Megan Thee Stallion’s Fierce ‘Megan’ Trades Hot Girl Summers for a Different Freedom
A Deluge of Deceit Highlighted The 2024 Presidential Debate
News Observer Page A3
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Los Angeles
Volume 39 Number 35
Serving Los Angeles County for Over 38 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Californians Will Vote on “End Slavery in California Act” on November Ballot Depending on the outcome of the vote, the anti-slavery measure requires the state to pay inmates minimum wage $16 per hour for their job assignments. The California Department of Finance estimated that it would cost the state $1.5 billion to pay inmates at minimum wage. By Bo Tefu California Black Media The California Senate voted 33-3 to approve Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 (ACA 8), a proposition that would end involuntary servitude in state prisons. The state senate approved the ballot measure June 27, two years after a similar measure was rejected. ACA 8 would mostly impact all prisons in the state that currently use slave labor and indentured servitude as a punishment for crime. The same day, the bill’s author and California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) Chair Lori Wilson made amendments to the legislation before the Senate voted 680, clearing the measure to appear as a ballot proposition for voters to decide in the November elections. ACA 8 is part of a 14-bill package sponsored by the CLBC to implement policy recommendations from the state-funded reparations task force. “It is a testament to our collective resolve to correct historical wrongs and ensure that every individual in California is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Wilson. “Now, as we look ahead to the November 2024 ballot, let us continue to work with the same spirit of determination and unity that has brought us to this moment,” she said. A section of California’s Constitution state, “slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited.” However, state law makes an exception for incarcerated individuals. Inmates can earn as much as 48 cents per hour for working as technicians. Inmates working as firefighters earn approximately $5.80 per day to contain fires statewide. Lawrence Cox, a former inmate and policy fellow with nonprofit Legal Services for Prisoners with Children said forced labor prevents inmates from focusing on rehabilitation. He shared in front of the senate committee
Asm. Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) finally saw her bill ACA 8 pass out the Senate with a 33-3 vote on June 27. The bill would remove the language of involuntary servitude from the California Constitution. It will be placed on the November ballot for voters to decide. (CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey) that California designates approximately 65,000 work assignments to inmates, including high risk job tasks. Cox was incarcerated for 17 years and shared that he was often forced to work and had no right to refuse dangerous work assignments. “I have been forced to work jobs and had jobs where I couldn’t get out,” said Cox. “When I wanted to take my on-site college courses to complete my degree, forced labor was prioritized over my rehabilitation.” Depending on the outcome of the vote, the antislavery measure requires the state to pay inmates minimum wage $16 per hour for their job assignments. The California Department of Finance estimated that it would cost the state $1.5 billion to pay inmates at minimum wage. If approved, California will join Alabama, Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont in outlawing
indentured servitude. Jamilia Land, a Sacramento-based advocate who contributed to drafting ACA 8 and serves as Coordinator of the End Slavery in California Act Coalition, called the passage of ACA 8 “exciting news.” Encouraging all Californians to support the measure, Land said, “In November, voters will have the opportunity to support the End Slavery in California Act directly at the ballot box. Stay informed and help spread awareness on ways to contribute to ending slavery in California. Visit our website at www.abolishslavery.us to join the effort.” ACA 8 was passed without requiring the approval of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The amendment qualified for the November ballot on June 28, the last day to finalize propositions for the November ballot.
California Pushes Insurers to Cover More Homes in These Areas. Is Your ZIP Included?
By Levi Sumagaysay, Calmatters Sacramento Observer California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara unveiled today an effort to force insurers to resume writing policies in high-fire-risk areas — part of an overall plan to address the state’s insurance crisis. The Insurance Department proposed three different pathways for insurers to meet minimum requirements for writing policies in areas deemed “high risk” or “very high risk” by Cal Fire. Regulators said this hybrid approach takes into account the state’s complex geography as well as the different levels of risk big and small insurers can afford to assume. Lara said this should help homeowners who have lost coverage or been forced to turn to the last-resort FAIR Plan. Insurance companies will have these options: Write 85% of their statewide market share in high-risk areas. The department explains it this way: “If a company writes 20 out of 100 homes statewide, it must write 17 out of 100 homes in a distressed area.” Achieve one-time 5% growth in the number of policies they write in high-risk areas. Expand their number of policies 5% by taking people out of the FAIR Plan, which has been growing exponentially. The department also released a map that shows where
wildfire risk and FAIR Plan policies are concentrated, as well as a list of counties and ZIP codes of high-risk areas, that correspond with the requirements. Regulators will update these areas at least once a year. The proposed options aren’t technically requirements, because the state cannot legally require insurers to write either homeowner or commercial property policies. But the state expects insurers to comply because failure to do so would mean insurers would not be able to take advantage of something they’ve lobbied for long and hard: catastrophe modeling. Lara unveiled the first part of his plan to allow for catastrophe modeling in March; this is the second part of that plan. Catastrophe modeling takes into account historical data and combines that with projected risk and losses — something insurers have been able to do in every other U.S. state but California. Insurers will be able to use it here once Lara’s overall plan takes effect as promised at the end of the year. Today’s announcement made clear what the companies will have to do in return. “Insurance companies need to commit to writing more policies and my department will need to verify those commitments and hold them accountable,” Lara told reporters this morning. When they submit rate reviews, insurers will state which of the pathways they choose. If
(iStockphoto / NNPA) they don’t fulfill the requirements of that pathway, “my department will use its law enforcement authority and reconsider rate reviews,” the commissioner said. Lara’s staff said they established the requirements for minimum coverage in distressed areas after talking with different stakeholders, including insurance companies that said the requirements were achievable. Insurance industry representatives and Consumer Watchdog said they were still looking over the details of the Insurance Department’s draft regulations.
