Portable Toilets, Overnight Parking Set Up For Homeless In Venice Beach
The debate over public bathroom access has raged in Venice Beach and skid row, with the issue gaining urgency last year amid an outbreak of hepatitis A in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Expands Homeless Services With Toilets In Venice And Overnight Parking In Hollywood And North Hollywood
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to expand services for homeless people in areas where the city of Los Angeles has struggled. The supervisors approved the overnight placement of two portable toilets and hand-washing stations at the Rose Avenue beach parking lot in Venice Beach — the latest development in an ongoing debate about bathroom access for the homeless. (Agrawal, 6/12)
In other news from across the state —
Capital Public Radio:
California Awards Millions In Grants Aimed At Stopping Tobacco Sales To Kids
Today, [Xavier] Becerra announced $37.5 million in state grants which are going to 71 entities throughout the state, including the police departments in Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Stockton and Rocklin, and the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office. Los Angeles is getting the biggest share — more than $5.5 million. (Milne, 6/12)
Capital Public Radio:
Black Residents Create 'Emotional Emancipation Circles' In Wake Of Stephon Clark's Death
Since the Stephon Clark police shooting in March, a type of talk group called Emotional Emancipation Circles has emerged in Sacramento neighborhoods that are dealing with race-based trauma. These groups led by and for people of African descent offer residents a safe space to talk about and heal from their struggles. (Caiola and Bandlamudi, 6/12)
Orange County Register:
Marijuana Shops Will Have Glut Of Cheap Weed, Followed By A Possible Shortage
For the next few weeks, retailers will do what they can to move stockpiles of untested product left over from California’s unregulated gray market. What they can’t sell by July 1, in theory, they’ll have to destroy. And once the old inventory is cleared out, experts say, licensed shops might be looking at a very different problem — a cannabis shortage.
(Staggs, 6/12)
Sacramento Bee:
PRIDE Industries Keeps Half Of Its Contract At CA Prison
About 120 disabled employees working at a state prison will be able to keep their jobs despite an outsourcing complaint from state government’s largest union that threatened their company’s contract. PRIDE Industries, the contractor that employs the disabled workers, struck a compromise in the state budget that allows about half of its 217 employees at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton to continue working there. (Ashton, 6/13)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Snake Season Starts Strong, With Two Bites In Kern County So Far
With winter long gone and spring waving goodbye, people are increasingly heading outside to work in their yards, hike on backcountry trails and just lounge around in the shade. Another kind of California resident is out in force, too, after having spent the winter sheltering from the cold. Rattlesnakes have come out of hibernation, and they’ve already bitten at least two people in Kern County. Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley reports that two people have been treated for rattlesnake bites already this season. (Morgen, 6/12)