplies water for 27 million people and irrigates 3 million acres .
California ’ s economy depends , in large part , on its health .
But the delta ’ s ecology has been declining , primarily because water from rivers has been diverted for agriculture before it reaches the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And the water that does make it there has been overpumped through fish-chomping monstrosities into southbound aqueducts .
This has devastated native fish — salmon , steelhead , smelt — and prompted courts to occasionally tighten the spigots on water pumped to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities .
To succeed in fixing the delta , Newsom must navigate through eternally warring interests : San Joaquin Valley agriculture and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on one side , and delta farmers , the coastal fishing industry and environmentalists on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even more intense , the president and the governor now are in a spat over water for the first time in modern history .
Newsom got dragged in reluctantly .
“ I don ’ t need to be told , ‘ You need to be tough against the Trump administration , ’ ” Newsom said at the PPIC forum .
“ Give me a break .
I know that.
” Newsom ’ s delta rescue plan basically involves everyone getting along , compromising and singing “ Kumbaya.
” But that normally hasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars are second nature in the West .
California has been fighting over water since statehood .
In 2009 , Gov .
Arnold Schwarzenegger muscled a ballyhooed bill through the Legislature that was heralded as a wonderwork .
It was supposed to restore the delta and stabilize water deliveries .
So far , it has belly-flopped .
It led to Gov .
Jerry Brown proposing construction of two monster tunnels to siphon fresh Sacramento River water from the north delta directly into the southbound aqueducts , reducing use of the fish-killing pumps .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the loss of fresh water .
And the project ’ s $ 17-billion cost was too much for many water districts anyway .
So Newsom scaled back the proposal to one tunnel , which is still being planned .
Nothing about it is certain .
Newsom “ seems to be chasing this white whale of voluntary agreements , ” says Doug Obegi , senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council .
“ It feels like the state is trying to adapt more to Trump [ environmental protection ] rollbacks rather than forcing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ values.
” Newsom has pulled the warring interests — mainly San Joaquin Valley irrigators , the Metropolitan Water District and environmentalists — into efforts to reach voluntary agreements on river flows , delta pumping and habitat improvements .
Newsom is so committed to the negotiations that in September he vetoed state Senate leader Toni Atkins ’ anti-Trump environmental protection bill , SB 1 .
Under the measure , if Trump weakened federal environmental protections , they ’ d automatically be adopted by California .
But water districts threatened to walk out of talks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So he didn ’ t .
“ I ’ m trying to put together a peace plan in the delta , ” says Wade Crowfoot , Newsom ’ s secretary of the Natural Resources Agency .
“ I don ’ t want to be a Pollyanna , but there ’ s beginning to be a sea change in many of these water users .
They ’ re just tired of fighting.
” But why would agriculture interests compromise with Newsom , at least until they learn whether Trump can win reelection in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their own : former Westlands Water District lobbyist David Bernhardt .
Because , Crowfoot says , the state still can set environmental protection regulations that govern both the federal Central Valley and state water projects .
But environmentalists fear that Newsom will cave in to Trump and valley growers and offer a deal too good for them to reject .
Last November , the Trump administration announced plans to roll back endangered species protections and export more delta water to Central Valley Project customers .
The state threatened to sue but never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — until last week .
That ’ s when Trump flew to California and flamboyantly signed an order implementing the plan .
Newsom sued , but expressed hope that the state , the feds and the warring parties could compromise .
Then he ’ d drop the suit .
“ You want to get into lawsuits ?
You want to screw this person , screw that person , spending seven years getting nothing done ?
” Newsom asserted testily at the Jan. 29 PPIC forum .
“ I ’ m the wrong person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so easy.… “ The world is changing .
We have to change with it.… Putting the old binaries aside , getting off our high horse .
Recognizing that we need each other.
” If Newsom can pull this off , it would truly be a remarkable achievement .
But can irrigators and environmentalists fit in the same lifeboat ?
They never have .

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta near the town of Rio Vista.
Gov. Gavin Newsom may be piloting a lifeboat that will rescue the sinking California Delta. Or he may be in water over his head on a doomed mission.
The governor gets angry with skeptics who say he’s being delusional. But history sides with the doubters.
“I love reading all that, ‘Hey, he’s naive. He’s being misled,’” Newsom recently told a forum sponsored by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, his voice rising with a touch of sarcasm.
Advertisement
“It means we’re doing something a little different.”
No California water hole has been fought over more than the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It’s right up there with the Owens Valley and the state’s share of the Colorado River.
The delta supplies water for 27 million people and irrigates 3 million acres. California’s economy depends, in large part, on its health.
