Bloodshed on the shore<\/p>\n
Jeremy Andrew Spears, 32, was shot and killed in<\/a> Belmont Shore on Oct. 25. Police said Spears, the father of a 9-year-old boy, was involved in an altercation<\/a> with other bar patrons, left the bar and was shot around 1:30 a.m.<\/p>\n The killing was the third homicide on 2nd Street in less than 18 months<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHis death was preventable because a year ago we had already seen two violent deaths related to 2nd Street bars and safer times were promised,\u201d Belmont Shore resident Brian Cochrane said at a Nov. 11 City Council meeting.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Cozart, principal partner at the Belmont Athletic Club, said that \u201cit\u2019s pretty obvious what\u2019s changed,\u201d referring to the lack of police patrols in Belmont Shore.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying this in a negative way, I know there\u2019s a shortage of policemen,\u201d he said at the meeting. \u201cJust please do whatever you can to get us more help.\u201d<\/p>\n The changing Belmont Shore scene<\/p>\n Matt Peterson, the co-owner of Legends and president of the Belmont Shore Business Assn., put some of the blame on rogue buskers, or street performers, along with street vendors who are bringing in a \u201clate-night component that really has nothing to do with the businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re taking it to another level,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThey use amps and speakers, and they\u2019re attracting people traveling through the district.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson said too many visitors don\u2019t patronize the Belmont Shore bars and restaurants and instead get food and entertainment on the streets. <\/p>\n \u201cThey can stop by for food, music and can even buy booze at liquor stores and hang out for hours without any repercussions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Is crime really on the rise?<\/p>\n Belmont Shore residents are angry over what they see as growing violence, but Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish said such crime fears are not backed by stats.<\/p>\n Hebeish said homicides and shootings were down 30% and 35%, respectively, from last year.<\/p>\n Spears\u2019 slaying marked the first homicide in Belmont Shore this year and the second in the police\u2019s larger East Patrol Division, a 24-square-mile area that covers about 46% of the city along with Belmont Shore<\/a>, according to Hebeish.<\/p>\n He said there were seven such homicides in the division last year.<\/p>\n The next steps<\/p>\n The City Council has directed the city manager and city attorney to establish formal operating requirements for businesses along Belmont Shore, collect community feedback on the problem and create a late-night safety plan. The council directed staff to complete the tasks within 45 days.<\/p>\n Part of that plan includes determining the feasibility of reestablishing police walking beats and reopening the Belmont Shore substation.<\/p>\n The City Council is also asking for enhanced DUI checkpoints, more targeted late-night enforcement against buskers and vendors and a crime hot spot report from the city manager within 45 days that examines where the crimes are being committed in the area.<\/p>\n Time will tell if such efforts make a change along Belmont Shore. As for now, check out the full article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.<\/p>\n (Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n A new era for HollywoodNetflix announced Friday an $82.7-billion deal<\/a> to acquire Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.Netflix beat out competitors<\/a> Paramount and Comcast who also submitted binding second-round offers.Netflix has long challenged the business model of releasing movies in theaters and instead pushed for at-home viewing. But the streaming giant said it would maintain theatrical releases for Warner Bros. films.Hollywood industry insiders also worry about the merger\u2019s implications on jobs, creativity and consumer prices.Frank Gehry dies at 96CDC committee drops hep B vaccine for newbornsA vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Friday<\/a> to drop a decades-old recommendation to vaccinate newborns against hepatitis B.Physicians and public health officials criticized the decision.The CDC has recommended the shot since 1991, resulting in a 99% decline in rates of chronic hepatitis B infections in children and teens.Parents will still be allowed to vaccinate their children against hepatitis B, but some insurance companies may no longer cover it. World Cup 2026 matchups drawnThe U.S. men\u2019s soccer team will open the World Cup against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on June 12. See the full list of pools and matchups<\/a>. In a series of interviews, California lawmakers questioned whether the tournament could run smoothly<\/a> given Trump travel bans, potential National Guard and ICE deployments and the high price of tickets. Ahead of the draw, FIFA leader Gianni Infantino presented President Trump with FIFA\u2019s first Peace Prize.California expands efforts to protect underage farmworkersWhat happened to La Ni\u00f1a?Scientists in October said La Ni\u00f1a had arrived, which many associate with dry conditions, but the season has proved to be very wet so far<\/a>.Meteorologist Jan Null explained that La Ni\u00f1a \u201cdoesn\u2019t always mean drought.\u201d In fact, three of the last seven La Ni\u00f1as were whoppers when it came to rain.What else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime Poet Mary Bryce on stage during Electric Blue: Hypersphere.<\/p>\n (Brian van der Brug \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Going outStaying in<\/p>\n Question of the day: What do you wear when you fly?<\/p>\n Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n L.A. Timeless<\/p>\n A selection of the very best reads from The Times\u2019 143-year archive.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I first visited Legends Sports Bar at Long Beach\u2019s iconic Belmont Shore about 15 years ago. The place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,131,133,132,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-84036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew J. Campa, weekend reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n