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Social media influencer sued for wrongful death in Malibu Fourth of July crash

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A social media influencer who collided head-on in a Fourth of July crash in Malibu has been sued by the family of the ride-share driver killed in the fatal crash, alleging the influencer was “severely intoxicated and impaired” at the time.

Summer Wheaton was driving a 2019 Mercedes-Benz when, according to authorities, the vehicle crossed the center median on Pacific Coast Highway and crashed into a 2020 Cadillac.

The social media influencer, who describes herself as a “wellness advocate,” attended a Fourth of July party at the famed restaurant Nobu before the crash and is accused in the suit of driving under the influence of “intoxicating substances.”

The lawsuit was filed Dec. 3 by the family of Martin Okeke, who was killed in the crash.

Attorneys representing Okeke’s family did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.

Formerly a licensed real estate agent, Wheaton describes herself as a “founder, speaker and wellness” advocate in her website, where she supports healthy eating and lifestyle choices.

Wheaton has amassed more than 100,000 followers on Instagram but made her account private days after the fatal crash.

On Tuesday, she made a public post for the first time in months, sharing a video where she said, “The last few months have been hard.”

“You know that feeling when life seems like it’s all falling apart, but somehow it’s a start of something really beautiful? Well, that was me,” Wheaton says in the video that shows her looking into a mirror and showing a scar on her arm. “I went through moments where I truly didn’t know how I’d pull through.”

She then goes on to promote a “faith-based planner” that she is selling for $34.99.

Wheaton did not return messages seeking comment.

No criminal charges have been filed in the crash. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Arens said the case is still under investigation, and detectives are working with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office to consider possible charges.

The lawsuit also names Nobu Malibu, the Hwood Group LLC and DBDJ LLC as defendants in the case, alleging that Wheaton was hired to attend the party along PCH and was “expected to consume intoxicants.”

An attorney representing Nobu said Wheaton was not hired or contracted by the restaurant.

Representatives for Hwood Group and DBDJ did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.

Hwood Group regularly hosts a Fourth of July party at Nobu Malibu, dubbed Red, White & Bootsy. A hospitality and marketing company, Hwood Group hosted the event, featuring celebrities that included Mike Tyson and Wiz Khalifa.

But four days before the party, the city of Malibu rescinded the permit for the event, citing concerns about traffic and safety.

The lawsuit also alleges Nobu and the hosts continued marketing the party and ultimately held the event despite having the permits revoked by the city.

Attorneys for the popular restaurant contend that the city’s decision to rescind the permit was unfounded, said Benjamin Reznik, an attorney representing Nobu.

Reznik said Nobu abided by the city’s initial conditions for the permit, and has appealed a fine that was issued. A decision on the appeal has not yet been made by the city.

For example, Reznik said, Nobu agreed that guests would be shuttled to Nobu and that there would be no on-site parking.

The lawsuit, however, alleges that Wheaton drove herself to the event, and that the defendants returned Wheaton’s car keys to her at the end of the event even though she had become “severely intoxicated and impaired.”

Reznik said the event did not have any valet service, and that Nobu has reviewed and provided surveillance video of the party to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“We did not have her keys, we did not park her car,” he said.

The video shows that Wheaton attended the party, he said, but there was no obvious sign that she was intoxicated when she left.

“If that is her, then that person that walked out did not walk out intoxicated,” Reznik said.

Reznik said the video also shows that Wheaton left Nobu some time before the crash occurred, and it’s unclear if she left the area or went to a nearby restaurant or bar during that time.

Reznik said there was a “time gap” between the time she left and the crash, but he was unsure how much time had elapsed.

Officials for Nobu have not yet had a chance to review the lawsuit, he said.

The lawsuit alleges Wheaton “failed to keep a proper lookout, drove at an excessive speed, and made an unsafe lane change, causing a head on collision.”

Okeke suffered severe injuries and later died.

A picturesque and famous stretch of highway with views of the ocean, Pacific Coast Highway has been the site of numerous deadly crashes. The city of Malibu has announced several road improvements with the help of Caltrans to improve safety.

On Thursday, the city announced it was working with Caltrans to relocate street parking in some areas of the 21-mile stretch of road, and also creating bike lanes.

Okeke’s family is seeking unspecified damages to be determined at trial.

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California e-bike voucher program flooded with applications

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Californians still hoping to nab a state voucher to help pay for an e-bike this holiday season were met instead with seven unwelcome words: “We are no longer accepting incentive applications.”

That’s the message the California Air Resources Board had on its E-Bike Incentive Project webpage as of Friday after residents flooded the agency with applications, leaving some disappointed and frustrated by the process.

The program began accepting online applications at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Within 45 minutes, the application window was closed after nearly 100,000 applications were submitted, according to the air resources board.

Some applicants complained they were unable to log on mere minutes after that window opened. Some posted screenshots on social media of estimated wait times exceeding an hour.

Others said the application process froze or produced error messages.

Lys Mendez, the board’s communications director, said a fully staffed team handled the application process, which included testing the website and checking for technical issues.

She said problems could have arisen from people using multiple devices under one IP address or not properly refreshing the website, or if their browsers were outdated.

