2 Torrance officers indicted in 2018 fatal shooting of Black man

• April 14, 2023

Two Torrance police officers were indicted Thursday, April 13, in the fatal shooting of a Black man sitting in a suspected stolen car in 2018, a killing that sparked months of protests in the community by Black Lives Matter activists, according to a defense attorney for one of the officers.

Attorney Tom Yu confirmed that a Los Angeles County grand jury returned the indictments, but he said he wasn’t aware of the specific charges against Officers Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon in the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell.

Yu, who represents Chavez, said both men are scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The grand jury convened in March to consider evidence against Chavez and Concannon presented by special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton.

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey previously found that the officers acted legally and in self-defense in the Mitchell shooting. However, the investigation was reopened in 2021 by her successor, progressive District Attorney George Gascon, who vowed during his campaign to aggressively reexamine shootings and use-of-force cases involving police officers.

The District Attorney’s Office declined Thursday to confirm the indictment against Chavez and Concannon. “We cannot comment on the existence of an indictment,” the office said in a statement.

Sgt. Ron Salary, a spokesperson for the Torrance Police Department, said he could not disclose the employment status of Chavez and Concannon. Instead, he told the Southern California News Group it would have to file a public records request with the city to obtain that information.

Mitchell, 23, was confronted in the parking lot of a Carson Street supermarket in Old Torrance as he sat behind the wheel of a car that had been reported stolen. Between his legs was what appeared to be a firearm, but was actually a modified air rifle, reports said.

As officers approached the car, they told Mitchell to keep his hands on the steering wheel, but he instead moved them toward his lap, according to the previous report by prosecutors who cleared police. Officers also told Mitchell to get out of the car, but he refused, the report said.

Officers fired three times at Mitchell. The shooting was captured on video by Concannon’s body-worn camera. Just 12 seconds passed from the time the officer activated his camera as he opened Mitchell’s car door to the time of the first shot.

“Based on Mitchell’s failure to follow the officers’ directions, his continued efforts to conceal the object in his lap, the physical appearance of the object, and the movement of his hands toward the object, it was reasonable for the officers to believe that the object was a firearm and to respond with deadly force,” the report said.

Black Lives Matter activists protest the fatal shooting of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell at a May 2019 Torrance City Council meeting .(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

The shooting drew widespread protests at City Council meetings from Black Lives Matter activists who demanded that police release the video of the deadly encounter and, later, that the officers be held accountable. Mitchell’s mother, Sherlyn Haynes, publicly accused the officers of murdering her son, insisting that the video showed he was being cooperative.

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Concannon and Chavez have been tied to other on-duty shootings as well.

Concannon was involved in the 2011 nonfatal shooting of Jeremiah Banks during a vehicle pursuit. Banks received a 15-year prison sentence after he was subsequently convicted on two counts of robbery and one count of felony evading, but also received a $100,000 settlement from the city after filing a lawsuit while incarcerated.

Chavez was one of five Torrance officers exonerated by the District Attorney’s Office for their roles in the fatal 2017 shooting of a San Gabriel man shot 23 times in the wake of a high-speed pursuit.

Chavez and Concannon also are reportedly linked to racist and homophobic text messages sent among Torrance officers and under investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office. At least four Torrance officers involved in the texting scandal have been terminated by the department.

​ Orange County Register 

USC LB Tackett Curtis showing signs of leadership as freshman

• April 14, 2023

LOS ANGELES — When Shane Lee came to USC last winter, he was immediately heralded by his new teammates for his leadership. He was an important piece of Lincoln Riley’s efforts to change the culture at USC, and he was rewarded by being elected team captain in his first year in L.A.

Given Lee’s standing in the Trojans’ locker room, he paid the ultimate compliment to freshman linebacker Tackett Curtis after Thursday’s spring practice.

“He’s definitely a leader, man,” Lee said. “He’ll be an emerging guy that people look to for encouragement, for leadership, for everything. He’s going to be one of those guys for sure.”

