$1.50 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER 68 PAGES 2014 WST latimes.

com FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014

BEIRUT U.S. cargo
planes escorted by fighter
jets dropped food, water and
other supplies Thursday for
tens of thousands of people
who fled an advance by
Sunni militant fighters in
northern Iraq and are
stranded on a barren moun-
tain in danger of starvation,
U.S. officials said.
The airdrops, intended to
stave off what White House
Press Secretary Josh Ear-
nest described as a potential
humanitarian catastro-
phe, marked another step
by the Obama administra-
tion back into Iraq, less than
three years after the last U.S.
combat troops left the coun-
try.
President Obama has
also been considering air-
strikes against fighters of
the militant Islamic State,
but administration officials
said no U.S. ground troops
would be sent.
In recent days, thou-
sands of members of the Ya-
zidi sect fled towns in north-
ern Iraq that were taken
over by fighters from the Is-
lamic State, the Sunni Arab
militant group that has
seized control of large parts
of northern and western
Iraq, as well as about a third
of neighboring Syria.
The Yazidis, as well as
many Iraqi Christians,
moved into Kurdish-held ar-
eas of Iraq to escape the mili-
tants. But about 40,000 re-
main trapped on Mt. Sinjar
and are in extremely dire cir-
cumstances, according to
Kurdish officials and inter-
national relief groups.
The Islamic State, a
breakaway Al Qaeda group,
said its forces had overrun
more than a dozen towns
and other objectives, includ-
ing the Mosul dam, Iraqs
largest, in an offensive that
began Saturday. The mili-
tants were reported to be en-
gaging Kurdish forces
known as peshmerga just 30
miles southwest of Irbil,
capital of Iraqs semiautono-
mous Kurdish region.
The U.S. has several doz-
U.S. planes
drop food
aid into Iraq
The airdrops target
tens of thousands
stranded on a
mountain after they
fled Sunni militants.
By Patrick J.
McDonnell
and David S. Cloud
[See Iraq, A5]
On the surface, Californias job market is boom-
ing.
The state has now recovered all the jobs lost dur-
ing the recession, and done so at a faster pace than
all but five states.
The growth, though, belies a troubling imbal-
ance. The fastest job creation has come in low-wage
sectors in which pay has declined. At the high end of
the salary scale, a different dynamic has taken hold:
rising pay and improving employment after rounds
of consolidation.
Most distressing, middle-wage workers are los-
ing out on both counts.
People talk about it like an hourglass, said
Tracey Grose, vice president of the Bay Area Coun-
cil Economic Institute. There are fewer opportuni-
ties for people in the middle.
Economists generally consider mid-wage jobs to
pay between $15 and $30 an hour in California en-
compassing a third of workers in the state. Those at
the top end of that range, which amounts to about
$60,000 a year, earn more than 72% of Californians.
Middle-wage stagnation can damage consumer
spending, dent career mobility, stall home buying
and exacerbate a poverty rate thats already the
highest in the country, economists warn. Those
concerns are amplified in a state notorious for a
high cost of living.
As more mid-tier jobs disappear, economists
fear that middle-class workers will be increasingly
sucked into the ranks of the working poor. And they
could crowd out those already working low-wage
jobs, or drive their salaries down further.
The long-term problem isnt unemployment;
Gina Ferazzi Los Angeles Times
AT A JOB FAIR in Anaheim in June, Stella Portillo, left, of O.C. One-Stop Center talks with job seekers.
In California, the fastest job growth is at the low end, and since 2003 median wages have fallen 7.2%.
MID-WAGE
CRISIS
0
2
4
6
8
10 million
'12 '10 '08 '06
Sources: Los Angeles County
Economic Development Corp., Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Graphics
reporting by Tiffany Hsu
Jon Schleuss Los Angeles Times
Wage loss
There are now fewer
middle-income jobs in
California than there were
before the recession.
Recession
Mid-wage
8.3 million
2013
7.7 million
4.5 million
2.5 million
Low-wage
4.5 million
High-wage
2.2 million
By Tiffany Hsu
[See Wages, A15]
Fewer middle-class jobs in
the state means less career
mobility and worse poverty
No! the kids yell, each
making an X with their
small arms.