“We were also staffing a helpline, and people who followed our advice on the above after speaking with the representative reported being able to get into the queue,” Mendez said.

The air resources board says additional application windows will be announced in the coming days.

Mendez said the board would apply lessons learned from this launch to future application opportunities.

“The first round of the launch points to an incredible demand for alternative forms of transportation and a willingness to use cleaner mobility options,” Mendez said.

In announcing the program, the air resources board said vouchers would be available to provide as much as $2,000 toward the purchase of an e-bike — a bicycle that includes an on-board electric motor to help make pedaling easier.

The board previously said the program would begin with $3 million, with the goal of providing vouchers for the purchase of 1,500 e-bikes.

The goal is to lower the cost barrier for residents, hopefully reducing car trips and, ultimately, greenhouse gas emissions.

E-bikes vary in price. On average, they’re about $2,000, though some models can cost upward of $6,000, according to outdoor recreational retailer REI. Consumers should avoid extremely low-priced electric bikes, which can be lower quality, according to Consumer Reports.

“By using e-bikes, people can get around and meet everyday needs while improving air quality,” Steven Cliff, the air resources board’s executive officer, said in a statement in early December. “Prioritizing equity and access is key as we work to achieve our zero-emissions goals, and this incentive program will support those efforts by helping e-bikes be part of the solution.”

Applications were open to California residents 18 years and older with an annual household income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. For example, a single-person household would have to make no more than about $45,000 per year and a two-member household no more than $61,000 to qualify.

Applicants whose income was at or below 225% of the federal poverty level received priority on the application list, according to the air resources board. That translated into a single-family household making no more than about $33,000 and a two-member household income of no more than $45,000.

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They were locked up 17 years ago for a murder. L.A.’s new D.A. is setting them free

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In a dramatic courtroom scene that one wrongly convicted woman called “a Christmas miracle,” a Los Angeles County judge on Friday vacated the murder sentences of two people — 17 years after they were locked up — and ordered their immediate release.

“Those charges are dismissed,” said Superior Court Judge William Ryan, adding: “You have to understand how rare this is.”

As weeping family members and friends of Lombardo Palacios, 33, and Charlotte Pleytez, 37, looked on, the courtroom exploded in applause.

The pair were convicted in 2009 for the 2007 murder of Hector Flores, who was shot to death in his car in a strip mall off Sunset Boulevard. The two had come onto the radar of LAPD detectives after word hit the street that the killers were associated with the White Fence gang, a predominately Latino group operating in the area, according to court records. The pair were identified by two witnesses who picked their faces out of a book of photographs of gang members. However, the shooting happened at night, and one witness had poor vision and wore trifocal lenses.

Still, a jury convicted Palacios and Playtez, who was pregnant at the time of her arrest and later gave birth behind bars, sentencing them to 50 years to life.

In the wake of the shooting, police had pulled Palacios, then 15, out of bed and interrogated him for hours. Eventually, the teenager implicated himself in the killing — although details of what he said did not match the crime, according to descriptions of the incident included in court filings.

Palacios later recanted and in the years since has maintained his innocence.

A 2005 image of a young Lombardo Palacios.

A 2005 image of Lombardo Palacios, who was 15 when he falsely confessed to murder after hours of police interrogation.

(Courtesy of Sigry Ortez)

In a letter to the Innocence Project released by his attorney, Palacios explained why he confessed to something he didn’t do. The detectives, he said, “kept repeating the story of the crime to me. I was frustrated and tired of the situation.”

Frightened and exhausted, he said, he began to agree with them.

“I took the story and placed myself in it. I said everything they wanted me to say,” he wrote.

His co-defendant, Pleytez, a woman a few years older whom he barely knew, has always maintained she was not involved in the crime.

Though Palacios’ interrogation was ultimately not used at trial, his lawyer, Nicolas Tomas, said the confession likely played a role in the outcome in that it gave detectives a degree of confidence that they had the right people in custody. Years later, a private investigator working for Palacios’ defense team would make a critical discovery: other suspects overlooked by police.

Armed with that new evidence, the defense team asked former District Attorney George Gascón and his Conviction Integrity Unit to review the case. In October, Gascón moved to have Palacios and Playtez declared “factually innocent.”

At the time, Gascón told the Times that he was “convinced that not only are they innocent, but we believe we might know who committed the murder.”

The motion his office filed jointly with attorneys for Palacios and Pleytez identified new suspects, though their names were redacted in court records. But the move to release the pair in October hit an unexpected twist: The original prosecutor who tried the case, Dayan Mathai, still a member of the district attorney’s office, showed up in court to protest.

Mathai’s appearance in court created an unusual situation: two prosecutors from the same office arguing for different outcomes. Mathai said he wanted to offer comment on “the credibility of some of the witnesses” who were supporting the exoneration.

A Feb. 2024 photo of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Ryan.

“You have to understand how rare this is,” L.A. County Superior Court Judge William Ryan told Lombardo Palacios and Charlotte Pleytez after vacating their murder convictions.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Judge Ryan continued the October hearing to a later date, dashing the immediate hopes of the two defendants, as well as family members who had gathered at the prison gates expecting their release.

