Barger says DOJ jail probe confirms years-old warning
LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger (R-Palmdale, Lancaster, Santa Clarita, San Marino, Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge, portions of the San Gabriel Valley) said yesterday that a newly released federal investigation into conditions at Men’s Central Jail validates what she’s been telling the Board of Supervisors for years — that the downtown facility is unfit to house anyone.
The U.S. Department of Justice notified LA County Sheriff Robert Luna this week that its Civil Rights Division is investigating whether conditions at the jail violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The inquiry, opened under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, will focus on the facility’s physical conditions rather than the conduct of the sheriff’s deputies who staff it, and is separate from a 2015 settlement over inadequate jail mental health care.
“For years, I have said plainly that Men’s Central Jail is antiquated, inhumane, and unfit for our workforce and those incarcerated there,” said Barger.
Barger pointed to a 2021 motion she authored directing county departments to develop a data-driven, funded plan to close the jail and replace it with a facility suited to house people with serious mental illness and complex medical needs.
“I have not seen the specifics behind the DOJ’s inquiry, and I won’t speculate on its conclusions. But I support a thorough, transparent review, and I expect the County to cooperate fully. My focus hasn’t changed: closing Men’s Central Jail the right way, with a plan that protects public safety, cares for a vulnerable population, and finally gives this facility the ending it’s long overdue,” Barger said.
Durazo, González, Bass press Newsom on Lineage fire accountability bills
State Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, Echo Park, Highland Park, Chinatown), Assemblymember Mark González (D-Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, Pico-Union, Chinatown, Vernon, Montebello, Commerce) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass yesterday called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign two bills aimed at holding corporations accountable for industrial disasters, following the Lineage fire that displaced Boyle Heights and East LA residents for months.
The three held a press conference at Proyecto Pastoral in Boyle Heights, pushing for AB 817 and SB 716, part of a legislative package Bass’s office sponsored that was introduced in mid-August.
AB 817 would block new building permits for cold storage facilities like Lineage unless they maintain an emergency contingency fund, and would make any resident settlements from the incident tax-free.
SB 716 would raise the cap on local fines for large non-residential structures from a flat $2,000 per day to up to $50,000 per violation.
“For 84 days, residents lived through the unimaginable, exposed to smoke and toxic chemicals, living beside 88 million pounds of rotting food, and battling infestations of rats and flies during the hottest time of the year,” said Durazo. “The fines on the books were not a deterrent for a multi-billion-dollar corporation running a slow cleanup.”
González, who authored AB 817, said the bills won’t undo what residents endured but are meant to ensure no other California community is left with the same unanswered questions.
Friedman briefs immigrant rights groups on congressional pushback to ICE
U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Burbank, Glendale, West Hollywood, parts of Los Angeles, Pasadena) convened her Immigration Advisory Committee this week to brief local legal aid clinics and immigrant rights groups on her efforts in Congress to rein in ICE enforcement.
The committee includes representatives from the International Rescue Committee, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights LA, Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service, and Neighborhood Legal Services of LA County.
“President Trump promised law and order, but ICE’s immigration raids have made our communities less safe by sending masked, armed, and unaccountable agents into our communities,” said Friedman.
Friedman is helping lead several bills addressing enforcement practices, including the No Masks for ICE Act, which would bar ICE agents from wearing facial coverings during operations, and the Bivens Act, which would end ICE agents’ immunity from being sued over constitutional violations. She’s also backing the Drain ICE Act, which would rescind $75 billion in ICE funding included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would limit enforcement actions at schools, hospitals, houses of worship and courthouses.
She’s also a co-lead on the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act, which would create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status holders, and has joined California colleagues in demanding better conditions at the California City ICE Processing Center.
Hermosa Beach marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 with Friday ceremony
Hermosa Beach Mayor Mike Detoy announced Hermosa Beach will hold its annual 9/11 Remembrance Wreath Laying Ceremony tomorrow at 7:30 a.m., marking 25 years since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The ceremony takes place at the Hermosa Beach 9/11 Memorial, where the Greenbelt meets Pier Avenue, and is free and open to the public and media. It will include remarks from Detoy and other community members, a Posting of the Colors by the Hermosa Beach Police Department Honor Guard and Scouts Troop 860, and ceremonial music from retired service members.
“Twenty-five years later, many of us still remember exactly where we were that Tuesday morning,” said Detoy. “We remember the people in uniform who ran toward danger. The man in the red bandana who gave his life to save his coworkers.”
Elected officials and police and fire representatives will lay wreaths at the memorial, which was established in 2010. The site was recently updated with restorations to its 9/11 Memorial Bench, a concrete tower sculpture containing a piece of steel from Ground Zero, and a gazebo.
No RSVP is required to attend. Flowers will be available afterward for attendees to lay at the memorial.
