Category: US

• A recently proposed ordinance in Los Angeles would require hotels to open up vacant rooms to homeless people.
• Hotel workers spoke both for and against the proposal at a city council meeting on Friday.
• The ordinance will appear on Los Angeles voters’ ballots in 2024, the council decided.

Hotel workers, some of whom have experienced homelessness themselves in recent years, shared their input Friday on a controversial ordinance that would require Los Angeles hotels to rent vacant rooms to homeless people through a voucher program.

The proposed initiative, titled the “Responsible Hotel Ordinance,” is backed by the hospitality worker union Unite Here Local 11 and will appear on Los Angeles’ voters ballots in 2024, the Los Angeles Times first reported.

At a city council meeting on Friday, hotel workers and industry players voiced opinions for and against the proposal, with several noting that staff members are not properly trained to provide the mental health and social services required to adequately address unsheltered individuals’ needs.

Thomas Franklin, a night auditor at the Beverly Hills Marriott in West Los Angeles, said he himself was homeless ten years ago and described a “chaotic” experience living in a transitional housing program that had 24-hour security and staff on hand.

“With all the drugs, all the fighting… we did not have the support in order to make it a successful program there,” he told council members on Friday. “Without having a clearly defined support from policing and mental services, there’s no way that I think that this is something that we should be able to do.”

An owner of the Hampton Inn Suites in Los Angeles reiterated these concerns, saying his employees are “absolutely scared and fear not just for their lives and their safety, but also for how we are treating the homeless and unsheltered.”

“There has to be a more humane way to take care of this problem,” he continued. “My staff is here with me today… this is no joke to them. If this passes, they will look for other opportunities.”

Carly Kirchen, an organizer for the worker’s union backing the ordinance, said hotel owners are perpetuating the “myth” that “every person experiencing homelessness is so sick that they are a danger to the people around them,” adding that thousands of Local 11 members are currently facing eviction.

“Even as a union member with a good-paying job, I was recently homeless due to the housing crisis in our city,” Bambian Taft, a hotel minibar attendant and former housekeeper, said.

Other speakers noted the proposed ordinance’s lack of economic data and funding information. Richard Earle, an executive at the hotel insurance provider Petra RiskSolutions, said the proposal would cause carriers to “legitimately pull coverage.”

“It will not be available because it changes the entire scope of the business,” he said, adding that coverage for hotels adhering to the initiative would be four to five times more expensive than their current rates. “It will be a direct destructive punitive impact on their business.”

The ordinance would also require hotels that demolish housing in order to build new developments to replace the destroyed units with affordable housing. Ronald Bermudez, who said he works as a bellman at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, voiced support for this initiative at the meeting Friday.

“I’m a renter at near the downtown area,” he told council members. “It will become so difficult to stay in Los Angeles due to the high cost of rent. We need to do everything we can to protect housing in our city.”

Are you a hotel worker struggling to afford housing? Reach out to this reporter from a non-work address at [email protected]

Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests, voting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance, and everyday energy costs and reduce the deficit, while making the wealthiest corporations finally pay their fair share. Iran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does — period.

This bill caps seniors’ out of pocket spending for prescription drugs at $2000 per year – no matter what their drug bills would otherwise be, seniors will not have to spend more than $2000. In addition, 13 million Americans, covered under the Affordable Care Act, will see their health insurance premiums reduced by $800.

This bill tackles inflation by lowering the deficit and lowering costs for regular families.

This bill also makes the largest investment ever in combatting the existential crisis of climate change. It addresses the climate crisis and strengthens our energy security, creating jobs manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles in America with American workers. It lowers families’ energy costs by hundreds of dollars each year.

Finally, it pays for all this by establishing a minimum corporate tax so that our richest corporations start to pay their fair share. It does not raise taxes on those making under $400,000 a year – not one cent.

I want to thank Leader Schumer and every member of the Senate Democratic caucus for supporting this bill. It required many compromises. Doing important things almost always does.

The House should pass this as soon as possible and I look forward to signing it into law.

FANCY FARM, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Republicans came to the state’s premier political event this weekend attempt on winning elections in November and beyond, but some candidates aspiring to become governor had a hard time coming to terms with Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020.

They gave parsed or tortured responses when asked if Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump for the presidency was fairly decided. Their tiptoeing was a sign of Trump’s continued hold on many in the GOP, including in Kentucky, which he easily carried twice.

