The Ponderosa” is what producers on Mark Burnett reality shows call the residence where eliminated contestants are exiled while taping of the competition continues. During the ill-fated Los Angeles season of The Apprentice in 2006, the Ponderosa was an unremarkable corporate apartment complex in Marina del Rey. While Donald Trump stayed for months at the […]
Another USC Doctor Is Being Accused of Sexually Abusing Students
The University of Southern California is facing yet another scandal. According to student reporting, 48 gay and bisexual male former students have come forward to accuse Dr. Dennis Kelly of sexually abusing them under the guise of medical exams over the course of more than 20 years. Kelly worked at the same campus health center […]
USC Scandal Mom Felicity Huffman Already Has a Movie Coming Out
If scheming a child’s way into a university is an overbearing mom move, then art is about to imitate life. Felicity Huffman, the actress who pleaded guilty in May to paying $15,000 to help her daughter get a better SAT score, stars in the upcoming Netflix comedy, Otherhood. The movie’s release had been delayed because […]
Ventus Group buys assemblage at “Fig” DTLA megaproject
Ventus Group Executives Scott Gale and John Booty with the site (Credit: Google Maps) With support from the Los Angeles Planning Commission, Ventus Group is moving ahead with its plan to bring 300 hotel rooms and about 400 units of housing to an area near the University of Southern California on Figueroa Street. Now, the […]
USC’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Problem
Judy Muller, professor emerita at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism and former star correspondent for ABC News, recalls the day in 2012 when the university announced it was giving Arnold Schwarzenegger not just a full professorship but his very own institute at the Price School of Public Policy. “The news was greeted with general mortification,” […]
How USC Became the Most Scandal-Plagued Campus in America
Founded in a mustard field in 1880 when Los Angeles was still mostly ranchland, the evolution of the University of Southern California has mirrored that of the Southland: It grew, got wealthy, struggled with a flaky reputation among the East Coast elites it so badly wanted to impress, and finally started to matter when it […]