RLn 10 15 15 web issue

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Local Port Trucker Attends White House Workers’ Voice Summit p. 2 Carson’s City Clerk Gets to Tell His Side of the Story on Alleged Staff Abuse p. 5 Conscious Eating the Theme at the 2nd Annual Sustainable Seafood Expo p. 11 Rion Michael’s Musical Journey Comes Full Circle from Atlanta to Pedro p. 14

Ten Big Stories News Media Ignored

Even in the era of ubiquitous social media, when a small news outlet can create a story that goes viral, some of the biggest news of the past year never reached most of the public.

By Tim Redmond, Editor and Chief of 48 Hills

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The Local Publication You Actually Read October 15 - 28, 2015

hen Sonoma State University professor Carl Jensen started looking into the news media’s practice of self-censorship in 1976, the Internet was only a dream and most computers were still big mainframes with whirling tape reels and vacuum tubes.

Back then, the vast majority of Americans got all their news from one daily newspaper and one of the three big TV networks. If a story wasn’t on ABC, NBC or CBS, it might as well not have happened.

Forty years later, the media world is a radically different place. Americans today are more likely to get their news from several different sources through Facebook than they would from the CBS Evening News. Daily newspapers are struggling all over the country. In some cases, they are dying or dead. Meanwhile, a story that appears on one obscure Internet outlet can suddenly become a viral sensation, reaching millions of readers at the speed of light.

Yet Jensen’s Project Censored discovered there are still numerous big, important news stories that receive very little exposure.

As Project Censored staffers Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth note, 90 percent of U.S. news media—the traditional outlets that employ full-time reporters—are controlled by six corporations. “The corporate media hardly represent the mainstream,” the staffers wrote in the current edition’s introduction.

“By contrast, the independent journalists that Project Censored has celebrated since its inception are now understood as vital components of what experts have identified as the newly developing ‘networked fourth estate.’”

[See Censored, page 6]

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Port Trucker Attends White House Workers’ Voice Summit Alex Paz Brought Local Struggle Into National Conversation

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

On Oct. 7, President Barack Obama hosted a Workers’ Voice Summit that brought hundreds of workers, activists and a few supportive business leaders to the White House to discuss how to empower workers.

Alex Paz was there. The port trucker, long misclassified but now a unionized employee at Ecoflow, traveled across the country to participate in one of the panel discussions. When he got home, Paz said he was encouraged by what he’d witnessed, particularly “the involvement of the president.”

“That he was the one involved in organizing the White House summit, that he was talking

about bringing up the middle class, getting us back to work and basically providing wages for us to feed our families,” Paz said. “That right there, the president, what he said, it was really inspiring.”

Obama’s opening remarks fueled the hopes of an American working class that has been losing economic ground for decades.

“We convened this summit because we believe this is a country where if we work hard, everybody should be able to get ahead,” Obama said.

“Wages need to rise more quickly. We need jobs to offer the kind of pay and benefits that let

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Lunch Specials

Fish & Chips • Shepherd’s Pie Bangers & Mash • Beef Dip or Entrée House Salad

Valid Tues.-Sun. lunches. Not valid w/ other offers

Featured new beer for this month is Oktoberfest brewed by Sierra Nevada

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Terrence Wise, founder of KC Stand Up which spearheaded the fast food worker $15 hour movement in 2013, introduced President Barack Obama at the White House Workers’ Voice Summit on Oct. 7.

October 15 - 28, 2015

LIVE MUSIC • no cover

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FRIDAYS

ROB ON PIANO With guests, 7 pm

SATURDAYS

MARKUS CARLTON Jazz Guitar, 6:30 pm

1st & 3rd Thursdays

LIVE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND

people raise a family. And in order to do that, workers need a voice. They need the voice and the leverage that guarantee this kind of middleclass security. And that’s true now more than ever, during this time of rapid economic change.”

Looking backward, Obama said, “The middle class, itself, was built on a union label. And that middle class that was built was the engine of our prosperity.”

Since then, the erosion of union power and the middle class have gone hand-in-hand.

“And so, in today’s economy, we should be making it easier, not harder, for folks to join a union,” Obama continued. “We should be strengthening our labor laws, not rolling them back. And for contractors or workers who can’t join unions, we should be finding new avenues for them to join together and advocate for themselves as well.”

Obama was introduced to the summit attendees by Terrence Wise, who has become the face of the fast-food workers’ $15-an-hour movement since he organized one of the first fast-food worker strikes with Stand Up KC in July 2013.

Wise’s activism was born of a career of long, stagnant desperation.

“Despite my working nearly two decades in this industry, I make just $8 an hour working at McDonalds and Burger King. That ain’t right,” Wise said. “My fiancé is a home healthcare worker. She’s been working in home healthcare for 12 years, and makes $10 an hour taking care of some of the most vulnerable citizens in this nation. We raised three little girls in Kansas City, Mo. We work hard every day, but the wages are so low we skip meals.”

Although he was “really moved” by Wise’s [See Summit, page 4]

Community Announcements:

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 30 Years

Toberman Reunion and the Challenge of Recovering Forgotten Memories

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Regional Budget Day

This is an opportunity for stakeholders to weigh in directly to the Budget Advocates on next year’s city budget.

Time: 9 a.m. Oct. 17 Cost: Free Details: www.cspnc.org/event/save-the-dateregional-budget-day Venue: POLA High School, 250 W. 5th St., San Pedro

October Beach Clean Up

Visit Long Beach, enjoy some fresh air and get a little exercise while helping keep some of the garbage off the beach and out of the ocean.

Some snacks and water provided. Bring your own reusable water bottle. Limited parking. Meet on the sand at the end of Junipero Beach.

Time: 12 to 2 p.m. Oct. 18 Details: (562) 570-4876 Venue: Junipero Beach, 1 Junipero Ave., Long Beach

NWSPNC Sustainability Committee Meeting

The Homer Toberman Settlement House circa 1940. Courtesy of Toberman Neighborhood Center

became a Toberman camp counselor and taught part time at Toberman before she became a full time teacher.

She noted being surprised by the number of male executive directors of Toberman.

In Garnichaud-Bowie’s recollection, Toberman seemed to always be headed by strong Methodist women. One director was responsible for the recommendation that helped her get her teaching credential and her life career in education.

Matlock knows a great deal of the history of

Toberman’s and the Methodist Church.

“They came to this corner, but this has always been a United Methodist Women’s project,” Matlock explained. “The United Methodist Women provides funding for us. They have two ad hoc members on the board.”

In fact, the Methodist Church as a denomination has supported Toberman both financially and with volunteer hours. Matlock pointed out a list of volunteers and faithbased partners filled overwhelmingly with Methodist [See Reunion, page 4]

Sisterhood Ministry’s Handbags for Hope

If you’re concerned and want more information about port impacts on the communities of San Pedro and Wilmington, attend this meeting with like-minded citizens and discuss solutions.

Time: 6 p.m. Oct. 20 Cost: Free Details: http://nwsanpedro.org Venue: San Pedro City Hall, 638 S. Beacon St., Room 452, San Pedro

Central SPNC Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee Meeting

If you’re concerned about homelessness in your neighborhood, attend this meeting to discuss solutions.

Time: 5:45 p.m. Oct. 20 Cost: Free Details: http://sanpedrocity.org/meeting/201510-20-homelessness-ad-hoc/ Venue: San Pedro Public Library, 931 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Livable West Long Beach Green TI Celebration

The public is invited to attend the fourth community workshop on the Green TI Transition Plan, at 10 a.m. Oct. 24, on Hill St. near Hudson Park in Long Beach.

Residents will have the opportunity to learn more about the plan to transform the TI Freeway into an eco-friendly corridor that better serves the community.

Time: 10 a.m. Oct. 24 Cost: Free Details: www.lbds.info Venue: Hill Street, near Hudson Park, Long Beach

Clean up LB Strand with Surfrider Foundation

Head down to Alamitos Beach and spend an hour beautifying part of Long Beach’s coastline. Meet at Alamitos.

Time: 10 to 11 a.m. Oct. 25 Cost: Free Details: (562) 570-1326, district8@longbeach. gov Venue: Alamitos Beach

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Minimum Wage Study Sessions

Rita Harris (left), Pauline Webster, Sisterhood Ministry Director Christy Lundy, Sherry Shaw and First Lady Kim Thomas of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. Courtesy of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church.

The Sisterhood Ministry of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church is launching a collection effort of 200 or more new or gently used handbags filled with essential toiletry items, including deodorant, hairbrush, hand sanitizer, lip balm, mints, manicure set, pocket tissue, razor, shaving gel, shampoo and conditioner, soap or body wash, toothbrush and toothpaste, a wallet and a handwritten note of encouragement for women struggling with domestic abuse.

The filled handbags will be donated to various women’s shelters in the community that help women in transition, in need and escaping domestic violence situations.

Drop off donations at the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, 390 W. 7th St., San Pedro from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, Nov. 1 through Dec. 12.

Details: (310) 986-7718; http://mtsinaisanpedro. org

The Long Beach community review process for the Long Beach Minimum Wage Study to be conducted by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. will include a series of meetings for community input.

The upcoming meeting will be the at the Long Beach City Council’s Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting on Oct. 29.

The following is the proposed study schedule: • Oct. 29: Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting (7:30 a.m.

Long Beach City College Board Room, 4901 Carson St., Long Beach) • Nov. 17: Mayor’s Roundtable (12 p.m.

Admiral Kidd Park, 2125 Santa Fe Ave.) [See Announcements, 5]

October 15 - 28, 2015

A year ago, Executive Director and CEO Linda Matlock told me that Toberman was planning a reunion of sorts.

It’s happening on Oct. 24. The event is intended to be both a fundraiser and an opportunity to celebrate the children who have matriculated through Toberman since the 1930s.

Matlock described the event back then as a legacy event. She organized a staff to search the archives for children who matriculated through Toberman since its relocation to San Pedro in 1937.

“We’re gathering information and we’re going to invite the alumni to this event.”

The result was a compilation of old photographs, official documents and newspaper clippings — much of it undated and without other identifying information. Little could be found about the volunteers, parents, and children who came through Toberman’s doors.

Newspaper clippings provide clues as to the kinds of programs it offered through different eras and highlighted specific events that further refined Toberman’s mission.

The kind of information Matlock and her staff really needed could only be gleaned from the memories of old volunteers, staff, and child participants.

I already had direct access to a few Toberman alumnus, including: civic leader Joe Gatlin, woodworking artist, Harold Greene and retired educator and former Toberman staffer and volunteer (1950s and early 60s), Charlotte Garnichaud-Bowie.

Greene recalls going to Toberman with his siblings when he was about 10 years old. He most remembers the annual carnivals.

Gatlin and Garnichaud-Bowie remember Toberman as a place for young people to socialize at sponsored dances, summer camps and Toberman’s annual fundraising carnivals.

