By Neil Rubenstein
Observer Columnist
On March 3 we are electing candidates to the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees. I have talked to Andra Hoffman and reviewed her background and experience. My following comments and opinions are strictly personal and not to be construed as a statement on behalf of this publication.
I feel she would be a dynamic addition to the board. She has my vote. For the past 17 years she had taught at Glendale City College and is presently a professor of American and California government.
She also runs the Student Job Placement Center. Ms. Hoffman returned to school late in life to earn her Bachelor’s Degree while raising two children on her own and working full time.
She is committed to keeping student fees from rising, improving student support services so students can earn their degrees and certificates in two years, boosting the number of students who transfer and emphasizing vocational training and job placement.
Please vote on March 3 and vote for Hoffman.
Believe me when I say I just might have to sell my 1996 Toyota Tercel with less than 97,000 miles to afford a dozen eggs. But you just wait. Help is on the way. A group of Silicon Valley investors, scientists and chefs are close to debuting a plant-based egg. To be sure, it may be months before the product called “Just Scramble” is ready for the grocery store, but my wallet is ready to try anything.
This year Social Security will be 80 years old. Almost 10,000 people sign up every day.
Recently Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced 7,000 police officers citywide will be wearing body cameras by mid-2016.
Rent payment data is being added to credit profiles so as to raise renters’ FICO scores and make getting their first home easier.
Nerdwallet.com has created a consumer-friendly tool to search hospital charges. At http://www.nerdwallet.com/health/hospitals, choose a hospital service and location. The tool will pull up each local hospital’s average charge for that service and the average Medicare payment. The information covers the 100 most common in-patient services.
Taxpayers can deduct more of their long-term care premiums as a medical expense in 2015. Taxpayers 71 and older can claim up to $4.750, seniors 61 to 70 can claim up to $3,800 and people 51 to 60 can deduct up to $1,430.
By golly, it only took 20 years to get the federal government to stop enforcing the ban on medical marijuana. From now on, if your doctor prescribes it . . .
Oh my, oh my, I have until this June to hustle down to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., to see Scarlett O’Hara’s Twelve Oaks Party Dress worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind. Go to http://www.nhm.org or call 213-763DINO for further information.
At Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Dr. Eitan Okun and his team are working to develop a vaccine that will prevent Alzheimer’s. See http://www.afbiu.org or call 310-652-3601.
Before you pop another dietary supplement you should read a recent report by researchers at Temple University published online Sept. 23, 2014 in the “Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.”
I have read tiny pacemakers are undergoing clinical trials in the United States this year. As we all know, pacemakers are usually implanted in the chest below the collarbone, but those being tested are actually implanted in the heart. Amazing, just amazing!
Are you interested in a career in law enforcement? Perhaps you would like to get more information about the Los Angeles Police Department. See http://www.joinlapd.com, call 866-444-LAPD, or go to Ahmanson Recruit Training Center, 5651 W. Manchester Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045.
Reality star Tameka “Tiny” Harris permanently changed her eye color from brown to “ice gray.” The procedure, in which an artificial iris implant made of a thin, flexibly, biocompatible, colored medical grade silicone is slipped over the eye to give it a different color, is called Brightocular and is not legal in the U.S., so Tiny traveled to Africa to have the procedure done.
There are a lot of sailors who would like to be on the deck of a faithful replica of the first American ship to round Cape Horn and land in the Pacific Northwest. Dockside tours and adventure sails are offered to the public. Special sails are available by reservation. For more information regarding Tall Ship February 6 - 16, 2014, call 800-200-5239 or go to http://www.historicalseaport.org.
Those interested in Chinese art are in luck. Now through April 9, 2015 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks you can attend Chinese Figurative Realism in the 21st Century. Call 805-493=3697.
The thought for today: “We don’t need safer cars, we need safer drivers.”
And foolish me for thinking we are just about out of water. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a damned-off valley in Yosemite National Park, releases 290 million gallons of water a day servicing 2.6 million customers on the San Francisco Bay peninsula. The water’s 167 mile trek generates enough hydroelectric energy to power local police and fire stations along with most of San Francisco’s subway system.
The FBI has launched a giant database of biometric information that includes images of people’s faces, irises, fingerprints and palms, as well as details about tattoos, scars and other markings. Coming will be DNA and voice samples.
Taxes, taxes, taxes . . . In a previous commentary I mentioned a new tax that was being considered, the pouring fee, when every time someone pours you a glass of wine, beer or alcohol you get bushwhacked for a donation. Sooner than you think, Congress will raise the federal gas tax which is now 18.4 cents a gallon. Do you realize London, Singapore and Stockholm all have a special tax for driving during peak hours?
For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.culvercityobserver.com by placing Rubenstein in that website’s search box.
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