Datasets:

Astris

/

LA-Times

like 20

Authorities arrest L.A. County man suspected of femicide in Tijuana

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-07/authorities-arrest-l-a-county-man-suspected-of-femicide-in-tijuana

A Los Angeles County man was arrested this week on suspicion of killing a dancer and sex worker last week in Tijuana, and Mexican authorities allege that he could be linked to other slayings in the city. Bryant Rivera, 30, of Downey was taken into custody by U.S. officials in connection with the death of one woman. However, Baja California Atty. Gen. Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said Rivera is a suspect in the murders of three women, all in Tijuana. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Rivera at his home Thursday. He is scheduled to appear Monday in federal court in Los Angeles. According to a complaint filed in U.S. federal court, the Baja California attorney general’s office has charged Rivera with femicide in the death of Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores, who was strangled in January 2022 in a Tijuana hotel room. World & Nation For decades, officials have recognized Mexico’s high femicide rate and violence against women in general as a major problem. Dec. 27, 2022 Acosta Flores began working as a dancer and “on some occasions as a sex worker” at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in 2021, her mother told Mexican officials. On the night of Jan. 24, 2022, Acosta Flores texted her mother that she would be with a client in a hotel room for 30 minutes. The mother said that after the time elapsed, she texted and called her daughter multiple times but received no response. Acosta Flores’ mother and boyfriend searched for her until approximately noon the next day, when an ambulance arrived at the hotel, and they learned that her body had been found in room 404. A sex worker who also worked at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club told Mexican investigators she had arranged to meet a client she said was named Bryant Rivera on the afternoon of Jan. 24. The client was from California, she told investigators. That woman said she took the man she knew as Rivera to a hotel, then returned to the club. At around 10 p.m. that evening, she saw Rivera leave the bar with Acosta Flores, she said. Authorities say U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance cameras caught Rivera reentering the United States on foot just after midnight on Jan. 25. World & Nation The gruesome killing of Ariadna López shocked Mexico, spurred protests in the capital and highlighted the nation’s epidemic of violence against women. March 8, 2023 In statements late last year, Carpio Sánchez said a U.S. resident was being sought in connection with the murder of sex workers in Tijuana. “If someone threatens the lives of our citizens, of our women, then they will have a serious problem with our justice system,” he said in a report by NBC 7 San Diego. The circumstances of the other killings were not known. The complaint focused on Acosta Flores and did not reveal information about other victims. In 2021, Mexico saw 1,000 femicides, the murder of women or girls because they are female.

Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi has full FDA approval now and that means Medicare will pay for it

https://www.latimes.com/business/nation/story/2023-07-06/alzheimers-drug-leqembi-has-full-fda-approval-now

U.S. officials granted full approval to a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug on Thursday, clearing the way for Medicare and other insurance plans to begin covering the treatment for people with the brain-robbing disease. The Food and Drug Administration endorsed the IV drug, Leqembi, for patients with mild dementia and other symptoms caused by early Alzheimer’s disease. It’s the first medicine that’s been convincingly shown to modestly slow the cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer’s. Japanese drugmaker Eisai received conditional approval from the FDA in January based on early results suggesting Leqembi worked by clearing a sticky brain plaque linked to the disease. The FDA confirmed those results by reviewing data from a larger, 1,800-patient study in which the drug slowed memory and thinking decline by about five months in those who got the treatment, compared to those who got a dummy drug. “This confirmatory study verified that it is a safe and effective treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” said FDA’s neurology drug director, Dr. Teresa Buracchio, in a statement. The drug’s prescribing information will carry the most serious type of warning, indicating that Leqembi can cause brain swelling and bleeding, side effects that can be dangerous in rare cases. The label notes that those problems are seen with other plaque-targeting Alzheimer’s drugs. The process of converting a drug to full FDA approval usually attracts little attention. But Alzheimer’s patients and advocates have been lobbying the federal government for months after Medicare officials announced last year they wouldn’t pay for routine use of drugs like Leqembi until they receive FDA’s full approval. There were concerns that the cost of new plaque-targeting Alzheimer’s drugs could overwhelm the program’s finances, which provide care for 60 million seniors. Leqembi is priced at about $26,500 for a year’s supply of IVs every two weeks. The vast majority of Americans with Alzheimer’s get their health coverage through Medicare. And private insurers have followed its lead by withholding coverage for Leqembi and a similar drug, Aduhelm, until they receive FDA’s full endorsement. An FDA decision on full approval for Aduhelm is still years away. Medicare administrator, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, said in a statement Thursday the program will begin paying for the drug now that it has full FDA approval. But the government is also setting extra requirements, including enrollment in a federal registry to track the drug’s real-world safety and effectiveness. Medicare “will cover this medication broadly while continuing to gather data that will help us understand how the drug works,” Brooks-LaSure said. Some Medicare patients could be responsible for paying the standard 20% of the cost of Leqembi, though the amount will vary depending on their plans and other coverage details. Hospitals and medical clinics have cautioned that it may take time to get people started on the drug. Doctors need to confirm that patients have the brain plaque targeted by Leqembi before prescribing it. Nurses need to be trained to administer the drug and patients must be monitored with repeated brain scans to check for swelling or bleeding. The imaging and administration services carry extra costs for hospitals beyond the drug itself. Eisai has told investors that about 100,000 Americans could be diagnosed and eligible to receive Leqembi by 2026. The drug is co-marketed with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen. “We want to ensure that appropriate patients only are the ones that get this product,” said Alexander Scott, a vice president with Eisai. Eisai studied the drug in people with early or mild disease who were evaluated using a scale measuring memory, thinking and other basic skills. After 18 months, those who got Leqembi declined more slowly — a difference of less than half a point on the scale — than participants who received a dummy infusion. Some Alzheimer’s experts say that delay is likely too subtle for patients or their families to notice. But federal health advisers said the difference could still be meaningful and recommended that FDA fully approve the drug at a public meeting in June. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This L.A. pharmacist's debut novel is loaded with sex and drugs. Don't tell her boss

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-07-06/l-a-pharmacists-debut-novel-ruth-madievsky-all-night-pharmacy-sex-drugs

On the Shelf 'All-Night Pharmacy' By Ruth MadievskyCatapult: 304 pages, $27If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. Ruth Madievsky doesn’t seem to have a high tolerance for risk. Sitting at her dining room table in her tidy Santa Monica apartment, the author exudes serenity as she discusses juggling her job as a clinical pharmacist with her writing career while her 3-month-old infant naps in the next room. You’d never guess that the characters in her debut novel, “All-Night Pharmacy,” blaze a trail across L.A.’s bar scene under a haze of benzos, opioids and psychedelics, risking death or degradation at every turn. “Whenever I’m asked if the drug use is fictional,” Madievsky tells me, “I always say, ‘It’s fictional! So fictional!’” Madievsky does draw on her knowledge of pharmaceuticals to paint a realistic portrait of what it’s like to have one’s life go off the rails due to destructive drug use. In her intimate tale of two sisters, the unnamed protagonist is alternately compelled and repulsed by the toxic narcissism of her older sister, Debbie, a wild child who works in a strip club and is “so alive it was scary.” Books David Sanchez lived a lifetime before he went sober at 20. He describes the frantic and healing process of pouring it out into ‘All Day Is a Long Time.’ Jan. 17, 2022 Under Debbie’s influence, the younger sister embarks on an odyssey of questionable decision-making — from shacking up with a guy she meets at a bar to cooking up a scheme to peddle pills scammed from the clinic where she works. The sisters haunt a club called Salvation housed in what used to be a Christian bookstore, where their favorite pastime is roping strangers into playing a game called Wealthy Patron, in which participants confess to how much money they would accept in exchange for engaging in degenerate behavior. As the novel progresses, the deeds get dirtier and the price gets cheaper. Although “Pharmacy” crackles with the energy of Hubert Selby Jr.’s “Requiem for a Dream” or Patrick deWitt’s “Ablutions,” Madievsky’s knowledge of drug lore is strictly professional. She would like you to know she has no experience dealing Class A drugs, and she has a few other misconceptions to clear up about her profession: She does not count pills, nor does she work in a CVS. She works in a clinic with patients she sees on a regular basis. Her specialties are HIV and primary care. “It’s very rewarding,” Madievsky says, “because I’m helping to make people’s lives better and it’s really nice for my writing, too, because if I have a [crap] writing day, at least I know that I did something good in the world.” She does worry colleagues might take her writing the wrong way. (Madievsky has also published a poetry collection called “Emergency Brake.”) Or, more specifically, she worries that regulators at the California State Board of Pharmacy might conflate her characters’ predilections with her own lifestyle choices. In part, that’s due to the fiction’s high level of verisimilitude — from L.A.’s dives and ratty apartments to the predictable patterns of addiction. “I really didn’t want to write about anything that either I hadn’t personally experienced or people that I was in community with hadn’t experienced,” Madievsky says, “because I feel like it’s so easy to do harm if you’re conjecturing about what a [marginalizing] experience is like.” Books In advance of the 2023 L.A. Times Festival of Books, we surveyed 95 writers and culled 110 works into the Ultimate L.A. Bookshelf. Get ready for some surprises April 11, 2023 Yet the novel is more than an L.A. drug story. The relationship between the two sisters is just one of the book’s many threads, which include the narrator’s fraught dealings with her mother, who experiences a series of mental health crises related to the horrors her parents endured in the former Soviet republic of Moldova. The novel also explores the eroticism of the narrator’s first same-sex relationship. And it takes a darker turn when Debbie goes missing. “It’s a detective novel. It’s an immigrant novel. It’s a queer coming-of-age novel. It’s a sisterhood novel. It’s just like when you go to a pharmacy,” Madievsky says. “They have everything.” Hence the title, which was suggested by a friend. Originally it was “Prescriptions,” “which I thought was so clever,” Madievsky says, “because it has a double meaning. It’s both medication and advice, and the narrator is constantly seeking counsel on how to be a person.” Despite the multifariousness, “All-Night Pharmacy” is not a shaggy dog story. It pulses with intensity as its characters struggle to find their way. The taut narrative is driven by Madievsky’s razor-sharp prose, which she attributes to her background as a poet. “I bled over every word, every description,” Madievsky says, “because I feel like when you’re writing poetry, the pursuit of beauty trumps anything else. You can abandon any form, any narrative in pursuit of something that feels true, even if it destroys everything that came before.” There are passages in “Emergency Brake” that anticipate the novel. In the poem “Halloween,” the narrator endures a night out at a bar with her boss while her mind drifts like a clairvoyant Molly Bloom on benzos: “…all my life / I’ve been about as carefree as a soft peach / in a pile of broken glass, my hand / always twitching toward the Ativan bottle.” Books From Boyle Heights to Filipinotown to the Autry Museum, venues are hosting poetry readings again, restoring a vital link between artists and their communities. Sept. 8, 2021 Despite her achievements in poetry and prose, Madievsky has little formal training as a writer. After she received her undergraduate degree, she enrolled in USC’s four-year PharmD program, which was followed by a yearlong residency. “I knew I was going to be a pharmacist — just like my mom — from the time I was 8 or 9,” Madievsky explains. Her parents arrived in L.A. from Moldova as Jewish political refugees when Madievsky was 2 years old. She lived in an apartment near Fairfax and Santa Monica (“in the Russian diaspora district”) with her parents, her grandparents and her great-grandmother, whose husband was murdered by the KGB. Madievsky recalls growing up in a neighborhood where shop signs were in Russian and English and old men played chess in the park. “At some point, I wanted to be a writer more than I wanted to be a pharmacist,” Madievsky confesses, but her parents insisted she get her pharmacy degree in case they had to move again and start over somewhere else. “You have to have a backup!” they told her. In this respect, “All-Night Pharmacy” is somewhat autobiographical. The protagonist, her sister and her mother are all wrestling with the knowledge that their forebears endured unimaginable suffering so that they could prosper in the United States. This incalculable debt starts to feel like a chokehold when the sisters fail to make the most of their opportunities. “I was interested in the ways that historical traumas affect people who are several generations removed,” Madievsky says, “and might not even know that they’re reacting in some way to those traumas.” Books It’s been a broken, chaotic year in life and in fiction. Authors such as Hernan Diaz and Namwali Serpell broke their novels and heroes into pieces. Dec. 20, 2022 Rather than dabble in the self-destructive behavior of her characters, Madievsky has learned to channel her ancestors’ experiences as both a healer and a storyteller. Near the middle of the novel, the protagonist embarks on a journey to Moldova that has echoes of a trip the author took to her homeland. “I have mixed feelings about using them in fiction,” Madievsky says of her family’s stories, “but my prevailing feeling is I want to memorialize them somehow, especially because every time I hear them, the stories are a little different. There’s a lot of ‘Oh, everyone who remembers is dead,’ so there’s no one to ask. I felt this responsibility to keep those stories alive.” Ruland’s most recent novel is “Make It Stop.”

The Democratic Party promised to overhaul its primaries. Doing that has been anything but simple

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-07-03/the-democratic-party-promised-to-overhaul-its-primaries-doing-that-has-been-anything-but-simple

New Hampshire is in open rebellion. Georgia is all but out. South Carolina and Nevada are on board but face stiff Republican pushback. Michigan’s compliance may mean having to cut the state legislative session short, despite Democrats controlling both chambers and the governor’s mansion. Then there’s Iowa, which is looking for ways to still go first without violating party rules. Months after the Democratic Party approved President Biden’s plan to overhaul its primary order to better reflect a deeply diverse voter base, implementing the revamped order has proved anything but simple. Party officials now expect the process to continue through the end of the year — even as the 2024 presidential race heats up all around it. “Despite the fact that it looked like relatively smooth sailing for the president when he proposed it ... the kind of backlash you’re hearing, the reactions, are exactly what we would have expected,” said David Redlawsk, chair of the political science department at the University of Delaware and co-author of the book “Why Iowa? How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process.” The DNC says it prepared for an arduous process, but is not too concerned by the uncertainty, in part because Biden faces only minor primary challengers in self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Biden’s political advisors say the president doesn’t expect to campaign extensively in the Democratic primary and will focus on the general election. But the primary calendar drama might prove a headache for Democrats who want to project unity before 2024 and might spell trouble for 2028 — when the party has promised to revisit its primary calendar anew. Jim Roosevelt, co-chairman of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, said he “was not surprised” at the objections of Iowa and New Hampshire since they are losing their leadoff spots, and that the committee is “definitely able to work around” the protests of Republicans in places adjusting to new rules or new slots on the calendar. “I think having a sitting president is the most likely time to make a fundamental change to make the process more representative,” Roosevelt said. He noted that the party last enforced a reordering of its primary calendar before a competitive presidential primary in 2008. World & Nation President Biden has all but announced he’s running for reelection, but there are some key unanswered questions about the 2024 campaign. April 2, 2023 It will get that chance again, though, since a potential reorder next cycle will come when, no matter what happens in 2024, there won’t be an incumbent Democratic president seeking reelection. Another long, contentious new calendar process then might mean uncertainty with real electoral consequences — perhaps even making it difficult for Democrats running in a competitive presidential primary to know where to campaign, hire staff and advertise. The party can try and mitigate that by starting its 2028 calendar discussions early, potentially even weeks after next year’s election. The prospect of another drawn-out fight won’t deter the party, though: “Definitely we’ll see this again in 2028,” Roosevelt said. In the meantime, the DNC isn’t planning to alter the 2024 plan it approved in February stripping Iowa’s caucus of the leadoff spot it held since 1972, and replacing it with South Carolina, which is set to have its primary Feb. 3. Going second, three days later, were supposed to be New Hampshire and Nevada, which is scrapping its caucus in favor of a primary. The new order had them being followed by Georgia’s primary on Feb. 13 and Michigan’s two weeks after that. Those states would precede most of the rest of the country, which would vote on Super Tuesday in early March — giving them enormous influence on deciding which primary candidates can make it that far. But New Hampshire responded by pointing to its state law mandating that it hold the nation’s first presidential primary — which Iowa only circumvented for five decades because it held a caucus — and threatening to jump ahead. Start your day right Sign up for Essential California for the L.A. Times biggest news, features and recommendations in your inbox six days a week. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Georgia, meanwhile, likely won’t take its place in the new top five because the state’s Republicans rejected calls to move their party’s primary to comply with Democrats’ new date. While South Carolina Democrats are set to go first, the state’s Republicans delayed their party’s primary until three weeks later, on Feb. 24. In Nevada, Republicans have sued to maintain their party-run presidential caucus, even as the state shifts to a primary system. Michigan has also approved its new date, but its Legislature may adjourn early to make that work. And Iowa has proposed holding a caucus before anyone else, yet may not release the results of its presidential contest until later in deference to new party rules. This year’s shakeup followed the 2020 Iowa caucus meltdown. Iowa responded by proposing new rules allowing Democrats to submit their presidential choices by mail, breaking with past caucus rules requiring in-person participation. Scott Brennan, an Iowa attorney and member of the DNC’s rules committee, said his state “knew the deck was stacked against us” from the start of the primary calendar shakeup — but its Democrats have since attempted to avoid open defiance of national party plans. “We’re trying to remain flexible as long as we can,” Brennan said, “to see if there’s a way to fix this.” Republicans are still leading off their 2024 primary with Iowa’s caucus, and the Iowa GOP could set its caucus date next month. That would then allow Iowa Democrats to tell the DNC when it plans to hold its caucus, even if the presidential results aren’t released until later. Iowa Democrats hope their more flexible attitude could see the state let back into the Democratic primary’s top five, if Georgia and New Hampshire vacate their spots. That would mean Iowa filling a potential gap between when Nevada votes on Feb. 6 and Michigan on Feb. 27; however, Roosevelt said such a scenario is unlikely. “I give Iowa a lot of credit for trying to work flexibly,” he said. ”If Iowa were to find a way to fully comply with the new rules, that would be considered. Frankly I think it’s too late for that.” Roosevelt also noted that one of the reasons the largely white state was moved out of the No. 1 spot “was demographics, and that’s not going to change.” Politics A new lineup favoring South Carolina and other states with substantial Black populations could benefit the vice president if Biden chooses not to run again. Dec. 8, 2022 New Hampshire has struck a harsher tone, saying its Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature won’t change state law requiring it to hold the nation’s first primary. “We don’t have a choice to delay the primary. Maybe Iowa’s different,” said New Hampshire Democratic National Committeeman Bill Shaheen. If New Hampshire presses forward with its plan to go first, and Biden opts not to campaign there, one of his challengers could see a bump in support. That would be potentially embarrassing to the president, though Biden supporters have pointed to polling showing the state’s primary remains far from really competitive. “I don’t think the DNC is going to do anything that’s going to change what we’re going to do,” Shaheen said of the national party’s continuing work to overhaul its primary. “We just don’t like getting pushed around much.” Biden’s reelection campaign has refused to discuss his primary challengers or whether they might be buoyed by success in an unsanctioned New Hampshire primary. Iowa Democrats, by contrast, have suggested that they’ll list Biden among the presidential preferences in their caucus whether he campaigns there or not — potentially sparing the president embarrassment there. Redlawsk said the fact that Democrats have made it this far in their calendar shakeup means “the battle will continue, but I think it’s far more likely that change will now happen” and that the impact could be profound. “These early states really do condition the campaign. The early states don’t guarantee a winner, but they tell us who is going to lose, at least in the first rounds,” Redlawsk said. “The winnowing is very likely to be different if the first state is South Carolina, or Nevada, or some combination, than if it were Iowa or New Hampshire.”

Fire risk increases in some parts of Southern California despite continued June gloom

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-18/fire-risk-increases-in-antelope-valley

Gusty winds, combined with a drop in humidity, have increased the risk of fire across inland valleys and desert regions of Southern California until at least Tuesday, according to a fire weather forecast issued Sunday. The Antelope Valley, in particular, is at higher risk for grass fires, officials said. Southwest winds are expected to reach 40 mph in Palmdale and Lancaster, and up to 50 mph along the foothills. The same onshore winds that are putting mountain communities on alert, however, will also lead to cooler temperatures along the coast — as well as a heavier marine layer, better known this time of year as June gloom. Los Angeles and much of Southern California, in fact, will continue to experience damp, drizzly weather this week. “There’s a low-pressure system moving through the whole West Coast, and when we get these upper-level low-pressure systems, that’s what drives a stronger onshore flow from the coast to the desert,” said David Gomberg, a meteorologist and fire weather program manager for the National Weather Service. “That strong onshore flow and that low-pressure system together help deepen the marine layer, and then strengthens the winds out in the desert.” Drier air is forecast to spread over all interior areas by Tuesday, Gomberg said, with humidity levels as low as 8% to 15% in the Antelope Valley and mountain areas. Strong winds are also expected to develop late Sunday across western portions of the Santa Ynez Mountains and southern Santa Barbara, reaching gusts of 35 to 45 mph by late Monday and into Tuesday night. Temperatures in the Palmdale area are expected to reach a high of 79 degrees Monday, and 82 degrees Tuesday. Along the coast, temperatures will remain mild this week, around 75 degrees.

Robert Gottlieb, celebrated literary editor of Toni Morrison and Robert Caro, dies at 92

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-06-14/robert-gottlieb-celebrated-literary-editor-of-toni-morrison-and-robert-caro-dies-at-92

Robert Gottlieb, the inspired and eclectic literary editor whose brilliant career was launched with Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” and continued for decades with such Pulitzer Prize-winning classics as Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker,” has died at age 92. Gottlieb died Wednesday of natural causes at a New York hospital, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group announced. Caro, who had worked for decades with Gottlieb on his Lyndon Johnson biographies and was featured with him last year in the documentary “Turn Every Page,” said in a statement that he had never worked with an editor so attuned to the writing process. “From the day 52 years ago that we first looked at my pages together, Bob understood what I was trying to do and made it possible for me to take the time, and do the work, I needed to do,” Caro said in a statement. “People talk to me about some of the triumphant moments Bob and I shared, but today I remember other moments, tough ones, and I remember how Bob was always, always, for half a century, there for me. He was a great friend, and today I mourn my friend with all my heart.” Tall and assured, with wavy dark hair and dark-rimmed glasses, Gottlieb had one of the greatest runs of any editor after World War II and helped shape the modern publishing canon. His credits included fiction by future Nobel laureates Morrison, Doris Lessing and V.S. Naipaul; spy novels by John le Carré, essays by Nora Ephron, science thrillers by Michael Crichton and Caro’s nonfiction epics. He also edited memoirs by Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, whose “Personal History” won a Pulitzer. Gottlieb so impressed Bill Clinton that the former president signed with Alfred A. Knopf in part for the chance to work with Gottlieb on his memoir “My Life.” Uniquely well-read and unstuffy, he was the rare soul who would claim to have finished “War and Peace” in a single weekend (some reports narrowed it to a single day) and also collected plastic handbags that filled shelves above his bed. Gottlieb was as open to “Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life” as he was to the works of Chaim Potok. On his desk for decades was a bronze paperweight, given to him when he started in publishing, etched with the words “Give the reader a break.” Gottlieb’s reputation was made during his time as editor in chief of Simon & Schuster and later Alfred A. Knopf, where in recent years he worked as an editor at large. But he also edited the New Yorker for five years before departing over “conceptual differences” with publisher S.I. Newhouse and was himself an accomplished prose stylist. He wrote dance criticism for the New York Observer and book reviews for the New York Times. He wrote a short biography of George Balanchine, co-authored “A Certain Style: The Art of the Plastic Handbag, 1949-59,” and edited well-regarded anthologies of jazz criticism and 20th century song lyrics. His memoir, “Avid Reader,” came out in 2016. He was married twice, the second time to actor Maria Tucci, and had three children. He was otherwise so absorbed in work — he was looking over early proofs of a Cynthia Ozick book while counting contractions for his pregnant wife — that the author Thomas Mallon summed up his life as a “busman’s holiday without any brakes.” In “Turn Every Page,” a joint biography of Caro and Gottlieb directed by the editor’s daughter, Lizzie Gottlieb, Robert Gottlieb referred to editing as “a service job.” He would remind himself that the books he pored over were not his own, while also maintaining the ideal editor-writer relationship was “an equivalence of strength,” in which each shared the best of their talents. “I am not egoless,” he acknowledged to his daughter. Caro is still writing his fifth and presumed final volume of the Johnson biographies, a series begun nearly 50 years ago. A Knopf Doubleday spokesperson would not comment on who might serve as its editor. Born and raised in Manhattan, Gottlieb would say he was born with extra drive. He was a lifelong bookworm who recalled taking out up to four novels a day from his local public library. As a teenager, he would visit the library at Columbia University, looking up old copies of Publishers Weekly and studying the bestseller lists. He eventually attended Columbia, from which he graduated in 1952. After studying two years in England, at Cambridge University, and working briefly in theater, Gottlieb joined Simon & Schuster in 1955 as an editorial assistant, an upstart claiming he took the job to support his wife and child but also so confident that — even then — he regarded himself as “a better reader than anybody else,” he recalled in the documentary. In the memoir “Another Life,” fellow Simon & Schuster editor Michael Korda would describe the young Gottlieb as resembling “one of those penniless perpetual students in Russian novels,” his glasses so smeared that Korda was amazed he could see. Through the unwiped lenses, Korda noticed eyes that “were shrewd and intense, but with a certain kindly humorous sparkle.” Within two years, he had taken on a former World War II pilot named Joseph Heller and his partially written novel about the war titled “Catch-18.” As Heller later recalled, he wanted an open mind to handle his shocking satire and had been told by his agent that Gottlieb was known for being “receptive to innovation.” Gottlieb convinced skeptical executives at Simon & Schuster to give the novel a chance. “The funny parts are wildly funny, the serious parts are excellent,” he told the editorial board. Gottlieb paid $1,500 for the novel, $750 upon signing Heller, $750 after publication. He also made some “broad suggestions,” including changing the title to “Catch-22,” to avoid confusion with Leon Uris’ “Mila 18.” Released in 1961 to an initially mild response, the book caught on after another Gottlieb author, humorist S.J. Perelman, recommended it to a New York Herald Tribune critic. “Catch-22” eventually became a blockbuster and counterculture touchstone, and Gottlieb became a literary celebrity “most closely associated” with Heller’s novel “among the kind of people who think about such things,” Gottlieb wrote in his memoir. “But in the years that followed its publication, I more or less put it out of my mind,” he added. “I certainly never re-read it. I was afraid I wouldn’t love it as much as I once had.” Success only accelerated his drive. He signed up such rising authors as Edna O’Brien, Mordecai Richler and Len Deighton and was hip enough to acquire John Lennon’s collection of verse, vignettes and drawings, “In His Own Write.” He later worked with Bob Dylan on a book of his lyrics and was amazed to find that “this genius rebel and superstar was almost childlike — you felt he barely knew how to tie his shoes, let alone write a check.” Gottlieb had some letdowns, rejecting Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove” and struggling with John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces.” Toole submitted the novel in the early 1960s to a positive response from Gottlieb, who also suggested numerous revisions. For two years, Toole kept making changes and Gottlieb kept asking for more, telling the author that “there must be a point to everything in the book, a real point, not just amusingness that’s forced to figure itself out.” Gottlieb finally gave up, and Toole eventually died by suicide , in 1969. A decade later, his mother helped get “Confederacy” published by Louisiana State University to public acclaim, the Pulitzer Prize and lasting affection, the kind of fate Gottlieb’s other authors often enjoyed. Gottlieb’s other successes — he had so many — included Charles Portis’ “True Grit,” Potok’s “The Chosen” and a Pulitzer Prize-winning anthology of John Cheever’s short stories, compiled by Gottlieb over the author’s misgivings. At the New Yorker, which he edited from 1987-92, Gottlieb published short fiction by Denis Johnson that later became the acclaimed “Jesus’ Son.” He was otherwise known for introducing a more informal style to the venerable magazine — including a willingness to let the occasional four-letter word appear in print. An acknowledged workaholic, Gottlieb was also the most personal of editors. When Ephron’s marriage to Carl Bernstein broke up, she and her children stayed for a few months with Gottlieb. He not only called male writers “dear boy,” but eyed every line of such marathons as “The Power Broker,” for which Gottlieb and Caro spent several contentious weeks — side by side — cutting some 300,000 words from a manuscript that originally topped 1 million and still ended up at more than 1,200 pages. They might argue fiercely over the usage of semicolons (Caro favored them; Gottlieb did not) but agreed on Caro’s ambition to write a definitive account of the imperious municipal builder Robert Moses. “You don’t take on books with which you do not have a sympathy,” Gottlieb told the Guardian in 2016. “Only trouble can arise if instead of wanting to make a book that you like even better than it is, you want to change it into something that it isn’t.” Gottlieb was equally exacting after signing up a young medical student named Michael Crichton and his novel, “The Andromeda Strain.” He loved Crichton’s story of a deadly virus, but wanted more plot and factual details and less character development. “He would call me up and say, ‘Dear boy! I have read your manuscript, and here is what you have to do,’” Crichton told the Paris Review in 1994. “And he was not above saying, ‘I don’t know if you can do it this way, I don’t know if you’re up to it, which of course would drive me into a fury of effort.’ It was very effective.”

The 2023 Tony Awards were nearly canceled. Here's how to watch the ceremony

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-06-09/are-the-2023-tony-awards-happening-how-to-watch-the-ceremony

The 2023 Tony Awards will celebrate the 2022-23 Broadway season, the first full season after the COVID-19 pandemic darkened stages for 18 months. For a period of 72 hours last month, there was an industrywide worry that it wouldn’t even happen at all. With great relief to theatermakers and supporters, Broadway’s biggest night will take place as scheduled on Sunday, June 11. It will be broadcast live for the first time from United Palace, a historic venue located in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights. A first round of honors — including the presentation of this year’s Regional Theatre Tony Award to the Pasadena Playhouse — will be awarded during a 90-minute preshow presentation, streaming for free on Pluto TV beginning at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time and hosted by Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin. Entertainment & Arts Pasadena Playhouse wins the Tony Award for regional theater excellence, becoming only the second Los Angeles institution to earn the honor and continuing its triumphant streak after years of turbulence. May 23, 2023 This will be followed by the main ceremony, airing on CBS and Paramount+, starting at 5 p.m. Pacific Led by Ariana DeBose, the three-hour telecast will feature musical performances by this year’s nominated productions — “Camelot,” “Into the Woods,” “& Juliet,” “Kimberly Akimbo,” “New York, New York,” “Parade,” “Shucked,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” — as well as performances by Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango, the casts of “A Beautiful Noise” and “Funny Girl.” There will also be a performance honoring this year’s recipients of the Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre: Joel Grey and John Kander. The 76th Tony Awards is the first major awards show to be affected by Hollywood’s ongoing writers’ strike. The Tony Awards Management Committee and CBS initially canceled the telecast after the Writers Guild of America denied a request for a waiver that would have allowed the show’s producers to stage a live show without striking writers protesting outside the venue. After further negotiations, the WGA agreed to allow an altered version of the event to proceed without the threat of a picket line and air on CBS, which is part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group with which the WGA has been at an impasse since May 2. This year’s Tony nominations are led by the stage adaptation of “Some Like It Hot’’ with 13 nods, followed by the new musicals “& Juliet,” “Shucked” and “New York, New York,” each with nine nominations, and the critically lauded “Kimberly Akimbo” with eight. Additionally, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell made history as the first nonbinary-identifying actors to be nominated for Tonys. Among the Hollywood names who received nominations were Jessica Chastain, Ben Platt, Jodie Comer, Josh Groban, Samuel L. Jackson, Corey Hawkins, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sara Bareilles, Wendell Pierce and Sean Hayes. Television The threat to this year’s Tonys underscored their sway over the industry. Some say making them the ‘be-all, end-all’ of shows’ survival is risky business. May 25, 2023

North Carolina Democrats seek election changes after lawmaker switches to GOP

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-06-06/north-carolina-democrats-seek-election-campaign-changes-after-lawmaker-switches-to-gop

North Carolina state legislators who change party registrations midterm could be subject to an early election in order to keep the seat, according to a bill filed Tuesday by Senate Democrats in response to Rep. Tricia Cotham’s switch to the GOP two months ago. The measure would be prospective and wouldn’t apply to Cotham, whose move gave Republicans a veto-proof majority in both General Assembly chambers. It likely won’t get traction in the GOP-controlled Legislature. Her altered allegiance helped Republicans pass new abortion restrictions when they were able to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto on party-line votes. Her change angered Democrats both in Raleigh, the capital, and in her Mecklenburg County district where she won as a Democrat last fall and won by over 18 percentage points. Critics say those who voted for her are being robbed of representation. Speakers at a Tuesday news conference about the bill included Cotham’s constituents. Under the measure, when an elected or appointed General Assembly member switches party registration with more than six months remaining in their term, the seat will be declared vacant. The special election to complete the two-year term would be held within 90 days. The bill also would force a party switcher to refund recent campaign donations if a donor requests it. World & Nation The state Supreme Court throws out previous rulings against gerrymandered voting maps and upholds a photo voter ID law that had been struck down as racially biased. April 28, 2023 “You can’t completely switch teams, put on the other jersey and start scoring goals for the opposite team and have no recourse whatsoever from voters,” Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and bill co-sponsor, told reporters. “So it’s time we made this change.” As elsewhere, party switches in North Carolina are uncommon. Rep. Bill Brisson of Duplin County switched from the Democrats to the Republicans in 2017. Another bill sponsor, Sen. Michael Garrett of Guilford County, said he didn’t expect the measure to advance anytime soon “because it’s a little too close to the incident in Mecklenburg County.” But he said the proposal is “good government. It is about restoring voters’ confidence.” The bill doesn’t identify Cotham by name, but its preamble referred to specific details about Cotham’s race last November by identifying the exact number of votes cast in her election.

Misconceptions about its sex and gender research cost Kinsey Institute public funds

https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2023-05-22/kinsey-institute-experts-study-sex-gender-as-misconceptions-block-state-dollars

Unfounded claims about Indiana University’s sex research institute, its founder and child sex abuse have been so persistent over the years that when the state legislature prohibited the institute from using state dollars, one lawmaker hailed the move as “long overdue.” The decision, largely symbolic, does not halt the Kinsey Institute’s work, ranging from studies on sexual assault prevention to contraception use among women. But researchers say the Republican-dominated legislature’s February decision is based on an enduring, fundamental misunderstanding of their work — a false narrative that they, despite efforts to correct such misinformation, cannot shake. Funding from the university remains unclear, but Zoe Peterson, senior scientist and director of the Sexual Assault Research Initiative at the Kinsey Institute, will continue her inquiries into consent and those who perpetrate sexual assault. Contrary to what conspiracy theorists claim about the institute, “I’ve devoted my career to reducing sexual violence,” she said. The Kinsey Institute, about 50 miles from Indianapolis on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, is named for Alfred Kinsey, a former professor who established the institute in 1947. He died in 1956. Kinsey’s major works, published in 1948 and 1953, disrupted cultural norms around sex. They achieved commercial success and drew praise, as well as sharp criticism from conservatives who continue to deride the institute. Archives Kinsey Collection still a touchy subject Dec. 30, 2010 In part, critics blame such research for wrongly contributing to a greater acceptance of homosexuality and pornography. But they also say there is evidence of child abuse in Kinsey’s work, specifically a research table that they claim, without foundation, resulted from sexual experiments on children. “We have child rapists in Indiana prisons right now, yet we’re willing to give Indiana University Bloomington campus, over $400 million as they protect the legacy of this sexual predator,” said Republican state Rep. Lorissa Sweet, who proposed the amendment to prohibit the institute from receiving state funding in February. “Who knows what they’re still hiding?” Sweet added. Such accusations have lingered nearly since the Kinsey Institute’s inception 76 years ago, said its director, Justin Garcia. Threats and harassment directed at staff and alumni over the allegations have become frequent, forcing the university to boost security that is already greater than most campus buildings, Garcia said. “We’ve long been called ... perverts and sexual predators,” he said. “It’s just so far from reality, and it’s so far from the research practices then, and it’s wildly far from the research practices today.” The move to block the institute’s state dollars was based on “old, unproven” conspiracies, said Democratic Rep. Matt Pierce of Bloomington. “These are warmed-over internet memes that keep coming back,” he said before the House vote. Opinion It’s gone beyond Pizzagate. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused moderate GOP senators of being ‘pro-pedophile’ for supporting a Supreme Court nominee. April 7, 2022 The institute’s website touts a lengthy frequently asked questions section to tackle misconceptions, including the sex abuse allegations against Kinsey and contentions of hidden materials in the library. After the February vote, a new web page requests support, such as posting on social media or donating and, where necessary, rectifying false information. Carolyn Halpern said she teaches her students about Kinsey in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. When she heard about Indiana curtailing Kinsey Institute funding, she thought, “Here we go again.” “Sexuality research tends to get targeted, often for political reasons,” Halpern said. “It’s another attack on legitimate research.” Senior scientist Cynthia Graham, who studies sexual behavior among older adults as well as contraceptive use in women, returned to the institute this year after departing in 2004. Back then, when her husband John Bancroft was the director, attacks were frequently rooted in the same kind of misinformation about sex and health that the institute’s research has helped dispel, Graham said. “It reinforces, for me, the importance of the research being done here,” she said. Books The pioneering researcher’s sexual revelations enlightened and shocked a nation. His legacy is controversial yet powerful. Nov. 15, 2004 And that research, along with the work of other public colleges and universities, could be at risk as the Legislature uses funding to “dictate” what questions can be asked within a specific program, the institute’s director said. “It’s a chilling precedent,” Garcia said, a sentiment shared by Indiana University President Pamela Whitten. The university is “firmly committed to academic freedom,” Whitten said in an April 28 statement. A “thorough legal review” is underway to determine if the university can comply with the law while ensuring research continues, she said. Garcia said about two-thirds of the institute’s funding comes from grants and donations that are subject to change annually. The university would typically fund the rest. As officials work to understand the law, researchers pursue their projects, gathering in a space where erotic art often adorns the walls of most rooms. The building boasts explicit sketches and sculptures, while vivid photographs of mothers in labor lead into an exhibit featuring a 1984 turquoise poster: “Great Sex! Don’t let AIDS stop it,” it reads. A life-sized likeness of Kinsey himself — clad in bow tie, cuffed pants and suit jacket — reposes in a chair just beyond the institute’s entrance. Frozen in bronze, he gazes at an empty, transparent resin chair across from him, an inquisitive expression on his carved face, an indecipherable research table in his left hand. “There’s a lot of openness and transparency,” Graham said. “But there’s some people that aren’t going to look at that.” Arleigh Rodgers is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

2023 NFL schedule: Chiefs host Lions to kick off season

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-05-11/nfl-season-kicks-off-with-super-bowl-champion-chiefs-hosting-lions-rodgers-on-mnf

Patrick Mahomes and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will kick off the 2023 season against the upstart Detroit Lions in a matchup of high-powered offenses while Aaron Rodgers will make his New York Jets debut on “Monday Night Football” against the Buffalo Bills. Coming off their second championship in four seasons, the Chiefs will host the Lions on Sept. 7 on NBC. The Lions finished 9-8 last season after a 1-6 start and knocked Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers out of the playoffs with a 20-16 victory at Lambeau Field in the final regular-season game. Mahomes, the two-time NFL MVP, led the Chiefs to a 38-35 comeback win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. Fans will get their first look at Rodgers in his new green-and-white No. 8 Jets jersey when New York hosts Josh Allen and the Bills in an AFC East matchup on Sept. 11, according to early details released Thursday on this year’s NFL schedule. The NFL will release the full schedule Thursday night. Rams Even after suffering his first long-term injury, Rams’ star Aaron Donald never considered retirement, saying he could not leave following such a disappointing season. May 10, 2023 Other games revealed Thursday include a rematch of the NFC championship game in Week 13. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will host the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 3. The Eagles knocked quarterback Brock Purdy out of the conference title game on their way to a dominant 31-7 win. Purdy had elbow surgery in the offseason but should be ready by the time the teams meet again. Mahomes and the Chiefs will host AFC West rival Las Vegas in the early game on Christmas Day and the Dallas Cowboys will visit San Francisco on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 5. The New England Patriots also announced seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady will be honored at the team’s home opener. Brady, who led the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles, retired in February after spending the last three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Wednesday, the NFL announced that Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the first NFL team to play two international games in the same season when they spend back-to-back weeks in London. The Jaguars will host the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 1 and visit the Bills at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Oct. 8. The Jaguars were set to play two designated home games in London in 2020 but the pandemic canceled those plans. Chargers Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore used tight ends frequently during his time with the Dallas Cowboys. So why didn’t the Chargers draft one? May 1, 2023 The NFL also announced dates for three other international games. The Tennessee Titans will host the Baltimore Ravens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Oct. 15. The Chiefs will host the Miami Dolphins in Germany at Eintracht Frankfurt Stadium on Nov. 5. The Patriots will host the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 12, also in Frankfurt. The league also revealed Wednesday that the Jets will host the Dolphins in the first Black Friday game on Nov. 24. The Eagles will host the New York Giants on Christmas Day and the Chiefs will host Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of the AFC championship game in Week 17.

