Free Republic

A 30-year-old man was shot and killed in front of his children as they walked home from a family gathering. “James was an amazing guy,” said his brother Billy Vargas as he began to weep. “All I keep hearing in my head is my mom — ‘Take (care of) your brother he’ll always be by your side.” James Vargas was walking to get tacos with his wife and two children early Sunday morning when a man approached the father and shot him. The murder took place in South Los Angeles on the corner of Central Avenue and 92nd Street. Witnesses...

resident Biden is tapping former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu to coordinate the implementation of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, the White House announced Sunday. “In this role, Landrieu will oversee the most significant and comprehensive investments in American infrastructure in generations - work that independent experts verify will create millions of high-paying, union jobs while boosting our economic competitiveness in the world, strengthening our supply chains, and acting against inflation for the long term,” the White House said in a news release. In Sunday’s announcement, the White House touted Landrieu’s work shepherding New Orleans through its recovery following...

On Monday morning, thousands of citizens gathered in Grand Park outside Los Angeles City Hall to protest the city’s authoritarian vaccine mandate. A large percentage of the crowd – if not the majority – were municipal workers, including members of the LAPD and LAFD, as well as employees of several other city departments. Los Angeles’ citywide deadline for its employees to get the jab is set to kick in on December 18th. Anyone who is not vaccinated by that time will be fired from their jobs unless they have obtained an exemption – and we all know how likely they...

A Los Angeles Unified School District mandate went into effect Sunday that requires students who want to play sports to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Los Angeles Times reported. And with that, Crenshaw High School's football team — which possesses a storied history as five-time city champions — saw its season abruptly end, the paper said. Why? The mandate states that football teams need at least 18 fully vaccinated players to compete, the Times said, but Crenshaw has only 13 players who are fully vaccinated. And that's "insufficient eligible players," according to a LAUSD statement, KTTV-TV reported. The Cougars...

In an exclusive interview, Law Enforcement Today learned that L.A. County is mandating that employees register their vaccination status through Fulgent Genetics, an international technology company with ties to China, with a required consent to release their personal and genetic information to foreign nations. https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1449327351628709888/PxC4fEyK?format=jpg&name=small Hilda Solis, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, issued an executive order on Aug. 4 requiring the county’s 110,000 employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 . First responders, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are being required to upload their medical records and personal information into a Fulgent app...

California’s two largest school districts — Los Angeles and San Diego — are targeted in lawsuits challenging their student COVID-19 vaccination mandates, alleging the vaccines are too new and that unvaccinated children face discrimination and the denial of their equal right to a public education. Both school systems were ahead of the state in requiring student vaccines as a measure to make campuses safer and to limit spread of the coronavirus in the community — and their mandates are more comprehensive than the state requirement, which has yet to be codified into law. In Los Angeles, an individual parent who...

Hawthorne: A man died after he tried to hit people on a sidewalk with his truck, crashed against a building and then was pulled out and beaten by the group in Southern California, authorities said. The man was asked to leave a business in Hawthorne early Saturday and then argued with someone while walking to his truck, said Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The man then intentionally drove the truck onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting a group of patrons before his truck wedged against a tree, the Daily Breeze reported. As the patrons tried to...

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) became the first in the nation to require all children aged 12 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Los Angeles Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to approve the mandate for all children 12 and older, with those involved in extracurricular activities, such as sports, to be fast-tracked to get their first required shot by October 3, followed up by the second before Halloween. “It’s about the collective good,” board President Kelly Gonez said before the vote, reported the New York Post. “It’s about what’s best for the community as a whole...

Vessel congestion outside the busiest US gateway for trade with Asia is clogged with the most inbound container vessels in nearly six months. Bloomberg data shows the number of containerships queuing off the coast of Los Angeles has reached 37 on Sunday evening, that’s three less than the all-time-high observed on Feb. 1. On Sunday, the average waits for berth space, a designated location in a port used for mooring vessels when vessels are not at sea, was 6.2 days, compared with 5.7 in late June. That number topped eight days in April. Readers may recall the collapse of the...

Amid a new surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Los Angeles on Wednesday moved toward requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations indoors at restaurants, gyms and other spaces. The Los Angeles City Council voted to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance requiring patrons to have at least one dose of the vaccine to be able to enter the indoor public spaces. The motion, which was introduced by Council President Nury Martinez and Councilman Mitch O’Farrell last week, applies to restaurants, bars, retail establishments, fitness centers, spas, and entertainment centers like stadiums, concert venues and movie theaters. It’s still unclear...