But the delta’s ecology has been declining, primarily because water from rivers has been diverted for agriculture before it reaches the West Coast’s largest estuary. And the water that does make it there has been overpumped through fish-chomping monstrosities into southbound aqueducts.
This has devastated native fish — salmon, steelhead, smelt — and prompted courts to occasionally tighten the spigots on water pumped to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities.
To succeed in fixing the delta, Newsom must navigate through eternally warring interests: San Joaquin Valley agriculture and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on one side, and delta farmers, the coastal fishing industry and environmentalists on the other.
Making the current dispute even more intense, the president and the governor now are in a spat over water for the first time in modern history. Newsom got dragged in reluctantly.
Advertisement
“I don’t need to be told, ‘You need to be tough against the Trump administration,’” Newsom said at the PPIC forum. “Give me a break. I know that.”
Newsom’s delta rescue plan basically involves everyone getting along, compromising and singing “Kumbaya.” But that normally hasn’t worked in the past.
Water wars are second nature in the West. California has been fighting over water since statehood.
In 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger muscled a ballyhooed bill through the Legislature that was heralded as a wonderwork. It was supposed to restore the delta and stabilize water deliveries. So far, it has belly-flopped.
It led to Gov. Jerry Brown proposing construction of two monster tunnels to siphon fresh Sacramento River water from the north delta directly into the southbound aqueducts, reducing use of the fish-killing pumps. But delta communities and environmentalists loudly protested the loss of fresh water. And the project’s $17-billion cost was too much for many water districts anyway.
So Newsom scaled back the proposal to one tunnel, which is still being planned. Nothing about it is certain.
Newsom “seems to be chasing this white whale of voluntary agreements,” says Doug Obegi, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“It feels like the state is trying to adapt more to Trump [environmental protection] rollbacks rather than forcing the Trump administration to adjust to California values.”
The Newsom administration denies it’s leaning toward Trump’s views.
Newsom has pulled the warring interests — mainly San Joaquin Valley irrigators, the Metropolitan Water District and environmentalists — into efforts to reach voluntary agreements on river flows, delta pumping and habitat improvements.
Newsom is so committed to the negotiations that in September he vetoed state Senate leader Toni Atkins’ anti-Trump environmental protection bill, SB 1. Under the measure, if Trump weakened federal environmental protections, they’d automatically be adopted by California. But water districts threatened to walk out of talks with Newsom if he signed the legislation. So he didn’t.
“I’m trying to put together a peace plan in the delta,” says Wade Crowfoot, Newsom’s secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.
“I don’t want to be a Pollyanna, but there’s beginning to be a sea change in many of these water users. They’re just tired of fighting.”
But why would agriculture interests compromise with Newsom, at least until they learn whether Trump can win reelection in November? His interior secretary is one of their own: former Westlands Water District lobbyist David Bernhardt.
Because, Crowfoot says, the state still can set environmental protection regulations that govern both the federal Central Valley and state water projects.
But environmentalists fear that Newsom will cave in to Trump and valley growers and offer a deal too good for them to reject.
Last November, the Trump administration announced plans to roll back endangered species protections and export more delta water to Central Valley Project customers. The state threatened to sue but never did — despite loud pressure from environmentalists — until last week. That’s when Trump flew to California and flamboyantly signed an order implementing the plan.
Newsom sued, but expressed hope that the state, the feds and the warring parties could compromise. Then he’d drop the suit.
“You want to get into lawsuits? You want to screw this person, screw that person, spending seven years getting nothing done?” Newsom asserted testily at the Jan. 29 PPIC forum. “I’m the wrong person in this job. That’s so easy.…
“The world is changing. We have to change with it.… Putting the old binaries aside, getting off our high horse. Recognizing that we need each other.”
If Newsom can pull this off, it would truly be a remarkable achievement. But can irrigators and environmentalists fit in the same lifeboat? They never have.


latimes--2020-02-22--City Beat: When homeless people tell their own stories, we should listen and not turn away

There ’ s a podcast I find myself listening to lately that isn ’ t produced in a studio .
It hasn ’ t been polished and smoothed like a rock tossed in a tumbler .
It contains stumbles and sometimes unexpected clattering .
But at its best , in its intimate stories from the streets and its insights from the experience of living on them , it cuts right through the background noise about homelessness .
Theo Henderson , 46 , calls a park in Chinatown home and records “ We the Unhoused ” on his cellphone every week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tries to survive on our streets .
His parents , his only real safety net , died when he was a young man .
And even though he graduated from college and used to teach elementary school , in a series of calamities starting with a diabetic coma during the recession , he lost his job and his housing and his economic stability .
