State Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello). Photo by Brian Baer/Sacramento Bee.

The Calderon family is a powerful political clan in southeast Los Angeles County.

But the local dynasty is now under scrutiny after FBI raids on the Sacramento office of Democratic state Senator Ron Calderon of Montebello.

Last week Calderon told reporters, “My intention at this point is to do my job I was elected to do, attend my hearings, get my bills passed out of committee to the floor and do the work of the state.”

Investigators are also looking at Southern California businesses with ties to his brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the two brothers, as well as a third, Charles, from raising money for 2014 campaigns.

KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis sat down with Kevin Roderick, editor of LA Observed, to discuss the Calderons and their political influence.

The issue is currently in the news because the ACLU is trying to force the matter via the courts.

The activists who say Anaheim’s current at-large electoral system is discriminatory toward Latino voters have an unlikely ally: Mayor Tom Tait. He’s a Republican who has turned against his fellow GOP councilmembers and party on the issue.

Is Tait following what he thinks is right—or is there an ulterior motive at play? For more on the topic, KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis speaks with Gustavo Arellano from the OC Weekly.

As efforts to drain and clean the lake were underway, workers were also busy improving the 16 acres of lush green space around the  water. That work included adding new visitor features and landscaping, restoring old buildings on the property, and a general cleaning up in places that had long been neglected.

This weekend, the public got to enjoy the fruits of all that restoration labor with the reopening of Echo Park Lake. Hundreds of people came out to walk the lakefront and enjoy time with friends and family in the park areas adjacent to the Lake.  Here’s what some of it looked like.

Echo Park Lake is an artificial body of water. Built by a private company, it first came into existence as a catch-basin in the 1860s and was known simply as Reservoir #4. In 1891, the City of L.A. acquired the lake and the area surrounding it and turned them into a park for the growing city. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Swimming isn’t permitted in Echo Park Lake, but that didn’t stop some kids from trying on opening weekend. The LAPD officers showed up to tell these boys and girls that their fun in the water was over. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Upgrades to Echo Park Lake include new viewing platforms over the water and the restoration of the Lake’s boathouse. The boats, though, aren’t on the water yet. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

New walking paths around Echo Park Lake are perfect for strolling and jogging. There are also new lights around the perimeter for evening activities. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Lotus plants that grow in the water are Echo Park Lake’s iconic vegetation. Their beds have been replanted as part of the restoration work, but they’ll be under wire mesh for a while to offer them extra protection. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

One of Echo Park Lake’s best known monuments is a statue originally called “La Reina de Los Angeles,” or Queen of Los Angeles. It later became known simply as the Lady of the Lake. The Art Deco-style statue was created by Ada May Sharpless and installed in 1934. For years, the Lady of the Lake was in storage after it had been damaged with graffiti. As part of the renovation work, the statue has been moved to a small peninsula on the north side of Echo Park Lake.

The Peace Walk was organized by the Pico Youth and Family Center and Saint Anne’s Church. Santa Monica School Board Member Oscar De La Torre said the show of solidarity was part of the community’s healing process. “It cleanses our public space. I think we need to be able to respond with something that’s positive, that brings the community together,” De La Torre said. “This is a united community, a very beautiful community, and we don’t want to be defined by the negativity of violence.”

Many marchers said the shootings in Santa Monica – and the Zahwri incident in particular – have been further reminders of the need for tougher gun control laws. KABC

Number crunching. The California legislature has wrapped up its work on the new state budget, approving an on-time spending plan. But the spending levels aren’t set in stone yet. Gov. Jerry Brown has until July 1st to sign the budget. Until then, he’ll be taking a close, line-by-line look at the numbers and keeping his veto options open. Assembly Democratic leaders say they are not expecting any drastic changes. But USC political analyst Dan Schnur says just because the Governor and Democratic leaders reached an agreement, that doesn’t mean Brown’s completely satisfied with the result. Capital Public Radio.