When Curtis signed with USC in December out of Louisiana, Riley could not have been more effusive in his praise. The head coach declared Curtis the top linebacker prospect in the 2023 class, saying he would not have taken any graduating senior over him.

A four-star prospect, Curtis had 112 tackles and 16 for losses as a senior at Many High, which he led to a state championship while winning MVP honors. At USC, he joined a position group that needed depth, but also talented young players who would stay with the program for several years after a run of restocking the position through the transfer portal.

As bullish as USC was on Curtis when he arrived for spring camp, he’s only reinforced that notion for linebackers coach Brian Odom over the last 14 practices with his physicality, toughness and eye for the ball.

“The thing that you learn about Tackett that’s pretty unique is, you had a pretty good idea of what his best was; but how consistently he’s close to his best, that’s the one thing that separates him from a lot of other people,” Odom said. “He doesn’t have a lot of bad days. And his bad days aren’t very far off from all of his good days.”

It’s this level of consistent performance and consistent effort that has caught the attention of veterans like Lee.

“He’s a hard worker, man. He doesn’t say too much, he just gets to work,” Lee said. “He just works. He doesn’t say anything, he just does what he’s supposed to do, that’s it.”

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Back in December, Riley spoke about the possibility of Tackett being a Day 1 contributor at USC. Since then, USC has added Oklahoma State transfer Mason Cobb to the inside linebackers room. Junior Raesjon Davis has stood out this spring, and the Trojans will add Eric Gentry, a starter from last season, to the mix as soon as he recovers from ankle surgery.

Riley has praised the inside linebacker room as one of the deepest position groups on the USC roster this spring. So Curtis will have a lot of work to do to contribute as a true freshman.

But no one’s ruling out the possibility.

“If he continues to make plays, you’re gonna see a lot of him,” Odom said. “He’s gotta absorb the playbook. With any freshman that comes in, that’s gonna be something they’ve got to do. … But as long as he’s as physical as he’s been showing in these practices, and as fast as he is on the field – his game speed’s really, really fast, he’s got great closing speed – he cares about it, he plays hard, there’s a great chance you’re gonna see him on the field.”

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks’ Lukas Dostal on World Championships: ‘Without a contract, I’m probably not going to go’

• April 14, 2023

ANAHEIM — Ideally, Lukas Dostal would be playing games well into the spring at the World Championships, which are scheduled for May 12-28 and co-hosted by Riga, Latvia and Tampere, Finland.

The Ducks’ rookie goaltender has answered the call when asked to play internationally for his native Czech Republic at the junior level and made his World Championships debut in May last year for the national team, beating Great Britain, 5-1.

It is different a year later.

Dostal explained why earlier this week.

“I talked about it with (Ducks GM) Pat (Verbeek) a little bit and also with the national team,” Dostal said. “Obviously, I would like to go, but I don’t have a contract so far. I told the national team if we sorted it out somehow, then I’d like to go. But you don’t want to get hurt, if something happened.

“So without a contract, I’m probably not going to go.”

Fortunately, management with the national team knew where Dostal was coming from.

“The GM is Martin Havlat,” Dostal said of the former NHL forward, who played 14 seasons. “He told me he understood, has been in that situation so many times.”

Dostal, who will be coming out of his entry-level contract, is one of a handful of pending restricted free agents among the Ducks. Most prominent are the team’s two leading scorers, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. In an interview in March, Zegras cited the contract as a possible factor against playing in the Worlds, saying then: “With the contract stuff up in the air, I feel like that’s the first priority.”

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Ducks rookie Mason McTavish would be an obvious choice to represent Team Canada, but McTavish finished the season injured and did not play in the regular-season finale against the Kings on Thursday night at Honda Center because of an upper-body injury. It is understood that it is not a serious injury but perhaps the best thing for him at this point might be a prolonged break.

Even before the injury, McTavish noted that he had played a lot of hockey the last couple of years, speaking about the physical and mental toll.