$3.4-million fine proposed over Huntington Beach oil leak

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-05-10/3-4m-fine-proposed-over-2021-california-oil-pipeline-leak

An energy company should be fined nearly $3.4 million for safety violations involving a 2021 oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches, a federal regulator said. Amplify Energy Corp. ignored 83 alarms indicating the offshore pipeline had leaked and failed to notify federal authorities or shut down the pipeline to San Pedro Bay until 17 hours after the first alarms, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a letter proposing the fine that was sent April 6 to the company’s president. An email to the Houston-based firm seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday. The pipeline carries oil to shore from platforms in San Pedro Bay, near the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors. California A major oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif., washed up on nearby Orange County beaches, killing fish and birds and threatening local wetlands. Nov. 30, 2021 The October 2021 spill of 25,000 gallons of crude oil created a miles-wide sheen in the ocean and sent blobs of crude ashore, primarily affecting the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. It further shuttered beaches for a week and fisheries for more than a month, oiled birds and threatened area wetlands. Amplify Energy said the spill was linked to damage from two ships it accused of dragging anchors and striking the pipeline during a January 2021 storm. It reached an $85-million settlement with the vessel companies. Southern California fishermen, tourism companies and property owners sued Amplify and the shipping vessels seeking compensation for their losses. Amplify agreed to pay $50 million, and the vessel companies agreed to pay $45 million to settle those lawsuits. Amplify also reached a plea deal with federal authorities for negligently discharging crude. The company announced last month that it received approval from federal regulatory agencies to restart the pipeline.

Texas shooter's 'RWDS' patch linked to far-right extremists

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-05-09/texas-shooters-rwds-patch-linked-to-far-right-extremists

The shooter who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall was wearing a patch that read “RWDS” — short for Right Wing Death Squad — a phrase that has been embraced in recent years by far-right extremists who glorify violence against their political enemies. Authorities have not said what they believe might have motivated 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, who was killed by a police officer who happened to be near the mall Saturday when Garcia opened fire. Posts by Garcia on a Russian social networking site expressed a fascination with white supremacy and mass shootings. Photos he posted showed large Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo of Hitler’s paramilitary forces. Here is a look at the term Right Wing Death Squad and how it became a popular symbol among violent extremists: WHAT’S THE HISTORY OF THE TERM? The RWDS acronym is one of countless shorthand terms used by extremists. Others include “RaHoWa,” short for Racial Holy War, and “ 1488,” an alphanumeric code combining references to a white nationalist slogan and Adolf Hitler. The term Right Wing Death Squad originally emerged in the 1970s and ’80s to describe Central and South American paramilitary groups created to support right-wing governments and dictatorships and oppose perceived enemies on the left, said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. It reemerged in the 2010s among right-wing groups who use it on stickers, patches and in online forums. Other far-right gear and online memes specifically glorify Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the brutal Chilean military dictator whose death squads killed thousands of political opponents. “It essentially became a phrase that was co-opted to demonstrate opposition to the left more broadly by right-wing extremists,” Segal said. World & Nation A Louisiana man is arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and battery after shooting at children playing hide-and-seek outside his home, wounding one. May 9, 2023 Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the Proud Boys, the neo-fascist group of self-described “Western chauvinists,” are largely responsible for injecting RWDS into the far-right vernacular. The group has sold patches and T-shirts adorned with the acronym and celebrating Pinochet’s death squads. Proud Boys have been photographed wearing RWDS caps and patches at rallies and wearing T-shirts that read, “Pinochet did nothing wrong.” Photos shared on social media appeared to show former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and another former Proud Boys leader, Jeremy Bertino, among those who have worn such patches. Tarrio was convicted last week of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol for what prosecutors have described as a violent plot to keep President Trump in power. Bertino, who was vice president of the South Carolina Proud Boys chapter, previously pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 riot. WHICH GROUPS HAVE EMBRACED IT? The Proud Boys aren’t the only far-right extremists to adopt the term. Right Wing Death Squad was the name of the smaller groups that participated in the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The rally turned deadly when a white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman. Facebook banned several hate-filled pages, including one named ‘Right Wing Death Squad, after the bloodshed in Charlottesville, the New York Times reported. “It has really become something over the past couple years that has cut across and far beyond any individual group,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. World & Nation The eight people killed when a gunman opened fire at a mall near Dallas represent a cross-section of the area’s increasingly diverse suburbs. May 9, 2023 “It has kind of become this rallying cry to some extent: This is what we want, to seize the levers of democratic power, just like Pinochet did, and we want to use the power of the state to then engage in violent genocide effectively against whoever is against us,” he said. American University professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the school’s Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab, said extremists who adopt these terms and symbols often don’t fully understand their origins. “Nobody is going to accidentally have a Right Wing Death Squad patch,” she said. “But it’s because of this whole meme culture, and generally the way that iconography is used to signal encoded speech or messages, they don’t always know exactly” what it means. WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUPS HAVE NONWHITE MEMBERS? Far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys often point to their Black and Latino members to rebut claims that they promote racism or white supremacist ideologies. Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, is Cuban American, for example. The Daily Stormer, a leading neo-Nazi website, launched a Spanish-language edition in 2017 tailored for readers in Spain and Latin America. Some Latinos identify as white. But those who don’t “can still be attracted to and support movements that are inherently or explicitly white supremacist,” said Miller-Idriss, author of “Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right.” World & Nation The man who killed eight people at a Texas mall was discharged from the Army because of mental health issues, neighbors and an Army official said. May 8, 2023 “And that is the same way that women can support patriarchal or male supremacist movements,” she added. Tanya Hernández, a law professor at Fordham University and author of “Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias,” said Latinos are often viewed “as an unwanted other” in the U.S. “If you are a Latino who is already affected by being viewed as other and want desperately to be part of the club that is the U.S., what better way to make a claim … than to be part of the enforcement, the policing of whiteness within a white supremacist hate group?” she said. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.

Chinese man who reported on COVID to be released after 3 years

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-30/chinese-who-reported-on-covid-to-be-released-after-3-years

Chinese authorities were preparing Sunday to release a man who disappeared three years ago after publicizing videos of overcrowded hospitals and bodies during the COVID-19 outbreak, a relative and another person familiar with his case said. Fang Bin and other members of the public who were dubbed citizen journalists posted details of the pandemic in early 2020 on the internet and social media, embarrassing Chinese officials who faced criticism for failing to control the outbreak. The last video Fang, a seller of traditional Chinese clothing, posted on Twitter was of a piece of paper reading, “All citizens resist, hand power back to the people.” Fang’s case is part of Beijing’s crackdown on criticism of China’s early handling of the pandemic, as the ruling Communist Party seeks to control the narrative of the country. He was scheduled to be released Sunday, according to two people who did not want to be identified for fear of government retribution. One of them said Fang was sentenced to three years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague charge traditionally used against political dissidents. The Associated Press could not independently confirm his release and could not confirm the details with the authorities. Two offices of Wuhan’s public security bureau did not provide a phone number of their information office or answer any questions. Phone calls to a court that reportedly sentenced Fang rang unanswered Sunday afternoon. A woman from another court that had reportedly handled Fang’s appeal said she was not authorized to answer questions. In early 2020, the initial COVID outbreak devastated the city of Wuhan, home to 11 million residents, in central China’s Hubei province. Under a 76-day lockdown, its streets were deserted for months, apart from ambulances and security personnel. At that time, a small number of citizen journalists tried to tell their stories and those of others with smartphones and social media accounts, defying the Communist Party’s tightly policed monopoly on information. Although their movement was small, the scale was unprecedented in any previous major disease outbreak or disaster in China. But the information they posed soon got them into trouble. Fang and another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, disappeared in February. Chen in September 2021 resurfaced on his friend’s live video feed on YouTube, saying he had suffered from depression. But he did not provide details about his disappearance. Another citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, who also had reported on the early stage of the outbreak, was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of picking fights and provoking trouble in December 2020. About eight months later, her lawyer said she was in ill health after staging a long-running hunger strike. Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

Scientist Rosalind Franklin's often overlooked role in DNA discovery gets a new twist

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-25/rosalind-franklins-role-in-dna-discovery-gets-a-new-twist

The discovery of DNA’s double helix structure 70 years ago opened up a world of new science — and also sparked disputes over who contributed what and who deserves credit. Much of the controversy comes from a central idea: that James Watson and Francis Crick — the first to figure out DNA’s shape — stole data from another scientist named Rosalind Franklin. Now, two historians are suggesting that while parts of that story are accurate — Watson and Crick did rely on research from Franklin and her lab without their permission — Franklin was more a collaborator than just a victim. In an opinion article published Tuesday in the journal Nature, the historians say the two different research teams were working in parallel toward solving the DNA puzzle and knew more about what the other team was doing than is widely believed. “It’s much less dramatic,” said article co-author Matthew Cobb, a zoologist at the University of Manchester who is working on a biography of Crick. “It’s not a heist movie.” The story dates back to the 1950s, when scientists were still working out how DNA’s pieces fit together. Science & Medicine Francis Crick’s newfound letters add to the drama of the DNA story Sept. 30, 2010 Watson and Crick were working on modeling DNA’s shape at Cambridge University. Meanwhile, Franklin — an expert in X-ray imaging — was studying the molecules at King’s College in London, along with a scientist named Maurice Wilkins. It was there that Franklin captured the iconic Photograph 51, an X-ray image showing DNA’s criss-cross shape. Then the story gets tricky. In the version that’s often told, Watson was able to look at Photograph 51 during a visit to Franklin’s lab. According to the story, Franklin hadn’t solved the structure, even months after making the image. But when Watson saw it, “he suddenly, instantly knew that it was a helix,” said co-author Nathaniel Comfort, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University who is writing a biography of Watson. Around the same time, the story goes, Crick also obtained a lab report that included Franklin’s data and used it without her consent. And, according to this story, after these two “eureka moments” — both based on Franklin’s work — Watson and Crick “were able to go and solve the double helix in a few days,” Comfort said. Entertainment & Arts Every once in a while we experience a flare-up of puzzlement about why so few women pursue careers in math and science — even now, despite progress in gender equality. March 15, 2019 This “lore” came in part from Watson himself in his book “The Double Helix,” the historians say. But the historians suggest this was a “literary device” to make the story more exciting and understandable to lay readers. After digging into Franklin’s archives, the historians found new details that they say challenge this simplistic narrative — and suggest that Franklin contributed more than just one photograph along the way. The proof? A draft of a Time magazine story from the time, written “in consultation with Franklin” but never published, described the work on DNA’s structure as a joint effort between the two groups. And a letter from one of Franklin’s colleagues suggested that Franklin knew her research was being shared with Crick, authors said. Taken together, this material suggests the four researchers were equal collaborators in the work, Comfort said. While there may have been some tensions, the scientists were sharing their findings more openly — not snatching them in secret. “She deserves to be remembered not as the victim of the double helix, but as an equal contributor to the solution of the structure,” the authors conclude. Science & Medicine Thursday’s Google Doodle honors Rosalind Franklin, the pioneering scientist famous for taking some of the first and best images of DNA in the early 1950s, and for being screwed over by the sexism of her time. July 25, 2013 Howard Markel, a historian of medicine at the University of Michigan, said he’s not convinced by the updated story. Markel, who wrote a book about the double helix discovery, believes that Franklin got “ripped off” by the others and they cut her out in part because she was a Jewish woman in a male-dominated field. In the end, Franklin left her DNA work behind and went on to make other important discoveries in virus research before dying of cancer at 37. Four years later, Watson, Crick and Wilkins received a Nobel Prize for their work on DNA’s structure. Franklin wasn’t included in that honor. Posthumously-awarded Nobel Prizes have always been extremely rare, and now aren’t allowed. What exactly happened, and in what order, will likely never be known for sure. Crick and Wilkins both died in 2004. Watson, 95, could not be reached and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he served as director, declined to comment on the paper. But researchers agree Franklin’s work was critical for helping unravel DNA’s double helix shape — no matter how the story unfolded. “How should she be remembered? As a great scientist who was an equal contributor to the process,” Markel said. “It should be called the Watson-Crick-Franklin model.”

Moscow might discuss swap for jailed U.S. reporter, Russian diplomat says

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-13/diplomat-russia-might-discuss-swap-for-jailed-us-reporter

Russia might be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap with the U.S. involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after his trial on espionage charges, a top Russian diplomat said Thursday. Gershkovich, 31, his employer and the U.S. government deny that he was involved in spying and have demanded his release. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency Tass that talks about a possible exchange could take place through a dedicated channel that Russian and U.S. security agencies established for such purposes. “We have a working channel that was used in the past to achieve concrete agreements, and these agreements were fulfilled,” Ryabkov said, adding that there was no need for the involvement of a third country. However, he emphasized that Moscow would negotiate a possible prisoner exchange only after a trial. “The issue of exchanging anyone could only be considered after a court delivers its verdict,” he was quoted by Tass as saying. That practice is in keeping with previous cases in which Russian authorities have insisted on completing the judicial process before considering exchanges. It’s not clear how long the investigation could last, but other espionage cases have lasted for a year or more. World & Nation Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been charged with espionage in Russia and has entered his official denial, Russian state news agency Tass says. April 7, 2023 In December, American basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout following her trial and conviction on drug possession charges. She had been sentenced to nine years in prison and ended up spending 10 months behind bars. Another American, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have called baseless. During the Griner case, the Kremlin repeatedly urged the United States to use the “special channel” to discuss it and work on a potential prisoner swap, saying such private communications were the only appropriate means for resolution, rather than public statements and speculation. Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Russian lawyers have said past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he could have little contact with the outside world. A Moscow court has received a defense appeal of his arrest, and it’s scheduled to be considered Tuesday. Speaking at a panel discussion on the case Wednesday at Columbia University in New York, the newspaper’s chief news editor, Elena Cherney, said that the Journal’s lawyers had visited Gershkovich three times, that he appears to be in good spirits and health, and that he had received updates on one of his favorite soccer teams, Arsenal. World & Nation President Biden has spoken to the parents of Evan Gershkovich, the Moscow-based journalist detained in Russia and charged with espionage April 11, 2023 U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, this month to immediately secure the release of both Gershkovich and Whelan. President Biden spoke to Greshkovich’s parents Tuesday and again condemned his detention. “We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening, and we declared it so,” he said. On Monday, the U.S. government declared Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” a designation that means that a particular State Department office takes the lead on seeking his release. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, arrested Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, on March 29. He is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia for alleged spying. The FSB, a successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, accused Gershkovich of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again emphasized Moscow’s claim that Gershkovich was caught red-handed. He denied reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally sanctioned Gershkovich’s arrest. World & Nation Russia’s top security agency says Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been arrested on suspicion of espionage. March 30, 2023 “It’s not the president’s prerogative. It’s up to the special services, who are doing their job,” Peskov said in a call with reporters. The U.S. has pressed Russian authorities to grant U.S. consular access to Gershkovich. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Moscow would provide it “in due time in line with the consular practices and Russian legislation.” Gershkovich is held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which dates from the czarist era and has been a terrifying symbol of repression since Soviet times. Whelan was also held in Lefortovo until he was sent to another prison to serve a 16-year sentence after his conviction in 2020. The Wall Street Journal launched a campaign to support Gershkovich, offering the public a way to submit letters to him via its website. Members of the newsroom posted photos of themselves wearing T-shirts that read #IStandWithEvan. “We need to make sure that Evan and his wrongful detention and the effort to get him back remain in the public consciousness and don’t fade with the news cycle,” Cherney said at Wednesday’s event at Columbia. “What we’re doing is trying to ensure that we do reach Evan with these messages,” she added. “We do what we can to keep his spirits up as well.”

Juul agrees to major settlement with six states; California will get $175.8 million

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-12/juul-labs-agrees-pay-462-million-vaping-settlement-6-states

Beleaguered electronic-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, state attorneys general said Wednesday. The agreement with California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Washington, D.C., marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states. California will receive $175.8 million of the settlement amount, the largest payout agreement any state has reached with Juul, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said. Among the lawsuits resolved by the settlement is one filed by the California Department of Justice, Los Angeles County and its district attorney’s office, which accused Juul of violating state laws and regulations on minors’ privacy rights, unfair competition and false advertising. The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, will pay $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing its products to underage users, the state’s attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago $23.8 million to settle a lawsuit. Minnesota’s case against Juul went to trial last month with the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, asserting that the company “baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation.” Science & Medicine The latest government study on teen vaping suggests there’s been little progress in keeping e-cigarettes out of kids’ hands. Oct. 7, 2022 Like some other settlements reached by Juul, this latest agreement includes restrictions on the marketing, sale and distribution of the Washington, D.C., company’s vaping products. For example, it is barred from any direct or indirect marketing that targets youths, which includes anyone under age 35. Juul is also required to limit the amount of purchases customers can make in retail stores and online. “Juul lit a nationwide public health crisis by putting addictive products in the hands of minors and convincing them that it’s harmless,” New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James said in a statement. “Today they are paying the price for the harm they caused.” James said the $112.7 million due to New York will pay for underage smoking abatement programs across the state. California will use its payout to help fund research, education and enforcement efforts to “abate and prevent the harms of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction,” Bonta said in a statement. “By using advertising and marketing strategies to lure young people to its products, Juul put the health and safety of its vulnerable targets and the California public at risk,” Bonta said. “Today’s settlement holds Juul accountable for its actions and puts a stop to its harmful business practices.” District of Columbia Atty. Gen. Brian Schwalb said in a statement that Juul “knew how addictive and dangerous its products were and actively tried to cover up that medical truth.” A spokesperson for Juul said that with Wednesday’s settlement, “we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future.” California High school students stress one aspect of the “youth mental health crisis” is the pressure they feel to be perfect and successful so they can get into choice colleges. March 7, 2023 The spokesperson added that underage use of Juul products has declined by 95% since 2019, based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though, because surveys were administered online instead of on school campuses during the pandemic, the results cannot be compared with prior years’ findings. In September, Juul agreed to pay nearly $440 million over six to 10 years to settle a two-year investigation by 33 states into the marketing of its high-nicotine vaping products to young people. That settlement amounted to about 25% of Juul’s U.S. sales of $1.9 billion in 2021. Three months later, the company said it had secured an equity investment to settle thousands of lawsuits over its e-cigarettes brought by individuals and families of Juul users, school districts, city governments and Native American tribes. Juul rocketed to the top of the U.S. vaping market about five years ago with the popularity of flavors such as mango, mint and crème brûlée. But the startup’s rise was fueled by use among teenagers, some of whom became hooked on Juul’s high-nicotine pods. Parents, school administrators and politicians have largely blamed the company for a surge in underage vaping.

EPA pollution limits aim to boost U.S. electric vehicle sales

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-12/epa-pollution-limits-aim-to-boost-u-s-electric-vehicle-sales

The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require as many as two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032, a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales. The proposed regulation, announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, would set tailpipe emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years that are the strictest ever imposed — and call for far more new EV sales than the auto industry agreed to less than two years ago. If finalized next year as expected, the plan would represent the strongest push yet toward a once almost unthinkable shift from gasoline-powered cars and trucks to battery-powered vehicles. Here’s a look at what the EPA is proposing, how the plan serves President Biden’s ambitious goal to cut U.S. planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and whether the auto industry can meet the new EV targets. California The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is clearing the way for California rules that will phase out the sale of diesel-powered trucks. March 31, 2023 The proposed tailpipe pollution limits don’t require a specific number of electric vehicles to be sold every year, but instead they mandate limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Depending on how automakers comply, the EPA projects that at least 60% of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. would be electric by 2030 and up to 67% by 2032. For slightly larger, medium-duty trucks, the EPA projects 46% of new vehicle sales will be EVs in 2032. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan called the proposal “the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks,’’ and he said it would reduce dangerous air and climate pollution and lower fuel and maintenance costs for families. The agency will select from a range of options after a public comment period, Regan said. The rule is expected to become final next year. John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing most automakers, called the EPA proposal “aggressive by any measure” and wrote in a statement that it exceeds the Biden administration’s 50% electric vehicle sales target for 2030, announced less than two years ago. Reaching half was always a “stretch goal,” contingent on manufacturing incentives and tax credits to make EVs more affordable, he wrote. It remains to be seen whether those provisions are enough to support electric vehicle sales at the level the EPA has proposed, he wrote. “The question isn’t can this be done, it’s how fast can it be done,” Bozzella wrote. “How fast will depend almost exclusively on having the right policies and market conditions in place.” Business Plenty of challenges lie ahead as California mandates zero-emission cars, including cost and access to charging. Aug. 25, 2022 The proposed standards for light-duty cars and trucks are projected to result in a 56% reduction in projected greenhouse gas emissions compared with existing standards for model year 2026, the EPA said. The proposals would improve air quality for communities across the nation, avoiding nearly 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, more than twice the total U.S. CO2 emissions last year, the EPA said. The plan also would save thousands of dollars over the lives of the vehicles sold and reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports by approximately 20 billion barrels, the agency said. With electric vehicles accounting for just 7.2% of U.S. vehicle sales in the first quarter of this year, the industry has a long way to go to even approach the Biden administration’s targets. However, the percentage of EV sales is growing. Last year it was 5.8% of new vehicle sales. Many auto industry analysts say it will be difficult for automakers to meet the projected sales percentage. The consulting firm LMC Automotive, for instance, said new EV sales could reach 49% in 2032 but are unlikely to go above that, citing high prices for EVs compared with gas-powered cars. A new poll released Tuesday shows that many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. Only 19% of U.S. adults say it’s “very” or “extremely” likely they will purchase an EV the next time they buy a car, while 22% say it’s somewhat likely. About half — 47% — say they are unlikely to go electric, according to the poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. White House climate advisor Ali Zaidi said EV sales have tripled since Biden took office and the number of available EV models has doubled. Analysts have repeatedly revised their forecasts upward since Biden took office, and the industry announced more than $100 billion in EV investments, Zaidi told reporters Tuesday. “The automakers have ... technology and the infrastructure and supply chain to be able to achieve this with the lead time they’ve got,” Zaidi said. Business Buying and installing an electric car home charger isn’t always easy. March 11, 2022 Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S., accounting for about 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, according to the EPA. Electric power generates the second-largest share of greenhouse gas emissions at 25%. Environmental groups say stricter tailpipe pollution standards are needed to clean the air and slow the effects of severe weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. “Done right, these [new rules] will put the U.S. on the path to end pollution from vehicle tailpipes — while also slashing our dependence on oil, creating good domestic jobs and saving consumers money on fuel,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Besides stricter pollution rules, tax credits for EV manufacturing and purchases included in the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act passed last year will help reach the tougher requirements, the White House and its allies said. At present, many new EVs manufactured in North America are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit, while used EVs can get up to $4,000. However, there are price and purchaser income limits that make some vehicles ineligible. And starting April 18, new requirements by the Treasury Department will result in fewer new electric vehicles qualifying for the full $7,500 federal tax credit. A smaller credit may not be enough to attract new buyers for EVs, which now cost an average of $58,600, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Macron appeals to China's Xi to 'bring Russia to its senses' and end war in Ukraine

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-06/france-macron-appeals-china-xi-russia-ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron appealed on Thursday to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who received an effusive welcome from Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month, to “bring Russia to its senses” and help make “lasting peace” in Ukraine. Macron pointed to Chinese support for the United Nations Charter, which calls for respect of a country’s territorial integrity, and for nuclear agreements. He said peace and stability based on those were threatened by the Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Xi’s government declared that it had a “no-limits friendship” with Russia ahead of the February 2022 invasion but has tried to appear neutral in the conflict. Beijing has called for peace talks. “I know I can count on you, under the two principles I just mentioned, to bring Russia to its senses and bring everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi. “We need to find a lasting peace,” Macron said. “I believe that this is also an important issue for China, as much as it is for France and for Europe.” Xi didn’t mention Ukraine or Russia but said he welcomed relations with France. He said Beijing and Paris were “staunch promoters of multi-polarization of the world,” a reference to reducing U.S. dominance in economic and political affairs. World & Nation Vladimir Putin is relishing Xi Jinping’s visit and their shared hostility toward the U.S., but not all of Russia’s and China’s interests align. March 21, 2023 Xi’s government sees Russia as a source of energy and as a partner in opposing what they say is U.S. aggression and unfair criticism of their human rights records. China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas, which helps prop up the Kremlin’s revenue in the face of Western sanctions. That increases Chinese influence, but Xi appears reluctant to jeopardize that partnership by pressuring Putin. “China has always adhered to an objective and fair position on the issue of the Ukraine crisis,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. “We have been an advocate of a political solution to the crisis and a promoter of peace talks.” Earlier, Macron said during a meeting with the ruling Communist Party’s No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, that France wants to “build a common path” in dealing with “all the major conflicts” in addition to Ukraine. World & Nation Secretary of State Antony Blinken says U.S. intelligence suggests China is considering providing arms and ammunition to Russia. Feb. 19, 2023 Li said there was likely to be a “broad consensus” between Macron and Xi but gave no indication whether Beijing might be willing to lobby Moscow to make peace. The meeting will “send positive signals of concerted efforts by China, France and Europe to maintain world peace and stability,” Li said. Macron was accompanied to Beijing by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a show of European unity. Last week, Von der Leyen warned that the European Union must be prepared to develop measures to protect trade and investment that China might exploit for security and military purposes. World & Nation Even in Boston, China might be watching, these protesters fear. They use fake names, masks and encrypted apps, because even a friend may be a spy. April 6, 2023 Meanwhile, NATO’s 31 member countries warned Wednesday of “severe consequences” should China start sending weapons and ammunition to Russia. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said giving lethal aid would be a “historic mistake.” He warned that there would be “severe consequences” but declined to give details. Mao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, rejected NATO criticism. “When it comes to responsibility in Ukraine, I think the United States and military blocs such as NATO should take responsibility,” Mao said. “NATO is in no position to accuse or pressure China.”

The Sports Report: UCLA stumbles in second half and loses to Gonzaga

https://www.latimes.com/sports/newsletter/2023-03-24/ucla-gonzaga-sports-report

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news. Go beyond the scoreboard Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. From Ben Bolch: From on top of the college basketball world to deflated, momentarily back on top only to be heartbroken once more. There couldn’t have been a bigger swing of emotions than UCLA experienced Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena against a most aggravating antagonist. The Bruins lost a 13-point lead to Gonzaga early in the second half of their NCAA tournament West Regional semifinal, falling behind by 10. They stormed all the way back, surging ahead by one point on Amari Bailey’s fearless three-pointer with 12.4 seconds left. Only to be undone by another dagger shot through the heart. Two years after Jalen Suggs, there was Julian Strawther. Trailing his teammates, Strawther took a flip pass from Hunter Salis and buried a 35-footer with six seconds left to lift third-seeded Gonzaga to a breathless 79-76 victory over the second-seeded Bruins. UCLA had two more chances to save its season. It couldn’t convert either. His team down by two points, UCLA’s Tyger Campbell had the ball stripped for a rare turnover and the Bruins fouled Strawther, who missed the first free throw and made the second. The Bruins’ inbounds pass went to big man Kenneth Nwuba at midcourt, where he found Campbell for a three-pointer at the buzzer that was off the side of the rim. For the second time in three years, the Bruins’ season ended in the cruelest fashion. For a breathless moment, it had seemed they might have persevered through it all. Down by 10 points with 2:40 left, UCLA (31-6) ran off a 14-3 run ending in Bailey’s three-pointer. It wasn’t enough. Continue reading here Plaschke: UCLA goes from brilliant to broke as history cruelly repeats itself vs. Gonzaga Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Become a subscriber. Men’s tournament results, scheduleAll times Pacific Sweet 16 Today West Regional No. 3 Gonzaga 79, No. 2 UCLA 76 No. 4 UConn 88, No. 8 Arkansas 65 East Regional No. 3 Kansas State 98, No. 7 Michigan State 93 (OT) No. 9 Florida Atlantic 62, No. 4 Tennessee 55 Today South Regional No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 3:30 p.m., TBS No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 15 Princeton, 6 p.m., TBS Midwest Regional No. 1 Houston vs. No. 5 Miami, 4:15 p.m., CBS No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Xavier, 6:45 p.m., CBS Elite 8Saturday East RegionalNo. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic, 3 p.m., TBS West RegionalNo. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 4 UConn, 5:45 p.m., TBS Women’s tournament All times Pacific Sweet 16 Today Greenville 2 Regional No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 9 Miami, 11:30 a.m., ESPN No. 2 Utah vs. No. 3 LSU, 2 p.m., ESPN Seattle 2 Regional No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 6 Colorado, 4:30 p.m., ESPN No. 5 Louisville vs. No. 8 Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN Saturday Greenville 1 Regional No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, 8:30 a.m., ESPN No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 UCLA, 11 a.m., ESPN Seattle 1 Regional No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 1 p.m., ABC No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 4 Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2 From Andrew Greif: The image that returned Wednesday from the scan of Paul George’s injured right knee provided about as good of news as the Clippers could have hoped: George’s awkward land Tuesday after grabbing a rebound did not damage any ligaments – and the All-Star forward is not expected to need surgery, either. What isn’t any clearer is whether George could be available during the playoffs. With only three games separating fourth through 12th in the Western Conference standings entering Thursday, there is no guarantee whether the Clippers — 127-105 winners over Oklahoma City on Thursday — will advance directly to a seven-game first-round series, or fall back into the play-in tournament. How long the Clippers stay alive matters for any potential return to action. Clippers teammate Terance Mann took the diagnosis as “definitely better than what it could have been” after watching George’s right knee bend backward. “Everybody’s kind of feeling better about it,” Mann said, “and knowing that we could potentially get him back is good.” Continue reading here From Dan Woike: LeBron James’ recovery from a foot injury has continued to progress, the latest update saying he has begun on-court activity. The Lakers’ star and league’s all-time leading scorer hasn’t played since Feb. 26 when he injured his right foot in the second half of the Lakers’ eventual win over Dallas. James hit the floor and said he heard “a pop,” but he was able to finish the game. James spent significant time in a protective boot on the foot before recently shooting on the court for the first time since the injury. The team said Thursday that James had begun “a gradual basketball movement progression” but that there was no timetable for a return. Continue reading here Elliott: D’Angelo Russell brought the energy in win over Suns. But he’s also ‘at peace’ The story behind Anthony Davis’ ‘dominant’ third quarter in Lakers’ win over Suns NBA STANDINGSWestern Conference Top six qualify for the playoffs. Nos. 7-10 qualify for tournament to determine final two playoff teams. 1. y-Denver Nuggets, 49-242. y-Memphis Grizzlies, 45-27, 3.5 GB3. Sacramento Kings, 43-29, 5.5 GB4. Phoenix Suns, 38-34, 10.5 GB5. Clippers, 39-35, 10.5 GB6. Golden State Warriors, 38-36, 11.5 GB7. Minnesota Timberwolves, 37-37, 12.5 GB8. Dallas Mavericks, 36-37, 13 GB9. Lakers, 36-37, 13 GB10. New Orleans Pelicans, 36-37, 13 GB11. Oklahoma City Thunder, 36-37, 13 GB12. Utah Jazz, 35-37, 13.5 GB13. Portland Trail Blazers, 32-40, 16.5 GB14. e-San Antonio Spurs, 19-54, 30 GB15. e-Houston Rockets, 18-55, 31 GB y-clinched division title; e-eliminated from playoff contention. From Jack Harris: James Outman thought he would cry or have some other emotional response to the news he had been hoping to get all spring. But when he was finally told Thursday morning that he had made the Dodgers’ opening day team, filling the club’s last position player roster spot following a standout performance in camp, the rookie outfielder instead sat in manager Dave Roberts’ office almost in a daze. He needed a moment to let the gravity of the accomplishment sink in. “I was kind of just like, ‘Whoa,’ ” Outman said hours later, speaking to reporters shortly after Roberts publicly announced the decision. “It was pretty surreal. Kind of felt like a dream, like, ‘Did that really just happen?’ ” Continue reading here ‘Field like Ozzie. Run Like Rickey:’ Watch MLB ads to promote new rules From Kevin Baxter: Matthew Stafford’s four young daughters have seen their dad win a Super Bowl and set three franchise passing records as quarterback of the Rams. They’ve watched as he and his teammates were cheered and booed, exalted and excoriated. But what they never had seen before last May were women athletes competing the same way in a sold-out stadium. That changed when Stafford and his wife Kelly took their girls to an Angel City game on Mother’s Day. “It was our first experience and we kind of fell in love with it,” Stafford said. So much so that the family just bought part of the team, becoming the latest members of a massive ownership group that includes more than 100 investors, from Alexis Ohanian and America Ferrera to Abby Wambach and Serena Williams. Continue reading here From Jorge Castillo: It was a Tuesday, another sparring day for Seniesa Estrada. Her next fight, a title unification bout, was less than a month away. The lights brightened at 4:29 p.m. The flags for 12 nations hung above. Inspirational quotes were plastered on the walls. A canvas of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston adorned the wall behind the ring. This is Estrada’s sanctuary, a space she has owned for four years, an accomplishment even she didn’t imagine possible. Estrada was a confident girl when she first stepped into a boxing gym at 8 years old, and she maintained that confidence as she entered the spotlight over the next few years. She already kept a list of lofty goals. Fight on television. Sign with the biggest promoter. Become world champion. It did not matter that women’s professional boxing was dormant. It was going to happen. Owning a gym wasn’t on her wish list, but it might best illustrate Estrada’s rise. She was the only girl when she showed up at a gym in East L.A. to box for the first time. She was determined. Everyone else thought she was delusional. “Once I started,” Estrada said, “I was like, ‘I know I’m not crazy. It’s doable.’ ” Continue reading here Adam Lowry scored the tiebreaking goal with 9:13 to play and the Winnipeg Jets made progress in the playoff race with a 3-2 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night. After Frank Vatrano tied it for Anaheim early in the third with a power-play goal, Lowry put the Jets back ahead with a short redirection of a pass from Brenden Dillon for his third goal in four games. Cam Fowler also scored and Lukas Dostal stopped 30 shots for the lottery-bound Ducks, who dropped to 1-4-1 on their eight-game homestand with their third consecutive defeat. 1936 — Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau ends the longest game in NHL history with a goal after 116 minutes and 30 seconds (six overtimes) to edge the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. 1941 — Long Island University wins the NIT championship with a 56-42 victory over Ohio. 1945 — NYU battles back from a ten-point deficit with two minutes to go to send the NCAA Tournament national semifinal game into overtime. NYU wins 70-65. At the time, a team got one free throw when fouled near end of game, but could elect instead to inbound the ball. Ohio State is fouled three times, opts to shoot the foul shot and misses each time. 1956 — San Francisco’s Bill Russell has 26 points and 27 rebounds to lead the Dons to an 83-71 win over Iowa and their second-straight national title and 55th consecutive victory, then an NCAA record. 1962 — Paul Hogue scores 22 points and grabs 19 rebounds and Tom Thacker adds 21 to lead Cincinnati to a 71-59 victory over Ohio State for its second NCAA basketball championship. 1970 — Jerry West of the Lakers wins his only NBA scoring title, accumulating 2,309 points in 74 games for a 31.2 ppg. average. 1973 — Kansas City-Omaha’s Nate “Tiny” Archibald becomes the first player in NBA history to lead the NBA in both scoring (34.0 ppg.) and assists (11.4 apg.) in the same season. 1975 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Cleveland. 1975 — Princeton becomes the first Ivy League school to win the NIT title with an 80-69 win over Providence. 1979 — Indiana State, led by Larry Bird, advances to the NCAA Championship game by squeezing past DePaul 76-74. Bird has 35 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. 1980 — Louisville beats UCLA 59-54 to win the NCAA basketball title. 1992 — Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux becomes the 36th player in NHL history with 1,000 points, getting an assist in the second period of the Penguins’ 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. 1994 — Kansas State’s Askia Jones scores 62 points in 28 minutes in a 115-77 victory over Fresno State in the NIT quarterfinals. Jones shoots 18-for-25 from the floor, including 14-of-18 on three-pointers, and 12-for-16 from the line. 2013 — Florida Gulf Coast goes from shocking the men’s college basketball world to downright impressing it. The Eagles beat San Diego State 81-71 to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. 2017 — Devin Booker scores 70 points, becoming the sixth different player in NBA history to reach that total, but the Boston Celtics get 34 points from Isaiah Thomas and outlast the Phoenix Suns 130-120. 2018 — Nathan Chen completes six quadruple jumps in the free program to become the first U.S. winner of the men’s world figure skating title since 2009. 2018 — Loyola Chicago romps to a 78-62 victory over Kansas State to cap off a stunning run through the bracket-busting South Regional. The Ramblers (32-5) match the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Final Four, joining LSU (1986), George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011). The South is the first regional in tournament history to have the top four seeds — including overall No. 1 Virginia — knocked out on the opening weekend. 2019 — 2-time AL MVP Mike Trout signs the biggest contract in North American sports history with the Angels. 2020 — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announces postponement of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games because of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. —Compiled by the Associated Press Loyola of Chicago advances to the Final Four in 2018. Watch and listen here. Until next time... That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-03-17/california-will-remake-san-quentin-prison-emphasizing-rehab

