MIDCITY — It’s a worst case scenario for local emergency responders: A dirty bomb explodes on the streets of Downtown Santa Monica during a crowded event, causing hundreds of casualties, severely injuring many more and releasing dangerous chemicals into the environment.
CITY HALL — A weak real estate market in 2009 meant few apartment owners in Santa Monica sought to evict tenants and redevelop their properties into condos, leading to a rare net increase in housing units controlled by the Rent Control Board, a report from the board released this week said.
DOWNTOWN L.A. — The presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court announced Tuesday the layoffs of 330 employees, along with plans to shutter courtrooms to help cope with a $79 million budget shortfall.
CITY HALL — The City Council has a full roster of seven members again, but still no mayor since the death of Ken Genser in January. The council last month appointed Terry O’Day to fill Genser’s seat, but the body will have to elect a new figurehead to chair meetings and become the face of the city.
CITY HALL — The 25,000 participants in the L.A. Marathon this year will be crossing the finish line on Ocean Avenue in Downtown Santa Monica — attracting a flood of spectators that City Hall officials said pose a range of logistical challenges but will give a boost to local businesses.
CITY HALL — City Hall wants to get something for nothing. City staff is in the process of submitting an application to Internet giant Google to compete for an ultra-high speed broadband network being offered by the company.
CITY HALL — The owner of The Hump, the Santa Monica sushi restaurant where, until recently, an endangered species of whale was on the menu, has already publicly admitted to violating the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
AIRPORT COURTHOUSE — A year after abruptly shutting down his high-end Wilshire Boulevard furniture store and leaving behind scores of angry customers who never received orders they’d paid for, Cozi Couch owner Arman Hazarian has pleaded guilty to false advertising and doing business without a licens
CULVER CITY — Lamont Ewell, Santa Monica’s former city manager who retired in January in order to spend more time with his family, has decided to return to work, at least temporarily, accepting a job as Culver City’s interim city manager.
Beginning mid-March, bus riders on several Metro lines traveling through the Sepulveda Pass and in the vicinity of Interstate 405 in West Los Angeles should anticipate delays and intermittent detours due to work for the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Project, the 10-mile carpool lane project now unde
Dear EarthTalk: Isn’t the interest in electric cars and plug-in hybrids going to spur increased reliance on coal as a power source? And is that really any better than gasoline/oil in terms of environmental impact? Graham Rankin, via e-mail It’s true that the advent of electric cars is not necessaril
COLORADO AVE — As many observers expected, a coalition of Westside homeowner groups has filed a lawsuit challenging the thoroughness of the environmental study recently approved for the Expo Light Rail line that transportation officials hope will connect Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles by 2015.
