Pasadena Independent_6/19/2023

New York Knicks executive sues Bonaventure Hotel after 2021 robbery

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Advocates, elected officials offer assistance for migrants bused from Texas

Local officials and immigrant-rights advocates were continuing work Thursday to assist 42 migrants who were bused from the Texas-Mexico border to Los Angeles by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, who proclaimed his state’s border region “overrun” and hinted that more shipments of immigrants could follow.

In a Twitter post Thursday, Abbott proclaimed that the “first bus of migrants” from Texas had arrived in Los Angeles, with the migrants initially taken to Union Station downtown but then moved to a nearby church.

“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said in a statement. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the front lines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”

The immigrants were taken to St. Anthony’s Croatian Catholic Church in Chinatown, and Los Angeles

Fire Department crews responded to ensure none of them had any medical issues.

According to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, the immigrants were on the bus for nearly 24 hours, with some saying they had not eaten or had anything to drink during the journey.

By City News Service

Representatives of the CHIRLA were among the organizations who met with the migrants Wednesday night to offer assistance, along with the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance, which indicated that six of the migrants are of Haitian descent, including a family of three -- two adult

cousins and one adult.

“We coordinated with the city (of Los Angeles) and the mayor’s office to make sure these individuals were greeted with dignity and to make sure they received the assistance that they needed,” Daniel Tse, the group’s asylum task force coordinator, told CNN.

Trapped under trucks

The Immigrant Defenders Law Center was also offering assistance.

“They’re coming with the hope that they can keep themselves and their children safe. And so instead of treating them as political props, here in Los Angeles, we will treat them with the dignity

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that they deserve as human beings,” Lindsay Toczylowski told reporters on Wednesday.

The Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley also greeted the migrants at Union Station and offered to help them.

“The state of Texas offered transportation to Los Angeles,” Sister Norma Pintel told CNN. “Through coordination, we made sure that the families wanting to go to Los Angeles would have someone that would meet them and provide a place to stay.”

The 42 migrants included an estimated 16 children, including some infants. Officials said the migrants came from countries including Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela.

Most spent the night at the church, although officials said some were picked up by relatives, and others were trying to make arrangements to travel to other cities.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement calling it “abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games.”

“Shortly after I took office, I directed city departments to begin planning in the event Los Angeles was on the

See Migrants Page 28

By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica and FRONTLINE, Kartikay Mehrotra, ProPublica, and Julia Ingram, FRONTLINE

of asphalt that runs parallel to the Rio Grande in this part of Texas. His wife, Irma Orive, was waiting for him.

Series: America’s Dangerous Trucks

Inside the Battle to Prevent Deadly Crashes

It was a little after 7 p.m. and Ricardo Marcos was rolling through the darkness in his gray Hyundai Elantra.

Marcos had spent a long day toiling as mechanic at a trucking company in McAllen, Texas, a sunbaked city nestled right on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Now he was headed home on U.S. Route 281, a long swath

But Marcos, 61, never made it.

Big commercial trucks are ubiquitous in this part of the world, an endless stream of massive diesel-powered vehicles ferrying goods across the border, and on his drive

home, Marcos encountered a large truck pulling a 53-foot trailer. The truck edged out of a driveway and began, slowly, to turn left onto the road, blocking traffic in both directions. It was as if someone had erected a big steel wall.

Video shows what happened next on that night in 2017. Traveling at more than 40 mph, Marcos’s

Hyundai slammed violently into the larger vehicle and became wedged beneath it. The impact ripped the top half of the car apart. Marcos did not survive.

The collision did terrible things to his body, breaking his ribs, lacerating his liver and spleen, snapping his neck and damaging the frontal lobes of his brain, according to

the medical examiner’s report. An investigator with the local police department blamed the collision on the truck driver, who was initially charged with negligent homicide, though charges were eventually dropped.

ProPublica and FRONTLINE

Long Beach dock worker gets prison for billing health plan for prostitutes

The Union Station located in downtown Los Angeles, where Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot initially sent 42 migrants before they were eventually moved to a local church. | Photo courtesy of Dietmar Rabich/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

OC supervisors back LGBTQ Pride Month after heated bickering

By City News Service

Aweek after Orange County supervisors voted to only fly flags for the federal, state and county governments — following a proposal to raise the Pride flag for the LGBTQ community — the supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday backing Pride Month, but only after a bruising debate marred by personal attacks.

June is Pride Month, which the county board has supported with routine votes in past years, but the acrimony from last week’s heated dispute over the flag policy spilled over into the Pride Month resolution on Tuesday.

“My understanding is last year we moved forward with it,” Supervisor Vince Sarmiento said. “I don’t know if there’s a change of heart on that. ... But I think here ... my intent is to just celebrate Pride Month.”

Sarmiento noted when he was mayor of Santa Ana the city held Pride Month parades.

“There were parents there like me who were supporting their children who are queer or gay and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Sarmiento said.

But he said rising bigotry against the LGBTQ commu-

nity has made the issue a “public health crisis. They’ve been subjected to hate crimes and a lot of victimization.”

Like last week, multiple speakers in the audience backed or opposed the resolution.

Supervisor Katrina Foley — replying to one heckler demanding statistics about local hate crimes against the LGBTQ community — said, “Eighty-three percent increase in hate crimes toward our LGBTQ+ community in the last year. And that’s documented by the office of Human Relations that our board voted unanimously to support.”

Foley told detractors who cited the country’s founders, “When the founders formed America they didn’t even recognize I, as a woman, had any rights.”

Foley accused some of the critics of the resolution of “hateful, mean words” from residents who “lectured us to be kind.”

“Are you kidding me? You are so hateful and mean you don’t even know how you are impacting people in this room with your unkind words,” Foley said. “This item was brought forward last year and we unanimously approved

Pride Month last year, so I don’t know what’s changed except the hate toward our LGBTQ community.”

Board Chairman Don Wagner replied, “What has changed is not a change of heart on this board. ... What we’ve seen is a change of the tactics on the left and some in the community pushing resolutions like this — that’s where the change is.”

Wagner noted that a transgender activist posed topless at President Joe Biden’s Pride celebration at the White House, and he demanded that Foley and Sarmiento say if they would condemn the action.

“I think your question is beyond the scope of what’s being asked for here,” Sarmiento replied. “I don’t see much of a nexus.”

Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee, who backed the new flag policy, said he supported the resolution recognizing Pride Month. Chaffee said he received “bullying” responses to his decision to back the new flag policy and encouraged the county’s residents to be more kind to each other.

Vice Chairman Andrew Do said in the 16 years he has served the county as the chief

of staff of another supervisor and his time on the board the county has supported Pride Month.

“We have always recognized Pride Month,” Do said. “We are a tolerant county. We have always been tolerant.”

Do recalled watching Pride Day events in San Francisco when he was a law school student in the 1980s.

“But I agree with Chairman Wagner that the difference is it (used to) happen in an isolated community and now it’s mainstream,” Do said. “It’s gotten bigger and we know more about it now.”

Do said Pride Month activities “have been hijacked by a few who have a political agenda. But Pride Month is by itself a different thing. It’s showing acceptance and tolerance. ... It’s been twisted. It’s been hijacked.”

Do said he was upset that the adoption of the new flag policy was characterized as a ban on the Pride flag.

“It was to preserve the sanctity of our government function,” Do said of the new policy. “We don’t want to put our thumb on the scale to support any one group.”

Foley retorted that it was Do’s timing that made the move so inflammatory.

“Respectfully, Vice Chair Do, and you know that I have great respect for you and your work for the county, but if you brought it up at any other time than on the heels of Wagner denying our request for a Pride flag it wouldn’t have seemed connected,” Foley said. “But even Chairman Wagner admitted that was what it was about.”

Foley added, “Maybe you got duped, but it was obvious to me Chairman Wagner orchestrated the whole thing.”

Wagner fired back at Foley that, “You teed up a divisive issue.”

During a back-and-forth about who had the floor to

speak, Wagner said, “You don’t get the floor to lie, you are absolutely lying about what happened.”

Foley said Wagner wanted to try to accuse her of lying and not let her “present the receipts” to counter his allegation.

“You may continue spouting,” Wagner angrily responded.

“That is completely disrespectful,” Foley said. “You are the most disrespectful person.”

Chaffee called the question to “dispense with the bickering,” and it led to a unanimous support for the resolution backing Pride Month.

New York Knicks executive sues Bonaventure Hotel after 2021 robbery

ANew York Knicks executive who also is a former NBA player is suing the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, alleging his inability to enter the establishment while using a guest key card in 2021 allowed two men to rob him at gunpoint

outside the downtown establishment.

Nana “Pops” MensahBonsu’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges negligence, premises liability and negligent infliction of emotional distress. He also names as defendants Marriott

By City News Service

International Inc., Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc., Thursday’s IV Inc. and Aimbridge Hospitality LLC, all of which own or manage the hotel. He seeks at least $250,000 in damages.

A Bonaventure representative did not immediately

reply to a call for comment on the suit brought Wednesday.

Mensah-Bonsu, hired in 2020 as the head of the Knicks’ G League operations, was a guest at the Bonaventure on Oct. 6, 2021, and was traveling on behalf of the Knicks, the suit states. After attend-

ing an NBA game at Staples Center that day, the plaintiff, a frequent Marriott guest, walked back to the hotel, the suits states.

Mensah-Bonsu approached the Figueroa Street entrance at about 8 p.m., but it was locked and

inaccessible even to guests with key cards, the suit states.

Mensah-Bonsu was then suddenly confronted by two “erratic men,” one of whom pointed a firearm at the plain-

See Bonaventure Hotel Page 28

Microsoft Theater to become Peacock Theater under downtown naming rights deal

The outdoor plaza at downtown’s L.A.

Live entertainment complex will be renamed Peacock Place next month under an agreement that will also change the name of the Microsoft Theater to Peacock Theater, AEG officials announced Thursday. The changes are the result of a naming-rights deal between the NBC Universal streaming service and AEG, which owns the 4 million-square-foot entertainment district and theater adjacent to Crypto.com Arena. The name changes will take effect July 11.

“We are ecstatic for the

opportunity to be able to partner with the amazing leadership team at Peacock for this long-term relationship,” Nick Baker, Chief Operating Officer of AEG Global Partnerships, said in a statement. “The content within the Peacock platform is ideal for our audiences and the synergies between both organizations around our variety of events is limitless.”

Neither the exact length of the agreement or the price were released. According to the two parties, the 40,000-square-foot plaza previously known as XBOX Plaza at the complex will be renamed Peacock Place.

By City News Service

The overall entertainment district will retain the name L.A. Live.

Peacock will also have “an enhanced brand presence across L.A. Live including significant interior and exterior signage at Peacock Theater, fixed signage at Peacock Place, a branded content studio, and customized fan activations and brand integrations throughout select premium locations of the sports and entertainment district,” according to a statement from AEG.

A new LED marquee will also be installed at Figueroa and Olympic boulevards, including a pair of video

boards that will highlight events at Peacock Place, while also touting programming on the streaming service.

“Through Peacock Theater and Peacock Place, we’ll have the opportunity to bring all the elements of our brand to life with the millions of fans who visit L.A. Live each year, while partnering with the incredible team at AEG to further cement Peacock as the ultimate destination for audiences,” Kelly Campbell, president of Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer services for NBC Universal, said in a statement.

Peacock Theater and Peacock Square

The intersex-inclusive Pride flag. | Image courtesy of Nikki/ Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Report: California families struggle to find affordable child care

By Suzanne Potter, Producer, Public News Service

California families are paying way too much for child care, according to the 2023 Kids Count Data Book out today from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

the new state budget, being finalized this week, will address the issue.

