L.A. high school built on top of contaminated material The developer of a new high school near downtown Los Angeles violated the school district’s environmental rules by using hundreds of cubic yards of contaminated debris under the campus administration building and gymnasium, according to the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. Read more...

Eric Monkkonen, a distinguished history and public policy professor at UCLA since 1976, died May 30 after a 10-year struggle with cancer. He was 62. Monkkonen specialized in the study of urban crime, though he also had interest in the study of urban finance and local government. Read more...

The rhythmic patter of hammers and the crunch of shovels digging echoed throughout the site, as men and women worked doggedly in the morning heat to build houses for low-income families. Read more...

Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world. It generates hundreds of billions of dollars in sales each year and employs millions of workers both at home and abroad. Read more...

In a public university where talk of funding cuts, low wages, limited resources and tight budgets buzz around many conversations, UCLA’s wasteful construction projects this year exemplified a troubling trend of funding mismanagement and wasted taxpayer and student dollars. Read more...

At a campus where football and basketball are king and prince of the sports scene, it has been the smaller sports, the paupers of the athletic department, that have shone the brightest this year. Read more...

As the school year draws to a close, I am able to reflect on the many subjects I have tackled, noting some of the successes and failures I have had at this post. Read more...