California Dolphin

Less than 24 hours after a violent attack on a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA, authorities appeared poised to shut down the encampment by declaring an unlawful assembly. The move comes after UCLA Chancellor Gene Block announced Tuesday the university’s intentions. The University of California has generally taken a lighter touch in handling protests than USC, Columbia and other campuses that have called in police, who have arrested hundreds of students. In a statement earlier Tuesday, University of California President Michael V. Drake said he “fully” supported UCLA’s action. UC must be “as flexible as it can” in matters of free speech, he said, but must act in cases in which student learning and expression are blocked, university functions disrupted and safety threatened. On Wednesday evening, students lined up arm in arm in an effort to prevent law enforcement from reaching the encampment. Down the hill from the tents, more than two dozen vehicles from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department lined up. Officers in riot gear faced the students. “They won’t arrest you before giving a dispersal order,” one student called out to the crowd.

Four days after falling one match short of the CIF Boys’ singles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, Lorenzo Brunkow got a second chance to win a championship and this time he was not about to let it slip away. The Palisades High junior swept all four of his sets at the No. 1 position, dropping two games in the process, to lead the top-seeded Dolphins to a convincing 18.5 to 11 victory over second-seeded Granada Hills for their 40th City Section championship and 15th in a row Wednesday at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino. “The trips with the team were fun and it helps to see a little of what the college environment will be like,” said Brunkow, an early commit to UC Santa Barbara, where his brother Gianluca is a junior on the Gauchos’ men’s squad. “It was important to continue our coach’s legacy and keep the title streak alive.” Brunkow, a highly ranked junior player, opted to try high school tennis for the first time this spring and no one was more pleased with that decision than Palisades coach Bud Kling

Birmingham moved two games up over second-place Granada Hills in the West Valley League baseball standings on Wednesday with three games to play. Birmingham improved to 12-0 with a 10-0, five-inning victory over Chatsworth. Ace pitcher Michael Figueroa stuck out six, walked one and allowed four hits in five innings. Anthony Valdez contributed two doubles and four RBIs. The Patriots play host to Chatsworth on Thursday, then face Granada Hills in a two-game series next week to end the regular season. Birmingham has never won a West Valley League title under coach Matt Mowry in 18 seasons. Granada Hills (10-2) was beaten by Cleveland 4-2. Kaeden Riepl struck out six in six innings and also had two RBIs for the Cavaliers. Taft 2, El Camino Real 1: Elijah Gaviola struck out three and threw a five-hitter for Taft. Dylan Sidell had an RBI double. Palisades 11, Westchester 3: A 10-run first inning propelled the Dolphins. Logan Bailey had a home run and finished with three RBIs. More to Read

It is never OK to use physical violence against people with whom you disagree. This should be obvious, but the events that unfolded on the UCLA campus early Wednesday show the consequences when that message is lost. Late Tuesday night, a large group of people attacked the anti-war encampment on the Westwood campus. They weren’t campus authorities acting on the university’s order that the camp was “unlawful,” but rather people who disagreed with the pro-Palestinian protesters and decided to clear the camp themselves. It turned ugly quickly. In this era of a video camera in every pocket, we can watch it all in jarring clarity through the many clips posted on social media. It’s shocking to view people rush the barricades, trying to remove the metal and wood barriers and attack one another with fists and sticks and pepper spray. It’s disheartening to hear the vile slurs hurled by counterprotesters and the screams from protesters after a firework launched into the middle of the encampment explodes. This violence continued over the course of hours, although campus officials knew it was going on, and had summoned

A massive law enforcement presence was seen on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles Wednesday after violence erupted overnight when demonstrators in the pro-Palestinian encampment came under siege by a group of around 50 counter-protesters. Hostilities outside the encampment had been simmering since demonstrators took over Royce Quad last Thursday, setting up dozens of tents and surrounding themselves with metal fences and wood pallets.    The pro-Israeli counter-protesters, many of them dressed in black and wearing white masks, lobbed fireworks at those in the encampment and attempted to dismantle the barricades. A Pro-Palestinian protestor clashes with a pro-Israeli supporter at an encampment at UCLA early Wednesday morning. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) For at least two hours, campus police stood by as both factions traded punches, hurled items at each other, and dispersed pepper spray and fire extinguishers in a chaotic scene that wasn’t contained until around 2 a.m. when LAPD officers arrived.  According to police, no arrests were made, and no force was used.   Some two dozen law enforcement vehicles seen on the campus of UCLA on May

The number of arrests made during the 2024 Stagecoach Country Music Festival last weekend increased by more than 25% compared to last year’s iteration, police said Wednesday. Beginning Thursday morning, when campers first started to arrive at the festival site, the Indio Police Department made 112 arrests, according to department spokesman Ben Guitron. That number was up from 98 during the 2023 festival. In total, 63 people were arrested for drug-, alcohol-, or intoxication-related offenses, according to Guitron, and 49 were arrested for fake IDs. Citations also increased from last year, Guitron said. The department issued 83 in total, all for unlawfully using a disabled person placard, compared to 65 such citations in 2023. None of the parties taken into custody or cited were identified. There were no serious or violent offenses documented during the event.

