<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hollywood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lionsgate</a> film studio announced it would reinstate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mask-mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mask mandates</a> in parts of its Santa Monica, California offices.
The response manager for Lionsgate/Starz, Sommer McElroy, said in a written statement that the masking policy would be &#8220;effective immediately&#8221; and will continue &#8220;until further notice.&#8221; Deadline <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/08/lionsgate-mask-mandate-santa-monica-covid-outbreak-1235524039/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that almost half of the company’s employees work at their flagship office at 2700 Colorado Avenue. The policy will be effective on the 3rd and 5th floors of the five-story building, according to an email cited by the outlet.
&#8220;Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/face-mask" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surgical mask</a>, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,&#8221; McElroy said, per <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/major-movie-studio-reinstates-mask-mandates-effective-immediately" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
Lionsgate will also have a &#8220;building entry policy&#8221; which requires employees “to perform a daily self-screening prior to coming to the office each day.&#8221; Workers must also notify the company of any &#8220;new or worsening symptoms&#8221; or if they &#8220;traveled internationally in the last 10 days.&#8221; 
The company will perform contact tracing and notify &#8220;all individuals who have been in close contact with employees who have tested positive for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19</a>,&#8221; the statement continued. She said these mandates come as several employees tested positive for COVID.
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McElroy also said surgical masks and KN95s would be available at the front desk. The studio will also provide N95 masks upon request.
The decision to reinstate mask mandates at Lionsgate comes as speculation that similar policies would be returning nationwide as variant EG.5 becomes more prevalent in the United States.
There have been conflicting studies and no conclusive evidence that mask mandates ever did much to curtail the spread of COVID. 
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/study-finds-face-masks-didnt-slow-spread-of-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from 2021 conducted by the University of Louisville using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that “80% of US states mandated masks during the COVID-19 pandemic,” but while “mandates induced greater mask compliance, [they] did not predict lower growth rates when community spread was low (minima) or high (maxima).”
Researchers concluded that based on the data, “mask mandates and use are not associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 spread among US states.”
“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates decrease with greater public mask use,” the study said.

Face mask

Lionsgate Film Studio Reinstates Mask Mandates ‘Effective Immediately,’ ‘Until Further Notice’

Lionsgate Film Studio Reinstates Mask Mandates 'Effective Immediately,' 'Until Further Notice'

California

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Santa Monica

The United States Postal Service is suspending mail deliveries in one California neighborhood because of repeated assaults on mail carriers.
Santa Monica Postmaster Marjorie Watson sent a letter to residents at the 1300 block of 14th Street in Santa Monica after several mail carriers were assaulted by an unknown individual.
&#8220;This letter is to provide you notice that&#8230; delivery service is hereby suspended to all addresses located on the 1300 block of 14th Street, Santa Monica,&#8221; the letter reads, per a photograph obtained by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/mail-carriers-assaulted-in-santa-monica-causing-delivery-suspension/">New York Post</a>. “This is unfortunate, but please be advised that the Postal Service does not enter into decisions to suspend service lightly. Multiple carriers have been subjected to assaults and threats of assault from an individual who has not been located or apprehended. The safety of our employees and of the mail they deliver to you is our highest concern. Until we can ensure the safety of both, delivery services will remain suspended.&#8221; The letter says that residents can pick up mail from a Post Office facility nearby.
“For the safety of our employees, we have had to temporarily suspend delivery of mail to these customers,” USPS spokeswoman Natashi Garvins told the New York Post on Monday. “This is an unusual, but necessary step to protect our employees.” Garvins further told <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/usps-suspends-services-in-santa-monica-neighborhood-citing-attacks-on-carriers/">KTLA Los Angeles</a> that three different letter carriers were assaulted in three separate instances on the same block, but Santa Monica Police said that only one police report has been filed in the neighborhood.
The lone reported incident took place on January 19, when a resident attacked a mail carrier with a broomstick. The carrier suffered a minor arm injury that did not require medical attention, and declined to press charges against the individual, Santa Monica Police Lieutenant Erika Aklufi said in a statement to KTLA.
Lt. Aklufi further told the New York Post that the suspect is a man who “is known to our officers and also to the mail carrier he attacked,” but said police were unable to locate any other reported assaults in the area.
“If there were other incidents of USPS mail carriers being attacked, we were unable to locate additional reports,” Aklufi said. “Without speaking to the postmaster, it will be difficult to know the extent of this issue. I have never heard of the Postal Service suspending service for all residents in a neighborhood.”
Aklufi also said that the officers who responded to the incident contacted the United States Postal Inspection Service to provide information in case they decided to follow up, but she did not know if the USPIS did so.
Garvins told The Post that the USPIS is investigating all three incidents, but Santa Monica police officials said they were not contacted in connection with those probes. Officials with the USPIS told The Post that they were “unable to comment further at this time” because the investigation is ongoing.
Postal workers in Chicago expressed similar concerns in 2020, threatening to stop delivering mail to some neighborhoods in the city&#8217;s south and west sides after a mail carrier was shot while delivering mail in the Burnside neighborhood, as The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-mail-carriers-threaten-to-stop-delivering-mail-if-city-fails-to-control-violence">Daily Wire</a> reported at the time. Another carrier was shot in the back of the head earlier that year, and another was hit by a paintball gun. The attacks led postal workers to urge crackdowns on gun violence.