Visiting San Quentin, California’s oldest prison once home to a gas chamber used to execute inmates on the nation’s largest death row, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday touted a plan to overhaul the facility in favor of a rehabilitation-centered approach that could become a model for the world. The facility will be renamed the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and the more than 500 inmates serving death sentences there will be moved elsewhere in the California penitentiary system. The prison houses more than 2,000 other inmates on lesser sentences. “We want to be the preeminent restorative justice facility in the world — that’s the goal,” Newsom said from an on-site warehouse that will house his envisioned programs. “San Quentin is iconic, San Quentin is known worldwide. If San Quentin can do it, it can be done anywhere else.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week will announce plans to remake San Quentin, one of the state’s most storied prisons, using a Scandinavian prison model that emphasizes rehabilitation. March 16, 2023 Despite Newsom’s ambitious tone, he offered few concrete details on what the new system would look like and who it would serve. It remained unclear how far the plan would go to reimagine a prison once home to California’s most notorious criminals, like Charles Manson, and the site of violent uprisings in the 1960s and 1970s. But it has also become known for innovative programs where inmates can get a degree, write for an award-winning newspaper, study the arts and get job training in preparation for reentering society. A group made up of public safety experts, crime victims and formerly incarcerated people will advise the state on the transformation, which Newsom hopes to complete by 2025. He is allocating $20 million to launch the plan. Entertainment & Arts The Actors’ Gang Prison Project is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its first-ever production, ‘Ubu the King,’ with a revival directed by Tim Robbins in repertory with new play ‘(Im)migrants of the State.’ March 17, 2023 The move by Newsom, who recently began his second term, follows his 2019 moratorium on executions, which drew criticism from some who argued he was neglecting the will of voters who in 2016 upheld the death penalty at the ballot box. From 2020 to 2022, more than 100 inmates with death sentences were transferred from San Quentin to other prisons under a pilot program run by the state. The state spends about $326 million operating San Quentin annually, and Newsom’s administration didn’t say if the new approach would save money. The latest plan is part of a decades-long transformation of the state’s sprawling prison system, which went under federal receivership in 2005 after a court determined prison medical care was so lacking it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. A panel of judges later ordered the state to dramatically reduce the prison population because of overcrowding. About 800 people are released from San Quentin every year, and the goal is to keep them from committing another crime and ending up back in the system, Newsom said. San Quentin inmate Juan Moreno Haines said the plan will help ensure taxpayer money is being spent to end the ongoing cycle of repeat offenses. “I’ll ask Californians: What do you want?” he said. “Do you want them to come out of prison better rehabilitated with skills, or do you want them to come out worse than what they were to continually feed this model of criminality?” Newsom’s office cited as a model Norway’s approach to incarceration, which focuses on preparing people to return to society. Officials from the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation toured Norwegian prisons in 2019, where they took note of the positive interactions between inmates and staff. Oregon and North Dakota have also taken inspiration from the Scandinavian country’s policies. In maximum-security Norwegian prisons, cells often look more like dorm rooms with additional furniture such as chairs, desks, even TVs, and prisoners have kitchen access. Norway has a low rate of people who reoffend after leaving prison. As of 2015, two-thirds of people convicted of felonies in California were rearrested within two years of release, according to a study by the Public Policy Institute of California. Newsom said efforts to reduce that rate will boost public safety. Success will be determined “on the basis of people’s willingness and commitment to change themselves, to change their attitudes, and become positive contributory citizens when they’re back in community. We need to help support people along that path,” he said. The Prison Law Office, a public interest law firm that filed the 2001 lawsuit over California’s prison medical care, has advocated for such an approach to prisons and led tours of European correctional facilities for U.S. lawmakers. On a 2011 trip to prisons in Germany and the Netherlands, Donald Specter, executive director of the law office, said he was shocked to see that they were “so much more humane” than prisons back home. “While I was there, I thought, ‘Oh my God, we should try to import this philosophy into the United States,’” he said. Critics of Newsom’s announcement said it follows continued prioritization of people who have committed crimes over victims. “We’re in a climate where it’s all about the offenders and the criminals and not about the innocent victims that have been victimized, traumatized, harmed — family members that are devastated living without their loved ones because they were murdered and taken away too early,” said Patricia Wenskunas, chief executive officer of the Crime Survivors Resource Center. Amber-Rose Howard, executive director of Californians United for a Responsible Budget, a group focused on reducing the prison population, isn’t convinced a “Norway model” would work in the United States since the two countries have vastly different histories. “Newsom should stay on track with closing more prisons, with implementing policies that have been passed that would reduce incarceration and that would get people home,” she said. Speakers who joined Newsom said they hoped to build on a slew of already successful programs in place at San Quentin. The prison houses the first accredited junior college in the country based entirely behind bars, offering classes in literature, astronomy and U.S. government. Prisoners recorded and produced the hugely popular podcast “ Ear Hustle ” while serving time. Phil Melendez, a former inmate at San Quentin who now works at the advocacy group Smart Justice California, said the rehabilitation programs the state hopes to expand will set formerly incarcerated people up for success when they reenter society. “Over the course of [my] time here, I found a new sense of hope,” Melendez said at the prison. “I found healing.”

'Scream VI' tops box office with franchise-best $44.5 million

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-03-12/scream-vi-tops-box-office-with-franchise-best-44-5-million

Oscar weekend belonged to “Scream VI” in theaters, as the horror sequel notched a franchise-best $44.5 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group co-production sailed past expectations, easily surpassing the previous series high of $32 million that “Scream 2” opened with in 1997. The film’s robust debut, coming as Hollywood prepared to gather for the 95th Academy Awards, was yet another reminder of how horror has come to be one of the industry’s few sure things at the box office. After lying dormant for more than a decade, the “Scream” franchise, previously directed by Wes Craven and released by Dimension Films, has found a ripe revival with a young cast led by “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have brought back the 27-year-old series’ meta slasher storylines and serial killer Ghostface, and it’s paying off. Last year’s “Scream V” grossed $137 million worldwide on a production budget of $24 million. In the latest chapter, Courtney Cox returns as reporter Gale Weathers, as does Hayden Panettiere, a veteran of “Scream IV.” But it’s the first “Scream” movie without Neve Campbell. “Scream VI,” quickly greenlit after the success of “V,” has also fared fairly well with both critics and audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 75% fresh rating. Moviegoers gave it a “B+” CinemaScore, a decent grade for a horror film. The sixth “Scream,” which cost $33 million to make, added $22.6 million overseas. Last week’s top film, “Creed III,” slid to second after its above-expectations launch. Michael B. Jordan’s MGM “Rocky” spinoff, starring him and Jonathan Majors, earned $27.1 million in its second weekend. It has rapidly passed $100 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Columbia Pictures’ “65,” a science-fiction thriller starring Adam Driver as a space explorer stranded on prehistoric Earth, opened in third place with an estimated $12.3 million from 3,405 locations, and an additional $7.2 million internationally. That might be better than expected, too, for a film that got terrible reviews from critics. (It scored just 35% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.) But “65” reportedly carried a hefty production budget of about $90 million, though tax rebates roughly halved that cost to financiers including Sony, Bron Studios and TSG. Bobby Farrelly’s “Champions,” starring Woody Harrelson as a disgraced coach trying to lead a basketball team to the Special Olympics, opened with $5.2 million in 3,030 locations. Audiences (an “A” CinemaScore) have liked it more than reviewers (53% on Rotten Tomatoes). Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. “Scream VI,” $44.5 million. 2. “Creed III,” $27.1 million. 3. “65,” $12.3 million. 4. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” $7 million. 5. “Cocaine Bear,” $6.2 million. 6. “Jesus Revolution,” $5.2 million. 7. “Champions,” $5.2 million. 8. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” $2.7 million. 9. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: To the Swords,” $1.9 million. 10. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” $1.7 million.

Republicans block meningitis, chickenpox vaccine mandates in Wisconsin

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-03-09/republicans-block-meningitis-chickenpox-vaccine-mandates-in-wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans blocked Gov. Tony Evers’ plan Thursday to require student vaccinations against meningitis and tighten student chickenpox vaccination requirements. The Legislature’s GOP-controlled rules committee voted 6-4 to block the proposal. All six of the panel’s Republican members voted to stop the policy. The vote comes two days after a lengthy public hearing on the policy changes that saw parents complain that the new requirements trample their liberties. The committee blocked the proposal during the last legislative session as well. “[The rules committee], once again, met its oversight duty relating to the improper actions taken by [the Department of Health Services] to enact binding administrative code provisions that were arbitrary and capricious, as well as, placing undue hardships on the families of this state,” Sen. Steve Nass, a committee co-chair, said in a statement. He said the committee’s action “restores the reasonable right of parents to make immunization decisions for their children.” Officials with the health department announced in February that beginning this fall students entering seventh grade must be vaccinated against meningitis and high school seniors must get a booster shot. Students currently don’t have to get vaccinated against meningitis. The department also announced that beginning this fall parents must provide schools with evidence from a healthcare provider that their child had had chickenpox to avoid a chickenpox vaccination requirement. The department currently requires students to get vaccinated against chickenpox to enter every grade from kindergarten through sixth grade. Parents can receive an exemption from the requirement if they tell the school that their child had been infected with the illness and therefore had natural immunity. World & Nation Abortion pills: A Trump-appointed conservative judge’s upcoming ruling could have the biggest effect in blue states like California. What to know. March 7, 2023 The department also updated its definition of an outbreak to include at least five cases of chickenpox and at least three cases of meningitis. Under current regulations if an outbreak occurs in a school or child care center, students can be prohibited from entering the building until they’re immunized. The changes sent Republicans, still stinging from COVID-19 mandates and shutdowns, into an outrage. Nass began the public hearing Tuesday by referring to state epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Westergaard as “Wisconsin’s Dr. Fauci” and accusing the health department of assuming that parents lie about their children’s chickenpox infections so they can go to school without being vaccinated. Parents lined up at the hearing to complain about the policy revisions. They argued that the health department was overreaching and they know how to best take care of their children. Westergaard and Dr. Stephanie Schauer, the state immunization program manager, told the committee that meningitis is a potentially lethal disease and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended students get vaccinated against it since 2005. Westergaard added that chickenpox has become so rare that parents may not recognize the disease and unknowingly send their infected children to school. Republicans would have none of it. Nass said he doesn’t trust anything Westergaard says after he recommended the state shutdown during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opinion: Another toxic train derailment will happen if we don't rein in plastics

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-07/train-derailment-ohio-east-palestine-plastics

Images of dead fish floating in murky water and menacing plumes of gray smoke are haunting the nation’s front pages. Interviews with distressed residents are interspersed with exasperated talking heads on our television screens. A month after the train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, America continues to bear witness to the community’s suffering. Though any fiery train wreck is hazardous, this one was particularly catastrophic given the chemicals onboard. Chief among them was cancer-causing vinyl chloride gas, which officials intentionally released into the surrounding air to avoid an explosion. Residents were evacuated during this operation, but long-term pollution and exposure concerns remain. Just last week the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the railway to test the air for dioxins, which can also cause cancer and linger in the environment long after vinyl chloride and other plastic chemicals are burned. Soon the camera crews will pack up and public attention will shift to the next big story. But for East Palestine, the story is just beginning, and the following chapters are likely to be grim. We know because the same chemical contaminated — and eventually destroyed — several towns in Louisiana decades ago. Opinion Neglecting infrastructure that makes U.S. society function — like public transportation — endangers our ability to respond in the case of a disaster or attack. Feb. 19, 2023 Morrisonville, La., was founded after the Civil War by freedmen and blossomed into a vibrant, predominantly African American community. But in 1958, chemical giant Dow built a vinyl chloride plant near the river, displacing the town’s sugar and cotton plantations. Demand for PVC plastic — the main product manufactured with vinyl chloride — grew, and the plant further encroached on the community. As one resident put it to the Times-Picayune at the time, the plant was right “on top of us.” Blaring sirens warning of toxic releases soon became a part of daily life. During these events, residents were told to close windows and doors and huddle inside to avoid breathing in too much of the toxic fumes. When environmental groups and the EPA started noticing increased diseases and dying fish in the 1980s, Dow made modest offers to buy residents out of their homes, often barely enough to buy or rent a new home. When residents refused, they faced pressure. If they didn’t take the offer, the company suggested, their property would soon become worthless because of the pollution. By the early 1990s, the town was entirely abandoned, save for a graveyard. Reveilletown, La., was another bustling community built by formerly enslaved people and destroyed by the PVC plastics industry. A major manufacturer, Georgia Gulf, eventually overtook the town, spewing vinyl chloride and its byproducts into the air and water. The company razed the community, dispersing the residents far from one another — severing their common bonds, church memberships and any political cohesion they might otherwise have had. The residents of the town organized a candlelight vigil in 1989 in which “Black and white environmentalists mourned the death” of the community, according to former resident Janice Dickerson. A similar fate befell Mossville, La. Vinyl chloride producers polluted the town and a decade ago began buying out residents when the toxic consequences were borne out. Vinyl chloride production not only laid waste to these towns, but it also contributed to the surrounding region becoming known as “Cancer Alley.” The water, air and land in this area have become the sewers of America’s plastic and chemical industries. Seven of the 10 U.S. census tracts with the highest cancer risks from air toxics are in this area, according to a 2014 EPA analysis. The same analysis found that residents of one town are 50 times more likely than the average American to develop cancer from air pollution. Climate & Environment The legislation heads off what would be a costly and contentious ballot measure and pushes California ahead of the world in the fight against plastic waste. June 30, 2022 The vinyl chloride emissions in East Palestine originated from a train carrying the chemical, rather than a plant’s smokestacks. As a result, most public scrutiny has focused on the Norfolk Southern Railway corporation and transportation agencies instead of the chemical industry. (A second Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio on Saturday, though officials say this crash involved no hazardous materials.) Improved railroad and chemical transport safety is undeniably crucial for preventing this type of disaster in the future. However, it’s also important to look at the bigger picture. The East Palestine train was carrying this dangerous chemical in the first place because of a booming plastics industry that’s expanding to Ohio and other parts of Appalachia. What happened in Louisiana will happen elsewheretoo unless swift action is taken. PVC is ubiquitous, used in products as wide-ranging as toys and pipes. But it’s also very replaceable. Materials experts say that alternatives including glass, ceramics, linoleum and polyesters are feasible substitutes in most cases. That’s why it would be a common-sense move for the government to restrict all nonessential uses of PVC, giving way to a phaseout of vinyl chloride production. PVC has already been banned in most food packaging in Canada and South Korea, and legislation to ban it has been floated in California. However, more comprehensive action is needed on PVC — and on the larger plastics crisis. Two months before the derailment, the United Nations kicked off negotiations for a global treaty to limit the production and use of plastic. The Ohio disaster is a stark reminder of plastic’s human costs and should energize calls to make this treaty as strong as possible. Until then, vinyl chloride and plastics plants will continue to poison air and send toxic trains barreling across America’s railways. What’s at stake is the health of nearby residents, their communities and the environment. History has shown that this dirty industry risks turning even the liveliest small communities into ghost towns. Rebecca Fuoco is the director of science communications at the Green Science Policy Institute. David Rosner, a professor of sociomedical sciences and history at Columbia, and Gerald Markowitz, a history professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, are the authors of “Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution.”

Letters to the Editor: Antigovernment ideology isn't working for snowed-in mountain towns

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2023-03-04/antigovernment-ideology-lake-arrowhead-snow

To the editor: I moved from Los Angeles to Lake Arrowhead 10 years ago, planning to stay for five or six years at the most. Like many city dwellers, I thought living in a small town in the mountains would be charming. Three years ago, the pandemic upended my plans to leave. (“L.A.’s snowy mountains are a glorious, fleeting thing to behold,” Opinion, Feb. 28) Ten years now feel like 100. The storms that have devastated this community have revealed the dangers of having no proper infrastructure or resources to handle an emergency like this. Our pathetic Caltrans snow plow equipment is overwhelmed. The residents in this community don’t like “government interference.” This is a Trump stronghold. Need I say more? Overt racism is rampant in these mountain communities; kids at the local high school fly confederate flags. Now, these same antigovernment types are desperate for county and state services after this monster storm. They hate “big government” until they need help. We will be slapping a “for sale” sign on our house as soon as the snow is gone. Michele Greene, Lake Arrowhead, Calif. .. To the editor: Yes, the view from Los Angeles of snow-covered mountains is beautiful, as Tony Barboza writes. But for us who live here and have been trapped in our homes, it is a frightening emergency. The snow has covered all light from my windows. I am 71 and healthy, but people are going to die up here. Chris Van Patten-Bench, Twin Peaks, Calif. .. To the editor: I grew up in Pasadena. Our stunning mountains to the north have never been “dull,” as Barboza says they appear for much of the year. In fact, their rich history includes the Mount Lowe Railway, the Mount Wilson Observatory and the cabins in Santa Anita Canyon. Additionally, countless waterfalls, amazing trails and stunning vistas are at every turn. I suggest that if writers at The Times think our mountains are dull, they get out from behind their desks and experience the magnificence in person. Todd Hays, Pasadena

Angela Bassett, 'Wakanda Forever,' 'Abbott Elementary' top NAACP Image Awards

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-02-26/angela-bassett-wakanda-forever-top-naacp-image-awards

Angela Bassett won entertainer of the year at Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards on a night that also saw her take home an acting trophy for the television series “9-1-1.” The Bassett-led Marvel superhero sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” won best motion picture at the ceremony, which was broadcast live on BET from Pasadena. Viola Davis won outstanding actress for the action epic “The Woman King,” a project she championed and starred in. Will Smith won for the slavery drama “Emancipation,” his first release since last year’s Academy Awards, where he slapped comedian Chris Rock onstage before winning his first best actor trophy. “I never want to not be brave enough as a woman, as a Black woman, as an artist,” Davis said, referencing a quote from her character in the film, which she called her magnum opus. “I thank everyone who was involved with ‘The Woman King’ because that was just nothing but high-octane bravery.” “Abbott Elementary” won for outstanding comedy series. Creator and series star Quinta Brunson invited her co-stars onstage and praised shows like “black-ish” for paving the way for her series. The 54 NAACP Image Awards were presented Saturday in Pasadena with Queen Latifah hosting. Serena Williams received the Jackie Robinson Sports award, which recognizes individuals in sports for high achievement in athletics along with their pursuit of social justice, civil rights and community involvement. The ceremony, which honors entertainers, athletes and writers of color, included special honorees Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union and civil rights attorney Ben Crump. Here is the complete list of winners: ENTERTAINER OF THE YEARAngela Bassett SOCIAL MEDIA PERSONALITY@KevOnStage - Kevin Fredericks Motion picture“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Actor in a motion pictureWill Smith – “Emancipation” (Apple) Actress in a motion pictureViola Davis – “The Woman King” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Supporting actor in a motion pictureTenoch Huerta – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Supporting actress in a motion pictureAngela Bassett – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Independent motion picture“The Inspection” (A24) International motion picture“Bantú Mama” (ARRAY) Breakthrough performance in a motion pictureJalyn Hall – “Till” (United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures) Ensemble cast in a motion picture“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Animated motion picture“Wendell & Wild” (Netflix) Character voice-over performance - motion pictureKeke Palmer – “Lightyear” (Walt Disney Studios) Short form (live action)“Dear Mama…” (Film Independent) Short form (animated)“More Than I Want to Remember” (MTV Entertainment Studios) Breakthrough creative (motion picture)Ericka Nicole Malone – “Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story” (Hulu) Documentary (Film)“Civil” (Netflix) Documentary (Television)“Everything’s Gonna be All White” (Showtime) Comedy series“Abbott Elementary” (ABC) Actor in a comedy seriesCedric the Entertainer – “The Neighborhood” (CBS) Actress in a comedy seriesQuinta Brunson – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) Supporting actor in a comedy seriesTyler James Williams – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) Supporting actress in a comedy seriesJanelle James – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) Drama series“P-Valley” (Starz) Actor in a drama seriesNicco Annan – “P-Valley” (Starz) Actress in a drama seriesAngela Bassett – “9-1-1” (FOX) Supporting actor in a drama seriesCliff “Method Man” Smith – “Power Book II: Ghost” (Starz) Supporting actress in a drama seriesLoretta Devine – “P-Valley” (Starz) Television movie, limited–series or dramatic special“The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock) Actor in a television movie, limited–series or dramatic specialMorris Chestnut – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock) Actress in a television movie, limited–series or dramatic specialNiecy Nash-Betts – “Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix) News/Information (series or special)ABC News 20/20 Michelle Obama: The Light We Carry, a Conversation With Robin Roberts (ABC) Talk seriesSherri (Syndicated) Reality program, reality competition or game show (series)Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Amazon Studios) Variety show (series or special)“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central) Children’s program“Tab Time” (YouTube Originals) Performance by a youth (series, special, television movie or limited–series)Ja’Siah Young – “Raising Dion” (Netflix) Host in a talk or news/information (series or special) – Individual or EnsembleJennifer Hudson – “The Jennifer Hudson Show” (Syndicated) Host in a reality/reality competition, game show or variety (series or special) – Individual or EnsembleTabitha Brown – “Tab Time” (YouTube Originals) Guest performanceGlynn Turman – “Queen Sugar” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network) Animated series“The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” (Disney+) Character voice-over performance (Television)Kyla Pratt – “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” (Disney+) Short form series - Comedy or Drama“Between the Scenes - The Daily Show” (Comedy Central) Short form series - Reality/Nonfiction“Daring Simone Biles” (Snap) Breakthrough creative (Television)Quinta Brunson – “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) Supporting actor in a television movie, limited–series or dramatic specialKeith David – “From Scratch” (Netflix) Supporting actress in a television movie, limited–series or dramatic specialNia Long – “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” (Peacock) New artistCoco Jones – “ICU” (Def Jam Recordings) Male artistChris Brown – “Breezy” (Deluxe) (RCA Records/Chris Brown Entertainment) Female artistBeyoncé – “Renaissance” (Columbia Records/ Parkwood Entertainment) Gospel/Christian album“Kingdom Book One” – Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin (Tribl Records, Fo Yo Soul Recordings and RCA Inspiration) International song“No Woman No Cry” – Tems (Def Jam Recordings) Music Video/Visual album“Lift Me Up” – Rihanna (Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings) Album“Renaissance” – Beyoncé (Parkwood/Columbia Records) Soundtrack/Compilation album“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Music From and Inspired By” – Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis and Dave Jordan (Def Jam Recordings/Hollywood Records) Gospel/Christian song“Positive” – Erica Campbell (My Block Inc.) Jazz album - Instrumental“JID014 (Jazz is Dead)” – Henry Franklin, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge Jazz album - Vocal“The Evening: Live at Apparatus” – The Baylor Project (Be a Light) Soul/R&B song“Cuff It” – Beyoncé (Columbia Record/ Parkwood Entertainment) Hip Hop/Rap song“Hotel Lobby” – Quavo, Takeoff (Motown Records/Quality Control Music) Duo, Group or Collaboration (Traditional)Silk Sonic – “Love’s Train” (Atlantic Records) Duo, Group or Collaboration (Contemporary)Chris Brown feat. Wizkid – “Call Me Every Day” (RCA Records/Chris Brown Entertainment) Literary work – Fiction“Take My Hand” – Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Penguin Random House) Literary work – Non-Fiction“Finding Me” – Viola Davis (HarperCollins Publishers) Literary work – Debut author“Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen” – George McCalman (HarperCollins Publishers) Literary work – Biography/Autobiography“Scenes from My Life” – Michael K. Williams, Jon Sternfeld (Penguin Random House) Literary work – Instructional“Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration” – Tracey Lewis-Giggetts (Gallery/Simon and Schuster) Literary work – Poetry“To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness” – Robin Coste Lewis (Alfred A. Knopf) Literary work – Children“Stacey’s Remarkable Books” – Stacey Abrams, Kitt Thomas (HarperCollins - Balzer + Bray) Literary work – Youth/Teens“Cookies & Milk” – Shawn Amos (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Writing in a comedy seriesBrittani Nichols – “Abbott Elementary” – “Student Transfer” (ABC) Writing in a drama seriesMarissa Jo Cerar – “Women of the Movement” – “Episode 101” (ABC) Writing in a television movie or specialScott Mescudi (Story by), Ian Edelman, Maurice Williams – “Entergalactic” (Netflix) Writing in a motion pictureRyan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Directing in a comedy seriesAngela Barnes – “Atlanta” – “The Homeliest Little Horse” (FX) Directing in a drama seriesGiancarlo Esposito – “Better Call Saul” – “Axe and Grind” (AMC) Directing in a television movie or specialAnton Cropper – “Fantasy Footbal”l (Paramount+) Directing in a motion pictureGina Prince-Bythewood – “The Woman King” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Directing in a documentary (television or motion picture)Reginald Hudlin – “Sidney” (Apple TV+) News and Information“Beyond the Scenes - The Daily Show” (Central Productions, LLC) Lifestyle / Self-Help“Therapy for Black Girls” (Therapy for Black Girls) Society and Culture“LeVar Burton Reads” (SiriusXM’s Stitcher Studios) Arts and Entertainment“Two Funny Mamas” (Mocha Podcasts Network) Costume Design (Television or Film)Ruth Carter – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) Make-up (Television or Film)Debi Young, Sandra Linn, Ngozi Olandu Young, Gina Bateman – “We Own This City” (HBO Max) Hairstyling (Television or Film)Camille Friend – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios)

'Snowfall' star Damson Idris predicts tempest of a final season that could rival 'The Wire'

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-02-22/snowfall-damson-idris-final-season-6

On a chilly night near downtown Los Angeles, a car maneuvers down a dark dead-end street. When it stops, the driver opens the trunk, revealing a terrified man in handcuffs and shackles. “No, Franklin, please don’t do this,” the captive pleads as Franklin Saint jerks him out of the trunk and throws him to the pavement roughly. It’s just another day in the life of Saint, the ruthless drug kingpin at the center of FX’s mayhem-packed “Snowfall,” about the rise of crack cocaine in South-Central during the 1980s. But it was not just another night for Damson Idris, who plays Saint. The encounter marked his final scene for “Snowfall,” which will launch its sixth and climactic season Feb. 22. A few minutes later, he was surrounded by a cheering throng of fellow cast members and crew. Fighting back tears, Idris smiled as he acknowledged the salute. “We made magic,” he said in his native British accent. “Above all else, we built this s—!” Television When British actor Damson Idris auditioned for the role of young street entrepreneur Franklin Saint in FX’s “Snowfall,” a drama set during the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic in 1980s South-Central Los Angeles, he was given more than lines to read. July 19, 2018 “Snowfall,” which ranks as the third-most-watched series in FX history — behind “The Old Man” and “Sons of Anarchy” — showcases Idris’ artistic range as his intense portrayal of Saint shifts between charming, crafty entrepreneur to lethal thug. The actor, who hails from Peckham, London, won the role after convincing show co-creator John Singleton that he could convincingly project the demeanor and attitude of a youth growing up in the rough neighborhoods of South-Central. Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director of “Boyz n the Hood,” wanted “Snowfall” to dramatize the complexities of the crack epidemic that wreaked havoc on Black communities. In addition to depicting the devastation of neighborhoods, the series also showshow Saint’s outlaw pursuits rip apart his family members, who were partners in his endeavors. The production was severely shaken when Singleton died in April 2019 of a stroke. Idris, along with the cast and executive producers, channeled their grief by becoming even more committed to realizing and building on Singleton’s vision. Executive producer Dave Andron said Idris was more than up to the task of taking a leadership role on the series: “He had the chops and he’s so naturally talented. It’s astounding what he brought to the show. I’m so incredibly proud of him, and he’s just getting started.” The actor has also sparked romance buzz in the gossip arena after appearing at the “Snowfall” red carpet premiere with his new romance, Lori Harvey, the ex-girlfriend of Michael B. Jordan. The model-influencer is the daughter of entertainer Steve Harvey. Michael Hyatt, who plays Saint’s mother, Cissy, said of Idris: “Damson has always been eager and hungry to be the best artist he can be. Over the years, he has become more grounded in the understanding of the process. He loves to play and tell jokes, but there’s a very observant, quiet person that is very in tune with everything that is going on.” The day after wrapping his last scene, Idris was trying to wind down as Beyoncé’s music blasted through his spacious Studio City home. Dressed in an all-black ensemble, he was in an upbeat mood, sipping red wine as he discussed his past and future. Television “How Crack Began” is the tagline for John Singleton’s new FX drama, “Snowfall.” July 5, 2017 It’s been almost 24 hours since you said goodbye to “Snowfall.” What were your feelings after doing that last scene and coming to the end of this journey? It was a whirlwind of emotions. Bittersweet and sad. There was also bewilderment. I couldn’t believe we had done it. I was on the verge of tears, but I had to stay strong. Everyone probably wanted me to cry. The show is really the foundation of my career. I’m always going to have it as a touchstone no matter what. Nothing’s going to beat that feeling. It’s like when a musician has his first hit song that introduces him to the world. But besides sadness, there must have been... Joy. We created something magical. We created history and the world gets to enjoy this forever. This isn’t something that’s just going to go away. I would speak to [FX chief] John Landgraf about this all the time, and he’d say, “This is a show that’s going to be on our platform forever.” So long after I’m gone, people are going to get to watch “Snowfall.” What were your expectations when you first started this journey? This isn’t an easy show to make, so I didn’t expect it to be smooth. But I knew as long as I stayed humble and spiritual, God would provide me with everything. And when I say everything, everything to me is happiness. I know so many artists who have everything but are unhappy. I just wanted to be happy at the end of it. I wanted to be proud. And that’s exactly what happened. Did growing up in another country make this role more challenging for you? Oh, yeah, definitely. I always said the people I wanted to please the most were people from L.A., families who live in South-Central today. I want them to switch on the TV and see their brother or uncle or nephew in Franklin. It was a huge challenge for me because it’s not necessarily about color. Sometimes it’s culture too. There’s some aspects of American culture that I would never, ever be able to relate to fully until doing the full research, until diving into L.A. culture, diving into American culture. I’m from inner-city London, Peckham. So many of the themes of the show completely correlate with how I was born. Single father, neighborhoods, police brutality, racism, drugs, crime, gangs, everything that happens in the show, I grew up with. So I was able to relate on that front. But I was also a kid who wanted to be a soccer player, who lived in this neighborhood, a kid who was trying to go a different path. Television For John Singleton, relief is not being part of the YouTube generation — or rather, not having to forge a career in the thick of it. May 26, 2017 Were there times that you felt pressured or overwhelmed? The biggest challenge was really just understanding that I was being thrown into the deep end. I was a 23-year-old kid from Peckham in the U.K., leading a major network show, No. 1 on the call sheet. And Singleton was like, “Don’t mess this up.” I had to step up and understand my responsibility. In the early seasons, Franklin is shown as kind of this heroic figure. But John’s vision seemed to be to show what happens when you become this sort of guy and where this kind of lifestyle leads you. That was always the vision. He lived through this era. And if you walk down skid row today, you know exactly what it led to. We always knew that was the heart of the story, for the audience to see the African American experience and how crack cocaine completely decimated the Black community. It was the first epidemic that made Black mothers leave their children. We couldn’t sugarcoat it. In the third season, there’s a tense scene in a car between Franklin and his next-door neighbor, LAPD officer Andre Wright (Marcus Henderson), in which he’s confronting you about how crack is destroying the community. He asks Franklin, “How do you sleep at night?” and Franklin replies, “Like a baby.” Andre then drops Franklin in front of a house where young people and mothers with children are strung out. It’s a very striking scene. For Franklin and people selling crack, it was fun. But then the addiction and the crime came. It stopped being a game. What was it like when John passed away? It was truly devastating because he had completely taken me under his wing. I experienced so much with him. And then all eyes fell on me. I would walk down the street and people would say to me, “Hey, D, this is John’s baby. We’re watching you. Don’t mess it up.” They let me know my responsibility and that I needed to take the reins, to stay true to the authenticity and the private conversations John and I had about what he wanted the show to be. I miss him dearly. He was a master of collaboration. He was incredibly passionate and he wasn’t a brute. When he did pass on, we had a strong enough platform individually for us to take the reins and run with it and make him proud. And I think we did. What was your process for getting into Franklin’s volatile and controlling character? Was it difficult letting that go at the end of the day? My mother saved me every time. I get to the set, I go into hair and makeup, and I’m Franklin, 17, 18 hours a day with an American accent. At the end of the day, I take the makeup off and put my clothes on, but I can’t get rid of Franklin. I get home, fortunately London’s eight hours ahead of us, so by the time I get home, it’s morning or lunchtime in London. I call and say, “Morning, mum. How are you?” She says, “Hello, my son.” And I’m back. What’s next for you? I’m obviously focused on movies. I want for people to see me on the big screen. I’m also going to do this project with Donald Glover that’s a commentary on the fanfare surrounding a pop star and the psychology of that. I think it’s going to be a fan favorite. How do you think fans of “Snowfall” will respond when the finale finally airs? I think the fans are just going to really enjoy it. We’ve always been chasing “The Wire.” I love that show. When the conclusion of “Snowfall” comes, I think there will be a conversation about whether this show or “The Wire” was the greatest crime show. I’m excited to hear that conversation.

California AG's wife recuses herself from overseeing his department's budget

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-19/california-ags-wife-recuses-herself-from-state-doj-budget

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s wife has recused herself from matters related to the state Department of Justice as part of her duties leading a legislative subcommittee that oversees his budget. Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda) announced the recusal in a statement posted online Sunday. She heads Assembly Budget Subcommittee 5, which oversees public safety spending — including that of the state’s Justice Department, which is led by Rob Bonta. Mia Bonta’s statement emphasized that while she believes there is no legal or ethical conflict in her role, she has recused herself so Californians “have absolute confidence in the legislative process.” KCRA had first reported the possible conflict of interest and repeatedly pressed Bonta on the issue. The budget subcommittee is scheduled to discuss the Department of Justice’s budget on March 27. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) had appointed Bonta to the subcommittee position and noted that the Assembly and Senate must agree on a budget, which then must be either signed or vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Rendon also said the Legislature does not set salaries or benefits for state constitutional officers such as Rob Bonta. Newsom picked Rob Bonta to fill an unexpired term as the state’s top lawman in 2021. He was elected to a full four-year term in November.

