LAX police officer arrested after allegedly touching woman, brandishing gun at Long Beach bar

• June 29, 2023

A police officer for the Los Angeles International Airport was arrested on Sunday, June 25 in Long Beach after authorities said he repeatedly touched a woman’s arm at a restaurant before brandishing a gun at her, then fired the gun at the ground in a nearby neighborhood.

Police said Roberto Mosquera, 47, began touching the woman’s arm while they were sitting next to each other at a restaurant in the 6300 block of East Pacific Coast Highway just before 1 a.m.

“When the victim expressed that she did not want to be touched, the suspect displayed a firearm and then put it back into his waistband,” Long Beach police said in a statement. “The suspect left the scene.”

Less than 20 minutes later, police were called to the 7100 block of Marina Pacifica Drive, a private street in an apartment complex overlooking Alamitos Bay just a few hundred feet from the restaurant, after someone reported hearing gunshots.

When officers got there, they found Mosquera, who was armed with a gun, as well as strike marks from bullets on the ground and several casings.

Police said Mosquera matched the details a witness at the restaurant gave of the man who brandished the gun at the woman, and they arrested him. He posted $25,000 bail later that day and was released, according to sheriff’s booking records.

A Long Beach police spokeswoman confirmed Mosquera is an officer for the Los Angeles Airport Police Division, which patrols LAX. The Airport Police did not return a request for comment on Mosquera’s arrest.

Long Beach police said they had forwarded the case to the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office.

Mosquera has not been charged yet. Long Beach City Prosecutor Douglas Haubert said his office had received the case Wednesday, and that it was under review.

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Fatboy Slim will headline Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles in September

• June 29, 2023

Fatboy Slim, the moniker of English DJ and producer Norman Cook, announced a headlining show in Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept. 23.

Fans can register by 8 a.m. Thursday, June 29 for the presale code to secure their tickets before they go on sale to the general public at thisisframework.com. Registrants will receive an email with a link to purchase tickets. The presale begins promptly at 10 a.m. on June 29.

The show is produced by Los Angeles-based underground experience curators This is Framework, which often partners with fellow Los Angeles promoters Goldenvoice to bring more intimate EDM shows to places like the Shrine Expo Hall, as well as throw their own parties in unique environments such as Exposition Park and Union Station.

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Fatboy Slim was a pioneer of the big beat genre in the ’90s and is known for hits like “Weapon of Choice,” “Praise You,” “Right Here, Right Now” and “Wonderful Night.” He’s also a Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival regular, having performed at the second installment of the festival in 2001 alongside Jane’s Addiction, Paul Oakenfold, Weezer, The Chemical Brothers, Sigur Rós and more.

In 2008, he closed out the Sahara Tent with a memorable performance and he returned in 2014 on the same stage. Once COVID restrictions lifted and Coachella returned in 2022, Fatboy Slim was back, this time nestled into a very packed Yuma Tent for a more intimate set.

​ Orange County Register 

Madonna hospitalized for days in ICU with serious bacterial infection, concerts postponed

• June 29, 2023

Joseph Wilkinson | New York Daily News

Madonna was hospitalized in an intensive care unit over the weekend for a bacterial infection, her manager announced Wednesday.

“On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which [led] to a several day stay in the ICU,” manager Guy Oseary wrote on Instagram. “Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.”

The “Material Girl,” 64, was scheduled to begin the North American leg her Celebration tour on July 15 in Vancouver. That tour, along with her other commitments, will now be postponed, Oseary said.

“We will share more details with you soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows,” Oseary wrote.

Madonna had been scheduled to play four shows at Madison Square Garden between Aug. 23 and Aug. 27.

The news was met with an outpouring of support from fellow celebrities.

​ Orange County Register 

Chrissy Teigen, John Legend welcome 4th child in surprise announcement

• June 28, 2023

Peter Sblendorio | New York Daily News

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend welcomed a baby boy via surrogate this month, the couple revealed in a surprise announcement Wednesday.

Wren Alexander Stephens is their fourth child. Teigen gave birth to daughter Esti in January.

“Around this same time, we also met the most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine, Alexandra,” Teigen wrote. “I knew she was a perfect match for us the moment we spoke to her.”

Teigen said the first embryo they tried with Alexandra did not survive. Then, during Teigen’s pregnancy with Esti, the surrogate became pregnant with Teigen and Legend’s son.

“We ate hot pot to celebrate, watched ‘Vanderpump Rules’ with our growing bellies, our families blending into one for the past year,” Teigen wrote Wednesday. “Just minutes before midnight on June 19, I got to witness the most beautiful woman, my friend, our surrogate, give birth amidst a bit of chaos, but with strength and pure joy and love.”

