Barefoot, with a call of "bogus"

County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl's home was searched as part of a criminal investigation. Kuehl says a corruption allegation is "totally bogus." County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl's home was searched as part of a criminal investigation. Kuehl says a corruption allegation is "totally bogus." ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Los Angeles Times] [Essential California Newsletter] September 15, 2022 [View in browser]( [Click to view images]( Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies escort Supervisor Shelia Kuehl from her house after serving her an early morning search warrant in Santa Monica on Wednesday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Good morning 🌞, and welcome to the [Essential California]( newsletter. It’s Thursday, Sept. 15. I’m Andrew J. Campa 👋🏼, a Metro reporter writing from the San Gabriel Valley (where the 210 Freeway goes to die). It’s a rare scene when a powerful and influential figure is escorted by law enforcement outside her own home barefoot. Yet that’s what happened a little after 7 a.m. Wednesday in Santa Monica when Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators searched the home of County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl as part of a criminal investigation. [Read “L.A. County Supervisor Sheila [Kuehl’s home searched by sheriff’s investigators]( in The Times.] Our Alene Tchekmedyian ([@AleneTchek]( reported that the [81-year-old two-term supervisor]( who is not seeking reelection, was served a search warrant and escorted out of her home wearing casual clothes and no shoes. The scene dropped a few jaws. Kuehl is a member of the five-person all-female Board of Supervisors, which helps control an annual budget of $39 billion in a county of more than 10 million people. Just for comparison, the state of Arizona 🌵, with a little over 7 million residents, posted [expenditures of $45.1 billion in 2021](. Kuehl’s third district is home to 2 million residents and includes Calabasas, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, North Hollywood, Reseda and Melrose. What happened? Superior Court Judge Craig Richman, who Kuehl alleged is an ally of Sheriff Alex Villanueva, signed off on a search warrant for Kuehl’s home. Warrants were also executed for the home and offices of Patti Giggans, who runs the nonprofit Peace Over Violence, an advocacy group that organizes against sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence. Sheriff’s deputies also searched the L.A. County Hall of Administration and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s headquarters. What led to this? The searches mark a new phase in a long-running Sheriff’s Department investigation into Peace Over Violence. Investigators are alleging an array of bribery and other crimes related to contracts that the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded to the organization to operate a hotline for reporting sexual harassment on public transit. Investigators alleged that “bribery of a county supervisor” might have been committed. A former Metro employee, Jennifer Loew, said that Kuehl helped Peace Over Violence win a contract with the MTA. Kuehl said the accusation was “totally bogus” and that the Board of Supervisors didn’t vote on that matter. What’s the context? Critics of Villanueva claim the sheriff is using a secretive public corruption unit to target political enemies. Villanueva has denied this, saying he’s recused himself from the unit’s work. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón declined an invitation by Villanueva to create a joint-agency task force. Gascón, who survived a recall attempt supported by Villanueva, told The Times last year that the sheriff’s unit was “only targeting political enemies.” Both Kuehl and Giggans have clashed with Villanueva as members of the board and the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, respectively. Quoted: 📢 “Sheriff’s Department. We have a warrant. We demand entry.” — sheriff’s deputy 📢 “These are Third World tactics. Vladimir Putin would be impressed.” — Patti Giggans’ attorney Austin Dove [Read “L.A. County Supervisor Sheila [Kuehl’s home searched by sheriff’s investigators]( in The Times.] And now, here’s what’s happening across California: Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. ADVERTISEMENT L.A. STORIES [People are reflected in a restaurant window.] A news conference is held at the Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles where rapper PnB Rock was slain. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Shortly after the shooting death of Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock at a South Los Angeles Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles, social media users blasted the restaurant and the surrounding community, with the latter described as “dangerous” and “ghetto.” Others said the musician should have dined at a “safer” Roscoe’s in Inglewood and chided the South Los Angeles location for its lack of security. Food Editor Daniel Hernandez visited the locale Tuesday and found an empty restaurant, with cooks and staffers still dedicated to producing quality soul food. [Los Angeles Times]( For the ninth time in 10 years, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the National League West title, defeating host Arizona, 4-0, at Chase Field. This has become a golden era in Dodgers baseball as the team previously captured 11 West titles before this current run. [Los Angeles Times]( Check out "The Times" podcast for essential news and more These days, waking up to current events can be, well, daunting. If you’re seeking a more balanced news diet, “The Times” podcast is for you. Gustavo Arellano, along with a diverse set of reporters from the award-winning L.A. Times newsroom, delivers the most interesting stories from the Los Angeles Times every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. [Listen and subscribe]( wherever you get your podcasts. