Getty Classic Art Pieces Will Return to Italy
The J. Paul Getty Museum will hand over three ancient artworks that are part of a group of artifacts allegedly stolen from Italy, the Culture Ministry said Monday as authorities in Rome vowed to continue a legal battle for the return of all the works. Italian officials traveling to L.A. will receive the artifacts within the next few days in the form of a donation from the Getty. The donation formula allows the museum to avoid admitting any wrongdoing in the acquisition of the objects and doesn’t alter Italy’s position in its trial against Getty antiquities curator Marion True, the Associated Press reported. True has denied the charges of criminal association and receiving stolen goods.
Hermosa Beach Will Fight $500 Million Claim
Hermosa Beach on Monday filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to fight Macpherson Oil Co.’s $500 million breach-of-contract claim against the city in the wake of an appellate court’s August ruling favoring Macpherson. The city’s action seeks to stop Macpherson’s lawsuit from going to trial seeking damages for being blocked from oil drilling in Hermosa Beach. A Macpherson attorney doubted the state’s highest court would accept the city’s petition, the Daily Breeze reported. A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled in August that the passage of Measure E, in which residents voted to ban oil and gas operations within the city, is no shield against the city’s contractual liability to Macpherson Oil.
Airport Officials Fund More Work on LAX Plan
The Airport Commission voted Monday to pay environmental attorneys and consultants $3.6 million to continue work on a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport, even though Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had said he opposed much of the blueprint. Commissioners authorized $690,000 for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and James A. Geocaris to defend the plan against lawsuits, bringing the total contract to $5.6 million over 21 months. They also approved $2.9 million for CDM Inc. to design plans to mitigate construction noise, pollution and traffic, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Panel OKs Canyon Hills Project
A Los Angeles City Council panel on Monday OK’d a housing project in the Verdugo Hills after the developer agreed to trim the project to 221 homes and dedicate 89 additional acres to public open space. The proposed Canyon Hills development still needs full City Council approval in the coming weeks, but the Planning and Land Use Committee’s decision marked a key victory for developer Rick Percell, who wants to build on one of largest swaths of private open space remaining in the northeast San Fernando Valley. The project encompasses 887 acres straddling the 210 Freeway in Sunland larger than New York’s Central Park, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported.
Smoother-Running Port Isn’t Pleasing Everybody
The annual armada of holiday goods has begun to arrive at Southern California’s ports, pushing Long Beach to its busiest month ever in August. So far, there has been no repeat of last year’s floating traffic jam. But not everyone is happy about the ports’ improved ability to handle so much traffic or with one of the steps taken to accomplish it: keeping terminal gates open well into the early morning. Many port truck drivers don’t like working at night. And some late-evening commuters who once breezed along the 710 freeway find themselves competing for space with heavy container-truck traffic, the Los Angeles Times reported.
