LOS ANGELES

POLITICAL CORRUPTION COMES HOME TO LA COUNCIL—In what could be the tip of a corruption iceberg, a political fundraiser has agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery offense for coordinating a $500,000 cash payment that was intended to secure the help of an elected member of the Los Angeles City Council in resolving a labor organization’s appeal of a major real estate development project in the councilmember’s district.

CITYWATCH SPECIAL REPORT--In 2001, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System or LACERS* was 100.4% funded, it had a surplus of $557.7 million (no unfunded liability), and its annual contribution from the City was approximately $70 million. 

VOICES-“I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. . . The only thing we have to fear is. . .fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. . .”

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4, 1933. 

PLANNING WATCH-I am indebted to Hydee Feldstein, Chief Legislative Director of Better Way California, for her detailed analysis of Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 902.

PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS-It is important that I start off this article with my background. I worked in hospitals and nursing homes for about seven years in my 20s while pursuing a degree in nursing.

PERSPECTIVE-It is clear now that Biden will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020 barring unforeseen circumstances.

VIRUS CRISIS--As Americans do everything they can to stay safe and limit their exposure to COVID-19, we are seeing more clearly the great divides in our society.

ALPERN AT LARGE--It's normal to find the need to blame someone, or some entity, for a given crisis. It's also normal to misplace the blame and lose focus as to how to respond to a crisis or prevent a future crisis by that lack of focus. 

EASTSIDER-Both political parties have been running the other way over the issue of healthcare for all, whatever flavor you choose to talk about.

OTHER WORDS-Western medicine is predicated on the “germ theory of disease.” That’s what it sounds like: the theory that germs like bacteria and viruses cause disease. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-If the moron in the White House can insist on calling it the Chinese flu, we can call it the Trump Pandemic, which is far more accurate for Americans. 

CLIMATE POLITICS-A recent landmark study of massive ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland fulfills the “worst case” prognosis, as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

GELFAND’S WORLD--Interesting times indeed. I’d like to start with a modest editorial in support of all the crazy things that our state and local government are doing.

VIRUS STATUS (WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW) --Mayor Garcetti announced via Facebook Live on Sunday that he would be issuing an executive order to close Los Angeles entertainment venues, bars, movie theaters, nightclubs, and gyms through March 31.

DEEGAN ON LA-It seems so retro: the mix of an elected politico, booze, hookers, and envelopes of cash, but the Feds have jolted the city into the reality that dirty politicos are not an extinct species.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Despite my best hopes for our nation avoiding a panic, as evidenced at our grocery stores, it appears that as individuals Americans are panicking as much as Wall Street.  

@THE GUSS REPORT-Has Prince Eric, his Royal Garcettiness of LA, abandoned his Mayoral throne?

ONE MAN’S OPINION--Because the self-proclaimed “stable genius” is a “fucking moron,” it is easy to overlook the actual origin of the current crisis. 

VOICES-As many of us know, the conflict with Iran has been rapidly escalating.

WORLD WATCH-It is said where are two Jews, there are three opinions. And in the state of Israel, there is yet another version: where there are five Jews, there are nine political parties.

GELFAND’S WORLD--I won’t be the first to compare the President’s Wednesday night speech with the zombie apocalypse.