That influence was evident Saturday as Trump supporters held large “Trump Won” signs as people gathered for the political speaking at the Fancy Farm picnic in western Kentucky. The signs — promoting Trump’s false claims of a rigged 2020 election — drew cheers from Republican faithful. The stump-style speaking at the picnic — shown on statewide TV — is a rite of passage for statewide candidates in Kentucky.

The GOP gubernatorial hopefuls will face off for the party’s nomination next May.

Trump has already weighed in on the Bluegrass State’s 2023 race for governor, endorsing GOP Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seeking a second term, skipped the picnic and spent Saturday consoling flood victims in eastern Kentucky.

Cameron pointed to the Trump endorsement during his picnic speech. But he bristled at questions during the weekend about the ex-president’s unsupported claims of widespread election fraud in 2020.

“The election was fair and secure here in Kentucky,” Cameron said to one of the questions from reporters. “Look, we’ve got to focus on the future. And that’s what this campaign’s about.”

Cameron, however, distanced himself from the views of some die-hard Trump supporters, who believe the 2020 presidential election results should be overturned.

“President Biden is the president of the United States. I don’t dispute that,” said Cameron, who as attorney general has joined multiple lawsuits challenging Biden administration policies.

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Cameron, who worked for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and counts him as a mentor, also refused to discuss the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. The House panel investigating the attack has laid the blame on Trump, saying the assault wasn’t spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and a direct result of the defeated president’s effort to overturn the election.

Instead of discussing the Capitol siege, Cameron pointed to 2020 demonstrations spurred by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans in encounters with police. He said he doesn’t get asked about protests that destroyed property in some of the nation’s cities.

Cameron, who is Black, even cracked a joke about the Trump endorsement in his picnic speech — in true Fancy Farm form, where zingers and spoofs are not only common but expected.

“Now people have speculated about how I got that endorsement. So today I’m going to spill the beans. It was actually pretty easy. … All I had to do was assure Trump that Mitch McConnell is not Makenze’s grandfather, ”Cameron quipped, referring to his wife from him.

Cameron was the only gubernatorial candidate to mention Trump, whose endorsement had been coveted by other GOP candidates for governor, from the Fancy Farm stage.

In her picnic speech, state Rep. Savannah Maddox, another gubernatorial candidate, mentioned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as an “authentic Republican” who will “fight for your constitutional rights and freedoms.”

Cameron wasn’t the only GOP candidate to struggle answering Trump-related questions.

Asked if he thinks Biden won fairly, Ryan Quarles replied that Kentucky had a “secure election” and that Trump “won tremendously” in the Bluegrass State. Quarles, the state agriculture commissioner, is also among the gubernatorial candidates seeking the GOP nomination to be decided next spring.

“I think that President Trump would be doing a lot better job than President Biden if he was in office today,” Quarles added.

Another gubernatorial hopeful, state Auditor Mike Harmon, gave a more than 140-word response when first asked if Biden won fairly. Harmon later said some key election-related “controls were taken off” but said he couldn’t “make an assessment one way or the other.”

Harmon said he wished there wasn’t an attack on the Capitol, but also pointed to the damage and destruction of property during police-related protests, saying there’s a lack of attention to that.

“Certainly, President Biden is serving as our president,” Harmon said later. “We need to pray for him just the same as we would pray for any of our presidents. And hopefully he provides guidance. There’s some things we wish he would do differently, obviously.”

A 29-year-old bank executive from Los Angeles was identified as the third person who was killed in Washington, DC, by a lightning strike last week.

“Brooks was an incredible young man who will be remembered for his generosity, kindness and unwavering positivity,” City National Bank said in a statement on the death of employee Brooks Lambertson, according to the LA Times. “His sudden loss of him is devastating for all who knew him, and his family, friends and colleagues appreciate the thoughts and prayers that have poured in from around the country.”

Lambertson was killed Thursday evening while he was in the nation’s capital for a business trip, the LA Times reported. A couple celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary, identified as James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, of Wisconsin, were also killed by the strike.

Lambertson was a vice president for City National Bank, the LA Times reported, and managed sponsorships for the bank over the last three years. He previously worked for the LA Clippers.

THIRD VICTIM DIES AFTER LIGHTNING STRIKE NEAR WHITE HOUSE

Brooks Lambertson was identified as one of the three people killed in Washington, DC by a lighting strike. (City National Bank)
(City National Bank)

DC Fire and EMS responded to reports of a lightning strike in the center of Lafayette Park, which is near the White House, around 6:52 pm local time on Thursday.

