Government offices and libraries throughout the Southland will be closed Monday in celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, or Columbus Day. State and federal courts will shut their doors Monday as well, and there will be no U.S. Mail delivery. Most banks are also expected to be closed. However, Los Angeles Unified School District schools will be open. Buses and subway services in both the city and county of Los Angeles will run on a regular schedule, along with Metrolink trains. Stores, too, will be open as usual. ... read more »

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced today it filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 10, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Sept. 16 to create a voluntary process for cities to streamline zoning processes to allow multi-unit housing on single- family lots near transit in urban infill areas. ``We believe SB10 includes a blatant constitutional overreach in its provision allowing two-thirds of members a city council, board of supervisors or other such `members of a legislative body' to override local initiatives, including those with zoning restrictions, that may have been legally put in place by voters through the initiative process,'' said AHF President Michael Weinstein. ``This provision ignores the intent and will of voters, totally disregarding the sanctity of voters' rights. We believe the provision is clearly unconstitutional and are therefore seeking to invalidate that provision and the entire law.'' ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council will hold a vote today to pick a new president pro tempore to replace Councilman and 2022 mayoral candidate Joe Buscaino with Councilman Mitch O'Farrell.` ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council today took a step toward developing an unarmed model of crisis response by authorizing the city administrative officer to revise and release a Request For Proposals for the program that would divert nonviolent calls for services away from police officers. Nonprofits in Los Angeles will be able to submit proposals for operating the program and providing staff that would respond to the calls. The city will hold question-and-answer sessions during the process to engage with communities and encourage submissions. ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council approved a street engagement strategy today to accompany its sweeping ordinance to restrict sleeping and homeless encampments in certain areas of the city. ... read more »

The statistics were disclosed at a special meeting of the L.A. City Council Redistricting Commission on August 19. The commission is charged with using census data to recommend a redistricting plan that outlines the boundaries of council districts (CDs) and each area should be largely equal in population. ... read more »

In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic where intimate physical interaction created the risk of contracting COVID-19, protesters called for justice, confronting the hard reality that incidents of police brutality, which have disproportionately resulted in the injuries and deaths of people of color, persisted across the nation.  ... read more / view gallery »

Councilmember Curren Price is excited about the opportunities that have been created in the City’s latest budget, which re-allocates over $165 million to those in Los Angeles who are and have historically been underserved and under-resourced. ... read more / view gallery »

L.A. City Councilmember, 9th District, Marqueece Harris-Dawson explains why Black and Brown Councilmembers representing predominantly communities of color take the safety and the funding of our communities very seriously. The Council remains focused on prioritizing meaningful investments in disadvantaged communities and communities of color and broader discussions and actions around public safety. ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council today approved a motion that would expand Project Roomkey and explore commandeering non- cooperating hotels and motels to house homeless people through the program. ... read more »

Right now, more than 600,000 people in our city are unemployed in the fallout from this pandemic. They are disproportionately women and people of color. As we help them get back to work, we have an opportunity to set our city down a more equitable path.  ... read more »

Councilman Herb Wesson bid farewell this week to the Los Angeles City Council, and Wesson was termed out. ... read more »

 While a compelling case can be made for a significant expansion of the Los Angeles City Council, a more modest and immediately doable approach to demonstrating our concern with minority rights in these turbulent times would be to free Watts from Council District 15 and join it with Council District 9. ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council voted today to cut $150 million from the police department's budget next fiscal year, following weeks of demands from activists to reduce funding for law enforcement. ... read more »

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to approved a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis in the city. The resolution, put forward by Councilmembers Herb Wesson, Curren Price, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, also calls on City of Los Angeles departments to review their internal policies and procedures. ... read more »