Email Author Simone Wilson

Awards

• 2011 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published December 16, 2010

  "Culture of Cruelty"

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2011 Stories by Simone Wilson

• Hollywood Community Plan, aka Skyscraper Hell, Approved by L.A. Planning Commission at Dodgy Meeting

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Hollywood is about to become a sea of skyscrapers. And our only consolation prize is a goddamned cat park. Opponents to L.A.'s new "Hollywood Community Plan" never stood a chance. As if it wasn't off... More >>

• Adi Zinder -- Undocumented Israeli Immigrant With U.S. Citizen Wife, 'Clean Record' -- Has Been in ICE Custody for Over a Year

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Updated after the jump: Zinder's family says he has been shipped to El Paso. The distraught family of 32-year-old undocumented immigrant Adi Zinder says he's been in Immigration and Customs Enforceme... More >>

• Antoine Denell Jordan, 1980s Sex Monster Who Raped USC Women at Knifepoint, Moves Near Fullerton Colleges

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Watch out, women of CSU Fullerton and Fullerton College (and anyone else who lives in the area, really). Antoine Denell Jordan, the 50-year-old sex offender convicted in 1983 of multiple counts of vi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  LAPD Info Posted by 'Anonymous' Hackers in Response to Occupy L.A. Raid

  published Dec 08, 2011

  Not everyone's buying L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck's glowing review of police performance during last week's raid of Occupy L.A. A hacker group under Twitter handle @Ca... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  'CSUN Asian Library Finals Freakout' Video Reignites 'Asians in the Library' Controversy

  published Dec 08, 2011

  After the rage over UCLA student Alexandra Wallace's "Asians in the Library" video had run its course, it seemed no troll-y imitator could recapture her shock value. We were, in a word, jaded. (Just a... More >>

• Annette Lujan: Woman Dies in CSU Long Beach Elevator Accident [UPDATED]

  published Dec 07, 2011

  The victim has been identified as 48-year-old Annette Lujan, a resident of Huntington Beach. She had worked at CSULB's grants and contracts office for nine years. More details at the bottom. Original... More >>

• Hollywood Is About to Become a Sea of Skyscrapers: Here's Your Last Chance to Fight L.A. City Hall's 'Community Plan'

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Update: "Hollywood Community Plan, aka Skyscraper Hell, Approved by L.A. Planning Commission at Dodgy Meeting." Tomorrow morning, at the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m., the L.A. Planning Commission will v... More >>

• Jodie Foster's Ancient Father, or 'Bernie Madoff of Sherman Oaks,' to Be Jailed for Bad 1-Percent Behavior

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Today's proceedings in Van Nuys Superior Court could not have gotten any weirder: Lucius Foster, the 89-year-old father of actress Jodie, was declared "guilty" of concocting a home-building scheme t... More >>

• Lindsay Lohan Leaked Playboy Cover: As Nude and 'Classy' as Promised

  published Dec 07, 2011

  Update: Oops. The entire spread leaked one week early. Sorry Hef! Sorry for caring, when there's real Los Angeles news on the line -- but the second we saw, via New York Post Tweet, that Lindsay Loha... More >>

• Kelly Dorrell, Long Beach 26-Year-Old, Takes Fatal Plunge From Queen Mary in Alleged Drunken Fight With Boyfriend

  published Dec 07, 2011

  The young Long Beach woman who died after falling from the Queen Mary's uppermost gangway on Monday evening has been identified as 26-year-old Kelly Ryann Dorrell. "Public records show that she was a... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  L.A. Mural Ordinance Hopes to Lift Ban on Street Art: Public-Comment Draft in Full

  published Dec 07, 2011

  For months, the L.A. Department of City Planning has been teasing street artists with announcements of a new ordinance that would lift the current ban on all pre-approved murals on private property in... More >>

• Patrick Meighan, 'Family Guy' Writer, Recalls LAPD Raid of Occupy Camp as 'Super Violent'

  published Dec 07, 2011

  It's been almost one week since the Los Angeles Police Department deployed about 1,400 officers to infiltrate and bulldoze the Occupy L.A. encampment outside City Hall. In that week, as the nearly 30... More >>