USPS Processes Packages At Facility

USPS Suspending Mail Deliveries In California Neighborhood After Repeated Assaults On Mail Carriers

United States Postal Service (USPS)

Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles chapter (BLMLA) and other protesters filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the city of Santa Monica, California, claiming its response to demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd last year violated the constitutional and statutory rights of some demonstrators.
According to the lawsuit: “BLMLA intends to assist, plan, participate in and hold similar events in the future, on its own or in conjunction with others, and fears that the same unlawful police actions in response to protests of institutional racism and police brutality will be repeated absent injunctive and declaratory relief to prohibit the practices, policies, and customs that caused the unlawful action in response to the recent protests.”
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-29/blm-files-another-lawsuit-over-floyd-protests-this-one-against-santa-monica">The Los Angeles Times reported</a> that the suit “seeks class-action status, accuses the city and the Santa Monica Police Department of using excessive force against protesters, arresting them without justification and subjecting them to inhumane conditions while detained.” According to the outlet, “It also alleges that the department unjustly focused on peaceful protesters while ignoring individuals who were burglarizing stored and committing other crimes nearby, and misused emergency curfew orders to clear the streets of legitimate demonstrators.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesMatter</a> Protest in Santa Monica breaks into violence as protesters defy disperse and curfew order. Bricks and rocks thrown by Protesters, 1 seen firing hand held illegal fireworks at police who respond with over 100 37 &amp; 40mm less lethal rounds and teargas. <a href="https://twitter.com/KNX1070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KNX1070</a> <a href="https://t.co/fK9eq5LkVt">pic.twitter.com/fK9eq5LkVt</a>
&mdash; Pete Demetriou (@knxpete) <a href="https://twitter.com/knxpete/status/1267308420983517184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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A spokesperson for Santa Monica told the Times that the city was reviewing the lawsuit, but did not comment on its allegations.
Lead counsel for the plaintiffs is Carol Sobel, a Santa Monica-based activist litigator who previously spent 20 years as a staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. She currently serves on the board of directors of the National Police Accountability Project, a nonprofit organization connected to the National Lawyers Guild. Sobel also represents BLMLA in a similar class-action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The lawsuit claims city-wide curfew orders instituted by the City of Santa Monica on May 31 and June 1, 2020, were “aimed at preventing all political protest at a time when hundreds of peaceful protestors sought to express their opposition to the police violence that resulted in the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville and many other Black and Brown men and women.”
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Proud of you Los Angeles. This is from a protest in Santa Monica. This is the way. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GeorgeFloydProtests</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICantBreathe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICantBreathe</a> <a href="https://t.co/hCTQPwkSlY">pic.twitter.com/hCTQPwkSlY</a>
