latimes.com - Sandy Banks

An underground renaissance in Inglewood

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A gallery tour shows a thriving art community hidden in a gritty, industrial area.

I was tired of staring at that blank space on my hallway wall. For years, I'd been searching for just the right artistic statement for the spot at the bottom of my stairs -- something to brighten my mood when I stumbled down bleary-eyed in the morning, and calm me as I headed upstairs to bed at night.

A warm farewell to the chief

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:14:00 -0800

Pasadena's Bernard Melekian is moving to Washington, D.C., to become the national face of community policing.

We've spent a lot of time recently celebrating the reign of Bill Bratton, whose LAPD legacy -- less crime, more accountability, closer ties between officers and neighborhoods -- is rooted in his promotion of community policing.

Finding a deeper lesson in high school gang rape

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Adults see Richmond High attack as the product of long-simmering immorality, indulgence and insensitivity.

In last Saturday's column, I relied on teenagers at Richmond High to help me understand how gang rape became a spectator sport on their San Francisco Bay area campus. They explained that bystanders who watched the assault on a 15-year-old girl outside their homecoming dance last month may have been too afraid to intervene. Or they didn't feel compelled to help because the victim wasn't in their clique. Or they were simply paralyzed by shock, fixated as if the violent scene was a snippet from a reality TV show.

Plenty of questions but no easy answers in wake of gang rape

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Brutality of the incident at Richmond High is hard to fathom.

The sense of horror seems to be fading at Richmond High -- the Northern California school that made news around the world this week after a 15-year-old girl was gang-raped outside a campus homecoming dance while a crowd of students watched but did nothing to intervene.

Fighting to be a mother again

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

For women trying to get their children out of foster care, it's more than becoming a better parent and kicking drug habits. It's contingent on finding safe, affordable housing.

It took her 15 years -- one stint in prison, several passes through drug rehab, months of weekly parenting classes.

A tough approach to drug-using mothers

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It was painful to read our stories Sunday about two abused teenagers who died after spending years bouncing around Los Angeles County's child welfare system.

Supporting our military -- with baseballs and blankets

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Jim Hake's Spirit of America nonprofit is bridging the gap between troops and Iraqis and Afghans with wish-list items, giving 'a reason for interaction outside of a hostile encounter.'

When I first met him six years ago, Jim Hake had yet to reconcile his peacenik credentials with his fervent support for our country's newly declared war on Iraq.

Getting insight, but not answers

Sat, 3 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Going to Alabama with a baby boomer's need to know my medical legacy and connect the dots of family history.

I flew down south to Montgomery on a mission to download from my elderly aunts decades of family history.

Medical pot proposal erases compassion

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:16:00 -0700

L.A. needs to regulate pot dispensaries, but this plan goes too far.

She didn't know whether she'd have the nerve to speak. But Judy Bowen signed the list and took a seat amid the pot smokers and growers, the lawyers and doctors, the Rastafarians and AIDS patients crowded into the Los Angeles City Council hearing room.

Utopia is a hard sell in Jordan Downs

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Planners' $1-billion vision of a new housing project includes a health spa and stores -- but residents want barred windows too.

Ronald Perkins and his neighbors were nearly outnumbered by the consultants and architects who showed up at the Jordan Downs community center.