CALÓ News best stories of 2024 - Part 2

We have more stories to look back at 2024. Take a look at part one. 

Amairani Hernandez wrote about LAUSD banning cell phones at all of their schools.

LAUSD becomes the second largest school district to ban cell phones during school hours

Last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to ban students from using smartphones with the goal of supporting students' academic success and wellbeing. The resolution that was sponsored by board member Nick Melvoin’s will lead to phone-free school days across the district. 

“Kids no longer have the opportunity to just be kids,” said Melvoin. “I’m hoping this resolution will help students not only focus in class, but also give them a chance to interact and engage more with each other—and just be kids.”  

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by board president Jackie Goldberg and moard members Kelly Gonez and Tanya Ortiz Franklin, calls on the district to create a comprehensive implementation policy to take effect January  2025. 

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Denise Florez wrote about the tenth anniversary of Chicxs Rockerxs SELA, before the LA Times and NBC4 💅🏽

Chicxs Rockerxs SELA celebrates 10 years of rocking out with youth

Imagine a camp where East L.A. punk icon Alice Bag teaches a songwriting workshop to young kids and teens. 

Actually, it’s not necessary to imagine, because it already happened, nine years ago. “It was a life changing experience,” is what Lili Montero remembers from her first day volunteering at the Chicxs Rockerxs SELA or CRSELA camp. 

“I remember seeing Alice Bag and seeing the kids and everybody,” Montero said. “The energy was so intense that I had to walk out and cried in the hallway because I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I've never been in a space like this!” Montero said she felt overwhelmed about being there because “being a rockera, being someone that has dyed hair with piercings, being in a space that everybody else looked like me, that was Brown, that was speaking Spanglish that, all these parts of self, felt so seen and validated at camp.” She knew she wanted to be a part of the camp forever. 

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Brenda Fernanda Verano wrote about the Traquero Monument that has been promised, but is yet to be a reality.

‘We have been forgotten,’ The Traquero Monument is far from complete

“I feel we have been forgotten and put on the back burner,” Laura Ceballos, the Venice Mexican American Traqueros Monument Committee lead organizer, told CALÒ News. 

Ceballos, 53, who was born and raised in Venice, was referring to the committee's 7-year effort to honor the Mexican and Mexican-American workers, known as traqueros, who for several decades were instrumental in building rail lines in Los Angeles, including Venice and other cities across the West.  

Since 2017, Ceballos and other committee members have been organizing the installation of the Venice Traquero monument, a bronze statue to commemorate the traqueros, many of whom lived in Venice. 

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Michelle Zacarias wrote about L.A. County's efforts to combat the drug crisis affecting our communities. 

L.A.County invests in harm reduction intervention to combat the overdose crisis

Michael Diaz was 13 when he first experimented with drugs. Before that moment, he was a reserved teenager who had grown up in Chino, California. He prided himself on being "straight edge," firmly against substance use of any kind. 

“The first time I tried anything was when I stole weed from my dad,” Diaz said. “I went to a park and smoked it from a pen cap.” 

Although seemingly harmless at the time, Diaz quickly progressed to harder drugs like methadone. He did this by stealing prescription pain medication from his father’s medicine cabinet. Diaz said he didn’t realize what a “gnarly” drug it was at the time.

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Jacqueline Garcia covered the establishment of L.A. as a sanctuary city.

After approving a few changes, L.A. is established as a sanctuary city

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to establish Los Angeles as a sanctuary city. The ordinance will protect immigrants by prohibiting the use of local resources or personnel to help federal agencies working on the enforcement of immigration laws.

Although the council members voted on November 19 to approve the ordinance, there were some changes that required a second vote before being enacted. This included protections issued by former Mayor Eric Garcetti during the first Trump administration and aligned the language to California's sanctuary state law, SB 54, the California Values Act, which became law in 2018.

As in the November 19 council meeting, several speakers favored the ordinance and encouraged the City Council to vote in favor. The City of Los Angeles is home to more than 1.3 million immigrants.

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