​ Orange County Register 

District Attorney clears Orange Unified of Brown Act violations, except for 1 trustee

• April 14, 2023

Orange Unified School Board members did not, as a group, violate California’s open meeting laws during a special session in January when it ousted the superintendent, concluded the Orange County District Attorney’s office following a two-month investigation.

But there is “significant evidence” that one trustee, Kristin Erickson, violated the Ralph M. Brown Act by disclosing confidential information from the board’s closed-door session to the Orange County Register, according to letters sent earlier this month from the District Attorney’s office to Erickson and Spencer Covert, Orange Unified’s attorney.

The district attorney requested the entire board undergo “refresher training” on the Brown Act.

In the April 6 letters, Steven Schriver, senior deputy district attorney, disclosed an investigation in response to complaints about a special Jan. 5 school board meeting.

Board President Rick Ledesma had called that meeting a day earlier during winter break, a time when many students and teachers were on vacation. That night, on a 4-3 vote, the board fired Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen and placed a second administrator, Cathleen Corella, on administrative leave. Both Hansen and Corella were out of the country at the time.

Related links

Why did Orange Unified fire its superintendent?
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Westminster School District hires former Orange Unified superintendent

Although the meeting was posted with only 24 hours’ notice, word had spread among teachers and parents who packed the room to decry the board’s actions. In subsequent meetings, many complained of backroom deals and noted that Ledesma had told two educators the day before the meeting that they would be appointed to replace Hansen and Corella.

Since, parents have filed two separate lawsuits accusing the board majority of orchestrating the disciplinary actions while keeping other members of the board — and the public — in the dark.

Schriver said the board met the Brown Act requirements of posting the special meeting with 24 hours’ notice. He said the agenda “identified and described” the topic at hand in compliance with the law. Further, he said, “there is no evidence to support” the allegation that a majority of the board members met privately ahead of time to discuss the matter.

But “evidence gathered during this investigation,” Schriver said, indicates Erickson violated the Brown Act by disclosing information discussed during a closed session.

“In a vacuum, the information disclosed by Trustee Erickson may appear benign or inconsequential; however, the breach of confidentiality could subsequently deter Trustees from speaking with the candor necessary for honest debate, and in turn affect their ability to safeguard and represent the public’s best interests,” Schriver said.

Neither letter, obtained by the Register, offers any specifics on what confidential information Erickson allegedly disclosed.

Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office, pointed to a Jan. 12 article that focused on how an interim superintendent was appointed to the surprise of some board members and the public.

Ledesma, too, referenced that news report, specifically highlighting how Erickson said at the time that she asked for more information about the interim superintendent and was told by the board president to “Google him.”

Ledesma called it a “blatant Brown Act violation of confidentiality” that will “jeopardize our superintendent search.”

Erickson declined to comment.

Erickson was one of the board members who had said she was surprised by the firing of Hansen and the appointment of a superintendent she had never heard of. The new board majority, whose makeup changed after the most recent election, fired Hansen without any public explanation.

In a subsequent interview, Ledesma had said the board wanted to go in a new direction and focus less on what he called “the social politics of education.” But many parents and teachers, upset about what happened, called out the board majority during public comments at that Jan. 5 meeting and in subsequent sessions.

In his letters to Orange Unified and Erickson, Schriver requested the district provide additional training on the Brown Act to all the school board members.

That training will be provided to the board, said district spokesperson Hana Brake.

Meanwhile, on Thursday night, April 13, the school board was expected to hire a firm to search for a new, full-time superintendent. Hansen has since been hired as superintendent for the Westminster School District.

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​ Orange County Register 

State gives LA County another month to fix juvenile halls or be shut down

• April 14, 2023

A state oversight board is giving Los Angeles County another month to fix its troubled juvenile halls, but board members warned the county must demonstrate real progress in that time frame or the facilities would still be declared “unsuitable” and shut down.

Though the Board of State and Community Corrections unanimously approved the delay, board Chair Linda Penner told L.A. County officials they had “repeatedly” failed the young people in their custody and expressed frustration with the county’s inability to right its juvenile halls.