'All Quiet' wins 7 BAFTAs, including best film, at U.K. awards

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-19/all-quiet-wins-7-baftas-including-best-film-at-uk-awards

The antiwar German-directed movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” won seven prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, building the somber drama’s momentum as awards season rolls toward its climax at next month’s Oscars. Irish tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and rock biopic “Elvis” took four prizes each. “All Quiet,” a visceral depiction of life and death in the World War I trenches, won Edward Berger the directing award. Its other trophies included adapted screenplay, cinematography, score, sound and best film not in English. Austin Butler was a surprise winner in acting for “Elvis.” Baz Lurhmann’s flamboyant musical also won trophies for casting, costume design, and hair and makeup. Cate Blanchett won the actress prize for Todd Field’s orchestral drama “Tár.” Martin McDonagh’s “Banshees,” the bleakly comic story of a friendship gone sour, was named best British film. Awards Acting, directing, films and more — the Emerald Isle has ties to 14 nominations this Oscar season Feb. 14, 2023 “Best what award?” joked McDonagh of the film, which was shot in Ireland with a largely Irish cast and crew. It has British funding, and McDonagh was born in Britain to Irish parents. “Banshees” also won for McDonagh’s original screenplay, and took awards for Kerry Condon as supporting actress and Barry Keoghan for supporting actor. The prizes — officially the EE BAFTA Film Awards — are Britain’s equivalent to Hollywood’s Academy Awards and are watched closely for hints of who may win at the Oscars on March 12. Madcap metaverse romp “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — the Academy Awards’ front-runner — was the night’s big loser, winning just one prize from its 10 BAFTA nominations, for editing. Actor Richard E. Grant was a suave and self-deprecating host — with support from TV presenter Alison Hammond — for the ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall, where the U.K.’s movie academy heralded its strides to become more diverse but said there was more to be done. Grant joked in his opening monologue about the infamous altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock at last year’s Oscars. “Nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight,” he said. “Except on the back.” Guests and presenters walking the red carpet on the Thames’ South Bank included Colin Farrell, Ana de Armas, Eddie Redmayne, Brian Cox, Florence Pugh, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cynthia Erivo, Julianne Moore and Lily James. Heir to the throne Prince William, who is president of Britain’s film and television academy, was in the audience alongside his wife, Kate. William wore a tuxedo with black velvet jacket, while Kate dressed in a floor-length Alexander McQueen dress that she also wore to the 2019 BAFTAs. Helen Mirren paid tribute to William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September. Mirren, who portrayed the late monarch onscreen in “The Queen” and onstage in “The Audience,” called Elizabeth “the nation’s leading lady.” Britain’s film academy introduced changes to increase the awards’ diversity in 2020, when no women were nominated for directing for the seventh year running and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white. This year there were 11 female directors up for awards across all categories, including documentary and animated films. But just one of the main best-director nominees was female: Gina Prince-Bythewood for “The Woman King.” BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar said the academy’s soul-searching had been “a necessary and humbling process.” He said the “vital work of leveling the playing field” would continue. “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose opened the show by performing “Sisters Are Doin’ it for Themselves,” with an added rap shoutout to some of the nominated women, including Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett and Viola Davis. Blanchett said it had been “an extraordinary year for female performers. To be counted among them is really special.” It was a strong year for Irish actors at the BAFTAs, with Daryl McCormack up for the BAFTA Rising Star award — though he lost to Emma Mackey — and Condon, Keoghan, Farrell and Brendan Gleeson all getting acting nominations for “Banshees.” McCormack hailed the event as “the Irish BAFTAs.” “It is a small country, but to see the talent that comes out of it is quite amazing,” he said. Three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell became the first costume designer to be awarded the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA fellowship. The harsh world outside showbiz intruded on the awards when Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who works for investigative website Bellingcat, said he was not allowed to attend the awards because of a risk to public security. He features in “Navalny,” a film about jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny that won the BAFTA for documentary. “Navalny” producer Odessa Rae dedicated the award to Grozev, “our Bulgarian nerd with a laptop, who could not be with us tonight because his life is under threat by the Russian government and Vladimir Putin.” Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for “Everything Everywhere,” said the chance awards season provides to celebrate cinema was more important than who wins. “It’s a moment of celebration in the midst of everything,” Curtis told the Associated Press on the red carpet. “It’s hard out there. Everywhere. All at once. All the time.” Complete list of winners: Film — “All Quiet on the Western Front” British Film — “The Banshees of Inisherin” Director — Edward Berger, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Actor — Austin Butler, “Elvis” Actress — Cate Blanchett, “Tár” Supporting Actor — Barry Keoghan, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Supporting Actress — Kerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Rising Star (voted for by the public) — Emma Mackey Outstanding British Debut — Writer-director Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun” Original Screenplay — Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Adapted Screenplay — Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Film Not in the English Language — “All Quiet on the Western Front” Musical Score — Volker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Cinematography — James Friend, “All Quiet on the Western Front” Editing — Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Nevada prosecutor: Chasing Horse 'grooming' girls to replace wives

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-08/prosecutor-chasing-horse-grooming-girls-to-replace-wives

Nevada prosecutors told a judge Wednesday that a former “Dances With Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for decades should remain in custody because he was “grooming young children” to replace his older wives when he was arrested last week. The new details in the criminal case against Nathan Chasing Horse, who played young Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s 1990 Oscar-winning film, were revealed in a packed North Las Vegas courtroom before Justice of the Peace Craig Newman set bail at $300,000 and called the 46-year-old a danger to the community. Under Nevada law, Chasing Horse would have to pay 15% of the bail amount — $45,000 — to secure his release. Chasing Horse had been held without bail since Jan. 31, when SWAT officers and detectives took him into custody and raided the home he shares with his five wives in North Las Vegas. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney William Rowles told Newman that investigators found journal entries during the raid that he said detailed “ongoing” grooming. “There is evidence that this individual is still in the process of grooming young children to replace the others as they grow up,” Rowles said. Nevada authorities have described Chasing Horse in more than a hundred pages of court documents as the leader of a cult known as The Circle, whose followers believed Chasing Horse, as a “medicine man,” could communicate with higher beings. Police said he abused that position to physically and sexually assault women and girls and take underage wives starting in the early 2000s across multiple states and Canada. In Nevada, Chasing Horse is charged with eight felonies, including sex trafficking, sexual assault and child abuse. He has not entered a plea. Investigators and victims had been expected to speak in court Wednesday, because Nevada law requires prosecutors to show convincing evidence that a defendant should remain jailed as they await trial. But after delays in the proceedings, the judge heard only from Rowles, who requested $2 million bail, and Chasing Horse’s public defender, Kristy Holston, who asked the judge to set bail at $50,000. About two dozen of Chasing Horse’s relatives and friends filled the courtroom in a show of support, and after Newman granted him bail, the supporters cheered outside the courthouse, waving signs that translate to “Justice for Chasing Horse.” Chasing Horse’s public defender told The Associated Press she also was happy with the judge’s decision. “We think it’s notable that after taking a look at the case, the judge set bail in a reasonable amount,” Holston said. She declined to comment on the allegations but said she is looking forward to Chasing Horse’s next court date, scheduled for Feb. 22. At that hearing, a judge is expected to hear evidence in the case and decide whether Chasing Horse will stand trial. “We’re really looking forward to the preliminary hearing in this case,” she said, “because it’s another public hearing where we will have an opportunity to point out the weaknesses in the state’s case.” Rulon Pete, a representative of the victims and the executive director of the Las Vegas Indian Center, said they were disappointed with the judge’s decision. Some of the victims were in the courtroom Wednesday. “What happened this morning was like a slap in the face,” Pete told The Associated Press. “Realistically, if he posts bail, that’s the mystery. What’s going to happen?” If he is released from jail, Newman said, Chasing Horse must live with a relative and would be electronically monitored. The judge also barred any access to drugs, alcohol or firearms and ordered no contact with the victims or minors. Police have said some of the victims had reported that children “are constantly over at Nathan Chasing Horse’s residence.” Rowles, the prosecutor, argued Chasing Horse is a flight risk and said he has a “vast” network of resources and connections across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico who could help him flee the country “undetected.” At its peak, Rowles said, The Circle had some 300 members. Police have said they’ve identified least six victims, including one who was 13 when she said she was abused, and another who said she was offered to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation. In 2015, he was banished from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana, following allegations of human trafficking. Authorities in British Columbia, Canada, charged Chasing Horse this week in an alleged 2018 sexual assault.

Florida lawmakers to discuss takeover of Disney self-governing district

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-03/florida-lawmakers-to-meet-next-week-on-disney-immigration

Florida lawmakers will meet next week to complete a state takeover of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district and debate proposals on immigration and election policy, as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to leverage national political fissures ahead of an expected White House run. Republican leaders of the Legislature, in coordination with DeSantis, on Friday ordered lawmakers to convene for a special session next week to deal with the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the Disney government is known. In addition, they will also consider legislation creating a program to relocate migrants and make clear the statewide prosecutor has authority to prosecute election crimes in federal and state races. The agenda marks a sustained focus by DeSantis on issues such as immigration, election rules, gender and sexuality, with the ascendant Republican focusing on political divides as he positions himself for a potential 2024 presidential run. The meeting will represent the latest development in a high-profile feud between DeSantis and Disney over the company’s criticism over a law dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay,” which bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and lessons deemed not age-appropriate. The governor, in pushing lawmakers to strip the company of its self-governing status, displayed a willingness to go after one of the state’s biggest employers and political donors, reinforcing his combative leadership style. Company Town Disney sent a letter to shareholders imploring them not to vote for Nelson Peltz, an activist shareholder trying to gain a seat on Disney’s board. Feb. 2, 2023 The special session had been rumored to focus on Disney, but Friday’s announcement detailing the additional subjects also ensures heavy attention on the governor’s approach to voting rules and immigration, key issues of conservative Republican primary voters. The memo issued Friday does not offer much detail on the proposals, and bills have not yet been introduced. The election crimes prosecution measure comes after some charges linked to the governor’s new election police unit were dropped because of jurisdiction issues. The memo characterizes the measure as a clarification of state law. Lawmakers will also create a program to transport immigrants in the country illegally to another state if they’ve already been processed by the federal government and the migrants volunteer. DeSantis has already used part of a $12-million fund, paid for by taxpayers, to fly about 50 South American migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., in protest of federal immigration policy. The squabble between DeSantis and Disney began last year, when the entertainment giant publicly opposed the education restrictions and said that it would pause political donations in the state and that it would support organizations working to oppose the law. DeSantis moved quickly to criticize the company, calling it a purveyor of purported “woke” ideologies that he says are inappropriate for children, and gave lawmakers the ability to eliminate the Disney government as the Legislature was meeting for a special session on redistricting. World & Nation Four years after a Category 5 hurricane hit Mexico Beach, the small Florida seaside town is building back. Is it becoming a preserve of the wealthy? Oct. 18, 2022 The GOP-controlled Legislature in April approved legislation to dissolve Reedy Creek by June 2023, beginning a closely watched process that would determine the structure of government that controls the company’s sprawling property. The memo does not offer much detail on the future of the district, only that the bill will “revise the governance and powers of Reedy Creek Improvement District, while protecting local taxpayers from the District’s debts.” The creation of the Reedy Creek district was instrumental in Disney’s decision to build near Orlando in the 1960s. Having a separate government allows the company to provide zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure services on its land. The special session will also adjust language in current laws addressing endorsement deals for college athletes. Florida was one of the first states to pass a law allowing college athletes to profit off their name, image or likeness, but it doesn’t allow people affiliated with universities to help secure endorsement deals. The proposal would lift that provision to make Florida more competitive with other states that don’t have the restriction. Lawmakers will also consider a bill to provide more relief money for Hurricane Ian and Nicole recovery efforts, according to the memo. AP writer Brendan Farrington contributed to this report.

Gas stoves are back under scrutiny with new U.S. limits proposed

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-02-02/gas-stoves-scrutiny-new-us-limits-proposed

Gas stoves are coming under fresh scrutiny as a second federal agency has now stepped into the political firestorm with a proposal for new regulations for the appliances. The Energy Department proposal, published Wednesday, sets first-of-their-kind limits on energy consumption for the stoves, drawing fear from the industry that the regulation could effectively end the use of some products from the market. The proposal also sets energy usage standards for electric cook tops and new standards for both gas and electric ovens. The move comes just weeks after an official with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission floated the idea of a ban, igniting criticism from the gas industry and from lawmakers ranging from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers to Senator Joe Manchin. Within days, the head of the commission clarified that the agency had no plans for a ban, and the White House issued a statement that said the president didn’t support banning the cooking products either. “We are concerned that this is another attempt by the Federal government to use regulations to remove viable and efficient natural gas products from the market,” Karen Harbert, president of the American Gas Assn., said of the Energy Department’s proposal, adding that the group will “carefully evaluate this rule in the coming weeks.” Business Debate over a potential nationwide ban of gas stoves has heightened health concerns. Here’s what the research really says about stove pollution and human health. Jan. 13, 2023 Air pollutants While Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency was “not looking to ban gas stoves,” it is moving forward with a request for information, the first step in a potential rule making. Natural gas stoves are used in about 40% of homes in the U.S. They emit air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter at levels that the EPA and World Health Organization have said are unsafe and linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, cancer and other health conditions, multiple studies have said. The Energy Department’s proposal would reduce energy usage by about 30% relative to the least-efficient products on the market today, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, an environmental group. The proposed standards are based on improved cooking efficiency through the use of design options, such as an optimized burner and improved grates, and some products are already on the market that meet the requirements, the group said. Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, said the proposed regulation represents a standard that “today’s more efficient gas stove designs can meet.” But groups representing the makers of ranges from companies like Whirlpool Corp. said they were alarmed by the proposal, which follows previous decisions by the Energy Department not to issue standards. Business The top federal official in charge of product safety said his agency is researching emissions from gas stoves but not contemplating an imminent ban. Jan. 11, 2023 “This approach by DOE could effectively ban gas appliances,” said Jill Notini, a vice president with the Assn. of Home Appliance Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group. “We are concerned this approach could eliminate fully featured gas products.” The trade group is still evaluating the rule, but “it appears” that 95% of the market would not meet the proposed levels, Notini said. The Energy Department said the standards, which would result in $1.7 billion in reduced energy costs, were mandated by Congress and are technologically feasible for both gas and electric cooktops. “We are not proposing bans on either,” the department said in a statement. “Every major manufacturer has products that meet or exceed the requirements proposed today.”

'Dances With Wolves' actor arrested in Nevada sex abuse case

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-01-31/dances-with-wolves-actor-arrested-in-nevada-sex-abuse-case

Las Vegas police on Tuesday arrested and raided the home of a former “Dances With Wolves” actor turned alleged cult leader accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls during a period spanning two decades, according to police records obtained by The Associated Press. Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, who goes by Nathan Chasing Horse, was taken into custody in the afternoon near the North Las Vegas home he is said to share with his five wives. SWAT officers were seen outside the two-story home in the evening as detectives searched the property. Known for his role as the young Sioux tribe member Smiles a Lot in the Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film, Chasing Horse gained a reputation among tribes across the United States and in Canada as a so-called medicine man who performed healing ceremonies and spiritual gatherings and, police allege, used his position to abuse young Native American girls. His arrest is the culmination of a monthslong investigation that began after police received a tip in October 2022. According to a 50-page search warrant obtained by AP, Chasing Horse is believed to be the leader of a cult known as The Circle. And it comes as state attorneys general and lawmakers around the U.S. are looking into creating specialized units to handle cases involving Native women. In South Dakota, the attorney general’s office has put a new focus on crimes against Native American people, including human trafficking and murders. According to the document, Las Vegas police have identified at least six alleged victims and uncovered sexual allegations against Chasing Horse dating to the early 2000s in multiple states, including Montana, South Dakota and Nevada, where he has lived for about a decade. There was no lawyer listed in court records for Chasing Horse who could comment on his behalf as of Tuesday evening. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation. According to the warrant, he was banished in 2015 from the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, Montana, amid allegations of human trafficking. “Nathan Chasing Horse used spiritual traditions and their belief system as a tool to sexually assault young girls on numerous occasions,” it reads, adding that his followers believed he could communicate with higher beings and referred to him as “Medicine Man” or “Holy Person.” Although the warrant includes details of crimes reported elsewhere, the arrest stems from crimes allegedly committed in Nevada’s Clark County. They include sex trafficking, sexual assault of a child younger than 16 and child abuse. Some of the alleged victims were as young as 13, according to the warrant. One of Chasing Horse’s wives was allegedly offered to him as a “gift” when she was 15, while another became a wife after turning 16. Chasing Horse also is accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who allegedly paid him.

Robbie Knievel, daredevil son of Evel Knievel, dies at 60

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-01-13/robbie-knievel-daredevil-son-of-evel-knievel-dies-at-60

Robbie Knievel, an American stunt performer who set records with daredevil motorcycle jumps following the tire tracks of his thrill-seeking father — including at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1989 and a Grand Canyon chasm a decade later — has died in Nevada, his brother said. He was 60. Robbie Knievel died early Friday at a hospice in Reno after battling pancreatic cancer, Kelly Knievel said. “Daredevils don’t live easy lives,” Kelly Knievel told the Associated Press. “He was a great daredevil. People don’t really understand how scary it is what my brother did.” Sports He’s planning to make it a beaut in Butte on July 28. July 21, 2006 As a boy, Robbie Knievel began on his bicycle to emulate his famous father, Evel Knievel, who died in 2007 in Clearwater, Fla. But where Evel Knievel famously almost died from injuries when he crashed his Harley-Davidson during a jump over the Caesars Palace fountains in Las Vegas in 1967, Robbie completed the jump in 1989 using a specially designed Honda. Robbie Knievel also made headline-grabbing Las Vegas Strip jumps over a row of limousines in 1998 at the Tropicana hotel; between two buildings at the Jockey Club in 1999; and a New Year’s Eve jump amid fireworks in front of a volcano attraction at the Mirage on Dec. 31, 2008. After a crash-landing to complete a motorcycle leap over a 220-foot chasm at an Indian reservation outside Grand Canyon National Park in 1999, Robbie Knievel noted that his father always wanted to jump the spectacular natural landmark in Arizona but never did. Robbie Knievel broke his leg in his crash. Evel Knievel instead attempted to soar over a mile-wide Snake River Canyon chasm in Idaho in September 1974. His rocket-powered cycle crashed into the canyon while his escape parachute deployed. Robbie Knievel’s brother recalled other stunts, including a 2004 jump over a row of military aircraft on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a museum in New York. World & Nation Motorcycle daredevil Robbie Knievel cleared a sliver of the Grand Canyon on Thursday, breaking his world record of 223 feet with room to spare. May 21, 1999 Robbie Knievel, who promoted himself as “Kaptain Robbie Knievel,” set several stunt records, but also failed in several attempts. In 1992, at age 29, he was injured when he crashed into the 22nd of 25 pickup trucks lined up across a 180-foot span in Cerritos. “Injuries took quite a toll on him,” Kelly Knievel said Friday. Kelly Knievel lives in Las Vegas. He said his brother died with three daughters at his side: Krysten Knievel Hansson of Chicago, Karmen Knievel of Missoula, Mont., and Maria Collins of Waldport, Ore. Services were not immediately scheduled, but Kelly Knievel said his brother will be buried with other family members in Butte, Mont.

Court weighs tossing Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-01-10/court-weighs-tossing-boston-marathon-bombers-death-sentence

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s attorney on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to throw out the 29-year-old’s death sentence because of juror misconduct claims, just months after it was revived by the nation’s highest court. Tsarnaev is making a renewed push to avoid execution after the Supreme Court last year reinstated the death sentence imposed on him for his role in the bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds near the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013. His lawyers are challenging issues that weren’t considered by the Supreme Court, including whether the trial judge wrongly denied his challenge of two jurors who, defense attorneys say, lied during jury selection questioning. One juror said she had not commented about the case online but had retweeted a post calling Tsarnaev a “piece of garbage.” Another juror said none of his Facebook friends had commented on the trial, even though one had urged him to “play the part” so he could get on the jury and send Tsarnaev to “jail where he will be taken of,” defense attorneys say. Tsarnaev’s lawyers raised those concerns during jury selection, but the judge chose not to look into them further, they say. World & Nation The high court agreed with the Biden administration’s argument that an appeals court was wrong to throw out Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence. March 4, 2022 “This case was tried in Boston on a promise ... that despite the extraordinary impact of the marathon bombing on this community,” a through questioning of potential jurors would remove anyone unqualified, Tsarnaev attorney Daniel Habib told the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges. “That promise was not kept.” The Justice Department has continued to push to uphold Tsarnaev’s sentence even after Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland in 2021 imposed a moratorium on federal executions while the department conducts a review of its policies and procedures. The department has not indicated how long it might maintain the hold, which came after the Trump administration put to death 13 inmates in its final six months. President Biden has said he opposes the death penalty and will work to end it but has taken no action to do so while in office. The moratorium doesn’t prevent federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, as they are in the case of a man on trial for killing eight people on a New York City bike path in 2017. William Glaser, a Justice Department lawyer, said the trial judge did nothing wrong in his handling of the jurors in the Tsarnaev case. Glaser acknowledged that the jurors made inaccurate statements but said other disclosures they made to the court suggest that they were merely misremembering. World & Nation Twin blasts near the finish line kill three people and leave scores injured. April 16, 2013 “There is no indication in this record that the inaccuracies were the kind of knowing dishonesty that would lead to disqualification,” Glaser said. But Judge William J. Kayatta Jr. questioned how the trial judge could know that without looking further into Tsarnaev’s claims. And Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson told the Justice Department lawyer she found it difficult to see how Tsarnaev can’t plausibly claim that the juror told to “play the part” was knowingly lying. “If, for instance, the Facebook friend had said, ‘Get on the jury and make sure that the death penalty isn’t imposed,’ it’s hard for me to believe that you wouldn’t be in here arguing the opposite of what you are arguing now,” she told Glaser. Some survivors of the bombing who attended the hearing met briefly with Massachusetts U.S. Atty. Rachael Rollins afterward outside the courtroom. Marc Fucarile, who lost a leg and suffered other serious injuries in the blast, said he showed up at the proceeding to let the judges know that survivors are “still paying attention to what they are doing.” “At a certain point, we need to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough. It is not in question what he did,” Fucarile told the Associated Press. World & Nation Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev emerged from turbulence in the former Soviet Union into a hope-filled future in the U.S. Then something changed. May 15, 2015 Tsarnaev’s lawyers acknowledged at the beginning of his trial that he and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the two bombs that killed Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Mass.; and 8-year-old Martin Richard of Boston. They have argued, however, that their client shouldn’t be put to death, saying his brother radicalized him and was the mastermind of the attack. Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier during the brothers’ getaway attempt. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a gun battle with police a few days after the bombing. The 1st Circuit in 2020 overturned Tsarnaev’s death sentence and ordered a new penalty-phase trial to decide whether he should be executed, finding that the judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to extensive news coverage of the bombing. But the Supreme Court justices, by a 6-3 vote, agreed with the Biden administration that the 1st Circuit’s ruling was wrong.

California police more likely to stop, search Black teens

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-01-03/report-analyzes-racial-profiling-in-california-traffic-stops

California law enforcement was more than twice as likely to use force against people they perceived as Black during vehicle and pedestrian stops in 2021, as compared with people believed to be white, according to a state report released Tuesday. The annual report by California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board gathered data on vehicle and pedestrian stops by officers from 58 law enforcement agencies in 2021. The data include what officers perceived to be the race, ethnicity, gender and disability status of people they stop so that the state can better identify and analyze bias in policing. The 58 agencies — which include the 23 largest departments in the state — collectively made more than 3.1 million vehicle and pedestrian stops in 2021. By April, all of California’s more than 400 law enforcement agencies must submit their data. The data include how officers perceive an individual’s race or gender, even if it’s different than how the person identifies, because the officer’s perception is what drives bias. In more than 42% of the 3.1 million stops, the individual was perceived to be Hispanic or Latino, according to the report. More than 30% were perceived to be white and 15% were believed to be Black. But law enforcement searched people who were perceived to be Black at 2.2 times the rate of people thought to be white, the report said. And teenagers 15 to 17 years old who were perceived to be Black were searched at nearly six times the rate of teens believed to be white.

France's César movie awards take stand against sexual crimes

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-01-03/frances-cesar-movie-awards-take-stand-against-sexual-crimes

Movie stars and other film industry workers convicted of or facing possible prison time for sexual or sexist violence are being banned from France’s top movie award ceremony “out of respect for the victims.” The handing out of the César awards — the French equivalent of the Oscars and scheduled this year for Feb. 24 in Paris — is a glittering annual highlight of the movie industry calendar in France. But the Césars have also faced scrutiny — like other sections of the global movie industry — in the wake of the #MeToo social movement against sexual violence. Women’s rights activists protested outside the 2020 ceremony where director Roman Polanski won an award. Actress Adele Haenel, who alleged sexual assault by another French director in the early 2000s when she was 15, got up and walked out of the room, followed by a few others, when Polanski was named best director for “An Officer and a Spy.” Polanski didn’t attend the ceremony, calling it a “public lynching.” He is still wanted in the United States, decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but fled the country on the eve of sentencing. The board that oversees the Césars has in recent months been considering possible rules to cover potential nominees who are suspected of crimes. That work continues. The board in November also removed actor Sofiane Bennacer from possible consideration for a newcomers’ award this year after French media reported that he is under investigation for alleged rapes. In the meantime, the board has laid out regulations for this year’s ceremony, announcing this week that “out of respect for the victims” it has “decided to not shine a light on people accused by judicial authorities of violent acts.” Potential nominees won’t be invited to this year’s awards ceremony if they’re under investigation for violence punishable with a prison sentence, notably sexual or sexist violence, the board said. The same will also apply to people already convicted of such acts, the board said. Other people would also not be allowed to speak on their behalf if they win an award, it said.

Pelé's family gathers at hospital in Sao Paulo

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-12-24/peles-family-gathers-at-hospital-in-sao-paulo

Family members of Brazilian soccer great Pelé are gathering at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, where the 82-year-old global icon has been since the end of November. Doctors said earlier this week that Pelé’s cancer had advanced, adding the three-time World Cup winner is under “elevated care” related to “kidney and cardiac dysfunctions.” No other hospital statements have been published since then. Edson Cholbi Nascimento, one of Pelé’s sons known as Edinho, arrived on Saturday after he gave a news conference to deny he would visit his father in hospital. Edinho, who works for a soccer club in southern Brazil, had said then that only doctors could help his father. “He (Edson) is here,” Kely Nascimento, one of Pelé’s daughters, said in a posting on Instagram with a picture showing her sitting next to Edinho and two of his children at the hospital. “I am not leaving, no one will take me out of here.” Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who is globally known as Pelé, had a colon tumor removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital have said whether it had spread to other organs. Kely Nascimento and sister Flavia Arantes do Nascimento used their social media channels Friday night to post an undated picture of Pelé apparently holding Kely with one hand as he lay on his hospital bed and Flavia slept on a couch. “We continue to be here, in this fight and with faith. Another night together,” Kely Nascimento wrote. The hospital has not mentioned any signs of Pelé’s recent respiratory infection, which was aggravated by COVID-19. Newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported last weekend that Pelé’s chemotherapy was not working and that doctors had decided to put him on palliative care. Pelé’s family denied that report. Pelé led Brazil to victory in the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups, and remains one of the national team’s all-time leading scorers with 77 goals. Neymar tied Pelé’s record during the latest World Cup.

Biden signs bill affirming same-sex and interracial marriage at White House ceremony

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-12-13/biden-signs-gay-marriage-bill-at-white-house-ceremony

President Biden signed same-sex marriage legislation into law Tuesday before a crowd of thousands, a ceremony that reflected growing acceptance of such unions. “This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms,” Biden said on the South Lawn of the White House. “And that’s why this law matters to every single American.” Lawmakers from both parties were there, as well as First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Singers Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper performed. “For once, our families, mine and a lot of my friends — and people you know, sometimes your neighbors — we can rest easy tonight, because our families are validated,” Lauper said at the White House briefing room before the ceremony. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) wore the same purple tie to the ceremony that he wore to his daughter’s wedding. His daughter and her wife are expecting their first child in the spring. “Thanks to the dogged work of many of my colleagues, my grandchild will live in a world that will respect and honor their mothers’ marriage,” Schumer said on the Senate floor in the morning. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris were at the vanguard in pushing for marriage equality, which will soon be signed into federal law. Dec. 12, 2022 The triumphant mood played out against the backdrop of a right-wing backlash over gender issues, which has alarmed gay and transgender people and their advocates. Biden criticized the “callous, cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need.” “Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected,” Biden said. “But the antidote to hate is love.” Among the attendees were the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been charged with hate crimes. Plaintiffs from lawsuits that originally helped secure the nationwide right to same-sex marriage were also there. “It’s not lost on me that our struggle for freedom hasn’t been achieved,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “But this is a huge step forward, and we have to celebrate the victories we achieve and use that to fuel the future of the fight.” Robinson attended the ceremony with her wife and 1-year-old child. “Our kids are watching this moment,” she said. “It’s very special to have them here and show them that we’re on the right side of history.” The new law is intended to safeguard same-sex marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell vs. Hodges, its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriages. In 1967, the Supreme Court in Loving vs. Virginia struck down laws in 16 states barring interracial marriage. The signing culminates a months-long bipartisan effort sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling establishing abortion as a constitutional right. In a concurring opinion in that decision, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested revisiting other rulings, including the legalization of same-sex marriage, stirring fear that more civil rights could be imperiled by the court’s conservative majority. Thomas did not include interracial marriage with other cases he said should be reconsidered. Thomas is Black and his wife, Ginni Thomas, is white. Lawmakers crafted a compromise intended to assuage conservative concerns about religious liberty, such as ensuring churches could still refuse to perform same-sex unions. In addition, states will not be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But they will be required to recognize marriages conducted elsewhere in the country. A majority of Republicans in Congress still voted against the legislation. But enough supported it to sidestep a filibuster in the Senate and ensure its passage. Tuesday’s ceremony marks another chapter in Biden’s legacy on LGBTQ rights. He memorably — and unexpectedly — endorsed same-sex unions in a television interview in 2012, when he was vice president. Days later, President Obama announced that he also supported same-sex marriage. A clip of the interview was played at the ceremony. “What this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love?” Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” a decade ago. “Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that is what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about.” A Gallup poll showed only 27% of U.S. adults supported same-sex unions in 1996, when President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which said the federal government would only recognize heterosexual marriages. Biden voted for the legislation. At the time of Biden’s 2012 interview, gay marriage remained controversial, but support had expanded to roughly half of U.S. adults, according to Gallup. Earlier this year, 71% said same-sex unions should be recognized by law. Biden has pushed to expand LGBTQ rights since taking office. He reversed President Trump’s efforts to strip transgender people of antidiscrimination protections. His administration includes the first out gay Cabinet member, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the first transgender person to receive Senate confirmation, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.

Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle is stepping down

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-12-09/penguin-random-house-ceo-markus-dohle-is-stepping-down

The CEO of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade publisher, is stepping down. Markus Dohle’s decision, effective at the end of the year, comes just weeks after a federal judge blocked the company’s attempt to buy rival Simon & Schuster. “Following the antitrust decision in the U.S. against the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, I have decided, after nearly 15 years on the Executive Board of Bertelsmann and at the helm of our global publishing business, to hand over the next chapter of Penguin Random House to new leadership,” Dohle, 54, said a statement released Friday by parent company Bertelsmann, the German conglomerate. Dohle, who will remain with the company in an advisory capacity, had been working under a 5-year contract set to expire in December 2025. Dohle is also leaving his seat on the Bertelsmann executive board. His departure was made at “his own request and on the best of mutual terms,” according to the Bertelsmann announcement. A Bertelsmann spokesman said Friday that Dohle’s ill-fated push to acquire Simon & Schuster was not seen as a “mistake” by the company and did not lead to pressure for him to resign as CEO. Dohle will be succeeded, on an interim basis, by Nihar Malaviya, 48, currently president and COO of Penguin Random House. “I’ve partnered with many of you across functions and various countries, and I’ve experienced firsthand the abundance of talent that we have in our community,” Malaviya wrote in a company memo shared with The Associated Press. “It is an incredible honor for me to lead the premier publishing company in the world, and I look forward to working with even more of you to build on the energy and dynamic culture we have collectively created.” A native of Arnsberg, Germany, Dohle had worked in Bertelsmann’s printing and services division before succeeding Peter Olson as Random House CEO in 2008, a time when the company’s sales were dropping. He presided over an era of enormous growth, notably the 2012-13 merger with Penguin, and such blockbuster successes as Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and Delia Owens’ “Where the Crawdads Sing.” Earnings had fallen in 2022, as they had for much of the industry, with inflation and supply chain issues among the factors cited. In 2015, PEN America honored Dohle for his “commitment to defending free expression and access to literature.” He has since personally donated $500,000 and with PEN formed the Dohle Book Defense Fund to fight book banning efforts. During Dohle’s acceptance speech in 2015, he cited “The Little Prince” as a favorite childhood story and recalled a scene when the prince climbs to the top of a mountain and calls out to the world at large, but hears only an echo of his own words. “The dismayed prince walks away, dejected by this planet where he can hear nothing but himself. Can you imagine a world dominated by a single voice?” Dohle said. One of Dohle’s biggest achievements, ironically, was avoiding an earlier government antitrust suit: In 2012, Random House was the only top New York publisher not sued by the Justice Department for allegedly conspiring with Apple to fix e-book prices. Dohle had not yet agreed to terms with Apple, which had launched an e-book store in hopes of competing with Amazon.com (the other publishers all settled out of court) and otherwise shrewdly invested in printing and distribution at a time others in the industry were expecting e-books to become the dominant format. “We regret Markus Dohle’s decision to leave Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House,” Christopher Mohn, chair of Bertelsmann’s supervisory board, said in a statement. “He has sustainably focused Penguin Random House on growth and profitability. Under his leadership, our book division more than doubled its revenues and quintupled its profit. The fact that our global book publishing group is in such a strong position today is largely thanks to Markus Dohle.” A DOJ attorney for the Apple case, John R. Read, headed the government’s team last summer during the 3-week antitrust trial that was a showcase for the Biden administration’s tougher approach to corporate mergers. Book publishers had been consolidating for decades with little resistance, but the government cited a new approach in suing to stop Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster — concern that the merger would give the new company dominance over book deals of $250,000 or more and lead to lower author advances and fewer books. Questioned by Read last summer, Dohle agreed that the purchase of Simon & Schuster would “cement” Penguin Random House’s power. The trial was widely seen as going badly for the defendants, with Judge Florence Y. Pan openly skeptical of Penguin Random House’s insistence that the merger would not unduly alter the publishing market. Dohle himself acknowledged under oath that his promise to allow Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster imprints to continue to bid against each other for books was not legally binding, and was forced to address internal correspondence that revealed tension between himself and other executives. Pan ruled in the government’s favor in late October. Penguin Random House had planned to appeal the decision, but soon after Simon & Schuster’s owner, Paramount Global, announced it was calling off the $2.2 billion deal. As part of the initial agreement, Penguin Random House paid Paramount $200 million because the merger fell through. Paramount still plans to sell Simon & Schuster, which publishers HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group each have expressed interest in buying.

