Author: Emilie St. John

INSIDE THE CITY (ITC) – The Inglewood City Council approved spending $14 million on a shuttered school to allegedly turn it into a “park,” and if you believe that…well, you aren’t paying attention to the City’s actions. Woman walks past 150 N. Market Street, which remains vacant while it awaits an affordable housing project to be built by Thomas Safran & Associates. (Photo: 2 Urban Girls) Many vacant parcels around the City have been earmarked for housing projects that aren’t being built. In the case of the shuttered Worthington Elementary School in the 11100 block of S. Yukon Ave., it…

SOUTH OF THE 10 – Inglewood Mayor James Butts has declared he will run for re-election despite the groundswell building against his leadership as it relates to the Inglewood Police Department. Bryan Bostic died during a traffic stop less than a mile away from the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment District that houses the Kia Forum, SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and YouTube Theatre that generates millions in revenue for the City. A digital billboard in Inglewood, California. Digital billboards installed around the entertainment and sports venues blare messaging that they “work 24/7 to provide millions” to fund the Inglewood Police Department that harasses and raids local businesses whose video surveillance systems capture…

CARSON – The City of Carson invites the community to its annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 4. The event will start at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at the Carson Event Center located at 801 E. Carson Street. Highlights: Live PerformancesEnjoy seasonal music by The Holiday Carolers and a special performance by the Enrichment Modern Dance Group, bringing festive cheer to the evening. Family ActivitiesChildren and families will have the opportunity to write letters to Santa, get creative at the holiday craft station, and enjoy light refreshments provided for all attendees. Tree Lighting CeremonyThe evening will…

INGLEWOOD – The Inglewood City Council is expected to terminate a Disposition and Development Agreement for a planned mixed-use development at 317 S. La Brea Ave. The termination agreement was uploaded to the City’s website in preparation for the October 28 city council meeting. JZA Architecture The developer is citing “the COVID-19 pandemic and changing market conditions, the Developer, despite its reasonable efforts, has been unable to commence and cause the construction and development of the Project in accordance with the time frames established in the Schedule of Performance (Attachment 3 of the DDA) and the development scope established in…

A woman has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a Hawthorne sports bar back in July. Dionna Phylow, who was arrested on Oct. 10, pleaded not guilty to the charges in Airport Superior Court on Oct. 14, according to court records. Amber LaFlora, 37, was pronounced dead in the sports bar parking lot, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner. The shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. on July 18 in the 11000 block of Inglewood Avenue, where officers from the Hawthorne Police Department found the victim in the strip mall’s parking lot suffering…

SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the reappointment of Ana Cubas, to the California Law Revision Commission, where she has served since 2019. The California Law Revision Commission is an independent state agency created by statute in 1953. It assists the Legislature and Governor by examining California law and recommending needed reforms. Cubas has been an Adjunct Professor for the Los Angeles Community College District since 2017, the Founder and President of the Latina Public Service Academy since 2014, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ana Cubas Consulting LLC., since 2013. She was a Government Affairs Manager at Vanir…

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries visited three black churches over the weekend to convince the congregants to give up their political voting power under Proposition 50. Jeffries visited First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in West Adams, Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in South L.A. and Resurrection Church of Los Angeles in Carson. This summer, the Internal Revenue Service says it will allow houses of worship to endorse candidates for political office without losing their tax-exempt status. Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their…

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of Carmen Snuggs-Spraggins, of Riverside County, to serve as a Judge in the Orange County Superior Court. Snuggs-Spraggins has served as a Commissioner at the Orange County Superior Court since 2024. She served as a Senior Administrative Law Judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings from 2016 to 2024. Snuggs-Spraggins served as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice from 2005 to 2016.  She worked as an Associate at Abeltin and Migoya from 2003 to 2005. Snuggs-Spraggins received a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School. She fills the…

INGLEWOOD – The Mega Millions jackpot grows to $680 million after no tickets were sold matching all six numbers in Tuesday’s drawing. One ticket matching five numbers was sold in Chicago and is worth $1 million. Because the player played the 3x Multiplier option for an additional $1 in some states where the Mega Millions game is played, their ticket is worth a total of $3 million. The Mega Millions numbers for Tuesday are 12, 18, 27, 34, 59 and the Mega number is 18.

LOS ANGELES – A council aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price is seeking to settle ethics violations for failure to disclose income received from his consulting business. Jose Ugarte will be fined $17,500 by the City’s Ethics Commission failure to disclose nearly $400,000 in income from his consulting business. According to the filing disclosed on the City’s Ethics Commission website: On July 2, 2013, Ugarte became a Council Aide III for Curren Price, the representative on the City Council for Council District (CD) 9. Ugarte left City service on November 1, 2019, when he was a Council Aide…