Dozens of USC faculty members held a march through the campus Wednesday in support of pro-Palestinian protesters, calling in part amnesty for those who were arrested during a massive demonstration last week. The Wednesday march was proceeding peacefully, with some students joining the faculty in the late-afternoon procession. It was held hours after a virtual meeting that was held between some faculty representatives and USC President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman. Folt wrote on social media Wednesday afternoon that the meeting was held “to explain our reasoning and answer their thoughtful and direct questions about our recent decisions.” “Rich & sometimes opposing views are essential to a great university,” Folt wrote. “Trust is built every day & we hope this was a step forward.” Folt on Tuesday met for a second straight day with representatives of the protesters who have been demonstrating on the campus. The session appeared to have limited results, with protesters continuing to press their demands, which include divestment from Israel and from companies with financial ties to Israel. “I had a second meeting today with the same group from the

When dozens of counterprotesters swarmed UCLA late Tuesday night, attacking the Palestinian solidarity encampment at the center of campus, university authorities were quickly overwhelmed. Law enforcement sources told The Times there were only a few UCLA police officers on hand. They tried to stop the violence but were no match for the crowd and had to retreat, having been attacked themselves, the sources said. A group of unarmed private security guards was there as well. But the guards were hired mainly to protect campus buildings, not to break up fights or make arrests. So they observed the scene as it descended into chaos. It would take about three hours for scores of California Highway Patrol officers and police from Los Angeles and other agencies to fully bring the situation under control. The response to the violence is now under increasing scrutiny, with many on campus and outside criticizing UCLA for not handling the violent counterprotest better. “The limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA last night was unacceptable — and it demands answers,” a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement

Paris Hilton, heredera de la cadena hotelera y celebrity, está respaldando el impulso de legisladores de California para aumentar la transparencia de los centros terapéuticos residenciales para adolescentes, al exigir que estos programas informen sobre el uso de restricciones o salas de aislamiento en la disciplina de menores. “No deberíamos estar poniendo a los jóvenes en instalaciones sin saber a qué serán sometidos”, declaró Hilton, ante el Comité de Servicios Humanos del Senado en Sacramento. “La Ley de Responsabilidad en el Tratamiento de Niños es una medida simple de transparencia que tendría un impacto duradero y mostraría al mundo lo que realmente sucede a puertas cerradas”. Hilton, de 43 años, se ha convertido en una defensora de alto perfil para poner fin a lo que describe como la “industria de adolescentes problemáticos”, que promete rehabilitar a adolescentes con problemas de adicciones, afecciones mentales y comportamientos difíciles. Estos programas no tienen supervisión federal y han sido expuestos por disturbios, agresiones e incluso muertes de menores, lo que ha generado una resistencia para proteger los derechos de los jóvenes. Después de lanzar un documental en 2020 detallando

With a hiring crisis on its hands, the Long Beach city council is scheduled to meet next week with the goal of streamlining the process. Throughout the city, 22% of jobs are vacant, with some departments reporting vacancy rates over 35%, City Manager Tom Modica wrote to the council. It took the city 377 business days to approve a list of candidates for a clerk typist position and 362 calendar days for a position at the Long Beach port, he wrote. The city “is grappling with a major organizational crisis with an inefficient and outdated recruitment and hiring process,” Modica wrote. He proposed that the council put a measure on the November ballot to merge two agencies in charge of hiring and prioritize local candidates, with the goal of reducing hiring times from seven months to 4½. The city council meeting will take place Tuesday, as originally reported by the Long Beach Watchdog. Though the hiring process could be streamlined, a multitude of factors have driven the hiring troubles, said Brandon Nottingham, a business representative for the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists

LOS ÁNGELES (AP) — Manifestantes rivales se enfrentaron el miércoles en la Universidad de California en Los Ángeles (UCLA) a puñetazos, empujones, patadas y usando palos para golpearse entre sí. Horas antes, la policía irrumpió en un edificio de la Universidad de Columbia tomado por manifestantes propalestinos y disolvieron una protesta que había paralizado a la escuela e inspirado otras más. Tras un par de horas de escaramuzas entre manifestantes propalestinos y proisraelíes en la UCLA, policías con cascos y escudos formaron vallas y separaron lentamente a los grupos. Esto calmó la violencia y el lugar estaba tranquilo mientras amanecía. La UCLA canceló clases el miércoles e instó a la gente a evitar el área donde ocurrieron los enfrentamientos. “Debido a la angustia causada por la violencia que tuvo lugar en Royce Quad anoche y temprano esta mañana, todas las clases están canceladas hoy”, dijo la universidad en un comunicado. Manifestantes se enfrentan en un campamento propalestino en la UCLA la madrugada del miércoles 1 de mayo de 2024, en Los Ángeles. ) (Ethan Swope/AP) Los estudiantes instalaron campamentos en las universidades para pedir a

Four student journalists who work for the UCLA Daily Bruin were attacked shortly after 3:30 a.m. Wednesday by Pro-Israel counterprotesters during a campus demonstration that turned violent. Daily Bruin news editor Catherine Hamilton, 21, told The Times she recognized one of the counterprotesters as someone who had previously verbally harassed her and taken pictures of her press badge. The individual instructed the group to encircle the student journalists, she said, before they sprayed the four with mace or pepper spray, flashed lights in their faces and chanted Hamilton’s name. As she tried to break free, Hamilton said, she was punched repeatedly in the chest and upper abdomen; another student journalist was pushed to the ground and beaten and kicked for nearly a minute. The attack was first reported in the Daily Bruin. “We expected to be harassed by counterprotesters,” Hamilton said in an interview Wednesday, adding that every Daily Bruin reporter was instructed to use a buddy system, to report from outside the encampment and to leave the area if it became unsafe. “I truly did not expect to be directly assaulted.” One of the