Joe Biden has introduced a vaccine mandate affecting millions, but some countries have gone further
Following the decision by the US president, Joe Biden, to introduce a vaccine mandate for millions of workers, and the UK government’s decision to row back on its push to require vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded events, where does the issue of insisting on vaccination stand globally?
Continue reading...Police department employees claim ‘hostile work environment’ for the unvaccinated and say mandate violates civil rights
Los Angeles police department (LAPD) employees have sued over requirements they get vaccinated for Covid-19, alleging that the department has created a “hostile work environment” for the unvaccinated and that the mandate violates employees’ privacy and civil rights.
The suit is one of several aggressive challenges to vaccine mandates by police unions and officers across California, some of whom have threatened mass resignations in response to new rules. It comes as staff at law enforcement agencies remain unvaccinated at disproportionately high rates.
Continue reading...Jamie Spears, conservator of the pop singer’s estate since 2008, says ‘recent events’ called the arrangement into question
Britney Spears’ father has filed an unexpected request to terminate the controversial conservatorship that has controlled the singer’s life for 13 years.
In a stunning move, Jamie Spears, who is the conservator of his daughter’s estate, said “recent events” called into question whether she still needed a court to oversee her personal affairs and finances.
Continue reading...Reporters covering rightwing protests have been assaulted, robbed and sprayed with mace as victims say police fail to enforce the law
Los Angeles has seen volatile protests almost every weekend this summer over trans rights, political opposition to masks and vaccines, and the recall of the Democratic governor. At least seven journalists have been physically assaulted while covering these rallies, six of them by rightwing demonstrators.
Attacks on the press are just one part of escalating rightwing street violence in the city, which has included multiple stabbings, people being sprayed in the face with bear Mace, an assault on a breast cancer patient outside a clinic, and repeated physical brawls with leftwing protesters in the streets. In another sign of growing tensions, protesters rallying against vaccine mandates showed up at the homes of two Los Angeles city council members on Sunday.
Continue reading...Two children of assassinated Senator Robert F Kennedy support California decision which may be reversed
Six children of Robert F Kennedy have condemned the decision to grant parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed the New York senator as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.
Related: 'Something died in America': John Lewis on Robert Kennedy's legacy
Continue reading...Misinformation about Wi Spa, a Korean spa in Los Angeles, quickly spread around the world. Since then, trans women in LA have faced violence and online abuse
On 24 June, a woman claimed on Instagram that a Korean spa in Los Angeles had allowed a “man” to expose himself to women and girls in the women’s section.
The unsubstantiated allegations about Wi Spa in LA’s Koreatown neighborhood quickly spread from social media to rightwing forums to far-right news sites to Fox News, and were distorted by anti-transgender groups across multiple countries.
Continue reading...The convicted rapist is serving a 23-year prison term in New York and now faces the possibility of another sentence in California
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts.
The 69-year-old convicted rapist appeared in court in a wheelchair. He was wearing a brown jail jumpsuit and face mask. Attorney Mark Werksman entered the plea a day after Weinstein was extradited to California from New York, where he was serving a 23-year prison term.
Continue reading...Dozens of people have been arrested in Los Angeles following a chaotic and at times violent demonstration by anti-transgender protesters who targeted a Koreatown spa that has a trans-inclusive policy. The far-right protesters called for a boycott of Wi Spa which allows trans women to use women’s facilities. LAPD also appeared to fire rubber bullets at demonstrators from a close distance as trans rights and anti-fascist activists showed up in a counter-protest
Continue reading...The Los Angeles police department detonated a cache of homemade fireworks it had seized, causing a major explosion on a residential block that injured 17 people, flipped and damaged cars and smashed windows in nearby homes. The fireworks were detonated in an iron containment vessel – which exploded – because they were deemed too unsafe to move from a South Los Angeles neighbourhood
Continue reading...Sales of items from celebrities such as Janet Jackson and K-poppers BTS are trending – and reframing what goes under the hammer
Is celebrity merchandise the new Monet? Auction houses are in flux, with more and more pop culture items being sold under the hammer for six and seven-figure sums.
Last month, Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills hosted a three-day auction of Janet Jackson’s personal belongings, including some of her most iconic stage outfits. Buyers included Kim Kardashian, who snagged Jackson’s outfit from the music video for her 1993 classic If for $25,000 (£18,000) and, on Instagram, said she was “such a fan” of the singer.