Gatlin has vivid recollections of his mother’s civic involvement with Toberman and other nonprofits in San Pedro. He noted she was even a member of the neighborhood council when it started in the early 2000s.

He said he drove her to the meetings during her first year. In hindsight, he said he should have joined himself that first year. He elected not to, believing he would be going back to Kuwait where he served as a waterfront consultant.

Gatlin began getting involved in the neighborhood councils a year later, following his mom’s footsteps.

Garnichaud-Bowie started going to Toberman when she was 14 because her circle of friends were going. Eventually she would become a regular volunteer, filling in wherever needed.

Garnichaud-Bowie fondly remembers volunteering at the annual carnival. One year she was asked to man the cotton candy booth. She recalled going home having to pull out cotton candy residue from the folds of her rolled up sleeves, hair and nostrils.

As tune passed, she was assigned more tasks with ever greater responsibility. She eventually

Harbor Area

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[Summit, from page 2]

Local Trucker Attends Summit

October 15 - 28, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

difficult story, Paz began his involvement in the cause of America’s workers a month before Wise organized his first strike in June 2013.

“The company I was working for [TTSI] was misclassifying me as an independent contractor, charging me for fuel expenses, charging for the registration, for the insurance, tires, maintenance, and so on and so forth,, when in reality I was a company employee,” Paz told Random Lengths.

He brought his case to a California Labor Commissioner, filed a lawsuit began getting active with the union. After a bitter struggle, during which he was illegally fired, his old employers created a new, unionized company called Ecoflow, and Paz was appointed to the contract negotiating team, before being tapped to attend the summit.

At the conference, Paz was a panelist in the breakout sessions, where ideas were shared about how to organize, and change things — both in the workplace and in the legal system. One particular focus was “to increase the penalties for companies that do misclassify their employees.”

Paz likes to talk in terms of a common example. If a parking ticket costs $25, he says, “Some of us will be like, go ahead, I’ll go ahead and gladly pay the fine, I just need to get in there.”

But raise the cost to $10,000, and suddenly, “We’ll think twice about parking there,” he says.

“They could do the same for the companies misclassifying the drivers. Increase the penalties, increase the fines. They’ll think twice about misclassifying the workers.”

Paz said the comments of Secretary of Labor Tom Perez regarding misclassification and wage theft really resonated with him.

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“That really touched on our level, for the port truck drives, because that’s what we’re going through as wage theft,” Paz said. “And that right there made it seem like they are taking account of what’s going on with economy.”

In fact, Perez sneered at the antiseptic sound of “misclassification” when he spoke.

“It’s called misclassification here in Washington,” he said. “I don’t like that word because that sounds like you put it in the wrong file. We called it in Maryland [where he held the same office] what I thought it was, which was

workplace fraud. And where I grew up, it was called cheating.”

Employees are the first in line being cheated, but not the only ones, Perez pointed out. Lawabiding employers were also being cheated, as was the tax system, particularly workers compensation. In fact, this was a recurrent theme throughout the summit: whatever hurts workers struggling at the bottom has ripple effect that hurts the economy, the culture, the country overall.

Or as the ILWU slogan has it, borrowed from the Wobblies at the beginning of the 20th century, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” It’s encouraging to hear that idea being echoed inside the White House.

Gov. Brown Signs Coal Divestiture Bill

On Oct. 8, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 185, which requires California’s public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, to divest from holdings in thermal coal. The measure is the first of its kind in the nation. Photo by Jesse Marquez

[Reunion, from page 3]

Reunion

churches throughout the Harbor Area and beyond.

But the Methodists weren’t alone in supporting Toberman. Other faith-based supporters included local synagogue Temple Beth El, Presbyterian-denominated churches and non-denominational churches.

“It is a fascinating history,” Matlock said.

“When it was formed in Los Angeles to help women who were single, orphans, people who needed medical help, all of this was the beginning of social work in California. And it still is what we do here.”

Matlock had hoped to turn the event and the resultant research into a documentary to show just exactly what this 100-year organization has been doing all of these years. But one thing that became abundantly clear after talking to a few Toberman alumnus is that love of town and civic duty was a common characteristic whether these children grew up to be rich and famous or not.

Photo courtesy of Toberman Neighborhood Center.

Community Announcements:

Staff Abuse Censure Hearing Set for Oct. 20 Harbor Area Carson City Clerk Jim Dear Gets to Tell His Side of the Story on Staff Abuse

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Quick takeaways from the document: The staffers interviewed came primarily from the city clerk’s and city manager’s offices, including former city manager Nelson Hernandez and current assistant city manager Cecil Rhambo.

Two members of the clerk’s office provide perhaps the most detailed account of what was alledgedly happening behind the scenes while

• Nov. 20: Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting (4 p.m. Bay Shore Library, 195 Bay Shore Ave.) • Nov. 24: Economic Development Commission (6:30 p.m. City Council Chambers) At the end of the preliminary public outreach process, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. will issue its report for public comment.

That report will include a section capturing the feedback provided at each of the public meetings.

After the report is issued, three more public meetings will take place on Nov. 17, 20 and 24 for community review and comment on. The City Council is expected to review the report, the summary of public comments and other information on minimum wage in early December 2015.

Nightly Lane Restrictions in Carson

City Clerk Jim Dear (left) and Vera Dewitt of Carson Citizens for Reform at a June 15 press conference in which Dear in which DeWitt asked Dear to step down following alleged voting irregularities following the June 2 election. Photo by Kelvin Brown

Dear was conducting the June 2015 special election and his reaction when recall papers were filed against him later that month.

Dear relied on temporary help to the exclusion of available full-time staff members in his office. Two of these temps, Joseph Pion and Joy Simarago, spoke in Dear’s defense during the Sept. 17 special council meeting, saying they never heard him say anything racist.

Though Dear pushed to make them full-time staff in the clerk’s office, the city manager’s office apparently let them go.

All interviewees gave examples of Dear’s alleged propensity to take the same liberties that he did as mayor, including accessing, unimpeded, every part of city hall, whether he had business there or not. He was allegedly directing staff from other departments according to his priorities and he allegedly forced his will on personnel decisions such as pressuring the city manager’s office to hire or terminate staff members regardless of merit—a power he did not have even as mayor.

The latter involves the hiring and retention of a former staff member alleged to be romantically linked with Dear. She was allegedly hired as a result of pressure from Dear, despite lack of clarity that she was legally able to work in the United States.

The city council discussed and approved modified versions of Aarvig’s recommendations that could be immediately implemented to help make staff feel safer in their work environment.

These included a review of existing antiharassment and anti-discrimination policies,

adoption of a non-retaliation policy and antinepotism policies and adoption of a resolution urging the city clerk to seek professional psychiatric help.

City Manager Ken Farfsing moved the city clerk’s office staff to another wing of city hall as part of his effort to provide immediate relief for affected staff members.

By the end of the night, the council had restricted Dear’s access to Carson City Hall’s common areas, the clerk’s office and the vault in the basement.

Dear has since said he is considering charging the council with violating California’s penal code, which forbids anyone from delaying or obstructing any public official in the discharge of any public duty.

Dear said he’s making the charge because the council has stripped him of his staff, put them in an entirely separate office and told him to come to City Hall only on business.

“That’s the only reason I come to City Hall anyway,” he argues. “They cannot ban me from City Hall. I’m an elected official.”

Dear attempted to have three of his friends serve as volunteer replacements for the staff that was moved from his office, despite orders from City Manager Ken Farfsing to stop. City officials succeeded in obtaining restraining orders against the volunteers.

Just a day prior, a judge denied the city’s bid for a restraining order against Dear. The judge ruled that the city did not present sufficient evidence to warrant such a step. Another hearing on the matter is set for Oct. 15.

Through Oct. 31, the streets connected to the intersection of Wilmington Avenue and 223rd Street intersection will have nightly lane restrictions due to construction. Traffic will continue through the intersection without the need of detours. Business and local resident access will be maintained at all times. The public can expect noise and vibrations from back-up alarms, work crews and other construction related equipment and activities. Construction activity schedules and closures are subject to change.

Boater Registration Open for 53rd Annual LA Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade Boaters are encouraged to register now for the 53rd Annual Los Angeles Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade at 6 p.m. Dec. 5, at the Port of Los Angeles.

Invited to preside over the sparkling spectacular of boats is Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as Grand Marshal and 15th District Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino as commodore of the fleet to celebrate the nation’s largest international trade gateway with this year’s playful theme of Santa’s Minions.

The deadline for boater registration is Dec. 2.

Details: (310) 549-8111; laharborholidayafloat. org

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Politics in Carson has always been a messy business. The March 2015 elections, in which former mayor Jim Dear was elected to the city clerks office and the upcoming Oct. 20 censure hearings, which delves into his conduct amongst city staff, gives credence to that reputation.

The most recent turn of events follows Carson City Council’s unusual step to waive client-attorney privilege. The council announced at the Sept. 15 meeting, that the clerk’s office was investigated by an independent outside firm.

The investigation is in response to complaints by city staff to the city manager’s office in August.

The council voted to pay the firm $50,000 at that council meeting.

At the time, Carson Mayor Albert Robles noted that the city was exposed to significant legal liability if staff members elected to sue and the courts found that Dear created a hostile work environment.

Dear’s supporters, including his lawyer, Bradley Hertz, questioned the timing, adding that such personnel matters, if of genuine concern, are routinely handled in closed session. He charged that publicly airing them amounted to character assassination.

Initially, only a summary of the report was read into the record by lawyer Maria Aarvig. A week later, the city posted a redacted version of the report on the city website blacking out the names of the people interviewed. Meanwhile, a group allied with Dear called, the Carson Alliance 4 Truth, posted the unredacted version on its website and Facebook on the week of Oct. 5.

The 52-page report addressed staff complaints about Dear’s behavior. This allegedly caused them to take steps to secure work stations and plan escape routes in the event that Dear became violent. In addition, the report delved into complaints of Dear making racially derogatory remarks and allegedly meddling in personnel matters.

The interviews, along with the original staff complainants, paint a picture of a work environment fraught with tension. Dear was elected clerk in March; Albert Robles was selected as mayor in April; and a recall election was launched against Dear in June.

[Announcements, from page 3]

October 15 - 28, 2015

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PROJECT CENSORED! [Censored, from page 1]

POLA, POLB to Update Clean Air Action Plan

Environmental teams from the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach gathered public input for the next update of the Clean Air Action Plan during an Oct. 14 community workshop they jointly hosted at Banning’s Landing Community Center in Wilmington The workshop included a presentation outlining the scope and timeline of the update, as well as discussio with attendees. The Clean Air Action Plan was adopted in 2006 and underwent its first update in 2010.

Since adoption, the ports have reported that levels of diesel particulate have dropped 82 percent, oxides of nitrogen are down 54 percent and oxides of sulfur have declined 90 percent.

Brown Vetoes Expanded Family Leave Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would have expanded California’s unpaid family leave policy to include a broader range of workers’ family members. Brown’s veto handed a significant victory to business groups opposed to the measure, most notably the Chamber of Commerce, which hysterically labelled it a “job killer.”