The Arcadia Weeklyhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number GS 004333 for the City of Arcadia, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Monrovia Weeklyhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of General Circulation in Court Case GS 004759 City of Monrovia, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Temple City Tribunehas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number GS 012440 City of Temple City, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The El Monte Examinerhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number KS 015872 City of El Monte, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Azusa Beaconhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number KS 015970 City of Azusa, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The San Gabriel Sunhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number GS 013808 City of San Gabriel, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Duarte Dispatchhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number GS 013893 City of Duarte, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Rosemead Readerhas been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number GS 048894 City of Rosemead, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Alhambra Press has been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number ES016581 City of Alhambra, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Baldwin Park Press has been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number KS017174 City of Baldwin Park, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Burbank Independent has been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number ES016728 City of Burbank, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

The Glendale Independent has been adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation in court case number ES016579 City of Glendale, County of Los Angeles, State of California.

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The new report showed single mothers in California pay 31% of the average median income for familybased child care, and couples pay 10%, the third-highest rates in the country.

Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research at the nonprofit Children Now, said hundreds of thousands of California families need subsidized child care, but cannot find it. She hopes

“What we’re really looking for is a 25% rate increase for all subsidized child care, so that those providers can earn a living wage,” Hardy explained. “And that the 20,000 child care spaces that are scheduled to be released in 2023-24, be released today.”

The research ranked the Golden State 35th for children’s overall well-being and 43rd for economic wellbeing, issues linked to the high cost of housing. The report also found nationwide, educational indicators worsened over the past

few years, with fewer 3- and 4-year-olds in preschool, and drops in the percentage of fourth graders proficient in reading and eighth graders working at grade level in math.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said Congress was on the right track when it expanded the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic, and started sending families extra checks.

“It was the largest one-time reduction in child poverty in a single year that we’ve seen,” Boissiere pointed out. “And making permanent the expansion

of the Child Tax Credit could have a significant impact on the number of children and families who are living in poverty.”

There is some good news: Teen births have continued to fall, and California has one of the highest rates of health insurance for kids in the country.

Disclosure: The Annie E. Casey Foundation contributes to our fund for reporting on Children’s Issues, Education, Juvenile Justice, and Welfare Reform. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, visit https://publicnewsservice. org/dn1.php.

Taco Bell to pay $85,000 to settle lawsuit over gift card redemption

Taco Bell will pay $85,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by prosecutors in three counties alleging the Irvine-based fast-food chain violated state law by refusing to allow customers to cash in gift cards with a remaining balance of less than $10.

The legal action was brought by district attorney’s offices in Los Angeles, Ventura and Sonoma counties, with the case handled in Ventura County.

“Businesses have a responsibility to honor their customers’ gift cards, regardless of the amount,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “This settlement sends a clear

By City News Service

message that companies like Taco Bell must abide by the law and treat their customers fairly.”

According to Gascón’s office, California law allows customers to receive cash refunds for gift cards with a balance of less than $10. Prosecutors alleged that Taco Bell failed to abide by that law, and denied customers’ requests for refunds.

Taco Bell did not admit any wrongdoing in settling the complaint. Representatives for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company will pay $45,000 in penalties, $30,500 in investigative costs and $10,000 to the California Consumer Protection Pros-

ecution Trust Fund, according to Gascón’s office. Taco Bell will also be required to post a visible notice on cash registers at its locations, notifying customers of their right to redeem the gift cards.

The company’s gift cards additionally will be required to include a link to the company’s redemption policy on its website, and annual training must be provided to store managers, according to Gascón’s office.

Daycare center. | Photo by BBC Creative on Unsplash

| Photo courtesy of Ian Rainey/Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0)

38 local restaurants receive assistance grants through Restaurants Care Resilience Fund

By Staff

Thanks to the California Restaurant Foundation’s (CRF) Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, 38 independently owned restaurants in Los Angeles received $5,000 grants.”Each restaurant receiving a grant can use the funds for equipment and technology upgrades, unforeseen hardship, employee retention bonuses and employee training, allowing California’s independent restaurant owners to continue their businesses during challenging times.

The $2.1 million fund, supported by SoCalGas with a $1,000,000 donation, and other California utility companies, is the largest to date in terms of overall funding, individual grant sizes and grant utilization.

“With the generosity of SoCalGas, the Resilience Fund helped California’s independent restaurant community for a third consecutive year,” said Alycia Harshfield, Executive Director of CRF. “It’s apparent that there is still a significant need for restaurant assistance, as we received 25% more applications this year than last. While these grants will allow local restaurant owners to build more resilient businesses, we also hope to inspire Californians to support their vibrant local restaurant

community in any way they can, whether that’s through dining, sharing on social media or spreading the word to friends and family.”

“SoCalGas and the California Restaurant Foundation are truly creating a positive impact on the lives of small business owners, their employees, and the communities these restaurants serve,” said Assemblymember Mike Gipson. “Through this fund, SoCalGas is helping our favorite local restaurants be successful now and long into the future.”

“SoCalGas’s grant will directly pay for payroll and daily operating expenses, rather than us having to take out loans,” said Nicole Green of Coco’s Lip Smacking Cupcakes. “This financial security will help us focus on what matters most: providing our customers with lip-smacking food and great service.”

“SoCalGas and the California Restaurant Foundation are truly creating a positive impact for our small business owners, their employees, and the communities they serve,” said City of Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzales. “Through this fund, SoCalGas is helping our favorite local restaurants be successful now and far into the future.”

Of the 89 grant recipients in SoCalGas’ service area, 64% of this year’s grant winners identify as female and 84% identify as people of color. About 64% of the grant funds will be used for equipment and technology upgrades and around 36% of the $5,000 grants will be put towards unforeseen hardships, employee training, and employee bonuses. To qualify, the restaurants needed to have five units or less, and less than $3 million in revenue. To see the full list of grant recipients, please visit www. restaurantscare.org/resilience.

Impressively, the Resilience Fund has provided financial assistance to nearly 1,000 independent restaurants across California over the last three years. The Resilience Fund is currently accepting additional support from corporations, foundations and individuals who want to invest in California’s vibrant restaurant community. Donations of all sizes are accepted and celebrated at www.restaurantscare.org/ resilience.

For more information about the California Restaurant Foundation or their Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, please visit www. restaurantscare.org.

| Photo courtesy of Pixabay

US defense chief urges international support for Ukraine in ‘marathon’ conflict with Russia

By HeyWire AI

it.

By Anna Clark, ProPublica

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has urged nations to continue supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, describing the fight as “a marathon, and not a sprint.”

Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Thursday, Austin emphasized the need for sustained assistance to Kyiv in its efforts to resist Russian aggression.

“Ukraine’s fight is a marathon, and not a sprint,” said Austin. “So we will continue to provide Ukraine with the urgent capabilities that it needs to meet this moment, as well as what it needs to keep itself secure for the long term from Russian aggression.”

The meeting, attended by defense ministers from nearly 50 countries, focused on coordinating efforts to provide military and economic support to Ukraine. The country has been battling Russianbacked separatists in its eastern regions since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea.

The conflict has claimed over 14,000 lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people. Despite a ceasefire agreement signed last year, fighting contin-

ues in the Donbas region, and there are concerns that Russia may launch a fullscale invasion.

Austin’s comments come amid fears that Ukrainian soldiers are being stretched thin by the ongoing conflict. The country’s military has faced criticism for corruption and poor management, and there are concerns that it may not be able to hold back a Russian invasion without significant outside help.

The United States has been one of Ukraine’s main supporters, providing lethal weapons and other military aid to help bolster Kyiv’s defenses. Other countries have also contributed billions of dollars in economic assistance, including loans and grants.

However, there are concerns that some nations may be losing interest in the conflict as it drags on. Russia has faced Western sanctions over its actions in Ukraine, but some European countries, notably Germany, have sought to maintain dialogue with Moscow despite the ongoing conflict.

At the same time, Ukraine’s political situation remains unstable, with President Volodymyr Zelensky facing criticism

over his handling of the war and other issues. Zelensky, a former comedian who was elected in 2019 on a platform of anti-corruption reforms and negotiations with Russia, has struggled to deliver on his promises.

In response, some Ukrainian officials have called for closer ties with NATO and other Western institutions, arguing that this would help bolster the country’s defenses and provide greater leverage in negotiations with Russia. However, this has been met with resistance from some European nations, who fear it could provoke Russia.

Despite these challenges, Austin expressed his confidence in Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian aggression.

“Ukraine has shown tremendous resilience in the face of Russian aggression,” he said. “And we are committed to standing with them in their struggle for peace and stability.”

The meeting in Brussels was also attended by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, as well as officials from the European Union and NATO. It follows a summit in Kyiv earlier this week, where leaders discussed the conflict and other issues facing the country.

This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

After decades of intense debate and stalled legislation, the Food and Drug Administration has taken a critical step in overseeing a vast category of lab tests that reach patients without any federal agency checking to ensure they work the way their makers claim.

Among the tests that are not reviewed by the FDA: popular prenatal genetic screenings that ProPublica recently reported on, as well as certain cancer screenings and tests for rare diseases.

On Wednesday, a notice of the proposed rule was posted. This is the first concrete evidence that the FDA is preparing to apply its regulatory powers to these lab tests.

“A modern oversight framework that is specifically tailored to assuring tests work is critical to position ourselves for the future — whether it is preparing for the next pandemic or realizing the full potential of diagnostic innovation,” an FDA press officer said in a statement to ProPublica.

Peter Lurie, president and executive director of the Center for Science

in the Public Interest, applauded the move. “It’s exciting to see the agency taking concrete steps to address this long-standing hole in the public health safety net,” he said.

The agency’s hands-off approach to lab-developed tests — which are designed, manufactured and used by a single lab — traced back to a time when they were deployed at a small scale. The idea was to spare hospital labs, for example, from the time, money and hassle of getting approval in Washington whenever they needed to create a simple test for their own patients.

Nowadays, so-called LDTs are an enormous part of the health care system, including a number of high-stakes tests made by commercial companies. Because they aren’t registered with the federal government, nobody knows how many exist. A 2021 study by Pew Charitable Trusts estimates that 12,000 labs are likely to use such tests, many of which process thousands of patient samples each day. Currently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reviews lab operations, but it doesn’t check whether the tests themselves are clinically valid.

While these tests “play an important role in our health care system,” said the FDA press officer, the agency “is very concerned

about problematic LDTs currently used in the U.S. that might not provide patients with accurate and reliable results.”

ProPublica’s investigation of prenatal genetic screenings detailed how the FDA doesn’t review the tests before they reach patients, nor does it verify marketing claims made by companies that sell them.

False positives, false negatives and uncertain results about genetic anomalies have sometimes led to devastating consequences for families, the investigation found. Companies aren’t required to publicly report instances of when the test gets it wrong, and no federal agency is able to recall faulty tests. (We also made a guide to prenatal screening tests for expectant parents.)

The next step for the FDA is to publish a draft of the proposed rule, which seems likely to happen in August. It will go through a public comment period, and then the agency will develop a final rule. Both the proposed and final rules need to be cleared by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget. Experts said this process could go relatively quickly, or it could take a year or more, pushing up against a 2024

Scores of critical lab tests fall into a regulatory void. The FDA is trying to close

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attends the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels in June 2023. |

Photo courtesy of SecDef/Twitter

Photo by Nguyễn Hiệp on Unsplash

Dockworkers, shippers reach agreement on new labor deal

By City News Service

Atentative agreement on a six-year contract covering workers at all 29 West Coast ports was announced Wednesday evening by the union representing dockworkers and a shippers industry group.

