The Los Angeles Business Council sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on April 28, urging him not to end the Energy Star program. “It’s a program that costs about $60 million a year but results in the reduction of 2.8 billion tons of greenhouse gases,” said Mary Leslie. “It results in about $30 billion in energy savings for building owners.” The letter was signed by Leslie, Richard Ziman, Nadene Watt, and Brad Cox on behalf of the nonpartisan group’s 450 members. How effective will the letter be? Leslie was optimistic. “I think the administration has had a tendency to first have a strong position, and as soon as it gets strong business pushback, it tends to modify its position,” she said. “Maybe the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation don’t think this is an appropriate thing for the government to do, but we don’t agree. We think this is an ideal version of what government should be doing – businesses are highly incentivized to do it because it is good business to do it.” … John B. Emerson offered a keynote at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust’s 25th annual Yom HaShoah Day of Commemoration on April 23. … Kevin Demoff made nice with some neighbors of the Los Angeles Rams’ Thousand Oaks practice facility. Seems a fence the team put up blocked views from the University Village retirement community, and the exec met with residents and assured them they’d be able to watch practices. … Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Cookie Johnson were honored with the Los Angeles Urban League’s annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Award at an April 21 dinner in the prestigious Ray Dolby Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Nolan Rollins acknowledged the couple for their “commitment to empower and uplift communities of color through employment, education, advocacy, and leadership.” … On the business front, Magic Johnson announced that he had formed an international infrastructure investment fund, JLC Infrastructure Fund, in partnership with Loop Capital Market’s Jim Reynolds. … Norman Lear will make his debut this week as a podcaster, hosting weekly episodes of “All of the Above With Norman Lear.” Co-hosted with actor Paul Hipp, scheduled guests include Amy Poehler and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. … CAA was all in on the Communities in Schools nonprofit. Richard Lovett hosted an April 29 event for the organization, which honored Kevin Huvane for his work with it, and Bryan Lourd helped usher guests to the dining tent. Also honored was Mark Ridley-Thomas. … The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts hosted the Natural Resources Defense Council’s “Stand Up! for the Planet” fundraiser last week, raising $1.4 million. Larry David and Martin Short were in attendance.