Valley fever. A federal judge will hear arguments today about whether a naturally-occurring airborne fungus presents enough of a health danger that thousands of state prison inmates in the San Joaquin Valley should be moved. Almost three-dozen inmate deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations have been blamed on the fungus, which causes an illness known as valley fever. The federal court-appointed official who oversees prison medical care in California says the problem is so bad that inmates who are particularly susceptible to the disease should be moved out of Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons. The state is opposed to moving the inmates. AP

Bus bugs. More than 100 Metro bus riders have signed a petition demanding that the transit agency figure out a new way to keep its vehicles free of roaches and other vermin. The drivers say they’re getting ill from Metro’s repeated use of pesticides. More than a dozen bus operators have filed workers compensation claims saying that they’ve been sickened by the spraying. Others have quit. The drivers claim they’ve suffered dizziness, nausea, breathing problems and eye irritation from the chemicals. Metro officials say precautions are taken to make sure that drivers’ exposure is minimal. L.A. Times

Silva case. The family of a man who died after being beaten by Kern County Sheriff’s deputies has filed a federal civil rights claim against the officers involved and the department. The claim is the first step toward filing a lawsuit. The Kern County coroner says 33-year-old David Silva died accidentally of hypertensive disease in a scuffle when he resisted arrest. But Silva’s family accuses the officers of beating him to death and then covering up the incident. The case has received a lot of attention because several witnesses filmed it on their mobile phones. Two of those witnesses were detained until they turned over their phones with the video to police. Bakersfield Now

Neighborhood fixture. Chinatown celebrated its 75th anniversary this weekend by unveiling a monument to one of its best-known adoptive sons. An 8-foot-tall statue of martial arts star Bruce Lee will be on temporary display in Chinatown’s historic Central Plaza. Lee moved to LA in the 1960s while playing Kato on the “Green Hornet” TV show. He opened a martial arts studio on Chinatown’s north side. The Chinatown Corporation is raising money for a permanent installation in the neighborhood. L.A. Times

Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the June 7 shootings at a vigil at Santa Monica College on Monday, June 10. Photo by Avishay Artsy.

One week has passed since 23-year-old John Zawahri opened fire in Santa Monica, killing five people, starting with his father and brother.

Last night, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks revealed that Zawahri left behind a farewell note. She summarized some new information in the case, such as how Zawahri had been denied the ability to buy a gun two years ago, and how he was able to piece a semi-automatic type weapon together. Officials say the parts are individually legal to obtain, but when put together they make a weapon that is illegal in California.

With that gun, and after killing two members of his family, Zawahri, then shot at others, and hijacked a car, demanding the driver take him to Santa Monica College. There, he shot and killed three people, 68-year old Margarita Gomez, who regularly collects bottles at the campus for recycling; 68-year old Carlos Franco, a groundskeeper at SMC: and Franco’s daughter, 26-year old Marcela Franco, who was there to buy books for classes at SMC. She died two days later.

In the past week we’ve learned more about John Zawahri, his criminal past and some of his possible motives for the attack. One week after those horrific events, I invited LA Times reporter Andrew Blankstein and Univision reporter Oswaldo Borraez to discuss what we know, and have yet to learn, about the gunman.

San Gabriel Mountains (Courtesy by flickr/jcookfisher)

It’s summer time, and it may get hotter and hotter every year with a stunning snowfall loss in the Southern California mountains. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and UCLA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences released  a report today called Mid- and End-of-Century Snowfall in the Los Angeles Region, predicting that L.A. area mountains may lose a lot of snow.

Due to continual greenhouse gas emissions, it is predicted that by 2050, L.A. area mountains – including the San Bernardinos, San Gabriels, San Jacintos, and the Tehachapis – will lose up to 42 percent of their annual snowfall. By the end of the century, the loss of snow will probably reach 70 percent.

“Rising temperatures are also very likely to accelerate melting of snowpack accumulated on the ground. Scientists predict that, by 2050, seasonal snowpack is likely to melt completely an average of 16 days earlier than usual in the spring,” the report says.

That classic SoCal lifestyle, which lets you can ski and surf in the same week, may be over in the coming decades.

“It kind of cuts to our identity,” Jonathan Parfrey told the Los Angeles Times, a commissioner with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power who is also executive director of Climate Resolve, a local nonprofit concerned with climate change.

If greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced, the loss of snow could be stabilized at 31 percent by mid-century.

Despite the threats of climate change and the undecided future of L.A., the City has already taken steps to reduce the carbon impact – including the decision to move off of coal by 2025 and investing in public transportation throughout the region.

Killer’s goodbye. The man responsible for last Friday’s deadly shooting rampage in Santa Monica carried a note saying he was sorry for his actions. But investigators still aren’t sure what motivated John Zawahri to kill five people before he was shot to death by police.