Details of the agreement were not released. The agreement is subject to ratification by members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers, and Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shippers.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that recognizes the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce in keeping our ports operating,” PMA

President James McKenna and ILWU President Willie Adams said in a joint statement.

“We are also pleased to turn our full attention back to the operation of the West Coast ports.”

The dockworkers union and PMA had been in talks for months on a contract to replace the one that had expired July 1.

The tentative agreement was reached with assistance from acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su.

“The news of a tentative agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association should be welcomed by every Angeleno and every

American,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “This is a win for the working people

of our city. “About 40% of West Coast imports come through the

Center Theatre Group cancels productions at Mark Taper Forum

By City News Service

The Center Theatre Group is scaling back its programming at the Mark Taper Forum, it was announced Friday, a move resulting in part because of the aftereffects of the pandemic contributing to a struggle to balance increasing production costs combined with reduced ticket revenue and donations.

The Center Theatre Group is postponing the world premiere of “Fake It Until You Make It” by Larissa FastHorse and directed by Michael John Garces. The tour of Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee and directed by Chay Yew has been canceled. The pause in

productions at the Taper will begin in July.

The Center Theatre Group said in a statement pausing season programming is a “difficult but necessary decision that will impact artists and audiences; and is particularly painful for the talented and committed CTG staff who have dedicated so much to bringing great theatre to L.A.”

Meanwhile, the Center Theatre Group is planning to announce a 2023-24 season at the Ahmanson Theatre and select programming at the Kirk Douglas Theatre soon.

“We are still facing a crisis unlike any other in our

56-year history. It is in this environment that we have to take the extraordinary step of pausing a significant portion of CTG programming beginning this summer and continuing through the 2023-24 season, as well as taking significant restructuring measures to build a vibrant and sustainable organization that can navigate this new paradigm,” the Center Theatre Group said in a statement.

The Center Theatre Group is working on collaborations with The Music Center, the County of Los Angeles and the greater L.A. arts community for future projects.

Port of Los Angeles, which generates 1 in 15 jobs here in Los Angeles,” Bass added.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said the tentative agreement “brings the stability and confidence that customers have been seeking.”

International labor economist Jock O’Connell of Beacon Economics called the proposed deal “a very positive sign for the West Coast ports and for everyone who sends their cargo through them.”

“The reputation of the West Coast ports as reliable conduits for Asian trade will be less tarnished, but they still have a long way to go in assuring shippers and customers, the importers and export-

Lab tests

election that might change priorities in Washington.

ers,” in the wake of recent disruptions that caused significant delays in the movement of goods, O’Connell told the Los Angeles Times.

O’Connell said the ratification process could take several weeks, adding, “It’s important to emphasize that this is not finished.”

President Joe Biden praised Su’s efforts in brokering the deal during sometimes “acrimonious negotiations.”

“Above all I congratulate the port workers, who have served heroically through the pandemic and the countless challenges it brought, and will finally get the pay, benefits and quality of life they deserve,” Biden said in a statement.

Over the years, a large coalition of labs, professional associations and academic medical centers have argued that FDA oversight over the lab tests would be overly burdensome and inflexible — so much so that it would stunt critical innovations and limit patient access to quality health care. Opponents also express concern about the FDA’s capacity to oversee the tests.

Mary Steele Williams, executive director of the Association for Molecular Pathology, said in a statement to ProPublica that AMP is updating its proposal for an alternative approach to lab testing reform, one that doesn’t rely on the FDA. Instead, it recommends modernizing existing regulations through CMS, “which we believe to be the most effective and streamlined approach.”

Williams also said that AMP intends to continue working with other institutions to “raise our shared concerns with FDA regulation” over lab-developed tests. It remains committed, she said, “to working with Congress and other stakeholders to establish a more efficient regulatory framework that ensures high-quality patient care while continuing to foster the rapid innovation and promise of new diagnostic technologies.”

An earlier effort by the FDA to rein in LDTs came in 2014, when the agency issued draft guidance. But after facing nearly two years of stiff opposition, the agency pulled it. One of the strongest critics was the American Clinical Laboratory Association, a national trade group. It challenged the FDA’s authority over the tests by filing a citizen petition and making clear its intent to sue if necessary.

In a statement on Wednesday to ProPublica, an ACLA spokesperson said the association has long taken the position that any regulation of LDTs must be done through legislation. It should be a framework “that recognizes the essential role of clinical laboratories in advancing public health, preserving and fostering innovation and maintaining access to critical testing services,” the spokesperson said, adding: “We stand ready to provide expertise and technical assistance to Congress.”

There have been several efforts to reform lab testing through Congress over the years, and the FDA has signaled that it welcomes legislative action that would create a modern framework specifically tailored to clinical testing.

In 2022, a bipartisan bill known as the VALID Act seemed to have its best shot at passing, having gathered momentum after the scandal over fraudulent Theranos blood tests and the coronavirus pandemic. But, facing pushback, it was dropped from a must-pass bill at the end of the year. While ACLA’s spokesperson said the association worked with the bill’s sponsors to help shape it, in the end, ACLA didn’t endorse it. The act was reintroduced in the House in March.

If the FDA enacts a new rule, supporters anticipate legal challenges, said Cara Tenenbaum, a former policy adviser for the agency whose consultancy signed onto a recent letter urging it to assert oversight.

But over the past decade, the FDA tried every alternative to address what it sees as a public health problem, she said.

“All they have left is their existing device authority,” Tenenbaum said. “They’ve been backed into a corner, if you ask me.”

The FDA pushing ahead with a proposed rule, even while legislation is on the table, makes sense because “the clock is ticking on the administration,” said Lurie, a former top FDA official who worked on lab testing reform.

At the same time, he said, “the problem is long-standing and, frankly, in fact, growing. More and more products come to market every day, and very few of them get regulated.”

Republished with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Mark Taper Forum. | Photo by Tom Bonner

A cargo ship enters the Port of Long Beach. | Photo courtesy of SteveAllenPhoto999/Envato Elements

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were unable to contact the trucker.

“I still miss him. I miss him every day,” said his widow, 70. “We did everything together.”

The incident was awful and tragic. But it wasn’t particularly uncommon. Collisions in which a passenger vehicle such as a car, SUV or pickup truck slides beneath a large commercial truck are called underride crashes in the jargon of the transportation industry. And they happen all the time: Each year hundreds of Americans die in this type of collision.

The federal government has been aware of the problem for at least five decades.

Reporters for ProPublica and FRONTLINE obtained thousands of pages of government documents on underride crashes — technical research reports, meeting notes, memoranda and correspondence — dating back to the 1960s. The records reveal a remarkable and disturbing hidden history, a case study of government inaction in the face of an obvious threat to public wellbeing. Year after year, federal officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the country’s primary roadway safety agency, ignored credible scientific research and failed to take simple steps to limit the hazards of underride crashes.

NHTSA officials failed to act, in part, because they didn’t know how many people were killed in the crashes. Their poor efforts at collecting data over the years left them unable to determine the scale of the problem. This spring the agency publicly acknowledged that it has failed to accurately count underride collisions for decades.

According to NHTSA’s latest figures, more than 400 people died in underride crashes in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. But experts say the true number of deaths is likely higher.

Records show the agency often deferred to the wishes of the trucking industry, whose lobbyists repeatedly complained that simple safety measures would be prohibitively expensive and do lasting damage to the American economy. During the 1980s, for example, industry leaders argued they couldn’t afford to equip trucks with stronger rear bumpers, which are also called rear underride guards; the devices are meant to prevent cars from

slipping beneath the trailer during a rear-end collision. The beefier, more robust rear guards would’ve cost an additional $127 each, according to industry estimates.

David Friedman was a top official at NHTSA during the Obama years. “NHTSA has been trying, for decades, to do something about underride deaths. And yet over and over, they haven’t made the progress that we need. Why? Well, I think part of it is because industry just keeps pushing back and undermining their efforts,” said Friedman, who served as the agency’s acting administrator in 2014. “There are so many hurdles put in the way of NHTSA staff when it comes to putting a rule on the books that could address issues like underride.”

The technology at issue — strong steel guards mounted to the back and sides of trucks — is simple and “relatively inexpensive,” Friedman argued. “The costs are small.”

The circumstances surrounding underride crashes vary widely. In some cases, the driver of the smaller vehicle is at fault — they are speeding, texting or simply not paying enough attention to the road. In other cases, the trucker is to blame. Take, for example, a crash that occurred in Caledonia, Wisconsin, in 2020. A truck going roughly 40 mph blew past a stop sign at a four-way intersection.

A Volkswagen SUV plowed directly into the side of the larger machine, became trapped between the wheels of the truck and was dragged down the block as shards of glass, steel and plastic shot into the air like shrapnel;

miraculously, the SUV driver survived. Police cited the trucker, who declined to be interviewed.

The biggest trucks on the road — properly called tractor-trailers or semi trucks — consist of two parts. At the front is the tractor, which is equipped with a highhorsepower engine capable of pulling 80,000 pounds. A hitch connects it to the trailer, which can range from 28 feet to more than 50 feet long. The typical semitrailer rolls on an array of giant wheels, its floor sitting nearly 4 feet off the ground.

Modern automobiles come equipped with a host of meticulously engineered safety technologies. There are bumpers and crumple zones meant to absorb kinetic energy and reduce the violence of an impact. There are airbags to cushion the driver and passengers.

But in an underride crash, these technologies are rendered moot by the height difference between a large truck and the average passenger vehicle. Typically, it is the windshield of the smaller vehicle that takes the brunt of impact, slamming into the bottom edge of the trailer as the steel pillars holding up the car’s roof collapse. In many cases the airbags don’t even deploy.

This violent sequence of events often produces grievous injuries. Start looking at underride crashes and you’ll quickly notice a pattern of awful head injuries: broken skulls, severely damaged brains, even decapitations. Some victims suffer crushing injuries to the torso or get speared in the chest by jagged chunks of steel.

Truck drivers are rarely harmed in the crashes.

NHTSA officials and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to be interviewed by ProPublica and FRONTLINE. NHTSA did not respond to written questions from the news organizations, including about why the agency had moved so slowly to address the lethal hazards posed by underride collisions. In a statement, NHTSA defended its record, noting that it had recently created a committee to study the issue and developed new safety rules; it had been directed to take those steps by federal legislation passed in 2021. “Safety is the top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation and NHTSA,” the agency said.

The American Trucking Associations, a trade group representing the nation’s major commercial haulers, for decades opposed safety regulations that would’ve improved rear underride guards and saved lives. Dan Horvath, the ATA’s vice president for safety policy, said he has little information about the organization’s past positions, but he acknowledged that costs were “a very real factor” for the industry.

Trucking companies now spend billions annually to improve safety, investing in everything from new braking systems to stringent drugtesting for drivers, Horvath said. “Safety is not just a slogan with our members,” he added. “It’s really the fundamental foundation of their operations.”

Eventually the ATA came to support government rules aimed at improving rear guards.

rear guard, meant to prevent underride collisions. But the rules were lax: The guard could hang as much as 30 inches off the ground, far higher than the typical car bumper, and didn’t have to cover the full width of the truck or trailer. And it didn’t have to meet any strength standards.

Most rear guards of this era consisted of three pieces of rectangular steel: a horizontal bar welded to two vertical beams that bolted to the bottom of the trailer. Often crudely fashioned from thin, low-grade metal, the guards did little to prevent underrides — they had a tendency to simply collapse when hit.

A bigger guard built from stronger materials, top officials realized, could save lives.

