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Editorial: Fund Denver Health like your life depends on it

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Denver Health cannot fail.The safety-net hospital and regional Level 1 Trauma Center is in a dire financial position with the cost of providing care – especially for those with no means to pay — outstripping the revenue coming in.The state stepped up and has allocated $5 million in the 2023 budget to shore up Denver Health’s budget, but it is not enough.Providing life-saving care for those who cannot pay is a moral imperative. Denver Health not only saves lives with expert trauma care for car crash and gun violence victims, but the hospital is a last resort for uninsured individuals with chronic, treatable illnesses like homeless individuals or undocumented Coloradans with diabetes, renal failure or cancer.The City of Denver has long recognized the civic good of having a public hospital and has propped up the hospital’s operations with additional funding. Taxpayers may not realize the good of a publicly funded hospital until their moment of most dire need when their insurance ...

Colorado avalanche deaths rise to 9 after deadly weekend on the slopes

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Heavy wet snow in Colorado’s high mountain backcountry led to snow slides that caught six skiers since Friday, burying two, leading to two deaths – raising total avalanche fatalities in the state this past winter to nine.The latest fatality happened Sunday afternoon when a skier died in an avalanche near the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort – an avalanche about 200 feet wide that exploded from the upper face of a loaded slope downward 2,000 feet, according to a Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office statement.Two other skiers caught up in that avalanche managed to escape and were rescued, one by helicopter.On Friday in Gunnison County, Joel Shute, 36, a Glenwood Springs resident, was killed – buried in four feet of snow – after an avalanche in the Rapid Creek area near Marble, Gunnison County authorities said. Two others caught in that avalanche escaped, and one was able to hike out and get help, leading to a helicopter rescue.Avalanches this past winter have swept up a total of 18 people i...

LAUSD preparing for school closures amid imminent strike, but remain open to negotiations

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they are preparing for the “unfortunate reality” of school closures amid an imminent workers strike, but indicated they remain open to a resolution.In a statement Sunday, the district said the outstanding issues posed from workers “could be resolved if both sides entered into good faith discussions between now and Tuesday,” when workers plan to begin a three-day strike.Service Employees International Union, Local 99, which represents about 30,000 teachers’ aides, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other support staff will be participating in the strike. United Teachers of Los Angeles, the union representing 34,000 LAUSD educators, plan to honor the picket lines.The potential strike would impact hundreds of thousands students at the nation’s second-largest school district and their families.Schools would be closed with limited student meals and academic plans.District officials said they are waiting on a state labor board...

2 arrested after Bell Gardens High School threat turns up weapons, ammunition

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Two adults have been arrested after a social media threat against Bell Gardens High School led to the discovery of weapons and ammunition, according to police.Authorities were made aware of the social media post on Sunday and “were able to identify the suspect that had made the threat,” the Bell Gardens Police Department said in a news release.During their investigation and surveillance of the suspect, detectives saw two adults get into a vehicle.They conducted a traffic stop and searched the vehicle, locating two stolen firearms, body armor, high-capacity magazines and ammunition, police said. Both suspects, whose names were not released, were taken into custody without incident. It was unclear if they have any direct connection to the school.Bell Gardens High School is part of the Montebello Unified School District.“We continue to encourage our community to immediately report any information that poses a threat to the safety of others,” police said in a statement. “The Bell Garden...

Machete Madness with Brujeria

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Machete Madness with Brujeria: Formed in Los Angeles in 1989, it wasn’t until ’97 that Brujeria played live — a one-off gig at the Whisky.  And then it was the fall of 2003 that they embarked on their first ever tour. They really did keep everyone waiting.Not that you’d know it, based on the live beast that is Brujeria 2023. The lineup has shifted over the years — extreme metal “names” from bands including Napalm Death, Carcass and Cradle of Filth have come and gone — but the brutality remains intact.The legend of Brujeria has been told plenty of times, but the basics are that the band was formed by musicians including Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, Bill Gould of Faith No More and Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, with the aim of increasing Latino representation in metal. Not all of the band members were or are Latino, but their hearts were in the right place. The myth behind the facts was that Brujeria were drug dealing satanists, arm...