The Sports Report: UCLA wins NCAA women's soccer title

https://www.latimes.com/sports/newsletter/2022-12-06/ucla-womens-soccer-sports-report

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news. From Em Adler: There’s pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and then there’s what UCLA just did. Go beyond the scoreboard Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. No. 1-seed UCLA won the NCAA women’s soccer national title Monday night, beating second-seeded North Carolina 3-2 in overtime. North Carolina dominated the first half but went into halftime tied. UCLA blitzed the Tar Heels throughout the second half, and scored with 17 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Only UCLA came close to scoring in overtime, but the Bruins had to wait until midway through the second overtime to get a look at the net. The first required Video Assistant Referee to confirm that the Tar Heels had blocked a shot from Reilyn Turner. But when Maricarmen Reyes one-touched a deflected save back at the net, no replay was needed: the Bruins were ahead 3-2, with only 3:20 left to play. With the result, UCLA became the first team in College Cup history to come back from two goals down to record a win in the title game. UCLA’s Margueritte Aozasa became the first coach in NCAA women’s soccer history to win a national title in their first year as a head coach. “That was incredible, I can’t say enough about the belief this team has and the care they have for each other,” said Aozasa. “The rollercoaster of emotion I think we all felt, I cried many times during that game – happy and sad. We’ve said from the beginning of these playoffs that our care and love for each other and love for this program was going to be what was going to carry us through, and you saw that tonight. To be down 2-0 with 10 minutes left, to be down a goal with less than a minute left, and to come back and then not even go to PKs but win in overtime, is something incredibly special and it speaks to the character of the entire team.” Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Become a subscriber. I’m David Wharton, a Times sportswriter, with an unusual – and unusually personal – story. My job as the Olympics writer has me covering a lot of sports outside the mainstream, sports that get noticed only when the Games come around. Wandering into the fencing venue at the 2012 London Olympics, just to have a look, I was intrigued by the athletes in their glowing white uniforms, thundering up and down the strip, attacking and defending, flashing those steely blades. That day triggered an unexpected journey. The sport stuck in my brain as I returned to L.A. where, it turns out, we have connections to fencing beyond old Hollywood swashbucklers. The city is home to a thriving high school league, clubs run by former European champions and weekly tournaments. When my son started at a high school with a long-time program, I persuaded him to go out for the team Watching Zack progress through the ranks was great but also made me jealous. I was the one who discovered fencing. Why did he get to have all the fun? Eventually, I dove in myself. Starting such a blurry fast, physically demanding sport at 55 might not have been the wisest move. Novices get hit a lot at first, so I grew accustomed to not only losing but also coming home with tiny bruises on my arms and chest. Still, I was hopelessly in love. The past six years have seen me improve – if slowly – winning medals, earning a national rating and traveling the country with my son to compete in big tournaments. More importantly, fencing has taught me life lessons. With the help of a stunningly beautiful video from Mark Potts, I offer this tale that speaks to all of us who continue to love sports as we grow older. From Andrew Greif: Taking the basketball on the right wing as the final 10 seconds of a tied game ticked away, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was isolated against the defense of Charlotte’s Jalen McDaniels before creating a stride’s worth of separation by stepping to his left. Leonard leaped, his shot from 18 feet fell through the net, and what the Clippers hope will be the next chapter of their season officially began with a 119-117 victory against the downtrodden Hornets. Looking little different in the clutch than he had the last time he was healthy enough to play basketball consistently nearly 18 months ago, Leonard’s layup off a pass from George, who saved a missed shot from going out of bounds, with 39 seconds left, followed by his go-ahead jumper with 1.4 seconds remaining, ended an up-and-down game that has been part of an up-and-down season for the Clippers, who have navigated numerous injuries and the lineup disruption that has accompanied them. “Anytime you see Kawhi go into his spot, that’s where he’s comfortable, and that’s where we’re comfortable,” said Paul George, who like Leonard was also making his return from injury. “Swung the ball, I wanted to get it to him right there and he took us home on that shot.” From Ryan Kartje: When Caleb Williams transferred to USC in February, the quarterback was billed as a star-in-the-making, the type of transformational talent capable of one day becoming the best player in college football. Less than a year later, that distinction already appears inevitable for the Trojans passer. Williams was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy on Monday, joining fellow quarterbacks Max Duggan of Texas Christian, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Stetson Bennett of Georgia, all of whom will be in New York for the award ceremony Saturday. None has separated from the pack over the last month quite like Williams, who remains the overwhelming favorite for the award among oddsmakers. The sophomore quarterback carried USC to the verge of the College Football Playoff, besting rivals Notre Dame and UCLA with stellar performances in the season’s final weeks, both in front of a national audience. From Jack Harris: Last season, the Dodgers won 111 games. They had a Cy Young Award finalist. They boasted the best rotation earned-run average in Major League Baseball. Still, as this offseason has progressed, their need for more starting pitching has been clear. And while they did the expected on Monday morning, officially re-signing Clayton Kershaw to a one-year, $20-million contract on the first day of the league’s winter meetings, they failed to pull off the spectacular, losing out in the Justin Verlander sweepstakes after news broke that the free-agent pitcher will be signing with the New York Mets. Kershaw’s return had been in the works for weeks, ever since news emerged last month that the sides were close to a deal that would keep the three-time Cy Young Award in Los Angeles for a 16th season.———— Trea Turner’s time in Los Angeles is coming to an end. After spending the past season and a half with the Dodgers, the All-Star shortstop is signing an 11-year, $300-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, according to multiple media reports. Because the Dodgers had extended Turner a qualifying offer, they will recoup a compensation draft pick next year. The selection will come after the fourth round. From Sarah Valenzuela: The Angels have picked up another arm for their bullpen during the winter meetings. Free agent right-handed pitcher Carlos Estévez on Monday signed a two-year deal worth $13.5 million with the team. Estévez spent all of his previous six seasons in the big leagues with the Colorado Rockies. ———— MLB Winter Meetings live updates From Kevin Baxter in Qatar: When Neymar limped off the field in tears and favoring his right ankle late in Brazil’s opening-game victory in Qatar, it got so quiet you could hear a World Cup championship trophy drop. Brazil might have the finest collection of soccer talent on the planet, but A Seleção, the country’s national team, is pretty much Neymar and Friends: That group-stage win left Brazil 26-1-4 in the last 31 games Neymar started. Without him, Brazil sputtered, splitting its next two games and scoring just once. On Monday, Brazil got Neymar and its groove back, likely changing the direction of this World Cup. It certainly changed Brazil, which scored four times in the first 36 minutes in a 4-1 rout of South Korea, delighting a largely yellow-clad crowd of 43,847 at Stadium 974 on the shores of the Arabian Gulf and earning a date with Croatia in the quarterfinals, the round in which Brazil’s last World Cup came undone. ———— Round of 16Monday’s resultsCroatia 1, Japan 1 (Croatia advances on penalties, 3-1)Brazil 4, South Korea 1 ScheduleAll times PacificTodayMorocco vs. Spain, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, PeacockPortugal vs. Switzerland, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock Quarterfinals FridayCroatia vs. Brazil, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, PeacockNetherlands vs. Argentina, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock SaturdayMatchup TBD, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, PeacockEngland vs. France, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock SemifinalsTuesday, Dec. 13Matchup TBD, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock Wed., Dec. 14Matchup TBD, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock Third-place matchSaturday, Dec. 17Matchup TBD, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock Championship matchSunday, Dec. 18Matchup TBD, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock ———— Complete World Cup coverage Qatar World Cup: Start times for every match and how to watch 1939 — Iowa’s Nile Kinnick wins the Heisman Trophy. The back passed for 638 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 374 yards. 1961 — Syracuse running back Ernie Davis becomes the first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy. 1984 — Martina Navratilova loses to Helena Sukova, ending the longest winning streak in history of women’s singles tennis — 74 matches dating to Jan. 15, 1984. 1986 — Miami’s Vinny Testaverde wins the Heisman Trophy in a runaway. The quarterback, who led the nation in passing efficiency, won the by 1,541 points over Temple running back Paul Palmer, the country’s top rusher. 1990 — The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators receive approval to join the NHL in 1992-93. 1992 — Jerry Rice becomes the NFL’s career leader in touchdown receptions with his 101st scoring pass during the fourth quarter of the San Francisco 49ers’ 27-3 victory over Miami. Rice surpassed Steve Largent’s mark of 100. 1992 — Jim Courier rebounds from a slow start to beat Switzerland’s Jakob Hlasek in four sets as the United States recaptures the Davis Cup. 1998 — Denver with a 35-31 comeback win over Kansas City, becomes the third 13-0 team in NFL history. The Broncos join the 1934 Chicago Bears and 1972 Miami Dolphins. 2000 — Golden State’s Antawn Jamison and the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant each scored 51 points, including trading six straight scores in the final two minutes of overtime. It’s Jamison’s second 51-point performance in four days, and Bryant’s career high. But Jamison earns extra satisfaction as the Warriors prevail 125-122 over Los Angeles. It’s the first time in 38 years two players score 50 in the same game. 2003 — Army becomes the first team to finish 0-13 in major college history after a 34-6 loss to Navy. 2005 — Philadelphia wins the first scoreless NHL game that is decided by a shootout, beating Calgary 1-0. Philadelphia’s Antero Niittymaki stops 28 shots in regulation and overtime and all three during the shootout. 2008 — USC beats UCLA 28-7 to win its record seventh straight Pac-10 championship. The Trojans (11-1) also have won 11 or more games in seven straight seasons — another record. 2009 — Switzerland’s Carlo Janka wins the giant slalom to become the first man in more than 2 1/2 years with three consecutive World Cup victories. Janka won the super combined event two days earlier and the downhill yesterday. 2009 — Drew Brees is 35 for 49 for 419 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as New Orleans stays undefeated with a 33-30 overtime win at Washington. New Orleans and Indianapolis both improve to 12-0, marking the first time in NFL history that two teams are unbeaten this late in the season. 2009 — Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre sets an NFL record by playing in his 283rd consecutive game, a 30-17 loss to Arizona. The 40-year-old Favre breaks the record of 282 held by longtime Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall. 2013 — Jennifer O’Neill scores a career-high 43 points, including the go-ahead basket in the fourth overtime, and No. 5 Kentucky beats No. 9 Baylor 133-130 in the highest-scoring Division I women’s game in history. The previous high for a Division I women’s game was 252 points in SMU’s 127-125 win over TCU, also in four overtimes, on Jan. 25, 1997. Compiled by the Associated Press Six minutes of Trea Turner’s smoothest slides. Watch and listen here. Until next time... That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

George Clooney and Gladys Knight are among Kennedy Center honorees

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-12-04/george-clooney-gladys-knight-among-kennedy-center-honorees

Performers such as Gladys Knight or the Irish band U2 usually would be headlining a concert for thousands, but at Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors the tables were turned as they and other artists were feted for their lifetime of artistic contributions. Actor, director, producer and human rights activist George Clooney, groundbreaking composer and conductor Tania León, and contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant will join Knight and the entire crew of U2 in being honored by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The organization honors a select group of people every year for their artistic influences on American culture. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their respective spouses were in attendance. Biden paid tribute to the honorees before the ceremony at the White House Sunday afternoon, praising them before a star-studded East Room crowd as an “exceptional group of artists.” “Thank you for showing us the power of the arts and ‘We the People,’” Biden said. He highlighted Clooney’s on-camera work and off-screen charity endeavors, from helping 9/11 victims’ families to supporting a gun control campaign led by the survivors of the Parkland school shooting. “He is unrelenting and undaunted,” Biden said. “That is character in real life. And that is George Clooney.” Entertainment & Arts It was another weird year. This is the music, movies, theater, books, television and art that got us through. Dec. 4, 2022 Biden hailed Grant’s voice as “a true gift from God that she shares with everyone,” thanked León for ’breathing new sounds into the soul of the nation,” and said he has all of Knight’s songs on his iPhone. “We’re going to get on that midnight train,” Biden said of Knight. “Because I speak for all Americans when I say we we’d rather live in your world than be without you in ours.” Biden, noting his love of Irish poets, called U2 “four sons of Ireland, poets in their own right” whose music “has changed the world.” “We would do well to remember today at a moment when there’s too much hate, too much anger, too much division here in America, and quite frankly, around the world,” Biden said. “We have to remember today, as their song goes: ‘We are one but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.’” On the red carpet ahead of the Kennedy Center show, Clooney, with his wife, Amal, beside him, joked that after seeing friends like Don Cheadle and Julie Roberts in attendance he was worried his tribute would be more of a “roast.” Growing up in a small Kentucky town, he said, he watched the Kennedy Center Honors on TV adding that he was excited to be part of a fraternity that includes actors such as Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. During the ceremony, an emotional Patti LaBelle called Knight her “everything,” saying they had been friends for six decades and seen each other through laughter and tears. “We do everything together,” LaBelle said. “I am honored to honor you tonight.” Country music superstar Garth Brooks, citing Knight’s “roots in country music,” sang her classic “Midnight Train to Georgia.” U2 has sold 170 million albums and been honored with 22 Grammys. The band’s epic singles include “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” Lead singer Bono has also become known for his philanthropic work to eradicate poverty and to raise awareness about AIDS. Grant is well known for crossover pop hits like “Baby, Baby,” “Every Heartbeat” and “That’s What Love is For.” She’s sold more than 30 million albums, including her 1991 record “Heart in Motion,” which introduced her to a larger pop audience. León said during an interview when the honorees were announced that she wasn’t expecting “anything spectacular” when the Kennedy Center initially reached out to her. After all, she’s worked with the Kennedy Center numerous times over the years going back to 1980, when she was commissioned to compose music for a play. But the 79-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner said she was stunned to learn that this time the ceremony was going to be for her. León left Cuba as a refugee in 1967 and eventually settled in New York City. She’s a founding member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series.

Bob McGrath, 'Sesame Street' legend, dies at 90

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-12-04/bob-mcgrath-sesame-street-legend-dies-at-90

Bob McGrath, an actor, musician and children’s author widely known for his portrayal of one of the first regular characters on the children’s show “Sesame Street” has died at the age of 90. McGrath’s passing was confirmed by his family who posted on his Facebook page on Sunday: “The McGrath family has some sad news to share. Our father Bob McGrath, passed away today. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.” Sesame Workshop tweeted Sunday evening that it “mourns the passing of Bob McGrath, a beloved member of the Sesame Street family for over 50 years.” McGrath was a founding cast member of “Sesame Street” when the show premiered in 1969, playing a friendly neighbor Bob Johnson. He made his final appearance on the show in 2017, marking an almost five-decade-long figure in the “Sesame Street” world. Television ‘Carry It On’ documents the life of Buffy Sainte-Marie, one of the most successful folk singers to come out of the 1960s, even as she faced unseen obstacles. Nov. 21, 2022 The actor grew up in Illinois and studied music at the University of Michigan and Manhattan School of Music. He also was a singer in the 60s series “Sing Along With Mitch” and launched a successful singing career overseas in Japan. “A revered performer worldwide, Bob’s rich tenor filled airwaves and concert halls from Las Vegas to Saskatchewan to Tokyo many times over,” Sesame Workshop said. “We will be forever grateful for his many years of passionate creative contributions to Sesame Street and honored that he shared so much of his life with us.” He is survived by his wife, Ann Logan Sperry, and their five children.

How Morfydd Clark fainted at the thought of playing Galadriel in 'Rings of Power'

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2022-11-23/morfydd-clark-galadriel-rings-of-power

Being cast as Galadriel in “The Rings of Power,” Prime Video’s prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was so overwhelming for Morfydd Clark that she actually fainted. The Welsh actress spent nearly six months auditioning for the role — initially without even knowing what she was auditioning for — throughout the summer of 2019. When she finally got the call that she would play the warrior elf, Clark was at the Toronto International Film Festival promoting “Saint Maud” and “The Personal History of David Copperfield.” “I was already having an out-of-body experience, and then I found out about this just before the premiere of ‘David Copperfield,’” Clark recalls. “It was just very weird. It was really exciting, but also secret. I went to do the premiere, and I passed out on stage during the Q&A afterwards. It was so embarrassing. It’s on YouTube — I do manage to get just offstage, but you can hear my mic drop. I was caught by a Canadian security guard, who was very nice to me.” Shortly after, Clark flew to New Zealand, where the first season was filmed (Season 2 has moved its production to the UK). Along with the rest of the cast, Clark had “ages” to prep for the role, which required her to learn swimming, horse riding and stunts. The cast trained together with a stunt team ahead of filming, which meant that everyone became close even if they didn’t share any scenes. Galadriel, played in the films in her older, wiser years by Cate Blanchett, required a lot of physical stamina and awareness. The immortal is a skilled warrior who carries herself with confidence — something Clark had to learn. “I decided that I was going to focus loads on trying to feel it,” Clark says. “It wasn’t really about how I looked. It was about trying to feel as strong and powerful and flexible as I could so I could feel as close to her as my little mortal body could allow. That was one of the big joys of it. [In the past], my characters have often been abused and killed in stuff, which I enjoyed playing. But it was very liberating to play someone who wasn’t physically afraid. I am often quite physically afraid, so to take those holidays in her universe where she is so powerful was good for me as a person as well as an actress.” Clark was able to tap her own background for the role as well. Galadriel and her fellow elves speak the fantasy language of Sindarin, and Clark drew on her familiarity with Welsh to imbue the character’s voice with more strength. “I worked with the voice coach trying to find the sounds [that I say easilyin] Welsh and English,” Clark says. “And so that’s where her voice came from. Maybe it’s because I grew up singing a lot in Welsh, but my Welsh speaking voice is more resonant.” The actress also drew on her vast theater background, which was one reason she was originally considered for the series. “Their main thing was that they wanted people who had experience with Shakespeare, because the way they’ve written the elves is actually in their own beat,” Clark notes. “They wanted all the different types of creatures in Middle Earth to speak quite specifically compared to each other.” Clark did not reach out to Blanchett, who originated the role onscreen. However, she did use the actress and her overall work as inspiration for this version of Galadriel. “She literally is like a legend to me,” Clark says. “And I wasn’t sure how useful it would be for me to necessarily speak to her, because I would be so bamboozled. So I went back to her performances. I didn’t just rewatch ‘Lord of the Rings’ but rewatched lots of the stuff she has done. She has such a connection to cool and hot — I don’t know if that makes sense. That was something that I was really fascinated by watching her. So maybe one day I’ll speak with her, but I’ll be a faint risk for that as well.” The Galadriel fans meet in “The Rings of Power” is not the serene ruler of Lothlórien who is familiar in the films. She is still discovering what sort of leader she wants to be, and Clark took inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books as she sculpted the character (she refers to herself as a “Lord of the Rings” nerd). Having the series act as a prequel to known events was particularly useful. “I liked knowing where she’d ended up,” Clark says. “I feel that lots of the chillest people in old age that I know when they start telling you about their lives, you’re like, ‘What? That is insane!’ So that was something that I went to. How extremely far away could she be from this lady of Lothlórien that [when] she becomes that it will be a shock to her that she could ever get to that type of peace and serenity. She truly couldn’t imagine that she would be able to pass the test to go back to Valinor.” The character is complicated and occasionally severe, which Clark appreciated. “She’s admired and kind of feared,” the actress says. “She’s not warm and cuddly. I relished that opportunity to play someone who wasn’t necessarily meant to make people feel comfortable. I think that’s often what women tend to do in real life, and end up performing as well. But also I’ve played a lot of characters who don’t end up happy, and it’s nice playing her knowing that she will, in the end, find peace.”

Amazon's Prime Video gets exclusive rights to NFL 'Black Friday' game in 2023

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-10-18/prime-video-gets-exclusive-rights-to-first-nfl-black-friday-game-starting-in-2023

The NFL is adding a day-after-Thanksgiving game to its schedule in 2023, and it will stream exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video. The addition of the “Black Friday” game to Amazon’s package of streamed NFL contests is a vote of confidence in Prime Video’s performance as a media partner. In its first year as the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football,” Prime Video is delivering a higher percentage of younger viewers compared to NFL games on traditional TV. “Thursday Night Football” is averaging 10.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with an increase of 48% among viewers in the 18-34 age group compared to last season. Black Friday is the biggest day of the year for many retailers, kicking off the Christmas shopping season with deals for consumers. Having an NFL game on one of the busiest business days for Amazon is likely to bring new viewers to the game and provide another entry point to the site for consumers at a time when they are in a buying mood. “Amazon is uniquely positioned to partner with us for this game as Black Friday is one of the most important days of the year for their business,” said Hans Schroeder, chief operating officer for NFL Media. So far, Amazon has not done any kind of interactive in-game features to pull Prime Video viewers of “Thursday Night Football” into the retail site. Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports for Prime Video, said at a news conference there are no plans to alter that approach when the Black Friday game airs next year. Company Town After 36 seasons calling games for ABC and NBC, Michaels will be the voice of experience for the tech giant’s exclusive weekly game. Sept. 13, 2022 Amazon is paying more than $1 billion a year for the rights to 15 Thursday games a season through 2032. The league and the company did not disclose terms for the Nov. 24, 2023, game, but there are reports Amazon will pay another $50 million for the rights. The Thursday night prime-time games on Prime Video do not include the contests played on Thanksgiving, which are part of NBC’s package. Schroeder called the “Thursday Night Football” package “a great success so far.” The Black Friday game will have a noon Pacific kickoff time. The teams will be revealed when the 2023 schedule is announced. Traditional TV viewing is in a steady decline due to viewers who have migrated to streaming platforms for video content. Younger viewers have been leading the way on that front, with many of them forgoing pay TV subscriptions. Company Town Here is what users should know about the first NFL package shown exclusively on a streaming video platform. Sept. 13, 2022 The decline of live TV viewing of scripted programming has only made the NFL more potent. The league’s games account for the top 34 of television’s most-watched programs since the start of September. Through the fifth week of the 2022 regular season, NFL games are averaging 16.8 million viewers.

North Korea fires ballistic missile over Japan

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-10-03/n-korea-fires-ballistic-missile-that-flew-over-japan

North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its neighbors said, escalating tests of weapons designed to strike key targets in regional U.S. allies amid stalled nuclear diplomacy. The Japanese prime minister’s office said at least one missile fired from North Korea flew over Japan and was believed to have landed in the Pacific Ocean. It said authorities have issued an alert to residents in northeastern regions to evacuate buildings nearby in what was reportedly the first such alert in five years. Trains were temporarily suspended in Japan’s Hokkaido and Aomori regions before their operations were resumed later after a government notice that the North Korean missile appeared to have landed in the Pacific. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it also detected the launch of a ballistic missile that was fired toward the North’s eastern waters. It gave no further details such as how far the weapon flew. The launch is the fifth round of weapons tests by North Korea in the last 10 days in what was seen as an apparent response to military drills between South Korea and the United States. North Korea views such drills as an invasion rehearsal. The missiles fired during the last four rounds of launches were short-range and fell in the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. Those missiles are capable of hitting targets in South Korea.

California's outgoing chief justice is named new CEO of public policy think tank

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-28/californias-outgoing-chief-justice-named-new-ceo-of-public-policy-institute

When California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye announced this summer that she would not be seeking another term on the bench, she said she didn’t plan on retiring completely. “My husband said, ‘You’ve got to do something,’” she said with a smile. Turns out, she won’t be taking a break at all. Cantil-Sakauye starts as president and chief executive of the Public Policy Institute of California on Jan. 1, the day her term as chief justice ends. She will be 63. “I am both humbled and honored to have another opportunity to serve,” Cantil-Sakauye said in an announcement of her new post Wednesday. “I understand this role will be different from my current one and yet I believe my skill set and experience have prepared me well for this task.” California California’s chief justice is calling for new regulation of the private judging industry in light of a Times report detailing the role former jurists played in cases in which disgraced attorney Tom Girardi stands accused of swindling clients out of millions of dollars in settlement money. Aug. 9, 2022 The PPIC is a nonprofit think tank with a state mission to “inform and improve public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.” Cantil-Sakauye said she was “fully committed to PPIC’s nonpartisan mission and efforts to improve public policy in California through independent research — without a thumb on the scale.” “After all, who can say ‘no’ to facts?” she said. Cantil-Sakauye will replace PPIC’s current president and CEO, Mark Baldassare, who announced his retirement in March. PPIC’s new board chair, Chet Hewitt, said he “couldn’t be more pleased” to welcome Cantil-Sakauye into her new role, which he said the board unanimously approved after “a rigorous search process.” “In the end, we’ve selected a CEO who has managed large organizations and budgets and a highly regarded leader who brings a track record of impartiality and a strong commitment to nonpartisan research and analysis,” he said. California Private polling shows Proposition 26 running behind and likely to lose along with another, vastly different sports betting initiative, Proposition 27. Sept. 19, 2022 California Supreme Court Justice Patricia Guerrero has been confirmed to replace Cantil-Sakauye as chief justice in January, if approved by voters in November. Cantil-Sakauye, who was born in Sacramento, was the first person of color and the second woman to serve as chief justice. She was sworn in as the state’s 28th chief justice in January 2011 for a 12-year term after being selected by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. During her tenure as chief, the seven justices of the California Supreme Court routinely were in agreement in decisions reflecting the court’s general left-of-center orientation.

Judge approves $230-million settlement in Santa Barbara oil spill case

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-23/judge-approves-230m-settlement-in-california-oil-spill-case

A judge has approved a $230-million lawsuit settlement by the owners of a pipeline that spilled more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean off California in 2015, lawyers announced Thursday. A federal judge in Los Angeles gave final approval Tuesday to the settlement of a class-action suit that blamed All American Pipeline and Plains Pipeline for the May 2015 spill off the Santa Barbara coast. The corroded undersea pipeline ruptured north of Refugio State Beach, near Goleta. Initial reports indicated up to 105,000 gallons had spilled. But All American Pipeline later estimated 142,800 gallons had been released. It was the worst California coastal oil spill since 1969. It blackened popular beaches for miles, killing or fouling hundred of seabirds, seals and other wildlife and hurting tourism and fishing. California An oil spill poured thousands of gallons of crude into the waters off Santa Barbara County on May 19, covering about nine miles of coastline. May 20, 2015 “Due to failed maintenance and extensive pipeline corrosion, the pipeline ruptured and spilled, devastating the fishing industry and soiling coastal properties from Santa Barbara County to Los Angeles County,” a statement from the law firms that filed the suit said. People who believe they may be entitled to some of the money have until Oct. 31 to submit claims. The companies didn’t admit liability in the settlement agreement, which was reached in May following seven years of legal wrangling. Federal inspectors found that Plains had made several preventable errors, failed to quickly detect the rupture and responded too slowly as oil flowed toward the ocean. Plains apologized for the spill and paid for the costly cleanup. In 2020, Plains agreed to pay $60 million to the federal government to settle allegations that it violated safety laws. It also agreed to bring its nationwide pipeline system into compliance with federal safety laws. Plains has applied for permission to build a new pipeline but it is facing an uphill regulatory battle.

More than 200 whales found beached in Tasmania; Australian rescue efforts underway

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-21/whales-beached-australia-tasmania-rescue-efforts

About 230 whales have been stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island off the Australian state’s northwestern coast. The pod, which is stranded on Ocean Beach in Macquarie Harbor, appears to be pilot whales, and at least half are presumed to still be alive, Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said Wednesday. A team from the Marine Conservation Program was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area, the department said. The whales beached two years to the day after the largest mass stranding in Australia’s history was discovered in the same harbor. About 470 long-finned pilot whales were found on Sept. 21, 2020, stuck on sandbars. After a weeklong effort, 111 of those whales were rescued but the rest died. The entrance to the harbor is a notoriously shallow and dangerous channel known as Hell’s Gate. Local salmon farmer Linton Kringle helped in the 2020 rescue effort and said the latest challenge would be more difficult. “Last time they were actually in the harbor and it’s quite calm and we could, sort of, deal with them in there and we could get the boats up to them,” Kringle told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “But just on the beach, you just can’t get a boat in there, it’s too shallow, way too rough. My thoughts would be try to get them onto a vehicle if we can’t swim them out,” Kringle added. California It was the 10th dead whale reported in the San Francisco Bay Area this year, and the third dead humpback whale, according to the Marine Mammal Center. Aug. 29, 2022 Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist specializing in marine mammals, said it was too early to explain why the stranding had occurred. “The fact that we’ve seen similar species, the same time, in the same location, reoccurring in terms of stranding at that same spot might provide some sort of indication that there might be something environmental here,” Pirotta said. David Midson, general manager of the West Coast Council, urged people to stay clear. “Whales are a protected species, even once deceased, and it is an offense to interfere with a carcass,” the environment department said. Fourteen sperm whales were discovered Monday afternoon on King Island, part of the state of Tasmania in the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Tasmania’s northern coast. Griffith University marine scientist Olaf Meynecke said it’s unusual for sperm whales to wash ashore. He said that warmer temperatures could also be changing the ocean currents and moving the whales’ traditional food sources. “They will be going to different areas and searching for different food sources,” Meynecke said. “When they do this, they are not in the best physical condition because they might be starving, so this can lead them to take more risks and maybe go closer to shore.” The pilot whale is notorious for stranding in mass numbers, for reasons that are not entirely understood.

‘Sweetie Pie’ star found guilty in nephew’s shooting death

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-09-16/sweetie-pie-star-found-guilty-in-nephews-shooting-death

A federal jury on Friday convicted a former star of the St. Louis-based reality TV show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” of arranging the shooting death of his nephew. The jury deliberated about 17 hours over three days before reaching its verdict in the murder-for-hire case against James “Tim” Norman, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Norman and his nephew, Andre Montgomery, both starred in the long-running OWN reality show, about a popular soul-food business founded in the St. Louis area by Robbie Montgomery — Norman’s mother and Andre’s grandmother. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but Norman could be sentenced to up to life in prison. Sentencing is set for Dec. 15. Federal prosecutors said Norman, 43, hired two people to kill the 21-year-old Montgomery on March 14, 2016, then tried to collect on a $450,000 life insurance policy taken out on his nephew months earlier. Company Town Discovery Communications is paying $70 million to take a majority interest in OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Dec. 4, 2017 Defense attorney Michael Leonard said after the verdict that he and Norman were “extremely surprised and disappointed in the outcome” of the case. He said that they plan to appeal and that Norman continues to be optimistic that he will eventually prevail. Leonard said the testimony during the trial of two co-conspirators was shown to be “extremely non-credible.” And he said Norman testified well during the trial, noting he was not cross-examined. U.S. Atty. Sayler Fleming said that she was “very, very pleased” with the verdict but that her office would make no further statements until after the sentencing. During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Atty. Angie Danis said Norman was the architect of the plan to kill Montgomery. “This plan doesn’t exist but for Tim Norman’s greed,” Danis said. Leonard argued in his closing argument that the murder plot presented by prosecutors was a “made up theory.” Prosecutors said Norman paid $10,000 to an exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, to lure his nephew to the site where he was shot and paid $5,000 to Travell Anthony Hill to shoot Montgomery. Ellis and Hill both testified for the prosecution in the case. They have both pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme. In testimony during the trial, Norman said he helped his nephew move to St. Louis about 18 months before he was killed and supported him financially because he was trying to watch out for Montgomery. He said he sought to be a “father figure” to his brother’s son. Former Sweetie Pie’s employees and other character witnesses testified that Norman and his nephew had a close relationship. Danis said all the testimony from the scheme’s co-conspirators was backed up by texts, call records and location data. She said Norman created “an image of being a mentor and a father figure to all these people, but it’s fiction.” Leonard said during his closing argument that Ellis testified to get a shorter sentence and said Hill admitted he was a heavy drug user and that he was “hopped up on drugs that day.” Norman testified Tuesday that he took out the life insurance policy on his nephew to give a longtime customer of the family restaurants, Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, some business. Yaghnam pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and wire fraud in the case. Montgomery left St. Louis after at least $220,000 in cash, jewelry and other items were stolen in a June 2015 burglary at Robbie Montgomery’s home. Norman told jurors he and his mother hired a private investigator to find and confront his nephew about the robbery but he had no intention of hurting him.

Review: Murder-mystery 'See How They Run' really staggers

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-09-14/review-murder-mystery-see-how-they-run-really-staggers

A murder occurs right as “See How They Run” begins and for a very good reason: It’s a whodunit film about a real murder backstage at a whodunit play where all the murders are fake. Got that? Good. Shall we continue? Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan star as police officers who must unravel this knotty mystery in early-1950s London in a film that’s as much a valentine to whodunits as an indictment of them, and it’s not always clear which side the filmmakers are on. There’s a touch of noir, some mocking of the murder-mystery tropes, a dash of self-awareness, lots of fedoras and coats, mannered humor — “Poppycock!” says one character; “Hitchcock, actually,” comes the reply — and an archness that keeps everything at arm’s length. All in all, a pleasant diversion, if not a particular memorable one, although it has snagged a pretty impressive cast, all employing upper-class British accents as thick as Devonshire scones. It seems perfectly designed for folks who adore Acorn TV and PBS British mysteries. You know how many celebrities decide to star in kiddie films so that their children can finally appreciate what they do for a living? Well, “See How They Run” is for their grandparents. It kicks off backstage in the West End at Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” a mystery that in this telling has celebrated 100 performances and Hollywood is noticing. But there’s a catch: No film adaptation can be made while the play is still running. That may lead to some sabotage. When the malignant, would-be film director — a delicious Adrien Brody, playing the only American — ends up the victim of a murder — sorry that’s a MU-dur — Rockwell and Ronan show up to solve the crime, he a steely-eyed copper who drinks too much and she a nervous novice prone to jumping to conclusions. The early death of Brody’s character doesn’t mean he’s out of the movie. He’s our narrator, snacking on the dialogue as if it were an overstuffed pastrami sandwich. “It’s a whodunit,” he says at one point. “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” Also along for the ride are Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith and Harris Dickinson. There’s also a fancy intellectual screenwriter played insouciantly by David Oyelowo, who is derisively called “London’s most sensitive writer.” It is a hoot to see him play insufferable — as it is to see Ronan do comedy. Director Tom George and screenwriter Mark Chappell revel in the time period — the cars and furs and vintage dialogue speckled with “Darlings” and “Hop to it!” This is a film for you if you like your police officers extremely polite. “Constable,” says Rockwell to his partner. “Inspector,” the underling replies. They do this approximately 400 times. It is a film that adores commenting on its own conventions as it folds in on itself, as when stage props fool savvy characters or when it introduces a flashback and Oyelowo’s screenwriter complains that such a device is “the last refuge of a moribund imagination.” Somewhere in here is an indictment of Hollywood, but it is as blunt a weapon as the one that does the murder. The filmmakers employ all kinds of ways to try to keep viewers interested, like split screens, some farce and a surreal dream sequence, but there’s not enough humor or grit or anything other than actors swanning around in period clothing. “See How They Run” fits perfectly in a vibe right now — “Only Murders in the Building” on TV and “Knives Out” at the movie theater. Add to the list Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot adaptations “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile.” Whodunits are hot. But if you’ve see this one, you’ve definitely seen them all. 'See How They Run' Rated: PG-13, for “some violence/bloody images and a sexual reference” Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutesPlaying: Opens Friday in general release

Ricky Martin faces new sexual assault complaint, reportedly from his nephew

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-09-12/ricky-martin-faces-sexual-assault-complaint-puerto-rico

A sexual assault complaint has been filed against pop star Ricky Martin, who recently sued his nephew over what he said were false allegations of sexual abuse. The complaint was filed Friday at a police precinct in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, police spokesman Edward Ramírez told the Associated Press on Saturday. Information including who filed the complaint and details of the allegations are not public, given the nature of the complaint. A person with knowledge of the case who was not authorized to speak publicly about it and requested anonymity, confirmed that Martin’s nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sánchez Martin, filed the complaint. The person said the complaint does not automatically trigger an arrest because the alleged incident is not recent, adding that police will investigate and determine whether charges are warranted. Sánchez previously requested a restraining order against Martin in July, but a judge later archived the case after Sánchez admitted under oath that he had never been sexually assaulted by the singer. Flavia Fernández, a spokeswoman for Martin, told the AP that the singer’s legal team is evaluating the situation and not issuing public comment for now. Music Ricky Martin delivers an emotional performance at the Hollywood Bowl, one day after his nephew dropped harassment allegations. July 23, 2022 On Wednesday, the artist’s attorneys filed a lawsuit against his nephew, whom they described as “troubled.” They accused him of extortion, malicious persecution, abuse of law and damages. They said Sánchez’s allegations cost Martin at least $10 million worth of canceled contracts and projects, plus another $20 million in damages to his reputation. The lawsuit states that Sánchez would send up to 10 messages a day to Martin, the majority “meaningless diatribes without any particular purpose.” It also accuses him of publishing Martin’s private number, forcing him to change it. In addition, the lawsuit said Sánchez falsely claimed he had a romantic relationship with Martin for seven months and that the singer didn’t want it to end and would call Sánchez frequently. “Nothing further from the truth,” the lawsuit stated. Attorneys also noted that a judge previously issued Sánchez two restraining orders in an unrelated stalking case.

Major League Baseball prepared to voluntarily recognize minor league union

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-09-09/mlb-prepared-to-voluntarily-recognize-minor-league-union

Major League Baseball is ready to voluntarily accept the formation of a minor league union, a key step that will lead to collective bargaining and possibly a strike threat at the start of next season. The Major League Baseball Players Assn. launched the unionization drive on Aug. 28 and told MLB on Tuesday it had obtained signed authorization cards from the approximately 5,000 to 6,500 players with minor league contracts. If MLB had declined to accept the union, the players association’s next step would have been to ask the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an authorization election. “We, I believe, notified the MLBPA today that we’re prepared to execute an agreement on voluntary recognition. I think they’re working on the language as we speak,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during a news conference to announce on-field rules changes for next season. Dodgers The Dodgers bullpen has became of the best in the majors even with a rash of injuries and inconsistency from closer Craig Kimbrel. Sept. 9, 2022 Major leaguers negotiated their first collective bargaining agreement in 1968. They have had nine work stoppages during a period of gains in which the big league average salary rose from $19,000 in 1967 to more than $4 million this year. Players on 40-man rosters on option to the minor leagues have been represented by the union since 1981. The vast majority of minor leaguers have not been represented by the union, which intends to form a separate bargaining unit with its own dues and governance structure, such as player representatives and an executive board. MLB raised weekly minimum salaries for minor leaguers last year to $400 at rookie and short-season levels, $500 at Class A, $600 at double A and $700 at triple A. For players on option, the minimum is $57,200 per season for a first big league contract and $114,100 for later big league contracts. In addition, MLB this year began requiring teams to provide housing for most minor leaguers. Dodgers Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has plenty of options for the postseason rotation, even if they’re not all obvious. If it doesn’t work, he will be the one in line for criticism. Sept. 8, 2022 MLB and union negotiators have had an acrimonious relationship in recent years, leading to several grievances that remain pending. Manfred and union head Tony Clark held separate news conferences to announce the agreement that ended the lockout in March, and union officials did not attend MLB’s news conference Friday to announce the adoption of a pitch clock and defensive shift restrictions. The five-year labor agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and MLB could seek a simultaneous expiration for a minor league deal. The minor leaguers’ greatest leverage may be ahead of opening day, March 31 at triple A and April 6 at lower levels, when a strike could lead each team to keep its dozen or so unionized players on option at training complexes playing makeshift games. Negotiations between Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem and Bruce Meyer, recently promoted to the union’s executive director, have been filled with acrimony. Angels Renowned general managers Billy Beane and Theo Epstein should be two names to look out for this offseason as potential new owners of the Angels. Sept. 9, 2022

Photos: Route fire near Castaic explodes to over 5,000 acres

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-01/photos-route-fire-in-castaic-explodes-to-5-000-acres-and-no-containment

Triple digit temperatures and dry vegetation have created rapid spread of the Route fire near Castaic. As of Thursday morning, the fire had burned more than 5,000 acres and was 12% contained. The Route fire began around noon Wednesday and spread to about 60 acres by the time Los Angeles County firefighters were dispatched to the scene, according to the L.A. County Fire Department on Twitter. Flames burned about 250 acres by 5:27 p.m. near Lake Hughes Road on northbound Interstate 5, the Fire Department added.