&mdash; ERIC BALFOUR (@ERICBALFOUR) <a href="https://twitter.com/ERICBALFOUR/status/1267193617325543424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The document acknowledges that there was unrest in parts of Santa Monica, but alleges that law enforcement’s response was “focused on the protestors, rather than individuals engaged in looting and other criminal activity” that BLMLA says occurred away from the demonstrations.
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Absolute Chaos along 4th street in Santa Monica&#8230; looting with impunity on both sides of the street. No police in sight. We’ve watched this happen to dozens of stores for 45 minutes now&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/WOdEhIz3th">pic.twitter.com/WOdEhIz3th</a>
&mdash; Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/GadiNBC/status/1267221077777768448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Looting in Santa Monica. In broad daylight. Sunday afternoon. Chaos. <a href="https://t.co/t6X6zI7NQu">pic.twitter.com/t6X6zI7NQu</a>
&mdash; Perez (@ThePerezHilton) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePerezHilton/status/1267225681970130944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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BLMLA contends law enforcement officers “indiscriminately” fired less lethal munitions into a group of demonstrators who posed no threat to police, deployed baton strikes, and “imposed unconstitutional conditions of confinement” that put arrestees at increased risk of contracting COVID-19.
BLMLA had sponsored protests in L.A. and Santa Monica and participated in other demonstrations in the region that were organized by allies. The activist group alleges the “Defendants’ actions interfered with BLMLA’s right to assembly and speech.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-lives-matter-issued-demands-urged-crowd-to-disrupt-white-capitalism-at-weekend-l-a-rally">Black Lives Matter Issued Demands, Urged Crowd To ‘Disrupt White Capitalism’ At Weekend L.A. Rally</a>
The L.A. Times provides more details:
<blockquote>In Santa Monica, where the unrest largely occurred May 31, many boutiques and shops were burglarized. The city counted 178 incidents of nonresidential “looting,” 49 incidents of vandalism, 10 assaults on officers, 18 damaged police cars, 12 arsons, 17 aggravated assaults and nine burglaries associated with the unrest that day, among other crimes.
On Oct. 21, just a few days before she retired, then-Santa Monica Police Chief Cynthia Renaud — also a named defendant in the new case — wrote in a letter to the community that the department had been “resourced and trained to handle protests and riotous activity that might erupt from within that protest,” but were not prepared to deal with a third and simultaneous component: organized criminals.
“Massive groups of extremely organized individuals, who were unassociated with the protests, committing highly mobile, well-coordinated looting at multiple locations throughout the city” had “taxed the Department’s resources in the initial hours of its instigation,” Renaud wrote.</blockquote>
ABC 7 Eyewitness News <a href="https://abc7.com/society/blm-sues-santa-monica-over-protest-curfews/10847458/">reported</a>, “The suit also cites a review report prepared for the city by an outside group, the Office of Independent Review, which determined that the SMPD ‘had no adequate plan, if they had any, to interact with peaceful protesters while responding to individuals and groups engaged in unlawful conduct,’ according to BLM-LA.”

Brigades of people with brooms descended on the upscale shopping district of Santa Monica Monday morning after looters spent hours yesterday smashing windows, stealing items and setting several fires.

Black Lives Matter Files Lawsuit Against Santa Monica To Prevent ‘Unlawful’ Police Response At Future Protests