In the real world, over 140 countries provide paid sick, and the U.S. is one of only three countries--out of 185 surveyed--that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave. So unpaid family leave would not be taken seriously as a business hardship anywhere else in the world.

October 15 - 28, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Brown Signs Plan to Reduce Recidivism of Mentally Ill Offenders On Oct. 3, Gov. Jerry Brown signed bill Senate Bill 621, which aims to reduce the recidivism of non-violent mentally ill lawbreakers by.providing them with diversion programs. The bill clarifies how the money in the state’s mentally ill offender crime reduction grant is spent, allowing counties to use it on said diversion programs.

“This bill will help make clear that counties can apply for special grants to pay for diversion programs for the mentally ill,” said Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, who sponsored the bill. “This will save tax dollars and help those in need become more self-sufficient and stay out of jail.”

Nobody in the legislature voted against the bill.

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Brown Signs Law To Encourage Public-Interest Legal Practice Senate Bill 134 will fund the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program, which uses unclaimed funds that have been transferred to the state general fund after being held for three years. It encourages newly graduated lawyers with student debt to pursue work in the public interest, where pay is often lower than in private practice.

Lawmakers of both parties have described the new law as an innovative revenue source.

Jensen set out to frame a new definition of censorship. He put out an annual list of the 10 biggest stories that the mainstream media ignored, arguing it was a failure of the corporate press to pursue and promote these stories that represented censorship—not by the government—but by the media itself.

“My definition starts with the other end, with the failure of information to reach people,” he wrote. “For the purposes of this project, censorship is defined as the suppression of information, whether purposeful or not, by any method—including bias, omission, underreporting, or selfcensorship, which prevents the public from fully knowing what is happening in the world.”

Jensen died in April, 2015, but his project was inherited and carried on

by Sonoma State sociology professor Peter Phillips and Huff, who teaches social science and history at Diablo Valley College.

With Huff, who is now project director, and Roth as associate director, Project Censored has expanded and become a more tightened ship. A panel of 28 judges, mostly academics with a few journalists and media critics, finalize the top 10 and the 15 runnersup.

The results are published in a book that will be released Oct. 6 by Seven Stories Press.

I’ve been writing about Project Censored for 25 years, and it’s safe to say that the stories on this year’s list are credible, valid—and critically important. Even in an era when most of us are drunk with information, overloaded by buzzing social media telling us things we didn’t think we needed to know, these stories haven’t gotten anywhere near the attention they deserve.

1.

Half of global wealth owned by the 1 percent

We hear plenty of talk about the wealth and power of the top 1 percent of people in the United States, but the global wealth gap is, if anything, even worse. And it has profound human consequences.

Oxfam International, which has been working for decades to fight global poverty, released a January 2015 report showing that under current trends the world’s wealthiest 1 percent will end this year controlling more wealth than everyone else in the world put together.

As reported in Project Censored, “The Oxfam report provided evidence that extreme inequality is not inevitable, but is, in fact, the result of political choices and economic policies established and maintained by the power elite, wealthy individuals whose strong influence keeps the status quo rigged in their own favor.”

Another stunning fact: The wealth of 85 of the richest people in the world combined is equal to the wealth of half the world’s poor combined.

The mainstream news media coverage of the report and the associated issues was spotty at best. Project Censored notes: A few corporate television networks, including CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, FOX and C-SPAN covered Oxfam’s January report, according to the TV News Archive. CNN had the most coverage with about seven broadcast segments from Jan. 19 to 25. However, these stories aired between 2 and 3 a.m., far from prime-time.

Sources: Larry Elliott and Ed Pilkington, “New Oxfam Report Says Half of Global Wealth Held by the 1%,” Guardian, Jan.19, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/mqt84tg

Sarah Dransfield, “Number of Billionaires Doubled Since Financial Crisis as Inequality Spirals Out of Control–Oxfam,” Oxfam, Oct. 29, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ nzox3t8 Samantha Cowan, “Every Kid on Earth Could Go to School if the World’s 1,646 Richest People Gave 1.5 Percent,” TakePart, Nov. 3, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ worldswealthiest.

2.

Oil Industry Illegally Dumps Fracking Wastewater

Fracking, which involves pumping high-pressure water and chemicals into rock formations to free up oil and natural gas, has been a huge issue nationwide. But there’s been little discussion of one side effect: contamination of aquifers.

The Center for Biological Diversity reported in 2014 that oil companies had dumped almost 3 billion gallons of fracking wastewater into California’s underground water supply. Since the companies refuse to say what chemicals they use in the process, the exact level of contamination is unknown. But wells that supply drinking water near the fracking waste dump sites tested high in arsenic, thallium and nitrates.

According to Project Censored, “Although corporate media have covered debate over fracking regulations, the Center for Biological Diversity study regarding the dumping of wastewater into California’s aquifers went all but ignored at first.

There appears to have been a lag of more than three months between the initial independent news coverage of the Center for Biological Diversity revelations and corporate coverage.

“In May 2015, the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page feature on Central Valley crops irrigated with treated oil field water; however, the Los Angeles Times report made no mention of the Center for Biological Diversity’s findings regarding fracking wastewater contamination.”

Sources: Dan Bacher, “Massive Dumping of Wastewater into Aquifers Shows Big Oil’s Power in California,” IndyBay, Oct. 11, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ DumpingWastewater “California Aquifers Contaminated with Billions of Gallons of Fracking Wastewater,” Russia Today, Oct. 11, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/nbtoa6j.

Donny Shaw, “CA Senators Voting NO on Fracking Moratorium Received 14x More from Oil & Gas Industry,” MapLight, June 3, 2014, http://tinyurl. com/FrackingMoratorium.

Dan Bacher, “Senators Opposing Fracking Moratorium Received 14x More Money from Big Oil,” IndyBay, June 7, 2014, http:// tinyurl.com/SenatorsOpposeMoratorium

3.

Pakistani drone victims: 89 percent not identifiable as militants

The United States sends drone aircraft into combat on a regular basis, particularly in Pakistan. The Barack Obama administration says the drones fire missiles only when there is clear evidence the targets are Al Qaeda bases. Secretary of State John Kerry insists “the only people we fire a drone at are confirmed terrorist targets at the highest levels.”

But the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which keeps track of all the strikes, reported that only 4 percent of those killed by drones were Al Qaeda members and only 11 percent were confirmed militants of any sort.

That means 89 percent of the 2,464 people killed by U.S. drones could not

be identified as terrorists.

In fact, 30 percent of the dead could not be identified at all.

The New York Times has covered the fact that, as one story noted, “most individuals killed are not on a kill list, and the government does not know their names.” But overall, the mainstream news media ignored the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporting.

Sources: Jack Serle, “Almost 2,500 Now Killed by Covert US Drone Strikes Since Obama Inauguration Six Years Ago,” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Feb. 2, 2015, www.thebureauinvestigates .com/2015/02/02/almost-2500-killedcovert-us-drone-strikes-obamainauguration/.

Jack Serle, “Get the Data: A List of US Air and Drone Strikes, Afghanistan 2015,” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Feb. 12, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/pvospem Steve Coll, “The Unblinking Stare: The Drone War in Pakistan,” New Yorker, Nov. 24, 2014, http://preview.tinyurl.com/ DroneWarPakistan

Abigail Fielding-Smith, “John Kerry Says All those Fired at by Drones in Pakistan are ‘Confirmed Terrorist Targets’—But with 1,675 Unnamed Dead How Do We Know?” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Oct. 23, 2014, http://preview. tinyurl.com/unameddead.

Jack Serle, “Only 4% of Drone Victims in Pakistan Named as al Qaeda Members,” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Oct. 16, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ DroneVictimsinPakistan.

Jeremy Scahill, “Germany is the TellTale Heart of America’s Drone War,” Intercept, April 17, 2015, http://tinyurl. com/o4ke8bt.

[See Censored, page 7]

You’re Not Getting Your First Amendment’s Worth:

Junk Food News… and Worse

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

The Watergate break-in took place in June 1972, but it never figured into the presidential election five long months after.

While journalists look back on Watergate as a journalistic triumph due to developments after the election, Carl Jensen took a different view. He saw the failure to recognize Watergate’s importance until after the election as a symptom of systemic failures in the media. The Watergate story was never censored in the classic sense—by the government.

But it might as well have been as far as the 1972 election was concerned, because of how effectively the media censored itself.

In 1976, Jensen began Project Censored as a way to attack this systemic failure. The bestknown aspect of this attack is the

development and distribution of an annual list of censored stories— again, not censored by the government, but by the media, itself.

Yet Jensen also knew this problem wasn’t just about important stories being buried; this problem was also about what buried them: a distracting flood of trivial, irrelevant, sensationalist or simply entertaining stories. Individually, these stories might be harmless, but collectively, as a steady diet, they starved the public of knowledge needed for democratic selfgovernment. These stories were, simply put, “junk food news.” Attacking them responsibly meant more than publicly mentioning them—it meant deeply analyzing them.

When Jensen stepped down as director of Project Censored, his successor, Peter Phillips, created an

and Groups Delivered Help,” YES! Magazine, Nov. 24, 2014, http:// tinyurl.com/CityTurnedOffWater.

Madeline Ostrander, “LA Imports Nearly 85 Percent of Its Water—Can It Change That by Gathering Rain?,” YES! Magazine, Jan. 5, 2015, http:// tinyurl.com/LAImportsWater.

5.

[Censored, from previous page]

CENSORED! 4.

Popular resistance to corporate water grabbing

For decades, private companies have been trying to take over and control water supplies, particularly in the developing world. Journalist Ellen Brown reported in March 2015, that corporate water barons, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, the Carlyle Group, and other investment firms “are purchasing water rights from around the world at an unprecedented pace.”

However, over the past 15 years, more than 180 communities have fought back and re-municipalized their water systems. “From Spain to Buenos Aires, Cochabamba to Kazakhstan, Berlin to Malaysia, water privatization is being aggressively

Victoria Collier, “Citizens Mobilize Against Corporate Water Grabs,” CounterPunch, Feb.11, 2015, http:// tinyurl.com/CitizensMobilize.

Larry Gabriel, “When the City Turned Off Their Water, Detroit Residents

like “deflategate” or the prolonged media obsession over the death of Robin Williams seem like fairly straightforward examples of Junk Food News, the same cannot be said for all the examples. And that’s not an outside critic’s perspective. In a section devoted to the exposure of fabrications by NBC’s Brian Williams and FOX’s Bill O’Reilly, the authors write: While the O’Reilly versus Williams coverage had the flare of Junk Food News, it qualifies as News Abuse because it was obfuscated into a liberal versus conservative debate rather than proof of the institutional obfuscation, disinformation, and manipulation of the corporate news industry.

In fact, the only area where Williams and O’Reilly differed was in their apology. Williams admitted fault while O’Reilly did not; instead the latter continuously amended his statements while claiming to be the victim of the liberal media.

