Los Angeles Times
By Daryl Kelley
Times Staff Writer
August 19, 2005
First came the guardhouse, then the guards and now the gates. The view up Malibu’s Serra Road these days looks more like a high-security entrance to an exclusive compound than a reception area for a public park.
The security measures are intended to keep trespassers and looky-loos out [...]

The Center for Law in the Public Interest has submitted public comments regarding the EPA’s “Framework for Integrating Environmental Justice,” and “Environmental Justice Strategic Plan Outline” (Strategic Plan).
EPA must explicitly consider the impact of environmental laws, regulations, and policies on people of color and low income communities. EPA cannot legitimately ignore race, [...]

Los Angeles Times
By Jack Leonard
Times Staff Writer
August 18, 2005
Two years after Los Angeles County pledged to dramatically improve mental health treatment in its child-welfare system, a panel of independent experts has concluded that thousands of mentally ill and troubled children are still not receiving the intensive care they need.
The court-appointed panel, which monitors a 2-year-old [...]

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is investing $14.4 billion to build new schools and modernize existing schools, one of the largest public work projects in history. I had the honor of signing the official voter pamphlet ballot arguments in favor of Measure K and Measure R, which together provide $7.2 billion for [...]

The work of National Park Service (NPS) Ranger and Buffalo Soldier Specialist Shelton Johnson has been invaluable to the campaign to diversify access to and support for the national forests.
Shelton Johnson, a native of Detroit, Michigan, has worked as a U.S. park ranger since 1987. His work assignments have included Yosemite National Park, [...]

The summer issue of the National Park Service’s magazine Common Ground focuses on the influence of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted across the country.
Sliced, diced, and in one case censured, the handiwork of Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm has survived and thrived in different mixes of geography, climate, politics, and history. [...]

By Margot Roosevelt
Time Magazine
Posted Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005
Democracy as trench warfare—that’s Antonio Gonzalez’s trade. He leads the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan Latino political machine—the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) and its policy arm, the William C. Velasquez Institute. His is gritty, unglamorous work—mounting sign-up booths at bodegas, analyzing census tracts, training school-board candidates. [...]

The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America
From music to politics to business, Hispanics are remaking America. TIME presents 25 titans leading the Latino charge into the 21st century
Spanish has become the U.S.’s de facto second language, Nuevo Latino has taken its rightful place in haute cuisine, the sounds of rock en Español and reggaeton have [...]

Los Angeles Times
By Sara Lin
Times Staff Writer
August 13, 2005
The long-running scuffle over public access on Broad Beach in Malibu took another twist Friday when the California Coastal Commission ordered an end to the posting of no-trespassing signs and the use of security guards on all-terrain vehicles to chase visitors off the dry sand.
In a unanimous [...]

What we forget about Watts
The riot was spontaneous, leaderless and fueled by a long-smoldering rage that is still burning.
By Walter Mosley
August 9, 2005
WHAT WE remember about Watts and its environs that hot summer is not nearly as important as what we forget. Many of us remember a young man arrested for a crime he may [...]