“We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra,” Teigen continued, revealing the child’s middle name of Alexander is a tribute to the surrogate.

Teigen, 37, and Legend, 44, are also parents to 7-year-old daughter Luna and 4-year-old son Miles. Teigen wrote Wednesday that she always wanted four kids.

Her post included multiple photos, including one of Teigen kissing her surrogate’s pregnant belly and another showing her cradling the child alongside Legend.

“Our hearts, and our home, are officially full,” Teigen wrote. “And to our Jack, we know both their angel kisses are from you.”

Legend — one of 18 people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — married Teigen in 2013. Teigen, who starred as a cover model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, has also co-hosted the competition series “Lip Sync Battle” and published three cookbooks.

​ Orange County Register 

Buena Park OKs new housing development near Downtown Mall

• June 28, 2023

A 25-acre housing project — that will include about 1,300 homes in a complex consisting of buildings up to seven stories high — will be constructed in Buena Park near the Downtown Mall over the next four years.

The Village at Buena Park, as the project is called, will include 1,302 units, 176 of which are designated for affordable housing. The project features five- to seven-story apartments as well as 126 three-story townhomes, nearly 3,000 parking spaces and a publicly-accessible one-acre park.

Although there were concerns about the project’s environmental impact and traffic, the City Council unanimously approved it during its Tuesday, June 27 meeting, with members stating they feel the project is aligned with Buena Park’s goal to provide more affordable housing.

Mayor Art Brown attributed the high cost of housing in California to the current lack of housing. The city’s service industry consists of mostly low- to moderate-income workers and having more affordable housing is necessary, he said.

“The people that live in apartments are not bad people,” said Brown. “I’ve met a lot of them so the worry about people living in apartments, running things down and there are going to be a bunch of criminals (is) just wrong. They’re not going to live there because they can’t afford to.”

The new housing development will replace a vacant Sears, Sears Auto Center and parking lot, making the community walkable to restaurants, retail and entertainment. The Sears building was acquired a few years ago by Merlone Geier Partners, a real estate investor and developer.

It is adjacent to the Buena Park Downtown Mall and nearby Knott’s Berry Farm and Soak City. It’s walkable to restaurants, shopping and entertainment, something Brown said could reduce air pollution.

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The apartments are a mix of mostly one-bedroom and studio units as well as some two- and three-bedroom apartments. The townhomes include two- and three-bedroom units.

Other amenities include a community room and pool for townhome residents and rooftop landscaping with a pool and shade on top of the apartment buildings.

Buena Park is estimated to earn $8.6 million in park fees and $1.3 million in community benefits as a result of the project.

The parking lot where the development is planned has accommodated a farmer’s market and many community events. Although the developers said their goal is to continue to accommodate the farmer’s market, its location may change throughout the construction phases.

Many City Council members expressed concern about the impact the additional housing could have on traffic.

Pointing to the La Palma and Stanton intersection, Councilmember Connor Traut said he was concerned about safety as children walk to school.

A representative from the city’s public works department said the intersection is part of a state-funded project to make traffic signal improvements, including a new signal pole, additional signal lights, yellow reflective backlights and a new controller. Although Councilmember Susan Sonne proposed building a raised walkway, city staff instead suggested changing the speed limit or making the crosswalks more visible.

Traut was also concerned that increased traffic during peak holidays, like Knott’s Scary Farm during Halloween, would be a hazard to pedestrians at the La Palma and Stanton intersection. But city staff said other intersections would be more impacted during those times than La Palma and Stanton avenues.

Councilmember José Trinidad Castañeda questioned if the project was dense enough. However, the developer said the project was designed to be leased at a certain time, meet certain open space requirements and meet the demand for housing today.

Castañeda also asked the developers to consider giving local workers who were involved in the project the chance to live in the building and donate excess stock materials to local nonprofit developers for other affordable housing projects.

Responding to Buena Park residents’ concerns about the project, Jamas Gwilliam, managing director of Merlone Geier Partners, said: “I think as it comes to fruition, and as the fear of the worst-case scenario doesn’t come to fruition, that animosity subsides and it turns into pride.”

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New sponsor, new vibe announced for US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach

• June 28, 2023

A new main sponsor has been announced for the upcoming US Open of Surfing, the world’s largest action-sports festival that kicks off July 29 in Huntington Beach.

The title spot was vacated earlier this year by Costa Mesa-based Vans, with Wallex, a digital asset service provider that allows customers to make international payments via a secure electronic platform, stepping in, World Surf League officials announced this week.