This contributed to the false corporate news media narrative

that the claims against O’Reilly were not factually based, but an ideological attack by the “liberal left.”

As is noted in a Mother Jones story cited in the text, O’Reilly has not only lied repeatedly about being under fire in the Falklands War (no Americans made it to the war zone), he has used that false claim to bully others ideologically into silence. Critical examination of the issues raised by these two fabricators could have been deeply enlightening, which is why the mishandling clearly falls into the realm of News Abuse.

But the juvenile finger-pointing that characterized most of the coverage dragged it into the Junk Food News realm.

Another example of News Abuse was former New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s booklength attempt to rehabilitate her reputation for her duplicitous reporting, which helped pave the way to war with Iraq: In a series of television [See News, page 10]

Sarah Lazare, “Fukushima Meltdown Worse Than Previous Estimates: TEPCO,” Common Dreams, Aug. 7, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ q9hwkhg.

6.

Methane and arctic warmings global impacts

We all know that carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are a huge threat to climate stability. But there’s another giant threat out there that hasn’t made much news.

The arctic ice sheets, rapidly melting in some areas, contain massive amounts of methane—a greenhouse gas that’s worse than carbon dioxide. As the ice recedes, that methane is released into the atmosphere.

[See Censored, page 19]

Their work cost them their lives In the 1940s and ‘50s, workers came from all over the world to snatch up the good-paying jobs at the Harbor Area’s shipyards, factories and refineries. For many, the jobs afforded a way of life not previously experienced, allowing them to provide homes for their families and education and opportunities for their children.

Unfortunately, the cost for too many workers has been a diagnosis with asbestos cancer or mesothelioma from asbestos inhaled on the job decades earlier. Even more unfortunate is the number of family members who develop the illness from contact with asbestos brought home on the worker’s clothes, boots and skin.

The Law Office of Worthington & Caron, PC is standing by to help persons diagnosed with asbestos cancer. We can help you get quick access to the most effective medical treatments from the world’s top mesothelioma specialists. We can also help identify the companies responsible for your asbestos exposure and get you the compensation you deserve.

Call us toll free at 800-831-9399 or visit our website at www.mesothel.com for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.

Attorneys John Caron & Roger Worthington

Since 1991 we have helped recover over $2.5 billion for our clients

800-831-9399 • www.mesothel.com The Law Offices of Worthington & Caron, P.C. 273 W. 7th St., San Pedro, CA 90731

October 15 - 28, 2015

But in practice the line between them doesn’t seem so clear-cut; rather, they often seem more like intertwining threads. While examples

Sources: Ellen Brown, “California Water Wars: Another Form of Asset Stripping?,” Nation of Change, March 25, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ CaliforniaWaterWars.

More than four years after a tsunami destroyed Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, causing one of the worst nuclear accidents in human history, radiation from the plant continues to leak into the ocean.

But the story has largely disappeared from the news.

As Project Censored notes: The continued dumping of extremely radioactive cooling water into the Pacific Ocean from the destroyed nuclear plant, already being detected along the Japanese coastline, has the potential to impact entire portions of the Pacific Ocean and North America’s western shoreline. Aside from the potential release of plutonium into the Pacific Ocean, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) recently admitted that the facility is releasing large quantities of water contaminated with tritium, cesium and strontium into the ocean every day.

We’re talking large amounts of highly contaminated water getting dumped into the ocean.

The plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company, “admitted that

Sources: “TEPCO Drops Bombshell About Sea Releases; 8 Billion Bq Per Day,” Simply Info: The Fukushima Project, Aug. 26, 2014, www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=13700.

Michel Chossudovsky, “The Fukushima Endgame: The Radioactive Contamination of the Pacific Ocean,” Global Research, Dec.17, 2014, http:// tinyurl.com/FukushimaEndGame.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

offshoot category of analysis, “News Abuse,” to encompass stories that involve inherently newsworthy subjects, but which are covered in a way that diminishes their value.

The two categories are described and explored in Project Censored’s most recent publication from Seven Stories Press, Censored 2016: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2014-15, in Chapter 3, “A Vast Wasteland.” The distinction between them is clearcut, in theory at least: “Viewers often know they are watching Junk Food News and have lamented its increase over the years. But News Abuse is a different calamity because while viewers believe they are being well informed about important matters, the actual coverage of the stories acts to manipulate, misinform, and even dis-inform— i.e., News Abuse is a form of propaganda.”

rejected,” Victoria Collier reported in Counterpunch.

Meanwhile, in the United States, some cities—in what may be a move toward privatization— are radically raising water rates and cutting off service to low-income communities.

The mainstream media response to the privatization of water has been largely silence.

Fukushima nuclear disaster deepens

the facility is releasing a whopping 150 billion becquerels of tritium and seven billion becquerels of cesiumand strontium-contaminated water into the ocean every day.” The potential for long-term problems all over the world is huge—and the situation hasn’t been contained.

7

China Shipping NOP and the POLA’s Failed Mitigations Draft Supplemental EIR Admits to Lack of Compliance With Legal Settlement

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

October 15 - 28, 2015

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

The Port of Los Angeles likes to call itself “America’s premier port” and claims it is strongly committed to developing innovative strategic and sustainable operations. It likes to call itself the model of “green port technology” even as it facilitates some $290 billion in trade per year as of 2014.

Clearly, POLA and the Port of Long Beach are the largest most productive ports in the nation. Together they are also the single highest producing source of air pollution in the entire Los Angeles basin.

What is little remembered is the lawsuit filed by attorneys Gail Ruderman Feuer (the wife of the current Los Angeles City Attorney) and Julie Masters of the Natural Resources District Council on behalf of several Harbor Area activists against the port’s China Shipping environmental impact report 13 years ago—a lawsuit that resulted in a $65 million settlement.

Documented in the Amended Settlement Judgment section of the decision is a long list of environmental, cultural and aesthetic mitigations to be accomplished and reported on by both POLA and China Shipping. They have failed to do so since 2011.

The California Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in the NRDC’s favor in this case, finding that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, in failing to address “any site-specific environmental issues related to the China Shipping project.”

As part of its decision, the court stayed a number of China Shipping terminal improvements including: the last 200 feet of the first wharf, erection and operation of four 16-story cranes, operation of the first wharf and construction of the later phases of the project, until the port and city prepare an environmental review of the project’s impacts in full compliance with CEQA. Compliance with this judgment was to be reported at least annually in the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRPs).

The port says that it has made great strides in meeting its clean air goals and standards, yet after this newspaper filed a California Public Records Act in September of this year, it was revealed that the port has failed to produce any MMRPs dated more recently

8

than April 2011. So it may be impossible for them to verify these cleaner air standards.

Curiously, this curtailment of the MMRPs is around the time that the port under the leadership of Geraldine Knatz disbanded the Port Community Advisory Committee, which after the China Shipping settlement was used to oversee and inform the public as to the progress of port mitigation on this and other terminal operations.

Without the pressure of public oversight, the port obviously failed to perform its mandatory reporting.

The port continues to deny the relevance of or need for any public oversight and has preferred to hold closed door meetings with neighborhood council presidents, local chamber of commerce directors and their plus-one guests. That plan has clearly backfired on them. A port community advisory board would have clearly caught their non-compliance much earlier and brought it to the attention of the Harbor Commission.

It has also been revealed that the port failed to include the court-ordered mitigation and reporting requirements during their latest lease renegotiations with the China Shipping Co. over berth 97-109. Now in the current Notice of Preparation in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) the port is claiming that these mitigation and reporting requirements are “infeasible”.

The port is clearly at fault here and now it is attempting to backtrack and cover up the evidence of its non-compliance. Why these mitigations weren’t written into a long-term lease in the beginning is anyone’s guess at this point. Ever since the port responded to my public records request and issued a Notice of Preparation, the port has instituted a gag order preventing staff or anyone else at the port from speaking to the press.

Part of the problem is that the port selfcertifies its own environmental impact reports.

This has historically been a problem here, since their reports are rarely subject to critical review.

And in the absence of the PCAC, there’s scant public oversight on compliance.

Even worse is that the port has only given the public 12 days between the Oct. 7 public scoping meeting and its arbitrary Oct. 19 deadline to respond to the SEIR. This is hardly enough time Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg Vol. XXXVI : No. 21 Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com

for the neighborhood councils, public agencies or the NRDC to respond. Clearly that deadline needs to be extended by 120 days.

The current rework of the SEIR that should concern everyone is that the port is backing off a list of critical environmental goals that include: greenhouse emissions, air quality, transportation/ traffic, noise pollution and something called “mandatory findings of significance”.

Of these, the air quality and transportation categories are probably the most immediate concerns to area residents, even though there is both a state and national mandate to combat greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming.

Under the air quality section of the NOP, three of the five issues raised were marked as “Potentially significant impact.” These include: full compliance with alternative marine power

Columnists/Reporters Lyn Jensen Carson Reporter B. Noel Barr Music Dude Lori Lynn Hirsch-Stokoe Food Writer Gina Ruccione Restaurant

Reviewer Andrea Serna Arts Writer Melina Paris Culture Writer Calendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com Photographers Terelle Jerricks, Phillip Cooke, Tommy Kishimoto, Betty Guevara Contributors Ivan Adame, Kahlil Bendib, Tim Redmond

(electric plug in), vessel speed reduction; liquefied petroleum gas powered yard tractors and liquefied natural gas powered drayage trucks and emission standards for berths 121-131 and 97-109.

The failure to comply with the original EIR means that not only dirtier air quality for the seven communities surrounding the port and for the workers in the harbor but has an even harsher consequence for those neighborhoods that directly abut the port.

Because of the missing mitigation monitoring reports it is not entirely clear exactly what mitigations the port has fully accomplished and what they have not, for instance what is the status on these issues: • Traffic mitigation plan: The port is required to complete and implement traffic studies [See NOP, page 9]

Then-Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Harbor Commission president Nick Tonsich, and community activist Noel Park (center) when the China Shipping settlement was announced in 2004. File photo

Cartoonists Ann Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker Design/ Production Adam Adame Suzanne Matsumiya Advertising Representatives David Johnson, Jim Rocknowski rlnsales@randomlengthsnews.com Adam Adame reads@randomlengthsnews.com Editorial Interns Alex Berman, Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug Display advertising (310) 519-1442 Classifieds (310) 519-1016 www.randomlengthsnews.com

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.

Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @ randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email adv@randomelengthsnews.com or reads@ randomlengthsnews.com.

Extra copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $36 per year for 27 issues.

Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We welcome articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2015 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

Community Alert

Rescheduled Public Briefing—Paseo Del Mar Landslide Restoration

The Paseo Del Mar Landslide Restoration Design Project community briefing, which was initially planned for mid-September, has been rescheduled. The meeting now will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Cabrillo Plaza Community Room in San Pedro.