“We went through this process at the end of last year and on the heels of that, we’ve turned around and heard the conditions in L.A. County have not improved,” said Penner, a former chief probation officer for Fresno County.

“It sounds trite, but I struggle with trusting L.A. County going forward, and with that struggle comes young people in your care, who aren’t given adequate programming, that are locked in a room overnight and unable to use restrooms, and who are being asked to sit around and watch TV and play video games all day,” she said.

Penner said the extra time would allow the state regulatory board’s staff to further study the county’s proposed remedies and to embed inspectors into the juvenile halls to verify the county is following through with its promises.

BSCC staff members recommended the delay because L.A. County has “has proactively moved to make improvements at both facilities,” has submitted a supplemental plan to address the problems and has hired new key personnel, according to a report.

Progress needed by May

BSCC will now re-convene in mid-May to reassess the status of the county’s two juvenile halls. If the facilities are deemed “unsuitable” at that time, L.A. County will need to immediately address the remaining issues within 60 days or it will be unable to house youths at those locations.

This isn’t the first time the county juvenile halls have been in the state’s cross hairs. The state agency previously declared both the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and Central Juvenile Hall near downtown L.A. “unsuitable for the confinement of youth” in September 2021 and then Central Juvenile Hall, by itself, unsuitable again in June 2022.

The county attempted to evade an inspection at Central earlier that year by transferring all of the youths out of the juvenile hall just days before inspectors arrived.

Both facilities managed to avoid a shutdown, but then once again failed a follow-up inspection in November 2022, triggering the process all over again.

Earlier this week, the California Department of Justice asked a Superior Court judge to sanction L.A. County if it does not address “illegal and unsafe conditions” at the two juvenile halls. The DOJ secured a judgment against L.A. County back in 2021, but now says the county has not only failed to make the required improvements, it is now “regressing in areas where some progress has been achieved.”

Recent reports have found drugs are being smuggled into the facilities due to lax security and youths are being forced to urinate in their rooms because staff will not take them to the bathroom at night.

‘Snowball effect’ on staffing

Much of the county juvenile system’s problems stem from an ongoing staffing crisis. Interim Chief Probation Officer Karen Fletcher told the BSCC that the two facilities need about 340 people per day to cover all four shifts, but that due to an excessive amount of callouts, each has only about 200 to 250 active staff members who are not on light duty.

Fletcher described the staffing problem as a snowball effect, in which employees calling out cause other employees to have to work longer shifts, which in turn causes more staff to call off to avoid having to work shifts that can extend beyond 24 hours. The low turnout also creates additional safety concerns that exacerbate the callouts, Fletcher said.

The county has created flat rate incentives of up to $17,000 for employees who put in additional hours, has reassigned dozens of field officers to the juvenile halls and is in the process of hiring a flood of new recruits, Fletcher said.

“Since January 13 of this year, we’ve graduated three juvenile correction officer academies, resulting in 62 staff assigned at our halls,” she said. “Our goal is to have an additional 145 graduates by the end of this year.”

Advocates for justice reform called for the shuttering of the juvenile halls at Thursday’s meeting, saying L.A. County has repeatedly failed to make improvements for years now.

Erin Palacios, a staff attorney for the Youth Justice Center, warned the board could be sued if it failed to declare the juvenile halls unsuitable, as state law considers a facility unsuitable if it has failed to file an “approved correct action plan” with the BSCC within 60 days of receiving a notice of noncompliance. L.A. County has filed a corrective action plan, as of March 14, but BSCC has not approved it.

Workers ‘scared for safety’

Several speakers at Thursday’s meeting said they worked at the juvenile halls and alleged that workers are scared for their safety because detainees are not held accountable when they attack or harm officers.

Sose Aslanian, a social worker with the county, said her co-workers at the juvenile halls are “being verbally and physically assaulted on a daily basis.” Most recently, an officer was stabbed by a youth at Barry J. Nidorf on April 10, according to the L.A. County Deputy Probation Officers’ Union.

The officer suffered severe facial lacerations, the union wrote in a post on its website.

