Business
L.A. County Fed joins labor groups calling for cease-fire in Gaza
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor has joined the growing ranks of labor groups calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war following pressure from its rank-and-file members and staff of local Southern California unions.
“The death toll in Gaza has already been unbearable, and it threatens to spiral exponentially if the course of the war is not altered,” the federation said in a recent statement. “We cannot bomb our way to peace.”
The statement by the powerful Southern California labor group, which represents more than 300 local unions and other labor groups, reflects a shift among prominent American unions that have shown more willingness in recent months to speak out about the war.
Like the U.S. government, many major unions have long backed Israel and have been largely supportive since it declared war after Hamas militants attacked on Oct.7, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking more than 240 others as hostages.
Israel’s bombardment and ground attacks have killed 33,000 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials. International aid officials say catastrophic hunger has gripped about one-third of Gaza’s population.
As the humanitarian crisis has deepened, labor leaders and politicians, including President Biden, have faced more pressure from activists to call for a cease-fire.
The United Auto Workers in December became among the first major union to do so, with others following suit.
In February, the L.A. Fed’s parent organization, the AFL-CIO, issued its own statement calling for a “negotiated cease-fire in Gaza” while condemning the attacks on Oct. 7 and calling for “the immediate release of all hostages and provision of desperately needed shelter, food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance to Gazans.”
In November, the 42-member executive board of the L.A. Fed declined to allow discussion among its delegates of a statement calling for a cease-fire, sources close to the union said.
The board changed course in March, approving a cease-fire proposal brought by SEIU United Healthcare Workers West that was supported by the organization’s hundreds of delegates.
“We stand in solidarity with all workers fighting for justice and peace and join our union siblings worldwide in calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to push for an immediate cease-fire and end to the siege of Gaza,” the federation said.
Repeated attacks by Israel’s military on healthcare facilities, killing Palestinian doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff, was the impetus of the resolution, said Maky Peters, a regional political organizer at SEIU-UHW who helped to draft the statement.
“What moves the needle is the conditions,” Peters said. “There was a movement of workers that created an atmosphere that made it impossible for the organization representing the voice of workers in the largest county in the nation to ignore.”
Kristal Romero, a spokesperson for the L.A. Fed, said she could not comment on the board’s decisions, adding that meetings are confidential.
“Numerous resolutions on any number of subjects outside of Gaza and a cease-fire are introduced to these bodies, and a lot of times just get voted up or down,” she said. “There is no one reason as to why it got voted through this time, it’s luck of the draw.”
Cliff Smith, business manager of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 36, said action by leaders at the AFL-CIO and by the L.A. Fed has overdue.
“Due to the complete destruction of [Gaza’s] infrastructure and attacks on their hospitals, it’s an absolute atrocity and an embarrassment to the AFL-CIO for not having condemned this immediately,” Smith said.
Major Hollywood unions, including SAG-AFTRA, issued statements in the fall condemning the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, but have remained silent on the subject of a cease-fire, reflecting divisions among members over how to respond to the war.
Members of SAG-AFTRA last month joined more than 1,000 protesters who converged on Hollywood, blocking traffic ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony to protest the war.
“We are a union of storytellers and artists, it is amazing that we aren’t able to recognize the shared humanity of what’s going on,” said Sunil Malhotra, a voice actor who attended the rally. “I think it’s long past time to find moral courage and clarity and step up.”
“The current conflict in the Middle East is an important and sensitive issue to many of our members and SAG-AFTRA has received several requests for public statements. Those requests are currently under review by union leadership,” SAG-AFTRA spokesperson Pamela Greenwalt said in a statement.
Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, said it takes time for union leaders to consider a range of input before issuing a statement.
“We don’t make unilateral decisions,” he said. “For some folks it might not have happened soon enough; for others, they might have preferred it happened later — but that’s union democracy.”
In February, the Animation Guild — a local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — reportedly emerged as the first Hollywood union to publicly call for a cease-fire, citing similar stances taken by other labor organizations.