The nine-day surf competition, now the 2023 Wallex US Open of Surfing Presented by Pacifico, will continue to be accompanied by “a full calendar of engaging creative activities for the entire family to enjoy,” WSL officials said. It wraps up Aug. 6.

A new big addition to the event this year: Freestyle motorcycles on the beach.

A new addition for this year’s Wallex US Open of Surfing – moto freestyle. Nitro Circus’ ‘Full Throttle FMX’ show will feature world-class athlete Beau Bamburg. (Courtesy: Nitro Circus)

The Nitro Circus’ Full Throttle FMX will bring “jaw-dropping spectacles that push the boundaries of excitement and adrenaline” to the beach from July 29 through Aug.5.

It’s not the first time motorcycles have been part of the big event, with a freestyle moto exhibition featured in 2008.

Some of the well-known FMX riders who will be showcasing their skills include Twitch Steinburg, Jarryd McNeil, Beau Bamburg, Keith Sayers and Brian McCarty.

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The action in the water will feature the fourth stop of the WSL’s Challenger Series with a mix of local and international competitors vying for a spot on next year’s World Tour to compete among surfing’s best.

There will be 80 men and 48 women surfers competing for points to qualify within the Top 10 men and Top 5 women rankings by the end of six events.

The Huntington Beach Longboard Classic will also be held – it’s the first of four stops on the WSL Longboard Tour.

Entertaining spectators on the sand will be WSL One Ocean activities, beach games, food trucks, live music, surfboard shaping, WSL Rising Tides gatherings, athlete signings and more.

Now that the event isn’t under the Vans umbrella, there could be a whole new vibe at this year’s event.

Crosby Colapinto of San Clemente surfs in his heat on the opening day of the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach on Saturday, July 30, 2022. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The US Open of Surfing has taken on many forms through the decades in Huntington Beach and sponsorship has changed hands many times.

Costa Mesa-based Vans had run the event since 2013, but announced earlier this year it wasn’t going to renew for 2023. Under its sponsorship, the event took on a more family friendly vibe, a sharp turn from the raucous party scene that filled the sand in earlier years.

The event has had its wilder years. Most notably in 1986, when it was known as the OP Pro, a riot broke out on the sand during a bikini contest.

The event struggled in the years following and was rebranded into the US Open of Surfing in 1994.

In the mid-’90s, it was the G-Shock US Open of Surfing, and then the Shockwave US Open of Surfing. For a while it was dubbed the Honda US Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill.

Bank of the West sponsored the festival for a few years. From 2009 to 2012, Hurley and Nike took over title sponsorship, until Vans stepped in with a big focus on skate and BMX events accompanying the competition in the water.

“The US Open of Surfing is one of the largest surfing festivals in the world, known for its community-focused activities and beachside entertainment,” WSL officials said said. “As such, fans can expect more than just a surfing competition, as the US Open’s festival-style setup will include activities and experiences for the whole family.”

All festivities throughout the competition are free and open to the public. For more information, visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

​ Orange County Register 

Costco is cracking down on sharing membership cards

• June 28, 2023

Some shoppers are buying Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chickens and paying at self-checkout. The problem: They aren’t all members.

Since Costco has expanded self-checkout, the company has noticed that non-members have been sneaking in to use membership cards that don’t belong to them. The warehouse club retailer will now ask for shoppers’ membership cards along with a photo ID to use the self-checkout registers – the same policy as regular checkout lanes.

“We don’t feel it’s right that nonmembers receive the same benefits and pricing as our members,” Costco said in a statement.

Costco had around 66 million paid members and 119 million cardholders in 2022, making it one of the largest membership clubs in the world. Costco members pay either $60 for a regular membership or $120 for an executive card every year to shop at clubs.

The company has not raised the cost of its membership since 2017, despite rivals such as Amazon and Sam’s Club raising their membership fees. Costco has hinted it may soon raise its membership price.

This membership model is crucial to Costco’s business, which has boomed during the pandemic.

The fees help boost the company’s profit and offset expenses, allowing Costco to keep its prices down. Costco is known for offering some of the lowest prices in the retail industry.

Costco made $4.2 billion in membership fees in 2022, a 9% increase from 2021. The company’s renewal rate was 93% last.

Any changes to membership growth or renewal rates could hurt Costco and force it to raise prices.

“The extent to which we achieve growth in our membership base, increase the penetration of Executive membership, and sustain high renewal rates materially influences our profitability,” Costco says routinely in its annual filings.

Netflix has also recently cracked down on members sharing passwords.

Netflix previously turned a blind eye to password sharing because it was fueling growth, but all those non-paying members were hurting Netflix’s bottom line. It has previously estimated that more than 100 million households worldwide share an account.

