Citing stagnant wages for a shrinking middle class, and a low-income population that is working full-time for near poverty-level income, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday announced plans to increase the city’s minimum wage to $13.25 by 2017.
Author Archives: Merdies Hayes
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Community initiative may reduce gangs, help ‘redefine’ Black youth
“We have decided to stop complaining and to get up and do something about the problem.” That’s Ansar “Stan” Muhammad commenting about the nearly-unrelenting stories about “troubled,” “at-risk,” “wayward” and “angry” Black youth here and nationwide who have come to represent a so-called “lost” generation that American society believes may be pre-destined for unemployment, despair and ultimately prison, if adults fail to recognize and act on the many social maladies that plague them.
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Exposition Park
Exposition Park has for 100 years been a destination point for millions of Angelenos and visitors to Los Angeles. Whether you’re a sports fan, music fan, history bug, sci-fi enthusiast or even a naturalist, Exposition Park likely offers something of interest to all visitors.
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Lancaster city officials at odds with CPUC
Lancaster city officials say they are fed up with unfair utility rates. With the drought serving as a reminder to conserve as much water as possible, city officials last week expressed displeasure and dismay toward a decision by the state Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) which recommended that water rates be raised for some Lancaster residents who claim they already pay more than the prevailing market value for water.
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Local funding, Common Core among latest strategies for secondary schools
Although Labor Day has traditionally marked the end of summer, students in the Palmdale School District headed back to class this week. Long gone are the days of the three-month vacation, and many public school campuses have opened this week for the new year.
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AV YouthBuild latest grant guides young people to success
Antelope Valley YouthBuild, a Palmdale-based leadership development program that offers vocational training and helps 16 to 24 year olds earn their high school diploma, received a grant of $6,500 from SunPower Foundation this month. The foundation is the not-for-profit arm of SunPower Corp., a world leader in solar technology and energy services.
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Recent thunderstorms bring little relief to parched state
A series of thunderstorms that hit Southern California last weekend delivered torrents of rain and caused flash floods, but did practically nothing to ease the worsening drought. The soil throughout the state is simply too hard and dry to absorb the rainfall which washed away down gullies and ravines almost as most as fast as it hit the ground.
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‘Get On Up’ captures life, spirit of James Brown
Well into the storyline of “Get On Up,” Imagine Entertainment’s latest Hollywood biopic, James Brown in 1968 ponders the dilemma of either meeting with President Lyndon Johnson at the White House, or with Black nationalist H. Rap Brown in New York City. Such attention to Brown’s social influence during the turbulent decade is part of the appeal of director Tate Taylor’s film. It is an engrossing, surprising and thoroughly rewarding film for fans of “The Godfather of Soul.” By the way, L.B.J. won out.
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July driest month in state history
It’s official. California is now under the most severe level of drought since the federal government began issuing regular drought reports in the late 1990s. The U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday reported that July was the driest month ever with 58 percent of the state experiencing an “exceptional drought,” the harshest finding based on a five-level scale.
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Lancaster lauded for community service efforts
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris is an advocate of building a strong community by means of regular input and volunteer participation from residents. This is taking place daily in Lancaster as the city council commended recently three volunteers from the AmeriCorp and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) programs for their efforts to “lead, inspire and connect” with one another.