Still, the ATA and other industry groups are continuing to fight congressional efforts to require semitrailers to be equipped with side guards, which could prevent underride crashes like the one that killed Marcos. They said there’s not enough research to support a government mandate, which would impose huge costs on businesses that operate on thin profit margins.

During these five decades of industry resistance and government paralysis, thousands of people have died.

I. Decades of Delay

The year was 1967 and Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield was riding in the front seat of a gray Buick Electra, a massive boat of a sedan, cruising along U.S. Route 90 in Louisiana. It was after 2 in the morning. Ahead of the Buick, a semi truck had slowed to about 35 mph. Mansfield’s driver failed to brake in time, striking the rear of the vehicle. The Buick’s long hood slid beneath the belly of the semitrailer. The top half of the car was destroyed. The actress and two others were killed. Mansfield’s three children, who’d been riding in the back of the vehicle, survived. One of them, Mariska Hargitay, is now an actor in the “Law & Order” TV franchise.

In the days after Mansfield’s death, leaders at the Department of Transportation began looking into underride crashes — and they quickly made a worrisome discovery.

The federal regulations in place at the time required that large trucks and semitrailers come equipped with a rear bumper, known as a

They announced plans for a new regulation requiring tougher, more substantial guards. “Accident reports indicate that rear end collisions in which underride occurs are much more likely to cause fatalities than collisions generally,” the department noted in a 1969 statement regarding the proposed regulation.

The proposal was not well received by the major trucking companies or the firms that built and sold trucks and semitrailers. In a 1970 letter to the department, the ATA complained about “the unfairness of inflicting upon the industry the heavy cost penalty which would be brought about by the incorporation of a guard of the proposed type.”

The Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association, a lobbying outfit representing semitrailer builders, had little desire to make safer rear guards. In correspondence with the department, the TTMA said it would be “far more practical” to force Volkswagen and other companies making compact cars to produce larger vehicles that were less likely to slip beneath a truck. Facing backlash, the department scuttled its proposed regulation. “At the present time, the safety benefits … would not be commensurate with the costs of implementing the proposed requirements,” officials wrote in a statement explaining their decision.

Congress in 1970 established NHTSA, giving the new agency broad powers to reduce the number of

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A crash test performed by College of Traffic, Jilin University, in order to evaluate the safety performance of a underride guard. | Photo by ChengH (CC BY-SA 3.0)

deaths and serious injuries on America’s roadways. The agency would function as a unit within the larger Department of Transportation, a vast and sprawling bureaucracy tasked with overseeing everything from ships and planes to trains and automobiles. It was a moment of growing public concern over the carnage on America’s roadways — concern fueled in part by consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s damning exposes.

NHTSA immediately took on the underride issue, commissioning a series of studies by scientists in Arizona who ran Chevrolet Impalas and VW Rabbits into rear guards mounted on a simulated semitrailer body. The researchers determined the guards needed to be built bigger and stronger to prevent underrides.

Days before Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president in 1981, NHTSA went public with a revised rule that would beef up the rear guards on trucks and semitrailers. The cost was minimal: The agency estimated the new guards would cost $50 more per vehicle.

But the ATA and other trade organizations voiced their unhappiness about the added expense, which they believed would come out to $127 per trailer. As they had a decade earlier, they said the guards cost too much and would not save many lives.

After Reagan took office, NHTSA underwent a dramatic transformation. The new president had campaigned on promises to slash government regulation, which he saw as an unfair burden on the American economy, and he quickly began reshaping the executive branch.

He installed a new administrator at NHTSA, Raymond Peck Jr., a former lobbyist for the coal industry, who fired agency workers, rescinded existing safety rules and delayed regulations that were under development. The underride rule was jettisoned.

The entire regulatory process at NHTSA “came to a halt,” recalled Lou Lombardo, a physicist who was at the agency at the time. “We had nothing, nothing, nothing to do.”

Asked if people died as a result of the agency’s failure to act on rear underride crashes, Lombardo had an instant reply: “Oh heck yes.”

II. Devastating Consequences

Matt Brumbelow demolishes cars and trucks for a living.

At a sophisticated laboratory near Charlottesville, Virginia, he spends his days smashing brand new vehicles into a slab of superhard concrete and steel The goal, always, is to identify hidden vulnerabilities — doors that collapse catastrophically, car seats and headrests that could worsen whiplash injuries during a violent impact. A complex pulley system is used to yank the pristine cars, trucks and SUVs — loaded with sensors, and, in some cases, biomechanical dummies — into the test block.

“I love it,” said Brumbelow, who has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia. “It’s definitely more than a job.”

He gave journalists from ProPublica and FRONTLINE a tour of the facility, which is run by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the harm done by motor vehicle crashes on the nation’s roads. The lab looks like the world’s tidiest and best-lit auto salvage lot — horribly mangled vehicles are everywhere.

By the 1990s, NHTSA had finally adopted a regulation requiring tougher rear guards. The new requirements only applied to newly built semitrailers; older models that were already on the road were exempted.

It took effect in 1998, more than 30 years after Mansfield’s death first drew attention to the issue.

In time, though, it became clear to Brumbelow and his colleagues that this landmark safety regulation was deeply flawed. Sifting through the data from 1,070 collisions, Brumbelow and his team noticed a distinct pattern: Guards built to the new federal standard were still failing, leading to severe underride crashes.

NHTSA, he believed, hadn’t done enough testing on these new guards to see how they would perform under real-world conditions. And other countries had established much more stringent standards — guards used just across the border in Canada, for example, had to be far stronger than those required under NHTSA’s 1998 rule.

By 2010, the institute had purchased a fleet of Chevrolet Malibu sedans and was slamming them

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into semitrailers equipped with guards meeting the updated federal standard. The results were dismal. “In crash tests that we were running at 35 miles an hour, they were failing,” he recalled.

Brumbelow and his colleagues tested guards made by the eight largest semitrailer manufacturers in the U.S. All but one of them collapsed catastrophically; if these had been real crashes, the people in the cars would’ve been killed or badly injured.

One of the Malibus is still sitting on the floor of the lab. It bears the signature wounds of an underride crash: There is no damage to the bumper and the hood is only mildly dented, but the windshield has been destroyed and the roof is shredded. The dummy in the driver’s seat fared very poorly.

“It’s clear the standard is inadequate,” he said, adding that in his view NHTSA is making crucial policy decisions based on “bad science.”

NHTSA’s dubious decisions have had devastating consequences in the real world.

In 2013, Marianne Karth was behind the wheel of her Ford Crown Victoria sedan, traveling through Georgia on her way to a family wedding. Two of her daughters, Mary and AnnaLeah, were in the back seat; her son Caleb was sitting next to her in the front.

“I came upon slow traffic. I slowed down and a truck driver — apparently — did not. He hit us,” she recalled. Karth’s Ford spun around, then slammed into the rear end of another semi truck and became wedged underneath it.

The truck’s rear guard, which Karth believes met the 1998 federal standard, “just came off onto the ground. It totally came off the truck.”

Photos taken at the crash site show debris scattered all over the roadway. To extricate Karth and her children, a rescue team equipped with hydraulic cutting tools hacked the car apart.

The collision killed 17-year-old AnnaLeah instantly; her sister, 13, survived for a few days in the hospital before dying of her injuries. Caleb sustained a minor concussion.

In the years since the crash, Karth and her husband, Jerry Karth, have channeled their grief into constant activism — petitioning NHTSA, helping

to draft federal legislation, meeting with members of Congress, talking to anybody who will listen.

If the truck had been equipped with a stronger guard, said Karth, “it’s possible that my daughters would be alive.”

After witnessing the tests conducted by Brumbelow and the Insurance Institute, many of the country’s major trailer companies voluntarily began building better guards that are far more capable of withstanding a collision.

“We place such a high value on the safety of both our customers and the driving public that we have chosen to provide this improved level of safety and performance as a standard feature — and at no additional cost,” said Bob Wahlin, president and CEO of Stoughton Trailers, a large manufacturer, in a 2016 press release touting the company’s new guards.

In the view of Andy Young, an attorney and truck driver who has testified before Congress about underride collisions, “the industry made changes because they were worried about bad publicity. … They were embarrassed.”

NHTSA, however, did not spring into action. Instead, the agency allowed companies to continue building trailers with the weaker guards. In 2022, more than a decade after Brumbelow’s tests, NHTSA updated its rules. Even then, the agency acted only after the passage of a federal law directing it to do so.

Some safety advocates panned the revised regulation, noting that most big trailer companies are now building guards that are more robust than those required by the new government rule. They saw it as a step back.

“The record speaks for itself: There’s no way you can say that NHTSA acted swiftly to protect people from this known danger,” said Zach Cahalan, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, a network of crash survivors and victims’ families. “This is a story I can tell you over and over for different issues. You can’t tell me that people are laser focused on safety.”

While the government has made what Cahalan calls “incremental progress” on rear underride crashes, it has yet to craft regulations addressing collisions that occur when a passenger vehicle runs into the side of a large truck. Such accidents kill hundreds of people

annually.

III. Side Guard Safety

Eric Hein sat on a bench on the grounds of a small Methodist church in the rugged Sandia Mountains north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. From time to time, a semi truck chugged up a steep four-lane road nearby, sending a low rumble through the canyon.

In his hands he held photos of his teenage son, Riley Hein, who was killed in a collision with a heavy truck in 2015. He wept softly. The years, Hein said, have scarcely dulled his sorrow.

Riley Hein was driving to high school when an 18-wheeler drifted into his lane. The teen’s Honda Civic smacked into the side of the massive vehicle and became wedged beneath it, trapped between the front and rear wheels.

Instead of stopping, the trucker pulled Riley Hein and his damaged Honda down the highway for half a mile. The car erupted in flames. By the time firefighters were finally able to extinguish the fire, it had been reduced to a husk of charred metal. Riley Hein — a smiley, gregarious teen who played trombone in the school marching band — was dead.

ProPublica and FRONTLINE reporters repeatedly tried to contact the driver, but were unable to locate him.

“We had to sell the house and leave after Riley was killed,” Eric Hein recalled. “It was just too quiet. And it was very painful driving down the highway and seeing the place where his car burned.”

Riley Hein’s story points to another problem: Even when semi trucks are equipped with rear guards, there is nothing to keep a car from hitting the side of a truck and getting stuck beneath it. NHTSA has never adopted regulations requiring any type of underride guard on the sides of trucks.

During the late 1960s, the Department of Transportation said publicly that it intended to “extend the requirements for underride protection to the sides of large vehicles.” But department officials quietly dropped the idea. In 1991, NHTSA revisited the concept and determined that it would be too costly.

Over the past several decades, engineers have developed a host of devices that can be mounted to the underbelly of a semitrailer to prevent underride crashes like the one that took Riley Hein’s life. Most are built

from a lattice of thick steel tubes. Wabash National, a major trailer builder based in Indiana, has patented several designs.

But the technology has largely been shunned by the trucking industry. Wabash has never put its side guards into production. (Many semitrailers are equipped with lightweight panels that hang between the front and rear wheels; these are not side guards. These devices are meant to improve fuelefficiency but don’t provide any safety benefits — they’ll collapse during a crash.)

Hein was shocked when learned about this history. The semitrailer that smashed into his son’s Civic was built by Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company, one of the biggest players in the U.S. market. Eric Hein decided to sue the company, alleging they’d been “negligent for not putting on side underride guards on the trailer that killed Riley.”

It was a relatively novel strategy, and his attorney Randi McGinn, was initially skeptical, pointing out that there had been few successful legal cases built on the theory.