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On Sunday, Fox News LA reporter Bill Melugin reported that some store owners in Santa Monica, California were standing guard to protect their property, as two of them stood outside the “Helen’s Bicycles” store and another stood atop its roof brandishing firearms. Melugin showed photos of the assumed store owners on Twitter, writing, “Armed business owners are now stationed outside and on top their properties in Santa Monica. They are taking their protection into their own hands now. @FOXLA.”
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BREAKING: Armed business owners are now stationed outside and on top their properties in Santa Monica. They are taking their protection into their own hands now. <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOXLA</a> <a href="https://t.co/GTawCJPA2g">pic.twitter.com/GTawCJPA2g</a>
&mdash; Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillFOXLA/status/1267289308756504576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Earlier Sunday afternoon, an NBC correspondent stated, “Absolute Chaos along 4thstreet in Santa Monica … looting with impunity on both sides of the street. No police in sight. We’ve watched this happen to dozens of stores for 45 minutes.”
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Absolute Chaos along 4th street in Santa Monica&#8230; looting with impunity on both sides of the street. No police in sight. We’ve watched this happen to dozens of stores for 45 minutes now&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/WOdEhIz3th">pic.twitter.com/WOdEhIz3th</a>
&mdash; Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/GadiNBC/status/1267221077777768448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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As the afternoon turned into evening, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva stated, “There are no lawful protestors left on the streets. We are about to bring buses and begin making mass arrests.”
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L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva: &quot;There are no lawful protestors left on the streets. We are about to bring busses and begin making mass arrests.&quot; Looting continuing in Santa Monica and Long Beach. <a href="https://t.co/0BtueEPWjX">pic.twitter.com/0BtueEPWjX</a>
&mdash; Robert Rand (@MenendezRand) <a href="https://twitter.com/MenendezRand/status/1267282160697749504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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It appeared police in Santa Monica started making arrests as day turned into evening:
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Police in Santa Monica appear to have started making arrests. <a href="https://t.co/IR9wvVoal5">https://t.co/IR9wvVoal5</a> <a href="https://t.co/SDQKggD0qa">pic.twitter.com/SDQKggD0qa</a>
&mdash; NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCLA/status/1267274985871196166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Actor James Woods, watching the mayhem, commented, “So I’m watching the looting in Santa Monica live on local TV. There’s a thug who puts an armful of clothing into his car and locks the door! Then off he goes to loot some more, but secure in the knowledge his swag is safe! There are levels of irony that are impossible to top.”
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So I’m watching the looting in Santa Monica live on local TV. There’s a thug who puts an armful of clothing into his car and locks the door! Then off he goes to loot some more, but secure in the knowledge his swag is safe! There are levels of irony that are impossible to top.
&mdash; James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1267253524464713728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Santa Monica, which abuts the Pacific Ocean, is not part of the city of Los Angeles; it has its own police department. On Sunday afternoon, the city of Santa Monica issued a statement saying a curfew would be in place at 4 p.m., reading:
<blockquote>The City of Santa Monica will join our neighboring cities in extending our curfew to tonight, May 31, 2020 at 4 p.m. through tomorrow, Monday, June 1 at 5:30 a.m. Emergency responders are exempt, as are those traveling to and from work or seeking or giving emergency care.  The City of Santa Monica values peaceful protest as vital to our democracy.  
As of 1:15 p.m., a peaceful protest is underway along Ocean Avenue between Montana and Colorado. The Santa Monica Police Department is on site and has a presence throughout the community. The public’s safety is our top priority and we ask the community to avoid Ocean Avenue at this time.  </blockquote>
The 3rd Street Promenade, which was trashed by rioters, is only blocks from Ocean Avenue.
<a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/an-emotional-gov-newsom-talks-privilege-race-amid-protests/2299774/">California Governor Gavin Newsom</a> stated on Saturday, “We have to be more resolved now than ever to do more and be better as human beings, as parents, as leader in our own right and to model better behavior,” urging protesters to express themselves “thoughtfully and gently — but forcefully” so that “we, collectively, can not only hear your voice but we can resolve to do something with the lesson that we learn.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

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Lionsgate Film Studio Reinstates Mask Mandates ‘Effective Immediately,’ ‘Until Further Notice’

USPS Suspending Mail Deliveries In California Neighborhood After Repeated Assaults On Mail Carriers

Black Lives Matter Files Lawsuit Against Santa Monica To Prevent ‘Unlawful’ Police Response At Future Protests

Store Owners In Santa Monica, CA, Stand Armed To Guard Their Business, Report Says