Meet Wishful, Wicked Painter Francesca Bifulco

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Francesca Bifulco is a painter, mixed media, and multimedia artist from Pæstum, an ancient city in Southern Italy, where she was raised on a rather magical campground her family owned and operated — which explains a lot, actually. In her interdisciplinary work merging painting with sound, sculpture, video, and narrative histories — and now in a new exhibition of mixed media, sculptural paintings and installation called Candles Burning in the Wind — Bifulco is drawn to a fiery, visceral palette and an expressive, gestural manner of image-making. Capable of holding wit and curiosity alongside loss and trauma, Bifulco’s works process memories both personal and societal through the extrapolation of striking images and theatrical motifs. In this case, she considers the windswept, sharp-edged beauty of the palm tree, a non-native species that has come to all but define the city she now calls home. Inspired further by L.A. as a perennial muse to iconic rock ‘n rollers, the works are their ...

Sonoma winegarten: Kivelstadt Cellars and its al fresco restaurant reboot

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

It is totally fitting that I learned about Kivelstadt Cellars from a chef.We were in the middle of a recipe testing party for her forthcoming plant-centric cookbook, and I was one of a dozen female food-industry professionals gathered in a cozy San Francisco kitchen to make Micah’s scrumptious dishes. She’d arranged a private tasting of Kivelstadt wines to wash everything down.A nibble of such-and-such hummus, a sip of zippy rosé and so forth. The wines went so well with the food that by the time we made it to the pinot noir, a restrained and elegant wine from Kivelstadt’s estate vineyard in Santa Rosa, I knew where I would be stopping on my next wine country weekend.A month later, my best friends and I pull into the gravel-covered parking lot of Kivelstadt Cellars & Winegarten off Highway 12 in Sonoma. Open since 2020, it’s a casual, completely outdoor tasting and restaurant venue with an approachable yet creative, California-centric seasonal menu and an...

Warner Bros: Celebrate 100 years of movie magic by touring the studio

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

I’d driven by Warner Bros. countless times, admiring the colorful banners and billboards showcasing hit TV shows and coming attractions being filmed at the landmark studio complex in Burbank, and always longed to get a look at what was going on behind those walls.So it felt like I was checking something cool off my to-do list, when I pulled up to one of the guard booths at the studios earlier this year and — resisting the urge to say, “I’m here to see Mr. Spielberg” — told the gatekeeper I was going on a studio tour. These hourlong tours, which cost $59 to $69 and run daily, offer not just a glimpse behind the scenes but a dash of Hollywood-style — Burbank-style? — history.In the case of Warner Bros., it’s 100 years of cinematic history, recapped for us tourists by a short introductory video about the company and its centennial. Founded in1923 by four brothers — Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner — the studio moved a few years later to this ...

Ready for your close up? Go behind the scenes with 3 movie studio tours

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

Looking to go behind the scenes in Hollywood?Fans can see where some of their favorite films and shows were made by signing up for a movie studio tour. Warner Bros. is celebrating its 100th anniversary this spring, so that’s certainly one option, but here are three more.Universal Studios HollywoodUniversal first began inviting tourists onto its lot more than a century ago. Of course, a lot has changed as the film world went from silent films to “talkies” and black and white to color — and Universal grew into a massive theme park business, with locations in four countries.But the famous Studio Tour — aka, the Backlot Tour — is still the best reason for visiting. Fans queue up in lines for the popular tour, just like they do for the park’s Revenge of the Mummy ride. But unlike what you’ll find at other studios, Universal’s hour-long tour is one part behind-the-scenes tour and one part thrill ride. The combination works very well, as movie lovers go ...

Cal Shakes goes dark for 2023, aiming for full 2024 season

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:13:10 GMT

California Shakespeare Theater, long a popular staple of the Bay Area summer outdoor theater season, has announced it will present no shows during 2023, but will focus on offering a full season next year, when the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.The announcement comes as the Orinda company, which operates at the scenic and popular Bruns Amphitheatre, deals with a prolonged struggle brought on in part by the COVID pandemic and resulting lockdown.Cal Shakes produced fewer shows than normal in its 2021 and 2022 seasons, and last year saw he departure of both artistic director Eric Ting and managing director Sarah Williams. Clive Worsley, a longtime Bay Area director, administrator and teacher, was named to handle both positions last year. He remains in that position now, although company’s announcement regarding its 2023 season was credited to “The Cal Shakes Team.”Cal Shakes said it anticipating an arrangement similar to recent past seasons, when the company&...