Morning Brief: Mayor Garcetti Hopes for a Phasing Out of the Vaccine Tier System

» Eric Garcetti says that the priority tier system for vaccinations will likely phase out as more supply becomes available. He did not say when he thinks that will occur, but suggested it could be as few as six to eight weeks out. [KTLA]

» Black Lives Matter-L.A. has launched a campaign that seeks to have two of Southern California’s biggest police unions ejected from the L.A. County Federation of Labor. The activists are also working on state legislation that would decertify the organizations’ labor union status.  [Los Angeles Times]

» Encino-based grocery store chain Gelson’s has a new owner. The 64-year-old store has been purchased by Tokyo-based Pan Pacific International Holdings.  [L.A. Biz]

» A group of local activists is working to preserve Japanese history and culture in Little Tokyo. J-TOWN Action と Solidarity, a group of largely artists and culture workers, hopes to slow gentrification and displacement from the historic community. [L.A. Taco]

» Britain’s health service has officially requested Gwyneth Paltrow stop claiming fasting, herbs, or infrared saunas have anything to do with treating COVID-19. Once again: Gwyneth Paltrow is not a doctor.  [Harper’s Bazaar]

TOP STORIES FROM L.A. MAG

» Lady Gaga Offers $500,000 Reward for the Return of Her Dogs After Their Walker Was Shot in Hollywood Dog walker Ryan Fischer was reportedly shot in the chest by men who made off with two of the celeb’s three French Bulldogs

» Is Chrissy Teigen Opening a Beverly Hills Cafe? It sounds like the superstar might be fulfilling our ’cravings’ soon

» How to Make Your Golden Globes Viewing Feel Like a Party Even the nominees have been told to stay home this year, but if you want to glam it up, we have ideas

ONE MORE THING

Black History Month Spotlight: Legendary Assemblage Artist Betye Saar

Born in 1926, Betye Saar was raised in a middle-class, multi-racial family in Watts. A legendary assemblage artist, her work has explored everything from spirituality, the feminist and Black power movements, and her own family’s complicated legacy. In one poem she writes:

My roots are tangled. A blend of black, white and red, I am labeled Creole, mulatto, mixed, colored in every sense. Enslaved by the ‘one-drop-rule,’ But liberated by the truth, That all blood is red.

Now in her 90s, Saar continues to work in her studio in Laurel Canyon, where she has lived since the 1960s. Recently celebrated with major shows at MOMA and LACMA, Saar is pleased with her overdue recognition. “It’s about time!” she told the New York Times in 2019. “I’ve had to wait till I’m practically 100.”

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