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L.A. County Labor Fed Backs Wendy Greuel, Asks Eric Garcetti To Lay Off Anti-Union Remarks

The L.A. County Federation of Labor today officially threw its support behind Controller Wendy Greuel in the race for L.A. mayor. The Fed's endorsement -- a foregone conclusion since last week's political committee vote -- should provide Greuel a strong get-out-the-vote operation, which could b ... More >>

Mayoral Candidate Wendy Greuel Picks Up Critical Support From L.A. County Labor Federation

Update below, 5:15 p.m. Full rundown of Garcetti and Greuel's remarks behind closed doors at the Fed today. Greuel: "I'm gonna stand with labor, not stand up to labor." Controller Wendy Greuel got a major lift this morning, as the political committee of the L.A. County Federation of Labor voted ... More >>

Wendy Greuel Adds Another Public Sector Union, Picking Up Firefighters Endorsement

Update below: Eric Garcetti wins UTLA endorsement. L.A.'s public-sector employee unions continue to line up behind Wendy Greuel in the race for mayor.Greuel already has the backing of the L.A. Police Protective League and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, which repr ... More >>

Trillion Dollar Currency Already Subject Of Simpsons Episode (Sorry, Paul Krugman)

We all know that The Simpsons is genius. But who knew that the show that gestated on the comic-strip pages of L.A. alternative media could one day help save America? If New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's suggestion that the Obama administration actually mint a $1 trillion platinum coin comes ... More >>

Mayor's Race: L.A. County Federation Of Labor Can't Decide Between Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel

The L.A. County Federation of Labor, one of the biggest sources of power in L.A. elections, has decided not to endorse in the first round of the L.A. mayor's race, according to multiple sources.Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel are the two candidates with the strongest labor support. But neither could ... More >>

How Wall Street and Washington Conspired to Spike Gas Prices

By Pete Kotz On July 11, 2008, the price of oil rose to $147 per barrel, a record high. Gas stations engaged in hot pursuit as the price of a gallon rocketed past $4. All hell was about to break loose. The country's largest banks had already begun to implode through arrogance and ineptitude. Now t ... More >>

Drug War Leads to More HIV?

Updated at the bottom with some of the report's findings. First posted on June 21. In L.A. your favorite outlaw drug, marijuana, is pretty much legit and widely available (for now). But what if it wasn't? What if you had to scrounge around dirty, dark alleys, buy your fix from shady drug dealers, ... More >>

The 5 Biggest Losers From Carmen Trutanich's D.A. Debacle (Other Than Trutanich)

The county updated its vote tally this afternoon, and it confirmed what we already knew: Carmen Trutanich crashed and burned on Tuesday night. With 59,000 extra ballots counted, Trutanich's margin of defeat is unchanged. He's still in third by 8,000 votes, and only 117,000 votes remain to be counted ... More >>

Prop. 28 Passes With Flying Colors: How California Legislators Tricked Voters Into Extending Their Term Limits

Update: Philip Blumel with the group U.S. Term Limits tells us Prop. 28 was "the most deceptive referendum that I've ever seen." More at the bottom. Like Big Oil-backed Prop. 26 in the 2010 election, another disastrous Trojan Horse made its way past California voters last night.

Monsanto Wins Legal Case, Twirls Mustache, Cackles, and Dashes Off

When we hear the name "Monsanto," we often imagine a mustache-twirling villain with a velvet tongue and a heart as black as oven-burnt molasses.  Perhaps it's fitting then that, in January, Natural News readers voted Monsanto -- not a man but an agribusiness giant -- the world's most evil corporati ... More >>

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

lapd.comNow on 6,500 lawns across L.A.​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 ever feel like witnessing a city official burned at the ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: The Revolution Is Being Televised

After 46 arrests for civil disobedience, Occupy L.A. feels its oats

Joe Buscaino Has Momentum In City Council Race, But Could Unions Give Warren Furutani A Chance?

​Tuesday update: The L.A. County Federation of Labor endorsed Furutani on Monday night, sharpening the biz-vs-labor narrative. More below.Joe Buscaino came from nowhere to win the most votes in last week's primary in the 15th Council District. Since then, the San Pedro cop been racking up endorsem ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! A Modest Proposal: Occupy Music Festivals

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] Does music have the power to cause real change? Several times in my life I have been as ... More >>

Gas Company Workers Enlist Occupy L.A. For Demonstration Downtown Today

Ed CarrascoOccupying L.A.​Updated at the bottom with a statement from the Gas Company. First posted at 12:18 p.m. The rightblogosphere has been alight with conspiracy theories about who's behind the Occupy movement that has swept the nation. And there have been some accusations here that if ... More >>

L.A. County Federation Of Labor To Require Democratic Politicians to Clean Toilets And Change Bedpans

