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Carrie Dietz Brown didn’t have a lot of hope her plan would work. But crazy longshots, along with wild things surviving in unlikely places, are among the revered ideals handed down to her by her father, the late, great Pat Dietz. So she hatched the plan anyway. She hoped to reach Wendell Berry, the poet, […]
A common adage in the making of public agency budgets is that each adopted budget is only a snapshot in time, given the complexity and fluidity of the revenue sources. But for public schools in California, that snapshot is a blurry polaroid at best, more commonly a botched and largely illegible overexposure. School districts must […]
If Dave Williamson dies and goes to heaven, it will look something like this. It’s a Sunday afternoon at El Segundo’s Library Park, and one of the best pitmasters in the world is behind a Santa Maria grill, tomahawk steaks hanging over the fire above an assortment of peppers and onions slow-cooking in the live […]
Mb mayors Incoming Mayor Joe Franklin and outgoing Mayor David Lesser. Photo by Jefferson Graham IF ROOM: Mb franklins Mayor Joe Franklin’s daughter, Taylor, and son, Jimmy, celebrate the beginning of his mayoral term. Photo by Jefferson Graham CITY COUNCIL Lesser passes gavel to Franklin in mayoral rotation by Mark McDermott Former councilperson and six-time […]
The famous phrase is about the loneliness of the long distance runner, but sprinters, hurdlers and pole vaulters tend to spend a lot of time alone as well, abiding in breath and pure tenacity as each hones his body into an instrument of competition. But Saturday afternoon, the athletes from the Mira Costa High School […]
Last year’s Mira Costa High School Boys Volleyball squad was a hard act to follow. Not only was that Mustang team regional, state and national champions, but six players went on to Division I college volleyball careers. Those feats and players cast a large shadow, daunting not only due to what was achieved, but the […]
Across two days last weekend, Mira Costa High School won four CIF Southern Section championships. The boys volleyball team swept Loyola in three sets Friday night. Saturday morning, the boys lacrosse team beat St. Francis 9-8 to claim the Division 2 title. Saturday afternoon, the girls lacrosse team beat Santa Margarita 12-6 for the Division […]
by Mark McDermott Any early evening on a late spring day in Manhattan Beach is already a wonder to behold. The briskness in the air and the golden sheen of the day’s slow-departing sunshine anoint the coming night with a feeling of celebratory ease. But on one such night every May or early June, an […]
The Manhattan Beach Education Foundation has awarded $7,636,400 in grants to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District for 2026-27, the largest contribution in its 43-year history. The school board accepted the grants at its April 15 meeting with an outpouring of gratitude that reflected how consequential the money is at this particular moment. But Hilary […]
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Education, in deliberations that began in early February and finalized at its March 11 meeting, authorized the possible reduction of 58.85 Full Time Equivalents, or FTEs. This means employee layoffs. But the painful discussions that took place in those meetings went beyond the technical machinations of […]
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District held a standing-room-only budget workshop last Thursday morning. The rain pouring down outside did nothing to discourage a crowd of parents, teachers and community members who packed the boardroom to hear what they feared most: the district’s financial crisis has grown significantly worse since last summer. “It’s been bleak, […]
by Mark McDermott They were a bunch of old hands. Each knew the backroom byways of a world the average citizen was blissfully unaware of. Each had a different expertise. And every once in a great while they’d all get together to work on a different kind of heist. They were no Ocean’s 11, mind […]