In the interim, Los Angeles County voters removed Gascón from office and replaced him with Hochman. After reviewing the case, Hochman agreed with his predecessor that the pair should not be in prison.

This week, Hochman, in a brief also signed by Mathai, asked the judge to vacate their convictions.

“New evidence uncovered … has caused the LADA to lose confidence in the conviction,” he wrote.

He asked the judge to consider the question of whether the pair are “factually innocent,” which means that authorities acknowledge they did not commit the crime, at a later date.

Hochman’s brief also said that the prosecutors and police officers who initially put the pair in jail had done nothing wrong.

“This newly discovered evidence was not available,” at the time of the original investigation, he wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that any of the investigating officers, responding officers, or prosecutors involved in the case acted inappropriately, unethically, or illegally.”

Mathai’s original opposition to the pair’s release created a moment of tension in the courtroom again Friday. Initially, the judge said he would release the pair, but only if they wore ankle monitors. He explained that he was doing so because of the concerns Mathai had raised in his October filing.

Hochman assured the judge that Mathai no longer had concerns about the pair’s release. “We’ve lost confidence in the conviction,” he said, adding: “We went through everything.”

For Pleytez, Palacios and their families, the legal intricacies paled in comparison to the fact that they were, finally, going home.

“It’s a Christmas Miracle,” Pleytez told the judge. “I’m just beyond grateful.”

Attorney Nicolas Tomas speaks with his imprisoned client Lombardo Palacios by phone.

Attorney Nicolas Tomas speaks by phone with client Lombardo Palacios, then still in a Vacaville prison, on developments in his case. Palacios’ sister, Sigry Ortez, left, listens in.

(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

After the hearing was over, Pleytez’s mother presented her with a gift she will need now that she is free. “I have a phone,” she exclaimed. “My mama bought me a phone!”

Before the hearing, Palacios, too, was presented with a new phone. “This is my first time holding a phone in 18 years,” he said, as his sister, Sigry Ortez, showed him how to send texts.

Before the hearing, Hochman had gathered with the families outside the courtroom, making introductions and exchanging hugs.

“This will be a good one, a good Christmas,” Hochman said to Palacios’ mother, who told him that seeing her son freed was something she had wished for during the holidays every year of his incarceration.

Palacios thanked Hochman for backing his release, and added, “I knew that justice would prevail.”

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Tom Girardi to surrender to federal prison for medical evaluation, judge rules

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The now disgraced and disbarred attorney Tom Girardi must surrender to federal authorities early next year for a medical evaluation at a federal prison in North Carolina, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton amounts to a procedural interlude after the 85-year-old Girardi was convicted of wire fraud in August. Girardi was to be sentenced Friday, with prosecutors seeking 14 years in prison — and one of his former clients had flown in from Indonesia to witness the proceeding.

But his defense attorneys had argued that Girardi’s dementia and ongoing cognitive decline warranted keeping him out of prison and in the memory care ward of his Orange County nursing home.

To resolve the dispute, Staton canceled the sentencing and held a hearing Friday where she ruled that Girardi must turn himself in to U.S. Marshals on Jan. 7 and be flown to the federal prison in Butner, N.C., an advanced medical facility for inmates. Girardi is supposed to remain there for up to 30 days as prison staff observe him and evaluate whether prison, or another suitable medical facility, is the appropriate site to serve out a sentence.

After the evaluation, the judge said she would review the findings of the Bureau of Prisons and hold another hearing before rescheduling a sentencing hearing.

“I was pretty ready to proceed with sentencing,” the judge said. But after attorneys raised in recent days the prospect of Girardi serving time in a medical facility, Staton said she spent her weekend researching the issue. “The legal statute is relatively clear, it’s just the logistics of it” were not, she said.

Still, Girardi’s defense attorneys opposed the 30-day period in federal custody, arguing that it was tantamount to incarceration. Deputy Federal Public Defender Samuel Cross asked the judge to instead have his client observed in his current nursing home, saying he has “special needs.”

“We expect him to deteriorate and not do well there,” Cross said of the Butner complex. He also lamented that North Carolina was “as far as possible” from the Orange County facility where Girardi has resided for years.

Cross also expressed concerns that Girardi’s cross-country transport would be disruptive to his client, with bus or plane stops along the way that lengthened the journey.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Scott Paetty countered that the staff in North Carolina and with the U.S. Marshals were “well-versed” in handling someone with Girardi’s needs, saying there was round-the-clock skilled nursing. “It’s the highest priority case that Bureau of Prisons has,” Paetty said at one point, adding that the agency’s chief psychologist was involved.

The judge said she would make clear in her ruling that Girardi would be flown out the day of his surrender and taken via plane directly to the East Coast.

Girardi was found guilty in August of four counts of wire fraud for embezzling millions of dollars from his law firm’s clients, then using the funds to underwrite a lavish lifestyle for himself and his now-estranged wife, reality TV star Erika Girardi.

