Supervisors will present Ayers, 59, with a scroll in recognition of his upcoming trip to represent Los Angeles County and people with mental illness at a White House celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The celebration marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark legislation that ensures equality for disabled Americans.

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By WeHo News Staff, West Hollywood, California (July 1, 2010) Despite fierce neighborhood opposition and a bureaucratic SNAFU that created hopeful rumors that rapidly made their way around its Norma Triangle neighborhood, KLEAN Sober Living facility will be granted a license to operate as a drug and alcohol treatment center, likely within ten days, say sources.

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Claiming they are operating outside city code, the City of West Hollywood sent KLEAN West Hollywood, the new high end concierge drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, a cease and desist order last month, saying that the facility must enter into a Conditional Use Permit in order to operate within city limits or close shop. In another move aimed at preventing the facility from operating, the city also lobbied the CA State Drug and Alcohol Programs licensing division to deny KLEAN’s application to operate.

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A record $3.47 billion was spent on federal lobbyists in 2009, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Ergo, fair now to say that Wall Street and K Street had a bull year, while Main Street suffered in recession.

The lobbyist boon times were tied to the legislative debates of the day: health care reform, financial reform and energy policy.

Still, 2009 looks not greatly different from 2008. There was about a 5% total increase in spending between the two years. But most of that increase occurred in the 4th quarter. And in the 4th quarter of 2008 there were those two mega events, financial crisis and the presidential election, likely tamping down spending. For example, the report finds that spending in the 2009 3rd quarter was up 3% compared to a 16% rise in the 4th quarter.

Nevertheless, it exhibits how disconnected the worlds of Wall Street and K Street are from the larger American experience. Both industries earned record profits the same year foreclosures shattered previous records.

Notably, with health care reform atop the 2009 legislative debate, the report found that federal lobbying expenditures for the pharmaceutical and health products industry were larger than any single industry ever. Health care lobby’s total 2009 bill: $266.8 million. Bloomberg reported last August that there were 3,300 health care lobbyists working Congress – six lobbyists for each of the 535 House and Senate lawmakers.

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Nothing bites like mockery.

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Heads up… California needs money, so pay attention to the rules of the road!

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Who REALLY has your back?  The question is of obvious importance but most of us have no clue as to the answer.

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By WeHo News Staff, West Hollywood, California (January 11, 2009) Worth magazine has selected Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute as one of the United States’ top 25 hospitals for cardiac bypass surgery. The list, compiled for the magazine by healthcare research firm Castle Connolly, appears in the December/January issue. Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is one of only three hospitals on the West Coast included on the list.

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