First responders on the scene after a lightning strike in Lafayette Park, Washington, DC
(DC Fire and EMS)

LIGHTNING STRIKES NEAR WHITE HOUSE

DC Fire and EMS spokesperson Vito Maggiolo previously told Fox News that the US Secret Service uniformed division and officers from the US Park Police witnessed the strike and immediately began to render aid to the victims.

Lightning strikes the sky above the Jefferson Memorial after a severe storm in Washington on June 23, 2015.
(Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

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“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life after the lightning strike in Lafayette Park,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on the deaths. “Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives.”

The Senate on Sunday passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) along party lines, 51-50, handing Democrats a crucial legislative win as the midterm cycle ramps up — despite GOP objections at the billions in spending and drug pricing reforms.

The sprawling climate, tax and health care legislation is now set up for quick passage in the Democratic-controlled House, with timing still to be announced, before President Joe Biden signs it into law.

Included in the bill, supporters are quick to highlight, are measures to foster job creation, raise taxes on large corporations and the wealthy, allow Medicare to negotiate down some prescription drug costs, expand the Affordable Care Act health care program and invest in combating climate change by implementing tax credits for clean energy initiatives, among other things.

Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate with all Democrats in support of the legislation and all Republicans opposed. The proposal was passed via the budget reconciliation process, which requires a simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed to overcome a filibuster.

The rules of reconciliation, however, limit what can and cannot be passed with 51 votes — strictures that narrowed the legislation’s scope even in the final days before the vote.

The legislation’s tax provisions, prescription drug-pricing reform, as well as boosted IRS tax enforcement measures, are anticipated to raise an estimated revenue of $739 billion — $300 billion of which Democrats say would go toward reducing the deficit.

The plan would reduce federal budget deficits by $102 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Despite the bill’s name, however, the CBO found that it would have a minimal affect on high inflation in the short-term — something Democrats have conceded when pressed.

The bill passed the Senate after a punishing, approximately 16-hour “vote-a-rama,” in which any senator could introduce an amendment to the bill as part of the reconciliation process.

The amendment process fueled painful votes for each party.

Vulnerable Democratic incumbents up for reelection this year had to dance around a vote on the Biden administration’s decision to scrap Title 42, a Trump-era order using coronavirus concerns to prevent migrants from entering the country while seeking asylum. Republicans, meanwhile, mostly voted against a Democratic amendment that would have capped out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for people with private health insurance.

The IRA passage marks the culmination of grueling negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., who had been a consistent obstacle to cobbling together a Democrats-only social spending bill via reconciliation.

The pathway for a successful vote was cemented late last week when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., another key centrist, signed on after winning some tweaks to the bill.

Among the changes Sinema won were the eliminations of tax provisions targeting wealthy hedge-fund managers and private equity executives. The official Senate rules, the parliamentarian, also scrapped a provision intended to reprimand drug companies that raise the prices of some prescription drugs faster than inflation for patients with private insurance.

Still, the bill’s passage marks a major step toward President Biden’s campaign promises to tackle climate change, reform drug pricing and other issues; and it gives Democrats a new legislative win to run on heading into the November midterms, in an environment where many voters have soured on Biden’s handling of the economy and historic inflation.

“Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests, voting to lower the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance, and everyday energy costs and reduce the deficit, while making the wealthiest corporations finally pay their fair share. Iran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does — period,” Biden said in a statement

The IRA also extends a streak of achievements for Biden and congressional Democrats, including passage of a bipartisan anti-gun violence bill and legislation to boost the domestic semiconductor industry.

“This bill is going to change America for decades,” Schumer crowed after final passage.

Republicans have already forecasted that they’ll paint Democrats as uncaring about Americans’ financial burdens at a time of rapid price hikes while passing billions of dollars in new spending.

“This idea that this massive tax increase will just somehow be absorbed by corporate America when they will pass those costs along to consumers, and it will make inflation worse,” Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last week.

Sen. Mike Rounds, RS.D., said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the IRA would be not a boon to the country but a “boondoggle.”

“What they’re really trying to do is to take dollars in and then redistribute it back out to the places that they think it should be done… This is not the time to be experimenting in that area,” he said.

He also contended that Medicare’s drug negotiating power wouldn’t pay off: “This is not healthy, it’s not good and it will cause problems in the marketplace.”