He now sleeps outdoors , on concrete .
In recent months , he has been chronicling the travails of others who for a host of reasons once lived under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He is one of a number of people I know of who are homeless in our city who also document homelessness .
They ’ re in that world .
They know it in ways I do not .
When I come across them , I pay attention .
This week , our governor , Gavin Newsom , devoted his State of the State address to California ’ s crisis of homelessness .
He called it “ a disgrace ” that we ignored for too long .
“ We turned away when it wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , our neighbor or our friend , ” he said , or when it was and no help was forthcoming .
Now there ’ s no turning away .
It ’ s everywhere you look .
And I think we have to look , closely and steadily .
Massive fixes are required — so much more housing , so many more support services .
The vast majority of that work will fall to our government , at all levels .
But as individuals , I feel it behooves us to educate ourselves in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the problem .
To figure out what useful actions we can take — whether alone or in groups , through donations or directly — when no official aid is at hand .
To determine what we should be demanding our elected officials do to produce the kind of help those in need say might actually work for them .
I ’ ve talked in the past about the benefits for all concerned of reaching out to people on the streets , asking them what immediate help they need , trying to provide it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lives .
I know not everyone will feel comfortable doing this .
But there are other ways to go to the source .
“ We the Unhoused ” can get angry — at overzealous police and business improvement districts , at City Council members .
Henderson takes jabs at my colleague Steve Lopez , too , which I ’ ve told him I think is unfair .
He has had the word “ homeless ” spat at him too often , he says , to want to use it himself .
On his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ raise money to keep going , he simultaneously offers advice to the unhoused and to the rest of us who might be far too quick to write them off .
In one episode , he focused on violence against people who are homeless .
He talked to Freddie , whose wife had died and who had then been evicted from the apartment building they ’ d managed ; Freddie was living with his two cats near his former home when someone threw an incendiary device at his tent .
He spoke to others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them in the middle of the night , who worried that strangers might hand them poisoned food or that they could be attacked at any moment by people who want them gone .
He reminded the rest of us , as he often does , of the fragility of life — that we could find ourselves suddenly unhoused , too , and that we should respond accordingly to our neighbors who already are .
He asked that we think twice about doing such things as calling police to request that encampments be removed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cleanups that set people who are homeless even further back when they lose crucial IDs and supplies .
He asked us to ask ourselves , “ What part do I play in perpetuating the hateful rhetoric or the uplifting rhetoric and the uplifting actions to help unhoused people find their best selves ?
” Do we play a role ?
Is it a role we can be proud of ?
These can be uncomfortable questions .
There ’ s a very creative guy I sometimes run into around town by the name of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he says , more or less by choice .
If someone gave him an apartment , he ’ d move right in , he told me — but he doesn ’ t want to make his life all about working to afford one .
Torres , who grew up poor in Crenshaw and quit school after seventh grade , has chosen to live his life as a wandering storyteller .
He ’ s made two feature-length films while living on sidewalks .
He brings in money by selling the DVDS ( $ 25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ image in silhouette ( $ 50 ) and copies of photographs he takes as he pushes his cart around the city ( $ 10 ) .
Torres , 50 , is a voracious reader who has taught himself many things .
When a nearby coffee shop switched ownership and tossed out a beat-up , scratched-up mirror in a gilded frame , he began a series of striking self-portraits inspired , he told me , by Vivian Maier , the Chicago nanny whose extraordinary images were discovered only after her death .
Torres ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which he places in the scenes he shoots of people living in dire straits on the streets .
Sometimes I imagine that if my own face were reflected in those photos , they would serve as a not-so-subtle critique of my miniscule efforts to reach out to those around me in need .
I hand out socks and blankets and TAP cards and gift cards .
I bring people what they tell me they could use .
I try to make connections and show that I care .
But I know it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of such great need .
Lelund Nathaniel Hollins ’ photographs make me feel that need powerfully .
They cry out the lack of comfort , the loneliness , the isolation .
Hollins , who does not have a home and often sleeps on public transportation , photographs others who do the same and who stretch out on our sidewalks and bus benches .
He ’ s part of an ongoing workshop in the journalism department at Cal State Northridge , in which seniors studying photojournalism coach those who are homeless or have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so they can tell their own stories .
CSUN journalism professor David Blumenkrantz started the workshop , which is called “ How We See It.
” It ’ s turned out to be an even greater learning experience for the CSUN students , they told me , than it has for their protégés .
I met a lot of the group last month when the work was exhibited at the Museum of Social Justice in the heart of El Pueblo downtown .
