By Andrea Chang | LA Times As LeBron James closed in on the NBA’s all-time scoring record last year, Nike wanted a pair of one-of-a-kind sneakers made to commemorate the achievement. Dominic ‘The Shoe Surgeon’ Ciambrone / Instagram The high-profile job didn’t go to an in-house designer. Instead, Nike tapped Dominic Ciambrone. From his manufacturing studio in South Los Angeles, Ciambrone, also known as the Shoe Surgeon, reconstructed a pair of Nike LeBron 20 sneakers using white crocodile leather and gleaming gold flourishes. Across the translucent blue outsoles, Ciambrone scrawled 38,388 — the number of points James scored to break…
Author: 2UG Staff
By Keri Blakinger and Emily Elena Dugdale | LA Times One deputy was convicted of driving drunk with a loaded gun in the car. Another was suspended for failing to promptly report an on-duty traffic accident. An experienced detective was accused of lying on his job application. And a commander was demoted to captain for turning a blind eye to a cheating scandal in a popular law enforcement relay race. For five months, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office has fought to keep secret the names of eight Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at the center of the case against Diana Teran,…
By Hannah Wiley | LA Times The former chief of staff of a California state senator who recently left the Democratic Party to become a Republican filed a lawsuit against her on Thursday alleging that she sexually harassed him, created a hostile workplace and fired him in retaliation for rejecting her sexual advances. The lawsuit, filed in the Sacramento County Superior Court, claims that for much of 2023, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Jackson) “engaged in erratic, controlling, sexually dominating abuse of authority and power” against her chief of staff, Chad Condit. “This was a sex-based quid pro quo relationship of…
By Libor Jany and Richard Winton | LA Times When Los Angeles police Officer Brady Lamas was relieved of duty in 2022 for allegedly sharing nude photos of a fellow cop — his wife at the time — he reportedly found a lifeline with a private company named Watermark Security Inc. Started by Jamie McBride, an LAPD detective and director for the union representing most rank-and-file officers, Watermark has earned a reputation in law enforcement circles for offering a soft landing to cops who face disciplinary action. McBride promised good pay, reportedly telling officers suspended or fired from their departments over various…
By Angie Orellana Hernandez | LA Times Isaac Galvan, who served on the Compton City Council with Chambers for two years, said in 2021 that during a closed-session meeting, Chambers called his son an “ugly wetback.” He made the claim during the public portion of the July 13, 2021, council meeting. After Galvan accused Chambers of using the slur in talking about his son, the city commissioned an investigation that cleared Chambers of wrongdoing. But now, two people at the meeting — who originally swore under oath that they did not hear her say the slur — told The Times…
In celebration of the City of Hawaiian Gardens’ 60th anniversary, we are pleased to announce that this year’s Golf Tournament, which will be held on October 21, 2024, will be held at the prestigious Old Ranch Country Club, located at 3901 Lampson Ave, Seal Beach. This exciting event is dedicated to supporting the Hawaiian Gardens Youth Non-profit Organization. Mayor Victor Farfan urges the community to participate in this vital fundraising effort, stating, “Your support is crucial in providing the necessary resources for our youth programs. Together, we can significantly impact the lives of our young residents. Please join us for…
Nathan Hochman, the former federal prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney General running for Los Angeles County District Attorney, announced last week that he has raised more than $2 million – a new record – for the Nov. 5 general election. “I am thankful to the thousands of supporters of my campaign who have made contributions – from $10 to the maximum $1,500 – who love Los Angeles and know this county cannot tolerate four more years with George Gascon as D.A.,” Hochman said. “These donations will be used to spread the word that we Angelenos do not have to tolerate…
By Dakota Smith, David Zahniser and Noah Bierman | LA Times Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s deep loyalty to President Biden earned him a posting to India. Now, Biden is bowing out, and the Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris, doesn’t owe Garcetti anything. Just a year and half after Garcetti was confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to India, he could soon lose his job with the upcoming change in administration — even if Harris wins. The man who once aspired to the presidency could soon find himself back in L.A., working a regular job. Read more at: LA Times
By Kevin Rector | LA Times California may enforce its recent ban on guns in “sensitive places” when it comes to parks and playgrounds, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, casinos, stadiums, amusement parks, zoos, libraries, museums, athletic facilities and the parking areas associated with them, a federal appellate court ruled Friday. However, the state may not enforce similar restrictions in hospitals or other medical facilities, on public transit, at places of worship or financial institutions, or in the parking areas associated with or shared by those places, the three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined.…
By Bill Shaikin | LA Times Fifteen months ago, a Nevada teachers’ union launched a two-pronged legal battle to strip public funding from the Oakland Athletics’ proposed Las Vegas ballpark. In the litigation, funded largely by A’s fans grasping at any hope of keeping their team in town, the union has gone 0 for 2. In May, the Nevada Supreme Court rejected a union bid to let voters decide the issue in a statewide referendum. And, on Friday, a state district court judge rejected a union bid to halt some or all of the $380 million allocated by the Nevada legislature because the bill allegedly violated the state constitution.…
By Richard Winton | LA Times Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced a civil rights investigation into sexual abuse of women behind bars in two California prisons, citing numerous reports of groping, inappropriate touching and rape by correctional workers. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation violated the rights of women at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino by failing to protect them from sexual abuse by prison staff. The move comes after dozens of women held at the two prisons in the last two…
By Nathaniel Percy | Daily Breeze A 29-year-old Inglewood man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison last week for shooting to death a homeless man in a stairwell of a parking structure at the Redondo Beach pier earlier this year, authorities said. Alexis Martinez pleaded no contest to first degree murder in Torrance Superior Court on Aug. 27, according to Redondo Beach police and court records. Martinez was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on that date at which prosecutors would have presented some of the evidence against him and a judge would rule whether enough evidence existed to…
‘Some of us cannot deal with these young people in the mental state we are in,’ wrote the president of the union representing probation officers By Jason Henry | Los Angeles Daily News Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall failed to meet legally required staffing minimums for nearly 20% of its shifts in July despite the county’s controversial efforts to boost its numbers by involuntarily reassigning more than 100 field officers to the juvenile facility. State regulators warned the county that Los Padrinos did not reach a mandated ratio of one officer per 10 youth for 15 of 87 shifts in July,…
By Keri Blakinger | LA Times The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is poised to demote a sergeant, saying she “spread rumors and/or gossip” when she shared copies of a grievance she filed in 2021 accusing higher-ranking department officials of discrimination. Sgt. Rosa Gonzalez — who successfully sued the county for whistleblower retaliation in 2015 — says she was transferred to a less prestigious position after her grievance accused Personal Administration Bureau leaders of discrimination against women, a whistleblower and a person they thought could have autism. She first went public with her allegations two years ago in a lawsuit,…
By Taryn Luna and Laurel Rosenhall | LA Times SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers in 2020 touted a law to create a “first in the nation” state task force to study and propose remedies to atone for the legacy of slavery. Four years later, their work to deliver reparations is more incremental than recording-breaking, stoking frustration among advocates who filled the Capitol as lawmakers cast their final votes of the legislative session on Saturday. https://2urbangirls.com/2024/08/california-lawmakers-reparation-legislation-signed-into-law Hamstrung by a state budget deficit and the challenges of supporting a politically volatile issue in an election year, the California Legislature passed a limited slate of reparations…