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced he was suing Amazon due to the giant’s anti-competitive behavior toward third-party sellers. Bonta alleges that California buyers have paid more for online purchases on Amazon because the e-commerce business has forced merchants to keep their prices artificially high. Amazon said the lawsuit would force the company to feature higher-priced products to consumers. [Los Angeles Times]( An appeals court ruled Monday that the State Water Resources Control Board lacked the authority to curtail some entities, including farms, from taking water out of nearby rivers. In 2015, the state stopped Central Valley farms from grabbing water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The rivers provide two-thirds of California’s population with drinking water, and regulators believe that rules are needed to protect these bodies of water during this current drought. [Sacramento Bee]( CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING Drugs obtained from Lexington Park have led to the overdose of 10 people over the last three weeks, including nine area students. The most recent episode included a teenage girl from Bernstein High School who died Tuesday night from an apparent fentanyl overdose. One additional student from Bernstein, one student from Hollywood High and an unidentified fourth victim were all hospitalized that evening. [Los Angeles Times]( The FBI is gathering information about a possible link among a dozen false reports of potential school shootings across California and Texas in the last week. On Wednesday alone, elementary and high schools in Antelope Valley, Chula Vista, Fresno and Santa Rosa suffered hoax calls. In each case, a single person called 911 reporting an active shooter. [Los Angeles Times]( Support our journalism [Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.]( ADVERTISEMENT HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT [A man in a ball cap smiles while sitting on the arm of a sofa.] John Haasjes, shown at home in Tehachapi, was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of making a verbal threat. He languished in jail long after he was declared incompetent to stand trial. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) A Times investigation reveals neglect of incarcerated detainees, including some of the most vulnerable people in state custody. Officials have not sufficiently expanded state hospitals or community-based care options despite surging numbers of incompetent criminal detainees. Mentality ill patients who should have been sent to hospitals were left behind bars an average of 141 days in 2021, a stunning increase from 63 in 2019. The longer they stay imprisoned, the more their health deteriorates. [Los Angeles Times]( An experimental COVID-19 vaccine could outsmart future coronavirus variants. Scientists are testing out the vaccine with the aim of combating mutations in the spike protein by priming the immune system to recognize both the spike protein and a second — and far more stable — viral protein. So far, the vaccine has only been tested in small animals, but this bivalent vaccine provided stronger protection than alternatives that targeted only one of the proteins. [Los Angeles Times]( CALIFORNIA CULTURE There were taquitos and food trucks, financial traders and youngsters trying to figure out how to get rich quickly. Opening night at the Future Proof wealth festival featured outdoor panels, concerts and drinks. And it kicked off with an edict from one of the hosts: “Tomorrow, we rage. Tonight, we drink.” The future of corporate conferences played out for 2,200 attendees in Huntington Beach. [Los Angeles Times]( Converting old unused office buildings into apartments or condos is not new, but the appeal is growing as less office space is needed during the pandemic due to remote working. Once such building, the Crosby, was once the Western headquarters of oil giant Texaco. Now it offers a rooftop swimming pool with cabanas, fitness center, fire pits and a karaoke room. Rents range from $2,250 to $6,500. There are 2,300 underutilized office and hotel properties in Los Angeles County, with conversion potentially making a huge dent in the county’s housing needs. [Los Angeles Times]( Free online games Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at [latimes.com/games](. CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Los Angeles: 81, partly cloudy. San Diego: 75, partly cloudy. San Francisco: 68, partly cloudy. San Jose: 75, mostly sunny. Fresno: 85, sunny. Sacramento: 81, partly cloudy. AND FINALLY Today’s California memory is from Marty Campbell: In 1989, 20 of us young adults embarked on a five-day sports trip to L.A. My first time for the ocean, palm trees, Hollywood Hills and L.A. culture. We attended two NFL games, including the San Francisco 49ers at L.A. Rams, a Monday night football match-up. I remember the energy and atmosphere being so positive and electrifying. We spent the next day in Disneyland and a day at Universal Studios. In 2007 and 2012, I took my kids to L.A. and they shared some of the same experiences, and they really like the culture of L.A. and San Diego too! If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, [share it with us](. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. ADVERTISEMENT Thank you for reading the Los Angeles Times Essential California newsletter. Invite your friends, relatives, coworkers to sign up [here](. Not a subscriber? Get unlimited digital access to latimes.com. [Subscribe here](. [Los Angeles Times] Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times 2300 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo, California, 90245 [1-800-LA-TIMES](tel:1-800-LA-TIMES) | [latimes.com]( *Advertisers have no control over editorial decisions or content. If you're interested in placing an ad or classified, get in touch [here](. We'd love your feedback on this newsletter. 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