Times staff writer Christi Carras contributed to this report.
Business
MLB to begin streaming in-market games for Angels, Dodgers, Padres and other teams
Major League Baseball is making streaming options available for fans to watch in-market games of 20 teams, including the Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — a significant shift to respond to the fast-changing TV landscape.
The Angels on Tuesday announced its arrangement with the league to make its games more widely available. The club said the option — Angels.TV — would be available for purchase for $99.99 for the full season or $19.99 per month through the MLB app.
“We are excited to partner with Major League Baseball to bring Angels games to their streaming platform,” Angels President John Carpino said in a statement. “Our priority is making it as easy as possible for fans to watch Angels Baseball and MLB’s industry-leading app provides another great option to stay connected to the team.”
The league separately announced the move, which provides options for fans of other teams, through its MLB app. In-market games for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals will be provided through the app.
Games will still be available to traditional pay-TV subscribers.
Spectrum, owned by cable giant Charter Communications, which distributes the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA, had previously made available Dodger games as a streaming option through a separate app.
On Tuesday, ESPN announced that it would become the new streaming home of MLB.TV, bringing out-of-market live games to the ESPN App and ESPN.com.
“With MLB.TV now available through ESPN, we’re taking a significant step forward in reinforcing ESPN as the home of the MLB regular season while deepening the value proposition of the ESPN Unlimited plan — giving fans even more flexibility in how and where they watch all season long,” Rosalyn Durant, executive vice president, ESPN Programming & Acquisitions, said in a statement.
The move comes as traditional regional sports networks struggle amid the exodus of pay-TV customers. Regional sports networks once were viewed as cash cows for teams and TV programming companies that owned them, but, in recent years, at least one regional sports network owner has filed for bankruptcy. That prompted the MLB to step in to fill the gap.
The league said it also was taking over the television production of games for 14 teams, including the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Business
Video: Anna Wintour and Chloe Malle on the Future of Vogue
“Sometimes in fashion people can feel too cool, unavailable, a bit laconic, and for me, I’m just never going to be that person. Oh well, first of all, I feel like we’re one of the couples in the beginning of ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ “I mean, this is not how we normally sit, guys. Well, what I love about Chloe is obviously she’s brilliant and interested in so many different things. And of course, she appreciates and loves fashion, but she is not a fashion obsessive. And I think that it’s actually a great gift to have when you’re looking at the landscape of Vogue and you’re looking at fashion as part of the cultural landscape, to be able to have not too insider a view of what it is — that she can step back and think about it from a broader perspective.” “Anna was very pulled back at the beginning of the March issue planning, and she was letting everything simmer. And then before it came to a boil, she tapped in to just check in, and pulled me into her office and said, ‘Chloe, everything in the March issue, it looks good. It’s OK, but I want to know where is the you? What makes this issue yours? Where are the weird dogs?’, was the exact quote. And it was very liberating for me because I do feel the pressure of carrying on this enormous legacy. But I — having Anna say that to me allowed me to think about, ‘But what makes this exciting to me right now?’” “Any great editor is going to have a strong personality. And what they see, what they feel, what they think is going to be reflected across all of our platforms.” “I am very inspired by what Vogue has been for a long time, and especially in the last 37 years. It’s exciting to me, and I think that the people who I’m most excited by consistently are people who are really true to who they are and what excites them. And for me, that’s been a real guiding principle. I don’t want the fact that I may be editing Vogue now to mean that I’m someone who’s intimidating to talk to at kindergarten dropoff. That’s just not who I am.” “Chloe is her own person. She’s going to have her own vision. She’s going to put her own stamp on Vogue. And yes, it will take a little time, but she is not A.W.-lite in any way. And that’s not what we wanted. We wanted someone that was clearly her own person, that clearly believed in her vision. And I think people should get over comparisons and look at people as individuals. And Chloe is already a great Vogue editor.” “Something that I really tried to learn from and mimic is Anna is so dogged about checking in on things, and pushing you and keeping things going. And I find myself feeling so stretched in so many different directions, and it’s so important to me to really feel present and available to the people on the Vogue team, to my husband, to my children, to my mother.” “When I first came to Vogue, I — American Vogue — I had very small kids, and I remember how difficult it was to balance all of that. So that is something that I urge you to prioritize because it really is vital.” “We’ve been building in my house a 3,700-piece Lego of the Daily Bugle newspaper office, and it’s been very exciting to me because now my son thinks that superheroes work in print media.” “You’ve got me excited thinking about this now. What would I do? I would build a whole new podcast studio. I would pay everyone 30 percent more. I would make sure the social team had more people on it because they’re working all the time. I would have our app staffed more fully. We have so many ideas about shoots that we’re excited about doing that take people on adventures, and those budgets would really help with that. And we are still finding ways to do these things. But — there’s always more you can be doing.” “But to be clear, Jessica, we have a very healthy budget at Vogue. And how we use it and use our resources is constantly changing depending on the moment.” “About 30 minutes ago before this interview.” “Oh, for me too? I don’t get nervous.”