In advance of his trial, Girardi’s defense attorneys had contended that their client was mentally incompetent and suffered from a form of dementia. Staton disagreed and said that Girardi was cognitively impaired but competent and even showed signs of exaggerating his dementia symptoms.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Girardi’s law firm, Girardi Keese, was run like a Ponzi scheme, where clients’ settlements were misappropriated to cover other law firm debts or finance his lavish spending. The firm collapsed in late 2020 amid evidence that he stole settlements from widows and orphans in an Indonesian plane crash, and hundreds of former clients and vendors came forward saying they were collectively cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Girardi testified in his own defense, where some of his alleged cognitive impairments were on display to the jury. “Every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get,” he told jurors.

“Is your law firm still open, Tom?” Cross asked.

“Yes,” Girardi said.

Jurors convicted him after four hours of deliberation.

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Video of jailer appearing to slam inmate into wall sparks calls for DOJ investigation

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Two lawmakers from California have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a violent incident at Men’s Central Jail in 2022, when a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy appeared to bash a handcuffed inmate’s head into a concrete wall, leaving a gaping, 3-inch wound.

The incident first became public last summer when the American Civil Liberties Union obtained a 15-second clip of surveillance video and posted it online. The graphic footage showed two deputies chatting as a man emerged from his cell with his hands cuffed behind him. One deputy appeared to grab the inmate from behind and slam him headfirst into the wall, without a clear provocation.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department opened an internal criminal investigation, but this year the district attorney’s office formally declined to prosecute either of the deputies involved.

In a five-page May 17 memo explaining their reasoning, prosecutors said it was unclear whether the deputies intentionally harmed the inmate or whether his injuries were from him “swinging and lunging his own body toward the wall.”

At the time, ACLU attorneys criticized that decision and said they planned to ask the U.S. DOJ to take up the case. Now, Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) have written letters to Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland echoing that request.

“The LADA’s failure to prosecute in this situation appears to be part of a concerning pattern of failing to hold deputies in the Los Angeles County jails accountable for their abuses,” Kamlager-Dove wrote in a Dec. 17 letter. “Fortunately, in the past, the United States Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney of the Central District of California have stepped in and played an important role in remedying the LADA’s failures.

“The federal government has successfully pursued cases against notable members of the LASD,” she wrote, “from then-Sheriff [Lee] Baca and then-Undersheriff [Paul] Tanaka to lieutenants, sergeants, and deputies who worked in the jails — for various types of crimes.”

Sent a week earlier, Padilla’s letter made similar points, saying the district attorney’s memo “mischaracterizes” the footage and requesting that the DOJ investigate. On Friday, spokespeople for Padilla and Kamlager-Dove said the lawmakers had not yet received responses.

The district attorney’s office did not immediately offer comment. In an emailed statement this week, the Sheriff’s Department said it has worked to decrease violence inside its jails as part of an effort to comply with the terms of a long-standing class-action lawsuit.

“Over the past two years we have seen tremendous progress toward this goal,” the department said, highlighting the creation of new policies banning jailers from punching inmates in the head or face unless the person is “physically assaultive” or “an imminent danger.”

This week, Peter Eliasberg, the ACLU chief counsel involved in two long-standing class-action lawsuits against the jails, lauded the lawmakers’ letters.

“We are grateful for the effort of the senator and congressperson to push the Department of Justice to take steps to provide accountability in the jails given the abject failing of the district attorney’s office to take action in the case,” he told The Times.

Eliasberg went on to acknowledge some improvements in the jails, but he said that progress has been a “mixed bag” because jail officials continue to deem many uses of force permissible even when court-appointed monitors who later review them determine they are not.

The incident at issue took place on July 4, 2022. According to the D.A.’s five-page memo, deputies Jose Peralta and Johnathan Gutierrez walked up to the inmate’s cell to escort him to the shower. (Neither deputy responded Friday to an emailed request for comment, and it is not clear whether they have attorneys.)

The inmate has not been identified in public reports. After the deputies cuffed him and he exited the cell, the two jailers said he told them: “Don’t touch me.”

The surveillance video does not have sound, but according to the D.A.’s memo, Peralta claimed the inmate threatened to head-butt Gutierrez.

By Gutierrez’s account, once the inmate exited his cell he quickly turned toward the shower with a “sudden movement” that caught the deputy off guard. Gutierrez reacted by grabbing the inmate’s forearm and reaching for his shoulder. Then, he alleged, the inmate “lunged his upper body forward.”

According to the memo, the deputy said his right hand “ended up behind” the inmate’s head as the man was moving forward.

“It was his own momentum that caused his head to make contact with the wall,” Gutierrez wrote in a use-of-force report that prosecutors quoted in their memo.

Eliasberg has characterized that description as “patently false.”

To prove the deputies committed a crime, prosecutors wrote, they’d have to show that the force was willful, unlawful and not self-defense. But they said the video appears to confirm that the inmate made some “sudden movements” and started moving “in the direction of the wall” before Gutierrez grabbed him by the back of the neck.

The Sheriff’s Department currently is subject to several consent decrees stemming from federal lawsuits over treatment and conditions inside its jails. One case, known as Rosas vs. Luna, began in 2012 when inmates alleged “degrading, cruel and sadistic” attacks by deputies had become common.

Three years later, the inmates — represented by the ACLU — and the county came to an agreement about specific changes the Sheriff’s Department would make to reduce the violence behind bars.

