TODAY’S ESSENTIAL NEWS
» L.A. To Keep Downtown Hotel Kept Open As Homeless Housing A 13-story hotel that has served as a cornerstone of L.A.’s fight against homelessness, a facility that had been set to cease operations in less than three weeks, will be kept open for an additional year, city officials said Friday. The L.A. Grand Hotel, which served as temporary housing for a portion of the city’s homeless population since the outbreak of COVID-19, will continue operating until at least Jan. 31, 2024, said Mercedes Marquez, the mayor’s chief of housing and homelessness solutions. The hotel, which had provided the city with about 480 rooms, is expected to give Bass a critical tool as she ramps up the activities of Inside Safe, her initiative to dismantle homeless encampments and bring unhoused people indoors. [L.A. Times]
» California Reservoirs Rise With Weeks Of Storms After atmospheric rivers, bomb cyclones and Pineapple Express moisture, California reservoir levels have seen a steep rise. On Sunday, the National Weather Service shared an infographic from the Department of Water Resources, which laid out just how much California’s reservoirs have filled after weeks of heavy rain. While none of the major reservoirs are at capacity—in fact, many are still less than half full—many are at or above their historical average for this point in the rainy season. Oroville, for example, is at 54% capacity, but 99% of where it usually is in mid-January. But three years of drought has left the state begging for more water. Experts say it will take more than a few weeks of rain to fix California’s long-term water problems. [KTLA]
» L.A. County Drops Petition for Order Directing Villanueva to Cooperate in Gang Probe Los Angeles County has dropped a petition demanding that former Sheriff Alex Villanueva cooperates with the Office of the Inspector General’s ongoing investigation into alleged internal LASD gangs. In its court papers filed July 7, the county stated that although a new OIG ordinance makes clear that the sheriff must provide documents and information in the manner requested, Villanueva had “refused to cooperate with the OIG’s requests for access to critical records and record systems.” The request for dismissal filed Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant asks that the petition be dropped without prejudice, meaning the county is not barred from reviving the case later. The court papers do not explain the reason behind the county’s new decision. [CNS]
» Critics Choice Awards: Everything Everywhere All at Once Wins Best Picture The 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards were handed out on Sunday night, with A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once winning best picture—one of its four prizes of the evening. Filmmaking duo Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) also won best original screenplay and best director(s) for the film. Accepting the award for the latter category, in which they beat veterans like James Cameron, Baz Luhrmann and Steven Spielberg, Kwan held up the envelope to show their names to the audience as Scheinert said, “It’s not a mistake!” [THR]