Mario Batali settles 2 lawsuits that alleged sexual assault

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-08-24/mario-batali-settles-2-lawsuits-alleging-sexual-assault

Mario Batali has agreed to settle two Massachusetts lawsuits that accused the celebrity chef of sexual assault, attorneys for the women said Wednesday. The decision to settle the cases comes more than two months after the former Food Network personality was cleared of a criminal charge stemming from accusations by one of the women, whom prosecutors alleged was aggressively kissed and groped by Batali while she took a selfie at a downtown Boston bar in 2017. “The matters have been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. We cannot comment further due to confidentiality obligations,” attorneys for the two women said in an emailed statement. Food Batali, who pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery in 2019, had faced up to 2 1/2 years in jail. May 10, 2022 An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to Batali’s attorney. The women alleged that Batali had sexually assaulted them on separate occasions. The accusations by one of the women led to the only criminal case against the prominent chef and restauranteur at the height of the #MeToo movement. One woman testified in May that she felt confused and powerless to do anything to stop Batali at the time. Business Celebrity chef Mario Batali stepped away from the day-to-day operations of his culinary empire and from the ABC show “The Chew” on Monday, as allegations emerged that he committed sexual misconduct spanning at least two decades. Dec. 11, 2017 But Batali was acquitted of indecent assault and battery after a Boston judge agreed with Batali’s lawyers that the accuser had credibility issues and that photos suggested the encounter was amicable. Batali’s lawyers portrayed the accuser as a liar who was financially motivated because of her civil lawsuit brought against the chef in 2018. If convicted, Batali had faced up to 2½ years in prison and would have been required to register as a sex offender. Entertainment & Arts Celebrity chef Mario Batali is facing a criminal charge on allegations that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman at a Boston restaurant in 2017. May 23, 2019 The other woman — who sued Batali in 2019 — similarly alleged that he had groped and kissed her at a restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood in 2016. Batali stepped down from day-to-day operations at his restaurant empire and left the since-discontinued ABC cooking show “The Chew” after the sexual misconduct allegations surfaced. Food A year after sexual misconduct allegations against Mario Batali roiled the industry, the celebrity chef’s ties to all of his restaurants were formally severed Wednesday. March 6, 2019 Last year, Batali, his business partner and their New York City restaurant company agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve a four-year investigation by the New York attorney general’s office into allegations that Batali and other staff sexually harassed employees.

Letters to the Editor: Many car ads glorify dangerous driving. Should they be banned?

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2022-08-24/car-ads-glorify-dangerous-driving

To the editor: Alcoholic beverage advertisers won’t show a person sipping a beer on TV, but car companies can and do show sleek, new, overpowered cars speeding, burning rubber and careening to upbeat music tracks. (“Unsafe speeds and reckless driving: Deadly Windsor Hills wreck ‘is the tip of the iceberg,’” Aug. 19) I don’t think a kid of 16 will heed the unreadable warnings at the end of the spots that the stunts are done by professional drivers. “Do not try this at home” at the end of a TV commercial is hardly a deterrent to the auto idiots. Numerous intersections with tire tracks and skid marks from street takeovers are grim reminders of this ridiculously irresponsible behavior. As an ex-adman, I hate to lay blame on the advertisers, but something must be done. Maybe there should be a limit on horsepower on city streets. It’s simple: Irresponsible advertising is causing deaths. Newell Alexander, Valley Village .. To the editor: There is a low-tech and cost-effective solution to high speeds on the road that will solve more problems than reducing speed limits or installing expensive cameras. I’m talking about speed bumps, and not just in residential neighborhoods, but on any roads where people race their cars. It’s physically impossible to go fast where there are speed bumps and not hit your head on the ceiling of your car. I would certainly install speed bumps wherever there are gangs of drivers closing off streets and doing donuts. My solution, however, is probably way too simple for our civic leaders to wrap their heads around. Doug Weiskopf, Burbank

More blasts in Russian-controlled Crimea shift focus of attention in Ukraine war

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-08-16/explosions-refocus-war-ukraine-russian-annexed-crimea

Explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in slightly more than a week, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people. Russia blamed the blasts at an ammunition storage facility in Mayskoye on an “act of sabotage” without naming the perpetrators. Separately, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant quoted residents as saying that plumes of black smoke also rose over an air base in Crimea’s Gvardeyskoye. Ukraine stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for any of the fires or explosions, including last week’s incident at another air base that destroyed nine Russian planes. Russia illegally seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has used it to launch attacks against Ukraine since the war began nearly six months ago. In another reported attack, Russia’s Tass news agency quoted the FSB, the domestic security agency, as saying Ukrainian operatives blew up six high-voltage transmission towers this month in Russia’s Kursk region, close to Ukraine. If Ukrainian forces were behind any of the explosions, that would represent a significant escalation in the war. Such attacks could also indicate that Ukrainian operatives are able to penetrate deeply into Russian-occupied territory, supplementing attempts to weaken Moscow’s forces on the front lines. World & Nation Stealth operations and assistance from Ukrainian guerrilla forces pose a growing challenge to Russia’s grip on occupied areas in southeastern Ukraine. Aug. 9, 2022 The Kremlin’s demand that Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia has been one of its key conditions for ending the fighting, while Ukraine has vowed to drive Moscow’s forces from the peninsula and all other occupied Ukrainian territories. Videos posted on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising over raging flames in Mayskoye, and a series of explosions could be heard in the background. The Russian Defense Ministry said the fires at the depot damaged a power plant, power lines, rail tracks and some apartment buildings. “We came out to take a look and saw clouds of smoke coming from the cow shed where the military warehouses are,” said resident Maksim Moldovskiy. “We stayed there until about 7 to 8 a.m. Everything was exploding — flashes, fragments, debris falling on us. Then the emergency guys came and said they were evacuating everybody.” The district where the blasts happened, Dzhankoi, is in the north of the peninsula, about 30 miles fromthe Russian-controlled region of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Kyiv has recently mounted a series of attacks on various sites in the region, targeting supply routes for the Russian military there and ammunition depots. World & Nation The civilian killings in and around Bucha, where 458 bodies have been found so far, have come to symbolize the brutality of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Aug. 12, 2022 Last week’s explosions at Saki air base sent beachgoers nearby fleeing as huge flames and pillars of smoke rose over the horizon. Ukrainian officials emphasized Tuesday that Crimea — which is a popular destination for Russian tourists — would not be spared the ravages of war experienced throughout Ukraine. Rather than a travel destination, “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves,” Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter, though he did not claim any Ukrainian responsibility for the blasts. Crimea’s Russian-appointed regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said that two people were injured and more than 3,000 evacuated from the villages of Mayskoye and Azovskoye near Dzhankoi after the munitions depot explosions. Because the explosions damaged rail tracks, some trains in northern Crimea were diverted to other lines. “The detonations are rather strong. Ammunition is strewn all over the ground,” he said, adding that several homes burned down. World & Nation Moscow has refused to conduct a full-blown mobilization even as it suffers losses in Ukraine, where the war has dragged on for nearly half a year. Aug. 11, 2022 Russia’s military blamed last week’s blasts at the Saki base on an accidental detonation of munitions there, but it appeared to be the result of a Ukrainian attack. Ukrainian officials at the time stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, while mocking Russia’s explanation that a careless smoker might have caused ammunition at the base to catch fire and blow up. Analysts also said that the explanation doesn’t make sense and that the Ukrainians could have used anti-ship missiles to strike the base. A British Defense Ministry intelligence update said that, in the waters off Crimea, Russian Black Sea fleet surface vessels “continue to pursue an extremely defensive posture,” with boats barely venturing out of sight of the coastline. Russia already lost its flagship, Moskva, in the Black Sea, and last month the Ukrainian military retook the strategic Snake Island outpost off Ukraine’s southwestern coast vital for guaranteeing sea lanes out of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port. The Russian fleet’s “limited effectiveness undermines Russia’s overall invasion strategy,” the British intelligence update said. “This means Ukraine can divert resources to press Russian ground forces elsewhere.” World & Nation Russia denies that any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday’s massive explosions at a base in Crimea amid speculation about a Ukrainian attack. Aug. 10, 2022 Meanwhile, in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which has been the primary focus of the fighting in recent months, one civilian was killed in Russian shelling and two others wounded, according to the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, one civilian was killed and nine others were wounded by Russian shelling, regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov said. He added that the overnight attack on the city was among “the most massive shelling of Kharkiv in recent days.” Officials in the central region of Dnipro also reported shelling of the Nikopol and the Kryvyi Rih districts. Amid the explosions and shelling, one good piece of news emerged from the region, with a United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 25,350 tons of Ukrainian grain setting off for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa. It’s the first shipment of its kind, and the U.N.’s World Food Program called it “another important milestone” in a plan to assist countries facing famine. Ukraine and Russia reached a deal with Turkey in July to restart Black Sea grain deliveries, addressing the major export disruption since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

'Bullet Train' repeats No. 1; 'Top Gun' flies back up ranks

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-08-14/bullet-train-repeats-no-1-top-gun-flies-back-up-ranks

The Brad Pitt action film “Bullet Train” led all movies in ticket sales for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while a quiet spell in theaters and incredible staying power allowed “Top Gun: Maverick” to rocket back into third place in its 12th week of release. After launching the previous weekend with about $30 million at the box office, “Bullet Train” pulled in $13.4 million in its second go-around. David Leitch’s assassin-crowded film, made for $90 million, has grossed $54.4 million in two weeks for Sony Pictures. Globally, “Bullet Train” has grossed $114.5 million. Three new films went into wide release but none cracked the top five films. The slowdown — an expected but still acute late-summer downturn in big releases — gave plenty of airspace for the year’s biggest movie, “Maverick,” to make another fly-by in theaters. Nearly three months after opening in May, Paramount Pictures put the “Top Gun” sequel back on a number of large-format screens and increased its theater count from 2,760 to 3,181. It came away with $7.2 million, bringing its cumulative total to $673.8 million. Paramount’s biggest smash ever, “Maverick” sits at seventh all-time in domestic box office, not accounting for inflation, right above “Titanic” and just below “Avengers: Infinity War.” Company Town Older audiences are gone? Disney+ trained families to stream and stay home? Not so fast. July 12, 2022 The uncommonly long run for “Top Gun: Maverick” is even rarer at a time when studios have shrunk theatrical windows, typically sending movies to streaming services after about 45 days in theaters. “Top Gun: Maverick” was very narrowly edged for second place by Warner Bros.’ “DC League of Super-Pets.” Warner Bros. estimated Sunday that its animated movie took in $7.17 million in its third week of release, just a nose above the $7.15 million for “Maverick.” Final figures Monday should break the near-tie. But while “Top Gun: Maverick” has been a boon to theaters recovering from the pandemic, the thinly scheduled dog days of August — and potentially a chunk of September — will pose a test to the industry. This weekend, the biggest new film in nationwide theaters was A24’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a Gen Z horror comedy that expanded to 1,269 locations after last week’s opening in limited release. It came in eighth with $3.3 million. Lionsgate’s “The Fall,” about two friends stranded atop a 2,000-foot radio tower, debuted with $2.5 million. Diane Keaton’s body-swap comedy “Mack & Rita” opened with just $1 million in ticket sales for Gravitas Ventures. In overall sales it was the lowest ticket-selling weekend of the summer. With few new wide releases on tap — including two Idris Elba titles: the safari thriller “Beast” (Aug. 19) and George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” (Aug. 26) — moviegoing is likely to slow further in the coming weeks. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. “Bullet Train,” $13.4 million. 2. “DC League of Super-Pets,” $7.2 million 3. “Top Gun: Maverick,” $7.2 million. 4. “Thor: Love and Thunder,” $5.3 million. 5. “Nope,” $5.3 million. 6. “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” $4.9 million. 7. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” $4 million. 8. “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” $3.3 million. 9. “Elvis,” $2.6 million. 10. “Fall,” $2.5 million.

NBA to retire Celtics legend Bill Russell's jersey No. 6 leaguewide

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-08-11/nba-retire-bill-russell-6-jersey-number-leaguewide

The NBA has announced that, for the first time in league history, one player will have his number retired leaguewide. Bill Russell, regarded as the league’s greatest winner and the namesake of its Finals MVP award, will be honored by the NBA with his No. 6 uniform no longer available to players entering the league. Current players who already wear No. 6, like the Lakers’ LeBron James, can continue to wear the uniform number. Sports The NBA should retire Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey in honor of his lifetime dedication to civil rights activism and social justice, writes Dan Woike. Aug. 1, 2022 The NBA announced the decision on Thursday. “Bill Russell’s unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honored in a unique and historic way,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill’s transcendent career will always be recognized.” Russell died on July 31. He was 88. Teams will also honor Russell with a commemorative jersey path and with an on-court logo. Obituaries Bill Russell, professional basketball’s first Black superstar who reinvented the center position with the 1950s and ‘60s Boston Celtics, has died. July 31, 2022 “This is a momentous honor reserved for one of the greatest champions to ever play the game,” NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said in a statement. “Bill’s actions on and off the court throughout the course of his life helped to shape generations of players for the better and for that, we are forever grateful. We are proud to continue the celebration of his life and legacy alongside the league.” Russell won 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons, winning five regular season most valuable player awards. He became the first Black coach in the NBA and won two more titles. Russell was also a noted civic activist, fighting against racial injustice while an active player and following his retirement. In 2010, Russell earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Online privacy in a post-Roe world

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-08-11/online-privacy-in-a-post-roe-world

The case of a Nebraska woman charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy after investigators obtained Facebook messages between the two has raised fresh concerns about data privacy in the post-Roe world. Since before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June, Big Tech companies that collect personal details of their users have faced new calls to limit that tracking and surveillance amid fears that law enforcement or vigilantes could use those data troves against people seeking abortions or those who try to help them. Meta, which owns Facebook, said Tuesday it received warrants requesting messages in the Nebraska case from local law enforcement on June 7, before the Supreme Court decision overriding Roe came down. The warrants, the company added, “did not mention abortion at all,” and court documents at the time showed that police were investigating the “alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant.” However, in early June, the mother and daughter were only charged with a single felony for removing, concealing or abandoning a body, and two misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person and false reporting. It wasn’t until about a month later, after investigators reviewed the private Facebook messages, that prosecutors added the felony abortion-related charges against the mother. History has repeatedly demonstrated that whenever people’s personal data is tracked and stored, there’s always a risk that it could be misused or abused. With the Supreme Court’s overruling of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion, collected location data, text messages, search histories, emails and seemingly innocuous period and ovulation-tracking apps could be used to prosecute people who seek an abortion — or medical care for a miscarriage — as well as those who assist them. “In the digital age, this decision opens the door to law enforcement and private bounty hunters seeking vast amounts of private data from ordinary Americans,” said Alexandra Reeve Givens, the president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based digital rights nonprofit. Meta said it received a legal warrant from law enforcement about the case, which did not mention the word “abortion.” The company has said that officials at the social media giant “always scrutinize every government request we receive to make sure it is legally valid” and that Meta fights back against requests that it thinks are invalid or too broad. But the company gave investigators information in about 88% of the 59,996 cases in which the government requested data in the second half of last year, according to its transparency report. Meta declined to say whether its response would have been different had the warrant mentioned the word “abortion.” Until May, anyone could buy a weekly trove of data on clients at more than 600 Planned Parenthood sites around the country for as little as $160, according to a recent Vice investigation. The files included approximate patient addresses — derived from where their cellphones “sleep” at night — income brackets, time spent at the clinic, and the top places people visited before and afterward. It’s all possible because federal law — specifically, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA — protects the privacy of medical files at your doctor’s office, but not any information that third-party apps or tech companies collect about you. This is also true if an app that collects your data shares it with a third party that might abuse it. In 2017, Latice Fisher of Mississippi was charged with second-degree murder after she sought medical care for a pregnancy loss. “While receiving care from medical staff, she was also immediately treated with suspicion of committing a crime,” civil rights attorney and Ford Foundation fellow Cynthia Conti-Cook wrote in her 2020 paper, “Surveilling the Digital Abortion Diary.” Fisher’s “statements to nurses, the medical records, and the autopsy records of her fetus were turned over to the local police to investigate whether she intentionally killed her fetus,” she wrote. Fisher was indicted on a second-degree murder charge in 2018; conviction could have led to life in prison. The murder charge was later dismissed. Evidence against her included her online search history, which included queries on how to induce a miscarriage and how to buy abortion pills online. “Her digital data gave prosecutors a ‘window into [her] soul’ to substantiate their general theory that she did not want the fetus to survive,” Conti-Cook wrote. Though many companies have announced policies to protect employees by paying for necessary out-of-state travel to obtain an abortion, technology companies have said little about how they might cooperate with law enforcement or government agencies trying to prosecute people seeking an abortion where it is illegal — or who are helping someone do so. In June, Democratic lawmakers asked federal regulators to investigate Apple and Google for allegedly deceiving millions of mobile phone users by enabling the collection and sale of their personal data to third parties. The following month, Google announced it will automatically purge information about users who visit abortion clinics or other locations that could trigger legal problems following the Supreme Court decision. Governments and law enforcement can subpoena companies for data on their users. Generally, Big Tech policies suggest the companies will comply with abortion-related data requests unless they see them as overly broad. Meta, for instance, pointed to its online transparency report, which says “we comply with government requests for user information only where we have a good-faith belief that the law requires us to do so.” Online rights advocates say that’s not enough. In the Nebraska case, for instance, neither Meta nor law enforcement would have been able to read the messages had they been “end-to-end encrypted” the way messages on Meta’s WhatsApp service are protected by default. “Meta must flip the switch and make end-to-end encryption a default in all private messages, including on Facebook and Instagram. Doing so will literally save pregnant peoples’ lives,” said Caitlin Seeley George, campaigns and managing director at the nonprofit rights group Fight for the Future. Unless all your data is securely encrypted, there’s always a chance that someone, somewhere can access it. So abortion-rights activists suggest that people in states where abortion is outlawed should limit the creation of such data in the first place. For instance, they urge turning off phone location services — or just leaving your phone at home — when seeking reproductive healthcare. To be safe, they say, it’s good to read the privacy policies of any health apps in use. The Electronic Frontier Foundation suggests using more privacy-conscious web browsers such as Brave, Firefox and DuckDuckGo — but also recommends double-checking their privacy settings. There are also ways to turn off ad identifiers on both Apple and Android phones that stop advertisers from being able to track you. This is generally a good idea in any case. Apple will ask you if you want to be tracked each time you download a new app. For apps you already have installed, the tracking can be turned off manually.

Lamont Dozier, prolific Motown songwriter and producer, dies at 81

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-08-09/motown-songwriter-producer-lamont-dozier-dead-at-81

Lamont Dozier, the middle name of the celebrated Holland-Dozier-Holland team that wrote and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave” and an abundance of other hits that helped make Motown an essential record company of the 1960s and beyond, has died at age 81. Dozier’s death was confirmed Tuesday by Paul Lambert, who helped produce the stage musical “The First Wives Club” that Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote for. In Motown’s historic, self-defined rise to the “Sound of Young America,” Holland-Dozier-Holland stood out even compared to such gifted peers as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Barrett Strong. Over a four-year period, 1963-67, Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland crafted more than 25 top 10 songs and mastered the blend of pop and rhythm and blues that allowed the Detroit label, and founder Berry Gordy, to defy boundaries between what was deemed Black or white music and rival the Beatles on the airwaves. Music Ex-Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier stays optimistic amid the many highs and lows. Oct. 24, 1999 For the Four Tops, they wrote “Baby I Need Your Loving” and “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)”; for Martha and the Vandellas they wrote “Heat Wave” and “Jimmy Mack”; for Marvin Gaye, “Baby Don’t You Do It” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).” The music lived on through countless soundtracks, samplings and radio airings, in cover versions by the Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and many others, and in generations of songwriters and musicians influenced by the Motown sound. “Their structures were simple and direct,” Gerri Hirshey wrote in the Motown history “Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music,” published in 1984. “Sometimes a song barreled to number one on the sheer voice of repetitive hooks, like a fast-food jungle that lurks, subliminally, until it connects with real hunger.” Brian Wilson, Ron Wood and Mick Hucknall were among the many musicians offering tributes Tuesday. Carole King, who with then-husband Gerry Goffin was another leading hitmaker of the ’60s, tweeted that “striving to keep up with them made us better songwriters.” Music I’m a songwriter. That’s how I’ve made a living. Jan. 26, 2003 The polish of H-D-H was ideally suited for Motown’s signature act, Diana Ross and the Supremes, for whom they wrote 10 No. 1 songs, among them “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Expectations were so high that when “Nothing but Heartaches” failed to make the top 10 in 1965, Gordy sent a company memo demanding that Motown release only chart toppers for the Supremes, an order H-D-H obeyed with “I Hear a Symphony” and several more records. Holland-Dozier-Holland weren’t above formulas or closely repeating a previous hit, but they worked in various moods and styles: the casual joy of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” the escalating desire of “Heat Wave,” the urgency of “Reach Out (I’ll Be There).” Dozier’s focus was on melody and arrangements, whether the haunting echoes of the Vandellas’ backing vocals on “Nowhere to Run,” the flashing lights of guitar that drive the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On” or the hypnotic gospel piano on Gaye’s “Can I Get a Witness.” “All the songs started out as slow ballads, but when we were in the studio we’d pick up the tempo,” Dozier told the Guardian in 2001. “The songs had to be fast because they were for teenagers — otherwise it would have been more like something for your parents. The emotion was still there, it was just under cover of the optimism that you got from the up-tempo beat.” Music Legendary Motown songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland, creators of hits such as “Stop in the Name of Love” and “I Hear a Symphony,” are singing to the tune of $30 million as they become the latest musicians to wrap up a security deal backed by future music royalties. Aug. 4, 1998 The prime of H-D-H, and of Motown, ended in 1968 amid questions and legal disputes over royalties and other issues. H-D-H left the label, and neither side would recover. The Four Tops and the Supremes were among the acts that suffered from no longer having their most dependable writers. Meanwhile, H-D-H’s efforts to start their own business fell far short of Motown. The labels Invictus and Hot Wax both faded within a few years, and Dozier would recall with disbelief the Hollands turning down such future superstars as Al Green and George Clinton. H-D-H did release several hits, including Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” and Honey Cone’s “Want Ads.” The trio of Holland-Dozier-Holland was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years later. On his own, Dozier had a top 20 hit with “Trying to Hold on to My Woman,” helped produce Aretha Franklin’s “Sweet Passion” album and collaborated with Eric Clapton and Hucknall among others. His biggest success was co-writing Phil Collins’ chart-topping “Two Hearts,” from the 1988 movie “Buster,” a mid-tempo, Motown-style ballad that won a Grammy and Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination. H-D-H reunited for a stage production of “The First Wives Club,” which premiered in 2009, but their time back together was brief and unhappy. Dozier and the Hollands clashed often and Dozier dropped out before the show launched. “I can’t see us ever working with Lamont again,” Eddie Holland wrote in “Come and Get These Memories,” a memoir by the Hollands that came out in 2019, the same year Dozier published the memoir “How Sweet It Is.” Entertainment & Arts Motown Records didn’t release every indelible pop-soul hit from the ‘60s and ‘70s, although sometimes that’s how it seemed. May 1, 2015 Dozier acknowledged that his early success conflicted with his family life, but he eventually settled down with Barbara Ullman, who died in 2021 after more than 40 years of marriage. His children include the songwriter-record producer Beau Dozier and composer Paris Ray Dozier. Like so many Motown artists, Dozier was born in Detroit and raised in a family of singers and musicians. He sang in the choir of his Baptist church, and his love for words was affirmed by a grade school teacher who, he recalled, liked one of his poems so much she kept it on the blackboard for a month. By the late 1950s, he was a professional singer and eventually signed with Motown, where he first worked with Brian Holland, and then Eddie Holland, who wrote most of the lyrics. Some of Motown’s biggest hits and catchiest phrases originated from Dozier’s domestic life. He remembered his grandfather’s addressing women as “Sugar pie, honey bunch,” the opening words and ongoing refrain of the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” The Four Tops hit “Bernadette” was inspired by all three songwriters having troubles with women named Bernadette, while an argument with another Dozier girlfriend helped inspire a Supremes favorite. “She was pretty heated up because I was quite the ladies’ man at that time and I’d been cheating on her,” Dozier told the Guardian. “So she started telling me off and swinging at me until I said, ‘Stop! In the name of love!’ And as soon as I’d said it I heard a cash register in my head and laughed. My girlfriend didn’t think it was very amusing: We broke up. The only ones who were happy about it were the Supremes.”

Melissa Bank, witty bestselling author, dies at 61

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2022-08-04/melissa-bank-witty-bestselling-author-dies-at-61

Melissa Bank, whose 1999 bestseller “The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing” was a series of interconnected stories widely praised for its wit and precise language and embraced by young readers, has died at age 61. Viking Books announced that Bank died Tuesday in East Hampton, N.Y. She had lung cancer. Bank was a Philadelphia native with a master’s degree from Cornell University whose influences ranged from Vladimir Nabokov to Grace Paley. She needed 12 years to finish “The Girls’ Guide,” in part, because of a bicycle accident that damaged her short-term memory and ability to think of words. But her book, which follows a young woman’s life from adolescence to adulthood, was a critical and commercial success. “Bank draws exquisite portraits of loneliness, and can do it in a sentence,” Newsweek’s Yahlin Chang wrote. Two stories from “The Girls’ Guide” were adapted into the 2007 romantic comedy “Suburban Girl,’’ starring Alec Baldwin and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Bank also wrote the comic story collection “The Wonder Spot,” in which she traced a woman’s efforts to find her place in the world, and her writings appeared in Ploughshares and Zoetrope among other publications. She also taught in the master of fine arts program at Stony Brook Southampton.

Letters to the Editor: 'Mexican versions of Stephen Miller' — on the backlash against expats in Mexico

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2022-08-02/backlash-american-expats-mexico-city

To the editor: Several years ago, when I realized how dangerously divided our country had become, I thought about why and read a lot on the subject. It didn’t take too long to conclude that Americans had started to see their fellow citizens as the “other.” (“Californians and other Americans are flooding Mexico City. Some locals want them to go home,” July 27, and “The new generation of smug American expats in Mexico needs to face the truth,” column, July 29) We are educated and successful. They are deplorables. We are taxpayers. They find ways not to pay. We worked hard for what we have. They work the system. We came as immigrants and contributed to this country. They go to another country and exploit it. Please. People are people, and we are more alike than different. We can all improve the situation we’re in by moving toward “us.” Linda Mele Johnson, Long Beach .. To the editor: The Times’ report on Americans relocating to Mexico City riled up a storm on Twitter, as people with right-wing sensibilities proclaimed “gotcha.” Others decried what they saw as gentrification and displacement. Columnist Gustavo Arellano provided his own perspective, siding with those who expressed concerns about cultural change in Mexico that is brought about by “ugly Americans.” I’m here to offer a third perspective: The universal human impulse of nativism is bad. I’m a proud Mexican American who does not shy away from speaking Spanish. I should be free to be my authentic self as long as I am not hurting others. It is each country’s prerogative to craft its own immigration laws. However, we should avoid trying to sound too much like Mexican versions of Stephen Miller. Mario Gonzalez, Palmdale .. To the editor: Recently, 30 young Mexican volunteers painted fanciful designs on the power poles along the main street of the Mexican village where I live. The young people hold a lesson for us expats. Mexicans not only chafe at higher cost of living, but at folks from NOB (north of the border) who come because it’s cheap, set up shop, demand people speak English, stay in their little NOB groups and ignore the fact that they are in one the most magical cities in one of the most magical countries in the world. Perhaps if they saw and talked with those kids, they would understand that Mexico is magic not because it is cheap, but because of its people. I advise people moving to Mexico to bring four things: patience, flexibility, generosity and a sense of humor. This country runs on relationships; sequestering yourself to a computer screen and your NOB friends does not build relationships. Talking even in broken Spanish will earn you a smile. Give five pesos to the old woman begging by the store, tell her your name and ask for hers. Smile at the kid who wants to wash your car and maybe say “sí.” And if you see a group of high school students painting telephone poles, tell them “muy bien.” They are probably your neighbors, and then they will be your friends. Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic, Mexico The writer is assistant editor for English of the bilingual newspaper Semanario Laguna.

In a storied Ukrainian city, a dance with wartime destiny

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-08-01/odesa-storied-city-ukraine-russia-history

In the sinewy 41-year-old ballet dancer’s telling, it wasn’t really such a grand jeté to exit the stage of an iconic opera house and enlist in the Ukrainian army. When Russian troops rolled into Ukraine more than five months ago, Vitaliy R., a longtime member of the corps de ballet at the Opera Theater in the Black Sea city of Odesa, didn’t even wait for the mobilization call to come. “We didn’t start this war,” said Vitaliy, who is forbidden by military rules to make his full name public. “But we will win it.” Odesa — onetime Russian imperial outpost, coveted strategic seaport, a quirky multicultural melange redolent of salt air and tragic history — has always paired an artistic soul with a martial bearing. As the war grinds on, both are on full display. The Potemkin Stairs — famed for the tumbling-baby-carriage scene in Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film classic “Battleship Potemkin” — are sealed off by tank traps and checkpoints. The seashore is mined. Giant cranes sit mostly idle at Odesa’s harbor, Ukraine’s principal seaport, which was hit a little more than a week ago by Russian rockets. The front-line city of Mykolaiv, suffering near-daily Russian bombardment, is just 70 miles distant. The people of Odesa — its spelling now altered to drop the Russian double “s” — have confronted undulating threat levels throughout the war. Early on, the city braced for a potential Russian amphibious attack, shoring up defenses, sandbagging pastel-colored buildings, blocking off key approaches with antitank “hedgehogs” fashioned from steel beams. World & Nation In Ukraine, rooting out those who aid Russia is a tangled, painful process. Hundreds of collaboration cases are being scrutinized. July 28, 2022 But Russia’s formidable Black Sea fleet proved less than invincible. Less than eight weeks into the fighting, Ukrainian forces sank the flagship Moskva with shore-to-ship missiles. Russian troops were subsequently forced to abandon Snake Island, an outcropping of Ukrainian territory 85 miles from Odesa, a key base for electronic-warfare and air-defense systems. Still, the city remains menaced by Russian ships and submarines. Odesa residents were rattled when intelligence reports in late spring indicated Moscow hoped to carve out a land bridge from the Crimean peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, to the breakaway region of Transnistria in neighboring Moldova. Odesa would lie squarely in that path. “The intensity of missile strikes on our city and entire oblast [region] has increased,” Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, said during an online briefing last week. Russia, he said, “is pounding civilian infrastructure and civilian homes. It is trying to intimidate the peaceful population by killing civilians.” The city’s lifeblood, its commercial port traffic, was frozen for months until Monday, when a ship laden with grain finally sailed from Odesa under an accord brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The July 23 strike on the port, which came only a day after the deal was announced, sent billows of oil-black smoke rising into the blue sky, the dual blasts reverberating through the historic city center. Characteristically, some beachgoers and dogwalkers let out raucous cheers as Ukrainian air defenses brought down two of the four Russian missiles. The churn of war has spurred an estimated one-third of Odesa’s residents — numbering about 1 million before the war — to seek safety outside Ukraine, but at the same time flooded the city with internally displaced Ukrainians from occupied parts of the south, including Kherson, a 125-mile drive away. Captured in the war’s earliest days, Kherson was the first major city to fall to Russia, and Ukraine’s military is making preparations for what would likely be a bloody battle to regain it. World & Nation Ukraine’s first lady has emerged from her seclusion at the start of Russia’s invasion to lay the bloody images of the war’s child victims directly before U.S. lawmakers July 20, 2022 Many cities in this part of the world suffered hideous violence during World War II, and Odesa was no exception. The city was besieged and occupied; Nazis killed about 80% of the region’s more than 200,000 Jews. The Russian invasion has prompted an estimated 15,000 of Odesa’s current roughly 40,000-member Jewish community to head into temporary or permanent exile. In this war, Odesa has been largely spared the punishing Russian bombardment that has flattened cities like Mariupol, another key southern seaport that fell to Russia in May, or cities along what has been the war’s main battlefront, a crescent-shaped front line in the country’s east. But deadly strikes, when they do occur, send ripples of grief through a sprawling metropolis that in some respects retains a village-like atmosphere. A beloved local coach and soccer club founder, 42-year-old Oleksandr Shyshkov, died in a July 1 rocket attack on a residential area in Serhiivka, which killed at least 20 other people, including a pregnant woman. An Odesa resident, Shyshkov had traveled to the town about 40 miles away to be ready for the early start of a youth sporting event that was to be held the next morning. His body was pulled from the rubble at nightfall, hours after the predawn strike. “The kids, they couldn’t fathom why such a thing would happen to him,” said Vladimir Balyk, 45, a co-founder of the club, gesturing toward the 10-year-olds on the soccer pitch behind him. “Neither could we.” Despite Odesa’s Russian-infused history — including its formal founding as a free port by Catherine II, the empress known to Russians as Catherine the Great — most local people have been thoroughly disabused of any notion that Russian President Vladimir Putin would spare the city because of common cultural heritage. In a square in central Odesa, an old woman crossed herself as an ambulance caravan passed by, carrying dead soldiers. Then she roundly cursed Putin — in Russian. In the hazy days of midsummer, with streets and squares strewn with fallen drifts of tiny white acacia blossoms, the war has transformed daily habits and routines. A local joke has it that the sea is now like a museum piece: Look, but don’t touch. But as with much of Odesa’s trademark sardonic humor, there’s a bleak undercurrent. In July, two swimmers were killed in separate incidents when they accidentally set off mines in waters near the city that were signposted as dangerous, authorities said. Olga Katasonova, 53, still walks her dog to the seafront every morning, eyeing from a distance the beach that is now inaccessible. “I miss it, of course, but this is nothing compared to what people experienced in Kharkiv, in Mariupol,” she said, listing the names of war-ravaged eastern cities. “Nowhere in Ukraine is safe, but we are so much luckier than many.” On a brief evening break from tactical training at a military base on the city’s outskirts, dancer Vitaliy R. said he expected to deploy to the front at some point. His wife and two young sons are worried, he said; so is he. “You’d have to be stupid not to be scared!” he said. Clad in a gray T-shirt and blue gym shorts, he echoed, seemingly unconsciously, his straight-backed dancer’s posture: hand on hip, palm facing outward. His last stage appearance was four days before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24; the neo-Baroque 19th century opera house, which stands majestically on a raised plateau in the historic center, in June resumed performances, suspended until then by the conflict. Army life is very different from the opera-house milieu, Vitaliy said, but there are certain similarities between his previous calling and his current one. Both require discipline. Each involves acquiring new skills and practicing them endlessly. Most of all, he said, there is a sense of being part of something larger than oneself. Start your day right Sign up for Essential California for the L.A. Times biggest news, features and recommendations in your inbox six days a week. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. “I miss my life from before — the stage, the audience,” he said. “But this is important for everyone.” Oleksandr Babich, a local historian who wrote a book about the 1941-43 Nazi occupation, now devotes his days to gathering and transporting donated supplies to Ukrainian military encampments elsewhere in the south. The city’s hallmark, he said, has always been its resilience, and he doesn’t expect this war to change that. “Odesa survives,” Babich said. “When all this ends, we will still be here.”

Pat Carroll, Emmy winner and voice of Ursula in 'The Little Mermaid,' dies at 95

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-07-31/pat-carroll-emmy-winner-and-voice-of-ursula-dies-at-95

Pat Carroll, a comedic television mainstay for decades, Emmy-winner for “Caesar’s Hour” and the voice Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” has died. She was 95. Her daughter Kerry Karsian, a casting agent, said Carroll died at her home in Cape Cod, Mass., on Saturday. Her other daughter Tara Karsian wrote on Instagram that they want everyone to “honor her by having a raucous laugh at absolutely anything today (and everyday forward) because besides her brilliant talent and love, she leaves my sister Kerry and I with the greatest gift of all, imbuing us with humor and the ability to laugh … even in the saddest of times.” Carroll was born in Shreveport, La., in 1927. Her family relocated to Los Angeles when she was 5. Her first film role came in 1948 in “Hometown Girl” but she found her stride in television. She won an Emmy for her work on the sketch comedy series “Caesar’s Hour” in 1956. She was a regular on “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas, a guest star on “The DuPont Show with June Allyson” and a variety show regular stopping by “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” She played one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 television production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” with Lesley Ann Warren. And she won a Grammy in 1980 for the recording of her one woman show “Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein.” A new generation would come to know and love her voice thanks to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which came out in 1989. She was not the first choice of directors Ron Clements and John Musker or the musical team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who reportedly wanted Joan Collins or Bea Arthur to voice the sea witch. Elaine Stritch was even cast originally before Carroll got to audition. And her throaty rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” would make her one of Disney’s most memorable villains. Carroll would often say that Ursula was one of her favorite roles. She said she saw her as an “Ex-Shakespearean actress who now sold cars.” “She’s a mean old thing! I think people are fascinated by mean characters,” Carroll said in an interview. “There’s a fatal kind of distraction about the horrible mean characters of the world because we don’t meet too many of them in real life. So when we have a chance, theatrically, to see one and this one, she’s a biggie, it’s kind of fascinating for us.” She got the chance to reprise the role in several “Little Mermaid” sequels, spinoffs and even theme park rides. Carroll was also the voice of Granny in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro.”