Nearly a decade later, there have been some signs of improvement, as county data show jailers punch inmates in the face far less frequently than they used to. Over the past two years, the department said this week, the number of times jailers have used force has decreased by 23%, and the number of head strikes — punches to the face or head — has fallen by 35%.

“Custody staff are more frequently utilizing de-escalation techniques and are using more physically significant force options (such as punches) less frequently,” the statement continued. “These physically significant uses of force decreased by 27% from 2022-2023 and we are on track to decrease an additional 10% this year.”

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Starbucks baristas in L.A. and elsewhere go on strike

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Baristas at a handful of Starbucks around Los Angeles as well as in Chicago and Seattle went on strike Friday, kicking off a work stoppage that union officials said would include hundreds of the coffee giant’s stores by Christmas Eve.

The union, Starbucks Workers United, said the strike was necessary after they failed to reach a deal in negotiations with the company over what would be a first contract for Starbucks workers. By walking out from five locations in the Los Angeles area and other key markets, workers are hoping to pressure Starbucks during the busy holiday season, when its frappuccinos and themed drinks are in high demand.

The union said it plans to spread the work stoppages to potentially hundreds of stores over the course of the five-day action that will conclude on Christmas Eve. It is looking to extract from Starbucks a more robust wage proposal and an agreement to quickly resolve outstanding unfair labor practice charges filed by workers in recent years.

A Starbucks tucked into a strip mall on Alameda Street in Burbank that typically opens at 4:30 a.m. stayed closed Friday. At 10 a.m. a crowd of about 30 Starbucks workers, union organizers and supporters walked a picket line outside, chanting, “no contract, no coffee,” and, “Hey Starbucks, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.”

Kai Krawczeniuk, 25, a shift supervisor at the Burbank store, said Starbucks “made an economic offer that was unacceptable.”

“It was insulting, frankly. That made us feel like we have to act, we have to show them we mean business,” Krawczeniuk said.

In a statement, the union said Starbucks had proposed an economic package earlier this month “with no new wage increases for union baristas now and a guarantee of only 1.5% in future years.”

Starbucks said about 10 stores of its more than 10,000 company-operated locations in the United States did not open as planned today.

“There has been no significant impact to our store operations. We are aware of disruption at a small handful of stores, but the overwhelming majority of our US stores remain open and serving customers as normal,” said Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee in an emailed statement.

The company criticized the union, saying it prematurely ended bargaining sessions this week and proposed an immediate 64% wage increase which “is not sustainable.”

“It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date,” the company said in its statement.

Besides the Burbank store, four other stores in Southern California, including in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Highland Park and Anaheim were also hit with strikes, said Evelyn Zepeda, organizing director in California for Workers United.

Former Burbank mayor Konstantine Anthony, who currently is a member of the city council, joined the Starbucks picket line Friday morning and said Starbucks was “nickel-and-diming” workers. It was “no coincidence,” he said, that the Starbucks strike coincided with work stoppages by Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers in the run-up to Christmas.

“Workers have shown up at the exact moment where these two companies make their biggest profits, Christmas season,” Anthony said. “Power lies with the people, people who make the drinks, people who deliver the packages. If you want to give a good product to your customers you need to treat the people delivering that product well.”

The new work stoppages mark a major turning point for Starbucks Workers United, which formed in 2021 and steadily has made headway in its campaign to convince baristas at Starbucks around the U.S. to join. Hopes that the two sides would be able to hammer out a deal had been high since February, when the company pledged publicly to work with the union and take a more neutral approach toward the drive to organize workers.

The conciliatory stance was an aboutface for a company that previously had intensely resisted the campaign to organize its workers. Federal labor regulators found Starbucks repeatedly violated labor laws by disciplining and firing workers involved in unionizing activity, shutting down stores and stalling contract negotiations.

The National Labor Relations Board has conducted a total of 647 union elections at Starbucks stores, with 109 of them falling short, several others with challenged ballots and 528 currently with certified bargaining units, according to NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado. In California, 66 stores have held union elections and 44 of them have had their bargaining units recognized by the labor board.

Blado said workers have filed more than 700 unfair labor charges against Starbucks, its subsidiary Siren Retail Corp., or its law firm Littler Mendelson, alleging a range of violations. The union has not filed any new charges against Starbucks since late February.

In March, the federal board ordered Starbucks to stop threatening and interrogating employees at a store in Cypress Park about union organizing efforts and to post a notice of workers rights. In September the board ordered Starbucks to stop threatening workers with the closure of a store in Los Angeles if organizing activity continued. And in October, the board found that former chief executive of Starbucks Howard Schultz violated labor law by encouraging a Long Beach employee to quit after they raised issues related to unionization in 2022.

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With government shutdown looming, what happens to bird flu surveillance?

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As government agencies prepare for a potential shutdown, questions about the government’s response to a potentially burgeoning H5N1 bird flu pandemic are top of mind for many public health and agriculture officials.

Inquiries to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the dairy industry and the new National Milk Testing Strategy — a program implemented last week, that when fully running, will test the nation’s milk supply for H5N1 virus — went unanswered. Questions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were redirected to Human Health Services, which also went unanswered.

Because much of the H5N1 response is being coordinated at the county and state levels, it is likely those will continue, said researchers working outside the federal purview, including academics.