Critics dubious

The BSCC’s decision to grant L.A. County more time was met with mixed reactions.

Melinda Kakani, director of youth justice at the Children’s Defense Fund California, said the board kicked the can down the road.

Kakani, who has watched, at times with disgust, the problems at LA County juvenile halls and the Probation Department for years, said it would have been better had the board issued an unsuitable designation and began closure of the two county juvenile halls.

“It would have given Los Angeles County the opportunity to invest in something different, instead of investing in the status quo,” she said in an interview.

She does not have faith the county can make the necessary changes within a month.

“We’ve been here for years, for decades. And we have cycled in and out of suitability and unsuitability,” she said. “We are doing so at the expense of young people.”

‘Failure is not an option’

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, the board chair, offered her appreciation for the BSCC’s decision in an emailed statement.

“It means we have more time to make real progress and do right by these young people and our staff working in our halls. Failure is not an option,” she wrote.

Related links

Supervisors advance plan to overhaul LA County’s juvenile detention system
LA County juvenile halls failing to provide camera footage, timely use-of-force reports, says Inspector General
Fake food deliveries, drones and lax security: how drugs get into L.A. County’s juvenile halls
California attorney general asks judge to sanction LA County if it doesn’t fix juvenile halls
Attack on juvenile hall staff member detailed

Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed similar optimism that the county can turn around its troubled juvenile halls.

“This recognizes we’re making some progress using a range of hiring strategies — from the Probation Department fast tracking acquiring more staff to our Board hiring a former BSCC member whose juvenile justice expertise will help the Probation Department navigate its next steps,” Barger wrote in an emailed statement. “We have a short window of time to continue showing progress, so we must continue working with urgency and focus. We can’t let up.”

Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved several motions to address the conditions in the halls. The board’s motions called for the release of eligible youth from custody and additional programming for those still in the juvenile halls, upgraded facilities and hiring of more staff.

The supervisors also hired Guillermo Viera Rosa as the county’s new chief strategist for juvenile operations. Viera Rosa previously led California’s adult parole division and was a member of the BSCC.

​ Orange County Register 

Fryer: Orange County Championships track meet will feature intriguing showdowns

• April 14, 2023

The CIF Southern Section Track and Field Championships are only a month away, and that should add to the intensity and intrigue at the Orange County Championships on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

The meet starts at 8:30 a.m. with the freshman girls 1,600 meters. The final event is the boys varsity 4×400 relay at 5:30 p.m.

Here is a look at some of the events and athletes to watch Saturday, based on the subject-to-change heat sheets released this week:

Sophomore Devin Bragg, Los Alamitos: He won the CIF-SS Division 1 championship in the 100 meters last year with a time of 10.35 seconds. Bragg ran a 10.56 at the Trabuco Hills Invitational two weeks ago.

Senior Roman Mendoza, Santa Margarita: He won the Invitational Division 400 at last week’s Arcadia Invitational with a state-leading time of 37.39.

Senior Brendon See, JSerra: See is the county leader in the shot put (65 feet, 11.75 inches) and discus (192-5) and is entered in both events Saturday.

Senior Jada Gatlin, Mission Viejo: Gatlin is entered in the long jump and the triple jump and might run a leg for one of the Diablos’ relay teams, too. She is No. 3 in the state in the triple jump with her mark of 39-4 set at Arcadia last week.

Sophomore Holly Barker, Laguna Hills: Barker is entered in the 1,600. This could be the race of the day with its deep field that includes Dana Hills senior Allura Markow, who is the O.C. leader in the event (4:42.79), Dana Hills sophomore Annie Ivarsson, Newport Harbor’s rapidly rising sophomore Keaton Robar, Huntington Beach junior Makenzie McRae and JSerra’s junior Georgia Jeanneret and freshman Kaylah Tasser.

Sophomore Jackson Kollack, Laguna Beach: He is not competing in a varsity event, but is entered in the frosh-soph 100 and the frosh-soph shot put. He might be the meet’s athlete with the most interesting future. Kollock (6-5, 215) is a great quarterback and has received football scholarship offers. He has been invited to football camps this summer at Notre Dame and Stanford.

