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ONTARIO >> The once-vacant and quiet Meredith property between Vineyard and Archibald avenues began bustling with commercial activity Monday as officials dedicated QVC’s first West Coast distribution center with an opening ceremony. The 1-million-square-foot QVC warehouse was filled with a sea of empty shelving racks Monday, but trucks bringing inventory had arrived and officials expected to begin shipping product out from Ontario this week. They expect to ramp up the operation by the holiday shopping season. The new facility should shrink delivery times up to four days, Jim Reid, vice president of customer logistics, said. “We want to speed that process up for our West Coast customer...

Seven southe Los Angeles County cities are suing Metro over its proposed half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot, arguing the language is misleading and the agency didn’t specify most of the transportation projects it would fund. The ballot description takes a kitchen-sink approach, saying Measure M is needed “to improve freeway traffic flow/safety; repair potholes/sidewalks; repave local streets; earthquake retrofit bridges; synchronize signals; keep senior/disabled/student fares affordable; expand rail/subway/bus systems/ improve jobs/school/airport coections; and create jobs ...” But it doesn’t mention that the vast majority of transportation improvements won’t touch the southe...

EXPOSITION PARK >> There were big crowds once again for the final day of the 13th aual FYF Fest at Exposition Park to see more than 20 acts close out the eclectic festival. The vibe at the Sunday concert was relatively relaxed and chill with the day headlined by LCD Soundsystem, the electronic dance rock collective who reunited to play the festival circuit. Also on the bill for the last day was 68-year-old Grace Jones, Blood Orange, which consists of singer-guitarists Dev Hynes, and young hip hop acts Rae Sremmurd and Young Thug. While Saturday’s event saw long lines both inside the event grounds and to get into the main gate, on Sunday the line to get into Exposition Park ran a littl...

EXPOSITION PARK >> Kendrick Lamar celebrated a homecoming of sorts at the FYF Fest on Saturday, headlining the main stage just a few miles north of his hometown of Compton and, over the course of a terrifically compelling set, underscoring his standing as one of the top rappers in the game today. Lamar, alone on stage for most of his performance, his band positioned in the wings, offered all the things for which the 29-year-old hip-hop artist has been rightly celebrated during his rapid ascent in the past two or three years. Passionate poetry both personal and political that flows smoothly from the mic. A deep understanding of the soul and jazz and funk that predates hip-hop and inspir...

EXPOSITION PARK >> The 13th aual FYF Fest got started this year under cool temperatures as thousands of music fans came to Exposition Park to see more than 30 bands perform on several stages during day one of the festival. Saturday’s headliner was Long Beach native Kendrick Lamar who was joined on the eclectic bill by fellow hip hop artist Vince Staples and the psychedelic Australian band Tame Impala. • Photos: Inside day one of FYF Fest 2016 The festival, which started in 2004 as a cluster of punk-rock-oriented shows at various venues in Echo Park, has grown into one of the most popular area music events and the Saturday crowd seemed to be into the mix of well-known acts and up-and-co...

GORMAN — A search continued outside Califoia today for a couple wanted in coection with the shooting death of a Fresno mother as Los Angeles Sheriff’s detectives work to determine the motive for her slaying and the subsequent kidnapping of her children. The three children of 26-year-old Kimberly Harvill, whose body was found two weeks ago in unincorporated Lebec in Ke County, were found safe Wednesday in a motel outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the care of a good Samaritan who notified local law enforcement, said Deputy Kimberly Alexander of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Information Bureau. Their alleged kidnappers, Harvill’s 22-year-old sister, Brittany Humphrey, and her friend, 27-y...

The first bus fare decrease in the Orange County Transportation Authority’s history will go into effect along with its largest-ever service overhaul in October, board members voted this week. Fare reduction, approved 12-0 by the transportation authority board, applies only to the day pass, which will drop from $5 to $4 for six months starting Oct. 9, the same date as the bus service changes. The day pass decrease, recommended by OCTA’s consultant CH2M, is part of a fare study that is one of several initiatives aimed at boosting ridership. OCTA logged its peak ridership in 2007 with 69 million boardings, but dropped to 43 million boardings last fiscal year, a 37 percent fall-off, the authori...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors went on record Tuesday against a state bill that would reduce the number of county seats on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors from five to two. Senate Bill 1379, sponsored by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, would maintain 14 board seats, but replace three of the county seats with a post for Long Beach and for appointees of the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly. Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended sending a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders opposing the bill and directing county lobbyists to actively advocate against it. In her motion, Solis said each of the supervisors acts...

MINNEAPOLIS — The disclosure that some pills found at Prince’s Paisley Park home and studio were counterfeit and contained the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl strongly suggests the pills came to the superstar musician illegally. But exactly how Prince obtained the drugs is still unknown, four months after he collapsed in an elevator on April 21 and died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. Authorities have so far revealed little about their investigation, saying it’s active and moving forward. Former prosecutors and defense attoeys who are familiar with drug investigations say it’s likely someone will be prosecuted, whether or not Prince knew he was consuming illegal drugs. “They will not...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> Inteational Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach chose a curious way over the weekend to try to spin the Rio Olympic Games as a success. “I think this is a really iconic games,” Bach said. “It is also games in the middle of reality. They were not organized in a bubble. They were organized in a city where there are social problems, social divides, where real life continued, and I think it was very good for everybody.” If Bach had only actually ventured into that reality. The first Olympic Games held in South America ended Sunday the same way they began 17u2009days earlier: with Bach in a state of denial. Bach, the IOC and Riou20092016 organizers promised these woul...