Organizers will be requesting comments in writing to ensure community member input. The purpose of this meeting is for the community to have the opportunity to share information with the engineering firm project manager that the design team needs to be aware of and consider as they move forward in the design process.

The City of Los Angeles contracted with the engineering firm URS (now merged with AECOM) to do pre-design work and develop a permanent solution for repairing and reopening the road. Funding for permanent construction has not yet been identified, nor has a timeframe for construction been established.

Both will depend on how the city proceeds after a solution has been identified.

Details: elizabeth@ butterfieldcommunications. com, gwen@ butterfieldcommunications. com

RANDOMLetters Send Letters to the Editor to: letters @randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor must include your name with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but are for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words.

The Pope Should Walk the Talk

Pope Francis stated we should take more refugees. Excuse me? The Vatican should take in refugees. It has space and billions of dollars to spend on the poor and refugees, and doesn’t have to pay taxes as we do. Nor would it have to put them on welfare and free medical as they could pay for all of that as we have to pay for our refugees.

The prisoners made a beautiful throne for him to use here. Not even the queen of England requires one.

Pope Francis insulted California by announcing Junipero Serra a saint outside of California.

California has the missions.

He made speeches about sexual abused children. Should he not clean up the perverted pedophile priests and bishops in the Catholic churches, as they both were involved?

Bonnie M Christensen San Pedro

POLA Public Records Act Requests a SHAM and they are on YOUR watch Mr. Seroka!!

I see in an Los Angeles Times article that you are continuing to blame the previous administration for everything while you plead innocence.

Unfortunately, it appears that the largest mistake in

[NOP, from previous page]

China Shipping NOP

liability costs and continues to expose neighborhoods and port workers to extreme hazard.

One of our other requests was for the minutes from the “port rail committee” referenced in your agreements. Apparently, there is NO such committee....as we never received those “minutes” either.

What is going on there? What is happening with the Plains/Rancho situation? Why the delay?

It is time for you to stop making excuses and begin the action that you so sincerely promised. You are deferring action on an issue that has the potential to negatively affect the lives of many, many people.

Janet Gunter San Pedro

October 15 - 28, 2015

Though the port is pinning their argument on the “feasibility” of the requirements, I suspect that the real issue is that China Shipping is trying to wrangle its way out of having to pay any further monies toward mitigation connected to this lease. It is also rumored that China Shipping is going to be merged with

another state owned shipping company, COSCO. The port’s failure to meet transportation and traffic mitigation goals is another example of the conflict between the traffic needs of local citizens and the future growth of port operations along with the development of the waterfront, designed to turn the Harbor Area into a tourist attraction.

This failure to meet the transportation and traffic mitigations will only continue to grow as the port regains its pre-2008 container volumes and annual trade surpasses $290 billion per year.

Even with the current expansion of the 110 and 47 freeway connectors, how does the port expect to expand tourist traffic to the San Pedro and Wilmington waterfronts while at the same time exponentially expanding container traffic on the same freeways? The port makes no effort to address these congestion issues or include the possibility of a light rail connection.

One of the other unforeseen and unaccounted for issues not

mitigated in all of this is the eviction of some 50 homeless people living along the parts of the freeways that are being expanded. This is the human face of the port’s disregard for the consequences of their actions on the surrounding communities or the lives of those impacted by port expansion.

In the end, this Supplemental EIR is an attempt by the Port of Los Angeles to renegotiate the terms of its Amended Settlement Judgment by self-certifying a new one without going back to court or allowing for adequate time for considered response from the communities affected.

They are avoiding holding China Shipping accountable for its part in the failure to protect harbor area citizens from further environmental harm.

Gene Seroka, the executive director of POLA, has claimed that this is a corrective action and is the consequence of the previous administration’s failure to act, but much of this would have been avoided with more—not less—citizen oversight, which is one mitigation that should be permanently written into the new Supplemental EIR.

same experience on a request that he made. It appears that this is just the new policy instituted under YOUR domain....to simply throw whatever is available at a request and call it a day!

Your integrity is in question.

The pledges and promises to responsibly handle the Plains/ Rancho LPG facility and the port’s jurisdiction over rail transport is of critical import. Again, the blast radius of a “single” 30,000 gallon rail car of propane or butane is .42 mile! The Plains/Rancho LPG facility NO LONGER has a tenant/ landlord relationship with the Port (since 2004). The Port of LA is facilitating a “private” company by use of its State Lands property while it assumes extraordinary

The Local Publication You Actually Read

for China Shipping and the entire Port by expedited dates in the agreement.

• Port-wide policy changes: As part of the settlement, the Port has adopted resolutions setting forth two new Portwide mitigation policies: • The Port will require the purchase of only clean, alternative fuel yard tractors for all new leases and “significant” renegotiations of existing leases.

• The port will now only grant permits for new or replacement cranes if they are “low-profile,” subject to a showing of their feasibility.

our China Shipping lawsuit was in allowing “trust” to enter into the equation. Honestly, I asked at the time how we would ever make sure that the port obeyed their promises. I was assured that the NRDC would keep a watchful eye on the situation. Obviously, that wasn’t going on. And, I don’t believe for one minute that the port would have ever acknowledged their deficiencies had it not been for the persistent PRA’s of our local Random Lengths newspaper.

This policy of ignoring community promises and obligation is well instilled at the Port. Another huge reflection of this is the ongoing issue of “relocation of all hazardous terminals to a remote site” as a means of public safety. Since 1981, that directive in the Port Master Plan has been flatly ignored. And, the NEW updated Port Master Plan is going to completely “obliterate” that directive! After the events of Tianjin, China it becomes painfully apparent just how egregious ignoring that responsibility is and how imperative it is to public safety!

Since our meeting with you on August 5th regarding the highly explosive Plains All American Pipeline operated Rancho LPG and their rail contracts and permits that are in violation—we have heard nothing. You advised us of your innocence as well due to your new position—and promised action.

You also promised communication.

We have made several public

records acts requests recently to the Port for various pieces of information. Those requests have come back with items completely unrelated to our requests along with the statement that “We now consider your public records act complete.” We requested the “volume” of butane/propane gas transport moving over the port rail from the operations of Plains/ Rancho and we received an old letter from Ex. City Attorney Trutanich to lawyer Tony Patchett? Really? There is not one line in that letter that relates to the volume of gas transport. Exactly how does that document answer the request? I was contacted recently by community member, John Winkler, who also had the

9

[News, from page 7]

Junk Food News appearances promoting the book, Miller argued that the invasion of Iraq was not her fault because her sources, mostly from Bush administration connections and insiders, had lied to her and her editors published them.

Of course a journalist’s job is not only to find evidence but to verify it, but that did not happen in this case. Miller seemed unfamiliar with that elementary rule of journalism.

But as the authors note, Miller’s revisionism was just one small part of the larger story, which allowed both MSNBC and the New York Times to rewrite their own history as well.

They note that MSNBC allowed New York Times reporter Nick Confessore to lambaste Miller over her excuses for the false reporting that led to the Iraq invasion. But this let the Times off the hook for publishing her stories in the first place—stories that other, more careful reporters (particularly at Knight-Ridder) were simultaneously punching holes in. MSNBC also reinforced its positioning as the anti-war, pro-truth, corporate network, which may have become somewhat accurate after the fact—but not when the war began: [I]t was MSNBC that sacked antiwar programmers such as Phil Donahue and Jesse Ventura from their network to make space for more pro-war voices in the year leading up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. In fact, according to MSNBC’s own internal memos, they let go of their antiwar voices to increase

ratings. Thus, while the corporate press lambasted Judith Miller for rewriting history, they were rewriting their own, excluding the role they played in the calamitous 2003 invasion of Iraq, which by 2015 had cost U.S. taxpayers more than $3 trillion, the lives of thousands of Americans, and over a million dead Iraqis.

Other examples fall more clearly into the category of News Abuse alone, particularly those involving stigmatized groups: the Ebola “crisis” used “as a Trojan horse to instill fear in Americans while inciting anti-immigrant sentiments,” a variety of related Islamophobic narratives, and good, old-fashioned racism. The corporate media’s treatment of anti-Muslim violence is typical.

[I]n February 2015, three Muslim American students were shot and killed by Craig Stephen Hicks, a white neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CNN, the New York Times, and Fox News were among 105 major corporate news outlets that initially remained silent on the attack while President Barack Obama waited two days to issue an official statement. No corporate coverage labeled the triple homicide as an act of domestic terrorism; rather, Hicks was characterized as a lone loon.

The corporate media has been similarly reluctant to see the systemic police violence

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October 15 - 28, 2015

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which has sparked the Black Lives Matter movement: The “justifiable homicides” of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, erupted in politically charged protests and public debates across the country.

The corporate coverage of these killings and their aftermaths blamed African-Americans for their own deaths while justifying police behavior and excusing whites for the same crime. This coverage distracts from the racism built into the legal system and results in public sympathy for state violence…

Fox News and the New York Times degraded Brown with phrases such as “bad guy” and “no angel.” Weeks after the Brown

shooting, the New York Times asked citizens to give police the benefit of the doubt.

Reinforcing racial stereotypes and preconceptions rather than focusing on the facts that contradict them—that’s the very definition of News Abuse.

The media has the power to inform and inspire people to change the world. Or it can amuse them to death. Or, direct them toward convenient scapegoats. To really know what you’re missing you have to get the larger picture—the stories you’re not getting everyday, and a clear understanding of what you’re getting instead. Project Censored provides both.

Conscious Eating 2nd Annual Sustainable Seafood Expo Raises Awareness

By Gina Ruccione, Restaurant and Cuisine Writer

[See Eating, page 12]

The legendary Christine Brown proprietor of the former Restaurant Christine in Torrance conducted cooking demonstrations at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s and AltaSea’s Sustainable Seafood Expo on Oct. 11. Photo courtesy of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Arts ••Cuisine • Entertainment ACE: Arts ACE: • Cuisine Entertainment

Oct. 11 was the 2nd Annual Sustainable Seafood Expo at Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles. If you didn’t get a chance to stop by it should definitely be on your radar for next year.

As many of you know, I’m quite obsessed with food. Any chance to sample amazing dishes from some of our favorite, local chefs and seafood purveyors is an opportunity I would never shy away from. I was able to get my hands on almost everything but we’ll come back to that.

I try not to just shove food in my face. I’m actually very interested in any discussion regarding food and lately the conversation about sustainability kind of gets me going. We all need to be more conscious about what we put in our mouths and sometimes what comes out of our mouths.

Unfortunately, the American stereotype in other countries around the world is that we lack a fundamental cuisine. We’re a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities so it’s easy to find any other cuisine: Italian, Japanese, Mexican — we even have Ethiopian, but I don’t see anything that is inherently “American.” Other than Dodger Dogs and In ‘n’ Out Burger, we’ve just sort of plowed through life consuming anything in abundance or — dare I say, “supersized” — and somehow over

October 15 – 28, 2015 October 15 – 28, 2015

1111

Chef Sam Choy conducted a cooking demonstration during the Sustainable Seafood Expo on Oct. 11 at Crafted.