Team championships will also be awarded at the Orange County Championships.

JSerra’s track and field program is good enough to win the boys and girls championships and might do so at the CIF-SS Championships on May 13 at Moorpark College. Mater Dei’s boys team is capable of scoring enough points to win a team title at the O.C. Championships.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students without valid student identification and for senior citizens, $3 for students with valid student identification and $2 for children 9 and younger. GoFan.co is the place to get tickets. Parking is free but limited, which is why this meet should be considered for Trabuco Hills High School next year.

NOTES

It’s not a “good look,” as the phrase goes, that the next CIF-SS Commissioner, ML King principal Mike West, is a white male like the nine CIF-SS commissioners that precede him. The CIF-SS announced Thursday that West has been chosen to replace outgoing commissioner Rob Wigod. West has all of the required credentials, having served in high positions in CIF State and CIF-SS governance along with his experience as a principal, assistant principal, athletic director and athletic trainer. Another leading candidate with equivalent credentials was Irvine principal Monica Colunga, but being a few years older than West, 55, might have come into play against Colunga. The CIF-SS Executive Committee might have preferred a younger person who would likely serve as commissioner for a longer tenure. …

Whoever got the commissioner job was going to benefit from following Wigod, who is retiring at the end of this school year.  Wigod’s leadership helped improve the Southern Section’s financial picture, even through the COVID-19 challenges. He also supported changes to CIF-SS playoff structures even if he was not always in agreement with changes created by the advisory committees. Wigod, too, benefited from the work of his predecessor, Jim Staunton, who benefited from his predecessor, the late Dean Crowley, who righted the CIF-SS ship at a difficult time. …

Yes, Wigod did not stop transfers from happening. The CIF constitution’s rules and bylaws limit what the commissioner can do on that topic and others. Students and their parents will move to what they evaluate as a better opportunity, just like the coaches and athletic directors who themselves have moved from school to school for what they evaluate to be a better opportunity.

​ Orange County Register 

Long Beach hotel workers hail $4-an-hour pay hike in new contract

• April 14, 2023

Workers at the Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Centric hotels in Long Beach have secured a $4-an-hour raise, boosting minimum wage levels to anywhere from $22 to $25 an hour.

The minimum pay employees earn at the hotels varies depending on the specific job they do.

Under a new labor contract, 400 non-tipped room attendants, cooks, front desk agents and stewards represented by Unite Here Local 11 also will get free family health insurance and see staffing restored to pre-pandemic levels.

The hotels have also agreed to reinstitute mandatory daily room cleaning. Unite Here spokeswoman Maria Hernandez said that’s a good thing.

“A lot of hotels eliminated daily room cleaning during the pandemic and are only having rooms cleaned every three or four days,” Hernandez said. “That means rooms take longer to clean because they’re dirtier, and it has also reduced employee hours.”

Keeping pace

The $4 hourly pay hike is aimed at helping hotel workers keep pace with rising rents and inflated gas and grocery costs. Data from RentCafe.com show the average rent for a Long Beach apartment is $2,571 a month, with 72% of the city’s rental units priced at $2,000 or more.

Rents are considerably higher in some parts of the city, including Alamitos Beach, East Village, Terminal Island and West End Long Beach, which all average $2,968 a month, according to the price tracker.

“The new strong union contract acknowledges the hard work and dedication of hospitality workers who deserve dignity and the ability to live in the communities they serve,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said.

Richardson said the pay increase “acknowledges the need to invest in working families who are the backbone of our hospitality sector.”

Representatives with Hyatt could not be reached for comment on the new contract.

The wage increase is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023, and will expire June 30 to align with labor agreements at 100 other Southern California hotels and restaurants Unite Here Local 11 represents.

The workers will then begin negotiations for new labor contract.

Lorraine Clark, who works as a front desk host at the Hyatt Centric, formally known as Hyatt Centric The Pike, said her pay will jump to $22.50 from $18.50 hourly. Clark’s fiance also works but they have a 4-year-old child and finances are tight.

