News Brief: Some Wineries and Breweries Pushing to Reopen

Happy Monday, Angelenos! Today’s morning recap includes winery and brewery owners pushing to reopen, a Ventura pastor who refuses to suspend indoor church services, and a South Pasadena City Councilwoman accused of faking online identities to submit public comments. Also, are all young people really that careless about COVID-19? First, let’s look at some news:

Morning News Rundown

Some brewery and winery owners, like Urban Press Winery owner Giovanni D’Andrea, are pushing Public Health officials to allow them to reopen their establishments. The owners argue that if they serve food and operate responsibly, they should have the same rights that restaurants that serve alcohol do to open for outdoor service. [ABC 7]

While most daycare centers in L.A. closed early on in the pandemic, some, like Centro Alegria in Boyle Heights, continued to stay open. Now, despite its best efforts to follow state guidelines and strict health protocols, at least five teachers have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few weeks. [LAist]

A California pastor in Ventura County continued to hold indoor church services over the weekend in defiance of an emergency temporary restraining order issued by a judge on Friday. Pastor Rob McCoy has been offering indoor services at Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park for weeks, even after Governor Newsom announced a statewide ban on large gatherings in July. [CBS Los Angeles]

Remember The Executioners story from last week? They’re an alleged cohort of L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies based out of a Compton patrol station that use violence and intimidation to consolidate power. Well, it turns out that over the last 30 years, L.A. County has shelled out some $55 million in settlements from cases involving “secret gangs” within the LASD. [Los Angeleno]

The City of Santa Monica’s Economic Recovery Task Force has created a grant program for artists to create works relevant to the city’s recovery efforts. Artists can get up to $20,000 in grants. [We Like L.A.]

The L.A. County District Attorney is currently investigating allegations that South Pasadena Councilwomen Marina Khubesrian created fake names and email addresses to enter public comments critical of her opponents while also praising her allies. Khubesrian’s two alleged aliases: Mel Trom and Emily Diaz-Vines. [Pasadena Star News]

The traffic decrease that followed L.A.’s Stay-At-Home order was plain enough to see. Less visible––but perhaps more personal––is that a decrease in traffic also led to a demonstrable decline in road rage incidents. In fact, from March to July, such reported incidents were down over 33% year-over-year. [Crosstown LA]

About The Young Ones

As the infection rate of young people rose in July, many were quick to correlate the escalating community spread in L.A. with the carelessness of teenagers and younger adults. It’s easy to paint the young generation as a scapegoat, especially when we see images of packed beaches or big parties being broken up in the Hollywood Hills. But is it really that monolithic? As the Long Beach Post reports, the divergent behaviors of the younger population are layered among a variety of attitudes and everyday realities. Some, for whatever reason, straight up don’t believe the pandemic is as serious as it’s being played in the media. Others take maximum precautions. For many, there has been a substantial shift in attitude as the reality of the disease has affected their lives, either directly or indirectly. [Long Beach Post]