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AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) has always been one of the more radical teachers unions in the country, and during the coronavirus lockdowns they’ve taken their agenda to new extremes. In the summer of 2020 they presented the school board with a list of demands that seemed more like a ransom note instead of a good-faith effort at finding a way back to the classroom. They’ve partnered with Black Lives Matter-LA and turned students into BLM activists in an effort to defund both the LAPD and LAUSD school police. On March 1 UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s school reopening plan, claiming it was “propagating structural racism” after accusing white and Middle Eastern wealthy parents of “driving the push behind a rushed return,” and the union was accused of racially targeting a LAUSD mom of Afghan descent because she had been an outspoken advocate for getting kids back in the classroom.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Remember that wacky wagon train known to history as the Donner Party? Eighty-seven souls stranded during a particularly nasty winter while making the trek from Missouri to California in 1846. Party members starved, froze, and some resorted to cannibalism. Of the 87 who began the journey, only 48 finished it. But if there was a consolation prize for the survivors, it’s that they ended up really liking California.
One of those survivors, Virginia Reed, wrote a letter back home to relatives in Illinois, telling them how great things were in Cali. In fact, she tried to persuade her female relatives to join her! Now, that wasn’t an easy sell. The journey had led to a mass-casualty event. And here was Virginia writing to her cousin Mary, barely two months after the hellish ordeal, saying, “Make the same trip!”
Real estate is all about
location, location, location. The same seems to apply to the pandemic.
While L.A. County’s overall coronavirus case rate skyrocketed by 450% during the holiday surge, there were certain neighborhoods that saw nothing more than a brief blip on the radar. My colleagues Matt Stiles and Hayley Smith report on three of those surge-safe communities: West Hollywood, Malibu and Playa del Rey.
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The fact that these communities are generally more affluent than the areas that suffered the most is hardly a coincidence. Most people who have avoided the coronavirus’ wrath have jobs that allow them to work from home. They aren’t living in overcrowded apartments with multiple generations of family members. They have easy access to outdoor space, where the virus’ strength is diminished.