🌱 Stolen Maserati & Shots Fired + De León & Koretz Tackle Dumping

Get on up, Los Angeles; today is National Orchid Day! Here's everything you need to know to get this Saturday started off right. Here's everything you need to know today in town.

A bizarre case involves a stolen car, shots, and officers busy with an investigation. Also, the City Council wants to keep illegally dumped trash off the streets. Finally, is it true what protesters said about K3 Holdings, or is the firm right?

First, today's weather:

Clouds breaking and cool. High: 68 Low: 52.

Here are the top five stories in Los Angeles today:

1. At 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, a couple of people were driving in a stolen Maserati. When they got to around Florence Avenue and Figueroa Street, there was a shooting. “Officers say the victims then drove themselves a few blocks away to the intersection of Florence and Main, where police were on scene investigating the end of an unrelated pursuit.” (ABC)
2. Councilmembers Kevin de León and Paul Koretz each authored a motion having to do with illegal dumping, both of which the City Council passed on Wednesday. “One measure would add 61 staff positions to the Bureau of Sanitation. The other would bring together a group of city departments to come up with a plan to curb illegal dumping with deterrents like fines and cameras, including so-called ‘dummy cameras’, to scare off would-be dumpers.” “In terms of a large metropolitan city, we are the trashiest largest city in America,” de León said. (LAist)
3. K3 Holdings is a real estate firm that “owns over 60 rent-controlled buildings in L.A.” We learned on Monday that tenants staged a protest outside the company’s Beverly Hills office, claiming “predatory practices,” “allegedly using coercion, lies, and even threatening deportation to evict longtime tenants,” and “rats, roaches, flooding, toxic mold, malfunctioning elevators, and nonexistent trash pickup.” The company responded by saying, “these allegations come from claimants who have a demonstrated history of accusing real estate owners of bad behavior, with the goal of extracting payment.” (ABC)
4. The L.A. Conservation Corps is making a huge difference in our neighborhoods. When spotlighted on Thursday, we learned that the group hires “18 to 26-year-olds for up to two years with paid positions, and they'll help youth get their driver’s license and high school degree if they don't have that.” They then go out and beautify the City. One crew supervisors “guesses he's planted a thousand trees in Compton alone.” (Fox 11)
5. The Ukrainian music quartet DakhaBrakha is coming to the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance on April 24. However, don’t expect traditional folk music. The group defines itself as an “ethno-chaos” quartet, which means they combined folk music with “added rhythms from the surrounding world.” (Beverly Press)
   

Today in Los Angeles:

• CalOptima Hosting No-Cost Covid-19 Vaccination Clinics at 1450 E La Palma Ave (9 AM)
• Low-Cost Pet Vaccination Clinic at the Plummer Park Community Center (10 AM)
• Family Easter Picnic & Egg Hunt at Griffith Park (11 AM)
• Dr. Greenthumb's LAX Grand Opening Celebration at 5494 W Centinela Ave (11 AM)
• Blessing Of The Animals on Olvera Street (12 PM)

From my notebook:

• LAPD's Senior Lead Officer Daniel Garcia shares robbery prevention tips! (Nextdoor)
• Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell announces that starting Monday, April 18, small businesses impacted by COVID-19 can begin applying for rental assistance through the City’s Small Business Rental Assistance Program. (Nextdoor)
• The Wilshire Community Relations Office, Los Angeles Police Department invite you to join a Virtual Town Hall Meeting On Wednesday, April 20, at 6:00PM. (Nextdoor)
• A West Whittien Blvd neighbor is looking for an animal trap that they could borrow. They're trying to TNR 2 cats in the neighborhood, but were given short notice for their appointments. (Nextdoor)
• Our Kentwood North neighbor is looking for a new gardener. Does anyone have a really good, knowledgeable gardener? Someone who takes care of the lawn, weeds, and plants? (Nextdoor)

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You're officially in the loop for today. I'll be in your inbox tomorrow morning with a new update!

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.