At a press conference Friday, California’s state epidemiologist, Erica Pan, and state veterinarian, Annette Jones, said they anticipate that the federal government will continue to provide support and help.

“Our CDC colleagues have noted that they are…activated for a response, and that they would be continuing to respond even if there’s a federal shutdown,” Pan said.

Jones said that in prior shutdowns, USDA veterinarians and “other specialists” were exempted, “so we would anticipate and hope that they would be similarly exempted” this time.

That said, there could be problems.

“A federal shutdown could slow the ability to confirm H5N1 cases, obtain and report genomic surveillance data, and slow the updates to other national and international partners,” said Rick Bright, a virologist and the former head of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “In most shutdowns, there are a handful of essential staff that are still required to come to work. However, these are mostly senior level management personnel, and not the general laboratory workers.”

Bright said the Health and Human Services secretary “has some discretion to determine priorities that must continue, though this is usually exercised when there is a declared emergency.”

While Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a bird flu state of emergency for California, the U.S. government has not.

Bright said state governments and agencies are likely to continue collecting milk samples “but those samples that will be shipped to USDA for testing will not get processed until the government reopens.”

Bryan Richards, the emerging disease coordinator at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center said on Thursday in an email that National Animal Health Laboratory Network laboratories, such as the one testing milk at UC Davis, are typically run by universities, so they are likely to remain operational.

But it’s unclear whether the National Veterinary Surveillance Laboratory in Ames, Iowa — where confirmatory testing for bird flu in animals is currently taking place — will stay open.

It’s also unclear if the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will remain open and how many people may be staffed, Richards said. “I assume they are shut down other than a few ‘critical’ positions.”

Communications staff are also likely to be affected. Currently, the USDA and CDC provide information to the public, including a running tally of the number of people, dairy herds, commercial poultry flocks, wild animals and birds that have tested positive for the disease.

On Friday, the CDC reported that 61 people had been infected with the virus during 2024. The USDA’s animal inspection service reported that 875 dairy herds across 16 states had been infected, including 659 in California.

California has been a hot zone for the outbreak, representing the vast majority of infected cattle herds, and more than half the people sickened by the virus. It is also where two raw milk producers have been quarantined and subject to recalls, and where every wastewater system tested by WastewaterScan — an infectious disease monitoring network led by researchers at Stanford and Emory University, with lab testing partner Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences organization — has shown a positive hit for the virus in the last several weeks.

WastewaterScan samples from 29 sites across the state, including around San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego. There are large gaps in the Central Valley, although a site at Turlock — where there are several dairy processing plants — has had positive hits since August.

A 2024 USDA government shutdown “Contingency Plan” states that there are “excepted” activities that would not be affected by a funding freeze. These include “emergency circumstances such that the suspension of the function would imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.”

It is unclear if the federal government views the H5N1 bird flu contagion in domestic and wild animals as an “emergency.”

A similar CDC contingency plan is more detailed, but still not clear on the fate of bird flu surveillance, testing and investigations.

According to the document, the agency will continue to respond to “public health and natural emergencies, manage high-risk recalls, pursue criminal enforcement work and civil investigations related to imminent threats to human life… conduct for cause inspections of regulated facilities, conduct surveillance of adverse events reports for issues that could cause human harm, and other critical activities supporting the imminent safety of human life, as appropriate. “

In addition, the document states that staff should continue to address “other critical public health challenges, including drug shortages, and outbreaks related to foodborne illness and infectious diseases.”

The document notes that nearly 40,000 staff members are likely to be furloughed, while close to 50,000 will remain working.

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UC resolves federal civil rights charges of antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias

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The University of California has resolved nine federal civil rights complaints of antisemitism and bias against Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestinian students stemming from Israel-Hamas war protests at five UC campuses, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday.

The complaints alleged that UCLA, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis and Santa Cruz failed to respond promptly or effectively to harassment of their students based on their actual or perceived national origin and that some of the UC campuses subjected these students to different treatment over access to university programs.

UCLA was a particular hot spot, receiving more than 150 bias complaints about protests and rallies in October and November 2023, as well as complaints related to a large pro-Palestinian encampment on campus over the spring. The reported incidents included chants of “death to Israel” and “intifada now” and complaints that checkpoints at the encampment allegedly denied entry to Jewish students who refused to denounce Zionism.

Muslim, Palestinian American and pro-Palestinian students also reported cases of unwanted filming, doxxing and being followed on and near UCLA campus by other students and members of the public. Many of the members of the pro-Palestinian encampment were Jewish students who identified as anti-Zionist.

Violence at the UCLA encampment against Jewish, Israeli American and pro-Palestinian protesters was “of particular concern,” the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights said.

Officials noted allegations that UCLA, through its campus police, failed to protect Palestinian, Arab and/or pro-Palestinian student protesters while they were violently attacked, injured, and intimidated by counter-protesters, including third parties. An independent review released last month by the UC Office of the President found a “chaotic” response by both administrators and campus police that resulted in a failure to protect students.

UC has agreed to resolve the federal complaints with stronger action to review reports of bias incidents, share campus responses to the federal civil rights office and obtain the office’s approval for any revisions to university policies related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

UC also agreed to train employees, public safety and campus police officers responsible for handling such complaints.