Standing quietly to the
side with his arms crossed, a
short man in square-framed
glasses smiles.
Alexander Khananash-
vili wrote these sing-alongs,
which are heard in four
elementary schools serving
this blue-collar, predomi-
nantly Latino suburb east of
Long Beach.
The tiniest city in Los
Angeles County, Hawaiian
Gardens would be easy to
miss, but for the large elec-
tronic billboard on the 605
Freeway luring passersby to
A
short walk from
the fast-food drive-
throughs, taco
joints and dough-
nut shops lining Hawaiian
Gardens palm-tree-dotted
main drag, a classroom of
energetic kindergartners
begins a well-rehearsed
routine.
Jutting their thumbs
down and contorting their
faces in theatrical frowns,
the kids chant, Soda is
bad!
Doritos? teacher Adri-
ana Rosas calls out.
Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times
TEACHER Adriana Rosas leads kindergartners in a nutrition chant at Aloha
Health Medical Academy in Lakewood, part of the ABC Unified School District.
In a stinging final rebuke,
the longtime civilian watch-
dog for the Los Angeles
County Sheriff s Depart-
ment accused top leaders of
letting their worst em-
ployees run rampant, caus-
ing a series of scandals that
tarnished the agency.
Merrick Bobb has been
the Board of Supervisors
special counsel reviewing
the department for 22 years,
and has written reports on
how the agency is run.
But this last report be-
fore Bobb steps aside was
particularly cutting, placing
much of the blame for a jail
abuse scandal in which
criminal charges have been
filed against 20 sheriff s offi-
cials since December at
the feet of former Sheriff Lee
Baca and his chief assistant,
Paul Tanaka.
In the 62-page report re-
leased Thursday, Bobb de-
scribed Tanaka, who is run-
ning for sheriff, as the leader
of an anti-reform counter
movement who encouraged
deputies to work in the gray
zone while Baca and the
Board of Supervisors paid
[See Baca, A14]
REPORT
REBUKES
BACA,
TANAKA
By Cindy Chang
Barbie.
First came the fans. Then
came the brands then the
money. Between her cut of
YouTube advertising and
various side deals, Phan said
she will pull in more than $1
million this year.
Im no longer just tal-
ent, the 27-year-old said
while applying makeup re-
cently in a Santa Monica stu-
dio, a pile of beauty products
strewn across a table in front
of her. Its a business.
The most successful on-
line video creators have be-
come more than just small-
time digital celebrities. They
now operate like one-man or
one-woman corporations,
touting their own merchan-
dise, starting companies
and signing deals with major
brands, which have pro-
pelled them to greater star-
dom outside the YouTube
realm.
At teen retailer Aeropos-
tale, shoppers can buy
clothes and home decor de-
signed by 18-year-old You-
Tube phenom Bethany Mo-
ta. Barnes & Noble is taking
pre-orders for a cookbook by
Hannah Hart and a coming-
of-age novel by Zoe Sugg,
both YouTube personalities.
Brittani Louise Taylor
a bubbly L.A. actress whose
Before the makeup line,
the book deal and the prod-
uct endorsements, Michelle
Phan was just another girl
trying to make it big on You-
Tube.
She rose to fame with her
viral video tutorials, sharing
makeup tips and emulating
looks inspired by Lady
Gaga, Angelina Jolie and
[See YouTube, A13]
YouTube stars
cash in offline
Popular creators of
videos are branching
beyond their initial
fame, becoming
one-person franchises.
By Andrea Chang
COLUMN ONE
An uphill battle
to thwart obesity
By Soumya
Karlamangla
[See Obesity, A10]
Weather
Clouds to sun.
L.A. Basin: 81/65. AA6
Complete Index ... AA2
Printed with soy inks on
partially recycled paper.
7 3 85944 00150
LABroadsheet_ 08-08-2014_ A_ 1_ A1_ WEST_ 1_CMYK
TSet: 08-07-2014 17:49