But as McGinn and her co-counsel, Michael Sievers, dug into the evidence, they became increasingly convinced that Hein’s instinct had been right. During discovery they obtained a seven-page document signed by executives from Utility and 10 other semitrailer companies. The document, drafted in 2004, was a pact struck by the biggest companies in the business, a pledge to work cooperatively — and secretly — to thwart any lawsuits stemming from side and rear underride crashes. The arrangement had been orchestrated by Glen Darbyshire, an attorney for the TTMA, the trade group.

As part of the agreement, the firms would keep crucial safety information confidential. That material — including “documents, factual material, mental impressions, interview reports, expert reports, and other information” — wasn’t to be shared with anyone outside of the circle.

Darbyshire declined to be interviewed by ProPublica and FRONTLINE, as did the TTMA.

To McGinn, it seemed the companies had spent years battling lawsuits rather than directing their engineers to address an

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Matthew

obvious hazard. “This is the same thing that the tobacco companies did — rather than fix the problem, or admit the problem,” said McGinn. “Corporations have to be responsible for safety, too. They can’t put their profits before the lives of 16-year-old kids.”

In the course of the litigation, Jeff Bennett, Utility’s vice president for engineering, said he’d spent 32 years with the company and had never heard of a car getting trapped under a trailer, other than in the Hein case. The company, he testified, had never designed or built a side guard.

Utility executives argued that adding side guards to trailers would unleash a cascade of new problems: They could cause trailers to get hung up on steep loading ramps, interfere with the functioning of brake lines, and fatigue the frame of the trailer.

After a two-week trial in 2019, jurors in Albuquerque found Utility negligent, ordering the company to pay nearly $19 million to the Hein family. It was one of the largest verdicts to hit the trucking industry in recent years.

Utility did not respond to emails from FRONTLINE and ProPublica requesting comment.

In a statement issued after the trial, the company said, “Utility Trailer does not believe it negligently designed, tested, or manufactured its trailers. Utility Trailer presented uncontroverted evidence that adding a side-underride guard to its trailers would make the trailers more dangerous to the motoring public.”

Since then, however, the company’s stance has shifted dramatically. Utility now sells what it calls a “side impact guard,” offering it as an additional safety feature on its trailers. In its sales brochure, Utility says the guard has been mounted to “over 20 trailers” currently on the road.

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to a series of studies dating back to the 1970s, experts say NHTSA has never been able to properly track underride crashes, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on data-collection efforts.

“There is a severe undercounting of the number of underride crashes in this country,” said Harry Adler, a co-founder of the Institute for Safer Trucking, an activist group that follows the data closely.

cally feasible — they would be too expensive and save too few lives. According to NHTSA’s calculations, mounting the devices on every new semitrailer in the U.S. would cost upwards of $778 million and would only prevent 17.2 deaths per year.

Alabama, he said, the auto “passed all the way underneath the trailer.” He added, flatly, “It was not a survivable crash.”

In recent years, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have repeatedly pushed legislation that would require semis and other heavy trucks to have some sort of side guard. Introduced three times since 2017, the bill has not made it out of committee.

While the senators haven’t been successful with the legislation, they managed to insert language instructing NHTSA to study side guards into the infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021.

“You know, people don’t like change. And certainly, you know, the trucking companies don’t want to have to invest more money necessarily on safety,” Gillibrand said, when asked about the criticism. “But this is something that is necessary.”

Rubio declined to be interviewed by FRONTLINE and ProPublica.

The industry remains strongly opposed to side guards. In one letter to Congress, the ATA said there wasn’t “sufficient science” on side guards and urged the government to conduct more research on the devices before mandating them.

“When we talk about installing side underride guards, we’re focusing on mitigation after that crash has already happened,” said Horvath, the ATA’s top safety official. “Unfortunately, resources are not limitless. And if I’m going to direct resources as a trucking company, I want to focus on avoiding that crash from ever occurring.” Big trucking companies are supportive of new electronic technologies such as automatic emergency braking systems, which use cameras or sensors to detect road hazards and halt the truck before it crashes, or engine modules that limit the speed of a truck, he said.

Lewie Pugh, a retired trucker, is executive vice president of the OwnerOperator Independent

Drivers Association, a group representing individual drivers and small trucking firms. “Speaking as somebody who has realworld experience driving a truck, I believe there are probably certain instances, certain situations where side underride guards will work and save lives,” Pugh said. “I also believe that there are certain instances where side underride guards will cost lives, and we don’t know the unintended consequences.”

If you ask Pugh, he’ll tell you that truckers have every right to be skeptical of both the government and new technologies. In 1975, NHTSA adopted a regulation requiring anti-lock brakes on large trucks and trailers. The new braking systems, however, proved to be glitchy and prone to failure, leaving truckers rolling down the road without any way to stop.

He worries that if side guards are mandated, the costs will hit independent truckers and small operators hard.

“Research is key, and don’t use the truck drivers and the trucking companies as the guinea pigs,” Pugh said. “Let’s make sure this stuff is working.”

IV. Counting Crashes

NHTSA operates on a $1.3 billion annual budget. The agency is responsible for everything from setting standards for motorcycle helmets to investigating defective vehicles to studying automated driving technologies. It is America’s primary roadway safety agency.

And yet NHTSA is unable to count the number of underride crashes that occur in the U.S. each year.

An analysis of the agency’s data by ProPublica and FRONTLINE indicates that more than 400 people, including several truckers, died in underride collisions in 2021, the most recent year for which complete figures are available.

But the true death toll is likely far higher. Pointing

Part of the problem is that NHTSA relies on local and state law enforcement officers to investigate serious collisions and document their findings. Those police reports are sent to NHTSA and compiled into a single, mammoth database, cataloging tens of thousands of incidents every year.

The agency, however, has never required these first responders to track underride crashes and has offered police little training on the issue. As Adler notes, “only 17 states have a field on their police accident reports to indicate if an underride occurred.”

Underride “fatalities are likely underreported,” stated the Government Accountability Office in a 2019 report urging NHTSA to do a better job of educating police officers and other law enforcement personnel about the crashes.

NHTSA’s own data can be conflicting. ProPublica and FRONTLINE compared two agency databases. One contained detailed information, including photos and crash diagrams, on 27 fatal side and rear underride truck collisions. In the other one — the primary data set of fatal crashes — only three of those 27 accidents were listed as underrides.

Recently, the agency acknowledged that its numbers on underride crashes are unreliable. NHTSA said it has recently taken steps to improve its data-collection practices.

The issue is not academic. When NHTSA looks at a new safety rule, it makes strict economic calculations. How many lives will be saved by the regulation? How much will it cost businesses to implement the rule?

NHTSA generally won’t adopt a new safety measure unless it can be shown to work and to cost the industry no more than $12.5 million for each life it saves.

Critics said the undercount of fatalities played an important role this spring, when NHTSA released new research on the costs and benefits of side guards.

The agency determined the devices aren’t economi-

Some experts, though, are skeptical of NHTSA’s calculations. They said that NHTSA made faulty assumptions about the efficacy of side guards and the number of lives at risk. The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, has said publicly that NHTSA’s analysis underestimated the potential benefits of the guards.

Brumbelow’s organization concluded that a more realistic estimate of the lives that side guards would save each year is 159 to 217, far higher than what NHTSA found.

The higher number flips the cost-benefit equation in favor of requiring trucks to have side guards.

“There are hundreds of lives that are being lost every year in side underride crashes,” he said. “The system that would be needed on a trailer to prevent so many of those fatalities from occurring is not overly complex.”

NHTSA, he concluded, needs to take the matter “more seriously.”

V. “Complete Success”

Against one wall in a crowded workshop in Cary, North Carolina, are an array of tool chests and welding equipment. Hunks of steel and extruded aluminum — truck parts — lie on a tall workbench. A shelving unit holds several child car seats.

In the center of the space, Aaron Kiefer is sorting through a pile of manilla folders. He is a mechanical engineer and accident reconstructionist. Clients — insurance firms, attorneys and, quite often, trucking companies — hire him to figure out what transpired in the moments before a serious crash.

Kiefer has plenty of work. In recent years America’s streets and highways have become more perilous, with fatal collisions of all types increasing significantly; Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, recently declared it a “national crisis.” Deaths due to truck crashes have surged by nearly 50% over the past decade, to 5,788 in 2021; nearly 155,000 people were injured that year.

Kiefer’s case files are the stuff of nightmares. One particularly gruesome investigation involved a car that had been cut in half by an encounter with a semi truck. Looking at photos from the crash, which occurred in

Kiefer said he’s investigated “at least 100” underride collisions. “Seeing these types of accidents, over and over, has become increasingly a frustration of mine, personally,” he explained. “When you have this mismatch between the commercial vehicle and the passenger vehicle, the passenger vehicle always suffers. And I feel like there are reasonable ways to prevent these types of accidents.”

In hopes of reducing this roadway violence, even a little, Kiefer has designed a side guard using superstrong polyester webbing — the same material is used to lift extremely heavy cargo — attached to a matrix of steel bars. The goal is to get the trucking industry to adopt the device, which weighs 400 pounds, far less than other side guards; the lighter weight should translate into better fuel efficiency and other benefits for truckers.

On a warm day last fall, Kiefer staged a test of the device, dubbed a Safety Skirt, on a huge square of asphalt at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training center in Raleigh. It was a grassroots effort. Welders at Maverick Metalworks, a local business, had helped Kiefer fabricate the guard. A salvage yard had donated a sacrificial Nissan Altima, which was delivered by volunteer from a nearby towing company.

Kiefer brought an old, battered semitrailer equipped with his guard to the facility, which under normal circumstances is used by police practicing high-speed driving techniques. He was planning a T-bone-type crash: The Nissan would strike the side of a trailer at a 90-degree angle. Marianne and Jerry Karth were on hand to witness the event, as was Lois Durso, an activist who had driven up from Florida with her husband.

With police officers and local reporters watching, the car was towed toward the trailer at 35 mph, smacked into the guard with loud thud and bounced off. The blow crunched the hood of the Nissan and set off the airbags, but no underride had occurred. It worked. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” shouted Marianne Karth.

“Complete success,” Kiefer said, smiling. “This is awesome. It’s a step towards highway safety.”

Now he just has to get NHTSA and the trucking companies to agree.

Republished with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A passenger car sits sandwiched between a pickup truck and a light pole. | Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class

Bradley

Glendale City Notices

Bidding Documents Available: June 26, 2023, on City of Glendale Website: https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/finance/purchasing/rfp-rfq-bid-page Mandatory Pre-Bid Job Walk:

Note: • All Contractors planning to attend the pre-bid job walk on July 11th shall RSVP prior to 4 pm on July 10th by email to storo@glendaleca.gov or by calling (818) 937-8210.

City of Glendale Contact Person: Sean Toro, Project Manager Phone: 818-937-8210 E-mail: storo@glendaleca.gov

Mandatory Qualifications for Bidder and Designated Subcontractors:

A Bid may be rejected as non-responsive if the Bid fails to document that Bidder meets the essential requirements for qualification. As part of the Bidder’s Statement of Qualifications, each Bid must provide satisfactory evidence that:

Bidder: satisfactorily completed at least Three ( 3 ) prevailing wage public contracts in California; each comparable in scope and scale to this Project, within Five ( 5 ) years prior to the Bid Deadline and with a dollar value in excess of the Bid submitted for this Project.

General Scope of Work: Contractor shall furnish labor, materials, equipment, services, and specialized skills to perform work involved in the Project. The Work in the Bid is defined in the Project Specifications and will generally include, but not limited to:

Fire Station 29

Remove 1,500 square feet of existing built up roof

• Provide and install 1,500 square feet polyvinyl chloride (PVC),single-ply roof

• Remove debris and pressure wash 1,500 square feet of the existing patio area and then apply a epoxy coating over the prepared patio area.