They had all bonded and become close friends .
“ Being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is housed and someone who has food every day and someone who has a family , it opens your eyes to the world , ” one of the CSUN crew , Shae Hammond , told those gathered in a short speech .
I met Tim Caffery , who at the time was living in Griffith Park .
( He ’ s since been rousted by rangers and is tucked in along a freeway . )
Bobby Buck , who used to be on skid row , told me he liked taking pictures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he used to be , as a way to bring them dignity and light in the darkness .
Hollins , 45 , said the photos he takes hurt even his own heart .
He talked about the ones of the people hunched over in their seats on the Metro , their scant worldly belongings encircling them .
( He rents a storage space and so can own more . )
“ The harshest is when you see somebody make that seat into their only home , ” he told me .
And I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think about one thing I particularly like about the podcast , “ We the Unhoused ” : the way Henderson closes nearly every episode .
“ Thank you for listening , ” he says .
“ And may we all again meet in the light of understanding .
”

Theo Henderson, creator of the “We the Unhoused” podcast, shares a balloon with his friend Genevieve Walan, 8, in the Chinatown park where he lives. Genevieve says, “He is my friend and he is funny.”
There’s a podcast I find myself listening to lately that isn’t produced in a studio. It hasn’t been polished and smoothed like a rock tossed in a tumbler. It contains stumbles and sometimes unexpected clattering.
But at its best, in its intimate stories from the streets and its insights from the experience of living on them, it cuts right through the background noise about homelessness.
Theo Henderson, 46, calls a park in Chinatown home and records “We the Unhoused” on his cellphone every week — no small feat as he also tries to survive on our streets. His parents, his only real safety net, died when he was a young man. And even though he graduated from college and used to teach elementary school, in a series of calamities starting with a diabetic coma during the recession, he lost his job and his housing and his economic stability. He now sleeps outdoors, on concrete.
In recent months, he has been chronicling the travails of others who for a host of reasons once lived under roofs but now don’t. He is one of a number of people I know of who are homeless in our city who also document homelessness. They’re in that world. They know it in ways I do not. When I come across them, I pay attention.
Advertisement
This week, our governor, Gavin Newsom, devoted his State of the State address to California’s crisis of homelessness. He called it “a disgrace” that we ignored for too long. “We turned away when it wasn’t our sister, our brother, our neighbor or our friend,” he said, or when it was and no help was forthcoming.
Now there’s no turning away. It’s everywhere you look. And I think we have to look, closely and steadily.
Massive fixes are required — so much more housing, so many more support services. The vast majority of that work will fall to our government, at all levels.
But as individuals, I feel it behooves us to educate ourselves in order to understand the many layers of the problem. To figure out what useful actions we can take — whether alone or in groups, through donations or directly — when no official aid is at hand. To determine what we should be demanding our elected officials do to produce the kind of help those in need say might actually work for them.
I’ve talked in the past about the benefits for all concerned of reaching out to people on the streets, asking them what immediate help they need, trying to provide it, listening to them talk about their lives. I know not everyone will feel comfortable doing this. But there are other ways to go to the source.
“We the Unhoused” can get angry — at overzealous police and business improvement districts, at City Council members. Henderson takes jabs at my colleague Steve Lopez, too, which I’ve told him I think is unfair.
Advertisement
He has had the word “homeless” spat at him too often, he says, to want to use it himself. On his podcast, which he is trying to raise money to keep going, he simultaneously offers advice to the unhoused and to the rest of us who might be far too quick to write them off.
In one episode, he focused on violence against people who are homeless. He talked to Freddie, whose wife had died and who had then been evicted from the apartment building they’d managed; Freddie was living with his two cats near his former home when someone threw an incendiary device at his tent. He spoke to others who described having ice cubes thrown at them in the middle of the night, who worried that strangers might hand them poisoned food or that they could be attacked at any moment by people who want them gone.
He reminded the rest of us, as he often does, of the fragility of life — that we could find ourselves suddenly unhoused, too, and that we should respond accordingly to our neighbors who already are.
He asked that we think twice about doing such things as calling police to request that encampments be removed and spoke about the unintended consequences of cleanups that set people who are homeless even further back when they lose crucial IDs and supplies.
He asked us to ask ourselves, “What part do I play in perpetuating the hateful rhetoric or the uplifting rhetoric and the uplifting actions to help unhoused people find their best selves?”
Do we play a role? Is it a role we can be proud of? These can be uncomfortable questions.