Continue reading...Singer rarely takes part in hearings but has asked to speak directly to court, lawyer says
Britney Spears will personally address the Los Angeles court dealing with her long-running conservatorship in June, a judge agreed on Tuesday.
Spears, 39, has been under a conservatorship since 2008 but rarely takes part in hearings. Her lawyer said on Tuesday that she had asked to speak to the court directly, but he did not say what matters she wished to raise.
Continue reading...Historic queer institutions across southern California that have been safe spaces for LGBTQ+ crowds for decades are in danger of closing permanently
Four iconic Los Angeles gay bars, touting a combined history of 130 years, have permanently closed during the pandemic and many more have warned that they are on the brink of shutdown.
Related: An order of queer and trans 'nuns' in San Francisco take on an unholy year
Continue reading...Tiger Woods was driving at speeds up to 87mph (140km/h) in a 45mph zone when he was involved in a serious car crash earlier this year, Los Angeles police revealed during a press conference on Wednesday.
Los Angeles county sheriff Alex Villanueva said the speed was “unsafe for the road conditions” and Woods did not brake in the run-up to the collision, perhaps because he pressed the accelerator instead of the brake pedal in a state of panic. Villanueva said Woods will not receive a citation over the crash and blamed the incident of Woods’s excessive speed and loss of control of the vehicle.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands flood Santa Monica Pier as authorities send mixed messages about coronavirus safety
Authorities across southern California are scrambling to contain large holiday crowds on beaches, boardwalks, and piers this weekend, anxious about a possible new surge in Covid-19 cases.
But they face a restive public eager to party in the sun after more than a year of lockdowns, and appear to have few tools at their disposal to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing.
Continue reading...Poet, acclaimed for her performance at Joe Biden’s inauguration, tweeted ‘this is the reality of black girls’
Amanda Gorman, the poet who won acclaim for her performance at Joe Biden’s inauguration, has told of being followed home and accosted by a security guard who allegedly claimed she looked suspicious.
She said the incident, on Friday night, was emblematic of “the reality of black girls” in the US, in which “one day you’re called an icon” but the next day considered a threat.
Continue reading...On social media, Ryan Fischer says ‘healing still needs to happen’ after he was attacked while walking three dogs
Lady Gaga’s dog walker, who was shot last week during a robbery in Hollywood when two of the singer’s French bulldogs were stolen, has described the violence and his recovery “from a very close call with death” in social media posts on Monday.
Ryan Fischer’s posts included pictures taken from his hospital bed, where he says a “lot of healing still needs to happen” but he looks forward to reuniting with the dogs.
Continue reading...California’s Covid-19 death toll rose above 50,000 on Wednesday, after Los Angeles county reported another 806 deaths during the winter surge.
The county, which has a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents, said the deaths mainly occurred between 3 December and 3 February. The department of public health identified them after going through death records that were backlogged by the sheer volume of the surge’s toll.
Continue reading...Radio signals confirmed that the six-wheeled rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone
Nasa’s science rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world, streaked through the Martian atmosphere on Thursday and landed safely on the floor of a vast crater, its first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.
Mission managers at Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory near Los Angeles burst into applause and cheers as radio signals confirmed that the six-wheeled rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone inside Jezero crater, site of a long-vanished Martian lake bed.
Continue reading...Hollywood star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a video of himself receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The 73-year-old visited a vaccination clinic at Dodger stadium in Los Angeles after residents aged 65 and over were able to receive dosages. The star of the Terminator franchise encouraged others to receive the vaccine, using one of the series' famous catchphrases: 'Come with me if you want to live'
Continue reading...County has seen 898% increase in cases since surge began in November, with 1,125% increase in deaths, official says
Los Angeles county scientists estimate that one in three residents in the county have been infected with Covid-19 at some point since the beginning of the pandemic, a reflection of how severely the virus has overtaken the most populous region in California.
The new estimate by county scientists would mean that more than 3 million of the county’s 10 million residents have been infected with coronavirus. As of Thursday, Los Angeles county had more than 975,000 total reported cases, with 17,323 new cases in the past 24 hours. Through the course of the pandemic, 13,234 people have died in LA county because of Covid-19, accounting for nearly half of California’s total deaths.
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