The Adams Square Historical Gas Station at Adams Park

Remove and dispose of 800 square feet of existing standing seam roof

• Provide and install an equal amount of new standing seam roofing product Repair and modify the drain and gutter system as needed

Public Works Lube Bay Roof

Remove 2,200 square feet of built-up roofing

• Provide and install 2,200 square feet a polyvinyl chloride (PVC), single-ply roof

Montrose Library

• Inspect and apply 10,500 square feet of elastomeric emulsion over the existing single ply roof. Removal of the existing skylight, repair the flashing & framing, and install new opaque acrylic skylights.

Fire Station 28

• Apply 7,000 square feet of reenforced emulsion to the existing built-up asphalt roof Spray coat with white reflective addressing title 24 requirements.

Other Bidding Information:

1. Bidding Documents: Bids must be made on the Bidder’s Proposal form contained herein. Bidding Documents may be obtained by visiting City of Glendale’s website.

2. Completion: This Work must be completed within 60 calendar days from the Date of Commencement as established by the City’s written Notice to Proceed.

3. Acceptance or Rejection of Bids. The City reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, to award all or any individual part/item of the Bid, and to waive any informalities, irregularities or technical defects in such Bids and determine the lowest responsible Bidder, whichever may be in the best interests of the City. No late Bids will be accepted, nor will any oral, facsimile or electronic Bids be accepted by the City.

4. Mandatory Pre-Bid Job Walk. A mandatory pre-bid job walk will be held at the project site at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 11th at the Glendale Fire Station 29, located at 2465 Honolulu Ave., Glendale, CA 91020.

5. Contractors License. At the time of the Bid Deadline and at all times during performance of the Work, including full completion of all corrective work during the Correction Period, the Contractor must possess a California contractor license or licenses, current and active, of the classification required for the Work, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 9, Division 3, Section 7000 et seq. of the Business and Professions Code. In compliance with Public Contract Code Section 3300, the City has determined that the Bidder must possess the following license(s): General “B” and or “C-39” The successful Bidder will not receive a Contract award if the successful Bidder is unlicensed, does not have all of the required licenses, or one or more of the licenses are not current and active. If the City discovers after the Contract’s award that the Contractor is unlicensed, does not have all of the required licenses, or one or more of the licenses are not current and active, the City may cancel the award, reject the Bid, declare the Bid Bond as forfeited, keep the Bid Bond’s proceeds, and exercise any one or more of the remedies in the Contract Documents.

6. Subcontractors’ Licenses and Listing. At the time of the Bid Deadline and at all times during performance of the Work, each listed Subcontractor must possess a current and active California contractor license or licenses appropriate for the portion of the Work listed for such Subcontractor and shall hold all specialty certifications required for such Work. When the Bidder submits its Bid to the City, the Bidder must list each Subcontractor whom the Bidder must disclose under Public Contract Code Section 4104 (Subcontractor Listing Law), and the Bidder must provide all of the Subcontractor information that Section 4104 requires (name, the location (address) of the Subcontractor’s place of business, California Contractor license number, California Department of Industrial Relations contractor registration number, and portion of the Work). In addition, the City requires that the Bidder list the dollar value of each Subcontractor’s labor or services. The City’s disqualification of a Subcontractor does not disqualify a Bidder. However, prior to and as a condition to award of the Contract, the successful Bidder shall substitute a properly licensed and qualified Subcontractor— without an adjustment of the Bid Amount.

7. Permits, Inspections, Plan Checks, Governmental Approvals, Utility Fees and Similar Authorizations: The City has applied and paid for the following Governmental Approvals and Utility Fees: City of Glendale Building Permits and Inspections

8. All other Governmental Approvals and Utility Fees shall be obtained and paid for by Contractor and will be reimbursed based on Contractor’s actual direct cost without markup. See Instructions to Bidders Paragraph 14, and General Conditions Paragraph 1.01 for definitions and Paragraph 1.03 for Contractor responsibilities.

9. Bid Forms and Bid Security: Each Bid must be made on the Bid Forms obtainable at the Public Works Facilities Management Division. Each Bid shall be accompanied by a cashier’s check or certified check drawn

tively, a satisfactory corporate surety Bid Bond for an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total maximum amount of the Bid may accompany the Bid. Said security shall serve as a guarantee that the successful Bidder, within fourteen (14) calendar days after the City’s Notice of Award of the Contract, will enter into a valid contract with the City for said Work in accordance with the Contract Documents.

10. Bid Irrevocability. Bids shall remain open and valid for ninety (90) calendar days after the Bid Deadline.

11. Substitution of Securities. Pursuant to California Public Contract Code Section 22300, substitution of securities for withheld funds is permitted in accordance therewith.

12. Prevailing Wages. This Project is subject to the provisions of California Labor Code Section 1720. Contractor awarded this Contract and all Subcontractors of any tier shall not pay less than the minimum prevailing rate of per diem wages for each craft, classification, or type of worker needed to perform the Work. The Director of Industrial Relations of the State of California, pursuant to the California Labor Code, and the United States Secretary of Labor, pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act, have determined the general prevailing rates of wages in the locality in which the Work is to be performed. The rates determined by the California Director of Industrial Relations are available online at www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR/ PWD/. Davis-Bacon wage rates are included in this Specification and are available online at www.wdol.gov/. To the extent that there are any differences in the federal and state prevailing wage rates for similar classifications of labor, Contractor and its Subcontractors shall pay the highest wage rate. California Department of Industrial Relations ― Public Works Contractor Registration.

Beginning July 1, 2014, under the Public Works Contractor Registration Law (California Senate Bill No. 854 - See Labor Code Section 1725.5), contractors must register and meet requirements using the online application https://efiling.dir.ca.gov/PWCR/ActionServlet?a ction=displayPWCRegistrationForm before bidding on public works contracts in California. The application also provides agencies that administer public works programs with a searchable database of qualified contractors. Application and renewal are completed online with a non-refundable fee of $300. More information is available at the following links: http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/PublicWorks/SB854FactSheet_6.30.14.pdf http://www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/PublicWorks.html

Beginning April 1, 2015, the City must award public works projects only to contractors and subcontractors who comply with the Public Works Contractor Registration Law.

Notice to Bidders and Subcontractors: No contractor or subcontractor may be listed on a Bid proposal for a public works project (submitted on or after March 1, 2015) unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code section 1725.5 [with limited exceptions from this requirement for bid purposes only under Labor Code section 1771.1(a)].

• No contractor or subcontractor may be awarded a contract for public work on a public works project (awarded on or after April 1, 2015) unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code section 1725.5.

• This Project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations. The prime contractor must post job site notices prescribed by regulation. (See 8 Calif. Code Reg. Section 16451(d) for the notice that previously was required for projects monitored by the DIR Compliance Monitoring Unit.)

Furnishing of Electronic Certified Payroll Records to Labor Commissioner. For all new projects awarded on or after April 1, 2015, contractors and subcontractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records directly to the Labor Commissioner (aka Division of Labor Standards Enforcement).

Dated this _______ day of ________________, 2023, City of Glendale, California. Dr. Suzie Abajian, City Clerk of the City of Glendale

Publish June 15, 19, 2023

GLENDALE INDEPENDENT

NOTICE is hereby given that the City of Glendale (“City”) will receive sealed Bids, before the

Emergency Operations Center

• Remove and dispose of 2,500 sq. ft of existing flooring material Install 2,500 sq. ft. of new Mowhawk Group Transformed Facade 88812/ 969 Reform carpet tile provided by the city.

• Provide and install rubberized cove base on all areas where flooring materials meets the wall.

• Provide and install rubberized transitions where flooring materials differ in thickness.

Other Bidding Information:

1. Bidding Documents: Bids must be made on the Bidder’s Proposal form contained herein. Bidding Documents may be obtained by visiting City of Glendale’s website.

2. Completion: This Work must be completed within 60 calendar days from the Date of Commencement as established by the City’s written Notice to Proceed.

3. Acceptance or Rejection of Bids. The City reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, to award all or any individual part/item of the Bid, and to waive any informalities, irregularities or technical defects in such Bids and determine the lowest responsible Bidder, whichever may be in the best interests of the City. No late Bids will be accepted, nor will any oral, facsimile or electronic Bids be accepted by the City.

4. Mandatory Pre-Bid Job Walk. A mandatory pre-bid job walk will be held at the project site at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 12th at the Glendale Police Department, located at 131 N. Isabel St., Glendale, CA 91206.

5. Contractors License. At the time of the Bid Deadline and at all times during performance of the Work, including full completion of all corrective work during the Correction Period, the Contractor must possess a California contractor license or licenses, current and active, of the classification required for the Work, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 9, Division 3, Section 7000 et seq. of the Business and Professions Code. In compliance with Public Contract Code Section 3300, the City has determined that the Bidder must possess the following license(s): General “B” and or “C-39” The successful Bidder will not receive a Contract award if the successful Bidder is unlicensed, does not have all of the required licenses, or one or more of the licenses are not current and active. If the City discovers after the Contract’s award that the Contractor is unlicensed, does not have all of the required licenses, or one or more of the licenses are not current and active, the City may cancel the award, reject the Bid, declare the Bid Bond as forfeited, keep the Bid Bond’s proceeds, and exercise any one or more of the remedies in the Contract Documents.

6. Subcontractors’ Licenses and Listing. At the time of the Bid Deadline and at all times during performance of the Work, each listed Subcontractor must possess a current and active California contractor license or licenses appropriate for the portion of the Work listed for such Subcontractor and shall hold all specialty certifications required for such Work. When the Bidder submits its Bid to the City, the Bidder must list each Subcontractor whom the Bidder must disclose under Public Contract Code Section 4104 (Subcontractor Listing Law), and the Bidder must provide all of the Subcontractor information that Section 4104 requires (name, the location (address) of the Subcontractor’s place of business, California Contractor license number, California Department of Industrial Relations contractor registration number, and portion of the Work). In addition, the City requires that the Bidder list the dollar value of each Subcontractor’s labor or services. The City’s disqualification of a Subcontractor does not disqualify a Bidder. However, prior to and as a condition to award of the Contract, the successful Bidder shall substitute a properly licensed and qualified Subcontractor— without an adjustment of the Bid Amount.

7. Permits, Inspections, Plan Checks, Governmental Approvals, Utility Fees and Similar Authorizations: The City has applied and paid for the following Governmental Approvals and Utility Fees: City of Glendale Building Permits and Inspections

8. All other Governmental Approvals and Utility Fees shall be obtained and paid for by Contractor and will be reimbursed based on Contractor’s actual direct cost without markup. See Instructions to Bidders Paragraph 14, and General Conditions Paragraph 1.01 for definitions and Paragraph 1.03 for Contractor responsibilities.

plus two (2) copies of Bid to be submitted to: Office of City Clerk 613 E. Broadway, Room 110 Glendale, CA 91206

Bid Opening: 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 City Council Chambers 613 E. Broadway, 2nd Floor Glendale, CA 91206

NO LATE BIDS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Bidding Documents Available:June 26, 2023, on City of Glendale Website: https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/finance/purchasing/rfp-rfq-bid-page

Mandatory Pre-Bid Job Walk: Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2023 Time: 9:00 am Location: Glendale Police Department 131 N. Isabel St., Glendale, CA 91206

Note:

• All Contractors planning to attend the pre-bid job walk on July 12th shall RSVP prior to 4 pm on July 10th by email to storo@glendaleca.gov or by calling (818) 937-8210.