“The extra $4 an hour will make a big difference for people like us who live paycheck to paycheck,” the 36-year-old Long Beach resident said. “Our rent has gone up to $2,100 and we also pay $800 a month for preschool.”

Long Beach hotel workers and Unite Here Local 11 representatives gathered outside the Hyatt Regency late Thursday with Mayor Richardson, other City Council members and local labor leaders to announce the new labor contract.

A growing movement

The pay increase in Long Beach speaks to a growing movement among service workers to see their wages increased.

On Wednesday, April 12, Los Angeles Councilman Curren D. Price Jr. and unionized workers from the city’s tourism industry introduced a motion to raise the wage for L.A. tourism employees to $25 an hour this year and $28 an hour by 2028.

Those workers are “the foundation of L.A.’s tourism economy” but are struggling to survive on the city’s current living wage, they said, with many facing housing and food insecurity while being forced to work two jobs.

Proponents of the “Tourism Workers Rising” campaign say fair and adequate wages are imperative as the city gears up for the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.

​ Orange County Register 

Grand Prix of Long Beach: Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe inducted into Walk of Fame

• April 14, 2023

LONG BEACH — Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe both experienced glory at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Thursday, they were rewarded in the most special way by being inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame in front of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center on South Pine Avenue.

Halfway through the ceremony, it began to drizzle. It was an ironic twist of sorts because Hunter-Reay and his family were not able to make it to the event because of severe weather in Ford Lauderdale, Fla. that dropped some 26 inches of rain Wednesday, resulting in the cancellation of all flights out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The induction acts as the bell-ringer for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which will take place Friday through Sunday.

Hinchcliffe, 36, of Canada, won the Indy Lights race at Long Beach in 2010. He won the IndyCar main event there in 2017; he also took third in that race in 2012.

Hinchcliffe opened with a joke at the ceremony that included Mayor Rex Richardson and other dignitaries.

“This is a very, very special day for me certainly,” he said. “When I told my wife that I was getting indicted here in Long Beach … Sorry … no, no, no. She was quite happy for me. As I am thrilled.”

Once the laughs subsided, Hinchcliffe got serious. He talked about how, other than the Indianapolis 500, Long Beach is the race that drivers, teams and officials mark on their calendars.

“Sports is all about history and just walking down this pathway here (where the medallions of inductees are embedded in cement), you see some of the greatest names of the sport that have raced here, raced all over the world,” Hinchcliffe said.

“This city committing themselves to the greats of the sport like this, like in victory lane, having names and faces down in the victory circle there, I think it really shows how much the city gets behind it and we feel that as competitors and as members of the community of IndyCar.”

Hunter-Reay, 42, won the IndyCar race here in 2010 and was fifth in 2019. Hunter-Reay was also IndyCar series champion in 2012.

Jim Michaelian, CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, read some comments Hunter-Reay sent him Wednesday while he was at the airport ahead of his flight getting canceled.

“What an incredible honor it is to be inducted into the Grand Prix of Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame,” Hunter-Reay wrote. “I grew up watching this race, idolizing the winners, dreaming of one day having a chance to wrestle an IndyCar around this crown jewel of street circuits.”

Hunter-Reay, originally from Dallas, said he instantly fell in love with the track the first time he went around it.

“To this day, I can honestly say qualifying at Long Beach in a dialed-in Indy car were some of the best moments of my racing career,” he wrote. “In 2010, my victory here was the turning point in my career, a critical win which I dedicated to my mother Lydia, who had just recently passed away from cancer.”

Michaelian noted that Hunter-Reay also won the Indy 500 in 2014 and that although he is no longer driving full-time, he will be driving in the Indy 500, which he won in 2014, in May.

As for Hinchcliffe, he will be one of the commentators on Sunday’s NBC telecast.

Related links

Grand Prix of Long Beach: Graham Rahal still fighting for positive results
Grand Prix of Long Beach: Jim Michaelian thrilled about Historic F1 races

​ Orange County Register