Breakthrough cases: Over 25% of new COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County are fully vaccinated people In June fully vaccinated people accounted for 20% of all the cases diagnosed in LA County, while unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people accounted for 80% of the cases.Video of the news report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulrcte_S06k

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police declared an unlawful assembly and fired non-lethal projectiles to disperse an unruly crowd on Saturday after a dueling protest over transgender rights at a Los Angeles spa turned violent. The protests stemmed from a video that circulated online earlier this month, in which an irate customer complained to the staff at Wi Spa that a transgender woman was in the women's section of the spa. The video sparked controversy after the spa defended its policy of allowing transgender customers in its facilities, the Los Angeles Times reported. Police declared an unlawful assembly in front of...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is criticizing the county's decision to order masks to be worn indoors again, claiming the mandate is "not backed by science" and contradicts federal guidelines. Villanueva was responding Friday to an order announced the day before by the county Department of Public Health. Starting Saturday at 11:59 p.m., all county residents are supposed to wear masks indoors under rules similar to those in effect prior to California reopening on June 15. "Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is not backed by science and...

L.A. County officials release new Health Officer Order requiring masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. This will go into effect on Saturday night at 11:59 p.m. https://twitter.com/CBSLA/status/1415779973990785025

The grisly killing of a Los Angeles rapper was captured live on Instagram after the hip-hop artist and alleged gang member began streaming moments before his death. According to reports, 21-year-old Zerail Dijon Rivera, who goes by the name ‘Indian Red Boy’, was sitting in his car with a friend in Hawthorne, a city in Los Angeles County, California, when gunshots began to ring out. Rivera, who was livestreaming at the time, was struck in the face, according to local media reports. In the video, the young rapper reportedly mumbles “get help” before slumping over. Those who saw the horrific...

Media sources in Louisiana are reporting Governor Bel Edwards has vetoed SB118, the Constitutional Carry bill, as he previously stated he would. From the advertiser.com:Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has vetoed a bill to allow people to carry concealed handguns in Louisiana without a permit or training, which could fuel a growing movement for a veto-override session from the Republican-controlled Legislature.The bill would restore the right to carry loaded handguns, openly or concealed to Louisiana. Louisiana was one of the first states to deny people the right to carry concealed weapons, in the early 1800s.Slavery was common in Louisiana before...

Governor Bel Edwards, Public domain, 2016The Louisiana Legislature passed SB118, Constitutional Carry, on 1 June, 2021. The Senate passed the bill 27 to 9. The House passed the bill 73 to 28. The bill was enrolled, signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on 3 June, and sent to Governor Edwards by the Secretary of the Senate on 4 June, 2021. Under the Louisiana Constitution, if the Legislature is not in session ten days after the bill is delivered to the governor, the governor has 20 days to veto the bill after delivery.The bill...

The Port of Los Angeles announced Tuesday that it had earned the distinction as the first port in the Western Hemisphere to handle more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in a single month. May was the busiest month in the 114-year history of the United States’ busiest port. The Port of LA moved a total of 1,012,248 TEUs, up 74% from May 2020, when COVID-19 had stalled global trade. The Port of Long Beach and South Carolina Ports Authority last week also reported record Mays. And the Georgia Ports Authority announced it had had 10 consecutive months of...

Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) will vote in September on a declaration to call for an end of US aid to Israel. The resolution will also ask its members to vote in favor of “the international campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against apartheid in Israel.” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz sent a motion form to members that stated: I move that UTLA denounce the recent bombings in The West Bank and Gaza by the Israeli resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilian people, mostly women and children. Palestinians have the right to self-determination free of violence and...

The Louisiana legislature passed SB 118 with veto-proof majorities. The House sent the bill, with amendments to the Senate, after voting for it 73 to 27 on 27 May 2021. Constitutional Carry is a reasonable facsimile of the state of law when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. At that time, no state, nor the federal government required any governmental permission to carry arms openly or concealed.The Senate passed the amended bill on 1 June 2021, 27 ayes to 9 nays. SB118 will be sent to Governor Bel Edwards. It was enrolled on 3 June. Governor Edwards has 20...