press-news

WASHINGTON >> In a searing denouncement, President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House. He challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “There has to come a point at which you say enough.” While Obama has long been critical of Trump, his blistering condemnation Tuesday was a notable escalation of his involvement in the presidential race. Obama questioned whether Trump would “observe basic decency” as president, argued he lacks elementary knowledge about domestic and inteational affairs and condemned his disparagement of an American Muslim couple whose son was killed while serving ...

Measure A made things easier. But not easy. The city released its 2017 budget proposal on Monday, and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called it balanced, responsible and forward-looking, thanks in part to a burst of new revenue from the voter-approved sales tax measure expected to drum up $384 million over the next decade. With Fire Engine No. 8 sparkling in the background – one of the public safety additions expected to be funded by Measure A – Garcia and City Manager Patrick West stood inside the Belmont Shore Fire Station and laid out a list of highlights for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2016 and runs through Sept. 31, 2017. The City Council over the next several weeks wil...

LOS ANGELES >> In further confirmation of her status as American track and field’s most (or only) transcendent superstar, Allyson Felix was scheduled to appear at England’s Oxford Union last month. The four-time Olympic and nine-time World champion was set to join three U.S. presidents, four British prime ministers including Winston Churchill, and the likes of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama among others in appearing at the self-proclaimed world’s “most prestigious debating society.” The appearance, however, was postponed, another victim of the same freak training accident that ultimately derailed what was supposed to be the crowing achievement in th...

Southe Califoia employers face a variety of challenges, and one of the most pressing is an ever-widening skills gap that often results in positions being unfilled for long periods of time. That topic came up at a Policymakers Party that was held Thursday at the historic Avalon Hollywood theater in Hollywood. Sponsored by the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed), the event brought Southe Califoia business leaders together with the region’s freshman class of lawmakers to network and exchange ideas. Lloyd Johnson, a newly minted West Covina city councilman, said scores of jobs in the trades industry are left unfilled because there aren’t enough programs to provide people with the ki...

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling finding a cross over the San Gabriel Mission on the county’s official seal to be unconstitutional. The vote, taken behind closed doors, was 3-2, with Supervisors Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich dissenting, according to a brief aouncement made in open session. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southe Califoia sued the board in February 2014, challenging its decision to restore the cross nearly 10 years after legal wrangling prompted its removal from the seal. A statement issued by the civil rights organization Tuesday said the group was pleased by the board’s decision. “The ill-conceived and misguided effort t...

Los Angeles, San Feando Valley and Santa Monica area Events National Eat at a Food Truck Day: Roaming Hunger, a food truck tracker, is promoting a day for special deals with participating food trucks in the Los Angeles area on June 24. Check the website or download the app for participating trucks. www.neaftd.com Tave: “Low Country Boil,” a traditional seafood dish from the Carolinas, 5-9 p.m. June 26. Cost $65 plus tax and tip. Ticketed event; reservations required; credit card required. Check website for the menu. 11648 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles. 310-806-6464. www.tavela.com Il Foaio: Italian regional specialties on a rotating monthly menu: Food and wine from Campania through June 30...

LOS ANGELES >> A wildfire that for days has threatened hundreds of homes and popular seaside campgrounds near Santa Barbara was half-surrounded and held in check, though firefighters were about to face the hottest day yet and the kind of dry, torrid conditions prevailing from the West Coast all the way to New Mexico. A Red Flag waing for late Sunday and early Monday, signaling dangerously dry heat and high winds, was declared for the hilly coastal area west of Santa Barbara. The fire was 51 percent contained after buing more than 2 square miles since starting on Wednesday. Meanwhile near downtown Los Angeles, a small-but-dangerous brush fire threatened a densely populated, hilly neigh...

Fire crews made progress in their battle oveight to contain a fire that threatened thousands of home in the Calabasas and Topanga areas, but another hot day threatens that progress, officials said Sunday moing. The Old Fire -- as it has been dubbed -- has consumed 516 acres and is 30 percent contained, said Los Angeles County Fire Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp. “Oveight we made a lot of good progress in increasing the containment,” particularly on the north and west end of the blaze, Tripp said. • Photos: Firefighters keep a close eye on the Old Fire Sunday But he added that there is still a “very large challenge” on the east and south sides of the fire that will prohibit the more than 5,000 ...

Fire crews made progress in their battle oveight to contain a fire that threatened thousands of home in the Calabasas and Topanga areas, but another hot day threatens that progress, officials said this moing. The Old Fire -- as it has been dubbed -- has consumed 516 acres and is 30 percent contained, said Los Angeles County Fire Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp. “Oveight we made a lot of good progress in increasing the containment,” particularly on the north and west end of the blaze, Tripp said. But he added that there is still a “very large challenge” on the east and south sides of the fire that will prohibit the more than 5,000 residents evacuated from because of the fire to retu to the 3,700...