• Ken Simmons, L.A. Housing Authority CEO, Tries to Justify Years of Outlandish Spending

  published Dec 07, 2011

  The reporters and producers at SoCal Connected, a weekly investigatory segment on local TV station KCET, have achieved the impossible. Their ongoing expose of the Housing Authority of the City of Los... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Sorry, Occupy L.A. -- City Council Delays 'Responsible Banking Ordinance' Until 2012

  published Dec 05, 2011

  The only part of the L.A. City Council's long-ago resolution to support Occupy L.A. that meant anything at all -- seeing as the whole "we support you" part devolved into an epically orchestrated raid ... More >>

• Green Bike Lanes in Los Angeles: City Officials Waste $15K on Premature Paint Job

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Mixed feelings, these past few weeks, about L.A.'s quickly expanding arsenal of green bike lanes -- part of an adorable national trend. The new lanes are, literally, neon green. Though some grumpy dr... More >>

• Joe Buscaino vs. Warren Furutani for L.A. City Council: Police Union's New 'Public Safety First' Yard Signs Could Sway Election

  published Dec 05, 2011

  Like in national elections, it takes a democracy-numbing amount of time and money to win a political post in Los Angeles. Just ask Ron Kaye, LA Daily News editor turned City Hall watchdog. (If you e... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Rudy Montiel Was Paid $1.2 Million to Leave L.A. Housing Authority: Who Will Hold Board of Commissioners Accountabler

  published Dec 05, 2011

  When Rudy Montiel, former CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, was fired last year, it appeared the agency's Board of Commissioners was finally holding him responsible for years of... More >>

• L.A. Housing Authority Execs Spent Hundreds of Thousands on Lavish Dinners, iPads, Travel: KCET Investigation

  published Dec 02, 2011

  Update, December 5: "Rudy Montiel Was Paid $1.2 Million to Leave L.A. Housing Authority: Who Will Hold Board of Commissioners Accountabler" The taxpayers breathed a sigh of relief last spring when Ru... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Tyson Heder, Photojournalist Mauled by LAPD, Still in Jail After Occupy L.A. Raid; Others Allege Baton Brutality

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Updated at the bottom with a photo of Heder's black eye. Update, 7 p.m.: According to the "Free Tyson Heder" Facebook group, his bail is set at $20,000 -- four times the standard $5,000 bail of the o... More >>

• Pasadena Closes All Schools, Declares 'State of Emergency' -- Insane Winds, Downed Trees, Power Outages

  published Dec 01, 2011

  Updated at the bottom with water issues in Northeast L.A. Also, photos of Oscar De La Hoya's driveway. Not pretty. Meteorologists say the storm will be back in full force tonight. Originally posted a... More >>

• Kris Humphries Accuses Kim Kardashian of 'Fraud' Marriage: Was L.A. Comedian Rob Delaney Right All Alongr

  published Nov 30, 2011

  Updated at the bottom: Delaney says he's proud of Humphries for being "shaken awake from his torpor" -- and giving some "steam" to the comedian's own class-action suit, to boot. NBA meathead Kris Hum... More >>

• Pulling the Trigger on Failing Schools

  published December 1, 2011

  This time last year, a storm was brewing in northwest Compton. More than 60 percent of parents from McKinley Elementary, guided by a... More >>

• L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Puts Occupy L.A. Price Tag at Over $1 Million; City Spent More Than That on Michael Jackson Memorial

  published Nov 30, 2011

  One of the most common criticisms of Occupy L.A. and its two-month stint at City Hall is the massive amount of city resources it's been sucking up to sustain itself. Policing. Litigation. Cleanup. Mo... More >>

• Occupy L.A. Locked Out of 'Solidarity Park' With Giant Fence; Where to Go From Herer

  published Nov 30, 2011

  L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sure knows how to erect a fence! He's trumped the six-foot wall around his own mayoral mansion with a chain-link/K-rail version, which looks to be about 9 or 10 feet ta... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  VIDEO: LAPD Riot Squad Tackles Occupy L.A. Photographer

  published Nov 30, 2011

  Update, with full story: "Tyson Heder, Photojournalist Mauled by LAPD, Still in Jail After Occupy L.A. Raid; Others Allege Baton Brutality." Though most protesters, observers and journalists at the L... More >>