Early results indicate that Netflix’s new policy is paying off.

The streaming service has seen its biggest jump in new subscriber sign-ups as a result of the crackdown since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when people were stuck at home binging content on the platform.

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Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government

• June 28, 2023

By AARON MORRISON | AP National Writer

REPRESA, California — The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners.

For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as they received college degrees, high school diplomas and vocational certificates earned while they served time.

Thousands of prisoners throughout the United States get their college degrees behind bars, most of them paid for by the federal Pell Grant program, which offers the neediest undergraduates tuition aid that they don’t have to repay.

That program is about to expand exponentially next month, giving about 30,000 more students behind bars some $130 million in financial aid per year.

The new rules, which overturn a 1994 ban on Pell Grants for prisoners, begin to address decades of policy during the “tough on crime” 1970s-2000 that brought about mass incarceration and stark racial disparities in the nation’s 1.9 million prison population.

For prisoners who get their college degrees, including those at Folsom State Prison who got grants during an experimental period that started in 2016, it can be the difference between walking free with a life ahead and ending up back behind bars. Finding a job is difficult with a criminal conviction, and a college degree is an advantage former prisoners desperately need.

Gerald Massey, one of 11 Folsom students graduating with a degree from the California State University at Sacramento, has served nine years of a 15-to-life sentence for a drunken driving incident that killed his close friend.

“The last day I talked to him, he was telling me, I should go back to college,” Massey said. “So when I came into prison and I saw an opportunity to go to college, I took it.”

___

Consider this: It costs roughly $106,000 per year to incarcerate one adult in California.

It costs about $20,000 to educate a prisoner with a bachelor’s degree program through the Transforming Outcomes Project at Sacramento State, or TOPSS.

If a prisoner paroles with a degree, never reoffends, gets a job earning a good salary and pays taxes, then the expansion of prison education shouldn’t be a hard sell, said David Zuckerman, the project’s interim director.

“I would say that return on investment is better than anything I’ve ever invested in,” Zuckerman said.

That doesn’t mean it’s always popular. Using taxpayer money to give college aid to people who’ve broken the law can be controversial. When the Obama administration offered a limited number of Pell Grants to prisoners through executive action in 2015, some prominent Republicans opposed it, arguing in favor of improving the existing federal job training and re-entry programs instead.

The 1990s saw imprisonment rates for Black and Hispanic Americans triple between 1970 and 2000. The rate doubled for white Americans in the same time span.

The ban on Pell Grants for prisoners caused the hundreds of college-in-prison programs that existed in the 1970s and 1980s to go almost entirely extinct by the late nineties.

Congress voted to lift the ban in 2020, and since then about 200 Pell-eligible college programs in 48 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have been running, like the one at Folsom. Now, the floodgates will open, allowing any college that wants to utilize Pell Grant funding to serve incarcerated students to apply and, if approved, launch their program.

President Joe Biden has strongly supported giving Pell Grants to prisoners in recent years. It’s a turnaround – the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, championed by the former Delaware senator, was what barred prisoners from getting Pell Grants in the first place. Biden has since said he didn’t agree with that part of the compromise legislation.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had 200 students enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs this spring, and has partnered with eight universities across the state. The goal, says CDCR press secretary Terri Hardy: Transforming prisoners’ lives through education.

___

Aside from students dressed in prisoner blues, classes inside Folsom Prison look and feel like any college class. Instructors give incarcerated students the same assignments as the pupils on campus.

The students in the Folsom Prison classes come from many different backgrounds. They are Black, white, Hispanic, young, middle aged and senior. Massey, who got his communications degree, is of South Asian heritage.

Born in San Francisco to parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan, Massey recalls growing up feeling like an outsider. Although most people of his background are Muslim, his family members belonged to a small Christian community in Karachi.

In primary school, he was a target for bullies. As a teen, he remembered seeking acceptance from the wrong people. When he completed high school, Massey joined the Air Force.

“After 9/11, I went in and some people thought I was a terrorist trying to infiltrate,” he said. “It really bothered me. So when I got out of the military, I didn’t want anything to do with them.”

Massey enrolled in college after one year in the military, but dropped out. Later, he became a certified nursing assistant and held the job for 10 years. He married and had two children.

His addiction to alcohol and a marijuana habit knocked him off course.

“I was living like a little kid and I had my own little kids,” Massey said. “And I thought if I do the bare minimum, that’s OK.”

Prison forced him to take responsibility for his actions. He got focused, sought rehabilitation for alcoholism and restarted his pursuit of education. He also took up prison barbering to make money.

