Welcome to L.A. TACO’s daily news briefs, where we bring our loyal members, readers, and supporters the latest headlines about Los Angeles politics and culture. Stay informed and look closely.
—Torrance: The City of Torrance has paid $750,000 to the owner of an impounded car that allegedly was spray-painted by police with a swastika in 2020. The man had filed a federal $6 million lawsuit over the incident in which former Torrance officers Cody Weldin and Christopher Tomsic were also charged with felony conspiracy and vandalism. They are scheduled to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 29 and await a preliminary hearing. The discovery of the swastika on the car's backseat led to a wider expose of racist behavior between several officers, four of whom have been fired or resigned, and 15 of whom have been placed on leave pending an investigation. [Long Beach Press Telegram]
—A final warning is being issued to the people of Earth in the final installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) sixth assessment report. "There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all," it warns, with our planet currently set to hit its critical warming threshold next decade. "The climate time bomb is ticking," UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared in a video, urging political leaders to act faster to cut emissions that are destroying us. And not say, open up the Arctic to more oil drilling. [Axios]
—Stop LAPD Spying has launched a database of nearly all sworn LAPD officers, displaying their names, photos, ranks, and serial numbers. The self-proclaimed "copwatch" tool lives on its recently launched website, WatchtheWatchers.net. The tool can help the public identify an officer they witness breaking the law or abusing their authority. [WatchTheWatchers.net]
—Silver Lake: A Jonas Never mural of musicians Beck, Elliott Smith, Jackson Browne, and the Silversun Pickups in Silver Lake, put up when Floyd's 99 Barbershop occupied the space, has reportedly been painted over by the building's new tenant, which is part of a chain of tanning salons. A new mural is said to be due for the wall. [L.A. Dork]
—The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of 63-year-old Los Angeles resident Maria del Carmen Lopez, a U.S. citizen they believe was kidnapped from her home in Pueblo Nuevo, Colima, Mexico, on Feb. 9 while her husband was back in L.A. Her family says they received an audio recording of Lopez in which she begged them to pay the ransom as her life depended on it. [NBC]
—Donations are being taken for memorial expenses for Dan "Task One" Rowley, an artist, designer, toy and prop maker in California who passed away unexpectedly on March 15. [GoFundMe]
—Seis lugares para disfrutar de la nieve fresca en o muy cerca de Los Ángeles. [Univision]