The 20-year odyssey of a dirt lot in Santa Ana

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-07-14/one-broadway-plaza-santa-ana-essential-california

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, July 14. I’m columnist Gustavo Arellano, which means I can have opinions. And I’m reporting from Orange County, specifically SanTana — what the rest of Southern California calls Santa Ana. On the edge of the city’s downtown, across the street from the Orange County School of the Arts and a Latino Jewish kinda synagogue, sits an empty lot that takes up nearly half a city block. A two-story dirt mound with weeds at the top is near its center. A massive wooden fence blocks lookie-loos from checking out what’s inside. Welcome to One Broadway Plaza. It’s the grandiosely named architectural Moby Dick of Mike Harrah, long a force in downtown SanTana’s development. The tall, burly, bearded multimillionaire has told anyone who’ll listen for the last quarter-century that he was the savior of the area by buying up buildings big and small when no one else would. He has continued with that supposed legacy by acquiring the old offices of the Orange County Register in 2018 and convincing the City Council — in a gross giveaway of public funds — two years later to not only gift him a parking structure that Harrah would turn into a 16-story luxury apartment building along with a luxury hotel, but also $13 million in public improvements. Like the old George and Ira Gershwin tune goes, nice work if you can get it! But residents in SanTana have loudly scoffed at Harrah’s plans, because they’ve heard this song-and-dance already in the form of One Broadway Plaza’s unfinished dirge. As early as 1999, Harrah was telling reporters he wanted to build a 37-story tower at what’s now One Broadway Plaza, which would make it Orange County’s tallest structure (Harrah once told my former editor he decided on that height because that would allow him to see it from his backyard in Newport Beach). The City Council approved his plans in 2004 despite a staff report finding it would worsen traffic and air quality in the residential neighborhoods around it. The only caveat the council imposed: Harrah couldn’t start construction until he had leased at least half the building. Harrah survived threats of a lawsuit from historical preservationists, a 2005 citywide referendum meant to block the project, and a state investigation into a potential conflict of interest involving then-Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez (who was just elected as an Orange County Superior Court judge last month) as he vowed to transform SanTana with One Broadway Plaza like the Baron Haussmann-meets-Charlie Daniels that Harrah imagined himself to be. And then ... nada. Harrah couldn’t find enough tenants to trigger the start of construction, so he convinced the City Council in 2010 to let him start with no tenants whatsoever. Then he couldn’t finance the project. Harrah sold off some of his other holdings, like the gorgeous Santora Building in downtown, to shore up his cash ... and nada. By 2018, Harrah was reduced to asking for a partner or investor or — if someone wanted to pony up $200 million for One Broadway Plaza and other properties — a buyer. “Probably that would work,” he told the Register, which revealed Harrah had already spent $90 million for his vacant lot. And nada. The SanTana City Council allowed Harrah in 2020 to use 14 stories for residential units in the wake of a pandemic that has made offices almost irrelevant. Now, the brochure he’s passing around — which describes One Broadway Plaza as the “tallest, greenest, most technologically advanced luxury urban community in the history of Orange County” — calls for 27 stories of apartments and a couple of stories for a theater, restaurants and a heliport. Number of floors left for offices? Four. Harrah didn’t return a request for comment, which is unfortunate: I’ve covered this story for nearly 20 years, and it would’ve been fun to catch up. So I’ll leave ustedes with the nickname that my wife made up years ago for One Broadway Plaza, which comes to mind every time I drive by Harrah’s unrealized dream: One Dirt Lot. Start your day right Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. And now, here’s what’s happening across California: Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. In a fatal shooting, the LAPD says a man aimed at an officer. Body cam footage tells a different story. Instead of clarifying what happened, the video has injected more uncertainty into the incident. Los Angeles Times Starbucks to close six Los Angeles stores that are ‘unsafe to continue to operate,’ the company says. There’s also that pesky matter of a mass unionization effort sweeping the company, which I’m sure had nothing to do with the shutdowns at hand. Los Angeles Times The walls of Troy: Exclusion and community in a pandemic. A doctoral student in American studies and ethnicity at USC — go Bruins! — unloads on her school. Perspectives on History Two L.A. priests get warm sendoffs as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels changes pastors. Goodbye, Father David Gallardo; hello, Msgr. Antonio Cacciapuoti. Angelus News Support our journalism Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. California opens the door to suing gun makers. Here’s what the new law does. Three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tough state controls on concealed weapon licenses, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an effort to limit the availability of “abnormally dangerous” guns in the state. Los Angeles Times Some urban observations from my Barcelona vacation. Streetsblog LA editor Joe Linton gets infrastructure inspiration from the Catalan capital. Streetsblog LA Roman Polanski criminal case transcripts must be unsealed, court says. An appeals court ruled Wednesday that records related to Roman Polanski’s case must be made public, which could end the decades-long legal saga over the film director’s sexual abuse of a teenager in 1977. Los Angeles Times LAPD searching for suspect in series of convenience store, doughnut shop robberies. No word yet if this loser is connected to a string of fatal robberies of 7-11s in Orange County. Los Angeles Times UC Santa Barbara chancellor investigated in hit-and-run allegation, but denies involvement. What a gacho Gaucho. Los Angeles Times Our daily news podcast If you’re a fan of this newsletter, you’ll love our daily podcast “The Times,” hosted every weekday by columnist Gustavo Arellano, along with reporters from across our newsroom. Go beyond the headlines. Download and listen on our App, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and follow on Spotify. L.A. water use plunges a record 9% as unprecedented restrictions bring savings. If you don’t already have a five-gallon bucket in your shower to catch the water as it warms up, then you’re no better than William Mulholland. Los Angeles Times California’s farms and meatpackers had more COVID violations than all other industries combined. And getting dinged for breaking safety rules didn’t appear to make these workplaces any safer. Mother Jones 31 dog-friendly beaches in L.A. and O.C. Our rescue dogs Hook and Cosmo are getting pup-friendly sunscreen and ready to catch waves. Los Angeles Times Birria is the greatest threat to taco culture — and its savior. Texas Monthly taco editor José Ralat — whom I just interviewed for my own column on Jill Biden’s Breakfast Taco-Gate — talks about the L.A. origins of the beef stew that has overwhelmed Mexican restaurants across the United States. (My tía Paulita in Artesia makes the best birria de res and makes two distinct salsas for it. Sorry, you can’t have any unless you hit up my primo Sergio.) Texas Monthly Backyard punk-inspired ‘BYO Gaming’ lounge offers East L.A. youth another way to fight. Better brush up on your “Super Smash Bros.” combos! L.A. Taco Hells Angels want to hold a Sonny Barger memorial service at Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders should come back one final time to pay #respect to the founder of the motorcycle club’s Oakland chapter. The Oaklandside Free online games Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our game center at latimes.com/games. Los Angeles: partly cloudy, 81. San Diego: partly cloudy, 71. San Francisco: cloudy, 68. San Jose: sunny, 80. Fresno: sunny, 105. Sacramento: sunny, 98. Today’s California memory comes from John Brorsen: As a kid, growing up in the S.F. Bay Area in the ‘60s was pretty cool to begin with, but we were lucky enough to have access to a cabin a mile from the Santa Cruz beaches. We spent many summer days there. But it gets better. When driving Highway 17 to the coast, my dad would often stop at Santa’s Village in Scotts Valley for a break in the trip. A real Christmas Land year-round in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains. We relished the weird reality of seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus in 70-degree weather and eating caramel apples from the candy store. California was (and still is to me) a wonderland. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

Review: 'Paws of Fury' is a sad, declawed 'Blazing Saddles'

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-07-13/review-paws-of-fury-is-a-sad-declawed-blazing-saddles

Writer and director Mel Brooks’ 1974 western spoof “Blazing Saddles” tackled racism so head-on that Brooks recently mused he wouldn’t be able to make the film today. Maybe, just maybe, he has done just that with “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank,” but at a terrible cost. Paramount’s limp, animated remake actually triggers new stereotypes in the service of trying to expose racism for a pre-teen audience. The studio seems to have reached for legitimacy by bringing the venerated Brooks along for the bumpy ride, darkening both legacies. What emerged sits uneasily at the corner of tribute, parody, theft and laziness. “Paws of Fury” follows Brooks’ original playbook right down to a horse-punching moment and a group farting scene but doesn’t capture his thrilling boundary-pushing vibe. “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” switches the setting from the original film’s American West for an animated medieval Japan but is really of no time, and not in a good way. There is a timid, punning humor, as when a character announces “There’s no business like shogun business.” This is a Japan with cherry blossoms and origami and also dance clubs with VIP sections and house music. It has no real setting. The animators only a few times mix up the visuals, giving the film a predictable, big-eyed and overly violent look. The screenplay by Ed Stone and Nate Hopper builds so much off “Blazing Saddles” that the original films’ writers are credited, including Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor and Alan Uger. For a while, the film was even titled “Blazing Samurai.” In both cases, an evil plan is hatched to send a rookie lawman to a town that instinctively hates him in hopes that townsfolk will scatter. In the film, it is a Black man in a racist town in the Old West. In “Paws of Fury,” it’s a dog in a community of dog-hating cats. Why Japan is natural for this setting is never convincingly made. The put-upon pup Hank (voiced without distinction by Michael Cera) seeks a mentorship with a worn-out cat samurai (a perfectly cast Samuel L. Jackson) and the two begin a push-pull dance so familiar that Hank turns to his teacher and asks “Hey, this is the training montage isn’t it?” That winking and fourth-wall breaking is a running joke, but it’s not clear to what end. This is a film that borrows much of “Kung Fu Panda” and adds “Star Wars” references — “The cuteness is strong with this one” — and “Jurassic Park” gags, and sometimes has tone-deafness due to its long gestation, like this line: “Guns don’t kill cats. Cars and curiosity kill cats.” That lands differently in summer 2022. Many of the jokes — both traditional visual smacks and verbal joists — are dated and just not up to snuff. One dog gets hit in the face by a Japanese pot and that’s called “woking the dog,” “NWA” stands for “ninjas with attitude” and twice this gag is offered: “In case of emergency, break paper.” Ricky Gervais is excellent as a scheming noble cat, George Takei gets to offer his trademark catchphrase “Oh, myyy” twice and Brooks voices the shogun with his rat-a-tat one-liners. One recurring bit simply doesn’t work — a big toilet joke — but the filmmakers return to it again and again. Eventually, Hank proves himself a warrior, and the dog-hating cat town embraces their canine protector. “Go back where you came from” is exchanged for “We can all be better together.” But as important as that lesson is, this is a poor vehicle to send it.

Twitter shows its math on bots as Musk renews threat to walk from acquisition deal

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2022-07-07/twitter-shows-its-math-on-bots-as-musk-renews-threat-to-walk

Elon Musk’s proposed acquisition of Twitter may fall apart over his doubts that the company is accurately reporting the number of spam bots on the service, according to a report, even as company executives reiterated that the number is low and tried to better explain how they calculate the figures. Twitter has repeatedly said that spam bots represent less than 5% of its total user base. Musk, meanwhile, has complained that the number is much higher and has threatened to walk away from his agreement to buy the company for $44 billion until he gets confirmation about Twitter’s bot percentage. Musk’s team has concluded that Twitter can’t verify its figures on the spam accounts and has “stopped engaging” in discussions around funding the deal, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. This issue has put the acquisition by the Tesla chief executive “in serious jeopardy,” the newspaper said, citing the people. “Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg News after the Post published its story. “We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.” Technology and the Internet Twitter leadership said there would be no renegotiation of the $44-billion price Elon Musk agreed to pay, despite his claim the deal was “on hold.” May 19, 2022 Twitter shares fell about 4% in extended trading after the newspaper’s report. The stock has declined 10% this year, closing at $38.79 on Thursday in New York. Earlier Thursday, Twitter executives said in a media briefing that the company manually reviews thousands of accounts each quarter to determine the 5% spam bot number, and estimates that the actual number is well below what’s disclosed in filings. The company also uses internal data to confirm the bot number, including information such as IP addresses or phone numbers, to determine whether an account is run by a human. Musk has demanded an audit of Twitter’s estimates. Twitter said it has been sharing some data with Musk and working with his team within the confines of the purchase agreement. An executive declined to comment on what information was being shared with Musk but said that the company does not share internal data with outsiders because of privacy concerns. Twitter previously gave Musk access to the company’s “fire hose” of public tweets, but that only includes public tweet data, not private account data. A Twitter executive cautioned that it wouldn’t be possible for an outsider to accurately estimate the number of bots on the service without that information. The executive asked not to be identified by name. Also Thursday, Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team, according to the Wall Street Journal. The cut of fewer than 100 employees represented less than 2% of the company’s workforce.

The Sports Report: Jump to Big Ten helped preserve UCLA Olympic sports

https://www.latimes.com/sports/newsletter/2022-07-06/sports-report-ucla-sports-report

Howdy, I’m your host, Iliana Limón Romero, filling in for Houston Mitchell, who is on vacation and likely waiting for his neighbors to stop setting off fireworks. Let’s get right to the news. From Ben Bolch: It was a splashy move with a quiet beneficiary. Given its perilous athletic department finances, UCLA faced the prospect of cutting sports had the school not agreed to bolt for the Big Ten Conference. Go beyond the scoreboard Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. The timing isn’t certain and the number of teams that would have been affected isn’t known, but the Bruins were headed toward an Olympic sports Armageddon without the infusion of cash that will accompany its departure from the Pac-12 Conference in 2024. Now its 25 teams and more than 700 athletes can exhale knowing that their futures have been secured, making those cross-country flights and frigid midwinter temperatures in Big Ten country far more bearable. “If you love Olympic sports, you should be a fan of this move,” UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond told The Times on Tuesday. “When your program is in significant debt, it’s difficult just to maintain, never mind to invest. This not only preserves the programs now — which was not a given — but also will allow us to invest in them. This move allows us to reimagine what UCLA athletics can be with more strategic investment and resources.” MORE COLLEGE SPORTS COVERAGE: — George Kliavkoff got burned by USC and UCLA. Now he’s chasing a Pac-12 miracle — USC athletic director Mike Bohn has a history of punching first in realignment fights — Breaking down what a move to the Big Ten means for UCLA and USC Olympic sports — Full coverage: USC, UCLA leaving Pac-12 to join Big Ten Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Become a subscriber. From Steve Henson: Let’s play build a bullpen. The Dodgers planned on populating theirs at some point with these relievers, veterans all: Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson, Caleb Ferguson, Jimmy Nelson, Victor González, Danny Duffy and Tommy Kahnle. Today they all populate the injured list. Figure in the three starters out with injuries — Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Andrew Heaney — and it’s flabbergasting that the Dodgers still boast the best pitching in the National League. By far. The Dodgers’ team earned-run average after a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night was 2.94. The next-lowest ERA among NL teams was the San Diego Padres’ 3.60. The Dodgers have given up the fewest hits and issued the fewest walks in the league. Opponents are batting a feeble .220 against them. From Dan Woike: The Lakers are adding center Thomas Bryant in free agency, sources told The Times. Bryant, 24, spent his rookie season with the team after being selected in the second round of the 2017 NBA draft. Bryant is expected to compete for a spot in the Lakers’ starting lineup, sources said. When healthy, Bryant has shown the ability to be a stretch-five, making more than 40% of his three-point tries in limited action during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. From Andrew Greif: Jason Preston opened eyes during pickup games last fall with his passing and playmaking — until he suffered a serious foot injury. Then it was the point guard’s turn to watch. Spending his entire rookie season sidelined wasn’t without benefits. He gained 15 pounds of muscle along with countless pointers from coaches and teammates who fielded his unending questions. None of it, however, compared with learning while doing. Three weeks after the Clippers’ season ended in April’s play-in tournament came the moment for which Preston had waited more than seven months — five-on-five basketball without any restrictions on his play. “It was awesome,” Preston said. “Just being able to grab a rebound, throw a pass, hit somebody on the cut, shoot a floater, do that in live settings, because a lot of the stuff I just do is in the half-court and one-on-one stuff. “So it was amazing.” From Helene Elliott: One by one, Rob Blake is checking off milestones that represent the significant progress the Kings have made in their rebuilding process. Find a second-line center to back up Anze Kopitar and take the pressure off young prospects? The Kings’ general manager checked that off last summer by signing Phillip Danault, who was better than advertised. Get the Kings to the playoffs so young players can taste the unique urgency of postseason hockey? Done and done in a seven-game loss to Edmonton that was, by many measures, a win for a team that lacked several injured stars. Blake filled in a major gap among his top six forwards last week, when he acquired left wing Kevin Fiala from Minnesota for the rights to defense prospect Brock Faber and a first-round pick in this year’s NHL draft. That leaves the Kings without a first-round selection in the draft, which will take place Thursday and Friday in Montreal, but the timing and Fiala’s potential after career-best totals in goals (33) and points (85) made it a potentially high-reward move. Fiala can do more for them now than a No. 19 pick would have. “I think when we knew we had an opportunity to get a player of Kevin’s caliber that took the forefront right away. And we were going to make sure we got that in place because that would be the biggest improvement to our team,” Blake said Tuesday in his first comments since completing the trade and signing Fiala to a seven-year contract with an average annual value/cap hit of $7.875 million. From the Associated Press : Sandy Alcantara pitched eight dominant innings in his second straight win, and the Miami Marlins beat the Angels 2-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory. Alcantara (9-3) gave up two hits — singles by Luis Rengifo in the fifth and Mike Trout in the seventh — in his 11th consecutive outing of at least seven innings. The right-hander struck out 10 and lowered his ERA to 1.82. “I just try to stay consistent, go out there every fifth day and fight for my team,” Alcantara said. “Every time I can pitch seven, eight innings I feel satisfied. It’s a long career and you have to stay healthy.” Tanner Scott earned his 10th save, surrendering Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly before retiring Jared Walsh on a liner to center for the final out. Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz homered for Miami. Joey Wendle had two hits. Marlins manager Don Mattingly considered giving Alcantara the opportunity for consecutive complete games. But with a prolonged bottom of the eighth, which included a pitching change, Alcantara was done after 107 pitches. “It’s hard because Sandy is your best guy no matter where you are,” Mattingly said. Trout snapped an 0-for-16 skid with his infield single leading off the seventh. The three-time AL MVP struck out in his first two at-bats against Alcantara. From Sam Farmer: Rafael Nadal has never won the Grand Slam, clinching all four major championships in the same calendar year, something that has been done three times on the men’s side (twice by Rod Laver and once by Don Budge). Now, Nadal is more than halfway there on attaining No. 3 at Wimbledon. He won the Australian Open and French Open, and would advance to the Wimbledon semifinals with a victory Wednesday over Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes. Fritz beat Nadal in the finals of the PNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March. If Nadal wins, it keeps alive the potential for another Sunday showdown with Novak Djokovic. They have played each other a record 59 times, including in the finals of all four major championships. But if Fritz wins, he would advance to the semifinals and have a chance to become the first American man in the Wimbledon finals since Andy Roddick in 2009. Of course, those are two awfully steep hills to climb. “I try to just approach it like how I did last time, treat it like any other match because I’ve been playing well,” Fritz said. “It’s about kind of just replicating the way I’ve been playing and trusting that that will be enough.” If you enjoy The Sports Report, please consider subscribing (it’s free!) to our other sports newsletter: Dodgers Dugout: Twice a week to your inbox with news and analysis of the Dodgers. Written by Houston Mitchell. Click here to subscribe. Lakers!: Once a week to you inbox with news and analysis of the Lakers. Written by Dan Woike. Click here to subscribe. Prep Rally: Get all your high school sports news and scores delivered to your inbox. Written by Eric Sondheimer. Click here to subscribe. Soccer!: Get local and international soccer news once a week in your inbox. Written by Kevin Baxter. Click here to subscribe. 1887 — Lottie Dod of Britain, 15, becomes the youngest woman to win the women’s singles championship at Wimbledon, defeating Blanch Bingley 6-2, 6-0. 1933 — The first major league All-Star game is played at Comiskey Park, Chicago. The American League beats the National League 4-2 on Babe Ruth’s two-run homer. 1957 — Althea Gibson becomes the first black to win a title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club by beating Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2 in the women’s singles title match. 1968 — Billie Jean King wins her third consecutive women’s singles title at Wimbledon by beating Australia’s Judy Tegart 9-7, 7-5. 1975 — Ruffian, an undefeated filly, and Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure compete in a match race. Ruffian, racing on the lead, sustains a severe leg injury and is pulled up by jockey Jacinto Vasquez. She is humanely destroyed the following day. 1994 — Leroy Burrell breaks the world record in the 100 meters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Burrell’s time of 9.85 seconds betters Carl Lewis’ 9.86 clocking set in the 1991 World Championships. 1996 — Steffi Graf beats Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 7-5 in the Wimbledon final for the German star’s 20th Grand Slam title and 100th tournament victory. 1997 — Pete Sampras wins the fourth Wimbledon title and 10th Grand Slam title of his career, easily defeating Frenchmen Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. 1998 — Twenty-year-old Se Ri Pak becomes the youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion after hitting an 18-foot birdie on the 20th extra hole to beat amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn in the longest Women’s Open in history. 2000 — Venus Williams beats her younger sister Serena 6-2, 7-6 (3) to reach the Wimbledon final. Their singles match is the first between sisters in a Grand Slam semifinal. 2008 — Rafael Nadal ends Roger Federer’s bid to become the first man since the 1880s to win a sixth consecutive championship at the All England Club. Two points from victory, the No. 1-ranked Federer succumbs to No. 2 Nadal 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 in a 4-hour, 48-minute test of wills that’s the longest men’s final in Wimbledon history — and quite possibly the greatest. 2013 — Twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan capture their fourth straight major with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo at Wimbledon. The Americans become the first men’s team in Open-era tennis to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. 2013 — Jimmie Johnson becomes the first driver in 31 years to sweep Daytona International Speedway. The Daytona 500 winner is the first driver since Bobby Allison in 1982, and the fifth overall, to win both races in a season at Daytona. 2014 — Novak Djokovic wins his second Wimbledon title and denies Roger Federer his record eighth by holding off the Swiss star in five sets. Djokovic wastes a 5-2 lead in the fourth set but holds on for a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 victory. 2014 — Florida teen Kaylin Whitney breaks the world junior record by running the 200 meters in 22.49 seconds at the U.S. junior national track and field championships in Eugene, Ore. The 16-year-old Whitney broke the world 17-and-under mark of 22.58 set by Marion Jones in 1992. 2016 — Roger Federer’s bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title remains alive after he comes from two sets down and saves three match points before overcoming Marin Cilic in five sets, advancing to the semifinals at the All England Club for the 11th time. It’s the 10th time in Federer’s career he erases a two-set deficit to win in five sets. This is also his 80th match win at Wimbledon, equaling Jimmy Connors’ record. 2019 — Jorge Masvidal sets a UFC record with a KO of Ben Askren five seconds into their bout in Las Vegas. Angels star Shohei Ohtani celebrates this 28th birthday this week. You’ve seen him hit and pitch at an elite level. Now watch this video of him juggling a soccer ball. Until next time... That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Brittney Griner's letter to Biden: Don't forget about me and other detainees

https://www.latimes.com/sports/sparks/story/2022-07-04/brittney-griner-letter-to-president-biden-dont-forget-about-me

Brittney Griner has made an appeal to President Biden in a letter passed to the White House through her representatives, saying she fears she might never return home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said the letter was delivered on Monday. Most of the letter’s contents to Biden remain private, though Griner’s representatives shared a few lines from the hand-written note. “As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote. “On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War veteran,“ the Phoenix Mercury center added. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.” The two-time Olympic gold medalist is in the midst of a trial in Russia that began last week after she was arrested on Feb. 17 on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. The trial will resume Thursday. Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in U.S. courts, acquittals can be overturned there. Sports Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17. The Times examines why “BG” was detained and what’s being done to bring the WNBA star home. June 27, 2022 The National Security Council confirmed the White House has received Griner’s letter. “We believe the Russian Federation is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner,“ NSC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday. “President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner. The U.S. government continues to work aggressively — using every available means — to bring her home.“ Griner pleaded with Biden in the letter to use his powers to ensure her return. “Please do all you can to bring us home. I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore,” Griner said “I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.” Griner has been able to have sporadic communications with family, friends and WNBA players through an email account her agent set up. The emails are printed out and delivered in bunches to Griner by her lawyer after they are vetted by Russian officials. Once the lawyers get back to their office, they’ll scan any responses from Griner and pass them back to the U.S. to send along. She was supposed to have a phone call with her wife on their anniversary but it failed because of an “unfortunate mistake,” Biden administration officials. Griner’s supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of conspiracy to traffic drugs. The State Department in May designated her as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator. Griner isn’t the only American being wrongfully detained in Russia. Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director, is serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction. Opinion Innocent people will continue to suffer because of the hypocrisy of Guantanamo Bay. Some of them are U.S. citizens detained abroad. June 30, 2022

Biden proposes limited drilling leases off Gulf of Mexico and Alaska

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-07-01/biden-offshore-drilling-proposal-would-allow-up-to-11-sales

The Biden administration on Friday proposed up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the Alaska coast over the next five years, scaling back a Trump-era plan that called for dozens of offshore drilling opportunities, including in undeveloped areas. Administration officials said fewer lease sales — or even no lease sales at all — could occur, with a final decision not due for months. The Interior Department had suspended lease sales in late January because of climate concerns but was forced to resume them by a U.S. district judge in Louisiana. The Biden administration cited conflicting court rulings about that decision when it canceled the last three lease sales of the previous offshore leasing cycle. That prior five-year cycle, a program adopted under former President Obama, expired Thursday. There will be a months-long gap before a new plan can be put in place. The oil industry says the delay could cause problems and potentially lead to decreased oil production if sales are significantly delayed. But Friday’s announcement is a disappointment to environmentalists who rallied around then-candidate Joe Biden when he promised to end new drilling in federal lands and waters. World & Nation A ruling this week limits the EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution by power plants. The court may also block other efforts to fight climate change. July 1, 2022 Under the Trump administration, Interior officials had proposed 47 sales, including 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, 19 in Alaska and nine off the Atlantic Coast that were later withdrawn. Trump lost the 2020 election before the proposal was finalized. The current format of holding gulf-wide sales was put in place under Obama because of dwindling interest in offshore leases. Prior to that there had been decades of regional sales. Friday’s announcement opens a 90-day public comment period, then a final plan must be submitted to Congress. Climate & Environment Experts say U.S. Supreme Court ruling is not likely to unravel California’s ambitious climate goals to eliminate its carbon footprint by 2045. June 30, 2022

5 weed drinks for summer that taste so good they're dangerous

https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-06-28/the-5-best-weed-drinks-for-summer-ranked-by-taste

With the summer holiday season finally in full swing, weed fans — and the weed curious — are ready to kick it poolside, throw back a couple of mad refreshing, totally lo-cal THC-infused drinks and get higher than the gas prices at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly boulevards. The only hurdle is figuring out what to buy. That’s because while we’ve been preoccupied with double masking and errant sneezes, the cannabis-infused beverage category has been growing faster than Pete Davidson’s social clout. According to cannabis trend-tracking firm Headset, the California market was the fastest-growing in the country in 2021, when the number of cannabis beverages on offer in the state nearly doubled to 530. Lifestyle Partaking in pot without becoming a human yule log is possible — even for novice cannabis consumers. Dec. 7, 2021 Sure, the beverage labels will tell you how much THC (the psychoactive ingredient that gets you high) is in the drink and probably (but not always) hint at the flavor profile. But that’s not much to go on, and far too often, picking a weed drink has felt more like taking your taste buds on a weedy-tasting blind date than making an informed decision. Until now. To help you find the perfect poolside palate pleaser for the summer season — or at least narrow the field dramatically — a cadre of roughly a dozen co-workers and friends dubbed the Elite Beverage Tasting Squad (EBTS) decamped to my backyard for a 17-beverage test with the goal of jointly (see what I did there?) recommending and ranking by taste 10 THC-infused beverages. After almost three hours, we stopped at five solid suggestions. That’s because the vast majority of the options on hand (some industry-recommended, some bestsellers and others chosen at random) suffered from a sad fruit-seltzer sameness, an unpardonably weedy aftertaste or both. A Delta-8 THC-infused drink called Party Water from Party Beer Co. made one taster remark, “I feel like a piece of celery just spat in my mouth.” Ceria Brewing Co.’s Indiewave, which was aiming for an India Pale Ale taste, landed closer to “bitter bong water” with the scent of “unrefrigerated Thanksgiving leftovers,” and with a high THC content (25 milligrams per 12-ounce can), Heavy Hitters’ HVY Marg evoked comparisons to “dirty socks” and “window cleaner.” Lifestyle Where are the social equity marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles? Check out our list of weed shops built on social justice and community vibes. April 15, 2022 But the five highlighted below? They represent the taste-test all-stars and are worth checking out if your summer to-do list includes diving deeper into the world of weed-enhanced beverages. It is not meant to be definitive but to serve as a starting point. To that end, if there’s a weed drink you think merits inclusion in a future taste test, send an email to adam.tschorn@latimes.com. And remember that, as with all things weed, it’s better to start low (milligram-wise) and go slow (i.e., pace yourself) because you can always take more but you can’t take less — and no one wants you to be the summer’s first freakout. This three-way collaboration from beverage brand Cann, SoCal dispensary chain Sweet Flower and Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo drew favorable comparisons to Snapple’s iced tea. “Smells like peach, tastes like peach iced tea,” said one taster. “[Tastes like] carbonated iced tea. Zero cannabis flavor. Peach doesn’t really come through on first taste,” said another. “This is a nostalgic iced tea taste with a bit of sweetness. I see myself sitting in a rocking chair on a warm summer day sipping this beverage thinking about my 20s.” Made with yerba maté, it’s notable for being the first of Cann’s “social tonics” to include a punch of natural caffeine alongside the cannabis — about the equivalent of one espresso shot per can. Available exclusively at Sweet Flower dispensaries and sweetflower.com. $20 per 4-pack; 5 milligrams THC and 50 calories per 12-ounce can. The squad gave Artet’s blend of mango juice, ginger beer, lime and tropical spices high marks both for what it tasted like and what it didn’t taste like. “Good for a fruity botanical. Not too sweet, not too weedy. I would put a lime in the glass with that,” said one taster. “Doesn’t taste weedy. I would drink this regularly,” said another. “Looks like orange soda. Does not taste weedy. Refreshing. Dangerous! Smells like mango/a little perfumey. Ginger-forward! Tasting peach? Smells like walking through a hothouse [full] of flowers.” The general consensus? The peppery bite of ginger lingering on the tongue after the floral-meets-mango flavor fades away, obscuring any residual weediness. Find stocking dispensaries or order online at artet.com. $5 each, $18 per 4-pack; 5 milligrams THC, 5 milligrams CBD and 35 calories per 8-ounce can. Boulder, Colo.-based Keef Brands launched its cannabis-infused sodas back in 2010 and brought its five core flavors — Orange Kush, Blue Razz, Purple Passion, Bubba Kush Root Beer and Original Cola — to California in the summer of 2019. It’s the last of those, with its “RC Cola fragrance,” “hint of vanilla” and “Pepsi but with a slight weed aftertaste” flavor, that was put to the test — and earned a spot on the squad’s must-drink list. “This is great. The weed flavor rounds out the cola flavor. Wonderful. Big fan.” “Delicious. Delivers on the promise of cola,” said one taster. “Looks like Coke. Tastes like Diet Coke. That’s dangerous. Easy drinking. It has a cream soda aftertaste and very minor weed flavor,” said another. (Pro tip: If you’re into crossfading — consuming alcohol and cannabis at the same time — this makes a deliciously next-level Cuba Libre.) Find a list of stocking dispensaries at keefbrands.com. MSRP $7;10 milligrams THC and 130 calories per 12-ounce can. Each can of Wunder Higher Vibes Blackberry Lemon packs a potent punch of pot — 10 milligrams of THC and 10 milligrams of Delta-8 THC (a similar-but-different compound that might give a less intense, shorter-lasting high). Even so, the herbal aftertaste that haunts many an infused drink is M.I.A. “Sweet — not weedy — tastes like a juice. Desserty,” said one taster. “Very good. Little aftertaste. My favorite so far. Fruity but not too fruity. Just right,” said another. “Smells like a red Starburst. Tastes good. Sweet. More watermelon than blackberry vibes? Doesn’t taste like weed.” While the bubbles earned it high marks with some tasters (“The carbonation also has a great taste/feel on the tongue”), most of the squad cited the beverage’s berry backbone as key. Comments included: “Blackberry soda, no weed flavor. I’d pair this with a picnic or a ballpark hotdog” and “Blackberry lemon! Sweet but not overwhelming. A little sour but just enough.” Find a list of stocking dispensaries and order online at findwunder.com. $23 per 4 pack; 10 milligram THC, 10 milligram Delta-8 THC and 40 calories per 10-ounce can. The same flavor also is available in a lower-dose formulation ($16 per 4-pack) containing 2 milligrams THC, 2 milligrams Delta-8 THC and 4 milligrams of CBD and 25 calories per 8-ounce can. The beverage that got the highest marks was SoCal-based Rickett Brewing Co.’s Champagne-like Jolie Fleur Pink, which was praised for its “lovely color,” “appropriately bubbly” carbonation and its “smooth and pleasant” and “wine-adjacent” taste that evoked everything from rosé to sour ale. “This beverage would make me an honest man,” one of the squad said. “The Champagne taste makes it feel adult. I’d share this with friends excitedly.” “Oh, wow, this is actually very good!” added another. “Tastes celebratory like a rosé Champagne — or a sour ale. Lovely. This would make a great hostess gift.” There’s a good reason for all the wine comparisons with this drink. The starting point for this classy beverage is actual wine (Sauvignon Blanc, to be precise) made from California grapes. Through some technological wizardry, every last bit of the alcohol is removed (and bottled to be used as hand sanitizer) before the light carbonation and nano-emulsified THC — the smaller particles mean a faster onset time — are added. Although the company recently introduced slightly smaller canned versions of both flavors (there’s a Blanc as well as the Pink), the amber bottle and foil-covered cap of the original adds a classy touch that makes it as good for gifting as drinking. Additional information, including a list of stocking dispensaries, can be found at rickettbrewing.com. MSRP $22; 10 milligrams THC and 25 calories per 12.68-ounce bottle; $14 for the new 10-milligram 10-ounce cans.

Carlos Vela re-signs with LAFC through 2023 season

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-06-28/carlos-vela-re-signs-with-lafc-through-2023-season

Carlos Vela re-signed with LAFC on Tuesday, extending his tenure with the Major League Soccer leaders through the 2023 season. Vela and LAFC finally announced the long-rumored new deal for the 2019 MLS most valuable player during preparations for their match against FC Dallas on Wednesday night. “For me, Carlos has been the best player in this league for a good part of his time here, and we are eager to see what else he brings to this team and the city,” LAFC general manager John Thorrington said. “We believe Carlos will help us deliver on our ambition to win championships here in L.A.” The Mexican striker became the first player in LAFC’s history in August 2017 when the expansion club signed him away from La Liga’s Real Sociedad nearly seven months before its first match. Vela has scored 73 goals in 118 total appearances for the franchise, including a league-record 34 goals in 31 games while earning the league MVP award in 2019. The 33-year-old Vela was limited by significant injuries in both 2020 and 2021, but he has returned as LAFC’s leading scorer this season with six goals and three assists. His contract was set to expire at the end of June, but Vela and LAFC completed most of the key negotiations on this new deal two months ago, Thorrington said. The club sits atop the overall league standings at 10-3-3 under first-year coach Steve Cherundolo. LAFC is about to get better with the imminent arrivals of Welsh forward Gareth Bale and Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, who should both be eligible to play next week. Soccer Welsh soccer star Gareth Bale’s stateside move has zero downsides for LAFC, and it shows how top-tier players are content with playing in MLS. June 27, 2022 Vela is one of LAFC’s two designated players, who are allowed to be paid above the MLS salary cap. LAFC still has a third designated player slot open to make another addition alongside Bale and Chiellini, who were signed without using a designated player slot. Vela spent seven seasons at Real Sociedad in the Spanish league before returning to North America. He began his European career by signing with Arsenal as a teenager in 2005.

You may never get a more extraordinary glimpse inside a restaurant kitchen than this

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-06-22/the-bear-fx-hulu-review

“The Bear,” premiering Thursday on FX, is an extraordinary show, not so much for the story it tells as how it tells it; you will have to go far to find another show so invested in and adept at portraying ordinary human speech and behavior, and even then you might not find one. The story is this. Jeremy Allen White plays Carmen Berzatto, called Carmy, and sometimes Bear, a talented chef who returns from the world of very fine dining to run a family sandwich shop, the Original Beef of Chicagoland, after the suicide of his brother. He plans to clean up the joint — on his hands and knees where needed — improve the food and professionalize the kitchen, to create “an efficient, respectable place of business, run by adults.” “I’m going to fix this place,” he tells his sister, Sugar (Abby Elliott), as much out of a sense of mission as a sense of business. (As a business, it makes little sense.) Of course, he is also out to fix himself, whether he knows it or not. The complete guide to home viewing Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. And so the cooking staff are henceforth addressed as “chef,” knives are sharpened and new systems put in place. This sits less well with some employees than others, namely Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), an irascible honorary cousin, who runs the front of the house but is often just underfoot, talking loudly; and passive-with-the-emphasis-on-aggressive Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), who has been working there for years and has her own way of doing things. (She will call Carmy not “chef” but “Jeff,” as if she misheard the instruction.) By contrast, Marcus (Lionel Boyce), who has been baking bread for the sandwiches, is inspired to go beyond himself and sets out on a quest to create the perfect gourmet doughnut. Into this hectic environment comes Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), hired as a sous chef, a Culinary Institute of America graduate with restaurant experience, a good deal of ambition and an awareness of Carmy’s reputation. Sydney’s sudden leapfrogging of responsibility does nothing to endear her to the original staff, while she hectors Carmy with proposals to which he never responds quickly enough to suit her. Practically speaking, she provides another sort of voice for Carmy to respond to, someone with knowledge of his world, and as the new girl, she asks questions that help define other characters. But the exposition is never obvious. Created by Chris Storer, who serves as showrunner alongside Joanna Calo, “The Bear,” reduced to its basic structure, is “The Bad News Bears” (a film coincidentally mentioned here), in which a ragtag crew exceeds its own expectations, while the new boss earns himself a measure of redemption. It is delightful to watch these transformations, and, really, they are quite enough: the plot, such as it is, is secondary to the place and to the people. (We do not get much in the way of backstories; what matters is the present.) I could have easily watched twice as many episodes — there are eight — in which nothing happened but that lunch was served. Most of the action takes place in the restaurant, and most of that in the kitchen. (We rarely see the customers.) I can’t say whether it’s true to how such a place would run, even under a seasoned chef, but it feels right, and White is every inch a trained kitchen professional, moving with athletic ease through the cramped space; it’s where he feels at home. (At home, the chef eats peanut butter and jelly and falls asleep in front of the television.) Television At Pasadena’s Institute of Culinary Education and Santa Monica’s Pasjoli, ‘The Bear’s’ Jeremy Allen White sharpened his skills to play a chef. June 23, 2022 Carmy has a core of sadness, not unrelated to the death of his brother, and that affects his relationship with his sister — their awkward scenes together are some of the series’ best — but he is happily free of the negative characteristics we have come to associate with fictional (and some notorious nonfictional) chefs: arrogance, unkindness, substance abuse, sexual predation. (White, in a focused performance that feels at once relaxed and tightly wound, makes Carmy ailing but admirable.) He is secure in what he knows and honest with his employees, who do not always appreciate it. He’s not immune to anger — a late episode requires him to blow up, but this felt like the writers making something “dramatic” happen late in the arc, written backward from the desired results — and he’s always ready to apologize. (So, too, the season ends with what is essentially a magic trick — literally a Penn & Teller-type magic trick — that, in spite of having been prepped across the episodes, feels out of step with what’s come before; but this is my only reservation.) With episodes running at about half an hour, “The Bear” is timed like a comedy, and it can be funny, though this comes out of character and situation rather than jokes. Often it functions as a drama, but it seems wrong to call it a dramedy. (It’s just lifelike.) There are debts. There are fights. There is a visit from the health department. The power goes out; the toilet spits water. (Real-world chef Matty Matheson plays the restaurant’s handyman; he is excellent.) Carmy and Richie butt heads. Someone puts a bullet in the window. But the story never strays into any of the thousand and one melodramatic scenarios a lesser series would exploit. (The only really tragic figure is Michael, the dead brother, who does remain an influential presence.) The atmosphere in the kitchen can be loud and chaotic — these scenes tend to be edited for speed — but they alternate with slower passages, built on quiet conversations, serious or casual. Whether they are meant to do a lot or a little, these exchanges are remarkably true to how people speak, whether unburdening themselves or making an apology or describing the creation of a dessert. The performances are universally impeccable. The themes are cooperation, change, responsibility, respect, letting your loved ones in and keeping your station clean. Who could ask for more?