Bumdog Torres describes himself as homeless by choice. He takes photos and shoots film of his world — including many other people on the streets. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
There’s a very creative guy I sometimes run into around town by the name of Bumdog Torres. He is homeless, he says, more or less by choice. If someone gave him an apartment, he’d move right in, he told me — but he doesn’t want to make his life all about working to afford one. Torres, who grew up poor in Crenshaw and quit school after seventh grade, has chosen to live his life as a wandering storyteller. He’s made two feature-length films while living on sidewalks. He brings in money by selling the DVDS ($25), along with T-shirts of his image in silhouette ($50) and copies of photographs he takes as he pushes his cart around the city ($10).
Torres, 50, is a voracious reader who has taught himself many things. When a nearby coffee shop switched ownership and tossed out a beat-up, scratched-up mirror in a gilded frame, he began a series of striking self-portraits inspired, he told me, by Vivian Maier, the Chicago nanny whose extraordinary images were discovered only after her death.
Torres’ face often appears in the gilded mirror, which he places in the scenes he shoots of people living in dire straits on the streets. Sometimes I imagine that if my own face were reflected in those photos, they would serve as a not-so-subtle critique of my miniscule efforts to reach out to those around me in need. I hand out socks and blankets and TAP cards and gift cards. I bring people what they tell me they could use. I try to make connections and show that I care. But I know it’s so little in the face of such great need.
Lelund Nathaniel Hollins’ photographs make me feel that need powerfully. They cry out the lack of comfort, the loneliness, the isolation. Hollins, who does not have a home and often sleeps on public transportation, photographs others who do the same and who stretch out on our sidewalks and bus benches.
Photographer Lelund Nathaniel Hollins, who is homeless, stands next to his photo of a barefoot homeless person slumped over on a Metro seat. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
He’s part of an ongoing workshop in the journalism department at Cal State Northridge, in which seniors studying photojournalism coach those who are homeless or have been homeless, teaching them street photography skills so they can tell their own stories. CSUN journalism professor David Blumenkrantz started the workshop, which is called “How We See It.” It’s turned out to be an even greater learning experience for the CSUN students, they told me, than it has for their protégés. I met a lot of the group last month when the work was exhibited at the Museum of Social Justice in the heart of El Pueblo downtown. They had all bonded and become close friends.
“Being able to recognize my privilege as someone who is housed and someone who has food every day and someone who has a family, it opens your eyes to the world,” one of the CSUN crew, Shae Hammond, told those gathered in a short speech.
I met Tim Caffery, who at the time was living in Griffith Park. (He’s since been rousted by rangers and is tucked in along a freeway.) Bobby Buck, who used to be on skid row, told me he liked taking pictures of people who are homeless, as he used to be, as a way to bring them dignity and light in the darkness.
Hollins, 45, said the photos he takes hurt even his own heart. He talked about the ones of the people hunched over in their seats on the Metro, their scant worldly belongings encircling them. (He rents a storage space and so can own more.)
“The harshest is when you see somebody make that seat into their only home,” he told me. And I had to agree.
Which made me think about one thing I particularly like about the podcast, “We the Unhoused”: the way Henderson closes nearly every episode.
“Thank you for listening,” he says. “And may we all again meet in the light of understanding.”


latimes--2020-02-20--Skelton: What Newsom didn't mention: To address homelessness in California, a tax hike is inevitable

OK , I ’ m waiting to hear about the tax increase that will be needed to pay for Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s ambitious plan to solve homelessness .
A tax hike is inevitable , but the T-word was conspicuously missing from Newsom ’ s frequently applauded State of the State address on Wednesday to a joint session of the California Legislature , which is tightly controlled by fellow Democrats .
Not that a tax increase wouldn ’ t be justified to remedy what Newsom correctly called “ a disgrace ” in the richest state of the richest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ details — about who gets taxed and how the money is spent — and probably require a special interest-sponsored ballot initiative .
For the Legislature to place a measure on this November ’ s ballot or to raise taxes on its own would require a two-thirds majority vote .
And that ’ s not likely to happen , especially in an election year .
“ There are 1.6 million fewer Californians living in poverty today than in 2011 , ” Newsom said , “ but no amount of progress can camouflage the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ultimate manifestation of poverty , screaming for our attention : homelessness… .
“ As Californians , we pride ourselves on our unwavering sense of compassion and justice for humankind .
But there ’ s nothing compassionate about allowing fellow Californians to live on the streets , huddled in cars or makeshift encampments.
” The governor received a standing ovation with cheers for that line .
“ The problem has persisted for decades — caused by massive failures in our mental health system and disinvestment in our social safety net , exacerbated by widening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortage .
“ The hard truth is we ignored the problem.
