solution

The office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Imelda Padilla has begun working with agencies to find a solution to repair infrastructure damage caused by a fire last month that went through a tunnel at Encino Franklin Fields and has limited access to three softball fields used by youth organizations and the high school teams at Harvard-Westlake, Louisville and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

The fire on Jan. 22, believed to have been set by a homeless person, took out wooden framing below an asphalt bridge connecting access to a parking lot, making it unusable for safety reasons. Parents have since paid for a temporary scaffold bridge that allows people to traverse the condemned bridge. The parking lot remains out of commission along with handicap access. Notre Dame has not practiced or played games there since, moving to Valley College. Harvard-Westlake and Louisville have resumed practices and games.

The land is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. The bridge spans a culvert, maintained by the city. The fields are leased.

A spokeswoman for Padilla said in a statement: “Our team has taken the lead in convening City departments and have engaged the Mayor’s Office to help accelerate coordination and solutions. While agencies work through jurisdictional and cost responsibilities, our priority is preventing unnecessary delays and advancing immediate solutions. As damage and improvement needs are evaluated, we are focused on restoring safe access, including exploring a secondary access point to improve parking safety and ADA accessibility for families and field users. Student athletes and families should not bear the burden of administrative complexity, and we are pushing for a coordinated path forward that prioritizes timely repairs and safe access.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Paramount Skydance has sweetened its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, adding a $2.8 billion “break fee” for Netflix and a payment to shareholders set to increase for every quarter after January 1, 2027 that the transaction does not close.

However, it’s not clear the latest move will do much to sway Warner Bros. Discovery’s board, which has endorsed a rival bid from Netflix.

The David Ellison-led company sent notice Tuesday of its revised offer to the Warner Bros. Discovery board, adding that it was open to further negotiation.

“While we have tried to be as constructive as possible in formulating these solutions, several of these items would benefit from collaborative discussion to finalize,” the letter states. “If granted a short window of engagement, we will work with you to refine these solutions to ensure they address any and all of your concerns.”

Paramount’s all-cash offer still stands at $30 a share. In addition to the termination payment and so-called “ticking fee” for shareholders of 25 cents per share — which the company said would total about $650 million in cash value each quarter — Paramount also said it would “eliminate” Warner’s $1.5 billion financing cost associated with its debt exchange offer.

The company also said it would “provide flexibility” for Warner to refinance its existing $15 billion bridge loan.

Ellison said the new additions to Paramount’s bid “underscore our strong and unwavering commitment to delivering the full value [Warner Bros. Discovery] shareholders deserve for their investment.”

“We are making meaningful enhancements — backing this offer with billions of dollars, providing shareholders with certainty in value, a clear regulatory path, and protection against market volatility,” he said in a statement.

Warner confirmed it received Paramount’s new offer and said in a statement Tuesday that it would “carefully review and consider” the revised bid.

However, the Warner board is “not modifying its recommendation” on its agreement to sell its studios, HBO and HBO Max to Netflix, and advised shareholders not to take “any action at this time” on Paramount’s tender offer to shareholders.