VoLUMe LXiV issUe 46 hoMe DeLiVeRy $20 per month jULy 25, 2021

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PODCAST HOST KILLED!hiT-AnD-RUn LeADs To DeATh oF poDCAsT hosT MATThew geoRge FRoM sCoTTsDALe, ARizonA

By Danielle Berjikian and Casey Jacobs

BEVERLY HILLS—On Saturday, July 17, at ap-proximately 2:30 a.m., a white BMW wastraveling eastbound on Beverly Boulevardwhen it collided with a pedestrian that waswalking southbound on Croft Avenue in an un-marked crosswalk.The impact caused the pedestrian to collidewith the roadway and travel in an eastbounddirection. The driver of the BMW failed to stop,render aid, and identify themselves as requiredby law.Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire De-partment quickly responded and providedmedical treatment to the pedestrian who waspronounced dead at the scene after they suc-cumbed to the injuries. The victim has been

identified as 26-year-old, “She Rates Dogs” co-host Matthew George, from Arizona. His co-

host Michaela Okland announced his death onTwitter.

“I would rather you guys here this from methan a news article. Mat was killed in a hit andrun last night. I don’t really have any otherwords right now. I wish I could contact every-body who knows him personally but the newsis already out and I just can’t do it right now,”Okland tweeted. “I know he’s laughing at mefor having such a stupid typo in the first sen-tence of this.”Mat posted on his Instagram page the fol-lowing message weeks ago, “I’m literally so hot.I have no idea how I’m still single.”Anyone with information about the incidentis asked to can contact West Traffic Division de-tectives at (213) 473-0234. Anonymous callerscan contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Podcast Host Matthew George was killed in a hit and run collision on Saturday, July 17.

CiTy CoUnCiL To ReView FinAL pLAn FoR ConneCT beVeRLy hiLLs

BEVERLY HILLS—The Bev-erly Hills City Council willconsider the adoption for thefinal plan of the Connect Bev-erly Hills: Meet Me onWilshire and La Cienega proj-ect at its next meeting. Themeeting will happen on Tues-day, July 27 at 2:30 p.m.According to the city ofBeverly Hills, Connect BeverlyHills is a project to develop aseries of streetscape plansand design standards for com-mercial corridors in BeverlyHills. The streetscape planwill establish guidelines forthe public right away, in-cluding sidewalks and streets.In addition, the project willdevelop a plan for new side-walk designs and pedestrianamenities that will help con-nect the community and pre-pare for the opening of thenew subways.

The city is beginning withWilshire and La CienegaBoulevards to prepare for thenew Metro Purple Line Ex-tensions for two new subwaystations. The Wilshire Boule-vard and La Cienega subwaywill come in 2023 and theWilshire Boulevard and Rodeosubway in 2025.

If the Beverly Hills CityCouncil adopts the final plan,it will include a recommend-ed pedestrian mobility im-provements at 30 intersec-tions and midblock locationsalong both corridors to im-prove safety and access, aconceptual placement of side-walk amenities like pedestri-

an-scale lighting, bus shelters,and landscaping, the designstandards that recommendthe types and styles of side-walk amenities, and the con-cepts for potential MobilityHub to support First/LastMile connections with a com-bination of transportationand community-servingamenities located at the site ofthe La Cienega Station con-struction staging yard atWilshire Boulevard/GaleDrive. The agenda for the meetingwill be available the Saturdaybefore July 24 athttp://www.beverlyhills.org/departments/informationtech-nology/beverlyhillstelevi-sion/citycouncilmeetings/?NFR=1. For more details aboutthe final plan and the project,visit https://connect.beverly-hills.org/.