City of Glendale Contact Person: Sean Toro, Project Manager Phone: 818-937-8210 E-mail: storo@glendaleca.gov

Mandatory Qualifications for Bidder and Designated Subcontractors:

A Bid may be rejected as non-responsive if the Bid fails to document that Bidder meets the essential requirements for qualification. As part of the Bidder’s Statement of Qualifications, each Bid must provide satisfactory evidence that:

Bidder: satisfactorily completed at least Three ( 3 ) prevailing wage public contracts in California; each comparable in scope and scale to this Project, within Five ( 5 ) years prior to the Bid Deadline and with a dollar value in excess of the Bid submitted for this Project.

9. Bid Forms and Bid Security: Each Bid must be made on the Bid Forms obtainable at the Public Works Facilities Management Division. Each Bid shall be accompanied by a cashier’s check or certified check drawn on a solvent bank, payable to “City of Glendale,” for an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total maximum amount of the Bid. Alternatively, a satisfactory corporate surety Bid Bond for an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total maximum amount of the Bid may accompany the Bid. Said security shall serve as a guarantee that the successful Bidder, within fourteen (14) calendar days after the City’s Notice of Award of the Contract, will enter into a valid contract with the City for said Work in accordance with the Contract Documents.

10. Bid Irrevocability. Bids shall remain open and valid for ninety (90) calendar days after the Bid Deadline.

11. Substitution of Securities. Pursuant to California Public Contract Code Section 22300, substitution of securities for withheld funds is permitted in accordance therewith.

12. Prevailing Wages. This Project is subject to the provisions of California Labor Code Section 1720. Contractor awarded this Contract and all Subcontractors of any tier shall not pay less than the minimum prevailing rate of per diem wages for each craft, classification, or type of worker needed to perform the Work. The Director of Industrial Relations of the State of California, pursuant to the California Labor Code, and the United States Secretary of Labor, pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act, have determined the general prevailing rates of wages in the locality in which the Work is to be performed. The rates determined by the California Director of Industrial Relations are available online at www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR/ PWD/. Davis-Bacon wage rates are included in this Specification and are available online at www.wdol.gov/. To the extent that there are any differences in the federal and state prevailing wage rates for similar classifications of labor, Contractor and its Subcontractors shall pay the highest wage rate. California Department of Industrial Relations ― Public Works Contractor Registration.

Beginning July 1, 2014, under the Public Works Contractor Registration Law (California Senate Bill No. 854 - See Labor Code Section 1725.5), contractors must register and meet requirements using the online application https://efiling.dir.ca.gov/PWCR/ActionServlet?a ction=displayPWCRegistrationForm before bidding on public works contracts in California. The application also provides agencies that administer public works programs with a searchable database of qualified contractors. Application and renewal are completed online with a non-refundable fee of $300. More information is available at the following links: http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/PublicWorks/SB854FactSheet_6.30.14.pdf http://www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/PublicWorks.html

Beginning April 1, 2015, the City must award public works projects only to contractors and subcontractors who comply with the Public Works Contractor Registration Law.

Notice to Bidders and Subcontractors:

No contractor or subcontractor may be listed on a Bid proposal for a public works project (submitted on or after March 1, 2015) unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code section 1725.5 [with limited exceptions from this requirement for bid purposes only under Labor Code section 1771.1(a)].

• No contractor or subcontractor may be awarded a contract for public work on a public works project (awarded on or after April 1, 2015) unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code section 1725.5.

• This Project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations.

The prime contractor must post job site notices prescribed by regulation. (See 8 Calif. Code Reg. Section 16451(d) for the notice that previously was required for projects monitored by the DIR Compliance Monitoring Unit.)

Furnishing of Electronic Certified Payroll Records to Labor Commissioner. For all new projects awarded on or after April 1, 2015, contractors and subcontractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records directly to the Labor Commissioner (aka Division of Labor Standards Enforcement).

Dated this _______ day of ________________, 2023, City of Glendale, California. Dr. Suzie Abajian, City Clerk of the City of Glendale

Publish June 15 & 19, 2023

GLENDALE INDEPENDENT

Probate Notices

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JOHN RICHARD BUTKINS aka’s JOHN BUTKINS,

JOHN R. BUTKMS, RICHARD BUTKINS

Case No. 23STPB05858

To all heirs, beneficiaries, cred-itors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JOHN RICHARD BUTKINS aka’s JOHN BUTKINS, JOHN R. BUTKMS, RICHARD BUTKINS

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by Los Angeles County Public Administrator in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PRO-

BATE requests that Los Angeles County Public Administrator be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administra-tion authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objec-tion to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held on July 7, 2023 at 8:30 AM in Dept. No. 29 located at 111 N. Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your ap-pearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code.

Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowl-edgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for petitioner:

DEBORAH L. CHILDS

PRIN DEPUTY COUNTY COUN-

SEL

SBN 130637

DAWYN HARRISON

OFFICE OF COUNTY COUNSEL

500 WEST TEMPLE ST STE 648

LOS ANGELES CA 90012

CN997244 BUTKINS Jun 12,15,19, 2023

GLENDALE INDEPENDENT

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF DAVID ELLIOT JACOBSON

Case No. 23STPB06192

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAVID ELLIOT JACOBSON

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by Daniel Jacobson in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that Daniel Jacobson be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very

important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administra-tion authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objec-tion to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held on July 12, 2023 at 8:30 AM in Dept. No. 67 located at 111 N. Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your ap-pearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code.

Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowl-edgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for petitioner:

PAUL ROSENBERGER ESQ

SBN 143929

PUMILIA & ADAMEC LLP

225 SOUTH LAKE AVENUE

SUITE 300

PASADENA, CA 91101

CN997294 JACOBSON Jun 12,15,19, 2023

BURBANK INDEPENDENT

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF:

KENNETH E. OZAWA AKA

KENNETH EDWARD OZAWA

AKA KEN OZAWA AKA

KENNETH OZAWA

CASE NO. 23STPB06169

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the WILL or estate, or both of KEN-

NETH E. OZAWA AKA KENNETH

EDWARD OZAWA AKA KEN OZA-

WA AKA KENNETH OZAWA.

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by KENJI OZAWA in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that KENJI OZAWA be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 08/04/23 at 8:30AM in Dept. 11 located at 111 N. HILL ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice

under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for Petitioner EDWARD W. GOODSON - SBN 181250, VANESSA M. TERZIANSBN 245041, LAGERLOF, LLP

155 N. LAKE AVE., 11TH FLOOR PASADENA CA 91101 BSC 223502 6/12, 6/15, 6/19/23 CNS-3709565# PASADENA PRESS

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: GUN JONG KO CASE NO. 30-2023-01328733-PR-LACMC

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the WILL or estate, or both of GUN JONG KO.

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by DONNA KO in the Superior Court of California, County of ORANGE.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that DONNA KO be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 07/12/23 at 1:30PM in Dept. CM05 located at 3390 HARBOR BLVD, COSTA MESA,, CA 92626

NOTICE IN PROBATE CASES

The court is providing the convenience to appear for hearing by video using the court’s designated video platform. This is a no cost service to the public. Go to the Court’s website at The Superior Court of CaliforniaCounty of Orange (occourts.org) to appear remotely for Probate hearings and for remote hearing instructions. If you have difficulty connecting or are unable to connect to your remote hearing, call 657-622-8278 for assistance. If you prefer to appear in-person, you can appear in the department on the day/time set for your hearing.

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code.

Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for Petitioner

AARON CHARLES GREGG - SBN 76612,

AARON CHARLES GREGG, APLC 110 EAST WILSHIRE AVENUE, SUITE 503 FULLERTON CA 92832 6/12, 6/15, 6/19/23

CNS-3709769# ANAHEIM PRESS

NOTICE OF

PETITION

TO

any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

ADMINISTER

ESTATE OF: DOROTHY JEAN BELTON CASE NO. 23STPB06242

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the WILL or estate, or both of DOROTHY JEAN BELTON.

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by SONYA LYNN BELTON in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that SONYA LYNN BELTON be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests the decedent’s WILL and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The WILL and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 07/19/23 at 8:30AM in Dept. 67 located at 111 N. HILL ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for Petitioner BRENDA J. LOGAN, ESQ. - SBN 153164 LAW OFFICES OF BRENDA J. LOGAN, P.C. 400 CORPORATE POINTE, STE 300 CULVER CITY CA 90230 6/15, 6/19, 6/22/23 CNS-3710403# WEST COVINA PRESS

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: JOAN CAROL STACKHOUSE AKA JOAN C. STACKHOUSE CASE NO. 23STPB06328

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the WILL or estate, or both of JOAN CAROL STACKHOUSE AKA JOAN C. STACKHOUSE. A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by PAUL W. STACKHOUSE in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that PAUL W. STACKHOUSE be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests the decedent’s WILL and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The WILL and

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 08/31/23 at 8:30AM in Dept. 5 located at 111 N. HILL ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for Petitioner

FRED D. SOLDWEDEL, ESQ. - SBN 149826, FRED D. SOLDWEDEL 301 E. COLORADO BLVD., #320 PASADENA CA 91101-1921

6/15, 6/19, 6/22/23

CNS-3711224# PASADENA PRESS

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: MARIA RUFINA FITCHER DE RUIZ

CASE NO. 23STPB06413

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the WILL or estate, or both of MARIA RUFINA FITCHER DE RUIZ.

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by JORGE RUIZ, JR. in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that JORGE RUIZ, JR. be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act with limited authority. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 09/01/23 at 8:30AM in Dept. 5 located at 111 N. HILL ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal represen-

tative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for Petitioner LINDA TOROSSIAN - SBN 238456 TAYLOR SUMMERS & TOROSSIAN, P.C. 301 E COLORADO BLVD., STE 450 PASADENA CA 91101 6/19, 6/22, 6/26/23 CNS-3711559# BALDWIN PARK PRESS

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: REYNARD GORDON BROOKS AKA REYNARD BROOKS CASE NO. 23STPB06477

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the lost WILL or estate, or both of REYNARD GORDON BROOKS AKA REYNARD BROOKS.

A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by MARY ANN BROOKS in the Superior Court of California, County of LOS ANGELES.

THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that MARY ANN BROOKS be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

THE PETITION requests the decedent’s lost WILL and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The lost WILL and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.

THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.)

The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A HEARING on the petition will be held in this court as follows: 07/19/23 at 8:30AM in Dept. 67 located at 111 N. HILL ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for Petitioner ROBERT E. PERASON - SBN 059839, ROBERT E. PEARSON APLC 17782 E. 17TH ST., STE. 109 TUSTIN CA 92780 BSC 223533 6/19, 6/22, 6/26/23 CNS-3712309# PASADENA PRESS

Angel City Football Club on Thursday announced the firing of coach Freya Coombe with the second-year National Women’s Soccer League team 11th in the 12-team league with a 2-6-3 record at the midpoint of the season.

Assistant coach Becki Tweed will be the interim head coach until a permanent replacement is announced.

The announcement of the firing came five days after a 2-1 loss to the Washington Spirit extended ACFC’s winless streak in all competitions to six games — five

Angel City women’s soccer team fires coach

losses and a tie, including a 3-2 loss to Portland Thorns FC in a Challenge Cup game. ACFC was 8-9-5 in its inaugural 2022 season, finishing eighth.

“Freya assumed the role of leading an expansion club with some of the most ambitious goals in all of sports and embraced this immense responsibility head on with strength, patience, and humility,” ACFC general manager Angela Hucles Mangano said in a statement.

