A Los Angeles Plan to Reshape the Streetscape Sets Off Fears of Gridlock

thLOS ANGELES — This city of fast cars and endless freeways is preparing to do what not long ago would have been unthinkable: sacrificing car lanes to make way for bikes and buses.

The City Council has approved a far-reaching transportation plan that would reshape the streetscape over the next 20 years, adding hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes and pedestrian safety features as part of an effort to nudge drivers out from behind the wheel. MORE

Meet The Artist Who Paints And Sells Portraits Of Homeless People, Giving Them The Profits

facesBrian Peterson’s ‘Faces of Santa Ana’ is an inspirational way to give back to society.

‘Faces of Santa Ana’ is a continuous exhibition of portraits of homeless people, founded by Californian artist Brian Peterson. Brian talks to members of Santa Ana’s homeless community, collects their stories and paints their portraits. After getting a signature from them in the corner of the canvas, Brian then sells the artwork downtown. All the proceeds go to help each subject back on the road to rehabilitation. MORE

Why Europe’s Migrant Crisis Also Belongs to America

europe-migrants_2However, one may analyze the Iraqi and Syrian disasters, the U.S. plainly shares responsibility for the migrants now flooding into Europe. Two statistics will tell you how deeply this thought sinks in: Of the four million Syrians who have fled the civil war against Assad, the U.S. has accepted 1,500.

Utterly lacking in historical perspective. Parenthetically, so is the prevailing American view of the immigration problem it faces: Few of us seem to grasp the extent to which many decades of bad American policy helped shape a continent ridden with poverty and violence. MORE

With Bold Words And Baby Steps, Pope Finds Fans Beyond His Flock

BERGHe’s pleasing everyone but conservative and Traditional Catholics, for the most part.

The phrase “papal encyclical” isn’t one you’ll commonly find in headlines in the secular world. But that’s exactly where news of Pope Francis’ 192-page letter on climate change landed in June.

The Pope wrote that humans are responsible for climate change, urging all people to do a better job of caring for the environment — and his words resonated far beyond the church. MORE

VIDEO: Oregon judge refuses to perform same-sex marriages

OREMarion County Judge Vance Day is being investigated by a judicial fitness commission in part over his refusal to perform same-sex marriages on religious grounds, a spokesman for the judge said.

When a federal court ruling in May 2014 made same-sex marriage legal in Oregon, Day instructed his staff to refer same-sex couples looking to marry to other judges, spokesman Patrick Korten said Friday.  MORE

Animals delirious, disoriented up and down West Coast – Displaying ‘unprecedented’ behaviors – Experts “know something isn’t right”

sealion_mooseKION, Aug 13, 2015 (emphasis added): “I noticed them out here. And I looked over here and seen all kinds of dead little fish over there,” said fisherman Tucker Bergerson. Bergerson fishes in the Monterey Bay every day. He like others who make a living out in the open waters, know something isn’t right in the bayMORE