A Sri Lanka–born physician at King-Drew Medical Center has won his appeal in a long-fought legal case in which he argued that he was denied a promotion for 16 years simply because he was not African-American.Last week’s decision by the Second District State Court of Appeal reinstated a finding by the county’s Civil Service Commission […]
Category: LA Weekly
Wanted: Backbone
So, in the end, the Eastside community was right about Ruben Zacarias and I was wrong. All I can say now is that I‘m sorry.Last year, it seemed time for Zacarias to quit. The last of the old-guard Los Angeles Unified School District supers, he made a career of hearing nothing he didn’t want to […]
Mean and Cheap
When last we wrote of local home health-care workers, there was hope in the air. As you may recall, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asked the state for some health-care benefits for primary health-care givers. Those workers — 73,000 of whom have registered with the county — come into your home when you […]
Personality Politics
When 13th District L.A. City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg talks about her major accomplishments in 16 years of public office, she likes to talk about Hollywood — and you like to listen. That’s because it‘s a good story. Anyone who’s spent some years in the world-famous, 4-square-mile entertainment district that‘s in both her present council district […]
Things as They Were
The two apostles of things as they were sat in the Los Angeles City Council last week and flaunted their lack of vision.Our police chief and our mayor were trying to explain their responses to the Rampart police scandal that keeps spreading like an ink stain on a white pile carpet.By insisting that the LAPD […]
The Grateful Web
One thing noteworthy about the recent county gun-show debates was the vital role the Internet played on both sides of the dialogue.Staffers in the offices of the liberal county supervisors — who opposed the continuation of the shows on county property — bolstered their arguments off the countless Web sites of state and federal legislators. […]
Money for a Whistle Blower
A $300,000 settlement has been reached in the federal suit of a former official who said the MTA fired him because he objected to a $65 million subway-construction contract that, he said, was linked to an MTA board member‘s kickback.Last month’s out-of-court settlement between Leroy H. Graw, the MTA and former top MTA executives was […]
Parks’ Department
I had forgotten the nature of British daily papers until I was forced to depend on them during my recent vacation. Critics usually distinguish between the sexy, broad-circulation English tabloids and the prestigious, large-format versions. The first present stuff like “Horror! Frenchman’s Ghastly Sex Threat Against Local Nurse! Shock!” (the Frenchman was relieving himself in […]
Beats Chocolate
No matter how they shake the box, the pieces just won’t fall together. At least not in any way that suggests that Tedjitou Dessalegn, a senior assistant to departed county children’s-services department head Pete Digre, actually colluded with the man who gave her $25,000 to buy a new luxury car, plus another $5,000 on the […]
Acting Out
Any decision is better than no decision. The Los Angeles Unified board, calmed for a decisionless decade in its cultural Sargasso Sea, finally got decisive two weeks ago when it voted to unseat Superintendent Ruben Zacarias.So did its appointed special commission on the oft-imprecated Belmont Learning Center a week later, when it recommended, 4-3, completion […]