By Mary Kathryn GrillpRoTeCTeD biKe LAne DeMonsTRATion pRojeCT in beVeRLy hiLLs

BEVERLY HILLS—On Sun-day, July 25, the city of Bev-erly Hills will be hosting aProtected Bike Lane Demon-stration Project event to testthe proposal of a protectedbike lane. The bike lane willrun in the southbound laneof Roxbury Drive and southof Olympic Boulevard, whichis next to Roxbury Park.The city of Beverly Hillsnoted in a press release thatthe event will take placefrom 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Theproposal is a part of thecity’s Complete Streets Plan,a new initiative to make thestreets more friendly to cy-clists and pedestrians. Using temporary mark-ings, signs, and planters,

the event will demonstratewhat the proposed protect-ed bike lane will look likeand allow cyclists to test it.The lane will be protectedfrom traffic, and cyclists willbe asked to share their ex-

periences and opinions onthe proposal. Around 10:30a.m., Mayor Bob Wunderlichwill lead a Community BikeRide along a two-mile loopin the area. The city’s Complete

Streets Plan was adopted onApril 20, 2021, by the Bev-erly Hills City Council. Theplan identified this portionof Roxbury Drive as a highpriority because of its widthand ability to connect withexisting bike lanes withoutthe reduction of parkingspots or interfering with carlanes. The Beverly Hills CityCouncil will review the feed-back received, includingpublic comments, and con-sider the plan for a one-year-long pilot. For moreinformation, visithttp://www.beverlyhills.org/departments/publicworks/web.jsp.

By Mary Kathryn Grill

A demonstrated bike lane project event isscheduled for July 25.Connect Beverly Hills.

sAnTA MoniCA beAChes Reopen AFTeR sewAge spiLLSANTA MONICA—Multiplebeaches in Santa Monica re-opened on Wednesday, July14, after a major sewagespill occurred in Santa Mon-ica Bay. The sewage spillclosed beaches for two days.A total of 17 million gal-lons of untreated sewagewas dumped into the SantaMonica Bay after a poweroutage on July 11For two days after thespill, the Los Angeles Coun-ty Department of PublicHealth took samples from

the water to see if therewere any signs of bacteria.

The public was asked tostay out of the waters until

authorities announced itwas safe. After confirmingthe beaches were safe to re-open, officials notified life-guards to remove beach clo-sure signs.The reopened beaches in-cluded Beach #110 – Dock-weiler State Beach at WaterWay Extension, Beach #111– Dockweiler State Beach atHyperion Plant, Beach #112A – El Segundo Beach, andBeach #112 B – Grand Ave.Storm Drain.

By Mary Kathryn Grill

Beaches have reopened after a sewage spill inthe Santa Monica Bay.

MeMbeRs AppoinTeD To hoMeLessness TAsK FoRCeMALIBU—The Malibu CityCouncil will each appointtwo members to the newHomelessness Task Forceduring its virtual meeting onWednesday, July 21 at 5 p.m.All community members areinvited to participate in themeeting.During the meeting, CityCouncil discussed the ef-forts to address homeless-ness in the city and pro-posed amendments to theCity’s Nuisance Code to ad-dress the alarming amountof brush fires in homelessencampments. There havebeen 17 fires in 2021. Thecity’s current definition of anuisance lacks clear detail toproperty owners what a nui-sance is. The proposedamendments will includelanguage specific to fire andpublic health hazards. In a press release, MayorPaul Grisanti stated:

“As in so many commu-nities across America, home-lessness in Malibu hasemerged as a humanitariancrisis with severe impacts tothe community’s publichealth and safety, the envi-ronment and quality of lifethat cannot be ignored.” The city already has aHomelessness Working

Group. Malibu City Councilis working to provide moreeffort, resources, and atten-tion to homelessness by cre-ating a Brown Act-governedHomelessness Task Force.The Brown Act requiresopen meetings and publicrecord-keeping by govern-ment bodies in Californiato ensure transparency and

accountability. The new task force will bein charge of reviewing ex-isting efforts, evaluating theneed for an alternative sleep-ing location (ASL), develop-ing strategies to mitigatethe fire safety concerns ofencampments located inopen space and on undevel-oped private property, ad-dressing other issues relat-ed to homelessness, and pro-viding regular updates andrecommendations to theMalibu City Council. The agenda, staff report,viewing, and commentinginstructions for the meetingare available athttps://www.malibucity.org/VirtualMeeting. Communitymembers may also reviewdocuments about past andongoing work to addresshomelessness athttps://www.malibucity.org/1066/Reference-Documents.