Photo courtesy of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

[Eating from page 11]

Conscious Eating synonymous with American cuisine. That’s why we need to be talking about sustainability; we consume and waste too much. Folks, let’s be honest: that’s embarrassing.

Enough of my ranting. Let’s talk about the snacks!

Whole Foods did a Spanish-style gazpacho that was absolutely perfect. Featuring Barramundi (think sea bass) with thick bacon and cilantro with crusty sourdough bread. I’ve spent the whole morning scouring the Internet for that recipe.

Executive Chef Bernard Ibarra from Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes did his take on a sort of deconstructed taco with a roasted rockfish and carrot skewer with a cumin and lime yogurt and Cojita cheese crumble. It was an absolute perfect bite—even though I had three.

New to the event this year was the Exclusive Chef’s Table, a sustainable seafood dinner by Chef Paul Buchanan of Primal Alchemy, based in Long Beach. The dinner, which immediately followed the Expo, was family style and served outside of Crafted. Tickets needed to be purchased in advance, but I would say it’s safe to assume this will be a repeat component of the event for years to come. Buchanan partnered with Community Seafood in Santa Monica, a grassroots community supported fishery that focuses on sustainability.

The menu included three passed hors d’oeuvres a kombucha pumpkin soup, Persian cucumbers with house smoked salmon and dill aioli, tasting spoons with laughing bird shrimp curry with Kaffir lime oil. Dinner included [See Seafood, page 17]

October 15 – 28, 2015

Independent And Free.

the years American consumerism became

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Participants at the Sustainable Seafood Expo were treated to seafood samples at the Oct. 11 event held at Crafted at the Port of LA. Photo courtesy of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Gather around the campfire at Angels Gate Cultural Center for Scary Stories 13 on Oct. 29.

13th Annual Scary Stories Expects Return of Local Specter Ivan Adame, Contributor Scary Stories, which has entertained audiences of all ages with terrifying tales for so long it’s become a local Halloween tradition, returns on Oct. 29 for its spooky-sounding 13th year.

As if the event won’t be nerve-wracking enough, its producers are anticipating an amorphous green specter, which in recent years has tended to be captured in photographs, to be

among the attendees at Angels Gate Cultural Center.

This Halloween’s 90-minute fright fest will feature locals Melanie Jones, Heather Handwerk, John Charles Meyer and Cathy Scott Skubik in a sort of “greatest hits” performance, reading favorites from the past 12 years. Stories [See Scary, page 17]

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment October 15 – 28, 2015

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The Coming Full Circle of a ‘90s Musical Protégé

Rion Michael’s Journey from Atlanta to San Pedro

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Independent And Free.

I’ve been told that San Pedro has been a place where the famous or the infamous — from artists to war criminals — come to lay low. I always assumed it was a tongue-incheek assessment. Then last summer, I met Rion Michael.

At first he was simply our office’s new next-door neighbor. I usually saw Michael in the afternoon, when I was leaving for lunch and he was sitting on his porch braiding his hair. We always exchanged salutations.

Eventually, Michael asked if I worked at the newspaper on the corner.

When my “I do” confirmed his suspicion, Michael smiled almost as if he had been visited by providence. He asked if I would listen to his music and consider doing a story about him if I liked what I heard.

I’ve interviewed many talented up-andcoming artists over the years, “Sure,” I told him. “I’m game for it.”

Michael sent me two tracks, one called The Power of Love and the other titled Always. He

warned me they were rough. They were actually highly polished, extremely well produced and lyrically well-crafted potential crossover hits.

Either one was reason enough to interview Michael.

Both quickly made it apparent that Michael was altogether different from anyone I’d ever interviewed— the only person close was Anderson Paak, a.k.a Breezy Lovejoy, who was prominently featured on Dr. Dre’s Compton.

Michael told me his aim was to make timeless music on the level of Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and 1990s hit makers such as Brandy and TLC. It didn’t sound far-fetched.

He’d already told me he’d been groomed by the same people and steeped in the same context that produced Christina Aguilera, Xscape, TLC and other mainstream artists who are still making music.

Michael’s first single came out in 2006 under the stage name of Shamar Woods. It was a cut from an album he’d worked on with his cousin, Mr. Cheeks, a member of the Lost Boys. The album was distributed

by Sony. Michael said it did well in Italy and Germany, but not in the United States.

Eventually, he did a single, I Can’t Wait, with the 90s rhythmand-blues group Blackstreet.

A short time after this interview I happened to see a mid-2000s biopic of TLC. As I watched it dawned on me that I was seeing the environment Michael

October 15 – 28, 2015

Pictured are the members of Rion Michael’s girl group, LipStick. Courtesy of Rion Michael

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Singer/songwriter/producer Rion Michael got first hand education watching the producers and music groups in the late 90 and early 2000s. He’s now focusing on his own brand even as he is putting on new music groups with dreams of stardom of their own. Courtesy of Rion Michael

had been describing when he recounted his grooming by 90s-era producers and pop stars.

A couple of months passed before I got an opportunity to interview him again. Meanwhile, he had fired his manager, negotiated a deal with Sony, formed a girl group called Lipstick. He was making music with them while working up more songs for his own debut album.

Michael recounted a mind game he played while growing up, assembling imaginary musical groups from artists he watched on television the way sports fans put together fantasy teams from professional players.

“I always watched the videos and watched the interviews so I would always know that type of stuff,” Michael said. “And on top of that I was around groups like Blaque and TLC and Blackstreet and NSync. It made me see the ins and outs of the groups and the ups and downs of those groups … what they needed to survive as a group. It just really intrigued me.”

In 2014, Michael began his search for the three women he imagined would be the right combination to form Lipstick by posting an ad on Craigslist. By December the group was recording.

“We were ... recording up until Christmas, then after Christmas we went back to recording,” Michael explained. “I was writing, recording and producing the girls. I wanted to take a little break from it so that the girls could figure out if this is something they really, really wanted to do — which it is.”

Michael decided to raise the funds by releasing his music.

“When they made the decision and they said they wanted to do this, I made the CEO call of let me go get a new budget coming in for my stuff so that I can put it into the group so I’m not wasting their time. So we’re going to go into production on their album in a month or two,” he explained.

The result was the release of No More, a single off his new EP, Red. Lyrically, it reminded me of Ronald Isley’s 2001 collaboration, Contagious, which was written and produced by R. Kelly. And it turns out Michael used an old R. Kelly track for his single.

“There have been minor changes with the music,” Michael said. “I went in and used one of R. Kelly’s records. In 1997 he produced a record for a group, Changing Faces, called Get Out. So I said, ‘Well why don’t I do a buzz record really quick before I put out my original-original stuff out?’”

Michael said his album was tentatively scheduled to be released in October. Judging from his regular updates—in which he notified his Facebook followers the filming of music video of one of his singles and progress he’s making with LipStick—it appears he’s on track.

Check out his music on http://tinyurl.com/ No-More-EP. Read more online about Rion Michael’s story of how he was discovered by Lisa Lopes and NFL star player Andre Rison as a teenager at www. randomlengthsnews.com

Deedub and KLB Shaping Their Own Fate Melina Paris Music Columnist

Entertainment Oct. 17

Lynda Reed A blend of various feels and flavors including jazz, ballads and funk.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 519-1314 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro Little Joe y La Familia Five-time Grammy winner Little Joe celebrates his 75th birthday.

Time: 6 p.m.

Cost: $45 to $75 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Music artist Deedub and his wife KLB performing. File photo

LBSP Halloween Symphony Spooktacular It’s a night of Halloween musical treats, as well as a few tricks to put you on the edge of your seat.

Join the Long Beach Symphony POPS! Orchestra for an evening of haunting melodies that includes the works of John Williams, Bernard Hermann, James Horner and some scary surprises.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $30 to $168 Details: www.lbso.org Venue: Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

Oct. 18 Bobby Breton A video taping featuring special guest Peter Marin.

Time: 2 p.m.

Cost: $30 Details: (310) 519-1314 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Oct. 20 The Dirty Little Secrets The troupe’s random combination of standup comedians and burlesque in a subterranean club.

Time: 8:30 p.m.

Cost: $10 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Oct. 22 Led Zep Again Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $25 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Oct. 24 Soul Sacrifice - A Tribute to Santana San Pedro’s own Chuck Alvarez is featured on guitars and vocals with lead vocalist Ed Callen and drummer Adam Idell.

Time: 8:30 p.m.

Cost: $25 Details: (310) 519-1314 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Dock Ian Ruskin returns to portray legendary union organizer Harry Bridges.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $25 to 140 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro Lollapaloozish Tributes to Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and Kid Rock.

Queen Nation (A Tribute to Queen) All hail Freddie Mercury!

Time: 9 p.m.

Cost: $15 to 25 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach Bobbie Burlesque Presents: American Horror Story Burlesque Burlesque meets the American Horror Story television show.

Time: 9 p.m.

Cost: $15 to 20 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Oct. 27 The Dirty Little Secrets The troupe’s random combination of standup comedians and burlesque.in a subterreanean club.

Time: 8:30 p.m.

Cost: $10 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Oct. 29 Madman’s Paradise presented by The Toledo Show In a world of film noir soul, twisted tales are told by the City of Angels’ falling angel, Toledo.

Time: 9 p.m.

Cost: $10 to $20 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Oct. 30 Christopher Sorensen & Friends Enjoy an evening of music and fun with original music, a journey through pop and jazz favorites, costume contest and more.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $10/$5 student Details: http://samsorensen.com or (800) 403-3447 Venue: Alva’s Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Community

Oktoberfest Be a part of Southern California’s longest running October festival with live band Happy Franconians. Bring your own stein (glass or easily shattered material not permitted) and be 21 or over and they’ll let you park for nothing.

Time: 6 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. Through Oct. 31 Cost: $15 to $65 Details: www.alpinevillagecenter.com Venue: The Alpine Village, 833 W. Torrance Blvd., Torrance

Oct. 17 Country Western Fair A family event with music and dance performances, food and craft vendors, a petting zoo, carnival rides, games, raffles, a boxing exhibition, car show; horse show and more.

Times: 12. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 549-3962 Venue: Dominguez Park, 21330 Santa Fe Ave., Carson

Oct. 18 Autumn Sea Fair Celebrating the bounty of the sea with fun-inthe-sun games and hometown spirit.

October 15 – 28, 2015

“Little reminders to people to enjoy life and sing the song of the soul,” Deedub interjects.

The musical couple spread positivity by donating a portion of their apparel line proceeds to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Sweet Relief helps musicians who develop disabilities or have hardships in their lives.

“It’s helps musicians who have [a] need for it,” KLB explained. “Musicians who may have had major accidents that affect their ability to make a living.”

The couple found their way to a performance at the Special Olympics through Reverb Nation’s call for artists’ submissions.

