L.A. gains a tech core in Playa Vista boom

$1.50 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER
52 PAGES © 2015 WST
latimes.com
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
O.C. bars
students in
measles fight
Two dozen lacking
proof of shots must
stay away. Five
Disneyland workers
are among the ill.
By Rong-Gong Lin II,
Rosanna Xia and
Nicole Knight Shine
Struggling to contain a
growing measles outbreak
that started at Disneyland a
month ago, Orange County
health officials ordered
about two dozen high school
students without proof of
immunization to stay away
from campus.
The move came as officials confirmed that five Disneyland employees were diagnosed with measles, part
of what officials described as
the worst outbreak in California in 15 years. There are
now a total of 54 patients
across California as well as
three other states and Mexico.
Health officials ordered
the students out of class after they learned that a Hun-
tington Beach High School
student who was infected
with the disease had come to
class when school resumed
after winter break. They said
they would take the same action in other schools if measles are detected.
“If there is a case in the
school and their child is not
immunized, they will be removed from the school for 21
days,” said Dr. Eric Handler,
the Orange County public
health officer. “From an epidemiological standpoint, in
order to prevent spread of
the disease, this is a necessary measure.”
Orange County is home
to several upscale communities where a higher than average number of parents
have opted to not fully vaccinate their children because
of their personal beliefs. Experts say it’s a problem when
8% or more decline vaccines
that keep diseases such as
measles from spreading.
In the Huntington Beach
City School District, two out
of seven elementary schools’
kindergarten classes exceed
that number: S. A. Moffett
Elementary, where 10% were
[See Measles, A13]
Jim Lo Scalzo European Pressphoto Agency
PRESIDENT OBAMA greets lawmakers in the House chamber before his State of the Union address.
He largely eschewed centrism in articulating his approach for the last two years of his administration.
‘The state of the union
is strong,’ Obama says
With confidence, he outlines plans to lift middle class
By Kathleen
Hennessey and
Christi Parsons
Yemen’s leader
retains control
amid rebel gains
By Zaid al-Alayaa and
Patrick J. McDonnell
SANA, Yemen — A second consecutive day of violence in Yemen’s capital
raised fear of deepening instability in a nation regarded
as pivotal to Washington’s
counter-terrorism efforts in
the Middle East.
Assaults by Houthi rebels on Tuesday had sparked
speculation that the U.S.backed government in Sana
could fall, prompting an urgent meeting of the United
Nations Security Council in
New York. But by early
Al Manar
REBEL leader Abdel-
Malek al-Houthi assailed
the Yemeni government.
Wednesday, President Abdu
Rabu Mansour Hadi appeared to be maintaining a
tenuous hold on power.
Houthi forces now in effect control the presidential
palace and Hadi’s residence,
according to reports here.
But officials said the president was safe and a measure
of quiet descended over the
capital Tuesday evening.
Officials in Washington
were keeping a close watch
on the situation, given
Yemen’s strategic location
and its role as an ally of the
United States and Saudi
Arabia. The Yemeni government has given U.S. forces
wide latitude to carry out
drone strikes against Al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a potent Al Qaeda franchise based in the country,
and there is concern that a
collapse would strengthen
the militant group’s position.
Al Qaeda, an adversary of
the Yemeni government and
the Houthi rebels, did not
appear to be involved in this
week’s fighting.
Houthi leaders denied
that they were pushing for a
coup, describing the attacks
[See Yemen, A4]
Mark Wilson Getty Images
ALAN GROSS, right, who was jailed in Cuba for five years and freed last
month, reacts to a shout-out from Obama, who touted the thaw with Havana.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Setting agenda — for
2016 presidential race
By David Lauter
WASHINGTON — Few if any of the domestic policy proposals President Obama
talked about in his sixth State of the Union
speech stand much chance of landing on
his desk to be signed into law, but they’ve
already begun to have an impact in another
arena: shaping the race to succeed him.
From executive actions he can take on
his own to policy initiatives that draw
sharp contrasts with the Republican majority in Congress, Obama has set a large
chunk of the issue agenda for the 2016 presidential campaign, long before either party
has picked a nominee.
Whether it’s Hillary Rodham Clinton or
someone else, the Democratic nominee, for
example, almost certainly will feel a need to
endorse Obama’s move to shield millions of
immigrants in the country illegally from
deportation — a step that has proved extremely popular with Latinos, a core part
of the Democratic coalition.
And as the House demonstrated this
month by voting to order deportations of
young people whom Obama already has
shielded, Republicans almost certainly will
demand that their nominee oppose Obama’s policy, even at the cost of alienating
Latino voters.
Obama’s effort to combat global warming by reducing the amount of coal the U.S.
burns has created a [See Analysis, A12]
WASHINGTON — President
Obama
declared
America ready to “turn the
page” on years of hardship
and economic insecurity in a
State of the Union address
Tuesday night that offered a
sprawling, post-recession
domestic agenda aimed at
appealing to the middle
class — and at revitalizing
his presidency in its final two
years.
“America, for all that
we’ve endured; for all the grit
and hard work required to
come back; for all the tasks
that lie ahead, know this:
The shadow of crisis has
passed, and the state of the
union is strong,” Obama
said.
It was the first time Obama used the familiar phrase
so directly, without qualification or condition, in a
State of the Union speech.
At times boastful, confident and even cocky, Obama
appeared unfazed by his
party’s electoral pounding in
the midterm election less
than three months ago or his
year of slouching approval
ratings.
He offered few overtures
to the opposition, even interrupting his rhetoric about
bipartisan harmony to
shoot back a zinger at Republicans.
When he noted he had
“no more campaigns to run,”
some Republicans cheered.
Obama responded with his
own dig.
“I know ’cause I won both
of them,” he ad-libbed.
[See Speech, A10]
COLUMN ONE
California cachet in China
Reminders of the Golden State are nearly everywhere
By Julie Makinen
reporting from beijing
T
housands of
Beijingers wake
up every day in
Yosemite.
Hordes more
have moved to Palm
Springs, not to mention
Orange County and Silver
Lake. They shop at UCLA
and go to Hollywood for a
bite to eat.
All without leaving the
Chinese capital.
When I first moved to
China about a year ago, I
fretted a tad about missing
the Golden State and living
in a country where everything had unfamiliar names.
Instead, I’ve found it hard to
Julie Makinen Los Angeles Times
UCLA has capitalized on the L.A.-as-lifestyle ethos
in China, licensing its name to a Chinese partner.
escape California’s good
vibrations: There seems to
be a little slice of home — or
at least some weird or
wacky reference to it —
almost everywhere you turn.
In Hong Kong, you can
buy a villa in the Beverly
Hills, a gated community
whose amenities — a gocart race track, indoor ski
slope and pet hotel — appear aimed at those with
90210-type tastes and wallets. A new 27-story building
in the territory’s Lan Kwai
Fong district, packed with
restaurants and bars, is
called the California Tower.
Chongqing has a California Inn, and you can check
into a Hotel California of
one stripe or another in
[See China, A4]
Kirk McKoy Los Angeles Times
C I T IE S C OV E T C O MI C -C O N
The annual gathering of comic book and pop
culture fans is entertaining offers from other
cities after delays in San Diego’s convention
center expansion. Los Angeles and Anaheim are
expected to make pitches. BUSINESS, C1
Weather
Breezy and warmer.
L.A. Basin: 74/51. B8
7
85944 00150
3