Zawahri’s four-page, hand-written note was found on his body after he was killed on the Santa Monica College campus. Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said the note indicated that Zawahri expected to die. “He expressed hope that his mother would be looked after financially, even as he said goodbye to his friends and expressed remorse for killing his brother and his father,” Seabrooks said.

What the note did not include was a reason why Zawahri committed the murders. There was also no explanation of why he carried the rampage over to Santa Monica College, where he was once a part-time student.

Investigators found air rifles, zip guns, knives and replica weapons in Zawahri’s burned-out bedroom at his father’s house. He tried to buy another gun in 2011, but his application was turned down by the Department of Justice. Santa Monica Police Sergeant Richard Lewis says the gun Zawahri used last Friday was purchased in pieces, which allowed him to get around registration requirements.

Without a clear motive, police speculated that Zawahri’s mental health problems may have been the main factor in his desire to kill. KABC

Budget vote. California lawmakers are expected to start voting on a $96 billion state budget proposal today. But some Republicans say they’re also being asked to weigh in on bills they don’t know much about. The budget is the big picture bill. But trailer bills spell out how some money will be allocated. The earliest of at least 15 of those trailer bills were published just two days ago. That’s not the only gripe with the budget plan. Some environmentalists are crying foul because the budget borrows $500 million from the state’s cap and trade program. Environmentalists say the money from the sale of carbon pollution permits is supposed to go to programs that help reduce emissions. AP

No snow. Warming global temps could mean a big decline in Southern California snowfall in the coming decades, according to a report out of UCLA today. Researchers say the amount of snow on local mountain ranges could decrease by 30 to 40 percent by the middle of this century – or even more, if greenhouse emissions continue to climb. The researchers say the impact would be especially visible on the northern hills of the San Gabriel Mountains and in an area between the San Gabriel and Tehachapi ranges. L.A. Times

Bullet train. A federal transportation board has given state officials the go-ahead to begin construction on the first leg of California’s bullet train without an extensive environmental review. The ruling by the federal Surface Transportation Board is just one of several hurdles state officials must overcome before they can start construction this summer. But it’s an important victory. The board said the state could break ground on the first 65 miles of the project from Merced to Fresno, as long as it maintains the current route and follows through on promises to mitigate environmental damage. The state is still facing a lawsuit that claims the California High Speed rail Authority is in violation of a 2008 voter-approved ballot measure. And rail officials have yet to obtain a key permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. AP

Targeting Anthem. California’s insurance commissioner says Anthem Blue Cross shouldn’t be allowed to sell insurance to small businesses through the state’s new health exchange because of its history of excessive rate hikes. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is asking to Covered California – the state agency responsible for implementing Obamacare – to bar Anthem from the exchange. The company disputes Jones’ claims, saying its rate increases reflect the reality of raising health care costs. Kaiser Health News

Historic Pasadena Y. A former Pasadena YMCA that’s on the National Register of Historic Places could be converted into a boutique hotel. The three-story building was completed in 1921. It was designed by Julia Morgan, the path-breaking California architect who also designed the Hearst Castle and L.A.’s Herald-Examiner Building. City officials say they are negotiating a deal with San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants to renovate and manage the property. The building has been vacant for years and has extensive fire and water damage. Pasadena Star-News

To encourage that trend, the City of Los Angeles is moving forward with an ambitious plan to create hundreds of miles of new bicycle lanes over the next 30 years. Planners at L.A.’s Department of Transportation hope the new lanes will both make cyclists safer and help congestion by encouraging people to leave their car in the garage and pedal to work. That, in turn, is supposed to improve people’s health and the environment.

But not everybody is happy with L.A.’s expanding bicycle lane system. As the system grows, some neighborhood groups and merchant associations believe the bike lanes will only worsen congestion and parking by taking away valuable pavement from cars.

Los Angeles currently has about 300 miles of bike paths, which is a big increase over past years. But there are plans to do even more. L.A. would like to establish a 1,600 mile bike path system over the next 30 years. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Depending on the place, bike lanes come in different designs and colors. More elaborate ones are painted green to better catch the eyes of motorists, the thinking being if you see the color, you’ll see the cyclist. More expensive bike paths create a physical barrier between the lane for bikes and the lane for cars. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Transportation planners hope more bike lanes will create more cyclists. Planners are focused on creating new bike paths along busier city boulevards, where less confident cyclists now fear to pedal because of the automobile traffic. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

As L.A.’s bike lane system has grown, so have concerns about how the lanes affect local residents and merchants. Some fear creating new bike lanes on busy city streets will further slow traffic and make it harder to find parking. In response to such concerns, transportation planners and elected officials are holding community forums in neighborhoods where concerns have been raised. This sign is in L.A.’s Eagle Rock neighborhood. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Although more people are cycling in Los Angeles, according to a survey by the League of American Bicyclists, less than one percent of Angelenos cycle to commute. U.S. cities with the largest number of cycling commuters include Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Washington D.C. Studies show more people bicycle as cities improve their cycling infrastructure. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

Wallace Neff at an Airform construction site. (Huntington Library ) Image from “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” by Jeffrey Head. Princeton Architectural Press.