“I’ve performed at so many bars and nightclubs, and that’s all fine,” Deedub said. “A lot of times the other acts I’ve performed with in the past were kind of the opposite of what my music is about. It doesn’t really jive well for me to perform in those venues so much. Now I’m seeking places that are more like festivals where people are getting together to have good vibes and the enjoyment of life is the goal.”

“Also it’s where we can inspire people,” KLB added. “I think the Special Olympics was great for that because all the athletes are an inspiration to everybody and it just fit perfectly.

For KLB the best part of the Special Olympics was performing on stage when a special needs child came up.

“He was dancing along, following our movements and singing along,” KLB said. “After I would sing my part he would also sing it. It boosted our energy on stage. This is why we’re doing this. It was awesome.”

“We were performing Liberation, Deedub said. “That was the most special thing and why I do the music, for the message and to connect with people.”

The pair is working on another album while reaching out to festival promoters to perform and spread their message. That message?

“Spread love,” KLB said.

“We want to see people take their power in their own hands,” Deedub said. “Our music is very motivational and empowering. You have a destiny but you also have fate, which you can change yourself.

Your decisions and actions really matter and they add up.”

“It’s pretty deep,” Deedub continued. “I know all the work I’m doing is for a reason that’s probably beyond my understanding. My destiny is to do the music, so I do it happily.”

Details: deedubrecords.com/deedub_home_page. html

Circus of Sin Fire dancers, contortionists, aerialists machinate in a Femme Fatale cabaret.

Time: 9 p.m.

Cost: $15 to $25 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Artist and entrepreneur, Deedub, is intent on spreading joy through his ventures to all who will listen. He and his wife, KLB, blend reggae, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, and rock into what they call “Earth music.”

“There are no borders or limits to the genres I will choose from as far as inspiration and to take samples and ideas from with my music,” Deedub said. “I feel like the Earth music label is better than anything for our music.”

But it’s not just music. Deedub and KLB have their own record label and a line of clothing called Deedub Records Apparel. They bring their sound to community service, most recently appearing at the 2015 Special Olympics. But it is their sound, 100 percent, start to finish.

Deedub says he has collaborated with the likes of Young Guru (producer for Jay Z) and Khaliq-O-Vision (producer for Michael Jackson) in the past, but he works solo now.

“I feel like it’s time for me to take the reins and bring the sound that I hear in my head and feel in my heart," he said, noting that experience has made him better able to express his feelings through the music and production process.

Deedub says he developed his performance skills during seven years of club gigging, mostly in Los Angeles, but also at the Original Blue Café in Long Beach.

“I credit them as my training ground and the people who gave me my first opportunities to do shows where they weren’t just some promoter trying to rip you off,” Deedub said. “They actually gave me some respect and gave me a time slot. I really appreciated that. Then we started doing more shows in Hollywood at the Whiskey and the Viper Room.”

KLB’s role in the music-making has grown larger over time. Previously, she only sang on Deedub’s tracks, but these days she describes their music as more of a partnership. The couple sees the Deedub Records Apparel line as an extension of their sound. The men’s line is on their website and their women’s line debuted at Orange County Fashion Week, Sept. 19.

“We are unveiling our streetwear, casual items,” Deedub said. “It’s inspired by skateboarding and surf styles — SoCal Style — just the same as our music. Our goal is to make classic pieces and fits.”

“Including Polo shirts and a little tie-dye,” KLB adds. “We add positive sayings on the tags just to give people a boost and get our message across.

ADAAWE A blend of West African roots, Latin grooves, Gospel harmonies and American funk adds up to a show of energetic world-fusion.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $15 to $30 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Time: 5 p.m.

Cost: $10 to 15 Details: (562) 596-4718 Venue: Gaslamp, 6251 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach

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Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost: Free.

Details: (310) 548-7562, www.

CarbrilloMarineAquarium.org Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro.

15th California Heights Home and Garden Tour A handful of unique homes and gardens in one of Long Beach’s historic neighborhoods will be open to the public during the 15th California Heights Home and Garden Tour. The tour raises money for the neighborhood association and showcase the area’s distinct character, which includes Spanish revival, Tudor, California bungalow and neoclassical architecture.

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cost: $20 to $25 Details: (562) 274-3790; calheights.org Venue: Hughes Middle School, 3846 California Ave., Long Beach

Oct. 24 Happy Harbor Halloween at POLA Pumpkin patch, costume parade, games and candy.

Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: www.lawaterfront.org/events.php Venue: Downtown Harbor, 504 S Harbor Blvd., San Pedro

Oct. 29 13th Annual Scary Stories Read aloud, in the dark, around a bonfire Time: 6:30 p.m. Cost: $5 and free for children 6 and younger Details: http://tinyurl.com/AG-Scary-Stories Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Oct. 31 Howl-o-ween Pet Parade Well-behaved pets, their parents and families are invited to the LA Waterfront Howl-o-ween Pet Parade, from the downtown harbor to the Fanfare Fountain in San Pedro. Costumes encouraged but not required.

Time: 9 to 11 a.m.

Cost: Free Details: lawaterfront.org Venue: Downtown Harbor, San Pedro

Independent And Free.

Nov. 1 San Pedro Día de los Muertos Festival Celebrate the special lives of dirt-nappers at the 4th Annual San Pedro Día de Los Muertos Festival in Historic Downtown San Pedro. The streets will come alive with art, culture, food and live entertainment.

Time: 3 to 9 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: www.spdayofthedead.com Venue: 6th Street, San Pedro

Theater Oct. 16

October 15 – 28, 2015

The Book of Life Enjoy a free screening of The Book of Life while writing a chapter of your personal edition. Bring the family, park the car for free, tell the tale forevermore.

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Cost: Free.

Details: www.portofosangeles.org Venues: Downtown Harbor, 504 S. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro; Wilmington Waterfront Park, 1004 W. C St., Wilmington

16

Henry IV, Part I Often considered Shakespeare’s most perfectly crafted play, the story follows Prince Hal through his early years as a cut-purse and companion to the drunken Sir John Falstaff. There’s a talk with the cast and director on Oct. 18.

Times: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m.

Sundays through Cost: $27 Details: www.littlefishtheatre.org Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St, San Pedro Private Eyes Steven Dietz’ 1996 dark comedy tells a tale of adultery among a group of theater people in an ever-dissolving sequence of plays within plays

within plays.

Time: 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 2 p.m.

Sundays, through Oct. 22 Cost: $27 Details: (310) 512-6030 Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre St., San Pedro

Oct. 17 October Mourning A deeply moving and hauntingly beautiful exploration in which the audience is transported back to 1998 when 21-year-old Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked, strung up and left to die.

It will also play on Oct. 25 at The Art Theatre in Long Beach.

Time: 7 p.m. Oct. 17 and 5 p.m. Oct. 18 and 2 p.m.

Cost: $20 Details: www.firstchurchlb.org/ octobermourning Venue: First Congregational Church of Long Beach, 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach

Oct. 18 Food For Change Food For Change is a documentary film focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. RSVP. Time: 11 a.m.

Cost: Free.

Details: http://www.longbeachgrocery.coop/ events Venue: The Art Theatre, 2025 E. 4th St., Long Beach

Oct. 21 Our World Dance Project Performance #1 Written by Larry Heimgartner, performed by three members of the London Ballet Theatre.

Performance #2 Friday, Oct. 23, 5 p.m.

Time: 6 p.m.

Cost: $10 Details: (310) 833-7538, www.AlvasShowRoom. com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Oct. 23 Our World Dance Project Performance #2 Part of the Our World Project Series of 20-plus plays written by Larry Heimgartner, performed by three members of the London Ballet Theatre.

Time: 5 p.m.

Cost: $10 Details: (310) 833-7538, www.AlvasShowRoom. com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Oct. 23 My Fair Lady Musical Theatre West opens its 2015-2016 season with Lerner and Loewe’s Tony Awardwinning musical My Fair Lady, Oct. 23 through Nov. 8, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $20 Details: (562) 856-1999, ext. 4; www.musical. org, Venue: Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton, Long Beach

Art

Oct. 20 Local/Not Local: Arabic and Iranian Typography Made in California An exhibition that includes typography and calligraphy by award-winning Arab and Iranian designers who demonstrate the creative possibilities and expressions that exist in their native alphabets. Through Dec. 3.

Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: http://cah.csudh.edu/art_gallery Venue: CSU Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St. Carson Artist In Residence: Shay Bredimus Well known figurative painter and tattooist, Shay Bredimus will be working on his new series in the Ralston Family Learning Center.

Time: Through Oct. 25 Cost: Free Details: (562) 439-2119 Venue: Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

ICONIC MUG SHOTS Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug, Editorial Intern Icons: we all make use of them in some form or another. Be they in the form of singers, actors, politicians or cartoon characters, we identify with them. We aspire to be them and we worship them.

We think we know who they are — at least until something jars our perspective.

Iconic Mug Shots, the new group show by Ray Vasquez, which features seven other artists, does exactly that. It paints some of the most instantly recognizable stars of pop culture in the most instantly recognizable pose of the police booking photo: the mug shot. The works explore how the images of these fantastic gods are impacted when placed within the circle our own vulnerable human reality.

As I walk into the Azul gallery with Vasquez and his wife Cora, the stars are definitely out.

The walls are covered with a veritable pop icon constellation: Adam Levine, Keith Haring, Sophia Loren, and even Bugs Bunny and Mr. Potato Head.

They are all painted as though they were caught at the moment the police cameras flashed across their faces.

So I asked, “Why?” “Well,” said Vasquez, “We all have a day job and don’t want to be caught in these kinds of situations, so I think we fantasized [about what it would be like for these icons to be put into these circumstances]. “If you look up icon in the dictionary you will find references and images of more saint-like figures like Jesus Christ. You look up to those figures, but you also look up to these icons, their celebrity, which they each achieved for specific reasons, like musicians or actors or even politicians. And when you see them in a mug shot it’s like, ‘Wow, you guys are also kind of human in a way if you can be in a situation like that.’”

Then I asked them how they came up with these ideas.

“Well, a couple of years ago we did an icon show,” Vasquez said. “We did the 60s and 70s, just iconic figures. And we were in Long Beach at Warehouse 1333 and it was real successful, and this time we were thinking, ‘Let’s do something really similar.’ We like to do a lot of galleries, you know, like theme shows. We did Day of The Dead, we did a women’s show and we just thought ‘Ah, let’s repeat the show and see if we can further it.’

So as we were talking about celebrities and icons we thought of mug shots. It was just a conversation Cora and I had. Again, just the alter ego on the inside of us and looking into the people we look up to.”

“We try not to go back on the original [pure] icon or figure like Christ or Nelson Mandela.

[Many of] these figures went to prison for years…

They didn’t have mug shots of course. I mean, I’m not saying the Dalai Lama had a mug shot but still, he was chastised.”

