TODAY’S ESSENTIAL NEWS
» How Severe Flooding Threatens A Los Angeles Water Lifeline For the first time in more than 100 years, the 200-mile L.A. aqueduct has been breached due to the extreme weather conditions currently bombarding the Golden State. Earlier this month, floodwaters undermined a 120-foot-long section of the aqueduct in Owens Valley, causing its concrete walls to crumble and threatening water deliveries to 4 million ratepayers in Los Angeles. This breach is raising concern about the aqueduct’s ability to handle record-high spring runoff following this season’s remarkable snowpack. [L.A. Times]
» California Looks To Spend Some Medicaid Money On Housing Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed spending more than $100 million per year in the state’s Medicaid program to pay for up to six months of housing for people who are or risk becoming homeless; are coming out of prison or foster care; or are at risk for hospitalization or emergency room visits. It would be the biggest test yet of using Medicaid money for housing. California has the nation’s largest Medicaid program, with more than 13 million patients—or about a third of the state’s population. California also has nearly a third of the nation’s homeless population, according to federal data. [AP]
» L.A. County Receives Millions in State Funding for Infrastructure Projects Millions of dollars of state funds have been recently allocated for Los Angeles County infrastructure projects. The total state allocations include more than $533 million in funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and more than $190 million in funding from Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, state officials said Friday. [CNS]
» Army Pulls Jonathan Majors’ Recruiting Ads After Arrest On Assault Charges After Creed actor Jonathan Majors was arrested Saturday in New York on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment, the U.S. Army has pulled its “Be All You Can Be” adverts, launched by the Army at the start of the NCAA’s March Madness. Majors was the narrator of two ads at the heart of a broader media campaign. New York City police said the actor was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman. And according to police sources obtained by ABC, the actor called 911 himself to report his concern about his girlfriend, whom he lives with. [ABC]
____________________________________________________________________
TOP STORIES FROM L.A. MAG
Did this franchise installment really need to be nearly twice as long as the original? Nope!
____________________
ONE MORE THING
Why An Art-House Movie Theaters Void Has Opened in L.A.
For the past two years, a gaping hole has appeared in the heart of L.A.’s cultural scene, as the city’s cinematic infrastructure had lost a large piece of its lifeblood: Our beloved art house movie theaters. As entertainment is the city’s largest industry, it’s incredible how weak the independent theater sector has become in L.A. This is the city that once boasted outlets for any type of film. Now, it feels like L.A.’s failing on its promise.
The Arclight Theaters shuttered its doors in April of 2021, and the re-opening of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre has been indefinitely delayed since Netflix’s purchase of the theater in May of 2020; he Vista Theater in Los Feliz doesn’t seem to be reopening anytime soon after shutting down in March of 2020; and Landmark’s flagship multiplex theater in West L.A. closed its doors in May of 2022. We all know that the Covid-19 pandemic is what brought about all of these closures, but even two years after theater doors’ big reopening, why is there such a lack of independent cinemas in this city?