​The L.A. County Federation of Labor can make or break a politician's career. The Fed's endorsement brings an army of precinct walkers and door knockers, which can turn the tide in a local race. But now that endorsement is becoming harder to get. Under new requirements rolled out at Fed headquarte ... More >>

Richard Branson, World Leaders Call For Marijuana Legalization And End to War on Drugs

norml.orgObama says no to marijuana, ironically.​The call for legalization has gone from the back of a VW van to the forefront of global politics in the span of two generations. Tomorrow a report from a group of world leaders that includes former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former U.S. ... More >>

Councilwoman Janice Hahn Gets Labor Fed Endorsement In Congressional Race

Janice Hahn​As predicted, L.A. Councilwoman Janice Hahn picked up the endorsement today of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, a big boost for her congressional campaign.Hahn is running against Secretary of State Debra Bowen, anti-war activist Marcy Winograd, and three Republicans in the May 17 s ... More >>

Meg Whitman Parrots Arnold Schwarzenegger In New Jerry Brown Ad

Update at 6:23 p.m. Arnold Schwarzenegger: plagiarism victim​Jerry Brown's campaign has posted a new TV spot (after the jump) that shows how much of Meg Whitman's rhetoric has been ripped off from Arnold Schwarzenegger. No word on how much money is behind the ad, but at a minute long, it seems unl ... More >>

Mystery Man Who Escaped From LAPD Gets A Menu Of New Charges

​The mysterious man who eluded authorities this spring after they visited his downtown residence only to find an alleged counterfeiting operation was charged Thursday with an additional seven felonies, including drug sales and forgery, authorities said. Brian Alexik had already been charged wi ... More >>

The Chosen One

How the labor-Latino political machine decides who serves in Sacramento

Mysterious Counterfeiting Suspect On The Loose In L.A.

LAPDBrian Alexik.​Police this week were searching for a mysterious counterfeiter who fled down a fire escape when they came knocking on the door of his downtown loft April 19. When officers entered the residence they say they found counterfeiting equipment, $15,000 in counterfeit bills, weapon ... More >>

Mayor V. Has 'Best Year' Ever (If You Close Your Eyes And Ignore Reality)

​They say that sometimes a leader's job is to will optimism in the darkest of times, like a Federal Reserve chairman saying the economy's alright, a president saying wars are going swimmingly or newspaper CEO claiming that print will make a comeback in 2010. As such Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ... More >>

Is SoCal Aerospace Crashing -- Again?

In an ominous sign that Southern California's aerospace industry might be repeating the massive downsizing of the 1990s, Northrop Grumman today announced 750 layoffs, to occur within the next few months. According to the Daily Breeze, most of the terminations are expected to fall at the company's El ... More >>

Know This, America: Watching Obama With a Plate of Grits

The L.A. County Federation of Labor, to which I belong as a union delegate, threw an Inauguration Day viewing breakfast this morning. Like the Fed's annual Labor Day breakfast and other early morning rallies, this one showed some health-consciousness in the chicken sausage cakes and turkey bacon off ... More >>

Villaraigosa Helps Obama on the Economy

An LA Weekly man-in-the-street instant poll says "huh"?

Uh oh, Obama asks Antonio Villaraigosa for Economic Advice

By Tibby Rothman Many Southern Californians were mystified by this news from the Wall Street Journal and NBC's Firstread blog: The often stumbling Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose city budget deficit has hit a historic high and who has based his economic plan in Los Angeles almost entirely on a s ... More >>

Out of the Frying Pan

Democrats may well win this November, but they can’t deliver like they used to

A Small Circle of Friends

Downwardly Mo

Can better schools — can better anything — fix the L.A. economy?

Made for Each Other

How unique odysseys of Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles brought them together

Laboring to Stay Together

The odds on the AFL-CIO’s dissolution

The Architect

Miguel Contreras, 1952 – 2005

Dennis the Annoyed

Kucinich, the Cleveland crusader, battles Washington

The Godfather

Miguel Contreras and the New Los Angeles

Anyone Seen an Economic Policy?

The GOP has a new team and the same old bad ideas. The Democrats are still pondering.

It Was a Doll Revolution

Rocking and Rolling

Villaraigosa makes his move

Mechanical Decency

Ignoring their president and the governor, the MTA’s mechanics stick by the drivers

Olympic Anti-Doping an Uphill Battle

Father Knows Best

Enter the Janitors

Transforming L.A.

Street vs. Suite

Why L.A.’s janitors will win their strike

Right and White

Why last week’s electorate does not portend the future of California politics

Bore and Gush

America’s nominees

The Real World Organization

Why being against the WTO isn’t enough

The New Unionism Finds a Home

Once the nation’s most anti-union big city, L.A. has now become America’s most dynamic labor town

Richard Riordan, Pol

How the mayor got his charter and his school board

October Demise

Five Big Ideas