“Well, we’re always trying to think of new themes and concepts that will stir up thought about things we’re talking about. The Iconic Mug Shots show that these famous people can get in trouble too,” Cora added. “I mean, with all the arrests going on it applies to everybody. Pointing to a mug shot of Charlie Chaplin, she said “He was blacklisted [as a suspected communist during post-World War II political hysteria]. He couldn’t come back to the U.S. so he had to go to Europe and if he came back he would be arrested. This guy was famous and known and beloved but still he was wanted.”

Ray also wanted to make it very clear that the intent was not to make fun of these icons.

“We’re not trying to make fun of other people’s misfortunes” he said, “We’re not trying to make

Painting of Frank Sinatra’s mugshot. He was charged 1938 with “carrying on with a married woman.” Below one of Jim Morrison’s mugshot.

Courtesy of Gallery Azul

fun of them.”

Iconic Mug Shots is being shown through Oct. 25 at the Gallery Azul, 520 W. 8th St. in San Pedro Details: www.galleryazul.com

[Scary, from page 13]

Seafood Awareness paella with Santa Barbara shrimp, mussels, and yellow fin tuna that was actually caught off of Long Beach. Next there was a halibut in a lemongrass marinade with red quinoa and grilled scallions. Dessert included a [pluot cobbler with chantilly cream.

I have absolutely no problem with ANY

of that.

I’d say the whole event was a success. The Sustainable Seafood Expo helps educate us in an interesting, albeit palatable way. We are able to make thoughtful choices about not only what is right for us but also for the environment. Many of us have a hard time sitting through lectures, or maybe that’s just me — Professional cooking but I did enjoy listening demonstrations to the prestigious insructed participant featured panelists all on the proper ways to prepare sustainable of whom are incredibly seafood. Photo passionate about courtesy of CMA seafood sustainability.

And I’m passionate about people who are passionate — so pair that with a beer and some great food and that’s actually not a bad Sunday Funday.

[Scary, from page 13]

Scary Stories

ACE: Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

by the likes of Saki, Thomas M. Disch, Mary Howitt and others will be told around a campfire, complete with sound effects.

In its earliest incarnations, Scary Stories took place at the fire pit where the Iron Circle Nation frequents the annual Many Winters Gathering of Elders event. After seven years, it was relocated to the gun emplacement. That’s when an apparition — photographic or spectral — began to mysteriously appear in photographs by speaker and photographer Handwerk.

“Some people think it’s a camera glitch, but Heather and I believe that we have a Scary Stories fan from the other side — or the in-between,” said Jones, the director of Scary Stories, during a promotional video on YouTube. “She is getting more and more at home with us. There is a definite

communion going on, and we welcome her — or him — or them.”

Jones says factors like the military presence during both World Wars and the Cold War have made the grounds of Angel’s Gate “founded on fear.” She finds that highly fitting. She’s looking forward to seeing the green specter, too.

“I'd like to think this green being is rejoicing in the fire and dancing our fear away and trusts us and approves that an old gun emplacement is used for listening and snuggling up and creating community,” Jones said. “I hope she will be back.”

Scary Stories 13 will take place on. Oct. 29 at Angels Gate Cultural Center, at 3601 S. Gaffey St. Admission is $5. Children six and younger are admitted free. Be sure to bring your own seating and dress warmly.

October 15 – 28, 2015

17

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DBA/legal filings Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015231510 The following person is doing business as: Garret Garage Door, 1536 W. 25th St., San Pedro Ca 90732, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Garret R. Joyce, 2503 S. Carolina St. #A, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Garret R. Joyce, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Sept. 08, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 09/17/2015, 10/1/2015, 10/15/2015, 10/29/2015

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015229526 The following person is doing business as: Zvending, 2840 Peck Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County.

Registered owners: Michael John Zvanich,2840 Peck Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Michael John Zvanich, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Sept. 03, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section

17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 09/17/2015, 10/1/2015, 10/15/2015, 10/29/2015

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015243618 The following person is doing business as: Able Design and Fabrication, 1550 W. Mahalo Place, Rancho Dominguez, CA 9220, Los Angeles County.

Registered owners: ADF Inc., 1550 W. Mahalo Place, Rancho Dominguez, CA 9220.

This Business is conducted by a corporation. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above:12/07/1993. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Louis Mannick, President. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 10/01/2015, 10/15/2015, 10/29/2015, 11/12/2015

“Millions in Poverty Get Less Coverage Than 482 Billionaires,” Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, June 26, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/MillionsinPoverty.

[Censored, from page 7]

CENSORED NEWS 2015-16 Dahr Jamail, writing in Truthout, notes that predictions about the pace of global warming and its impacts might have to be re-evaluated in the wake of revelations about methane releases: “A 2013 study, published in Nature, reported that a 50-gigaton ‘burp’ of methane is ‘highly possible at any time.’” As Jamail clarified, “That would be the equivalent of at least 1,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide,” noting that, since 1850, humans have released a total of about 1,475 gigatons in carbon dioxide. A massive, sudden change in methane levels could, in turn, lead to temperature increases of four to six degrees Celsius in just one or two decades—a rapid rate of climate change to which human agriculture, and ecosystems more generally, could not readily adapt.

Jamail quoted Paul Beckwith, a professor of climatology and meteorology at the University of Ottawa: “Our climate system is in early stages of abrupt climate change that, unchecked, will lead to a temperature rise of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius within a decade or two.” Such changes would have “unprecedented effects” for life on Earth.

A huge story? Apparently not. The major news media have written at length about the geopolitics of the arctic region, but there’s been very little mention of the methane monster.

Source: Dahr Jamail, “The Methane Monster Roars,” Truthout, Jan. 13, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ MethaneMonsters.

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Fear of government spying is chilling writers’ freedom of expression

Lauren McCauley, “Government Surveillance Threatens Journalism, Law and Thus Democracy: Report,” Common Dreams, July 28, 2014, http:// tinyurl.com/q6agfn9.

10.

8.

Who dies at the hands of police—and how often

High-profile police killings, particularly of African American men, have made big news over the past few years. But there’s been much less attention paid to the overall numbers – and to the difference between how many people are shot by cops in the United States and in other countries.

In the January 2015 edition of Liberation, Richard Becker concluded from public records that the rate of U.S. police killing was 100 times that of England, 40 times that of Germany and 20 times the rate in Canada.

In June 2015, a team of reporters from the Guardian concluded that 102 unarmed people were killed by U.S. police in the first five months of that year—twice the rate reported by the government.

Furthermore, the Guardian wrote, “black Americans are more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed during encounters with police as white people.” The paper concluded that, “Thirty-two percent of black people killed by police in 2015 were unarmed, as were 25 percent of Hispanic and Latino people, compared with 15 percent of white people killed.”

And as far as accountability goes, the Washington Post noted that in 385 cases of police killings, only three officers faced charges.

Sources: Richard Becker, “U.S. Cops Kill at 100 Times Rate of Other Capitalist Countries,” Liberation, Jan. 4, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/nntxdrm/.

Jon Swaine, Oliver Laughland, and Jamiles Lartey, “Black Americans Killed by Police Twice as Likely to be Unarmed as White People,” Guardian, June 1, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ BlackAmericansKilledbyPolice.

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blogosphere. The top rung of society gets vast amounts of attention, for good and for ill—but the huge numbers of people who are homeless, hungry and often lacking in hope just aren’t news.

“The notion that the wealthiest nation on Earth has one in every six of its citizens living at or below the poverty threshold reflects not a lack of resources, but a lack of policy focus and attention—and this is due to a lack of public awareness to the issue,” Frederick Reese of MintPress News wrote.

From Project Censored: “The FAIR study showed that between Jan. 2013 and Feb.2014, an average of only 2.7 seconds per every 22-minute episode discussed poverty in some format.

During the 14-month study, FAIR found just 23 news segments that addressed poverty.”

Sources: Steve Rendall, Emily Kaufmann, and Sara Qureshi, “Even GOP Attention Can’t Make Media Care about Poor,” Extra!, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, June 1, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ GOPsPoorAttention.

Costa Rica is setting the standard on renewable energy

Is it possible to meet a modern nation’s energy needs without any fossil-fuel consumption? Yes. Costa Rica has been doing it.

To be fair, that country’s main industries— tourism and agriculture—are not energyintensive, and heavy rainfall in the first part of the year made it possible for the country to rely heavily on its hydropower resources.

But even in normal years, Costa Rica generates 90 percent of its energy without burning any fossil fuels.

Iceland also produces the vast majority of its energy from renewable sources.

The transition to 100 percent renewables will be harder for larger countries—but as the limited reporting on Costa Rica notes, it’s possible to take large steps in that direction.

Sources: Myles Gough, “Costa Rica Powered with 100% Renewable Energy for 75 Straight Days,” Science Alert, March 20, 2015, www.sciencealert. com/costa-rica-powered-with-100-renewable-energyfor-75-days.

Adam Epstein, “Costa Rica is Now Running Completely on Renewable Energy,” Quartz, March 23, 2015, http://qz.com/367985/costa-rica-is-nowrunning-completely-on-renewable-energy.

Tim Redmond, a longtime editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is the founding member of the San Francisco Progressive Media Center and editor of that nonprofit organization’s publication 48 Hills.

Millions in poverty get less media coverage than billionaires do

The news media in the United States doesn’t like to talk about poverty, but they love to report on the lives and glory of the super-rich.

The advocacy group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, analyzed the three major television news networks and found that 482 billionaires got more attention than the 50 million people who live in poverty.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who follows the mainstream media, or pays much attention to the world of social media and the

October 15 - 28, 2015

Sources: Lauren McCauley, “Fear of Government Spying ‘Chilling’ Writers’ Speech Worldwide,” Common Dreams, Jan. 5, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/ GovernmentSpying.

Tavis Smiley, “Poverty Less Than .02 Percent of Lead Media Coverage,” Huffington Post, March 7, 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/tavis-smiley/-poverty-lessthan-02-of_b_4921119.html.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Writers in western liberal democracies may not face the type of censorship seen in some parts of the world, but fear of government surveillance is still causing many to think twice about what they can say.

Lauren McCauley, writing in Common Dreams, quoted one of the conclusions from a report by the writers’ group PEN American: If writers avoid exploring topics for fear of possible retribution, the material available to readers—particularly those seeking to understand the most controversial and challenging issues facing the world today—may be greatly impoverished.

According to Project Censored, a PEN American survey showed that “34 percent of writers in liberal democracies reported some degree of self-censorship (compared with 61 percent of writers living in authoritarian countries, and 44 percent in semi-democratic countries). Almost 60 percent of the writers from Western Europe, the United States…indicated that U.S. credibility ‘has been significantly damaged for the long term’ by revelations of the U.S. government surveillance programs.

Other than Common Dreams, the PEN report attracted almost no major media attention.

Frederick Reese, “Billionaires Get More Media Attention Than The Poor,” MintPress News, June 30, 2014, www.mintpressnews.com/billionaires-getmedia-attention-poor/193174.

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October 15 - 28, 2015

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