Activists demand higher federal minimum wage
Marched in Inglewood
Hundred of protesters turned out for a rally Tuesday in front of the Inglewood Burlington Coat Factory located at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Imperial Highway to protest low wages and demand a hike in the minimum wage.
Burlington is owned by Bain Capital, a company co-founded by presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. According to a report by the National Employment Law Project, the majority of the top 50 low-wage employers (such as Burlington) have recovered from the nation’s most recent recession and are “enjoying strong profits,” yet the weekly paychecks of their workers fell by 1.7 percent in the final quarter of last year.
The report went on to note that the federal minimum wage has not increased in three years and that had this salary level kept pace with the cost of living since 1968, workers would be making $10.55 instead of the current $7.25 per hour.
Activists are calling for the minimum wage to increase to $10 an hour.
An apparent armed robbery attempt at a Burlington Coat Factory outlet in Inglewood ended peacefully today as the suspects surrendered after allowing workers to walk out.
The incident at 3150 Imperial Highway began about 7:10 a.m., said Inglewood police Lt. Neal Cochran, adding that at least one suspect was armed.
Some workers inside the building saw three men wearing ski masks enter the business and notified police, Cochran said. A SWAT team was sent to the scene, and a standoff ensued.
Registered nurses (RNs) will picket Centinela Hospital Center and hold a noon rally today to protest what they call a systematic campaign by Prime Healthcare to sharply erode care standards and force the elimination of experienced nurses at the hospital at the expense of patient safety.
Centinela is operated by Prime, a for-profit chain owned by Prem Reddy, an M.D. who has already drawn notoriety, say nurses, for his efforts to erode patient care conditions and bid to drive down standards for experienced staff while exploiting new hires.
Following months of escalating concern over Prime Healthcare Services’ business practices, hundreds of residents and healthcare workers staged a protest with a street theater in front of Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood last Saturday to underscore their demands that the hospital’s owner stop profiting at the expense of patients, caregivers, and the community.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles County probation officers asked for help today in finding a parolee who threatened to kill school children.
Frank Edward Edmonds, 40, who authorities consider “extremely violent and an imminent public threat,” may be in Compton, South Los Angeles or Inglewood, his last known address.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Authorities today identified a man who was fatally shot by Inglewood police after he allegedly smashed the windows of eight squad cars with a sword in a police station parking lot.
The shooting occurred Saturday night, after the man damaged the vehicles using a sword that was thicker and heavier than a machete, police said. The dead man was identified as Charles Curl, 46, of Los Angeles, coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said.