Wallace Neff was a “starchitect.” He designed houses for the wealthiest tycoons and biggest Hollywood stars of the 30′s 40′s and 50′s, including Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland and Groucho Marx.

But Wallace Neff didn’t live in a mansion himself. He lived in a 1,000 square-foot bubble made of concrete. And he believed that this simple dome was one of his greatest architectural achievements. He called it the Bubble House.

The story of the “bubble house” began with Neff in his bathroom shaving, when he looked down and noticed a small soap bubble. He reached out and touched it. The bubble held firm against his fingertip and the idea struck him — build with air.

Neff saw the Bubble House as a solution to the housing shortage that plagued America at the end of WWII. But Neff’s vision went beyond America. He wanted to provide industrialized low-cost housing to the world.

Bubble houses were cheap and could be built incredibly quickly using a new method of construction that Neff invented. He called it Airform construction.

A giant balloon was inflated through an inlet valve and then coated in Gunite, a special type of concrete which was shot out of a cement gun at high pressure. The stuff was more than twice as strong as regular concrete.

Once the Gunite dried, the balloon was deflated and dragged out the front door so it could be reused on the next house. Two workers could turn a bare patch of soil into a bubble house in less than 48 hours.

A worker applies the first of two layers of gunite to the inflated Airform balloon. (Huntington Library) Image from “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” / Princeton Architectural Press

After Neff fine-tuned the Airform process he went in search of a client. He found one in the U.S. military, which was looking for low cost housing for employees. In October of 1941 Neff built 12 bubble houses in a forest in Falls Church Virginia. The experimental community was known as Igloo Village.

“There was no lighting of any kind on the street and we arrived in the daytime,” remembers Kathy Miles, who grew up in one of the Falls Church bubble houses.
“But it was still quite dark because there were so many trees,” she says.

When she was five years old her dad drove the family into the forest to show them their new house. He hadn’t told his wife and two daughters that they would be living in a village of igloos in the woods. It was dark and damp and isolated.

“When we got to the house there was a cleared area with many trees and very little grass, if any, and there was this house,” says Miles of the first time she saw her future home. “It didn’t look like a house to me but there was something rising up from the ground.”

Visitors at the Falls Church, Virginia bubble houses also known as “Igloo Village,” 1942. Photo by Wallace Neff. Image from from “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” by Jeffrey Head. Princeton Architectural Press.

One of Neff’s patent drawings for a double-bubble house. Courtesy Huntington Library. Image from “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” by Jeffrey Head. Princeton Architectural Press.

Igloo Village was a failure. But despite this, a few dozen bubble houses were built around the U.S. and thousands more in other countries. But eventually everyone in the United States moved out of their bubbles and they were all demolished.

Except for one, which happens to be in Pasadena. It’s owned by Steve Roden, who says he was compelled by the cheap price tag and the weird photo on the listing.” He was fascinated by the way the bubble house looked and by its history and especially by the idea that he could live in a house that built by air. “We are essentially living in a space that was formed through air. It’s pretty profound”

Roden also makes sound installations and the bubble house’s acoustics surprised him. “This is not a perfectly smooth very precise shape. It was concrete resting on a balloon being supported by air so in the areas where there’s a little bit of disruption of the surface you get these pockets” says Roden, pointing up to the pock marked surface of his curved ceiling. “So once in a while depending on where you are standing you have a parabolic where you have sound coming directly down into your ear but no one else can hear it.”

When Kathy Miles and her sister were growing up in Igloo village they also discovered these parabolic imperfections in the walls. And they used them to send secret messages to each other. “I remember conducting experiments to see where we could not be heard” recalls Miles.

Steve Roden loves his bubble house. And being inside it with him it’s easy to appreciate the house for its strange beauty and its historical significance. But there are plenty of people who think they weren’t well thought out.

