Santa Monica Breaking News and Latest News

On Saturday morning, Santa Monica residents gathered at Santa Monica’s Airport Park to learn about and give feedback on the park’s future expansion and how it might affect the city. Mark Rios, who founded his own design firm in 1985, is spearheading the project. The event began with a comprehensive presentation by Rios outlining his priorities as well as three proposed plans for what the completed park might look like. The project aims to incorporate 12 acres of non-aviation land adjacent to the existing park, practically tripling its size.

Funeral services were pending Tuesday for Santa Monica's Simon Ramo, a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, a co-founder of TRW Inc. and the chief scientific mind behind the nation's intercontinental ballistic missile system.

Lionsgate, the Santa Monica studio behind the "Hunger Games" films, will acquire cable and satellite network Starz for a combination of cash and stock totaling $4.4 billion, the two companies announced today.

A suspicious item has just been removed from the Metro Expo Line Station in downtown Santa Monica at Fourth Street and Colorado Avenue, which had been closed briefly, according to Metro. Full rail service is resuming, according to Metro.

Los Angeles-based nonprofit Last Chance for Animals (LCA) is joining a worldwide coalition of animal rights organizations to stage a vigil tonight in Santa Monica.

The New West Symphony announced Wednesday that it has received a $10,000 grant from the Annenberg Foundation’s Alchemy program and a $3,500 grant from the League of American Orchestras to support the development of a four-year strategic plan as the Symphony approaches its 25th anniversary celebration during the 2019-2020 concert season.

In response to Los Angeles’s escalating homelessness crisis, the Salvation Army organized a team of more than 50 volunteers to hand out prepared meals to Santa Monica’s homeless population this past Saturday.

Two California Assembly Committees have passed important, life-saving drunk driving legislation with unanimous votes. The next stop for SB 1046 by Senator Jerry Hill, which would require ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenders in California, is the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Assemblymember Richard Bloom will be honoring Andrew “Andy” Harland at the ninth annual “Veterans of the Year” Luncheon.