Essential California: The U.S. Forest Service's morale crisis

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-06-17/forest-service-morale-crisis-essential-california-essential-california

Good morning and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, June 17. I’m Marisa Gerber, filling in for Justin Ray. “We are facing a dire retention issue,” an exasperated firefighter wrote in his viral resignation letter this spring. “We are losing people at a terrifying rate.” In a story this week, my colleague Alex Wigglesworth showed that the letter written by a squad boss of the elite Truckee hotshot crew for the U.S. Forest Service was only the latest example of how dire the crisis of confidence has become among federal wildland firefighters. Morale, several current and former firefighters told her, was at an all-time low — the byproduct of low pay, mental trauma and the exhaustion of battling ever more destructive fires. Forest Service firefighters, typically classified as forestry technicians, have a starting annual base salary of somewhere between about $25,000 and $32,000. President Biden’s infrastructure bill signed into law in November called for the creation of a new classification and an increase of either $20,000 or 50% — whichever was less — in areas deemed hard to recruit or retain personnel in, but after more than six months no raises had yet been given. “We’re getting paid $15 an hour to put our lives on the line,” said one firefighter who recently left the agency. Such departures are only compounding the increasingly dire personnel shortages. As California braces for another brutal fire season, only 62% of federal firefighter positions here are filled, according to a source within the agency. Officials recently announced that they’d been unable to fill some 1,000 temporary firefighter positions and were now looking to make emergency hires by shortening the onboarding process. According to a recent survey of more than 700 current and former wildland firefighters, nearly 80% of respondents reported mental health issues they attributed to the stresses of fighting fires. An assistant engine operator told The Times that, due to low pay and trauma, he was thinking about retiring. He’d already gotten a second job to try to make ends meet — now working 80-hour weeks — and he said experiencing close calls, as well as the deaths of co-workers, had affected his mental health. Read more of Alex’s report: Hellish fires, low pay, trauma: California’s Forest Service firefighters face a morale crisis And now, here’s what’s happening across California: Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. One of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s most heavily criticized policies may have led to reduced prison time for the man who shot and killed two El Monte police officers Tuesday, according to documents reviewed by The Times. Los Angeles Times Alameda County’s newly elected sheriff will be the first woman and first Latina to ever lead the office. Yesenia Sanchez, a sheriff’s commander who oversees a county jail, ran a reform-focused campaign, saying she’d prioritize transparency and focus on crisis intervention and de-escalation. San Francisco Chronicle A political aide, prosecutors say, showed up to then-Councilman Jose Huizar’s Boyle Heights home with a Don Julio tequila box stuffed with $100 bills. The revelation was among the most evocative scenes described by prosecutors this week in the first of three trials stemming from the City Hall corruption investigation of Huizar. Los Angeles Times In an 11-3 vote this week, the L.A. City Council moved to prohibit the sale and repair of bikes on city streets — a move critics say will unfairly target homeless people. Los Angeles Times When KPCC asked listeners to call in with tips about their favorite coffee shops, it got recommendations from all across town. Check out BurritoBreak, Holy Grounds Coffee and Tea, Bloom & Plume Coffee or Nice Coffee. LAist Inside the MAGA world scramble to produce findings suggesting the 2020 election was stolen. Since the violent attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop certification of the 2020 election results, much of the scrutiny has been trained on what Trump knew, as well as the involvement of those closest to him, including his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. But it was dozens of true believers gathered in hotels in Washington and at a South Carolina plantation who collected the information upon which the Trump campaign based its unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen. Los Angeles Times After the image went viral last fall, the photograph of a Border Patrol agent on horseback wielding a whip while grabbing a Haitian migrant by his shirt drew outrage among many officials. Now, the image has been replicated on a “challenge coin,” a type often collected by agents and others in law enforcement. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are investigating whether the coin, which has “Whipping ass since 1924” written along its border, has been sold by anyone from the agency. Los Angeles Times A new skyline for coastal San Diego? Fifty years ago, voters passed an initiative preventing buildings over 30 feet tall from being built west of Interstate 5. But a developer recently got the all-clear from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development to build a 60-foot-high building in Pacific Beach. San Diego Union-Tribune California legislators have proposed a $1-billion-a-year plan to dole out money to first-time buyers who need help covering some, or all, of their down payment. Backers say the plan, dubbed the California Dream for All program, will help lower- and middle-income buyers in a hot market. CalMatters A bill intended to accommodate working parents recently failed to make it through a key Assembly committee. Around the same time the bill stalled, its author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), said she was at home sick with COVID-19 and caring for her two young kids. Los Angeles Times Cannabis lounges in Ojai? This week, the City Council in the popular retreat destination showed interest in moving ahead with a plan to allow three local pot dispensaries to open lounges where people could smoke, vape or take edibles. Los Angeles Times After he finishes three hours of chemotherapy on Thursdays, he hops on his bike and rides for 15 miles. Meet Robert Duran, a 55-year-old Encinitas resident, who has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and says cycling rejuvenates him. San Diego Union-Tribune Free online games Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at latimes.com/games. Los Angeles: Partly cloudy, 74. San Diego: Sunny, 68. San Francisco: Sunny, 62. San Jose: Sunny, 71. Fresno: Cloudy, 77. Sacramento: Partly cloudy, 75. Our daily news podcast If you’re a fan of this newsletter, you’ll love our daily podcast “The Times,” hosted every weekday by columnist Gustavo Arellano, along with reporters from across our newsroom. Go beyond the headlines. Download and listen on our App, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and follow on Spotify. Today’s California memory comes from Paul Giltz: I visited my brother Mark in L.A. for the first time in 1980 during the air controllers strike. The airline told me to call every day to find a flight home. We were at Disneyland when they said, “Get here by 5 p.m.” My luggage was in the trunk, we made it in time. I flew into Detroit, a buddy picked me up and drove me straight to Toledo and the factory where I worked second shift. I worked my shift still wearing the Mouse ears, sunglasses and California tourist casuals I had started the day in. Good times. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

Two men charged with operating brothels in Sacramento and Placer counties

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-16/two-men-charged-in-northern-california-prostitution-ring

Two men face felony charges after being accused of operating a prostitution ring in Sacramento and Placer counties, the California attorney general’s office said. Paul Anthony Gregorio and Xuan Phi Nguyen were arrested Wednesday by the California Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking and Sexual Predator Apprehension Team after an investigation into the ring, which prosecutors say operated from April 2020 to May 2022. Special agents from the Department of Justice also seized nearly $55,000 during the arrests. The ring, run out of separate brothels in Sacramento and Placer counties, involved seven women, prosecutors said. The two men were charged with eight total counts of felony pandering with a special allegation of sex offenses, according to the complaint. Each count of pandering carries a potential sentence of up six years, according to the California penal code.

Review: 'Neptune Frost' is a visually and sonically dazzling cry for liberation through technology

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-06-09/neptune-frost-review-saul-williams

“Neptune Frost” — the mesmerizing Afrofuturist musical brainchild of multihyphenate poet-rapper-writer-musician Saul Williams and his wife, Rwandan artist and cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman — opens with a cacophony of color and sound, both digitized and natural. An electronic hum harmonizes with singing bowls as a face turns toward the camera, wearing a mass of colorful wires twisted into a fantastical headdress, technology repurposed into adornment, contrasting with sharp neon lines of makeup. Set in Burundi, the sounds and images of “Neptune Frost” are striking, but beyond its aesthetics, this is a film underpinned by a dense, revolutionary mythology. In addition to co-directing, Williams wrote the screenplay and composed the music, and Uzeyman serves as cinematographer. For your safety The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials. A person is born, a person dies. Tekno, a coltan miner, holds aloft a piece of precious ore, taken by its presence, and is struck down by a foreman, commanding him to get back to work. Tekno dies in the arms of his brother Matalusa (Bertrand Ninteretse, a.k.a. Kaya Free), who drags his body from the mine to the rhythmic singing of drummers scattered across the jagged, rocky landscape. Receiving a message to hack into the motherboard, Matalusa sets out for another dimension, singing to himself and lamenting his brother’s death. In a parallel story, Neptune (Elvis Ngabo) turns a different personal trauma into transformation, appearing in a new body (Cheryl Isheja), in a red dress on a lush green hill. On their journey, they encounter a mysterious and possibly nefarious man named Innocent (Dorcy Rugamba) at a restaurant before making their way to the dimension where they will collide with Matalusa and other techno-utopians. When the rest of the coltan miners arrive — called there by dreams — the group starts to coalesce around a techno-revolutionary ideology to overthrow the powers that be. Matalusa Kingdom, or Martyr Loser Kingdom (a reference to Williams’ 2016 album “Martyr Loser King”), becomes a hacker collective with work fed by dreams and the subconscious, spirituality, nature, song and Indigenous culture. Williams and Uzeyman’s radical vision of the future is rooted in the tactility and sensuality of the real and natural world. It comes from real pain, war, exploitation — and seeks to apply ancient wisdom to the present age of technology. That ethos extends to the film’s aesthetic, with practical filmmaking techniques employed to attain its futurist vision. Utilizing bits and pieces of wires and motherboards, costume designer Cedric Mizero and hair/makeup creative director Tanya Melendez craft a beautiful, inventive and imaginative look for the warriors. Uzeyman’s heady, hallucinatory images are enhanced by slo-mo, dissolves and even running the film in reverse. In the back half, Williams and Uzeyman utilize computer-generated images, text and other digital filmmaking manipulations. But the wholly singular and imaginative world they build is a recognizable one, repurposed from the techno-ephemera that litters the planet. It’s easy to get swept away in the enchanting and immersive images, sounds and songs of “Neptune Frost,” to simply ride the waves of vibes that pulsate and radiate from the film’s core. While it may be a bit inscrutable on first watch, an overriding sentiment comes through loud and clear — in the form of a middle finger raised straight to the camera. This is a film that rejects capitalism, the gender binary, heteronormativity, extractive exploitation and any social construct that has been used in service of oppression. Instead, the characters of “Neptune Frost” embrace technology as a tool of liberation, arguing that technology is a reflection of those who build it, and that there is a potential to build something new. “The drum is nothing without the drummer,” says Memory (Eliane Umuhire), “It’s time we beat the code.” It’s a war cry that’s simultaneously a galvanizing call to action, a message of hope and a reminder that a different world is possible. 'Neptune Frost' (In Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, French and English with English subtitles)Not ratedRunning time: 1 hour, 45 minutesPlaying: Starts June 10 Laemmle NoHo 7, Laemmle Monica Film Center and virtual cinemas

Pilot killed in Navy fighter jet crash in Southern California desert near Trona

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-06-03/pilot-killed-in-navy-jet-fighter-crash-in-california-desert

A Navy fighter jet crashed Friday in the Southern California desert, killing the pilot, authorities said. An F/A-18E Super Hornet based at Naval Air Station Lemoore went down about 2:30 p.m. in the area of Trona, an unincorporated Mojave Desert community in San Bernardino County, the Navy announced in a statement. Nobody on the ground was hurt. The identity of the pilot and details of the crash weren’t immediately released. California The five sailors assigned to Naval Special Warfare units were returning from training in Imperial County when their van crashed. June 3, 2022 Trona is about 236 miles southeast of the air station, which is in the Central Valley. Lemoore is home to Commander Strike Fighter Wing Pacific and Commander Joint Strike Fighter Wing and hosts 16 operational Strike Fighter squadrons, according to its website. In 2019, a Navy Super Hornet crashed in Death Valley National Park during a routine training mission, killing the pilot and slightly injuring seven park visitors who were struck by debris. They had gathered at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts watch military pilots speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said. Last October, a Navy Super Hornet from Naval Air Station China Lake also crashed, and in 2020 another from Lemoore went down, both during training missions. The pilots safely ejected, one in a remote southern area of Death Valley National Park near the Nevada border and the other in the Mojave Desert.

Gunman fatally shot by Los Angeles police is identified; shooting under investigation

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-03/man-shot-and-killed-by-lapd-identified-shooting-under-investigation

A man who was armed with a gun and was fatally shot during a confrontation with Los Angeles police in Koreatown on Thursday has been identified. Marvin Cua, 24, was shot by police responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon in the 700 block of South Berendo Street around 8:15 a.m., said LAPD Capt. Aaron Ponce. Cua died at the scene, according to the county coroner’s office. A gun was recovered at the scene. LAPD officials did not say whether Cua fired at officers, or how many officers fired their weapons during the confrontation. The shooting remains under investigation.

Ex-Trump advisor Peter Navarro is subpoenaed in Justice Department's Jan. 6 probe

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-31/ex-trump-advisor-peter-navarro-is-subpoenaed-in-jan-6-probe

Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro revealed in a court filing Tuesday afternoon that he has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this week as part of the Justice Department’s sprawling probe into the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Navarro, who was a trade advisor to then-President Trump, said he was served by the FBI at his Washington, D.C., house last week. The subpoena is the first known instance of prosecutors seeking testimony from someone who worked in the Trump White House as they investigate the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries. In an 88-page filing, Navarro claims the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack is unlawful and therefore a subpoena it issued to him in February is unenforceable. The 72-year-old filed the suit Tuesday against members of the committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and the U.S. attorney for D.C., Matthew M. Graves. In an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Navarro said the goal of his lawsuit is much broader than the subpoenas themselves, part of an effort to have “the Supreme Court address a number of issues that have come with the weaponization of Congress’ investigatory powers” since Trump came to office. He said he will respond formally to the federal subpoena on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Though the scope of the department’s investigation remains unclear, the subpoena to Navarro could signal that the department is widening its probe to examine the activities and records of people who worked directly for the Republican president. The department previously issued subpoenas to people connected to the Jan. 6 attack and the rallies in Washington that preceded the violence, in which a mob loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in a brazen bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election and keep Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump in the White House. The subpoena also comes as pressure continues to mount on the Justice Department and Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to consider prosecuting Trump since the Jan. 6 House committee laid out an argument for what its members believe could be a viable criminal case against the former president. Garland has given no public indication about whether prosecutors might be considering a case against the former president. He has, though, vowed to hold accountable “all January 6th perpetrators, at any level” and has said that would include those who were “present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.” Roughly 300 people have pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from the riot, including seditious conspiracy and assault. The subpoena from federal prosecutors also comes months after Navarro, a former economics professor, received a congressional subpoena from lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Members of the select committee sought testimony from Navarro about his public efforts to help Trump overturn the election, including a call after the 2020 presidential election persuading state legislators to join their efforts. Navarro was one of the White House staffers who promoted Trump’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud. He released a report in December 2020 that he claimed contained evidence of the alleged misconduct. He has refused to cooperate with the committee, and he and fellow Trump advisor Dan Scavino were found in contempt of Congress in April. Members of the committee made their case at the time that Scavino and Navarro were among just a handful of people who had rebuffed the committee’s requests and subpoenas for information. The panel has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses about the insurrection and is preparing for a series of hearings to begin next week. The congressional probe has so far scrutinized Trump family members and allies, members of Congress and even social media groups accused of perpetuating election misinformation and allowing it to spread rampantly. The committee investigating the Capitol attack is not the only group of lawmakers that has sought Navarro’s compliance. A House subcommittee set up to investigate the Trump administration’s response to COVID-19 also subpoenaed him in November. He denied their request, citing a “direct order” from the former president to claim executive privilege.

Does California have enough water for lots of new homes? Yes, experts say, despite drought

https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2022-05-31/does-california-have-enough-water-for-lots-of-new-homes-yes-experts-say

To some, it defies common sense. California is once again in the middle of a punishing drought with state leaders telling people to take shorter showers and do fewer loads of laundry to conserve water. Yet at the same time, many of the same elected officials, pledging to solve the housing crisis, are pushing for the construction of millions of new homes. “It’s the first question I’d always get,” said Jeffrey Kightlinger, who until last year ran the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the agency that delivers the water ultimately used by half the state’s population. “How in the world are you approving new housing when we’re running out of water?” The answer, according to Kightlinger and other experts, is that there’s plenty of water available for new Californians if the 60-year trend of residents using less continues and accelerates into the future. Case in point: Angelenos use 44% less water per person annually than they did four decades ago, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Some of the changes that have freed up additional water supplies in the past, and could continue to free up water, go unnoticed by many people. New development almost always includes more water-efficient faucets, toilets, appliances and showers than older homes. Other efforts, such as building wastewater recycling plants to increase water supply, might be costly, but are needed to adapt to more severe droughts with the warming climate. The landscaping must change too. Think fewer lush lawns and grassy median strips and more gardens filled with native plants. “The reality is we use water so inefficiently and so poorly, there’s so much opportunity to change that,” said Newsha Ajami, chief development officer for research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “A lot of that opportunity we can use to house people.” California Researchers say California’s cities have big potential to use water more efficiently while taking advantage of stormwater and recycled wastewater. April 12, 2022 Most of California’s water isn’t used by people going about their daily lives at home or work. About 80% of water use statewide is for agriculture, with the rest for houses and businesses. Of that remaining 20%, nearly half goes toward watering lawns and landscapes, washing cars or sidewalks, or filling pools and spas. In the past, the state’s population grew in tandem with water use. But that changed starting in the 1960s. Between 1967 and 2016, California’s economy increased fivefold and the population doubled, yet water use rose by only 13%, according to a new study by the Pacific Institute, a Bay Area think tank. In more recent years, the shift has been even more startling. Since 2007, both total and per capita water use in the state has declined substantially. Total urban water use in 2016 was at levels not seen since the early 1990s, the report found. “California has seen a major decoupling of water use and growth,” said Heather Cooley, the Pacific Institute’s research director and the report’s lead author. “We are using water more efficiently. Those efforts have been incredibly effective.” Nevertheless, the report found that Californians still waste a lot of water. It determined that the state could further reduce use by more than 30% in cities and suburbs by investing in measures to use water more efficiently. This means switching out grass lawns for native plants, upgrading leaky pipes and old appliances, recycling wastewater, and capturing stormwater to replenish aquifers. “We can dramatically reduce our water use while still accommodating growth through efficiency improvements,” Cooley said. Some small rural and remote coastal areas will find it harder to have sufficient water supplies as droughts persist and climate change makes the state more arid. Central Valley farming towns have seen their wells run dry in recent years. Central Coast towns have prohibitions on new housing because of the lack of water. But experts said these circumstances do not apply in urban areas of the state with broader and more diverse options for water. When he was campaigning for office four years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the development of 3.5 million new homes by 2025 to address the shortage at the root of the state’s affordability problems. Housing construction has been stagnant, and Newsom has largely abandoned that promise. But his housing department has set a new goal for the building of 2.5 million homes over the next eight years to meet California’s needs. California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised unprecedented action to solve California’s housing affordability problem. But nearly all of his highest-profile initiatives have stalled or failed. Oct. 21, 2019 State leaders not only are planning for a lot more housing but want to concentrate growth in major metropolitan areas. The reason has largely been framed in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. California’s climate regulators say that the state will not meet its goals for cutting carbon pollution unless residents drive less, necessitating that people live closer to where they work and shop. Denser development also saves water because it has less outdoor landscaping than single-family home subdivisions. Combining water savings with more compact growth patterns allows for a lot more people without stressing supply. A separate Pacific Institute study from last year found that the Bay Area could add more than 2 million jobs and homes over the next 50 years, accommodating nearly 7 million more people, and offset all water use from the larger population through that strategy. California New drought rules in Southern California aim to cut daily water use to 80 gallons per person. Water managers say hitting this number is critical. April 30, 2022 Yet the disconnect between elected officials pressing Californians to cut water use in their daily routines and arguing for more homes can still be jarring. What is needed in the short term and years from now is different, said Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center. People may need to tighten their water-usage belts during droughts while policymakers increase access to more resilient water supplies such as wastewater recycling, she said. “There’s long-term conservation ethic and there’s being super careful during a drought,” Hanak said. “And when we’re talking about planning for housing, we’re talking about the long term.” Kightlinger, the former Southern California water executive, had a ready response when people asked him about building new housing. “I said, ‘Your kids got to live somewhere,’” Kightlinger said. “If we do it efficiently and smartly, we can manage this.” Times staff writer Ian James contributed to this report.

San Diego Bishop McElroy named by Pope Francis as a cardinal

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-29/san-diego-bishop-mcelroy-named-by-pope-francis-as-a-cardinal

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, one of Pope Francis’ ideological allies who has often sparred with more conservative U.S. bishops, was named by the pope on Sunday as one of 21 new cardinals. The San Diego diocese said McElroy will be installed by Pope Francis on Aug. 27 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Among his notable stances, McElroy, 68, has been one of a minority of U.S. bishops harshly criticizing the campaign to exclude Catholic politicians who support abortion rights from Communion. “It will bring tremendously destructive consequences,” McElroy wrote in May 2021. “The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare. This must not happen.” In selecting McElroy, Francis passed over the higher-ranking archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone. Earlier this month, Cordileone said he would no longer allow U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion because of her support for abortion rights. McElroy, in a statement, said he was “stunned and deeply surprised” by the news of his appointment. “My prayer is that in this ministry I might be of additional service to the God who has graced me on so many levels in my life,” he said. “And I pray also that I can assist the Holy Father in his pastoral renewal of the Church.” A native San Franciscan, McElroy received a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard in 1975 and a master’s in history from Stanford in 1976. He studied at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, and in 1985 received a theology degree at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. He obtained a doctorate in moral theology at the Gregorian University in Rome the following year and a PhD in political science at Stanford in 1989. He was ordained a priest in 1980 and assigned to the San Francisco diocese, where he served in a parish before becoming personal secretary to Archbishop John Quinn. Other California parish assignments included Redwood City and San Mateo. He became an auxiliary bishop in San Francisco in 2010. In 2015, early in Francis’ pontificate, he was named bishop of San Diego. Over recent years, McElroy has been among the relatively few U.S. bishops who questioned why the bishops’ conference insisted on identifying abortion as its “preeminent” priority. He has questioned why greater prominence was not given to issues such as racism, poverty, immigration and climate change. “The death toll from abortion is more immediate, but the long-term death toll from unchecked climate change is larger and threatens the very future of humanity,” he said in a speech in 2020. Last year, he was among a small group of bishops signing a statement expressing support for LGBTQ youth and denouncing the bullying often directed at them. The bishops’ statement said LGBTQ youth attempt suicide at much higher rates, are often homeless because of families who reject them and “are the target of violent acts at alarming rates.” “We take this opportunity to say to our LGBT friends, especially young people, that we stand with you and oppose any form of violence, bullying or harassment directed at you,” it read. “Most of all, know that God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.” The Diocese of San Diego runs the length of California’s border with Mexico and serves more than 1.3 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties. It includes 98 parishes, 49 elementary and secondary schools, and, through Catholic Charities of the Diocese of San Diego, various social service and family support organizations throughout the region.

The Times podcast: The Future of Abortion Part 3 | Money

https://www.latimes.com/podcasts/story/2022-05-16/podcast-the-future-of-abortion-part-3-money

Roe vs. Wade is expected to be struck down this summer, which would mean abortion will no longer be a federally protected right. If that happens, about half the states will probably ban abortion altogether, or make getting one a lot more difficult. But for those who live in Texas, especially in the Rio Grande Valley, it’s already hard to get an abortion. Today, we look at how Texas has made it nearly impossible for low-income women to get an abortion. And how other states want to copy that. Read the transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times Houston Bureau Chief Molly Hennessy-Fiske More reading and listening: Even with Roe vs. Wade in place, low-income women struggle to get abortions in Texas Podcast: Future of Abortion Part 1 | Medicine Future of Abortion Part 2 | Church

Psychologist testifies that Johnny Depp assaulted Amber Heard

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-05-03/psychologist-testifies-that-depp-assaulted-heard

Actor Amber Heard suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from violence she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband Johnny Depp, including multiple acts of sexual assault, a psychologist testified Tuesday. The sexual assaults included being forced to perform oral sex and having Depp penetrate her with a liquor bottle, the psychologist, Dawn Hughes, told jurors at Depp’s libel trial against Heard. He accuses her of falsely claiming in a newspaper op-ed piece that she was a victim of domestic violence. Hughes’ testimony contradicts that of a psychologist hired by Depp’s lawyers, who said Heard was faking her symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered from borderline and histrionic personality disorders. Hughes disputed that Heard suffers from any personality disorder. Hughes was the first witness to take the stand on Heard’s behalf after Depp’s lawyers rested their case Tuesday morning. Hughes said there is corroboration of many of the instances of abuse, including apologies and admissions made by Depp to Heard and admissions he made to friends in text messages about his bad behavior when he drinks. In some cases, Heard told her therapists about the abuse contemporaneously, Hughes said. Depp has said he never physically attacked Heard, and that she was the aggressor who routinely hit him and threw things at him through the course of their relationship. Hughes, in her testimony, said Heard acknowledged that she did at times push and shove Depp, call him names and insult his parenting. But Hughes said there’s a difference in the violence when a smaller person strikes at a larger person, and that Depp’s violence was intimidating and threatened her safety, but Heard’s violence did not have the same effect on Depp. “That’s just physics; that’s just proportional force,” she said. Much of the violence, Hughes said, stemmed from Depp’s obsessive jealousy. He insisted she avoid nude scenes, if she worked at all, and accused her of affairs with actors Billy Bob Thornton and James Franco. If she did work on a film, Depp would call the director and others on set and say he “had eyes” there who would report to him if she fraternized improperly, Hughes said. And Heard, who identifies as bisexual according to treatment notes introduced at trial, also faced scrutiny in her interactions with women. Hughes said Depp on one occasion manually penetrated Heard in anger after witnessing Heard’s interactions with a woman. “Amber got accused of women hitting her, and she got accused of men hitting on her,” Hughes said. Heard blinked back tears, and her lips and chin quivered at times as Hughes described the abuse. Hughes said she based her testimony on 29 hours of interviews with Heard, as well as interviews with her therapists and a review of court documents. Earlier Tuesday, Depp’s lawyers rested their case, and a judge rejected a motion from Heard’s lawyers to dismiss the case. Heard’s lawyers argued that Depp had failed to make his case as a matter of law and that no reasonable jury could find in his favor. Entertainment & Arts An attorney for Amber Heard requested Tuesday that Johnny Depp’s defamation case against the ‘Aquaman’ actor be dismissed. The request was denied. May 3, 2022 But the judge, Penney Azcarate, said the standard for dismissing a case at this point in the trial is exceedingly high, and that the case should be allowed to move forward if Depp has provided even a “scintilla” of evidence backing up his claims. Depp and his lead lawyer, Benjamin Chew, patted each other on the back after the judge ruled the case can proceed. Chew argued that the jury has a wealth of evidence to conclude that Heard falsely accused Depp of abuse. In fact, he said, the evidence shows that “Ms. Heard physically abused him. She’s the abuser.” Heard’s lawyer, J. Benjamin Rottenborn, said the evidence is clear over the last three weeks of testimony that Heard’s allegations of abuse are truthful. “We haven’t gotten to put on our case yet,” he said. “This is all evidence that has come in while plaintiff controls the playing field.” Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Fairfax County Circuit Court after Heard wrote a December 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article never mentions Depp by name, but Depp’s lawyers say he was defamed nevertheless because it’s a clear reference to abuse allegations Heard levied in 2016, in the midst of the couple’s divorce proceedings. The judge on Tuesday did say she’s reserving judgment on whether the article’s headline in online editions should be part of the libel lawsuit because she said the evidence is unclear at this point whether Heard wrote the headline or is responsible for it. The online headline reads, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” Hughes will be cross-examined Wednesday, and Heard is expected to take the stand Wednesday as well.

'Bad Guys' repeats at No. 1, Liam Neeson's latest misfires

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-05-01/bad-guys-repeats-at-no-1-liam-neesons-latest-misfires

The DreamWorks animated heist movie “The Bad Guys” was the top film in U.S. and Canada theaters for the second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while the latest Liam Neeson thriller suggested the actor’s particular set of skills may be wearing thin with audiences. “The Bad Guys,” distributed by Universal Pictures, made $16.1 million in ticket sales in its second weekend, holding well with only a 33% drop from last weekend. The film, adapted from Aaron Blabey’s kids’ graphic novel, has helped reignite family moviegoing. April moviegoing was largely dominated by Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” — which stayed in second place with $11.4 million, bringing its cumulative total to $160.9 million — and “The Bad Guys,” with $44.4 million in two weeks. The latest Neeson thriller, “Memory,” however, was mostly forgotten by moviegoers. The Open Road-Briarcliffe Entertainment R-rated release launched with an estimated $3.1 million in 2,555 locations. That’s much in line with the last few films staring Neeson. In the past two years, “Blacklight” (a $3.5 million debut), “Honest Thief” ($4.1 million) and “The Marksman” ($3.1 million) all opened similarly. The last Neeson thriller to make a dent was 2019’s “Cold Pursuit,” which debuted with $11 million and ultimately grossed $62.6 million worldwide. But either due to oversaturation or lackluster reception (“Memory” has a 30% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes), a once dependable box-office force has gone cold. “Neeson’s pre-pandemic crime pics did well, including the successful ‘Taken’ series, but audiences are showing little interest now,” David A. Gross, who runs the movie consultancy FranchiseRe, wrote in a newsletter. “Moviegoing activity is improving, but ‘Memory,’ as well as ‘Blacklight’ and ‘The Marksman,’ are hitting a wall.” The eighth-place “Memory” was the only new wide release on a quiet weekend in theaters ahead of the Friday release of Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” The Walt Disney Co. release will effectively kick off Hollywood’s summer season, one the industry is hoping will approach pre-pandemic levels. Studios last week trumpeted their summer slates at the industry convention CinemaCon, raising expectations for big-budget films like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World Dominion.” The brightest spot in theaters currently continues to be “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” which dropped just 2% in its sixth week of release with $5.5 million. The film, an existential metaverse action comedy starring Michelle Yeoh, has had unusually long legs in theaters, and with $35.5 million in sales so far, ranks as one of indie studio A24’s biggest hits. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. “The Bad Guys,” $16.1 million. 2. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $11.4 million. 3. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $8.3 million. 4. “The Northman,” $6.3 million. 5. “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” $5.5 million. 6. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” $3.9 million. 7. “The Lost City,” $3.9 million. 8. “Memory,” $3.1 million. 9. “Father Stu,” $2.2 million. 10. “Morbius,” $1.5 million.

Kevin Hart gets $100-million minority investment to build his comedy empire

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-04-26/kevin-hart-gets-100-million-minority-investment-to-build-his-comedy-empire

Comedian Kevin Hart has secured a $100-million minority investment for his newly formed company called Hartbeat, a combination of two Hart-founded companies. Hartbeat is formed from the merger of Hart’s film and TV production company, Hartbeat Productions, and Laugh Out Loud. Founded in 2017, Laugh Out Loud is known for podcasts, web series and streaming shows including “Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart & Snoop Dogg” for Comcast Corp.’s Peacock and the Roku series “Die Hart.” Shows from Hartbeat Productions include the FX comedy series “Dave,” while its movies have included “Night School,” starring Hart and Tiffany Haddish. Company Town Launched in 2017, Hart’s Laugh Out Loud has shifted strategies significantly as the industry of online content has radically changed. Aug. 13, 2021 The new $100-million investment comes from private equity firm Abry Partners, which gets a minority stake in the new company and two seats on Hartbeat’s board. Peacock, which has a multi-year distribution deal with Laugh Out Loud and took a minority stake in the company in 2020, will still be a shareholder, the company said. The Encino-based company is valued at about $650 million, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment. The deal comes as private equity firms and wealthy individuals are pouring funds into production companies, music catalogs and other entertainment firms in the hopes of capitalizing on the growing demand for streaming content. Reese Witherspoon’s firm Hello Sunshine sold to former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer’s Blackstone-backed Candle Media in a $900-million deal. LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Co. sold a minority stake to RedBird Capital valuing the company at $725 million. Hart will be Hartbeat’s chairman and will remain its majority owner. Longtime associates of his will run the business. Thai Randolph will serve as chief executive, Bryan Smiley becomes chief content officer and Jeff Clanagan will be chief distribution officer

High school baseball and softball: Thursday’s scores

https://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/story/2022-04-22/high-school-baseball-and-softball-scores-thursday

BASEBALL Adelanto 8, Silverado 3 Alta Loma 9, Claremont 3 Animo Leadership 12, Environmental Charter 1 Aquinas 3, Ontario Christian 2 Arlington 2, Ramona 1 Baldwin Park 10, Ontario 5 Big Bear 9, Riverside Prep 4 Buckley 11, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 1 Burbank 6, Muir 1 Camarillo 9, Oak Park 1 Chaminade 3, Calabasas 2 Chino 13, Chaffey 0 Citrus Hill 13, West Valley 0 Crespi 3, Agoura 2 Don Lugo 13, Montclair 2 Foothill 2, Sierra Canyon 1 (8) Gahr 5, Warren 0 Glendora 7, Ayala 2 Hawthorne 13, Inglewood 1 Hemet 15, Indio 0 Hillcrest 5, Norte Vista 4 Huntington Beach 6, San Diego Point Loma 4 Irvine 6, Laguna Hlls 1 JSerra 4, Orange Lutheran 1 Jurupa Valley 13, Indian Springs 0 Kaiser 5, Jurupa Hills 2 Lancaster Desert Christian 13, Cobalt 3 Linfield Christian 5, Woodcrest Christian 4 Long Beach Poly 8, Atwater Buhach Colony 0 Long Beach Wilson 4, Mayfair 1 Los Alamitos 6, Edison 2 Los Altos 11, Hacienda Heights Wilson 1 Maranatha 13, Turlock Pitman 1 Marquez 11, Maywood Academy 1 Mater Dei 2, Yucaipa 1 Miller 11, Pacific 1 Moorpark 3, Royal 2 Newport Harbor 12, Marina 0 Nogales 6, West Covina 5 Placentia Valencia 6, La Palma Kennedy 4 Quartz Hill 12, Eastside 2 Rim of the World 6, Fontana 0 Sage Hill 23, Southlands Christian 2 San Bernardino 15, Rubidoux 5 San Diego St. Augustine 3, La Mirada 2 San Dimas 7, King 3 San Luis Obispo Mission Prep 5, Rancho Mirage 2 Servite 6, Corona 1 St. Francis 3, St. Bonaventure 2 Summit 5, Rialto 2 Sun Valley Poly 9, San Fernando 0 Torres 15, Bravo 7 United Christian 23, La Sierra Academy 1 Villa Park 2, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 1 Vista Murrieta 12, Murrieta Valley 4 Walnut 10, Diamond Bar 5 Western Christian 9, Bermuda Dunes Desert Christian 0 Woodbridge 4, Beckman 3 SOFTBALL Alverno 13, Flintridge Prep 1 Anaheim Canyon 4, Foothill 2 Beckman 9, Irvine 0 Bernstein 22, Contreras 12 Bloomington 21, Fontana 1 California 4, El Rancho 3 Canyon Country Canyon 14, Castaic 3 Carson 6, Gardena 1 Cerritos Valley Christian 4, Village Christian 1 Chino 9, Chaffey 1 Claremont 2, Alta Loma 1 Eagle Rock 12, Los Angeles Wilson 0 Fairfax 11, Westchester 0 Faith Baptist 12, Oakwood 10 Fillmore 9, Hueneme 0 Glendora 6, Ayala 2 Grace Brethren 17, Foothill Tech 3 Great Oak 26, Chaparral 12 Harbor Teacher 15, Fremont 0 Hart 9, West Ranch 4 Heritage Christian 6, Sierra Canyon 3 Hollywood 18, Belmont 16 King/Drew 17, