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Howard Slingerland raised nearly $750,000 for Obama from 2007 to 2012 ... A top fundraiser for former president Barack Obama confessed to misusing more than $600,000 in federal grant money and embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit dedicated to helping impoverished youth, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Howard Dixon Slingerland, who raised nearly $750,000 for both of Obama’s presidential campaigns, illegally took federal grant money to pay off more than $600,000 of his organization’s payroll and credit card debts, which included personal expenses. The $1.5 million grant was meant to provide career advancement for young adults who...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined a “global coalition of mayors” at a summit on climate change this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, burning fossil fuels on an international flight rather than attending remotely and attending to pressing issues at home.

Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti lacks the votes on the Senate floor to be confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to India, according to a report Sunday by Axios, which says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has conceded defeat. Garcetti was considered a long shot for the Cabinet after Black Lives Matter activists staged protests outside his home in Los Angeles after the 2020 election, demanding President-elect Joe Biden not include him among senior administration members.

Senate Democrats are privately conceding that Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti (D.) has no chance of being confirmed as ambassador to India, following sexual harassment allegations against his former aide. Rick Jacobs, who served as Garcetti's deputy chief of staff from 2013 to 2016, has been accused by a city police officer and former mayoral spokeswoman of sexual harassment during his tenure. The accusation has ensnared Garcetti in an alleged coverup and resulted in a lengthy private investigation into the matter. Senators who spoke with Punchbowl News said Garcetti's confirmation is now "withering on the vine." Officer Matthew Garza is...

Celebrities and politicians were caught maskless at the Super Bowl on Sunday, despite the indoor mask mandate in place until Feb. 15. LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron, Ellen DeGeneres, Ben Affleck, and Jay-Z were among those captured enjoying themselves without a face covering. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was called out for not wearing a mask at a recent game, also ignored the rules. Last time he claimed to be holding his breath when he removed his mask for a photo. Critics point out that these adults flouting the rules come as California schoolchildren have no such option,...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti forwent covering his face at Sunday’s Super Bowl, breaking his own mask mandate again after claiming earlier in February he held his breath while taking a maskless photo with former NBA star Magic Johnson. While fans attending sporting events in Los Angeles County are required to wear masks at so-called “mega events,” Garcetti was noticed and subsequently hammered on Twitter for not wearing one.

Los Angeles Mayor — and Biden Administration ambassadorial nominee — Eric Garcetti today defended his actions after maskless photos surfaced of him and Lakers great Magic Johnson, along with San Francisco Mayor London Breed, at SoFi Stadium last weekend for the NFC Championship game.Johnson later tweeted a series of photos from the event featuring himself and a number of others in a luxury box overlooking the field. They included Garcetti, Breed and California Governor Gavin Newsom. None of them are wearing masks in the photos, despite a local public health officer order requiring attendees to wear masks at all times...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has urged those attending Super Bowl LVI at Sofi Stadium next weekend to wear masks — just days after he was photographed without wearing a mask at the same stadium at the NFC Championship game. Garcetti claimed that he only took his mask off for long enough to take photos with former L.A. Lakers star Magic Johnson and others, and that he did not exhale when he had his mask off, ostensibly reducing the risk to thousands of others at SoFi.

Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa slammed the current city administration in an interview on Sunday with NBC Los Angeles, suggesting that Mayor Eric Garcetti — recently tapped to become U.S. ambassador to India — had failed. NBC-4 reported: In what appeared to be a stinging critique of his successor, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the city he once lead “rudderless” and “adrift.” “I was born and raised here,” Villaraigosa said Sunday on NBC4’s NewsConference. “I have lived here my entire life. I have never seen this town so dirty, I’ve never seen crime go up so quickly…...

Hunter Biden hosted an art show in Hollywood on Friday for several California elites, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti was a national co-chairman of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and was nominated by the president to serve as the U.S. ambassador to India. Also in attendance was Shepard Fairey, creator of the Obama/Hope poster, and the musician Moby

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new vaccine mandate for city employees on Tuesday. All employees will either have to show proof of vaccination, or be forced to undergo weekly COVID-19 tests, if they want to retain their jobs. The mayor’s announcement came as L.A. County has reported a sharp uptick in the daily average testing positivity rate, which is now over 5%, after dipping to below 1% in June. Many new cases are among the unvaccinated population.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose city is suffering from homelessness, economic disruption, and drought, launched a nationwide commission on slavery reparations on Friday, Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE). Garcetti appeared with several urban mayors via streaming video as the federal government observed Juneteenth for the first time as a public holiday (since June 19 is on Saturday this year).

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is set to propose a “universal basic income” pilot program for some residents of his city when he unveils his new budget on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. A year ago, the cash-strapped city was sending workers on furloughs due to anticipated budget shortfalls.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti described himself as “ecstatic” over the $1.35 billion that the city will receive from the $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill passed by Congress on Wednesday and set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden. Coronavirus relief bills have been enacted repeatedly for a year, mostly by President Donald Trump, and often after delays by Democrats, who were reluctant to see Trump take any political credit. The new bill, however, includes payments to cities and states, as well as pension bailouts for unions, and money devoted to long-term “progressive” Democratic Party policies.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that “there is no place for racist imagery” when asked to respond to the ongoing controversy about Dr. Seuss, whom the city has honored in the past. The company that handles Dr. Seuss’s books withdrew six of his books from publication this week over concerns about early caricatures, and the left has been critical of Dr. Seuss for preaching racial tolerance without concern for “structural power imbalances.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti vetoed a plan backed by black and Latino members of the City Council to redistribute money cut from the police Tuesday because he said it was too focused on everyday needs and not on the “call of history.” The plan, which was originally passed 13-2, included funding to trim trees, improve parks, and repair sidewalks in poor neighborhoods. The mayor told the Los Angeles Times that the proposal was too focused on “business as usual.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday evening that he had turned down an offer to join President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet, despite speculation that he would be rewarded for his early endorsement of the former vice president with a post. “Joe Biden has told me for the last two years that he was very interested in me coming to Washington, D.C., and there were things on the table for me,” Garcetti said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) on Friday described the Chinese coronavirus as the “greatest threat to life in Los Angeles that we have ever faced” — a description that follows his urge for residents to “cancel everything.” “So often in this crisis, it can be so confusing. Orders come down from the state, from our county. We’re not sure what they mean when they come into effect,” Garcetti said as he attempted to clarify the layers of restrictions.

A bar owner in Los Angeles, California, is fighting back against heavy-handed lockdown measures that have forced her to shut down while other industries operate under government exemptions.... “So this is my place, the Pineapple Hill Grill and Saloon. If you go to my page you can see all the work I did for outdoor dining for tables being seven feet apart, and I come in today because I am organizing a protest and I came in to get stuff for that. And I walk into my parking lot and, obviously, [Los Angeles] Mayor Garcetti has approved this,” Marsden says,...

A Torrance-based real estate developer pleaded guilty on Thursday to felony conspiracy, closing a major chapter in a campaign money laundering case that covered more than six years’ worth of political contributions to more than half a dozen Los Angeles politicians.... ...While the project was under review, Leung’s employees, business partners and many others in his orbit made donations to campaigns, officeholder accounts and political committees supporting an array of elected officials, including Garcetti, County Supervisor Janice Hahn and City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represented the Harbor Gateway neighborhood. The Times’ investigation found that a single house, located on 223rd...