“The University of California unequivocally rejects antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of harassment and discrimination,” UC said in a statement.

“The University is pleased to share that it has entered a voluntary resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), furthering UC’s commitment to cultivate a respectful and welcoming environment free from discrimination and harassment based on national origin. This agreement builds upon the University’s ongoing efforts to combat discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim ancestry, and/or association with these actual or perceived identities.”

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Tensions brew over trans athletes at Riverside high school

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The debate over the rights of transgender athletes to compete in school sports intensified this week in the Inland Empire, as two Republican lawmakers called for the resignation of the Riverside Unified School District superintendent while LGBTQ+ advocates pleaded with the school board to “protect trans kids.”

During a packed five-hour meeting with crowds overflowing outside of the Riverside Adult School on Thursday night, speakers wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts expressed outrage about transgender girls on sports teams and in locker rooms. Some echoed calls for Supt. Renee Hill to resign and others urged the school board to defy state anti-discrimination laws. LGBTQ+ advocates, many sporting pink bandannas and waving Progress Pride flags, cheered when speakers called for an end to hate and harassment on campuses.

The controversy follows a lawsuit filed last month by two female students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, alleging that a trans girl had ousted them from coveted spots on the cross-country team. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, also claims that when the girls protested what they perceived as the unfairness of the situation — by wearing the “Save Girls Sports” shirts that read, “It’s common sense — XX (doesn’t equal) XY,” school officials compared it to wearing a swastika in front of a Jewish student.

Three girls pray among the overflow crowd outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting.

Three girls pray among the overflow crowd outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting.

The suit claims that the district’s policies and practices “unfairly restrict” the girls’ “freedom of expression and deny them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities.” The suit was filed on behalf of two girls and their parents by Advocates for Faith & Freedom, which describes itself as “a nonprofit legal ministry dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts.”

Following an hour of public comment, school board member Noemi Hernandez Alexander thanked speakers for voicing their opinions but emphasized that the board is bound by state law.

“Lobby your state legislators,” she said. “They are the ones creating the laws that we are bound by.”

State and federal laws prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying of students based on their actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, among other factors.

California education code explicitly says students must be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including sports teams and competitions, and use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed in their student records.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs most high school sports in California, permits transgender athletes to join teams based on their gender identity.

A supporter of transgender athletes waving a Progress Pride flag at the Riverside Unified School District meeting

A supporter of transgender athletes waves a Progress Pride flag during public comments at the Riverside Unified School District meeting.

Although he did not comment on the specifics of the Riverside suit, a statement from the office of state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said he is “committed to providing his unwavering support to ensure every student enjoys their right to an equal education free from discrimination and harassment.”

The fight in Riverside is one of several across California over trans women in high school and college sports. A Christian high school in Merced last month forfeited a volleyball match rather than play against a private school in San Francisco that had a trans student on the team, according to the San Jose Mercury News. At the college level, a former player and an assistant coach at San Jose State filed a lawsuit to try to ban a trans player from playing in a championship game. A judge later ruled the player could compete in the tournament.

What the plaintiffs say

Julianne Fleischer, legal counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, acknowledged California law. But she said districts are still bound by federal civil rights law that protect people from sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding.

A Biden administration move to expand Title IX rules and provide more protections for LGBTQ+ students is being fought in court by conservative groups and at least 20 Republican-led states — and the administration of President-elect Donald Trump is expected to reverse the actions. Trump has also made references about his desire to ban transgender student athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. He did not specify how he would do that.

A 'Save Girls Sports' supporter addressing the Riverside Unified School District board

A woman sporting a “Save Girls Sports” T-shirt addresses the Riverside Unified School District board.

During a news conference ahead of the school board meeting, Fleischer called on Trump and the next Congress to “restore Title IX as it was intended.”

“It’s very clear that Title IX was intended to protect biological women,” Fleischer said, “and we’ve seen a complete erasure of women in our sports and in our programs.”

Ryan Starling’s daughter Taylor is co-captain of King High’s cross-country team and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor had won a spot at the Mt. SAC Invitational, but was knocked out of the “Team Sweepstakes” portion of the meet because the transgender runner posted faster times. Taylor thus “missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition,” according to the lawsuit.

Starling said it was “heartbreaking” to see his daughter train hard this season and then “have it stripped away from her.”

All we’re asking for is equal treatment,” Starling said. “This is completely unfair.” Starling, who wore a hat reading “Support your local girl dad,” added that his daughter bested the transgender athlete by seven seconds in a subsequent meet.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor and the other plaintiff decided to protest at the Mt. SAC meet by wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts.

The lawsuit says that the two students who wore the shirts are religious Christians, and that the shirts were “intended to express their religious viewpoint and to advocate for the protection of fair competition for girls based on biological sex.” They also claim that “the messages on the shirts were not directed toward any teammate or student or individual.”

When they wore the shirts to cross-country practice on Nov. 1, the school’s athletic director told them the shirts created a hostile environment and that they had to remove them or cover them.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the school district’s action restricted the students’ right to free speech and is unconstitutional. It also asks the court to rule that the school district failed to provide equal treatment for girls in sport, a violation of Title IX, and it seeks monetary damages.