Business
L.A. and Long Beach are among the least affordable cities in the world for homebuyers
Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego are among the world’s least affordable cities for homebuyers, a recent report says.
When the price of a regular home is compared to regular local salaries, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and San José were among the five least affordable cities in the world, according to a survey from financial services provider Remitly conducted late last year.
Relative to local pay scales, the cities are more expensive for homebuyers than New York, Paris and Singapore, Remitly’s analysis says.
In Los Angeles, a single buyer earning the local average salary could afford a home worth only 28% of the average property in the region, according to the survey. Residents of San José can afford to buy a home worth only about a quarter of the average.
“This could mean they would have to stretch themselves financially, often finding larger down payments or asking for financial help from family to be able to make their dream of owning a home a reality,” the report said.
Two additional Bay Area cities appeared on the “20 least affordable” list. San Francisco came in at 10th place, while Oakland ranked 19th.
California homes are about twice as expensive as the typical midtier U.S. home, according to a recent report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office. As of December, the average home price in California was $755,000, the report said.
Researchers looked at property prices, average salaries pre-tax, mortgage, interest rates and down payments and deposits to compare housing affordability across 151 cities in 11 countries.
Countries were chosen as they ranked in Remitly’s previous study of the most popular countries to move to. The study included the 50 U.S. cities with the highest populations. It excluded the United Arab Emirates and Japan because of insufficient data. The only Asian city the researchers included was Singapore.
Property prices were taken from national statistics agencies and real estate databases, the study said. Income figures were from national and regional datasets.
Detroit — where a person making the local average salary could afford more than two times the average property price — was named the world’s most affordable city to become a homeowner. It was the only U.S. city to make it onto the list, which otherwise consisted of German and Italian cities.
Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA, said the “writing has certainly been on the wall” for California’s housing market to be considered the most expensive in the world.
California’s draws include its “unparalleled amenities” and strong job market, Lens said. But “we make it very challenging to build enough homes to satiate the demand,” he said.
“That combination of low supply and relatively high affluence for some parts of our country make the baseline of an entry-level home very expensive,” Lens said.
Detroit’s ranking as the most affordable city in Remitly’s list reflects the city’s decades-long population loss, driven by white flight and a decline in the auto industry, Lens said. Vacancy rates are high because it was built to house a population that was once much larger.
-
Politics5 days agoWhite House says murder rate plummeted to lowest level since 1900 under Trump administration
-
Indiana1 week ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
-
Indiana1 week ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Alabama3 days agoGeneva’s Kiera Howell, 16, auditions for ‘American Idol’ season 24
-
Politics1 week agoTrump unveils new rendering of sprawling White House ballroom project
-
San Francisco, CA6 days agoExclusive | Super Bowl 2026: Guide to the hottest events, concerts and parties happening in San Francisco
-
Culture1 week agoTry This Quiz on Mysteries Set in American Small Towns
-
Massachusetts1 week agoTV star fisherman’s tragic final call with pal hours before vessel carrying his entire crew sinks off Massachusetts coast