By Mary Kathryn Grill

MAn KiLLs neighboR AFTeR DispUTeHOLLYWOOD HILLS—OnSaturday, July 17, at ap-proximately 2:40 a.m., offi-cers with the Los AngelesPolice Department respond-ed to the 6800 block of Cold-water Canyon Avenue for acall in regards to a shooting.Upon arrival, officers lo-

cated a victim who had beenshot several times. The sus-pect remained on the sceneand turned himself into re-sponding officers.It was discovered that thevictim lived in the apart-ment above the suspect andthe shooting was the result

of a dispute over loud music.The suspect demanded thatthe victim come downstairsafter confronting him aboutthe loud music. The sus-pect shot him multiple timesafter he came downstairs.The victim succumbed tohis injuries and died at the

scene.The victim has been iden-tified as 35-year-old EduardAvetisyan. The suspect isidentified as 66-year-oldOnik Derhovansian who wasplaced under arrest andbooked for murder by au-thorities.

By Danielle Berjikian

MALibU bRUsh FiRe ConTAineD AFTeR bURning 15 ACResMALIBU—A brush fire thaterupted on Monday, July 19,has been stopped from pro-gressing by officials fromthe Los Angeles CountyFire Department. The fireburned a total of 15 acres.Firefighters were able tostop the brush fire after bat-tling the blaze for 2 hours.The flames were first re-ported around 3 p.m. nearTuna Canyon Road and LasFlores Heights Road, northof Tuna Canyon Park. Thefire went from burning threeacres to seven in a matter of

45 minutes. Around 195 firefighters

were called to the scene andfire helicopters to assist with

water droppings. One fire-fighter was injured duringthe incident. According to the Califor-nia Highway Patrol, au-thorities shut down TunaCanyon Road between Pa-cific Coast Highway and Sad-dle Peak Road, a stretch ofabout seven miles. A trafficadvisory was also issued forPacific Coast Highway fordrivers to expect delays. The cause of the fire iscurrently unknown and stillunder investigation.

By Mary Kathryn Grill

A brush fire in Malibu destroyed 15 acres.

The Malibu City Council are appointing mem-bers to a special task force. Two DoCToRs AgRee To $37.5 MiLLion seTTLeMenT

SHERMAN OAKS—OnMonday, July 19, the U.S.Department of Justice an-nounced that one of thelargest hospital systems inthe nation and two of itsdoctors will pay $37.5 mil-lion to resolve violations ofthe California False ClaimsAct and the False ClaimsAct.The United States and thestate of California enteredinto a settlement agreementwith the Prime HealthcareServices system; Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, Dr. PremReddy; and interventionalcardiologist Dr. SivaArunasalam to resolve al-leged violations of the FalseClaims Act based on kick-

backs paid by Prime toArunasalam for patient re-

ferrals.Prime includes the On-

tario-based Prime Health-care Services Inc., PrimeHealthcare ManagementInc., Prime HealthcareFoundation Inc., HighDesert Heart Vascular In-stitute (HDHVI), and DesertValley Hospital Inc.Under the settlementagreement, Arunasalam willpay $2 million. Prime has al-ready paid $33,725,000 andReddy has paid $1,775,000.The United States will re-ceive $35,463,057 of the set-tlement proceeds, and thestate of California will re-ceive $2,036,943.In 2018, Reddy and Primepaid $65 million to settle un-related allegations of over-billing and false claims.

By Danielle Berjikian

A settlement has been reached against two doc-tors who violated the California False ClaimsAct and the False Claims Act.

UCLA To ReqUiRe CoViD VACCinesWESTWOOD—On Thurs-day, July 15, UCLA an-nounced that they will re-quire all students, faculty,and staff to be fully vacci-nated for COVID-19. Defer-rals are available for thosewho are pregnant and the re-quirement is subject to cer-tain medical conditions aswell as accommodationbased on religious belief ordisability.Students, staff, faculty,and anyone living or work-ing on UCLA property must

be fully vaccinated by Sep-tember 9. The Vaccine Pol-icy does not extend to third-party contract workers orcampus visitors.Staff and faculty canschedule an appointment toget vaccinated by calling310-825-6771 or by visitingthe Occupational HealthServices website. The AsheCenter will provide vaccinesto students beginning inearly August to those whostill need them.

By Danielle Berjikian

UCLA will require all faculty, staff and studentsto be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to thefall semester.