Take One!
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Killer Mike Will Likely Avoid Charges After Grammys Arrest
By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Killer Mike is expected to avoid charges over a physical altercation that led to his arrest at the Grammys earlier this year after the rapper recently completed community service. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Mike “successfully completed the office’s hearing process, including a community service requirement that was imposed.” The rapper was escorted in handcuffs by police at Crypto.com Arena in February and detained on suspicion of a misdemeanor offense. Court documents shows Mike, whose real name is Michael Render, was never charged over the incident. His representatives did not immediately return a message seeking comment. In some instances, Los Angeles city prosecutors can opt to resolve an incident without filing misdemeanor charges if a person completes certain conditions. Mike said an “over-zealous” security guard contributed to the altercation that occurred in the joyous moments after he won three awards at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony. It was his first Grammy in more than two decades. Mike’s first win came after he won for best rap performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” which also took home best rap song. The single features Andre 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane. He also won best rap album for “Michael.” When he collected his third award, the Atlantabased rapper shouted out, “Sweep! Atlanta, it’s a sweep!” Mike’s last Grammy came in 2003 when he won for “The Whole World” for best rap performance by a duo or group.
Bill Cobbs, Prolific and Sage Character Actor, Dies at 90 By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Cobbs, the veteran character actor who became a ubiquitous and sage screen presence as an older man, has died. He was 90. Cobbs died Tuesday at his home in the Inland Empire, California, surrounded by family and friends, his publicist Chuck I. Jones said. Natural causes is the likely cause of death, Jones said. A Cleveland native, Cobbs acted in such films as “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “The Bodyguard” and “Night at the Museum.” He made his first big-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974’s “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” He became a lifelong actor with some 200 film and TV credits. The lion share of those came in his 50s, 60s, and 70s, as filmmakers and TV producers turned to him again and again to imbue small but pivotal parts with a wizened and worn soulfulness. Cobbs appeared on television shows including “The Sopranos,” “The West Wing,” “Sesame Street” and “Good Times.” He was Whitney Houston’s manager in “The Bodyguard” (1992), the mystical clock man of the Coen brothers’ “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994) and the doctor of John Sayles’ “Sunshine State” (2002). He played the coach in “Air Bud” (1997), the security guard in “Night at the Museum” (2006) and the father on “The Gregory Hines Show.” Cobbs rarely got the kinds of major parts that stand out and win awards. Instead, Cobbs was a familiar and memorable everyman who left an impression on audiences, regardless of screen time. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding limited performance in a daytime program for the series “Dino Dana” in 2020. Wendell Pierce, who acted alongside Cobbs in “I’ll Fly Away” and “The Gregory Hines Show,” remembered Cobbs as “a father figure, a griot, an iconic artist that mentored me by the way he led his life as an actor,” he wrote on the social media platform X. Wilbert Francisco Cobbs, born June 16, 1934, served eight years in the U.S. Air Force after graduating high school in Cleveland. In the years after his service, Cobbs sold cars. One day, a customer asked him if he wanted to act in a play. Cobbs first appeared on stage in 1969. He began to act in Cleveland theater and later moved to New York where he joined the Negro Ensemble Company, acting alongside Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Cobbs later said acting resonated with him as a way to express the human condition, in particular during the Civil Rights Movement in the late ‘60s. “To be an artist, you have to have a sense of giving,” Cobbs said in a 2004 interview. “Art is somewhat of a prayer, isn’t it? We respond to what we see around us and what we feel and how things affect us mentally and spiritually.”