At the board meeting, several called on school board members to “grow a spine” and push back against state laws permitting transgender athletes to compete. They insisted their concerns weren’t rooted in bigotry, but in a desire to protect young women’s safety and their rights to compete on an equal playing field. At least one speaker posited that there should be a separate sports category for trans athletes.

Transgender athlete supporters take turns speaking during the Riverside Unified School District board meeting.

Transgender athlete supporters take turns speaking during the Riverside Unified School District board meeting.

In a statement, the Riverside Unified School District said it is “committed to ensuring that each student in our schools is safe and that students exercising their 1st Amendment rights, within the existing limits, will be allowed to do so.”

“At our district, we uphold students’ rights to free speech at school and encourage them to express their perspectives in a respectful and meaningful way, however, at the same time, we recognize that there are some limits to free speech in schools, including speech that constitutes a true threat, causes a material disruption to the learning environment, or infringes on the rights of other students,” the district said.

“Student safety remains our No. 1 priority and while we continue to focus on student learning, we are taking steps to minimize disruptions likely to arise from public attention on this issue,” the district said.

Trans athletes feel unsafe, bullied

A woman speaking during a press briefing at the the Inland Empire LGBTQ+ Center in Riverside

Daisy Gardner, outreach director of Our Schools USA, reads a statement on behalf of a parent of a transgender athlete during a press briefing at the Inland Empire LGBTQ+ Center in Riverside.

Meanwhile, in Riverside on Thursday, advocates gathered at the Inland Empire LGBTQ+ Center. Daisy Gardner, outreach director of Our Schools USA, read a statement from a parent of one of the transgender athletes at King High. Behind her, LGBTQ+ advocates held signs reading, “Riverside Against Bullying,” and “Let All Kids Play.”

“The anti-trans movement at King has gotten out of control,” Gardner said on behalf of the parent. “This is not about saving girls sports. This has become a bullying campaign aimed at our most marginalized and vulnerable communities.”

The student, a minor who is trying to remain anonymous, “loves playing chess, doing math, and above all, she loves running,” Gardner said on behalf of the parent. “She has goals and dreams, just like any other teenager out there. But it’s really hard to focus on your goals and dreams when you don’t feel safe.”

One adult advocate, Brianna Kick, said she has a friend who is a senior at King High and a transgender athlete on another school team who had found friends and belonging. But when the cross country controversy erupted, “that was ripped away from her,” Kick said. She said the friend is now scared to go to school and her attendance has dropped.

Several LGBTQ+ students told board members they feel unsafe in Riverside Unified schools and decried bullying on campuses. Their parents and allies called on the board to take a firm stance against harassment. With less than 2% of youth ages 13-17 identifying as transgender in California, one questioned whether trans athletes reasonably pose a threat on sports teams.

Assemblymember Bill Essayli speaking at the Riverside Unified School District meeting

Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) calls for the resignation of Riverside Unified Supt. Renee Hill during Thursday’s school board meeting.

Ahead of the Riverside school board meeting, Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) called for the resignation of Riverside Unified Supt. Hill.

“The school is providing what is perceived as preferential treatment to a trans student over the girls on these sports teams,” he told The Times. “At the end of the day, the superintendent is responsible for this high school, and they’re responsible for the culture at the school, and that’s the reason we believe there needs to be some accountability and that she should resign.”

He argued that school officials had discriminated against the girls on the varsity cross-country team.

They could have allowed the trans student to participate on the team, but the girls should not have been displaced from the varsity team,” Essayli said. “Girls, women have the right to be champions. And they’re taking that away from them by allowing trans students who have biological advantages.”

People showing their support for transgender athletes and girls sports

A transgender athlete supporter holds up a sign as Tori Hitchcock, center, of Young Women for America shows off her “Save Girls Sports” shirt outside the Riverside Unified School District meeting.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Last year, Essayli co-sponsored a bill that would have required school employees to notify parents within three days if their child identified as transgender at school. Critics argued the bill would out and potentially endanger trans children, while violating student privacy protections under California law. The bill died in committee.

The state enacted a law in July that prohibits schools from mandating that teachers notify families about student gender identity changes.

Times staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

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Did a state agency allow Minnesota Satanists to put up a holiday display at the Minnesota State Capitol?

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Yes.

The Minnesota Department of Administration issued a permit for a “Holiday Display” at the Minnesota State Capitol by Cerberus Ministries, a group of Minnesota Satanists.

A phoenix with an inverted pentagram hanging above it – a known symbol of Satanism – is on display through Dec. 27.

Despite in-person and social media protests, state spokesperson Julie Nelsen says the display is protected under the First Amendment, but the permit “does not imply an endorsement by the State.”

The Capitol provides space in East Hall “for unattended displays,” according to its website, which also says “the fundamental American right to peaceably assemble, speak, and demonstrate is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.”

Satanic imagery has also been displayed in state capitol buildings in Iowa and Illinois.  

Past Supreme Court cases have mostly upheld free speech but have placed limits on speech that’s obscene or incites violence or law-breaking.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

MinnPost partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

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