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Los Angeles was a stopover for a Spanish mother-daughter smuggling pair on their way to Australia with what federal authorities said was more than 10 pounds of cocaine hidden inside food packages. Read more here: Suspected Cocaine Smuggling Gets Mom, Daughter Arrested
The Beverly Hills High School girls varsity soccer team wrapped up its first Ocean League championship Tuesday with a 5-0 shutout of Inglewood at Nickoll Field. The Normans will now try to put the finishing touches on an undefeated league season Thursday when they travel to archrival Culver City for Beverly Hills’ last game before playoffs begin. BHHS coach Ryan Franks made it clear he has no intention of resting his starters. “We are absolutely trying to keep our undefeated league record against Culver City,” said Franks, who took over the girls program in 2003-04. “We also want to keep our momentum going into playoffs. We are really in a groove right now, particularly with our defense. We have talked about the motto, ‘defense wins championships.’ ” Steady defense has been the key to the Normans’ success. They have outscored their league opponents 37-2. Only defending champion Santa Monica has been able to find the back of the net this season against BHHS, doing so with a 2-1 overtime loss at Samohi and a 1-1 draw last Friday at Nickoll Field. Needing merely a tie to clinch the title outright, the Normans (13-5-3 overall, 8-0-1 in league) dominated Inglewood from the start during Tuesday’s game. Fittingly, it was leading scorer Ashley Aviram who put Beverly Hills on the board in the 29th minute with her 23rd goal of the season. That was the only goal of the first half, but the Normans tallied four more in the second to pull away. Kaela Reisfelt scored twice in six minutes (the second off an assist from Aviram), then Aviram notched her league-best 24th goal of the year in the 66th minute, assisted by Tiffany Moore. Only a junior, Aviram needs two goals to tie Beverly Hills’ single season record held by Emily Litvak and six to tie Litvak’s career-record 55 goals. Tylor Fields scored the last goal in the 68th minute off an assist from Reisfelt. With 16 assists, Aviram also leads the league in that department. Goalie Ida Trevino needed to make only one save in 60 minutes and backup Kylie Colvin played the last 20 minutes, making one save to complete the shutout. Culver City lost to the Normans 1-0 at Nickoll Field in the teams’ first game this season, so Franks expects the Centaurs to be motivated Thursday. “Culver City has a very good attack and will put our defense to the test,” said Franks, who played center midfield for BHHS boys coach Steve Rappaport from 1992-96 and set the school single-season assists record with 18. “Our back line of Arielle Harris, Monica Salandra, Elena Rust and Ida [Trevino] have been rock solid for us.” Regardless of Thursday’s outcome, BHHS will host its first playoff game on Feb. 17, most likely against a third-place team from another league. Ranked seventh in this week’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 poll, the Normans’ next goal is to advance deep into the postseason tournament. Franks expects Santa Monica and Culver City to make the playoffs as well. “We typically get three teams in,” he said. “Last year, all three Ocean League teams [Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Culver City] got to the second round of CIF. It really depends on how strongly they value our league to determine our placement. I think we have a pretty competitive league.” Beverly Hills won its last league title in 2002-03 as a member of the Pioneer League, the year before Franks took over the program. Over the past decade, the Normans have qualified for the playoffs every year but have never made it out of the second round. It is a trend they hope to change this winter. B e sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . See the original post here: BHHS Girls Soccer Wins First Ocean League Title
The Health Care Law ( the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ) is 2,409 pages long, making it difficult for many businesses with employees to understand all the details within the law. The Health Care Law has just been made easier to understand, thanks to some major California business organizations that joined together to create the Health Law Guide for Business website. To make it simple for employers to know the facts on the law’s business-specific provisions, the website provides accurate and easily understood information about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . A nonprofit information hub for California businesses, the media and employees, the Health Law Guide for Business was created by California businesses for California businesses. “Small businesses will discover that the most value from using the website will be a greater understanding of the changes in our health care system that have already gone into effect and allow them to plan for those that lie ahead,” said Scott Hauge , president of Small Business California. The project is generously funded by The California Endowment . The website was created by a partnership between the Bay Area Council, CA Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, CA Small Business Development Centers,
There’s art, art and more art going on in LA tonight at LA Live, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and at the Chinese American Museum. We also found Harlan Ellison talking about his writing career and an evening with MinshareLA. Read on for all the details. more › Read this article: Pencil This In: Affordable and Contemporary Art Fairs, Chinese American Architects in LA 1945-1980 and Harlan Ellison
On Friday, October 28, in an action unanimously supported by our Board of Directors, The California Endowment filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of the federal government’s request that the Court accept an appeal of a lower court decision invalidating a portion of the Affordable Care Act. While the new health reform law continues to endure all manner of political and legal attacks across the nation, it is our view that this new law offers the best pragmatic set of remedies to solve the crisis of our dysfunctional, too-expensive, and unfair health care system. Why is our foundation doing this? It is our view that the minimum coverage requirement — also referred to as the individual mandate — is central to making the Affordable Care Act work. It is clearly linked to commerce because uninsured Californians using expensive emergency rooms and hospitals for needed care drive up health care costs, and negatively impact our state’s business climate. Moreover, let us count the ways of why this new law is critical to our nation’s health and economic viability: It will provide an opportunity for most of America’s nearly 50 million uninsured citizens to access quality, affordable health care. It eliminates the decades-long discrimination and denial of coverage by health insurance companies against Americans who are sick or have a pre-existing health condition. It provides subsidies for hard-working Americans who cannot afford health care in today’s health insurance market. It provides small businesses with tax credits to support the purchase of health coverage for their employees. It begins the long-needed transformation of health care financing to be driven by quality, value, and results — and not by services rendered. It provides free preventive health services in a systematic approach — which many private health insurers have already begun to do in an effort to reduce the costs associated with expensive, avoidable care later on. It supports the entrepreneurial spirit of America, by strengthening the likelihood that self-employed Americans will be able to purchase affordable health coverage in an open insurance market. This new health law is worth fighting for, and we hope you agree. If you wish to read the foundation’s amicus brief, authored by preeminent attorney Kathleen M. Sullivan, click here . Originally posted here: Robert Ross: Friend of Health Reform, Friend of the Court