Street view, Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Wallace L. Neff. Courtesy: “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” by Jeffrey Head. Princeton Architectural Press.

An Airform residence with garden. (Huntington Library, Maynard Parker Collection.) Image from “No Nails, No Lumber: The Bubble Houses of Wallace Neff” by Jeffrey Head. Princeton Architectural Press.

“It was a bad idea” says Pasadena architect Stefanos Polyzoides. He says the houses don’t blend into their surroundings “It did not vary in form by region, by culture or climate or any way.”

Stefanos works in a Spanish Colonial building in downtown Pasadena that he says is an example of great architecture. “This building is magnificent because of the thick walls. It’s perfect for a hot dry climate,” says Stefanos. It’s also built by Wallace Neff.

As for the bubble house, Stefanos calls it an architectural bad hair day for Neff. The only thing good about it “was that it was one of the few modernist efforts to focus on industrialization. Architects even after 100 years have still not delivered on this idea.”

Architects still haven’t come up with mass produced low-cost housing that works as well in the Sahara as it does in Canada. Wallace Neff seemed surprised that the bubble house didn’t achieve that goal. In 1977 he told the Pasadena Historical Society, “I always thought people would come rushing in by the thousands to buy houses. But it never happened.”

Dodgers deal. If you thought former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt was out of the picture when it comes to professional sports in L.A., think again.

If an NFL team were to come to Chavez Ravine, McCourt could be sole the landlord, according to the L.A. Times.

Newly released documents from the sale of the Dodgers to Guggenheim Baseball Management indicate that McCourt retains the right to buy back land around the stadium that’s developed for non-baseball facilities. If that doesn’t happen, Guggenheim would be required to buy out McCourt’s interest land he still owns.

The documents were released as part of divorce settlement proceedings between McCourt and his ex-wife, Jamie. The new Dodgers owners sought to keep the documents secret, but a judge refused their request.

The deal between Guggenheim and McCourt also guarantees McCourt at least $7 million per year for rent on parking lots he owns. And Guggenheim agreed to invest up to $650 million in a development fund that would be run by McCourt – as well as paying him a $5.5 million annual management fee.

The new disclosures show the deal for the Dodgers could be worth much more than the stated $2.1 billion sales price. L.A. Times

Port overreach. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that truckers don’t need to replace their older vehicles with newer, cleaner models to continue hauling goods in and out of the Port of L.A. The justices voted unanimously today to strike down part of the port’s Clean Trucks Program. The high court says federal law preempts the port’s decision to make companies develop an off-street parking plan and display designated signs on their vehicles. But the court did not say whether the port could use other parts of the agreement with truckers to punish violations of other provisions it left intact. AP

End-of-life. The cost of caring for chronically ill patients in the last years of their lives is skyrocketing – and nowhere more so than in Los Angeles. But all that spending may not be giving patients what they want. The Dartmouth Atlas Project says it costs about $112,000 to care for a Medicare patient in L.A. during the last two years of their lives. That’s 60 percent higher than the national average. Nationwide, the cost of end-of-life care for Medicare patients rose 15 percent between 2007 and 2010. But most patients say they want to spend their finals days at home, without invasive procedures that aren’t likely to improve their quality of life. L.A. Times

Demographic shift. U.S. Census data shows that Latinos now outnumber all other ethic groups combined in San Bernardino County. That makes San Bernardino the second biggest county in the country with a Latino majority, behind Florida’s Miami-Dade County. San Bernardino’s Latino population has roughly tripled since 1990 and now exceeds one million people. Latinos make up 48 percent of the population in L.A. County. Press Enterprise

Deadly weapon. Investigators looking into last week’s deadly Santa Monica shootings are trying to figure out how John Zawahri obtained the semiautomatic rifle he used in the rampage. Law enforcement sources say the AR-15-style rifle may have been pieced together from various parts in an attempt to get around California gun laws. Some types of AR-15 rifles are banned in California, but it’s legal to purchase parts that can be used to customize the guns. The AR-15 is the same type of gun used by the shooters in the New Town, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado massacres. L.A. Times

Degree deficit. California will have to produce more college graduates to meet the state’s workforce needs. That’s the take-away from a new report by the non-profit Lumina Foundation. The report says California is making only slight progress increasing the percentage of adults who hold two-or-four-year degrees – 38.9 percent in 2011, compared to 38.7 in 2009. The authors of the report say more than 61 percent of California jobs will require a degree by 2018. Lumina Foundation