Fundraisers, Speech on President's Southern California Itinerary

President Obama will speak at an event for a foundation established by director Steven Spielberg during his 17th Southern California visit while in office.

President Barack Obama will attend campaign fundraisers and deliver a speech at a Holocaust history foundation after he arrives Wednesday afternoon in Southern California.

The President, aboard Air Force One, is scheduled to touch down at Los Angeles International Airport at about  5 p.m., forcing street closures on Los Angeles' Westside. Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to meet the President on the tarmac at LAX.

He will attend a fundraiser for Democratic Congressional campaigns at a Bel Air home before speaking at the USC Shoah Foundation. The foundation was established by director Steven Spielberg after he made the film "Schindler's List."

Conan O'Brien will host the event and Bruce Springsteen is scheduled to perform. The President will receive an award from the foundation for his "global efforts to protect human rights, his commitment to education and expanding educational technology, and his work advancing opportunities for all people."

The fundraising event benefiting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senate Campaign  Committee will be at the mansion of Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn and his wife.

The President will likely stay overnight on the Westside before traveling to San Diego for another Congressional fundraiser.

The visit, his 17th since taking office in 2009, marks President Obama's first since he spoke at DreamWorks animation studios in November.

The President is scheduled to visit tornado-damaged areas of Arkansas earlier Wednesday. He will meet with victims, local government officials and emergency personnel near Little Rock, where 15 people were killed April 27 during the tornado outbreak.

The visit comes a day after the administration released a new report on climate change that attributed severe weather such as hurricanes and droughts to global warming. The report, however, states that the effect of climate change on the intensity or frequency of tornadoes is uncertain, and scientists are unsure whether climate change has played a role in recent erratic patterns of tornado activity. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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