“She established a strong culture and work ethic that helped build the founda-

By City News Service

tion on which we will grow. After considerable deliberation and evaluation of where we are in our season, we have made the difficult decision to make a change. We sincerely wish Freya all the best, and she will forever hold an indelible place in Angel City’s history.”

Coombe issued this statement on social media:

“First and foremost, thank you to the Angel City ownership group and club for the chance to help build something so influential on and off the field. We showed the world what happens when people properly

invest in women’s sports.

“To the fans, I am immensely grateful for your tremendous support both in the stadium and in the community. Your passion has truly set a new bar for women’s football.

“Finally to the players and staff, it’s been a pleasure to work with you and I wish you all the health, happiness and success for this season and beyond.”

Coombe’s hiring was announced Aug. 23, 2021. She coached Sky Blue FC and NJ/NY Gotham FC to a 10-12-11 record in all

competitions from 2019-21.

Tweed

Probation and ARMC participate in Special Olympics Torch Run

By Staff

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) partnered with the San Bernardino County Probation Department on June 7 to be the hand-off point for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics.

Fourteen County probation officers participated in the run, which brings awareness and raises funds benefiting the Special Olympics. The team received the Flame of Hope from San Bernardino School Police officers. The Probation team started at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and ran 2.6 miles before passing the

torch to officers from the Rialto Police Department.

The Probation Department has been involved with the Special Olympics Torch Run since 2017 and started the torch hand-off by ARMC in 2021. After the event in 2021, ARMC worked with the Probation Department to bring the race route onto the ARMC campus and to conduct the handoff at the hospital’s main entrance. This route change was made so that hospital staff could come outside to cheer for the runners. Last year, 2022, was the first year the route was moved to accommodate this change, which is now

the new route.

ARMC is proud to be one of the stops on the Torch Run. Each year hundreds of ARMC healthcare workers line the main road in front of the hospital to capture a glimpse of the “Flame of Hope,” carried by their fellow county employees and law enforcement partners. This is a great and inspiring event, and ARMC is happy to participate and support our partners.

The torch run was created to help law enforcement be active in the community and to support the Special Olympics. Today, the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the

Special Olympics is the largest public awareness vehicle and grassroots fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Law enforcement members and Special Olympics athletes are known as the “Guardians of the Flame.”

Each year more than 100,000 law enforcement members carry the “Flame of Hope,” which symbolizes courage and diversity. The Flame of Hope is carried into the opening ceremonies of local, state, national and international games.

The torch run is just one of many collaborations that ARMC has with the Probation Department. ARMC also partners with the Probation team on trauma training activities, the annual EMS Day, and the Baker-to-Vegas event.

Long Beach dock worker gets prison for billing health plan for prostitutes

By City News Service

ALong Beach dock worker was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison, followed by six months in home confinement for allowing phony claims to be submitted to his labor union’s health plan for the use of prostitutes under the guise of chiropractic services.

Cameron Rahm, 39, of Pico Rivera, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $30,243, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Rahm pleaded guilty in January to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Rahm was among nine defendants — seven of them dock workers at the

Port of Long Beach — who were charged last year for allowing more than $2.1 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to their union’s health insurance plan for sexual services or for physical therapy that never was provided.

Some of the false claims were filed using the names of dock workers’ family members, including spouses and children.

The scheme’s ringleader Sara Victoria, 46, of San Pedro, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced in May to 27 months behind bars. She was also ordered to pay $551,810 in restitution.

Victoria admitted to owning three businesses

between 2017 and 2021 that provided sexual services as well as chiropractic and acupuncture treatments.

Knowing that longshoremen and others involved in the shipping industry in Long Beach had health insurance under the International Longshore and Warehouse Union-Pacific Maritime Association benefit plan that generally covered all chiropractic services without a deductible, co-pay or outof-pocket expenses, Victoria offered the dock workers cash kickbacks or sexual services in exchange for authorization to submit false claims for services not actually rendered, federal prosecutors said.

Victoria hired prostitutes

at her companies and recruited them through referrals and from strip clubs in the Long Beach area, according to prosecutors.

Rahm was one of the customers of Victoria’s businesses and agreed to have her submit to the ILWU-PMA plan fraudulent claims, sometimes under his wife’s name, for prostitution services, according to his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Between January 2017 and April 2021, Victoria submitted about $178,495 in fraudulent claims to the ILWU-PMA plan for services sometimes supposedly rendered to Rahm’s wife, M.J. — who is also covered but did not know of the billing — for

which the plan paid about $30,243, Rahm admitted.

“As defendant knew, those billed services were never, in fact, provided to M.J., and defendant intended to cause a loss to

the ILWU-PMA plan of more than $150,000,” prosecutors wrote in the agreement. All nine defendants have filed plea agreements in the case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

| Photo courtesy of Nick Youngson/Pix4free.org (CC BY-SA 3.0)

| Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County

was hired as an assistant coach in January

after being a member of NJ/ NY Gotham FC’s coaching staff for two seasons.

Former Angel City FC coach Freya Coombe. | Photo courtesy of Freya Coombe/Twitter

Los Angeles celebrates grand opening of long-awaited Metro Regional Connector

By City News Service

tiff threatening to shoot him, the suit states.

The men demanded that Mensah-Bonsu turn over his wallet and various items of jewelry, including a gold bracelet worth about $20,000, and the holdup was recorded on the hotel’s security cameras, the suit states.

After enduring his ordeal, a shaken Mensah-Bonsu was walked around the hotel to the other entrance on Flower Street, where police were called, the suit states. Bonaventure employees denied the LAPD’s request to turn over security video of the holdup, so an officer recorded a copy from the footage onto his cellphone, the suit states.

“It is shocking and appalling that the (Bonaventure) would not only lock one of its main entrances, particularly at the relatively early hour of approximately 8 p.m. but would additionally fail to provide keys to guests that would unlock that entrance,” the suit states.

Mensah-Bonsu would not have tried to enter through the Figueroa Street entrance if he knew his key card would not work, the suit states.

“This failure to ensure guest access at a major

entrance to the hotel, or at a minimum to provide notice that such a major entrance would be inaccessible even to guests with key cards, is all the more shocking and negligent given the widely publicized increase in violent crime, particularly armed robbery, in downtown Los Angeles throughout 20202021,” the suit states.

Mensah-Bonsu believes that the robbers likely knew that the Figueroa Street entrance was inaccessible to guests and intentionally targeted locked-out guests such as the plaintiff, making guests like him easy targets for armed robbery, the suit states.

In addition to property loss, Mensah-Bonsu has also suffered severe mental and emotional distress, including post-traumatic stress disorder, the suit states.

Mensah-Bonsu had a 10-year playing career, including four in the NBA in stints with the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans, who were then known as the Hornets. He has earned Marriott Ambassador elite member status, the highest designation in Marriott’s rewards program, and stays more than 100 nights annually in Marriott properties, according to the suit.

The downtown Los Angeles train system will get a major facelift Friday with the opening of the roughly $1.8 billion Regional Connector project, which adds three underground stations and will allow riders to travel between Azusa and Long Beach and between East L.A. and Santa Monica without transferring.

The long-awaited upgrade will eliminate the train-hopping previously required of riders who had to disembark inbound E (Expo) and A (Blue) line trains at the Seventh Street/ Metro Center Station and then board a subway train to reach Union Station, where they could then board an L (Gold) Line train to travel on to East Los Angeles or Azusa.

To make the transfer-free rides possible, three new stations will open Friday — the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, Historic Broadway Station, and the Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill Station. Those stations will allow A (Blue) Line and E (Expo) Lines trains to continue beyond their previous terminus at 7th Street/Metro Center Station and through the downtown area to Union Station and beyond.

With the opening, there will no longer be an L (Gold)

Line in the Metro system. That line’s stretch from Union Station to Azusa will simply be part of the A (Blue) Line, while the portion from Union Station to East Los Angeles will be added to the E (Expo) Line.

The history of the Regional Connector dates back to the 1990s when the original L Line was being planned since the idea was for it to begin at Seventh/ Metro and be a continuation of the A Line. At the time, that plan turned out to be infeasible due to funding issues, so the L Line’s first segment was instead built from Union Station to Pasadena.

In 2008, the Metro Board of Directors included initial funding for the Regional Connector in the Measure R sales tax ballot measure, which was approved by L.A. County voters. The project was also funded by approximately $1 billion in federal grants and loans, as well as bonds from the state’s highspeed rail project.

The project was originally envisioned as a streetlevel rail line but was moved underground by demand to ensure trains were faster, with less disruption to regular traffic. The project broke ground in October 2014.

According to Metro, its staff had to plan and create

an entirely new subway under the existing streets and buildings of downtown L.A. — which involved moving utilities and shoring up other existing infrastructure.

Stephanie Wiggins, Metro CEO, will be joined Friday by members of Metro’s Board of Directors, state elected leaders, and Mitch Landrieu, senior adviser to President Joe Biden and White House Infrastructure Coordinator, to celebrate the grand opening at a ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum.

The ceremony will include the unveiling of a plaque that will be installed at the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station in honor of former Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshio Mineta. Mineta oversaw the creation of the Transportation Security Administration in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that had occurred early in his tenure.

There will also be performances by taiko drummers and a spiritual invocation.

As part of Metro’s celebration, the transportation agency will offer free rides from 3 a.m. Friday through 3 a.m. Monday on all Metro buses, trains, Metro Bike and Metro Micro.

Migrants

receiving end of a despicable stunt that Republican governors have grown so fond of,” Bass said. “This did not catch us off guard, nor will it intimidate us. Now, it’s time to execute our plan. Our emergency management, police, fire and other departments were able to find out about the incoming arrival while the bus was on its way and were already mobilized along with nonprofit partners before the bus arrived.

“Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives. We are a city that seeks to treat all people with dignity and compassion and we will continue to work closely with nonprofit organizations, including the L.A. Welcomes Collective, as well as with our county, state and federal partners.

“For everything that we do, we will continue to lock arms and we will continue to lead. And we will always put people’s health and well-being over politics.”

Earlier Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office sent public records requests to the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management seeking information about the recent transport of two groups of immigrants from Florida to northern California.

Bonta said his office is investigating whether any laws were broken by Florida in shipping the three dozen migrants to Sacramento. Gov. Gavin Newsom has suggested DeSantis could potentially face kidnapping charges for transporting the migrants to California, although Florida officials have insisted the migrants went to Florida voluntarily and signed documents agreeing to the travel.

Daniel Lopez, a deputy communications director for Newsom, said “Contrary to what some may want to think, California is also a border state but instead of demonizing asylum seekers, we focus on working with local communities to support and humanely welcome people.

“Regarding the recently arrived families, the state is in close communication with the county and city of Los Angeles, and our community partners. Together, we will make sure that the children and families who arrived are safe and welcomed.”

According to Abbott’s office, Texas has been charting buses to take migrants from Texas to locations including Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia, and most recently adding Denver to the list of destinations. Since beginning the busing effort last spring, more than 21,600 migrants have been shipped out of Texas to “these self-declared sanctuary cities,” according to Abbott’s office.

The Los Angeles City Council last week approved a motion directing various city departments to take the steps required for Los Angeles to officially become a sanctuary city for immigrants.

Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, one of the sponsors of that motion, blasted Abbott’s decision to stick the migrants on a bus as “despicable and disgusting,” accusing him of playing “petty political games with the lives of these vulnerable people.”

He said Los Angeles “doesn’t throw people away. We treat people with dignity and respect, regardless of where they come from.”

Bonaventure Hotel

| Photo courtesy of The Port of Authority/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites. | Photo courtesy of Ken Lund/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)