In between haircuts for correctional officers and other prison staff, Massey took advantage of his access to WiFi connection to study, take tests and work on assignments. Internet service doesn’t reach the prisoners’ housing units.

On commencement day, Massey was the last of his classmates to put on his cap and gown. He was a member of the ceremony’s honor guard – his prison uniform was decorated with a white aiguillette, the ornamental braided cord denoting his military service.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” Massey said. “I feel, honestly, that God opened the doors and I just walked through them.”

Massey found his mom, wife and daughter for a long-awaited celebratory embrace. He reserved the longest and tightest embrace for his 9-year-old daughter, Grace. Her small frame collapsed into his outstretched arms, as wife Jacq’lene Massey looked on.

“There’s so many different facets and things that can happen when you’re incarcerated, but this kept him focused on his goals,” Massey’s wife Jacq’lene said. “Having the resources and the ability to participate in programs like that really helped him, but it actually helps us, too.”

“There’s the domino effect – it’s good for our kids to see that. It’s good for me to see that,” she said.

In addition to his communications degree, Massey earned degrees in theology and biblical studies. His post-release options began to materialize ahead of graduation. State commissioners have deemed him fit for parole, and he expects to be released any day now. A nonprofit group that assists incarcerated military veterans met with him in May to set up transitional housing, food, clothing and healthcare insurance for his eventual re-entry.

“There’s a radio station I listen to, a Christian radio station, that I’ve been thinking one day I would like to work for,” Massey said. “They are always talking about redemption stories. So I would like to share my redemption story, one day.”

___

College-in-prison programs aren’t perfect. Many prisons barely have enough room to accommodate the few educational and rehabilitation programs that already exist. Prisons will have to figure out how to make space and get the technology to help students succeed.

Racial imbalances in prison college enrollment and completion rates are also a growing concern for advocates. People of color make up a disproportionate segment of the U.S. prison population. Yet white students were enrolled in college programs at a percentage higher than their portion of the overall prison population, according to a six-year Vera Institute of Justice study of Pell Grant experimental programs in prison.

Black and Hispanic students were enrolled by eight and 15 percentage points below their prison population, respectively.

Prisoners with a record of good behavior get preference for the rehabilitative and prison college programs. Black and Hispanic prisoners are more likely to face discipline.

“If you’re tying discipline to college access, then … those folks are not going to have as much access,” said Margaret diZerega, who directs the Vera Institute’s Unlocking Potential initiative, which is focused on expanding college in prison.

“Let’s get them into college and set them on a different trajectory.”

It’s not yet clear if the Pell Grant expansion will grow or narrow the racial disparities. The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to the AP’s inquiry on this issue before publication.

“For America to be a country of second chances, we must uphold education’s promise of a better life for people who’ve been impacted by the criminal justice system,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a written statement to the AP.

Pell Grants will “provide meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation, reduce recidivism rates, and empower incarcerated people to build brighter futures for themselves, their families, and our communities,” Cardona said.

—

Of the 11 men getting Bachelor’s degrees in the jubilant ceremony at Folsom Prison last month, one was no longer a prisoner.

Michael Love, who had paroled from Folsom Prison five months earlier, came back to give the valedictory speech. He wore a suit and tie underneath his cap and gown.

To his classmates, Love is a tangible example of what is possible for their own redemption journeys.

After serving more than 35 years in prison, the 55-year-old is currently enrolled in a Master’s program at Sacramento State. He’s been hired as a teaching aide and will teach freshmen communications students in the fall, and is also working as a mentor with Project Rebound, an organization that assists formerly incarcerated people.

“You have just as much value as anyone in the community,” he told the other prisoners in his speech. “You are loved. I love you, that’s why I’m here.”

For many of the prisoners, it was the graduation that their families never imagined they’d get to see. A 28-year-old man met his father in person for the first time, as his dad received a GED.

As the ceremony wrapped, Robert Nelsen, the outgoing president of Sacramento State University, choked up with tears. He was retiring, so the graduation at Folsom Prison was the last ceremony he would preside over as a university president.

“There is one final tradition and that is to move the tassel – not yet, not yet, not yet – from the right to the left,” Nelsen instructed to laughter from the audience and graduates.

“The left side is where your heart is,” the university president said. “When you move that tassel, you are moving education and the love of education into your heart forever.”

The ceremony was done. Many graduates joined their loved ones inside a visitation hall for slices of white and chocolate sheet cake and cups of punch.

The graduates walked back to their housing units with more than just hope for what their futures might bring. One day, they’ll walk out of the prison gates with degrees that don’t bear an asterisk revealing they earned it while in prison.

They’ll walk toward a second chance.

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