KCRW LA Observed

Warner Music just moved its employees to a new home in an old factory building in the Arts District. The neighborhood has long been the site of higher-end redevelopments, but this time the attention is on the blocks on its southern end. Several creative companies are shuffling their headquarters and investments across L.A.

Friends, family and fans continue to mourn the loss of rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot and killed over the weekend outside his clothing store in South Los Angeles. He’s remembered as, not only a successful artist, with a Grammy nomination, but champion for his Hyde Park neighborhood.

The L.A. County Coroner’s Office has concluded that a man who died at the home of a prominent Democratic donor in West Hollywood overdosed on crystal meth. It is the second such death, at Ed Buck’s West Hollywood apartment, of a similar nature in the last couple of years. The results from 55-year-old Timothy Dean’s autopsy has renewed calls for Buck to be prosecuted. But so far there is no word from the L.A. County District Attorney’s office if that will happen.

Before former Governor Jerry Brown left office, last year, he put his pen to a couple, new transparency laws.  Both have to do with public access to internal police investigations and video footage of shootings by officers and deputies. Now that these laws are on the books, dozens of newsrooms across California have joined forces to review those records.

Think of Santa Monica and there are a number of things that come to mind: an idyllic, beachside setting; a tech-saturated economy; a bastion of liberal politics. That last bit, however, may not extend to voting especially if you ask one county judge. He’s ruled that the city’s at-large voting for City Council is illegal and discriminates against Santa Monica’s growing Latino population.