It was another golden summer for Long Beach and neighboring communities, as the Press-Telegram area’s athletes tued out an impressive haul of Olympic medals and memories. In all, the unofficial Team Long Beach delegation are coming back home with three gold medals and a bronze. Two of the gold medalists belong to a squad that could unofficially be called Long Beach’s own, the USA women’s water polo team. Much of the roster lives in the city, and many are well-known around town. That would include Rachel Fattal, a Seal Beach native who played for Los Alamitos High, and Courtney Mathewson, who coached at Long Beach City College for two years. Both eaed gold medals with a dominant 12-5 win over...

BEIJING >> For the Olympics, it’s so-long Rio, hello Asia. The next three Olympics are headed for relatively calmer ports of call in South Korea, Japan and China following the organizational drama surrounding the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia and the just completed Summer Games in Brazil, although challenges remain, especially when it comes to finances and generating enthusiasm among home audiences. A look ahead to the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. All three countries have hosted the Olympics before and enjoy a shared reputation for prosperity and a deft hand at organizing major events. PYEONGCHANG 201...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> Matthew Centrowitz, gold medal around his neck, was still trying to find his bearings at the dizzying height of the top step on the Olympic Stadium medal podium Saturday night when he was approached by Lord Sebastian Coe. Coe, the president of the track and field’s global goveing body and two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion, was presenting gifts to the medalists as part of the medal ceremony. As the pair shook hands, Coe smiled and leaned close to Centrowitz. “Welcome to the club,” Coe said. Centrowitz, Maryland-bo, Oregon-bred, became the first American to join global distance ruing’s most exclusive club in more than a century, wiing the Olympic 1,500 final with a...

Michael Cacciotti walked the dimensions of the concrete Wilson Reservoir in the blazing sun, pleased to find almost no shade and triple digit temperatures. For about $375,000, the city is considering affixing rows of photovoltaic panels on top of the 20-foot deep reservoir and using the sun’s power to defray the cost of pumping water three miles uphill from the site in San Gabriel to residents in South Pasadena. When combined with carports catching rays from solar panels in two city-owned parking lots — sending clean power to light City Hall, the fire and police departments — the city can shave about $70,000 off its $1 million electric bill paid yearly to Southe Califoia Edison. The change w...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> The Paralympics will go ahead in Rio next month but organizers say deep budget cuts mean one venue will close down, facilities will be dismantled and the workforce will be reduced. Poor ticket sales have compounded existing financial challenges in recession-battered Brazil that have already hit operations at the Rio Olympics, which close Sunday. Rio has less than three weeks to prepare for Paralympics, the piacle of the disability sport calendar where organizers hoped to build on progress made at the well-attended games in London four years ago. But Rio organizers have reported sales of just over 290,000 tickets for the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics. “At this point, it is d...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> In the shadow of mighty Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix achieved something unprecedented in women’s track and field Friday by wiing her fifth Olympic gold medal. And together with the rest of the 4x100-meter relay team, she brought the United States closer to its biggest medal haul in decades. The tally could have been higher, too, had the U.S. men’s 4x100 team not been disqualified after finishing third in the subsequent final. The women’s team was smooth, despite the rocky path to the final. Ruing the second leg in the relay, Felix kept the U.S. up there with the mighty Jamaicans, before English Gardner and Tori Bowie brought the baton, tightly clenched in their hands, ho...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> With her arms raised in victory, coach Silvia Neid ran onto the field to join the celebration of Germany’s first Olympic gold medal — even jumping onto the players’ dogpile. What a way to go out. Dzsenifer Marozsan scored early in the second half Friday and Germany went on to give Neid a 2-1 victory over Sweden for the nation’s first Olympic title in women’s soccer. Neid, a two-time FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year, is stepping down following the Olympics. The win at the iconic Maracana Stadium gave her one more championship to cap her 11-year career as Germany’s coach. “What I felt was pure joy, because I know that was what we had eaed and what we have worked so hard ...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> Max Holt did a little bit of everything. At the net, digging balls from just off the floor, finishing points with big, leaping swings. He and David Lee stuffed the Italians with stellar blocking. Setter Micah Christenson contributed his own blocks and even a kill to end the third set. Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell and Taylor Sander provided power hitting from every coer. Mighty Italy just had a little more in a match that will surely become an Olympic volleyball classic. For nearly 2 1/2 hours Friday, the young, overachieving Americans stayed with an Italian group that U.S. coach John Speraw considers the world’s most talented and destined for gold in Brazil. The Amer...

Rams fans retu to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Saturday, where they’ll see their team play the Kansas City Chiefs on the field. What they don’t want to see are fights off the field and in the stands. That’s why officials this week assured fans that security is priority No. 1 at the Coliseum after last week’s preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys. The long-awaited game ended in a victory for the home team, but three people were arrested and seven were ejected from the stands after some tempers flared. Eleven ambulances also were requested, but only one person had to be taken to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. “The security of fans attending our games ...

LOS ANGELES — A Metro county sales tax measure aimed at raising revenue to build, operate and maintain public transportation projects was officially certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder today for the Nov. 8 ballot. If approved by at least two-thirds of voters, Measure M would enact a half-cent sales tax hike to fund a package of transportation improvements that include new rail and bus lines, highway improvements and street repairs. The tax revenue would also help fund the operation and maintenance of the regional transportation system. The measure would build on an existing half-cent tax put in place by voters through Measure R, by boosting that tax to a full cent, and le...