” And Newsom went on like that for several hundred words , redundantly reciting the problem and scolding everyone for averting their eyes — or at least trying to .
Then deep into the speech , he tucked in a vague allusion to taxes : “ The public has lost patience , you have all lost patience and I ’ ve lost patience , ” he said .
“ To reverse decades of neglect and turn around a crisis this deep-rooted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than one-time funding .
We need significantly sustainable revenue .
It ’ s the truth .
I know this is always the toughest thing… .
“ I pledge to work closely with you to identify this ongoing revenue to provide the safer , cleaner streets our communities deserve .
It ’ s time to muster the political will to meet the moment .
The people of California are demanding bold , permanent solutions… .
“ In order to get the job done , we ’ ve got to match this new money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this crisis head on [ while ] requiring that our new funding isn ’ t replacing existing spending but creating new solutions.
” Check the code words : “ sustainable revenue , ” “ ongoing revenue , ” “ new money ” that “ isn ’ t replacing existing spending.
” That ’ s a roundabout way of spelling T-A-X .
There ’ s no way to acquire new money that ’ s ongoing and doesn ’ t replace existing spending without raising taxes .
I can ’ t see the governor and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the middle class .
There ’ s talk of once again slamming million-dollar earners , who are already paying by far the highest state income tax rate in the nation : 13.3 % .
Hey , good thinking .
Drive more job producers out of the Golden State .
Homelessness is everyone ’ s problem .
And if higher taxes are needed — and maybe they are , but it ’ s yet to be proved — then all of us should pay for it .
Targeting the rich is cowardly .
Assemblyman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to introduce legislation that would allocate $ 2 billion a year to fight homelessness .
But he hasn ’ t identified the money source .
Meanwhile , there ’ s growing criticism in the Capitol about how money is being spent to combat homelessness , and it ’ s not coming mainly from Republicans .
Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco this week advocated a hard look at homelessness spending .
“ No one today can tell me how much money is being spent on homelessness in California on all levels , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anthony Rendon ( D-Lakewood ) reported Wednesday that “ we have set aside $ 7 billion for housing solutions in recent years.
” This year , Newsom has proposed spending an additional $ 750 million to move homeless people into shelters .
He ’ s also asking for nearly $ 700 million to expand homeless services under Medi-Cal , the healthcare program for the poor .
That ’ s on top of the $ 1 billion the state has already been doling out to address homelessness .
Recently , the nonpartisan legislative analyst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homelessness , asserting it “ falls short of articulating a clear strategy.
” That presumably was what the governor ’ s State of the State address was all about .
“ We will reduce street homelessness quickly and humanely through emergency actions , ” Newsom vowed .
“ We will be laser-focused on getting the mentally ill out of tents and into treatment .
We will provide stable funding to get sustainable results .
We will tackle the underproduction of affordable housing .
And we will do all of this with real accountability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ raise taxes .
But that wasn ’ t said .

California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature at the Capitol in Sacramento.
OK, I’m waiting to hear about the tax increase that will be needed to pay for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plan to solve homelessness.
A tax hike is inevitable, but the T-word was conspicuously missing from Newsom’s frequently applauded State of the State address on Wednesday to a joint session of the California Legislature, which is tightly controlled by fellow Democrats.
Not that a tax increase wouldn’t be justified to remedy what Newsom correctly called “a disgrace” in the richest state of the richest nation. But that would depend on details — about who gets taxed and how the money is spent — and probably require a special interest-sponsored ballot initiative.
Advertisement
For the Legislature to place a measure on this November’s ballot or to raise taxes on its own would require a two-thirds majority vote. And that’s not likely to happen, especially in an election year.
“There are 1.6 million fewer Californians living in poverty today than in 2011,” Newsom said, “but no amount of progress can camouflage the most pernicious crisis in our midst, the ultimate manifestation of poverty, screaming for our attention: homelessness….
“As Californians, we pride ourselves on our unwavering sense of compassion and justice for humankind. But there’s nothing compassionate about allowing fellow Californians to live on the streets, huddled in cars or makeshift encampments.”
The governor received a standing ovation with cheers for that line.
“The problem has persisted for decades — caused by massive failures in our mental health system and disinvestment in our social safety net, exacerbated by widening income equality and California’s housing shortage.
“The hard truth is we ignored the problem.”
And Newsom went on like that for several hundred words, redundantly reciting the problem and scolding everyone for averting their eyes — or at least trying to.
Then deep into the speech, he tucked in a vague allusion to taxes:
Advertisement
“The public has lost patience, you have all lost patience and I’ve lost patience,” he said. “To reverse decades of neglect and turn around a crisis this deep-rooted, we’re also going to need more than one-time funding. We need significantly sustainable revenue. It’s the truth. I know this is always the toughest thing….
“I pledge to work closely with you to identify this ongoing revenue to provide the safer, cleaner streets our communities deserve. It’s time to muster the political will to meet the moment. The people of California are demanding bold, permanent solutions….
“In order to get the job done, we’ve got to match this new money with a new legal obligation to address this crisis head on [while] requiring that our new funding isn’t replacing existing spending but creating new solutions.”
Check the code words: “sustainable revenue,” “ongoing revenue,” “new money” that “isn’t replacing existing spending.” That’s a roundabout way of spelling T-A-X.
There’s no way to acquire new money that’s ongoing and doesn’t replace existing spending without raising taxes.
I can’t see the governor and Legislature raising taxes on everyone, particularly the middle class. There’s talk of once again slamming million-dollar earners, who are already paying by far the highest state income tax rate in the nation: 13.3%. Hey, good thinking. Drive more job producers out of the Golden State.
Homelessness is everyone’s problem. And if higher taxes are needed — and maybe they are, but it’s yet to be proved — then all of us should pay for it. Targeting the rich is cowardly.
Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) plans to introduce legislation that would allocate $2 billion a year to fight homelessness. But he hasn’t identified the money source.
Meanwhile, there’s growing criticism in the Capitol about how money is being spent to combat homelessness, and it’s not coming mainly from Republicans.
Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco this week advocated a hard look at homelessness spending.
“No one today can tell me how much money is being spent on homelessness in California on all levels,” the legislator complained.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) reported Wednesday that “we have set aside $7 billion for housing solutions in recent years.”
This year, Newsom has proposed spending an additional $750 million to move homeless people into shelters. He’s also asking for nearly $700 million to expand homeless services under Medi-Cal, the healthcare program for the poor. That’s on top of the $1 billion the state has already been doling out to address homelessness.
Recently, the nonpartisan legislative analyst criticized Newsom’s budget proposal on homelessness, asserting it “falls short of articulating a clear strategy.”
That presumably was what the governor’s State of the State address was all about.
“We will reduce street homelessness quickly and humanely through emergency actions,” Newsom vowed.
“We will be laser-focused on getting the mentally ill out of tents and into treatment. We will provide stable funding to get sustainable results. We will tackle the underproduction of affordable housing. And we will do all of this with real accountability and real consequences.”
And they will raise taxes. But that wasn’t said.


latimes--2020-02-28--Fullerton checks in as hottest place in the U.S.; highs are about to give way to cool-down

Record-setting heat will give way to cooler temperatures and the possibility of showers as a storm system moves over the Los Angeles area this weekend , forecasters say .
Temperatures are expected to drop slightly Friday but remain above normal a day after Fullerton checked in with the highest temperature in the U. S. -- 88 degrees .
By Saturday , the mercury is expected to drop about 10 degrees — into the low 70s — for much of the Southland .
On Sunday , temperatures are expected to fall further , into the low 60s , and wet weather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with a slight chance of rain before 10 a.m. followed by a 30 % to 40 % chance of showers in the afternoon and evening , said Joe Sirard , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard .
The storm is expected to drop less than a quarter-inch of rain across Los Angeles , Ventura and Santa Barbara counties , according to the weather service .
There ’ s also a slight chance of thunderstorms , which could produce small hail and locally higher rainfall totals .
Snow levels are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet , and travel through mountain passes , including Interstate 5 through the Grapevine , may be affected .
The cool-down comes as a low-pressure system moves in and winds shift from offshore to onshore , bringing in cooler air from the ocean , Sirard said .
“ Plus the rain helps to cool things down , ” he said .
“ All of that is going to combine to give us these below-normal temperatures coming up on Sunday.
” The whiplash temperatures come after the mercury rose to 85 degrees at Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the record of 83 degrees set on the same date in 1992 .
Long Beach Airport reached 84 degrees , nudging past the record of 83 degrees set in 1992 , according to weather service data .
Fullerton recorded a high of 88 degrees , which did not meet or break any records but made the Orange County city the hottest place in the U.S. on Thursday .
The unseasonably warm weather was the result of a high-pressure ridge that has lingered over the eastern Pacific Ocean for much of January and February @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California to the Pacific Northwest .
The lackluster rainfall during what is typically California ’ s wettest month has caused some consternation among weather experts .
Downtown Los Angeles has received just 0.04 of an inch of rain this month , a sharp contrast to February 2019 , when a series of atmospheric rivers hammered the area with rain , dumping 5.59 inches downtown and keeping the mercury below 70 degrees all month .
The lack of rain has also taken its toll on the Sierra Nevada snowpack , a key source of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As of Thursday , the statewide snowpack measured 46 % of average for the time of year .
At roughly the same time last year ,

It was sunny and hot enough to need shade protection in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday. Record-setting heat will give way to cooler temperatures and the possibility of showers as a storm system moves over the Los Angeles area this weekend, forecasters say.
Record-setting heat will give way to cooler temperatures and the possibility of showers as a storm system moves over the Los Angeles area this weekend, forecasters say.
Temperatures are expected to drop slightly Friday but remain above normal a day after Fullerton checked in with the highest temperature in the U. S. -- 88 degrees. By Saturday, the mercury is expected to drop about 10 degrees — into the low 70s — for much of the Southland.
On Sunday, temperatures are expected to fall further, into the low 60s, and wet weather is expected to return to the area, with a slight chance of rain before 10 a.m. followed by a 30% to 40% chance of showers in the afternoon and evening, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. The storm is expected to drop less than a quarter-inch of rain across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, according to the weather service.
Advertisement
There’s also a slight chance of thunderstorms, which could produce small hail and locally higher rainfall totals. Snow levels are forecast to drop to 3,000 to 4,000 feet, and travel through mountain passes, including Interstate 5 through the Grapevine, may be affected.
The cool-down comes as a low-pressure system moves in and winds shift from offshore to onshore, bringing in cooler air from the ocean, Sirard said.
“Plus the rain helps to cool things down,” he said. “All of that is going to combine to give us these below-normal temperatures coming up on Sunday.”
The whiplash temperatures come after the mercury rose to 85 degrees at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, breaking the record of 83 degrees set on the same date in 1992. Long Beach Airport reached 84 degrees, nudging past the record of 83 degrees set in 1992, according to weather service data.
Fullerton recorded a high of 88 degrees, which did not meet or break any records but made the Orange County city the hottest place in the U.S. on Thursday.
The unseasonably warm weather was the result of a high-pressure ridge that has lingered over the eastern Pacific Ocean for much of January and February, rerouting winter storms that typically soak California to the Pacific Northwest.
Advertisement
The lackluster rainfall during what is typically California’s wettest month has caused some consternation among weather experts.
Downtown Los Angeles has received just 0.04 of an inch of rain this month, a sharp contrast to February 2019, when a series of atmospheric rivers hammered the area with rain, dumping 5.59 inches downtown and keeping the mercury below 70 degrees all month.
The lack of rain has also taken its toll on the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a key source of the state’s water supply. As of Thursday, the statewide snowpack measured 46% of average for the time of year. At roughly the same time last year, the snowpack measured 151% of average.
Times staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-02-28--Crane collapses at SoFi Stadium project in Inglewood

Authorities are investigating the collapse of a crane at the construction site of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood .
The Los @ @ @ @ @ a report of the collapse of a large crane shortly before 8 a.m. in the @ @ @ @ @ Avenue , Marvin Lim , a department spokesman , said Friday .
No injuries were @ @ @ @ @ Video from the scene appeared to show that the crane fell into a dirt lot @ @ @ @ @ not far from a parking lot .
It wasn ’ t immediately clear what caused @ @ @ @ @ SoFi Stadium , the new , 70,000-seat home of the Rams and Chargers , is @ @ @ @ @ Taylor Swift concert in late July .
At an estimated cost of $ 5 billion @ @ @ @ @ priciest venue — by far — in NFL history .

An investigation is underway following the collapse of a crane at the construction site of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Friday morning.
Authorities are investigating the collapse of a crane at the construction site of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department received a report of the collapse of a large crane shortly before 8 a.m. in the 1000 block of South Prairie Avenue, Marvin Lim, a department spokesman, said Friday.
No injuries were reported, he said.
A crane that was being moved struck the boom of a stationary crane, causing that second crane to collapse, the Fire Department said.
Advertisement
Video from the scene appeared to show the equipment fell into a dirt lot next to the stadium, not far from a parking lot.
Turner AECOM Hunt, the general contractor, said in a statement that the collapse resulted in minor property damage but none to the stadium itself. The incident is not expected to not affect the stadium’s scheduled completion date.
“Turner AECOM Hunt works extremely hard to create a safe work environment on site,” the statement said. “A thorough investigation is underway.”
The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health also is investigating, a public information officer said.
SoFi Stadium, the new, 70,000-seat home of the Rams and Chargers, is set to open with a Taylor Swift concert in late July. At an estimated cost of $5 billion, it ranks as the priciest venue — by far — in NFL history.