Free Republic

As protests continue to sweep across the country following the Grand Jury decision in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., a Los Angeles official is calling for the city to commemorate the Watts Riots of 50 years ago. Councilman Bernard Parks has introduced a resolution asking the city to begin planning to mark “this historic event….considered by many to be a key turning point in the local African-American civil rights movement.”

<p>In ex-City Councilman Hal Bernson's day, Los Angeles was a leader in preparing for the Big One, the 7 magnitude or greater earthquake that geologists say is inevitable and overdue - and will be unleashed upon Los Angeles by the San Andreas, Hollywood, Puente Hills, Santa Monica or Newport-Inglewood fault.</p>

Three Los Angeles City Council members want city, state and federal groups to look into whether hydraulic fracturing and other forms of oil and gas “well stimulation” played any role in the earthquake that rattled the city early Monday morning. The motion, presented Tuesday by Councilmen Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin and seconded by Councilman Bernard Parks, asks for city departments to team up with the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to report back on the likelihood that such activities contributed to the 4.4-magnitude quake....

Los Angeles City Council members have discovered how to cause earthquakes. Three councilmen think fracking may be the cause of Monday’s earthquake in the Santa Monica Mountains, and they want the city, state, and feds to do an in-depth review. Councilmen Paul Koretz, Mike Bonin, and Bernard Parks Tuesday introduced a motion calling for the city, the U.S. Geological Survey, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources to report on whether hydraulic fracturing caused the moderate 4.4-magnitude earthquake, the Los Angeles Times reports. “It is crucial to the health and...

Monday, March 07, 2005 A confident Bernard Parks says he can win L.A. race Some say ex-chief is unlikely to capture mayor's job but can play a big role in determining who will. (Second of five profiles on major L.A. mayoral candidates.) By Alison Shackelford Copley News Service Among the top five candidates in the Los Angeles mayoral race, Councilman Bernard Parks is the closest thing to a Republican, displaying conservative instincts and a contrarian streak so intermingled they are often hard to separate. At a recent debate in front of a mostly black audience, two of his opponents talked...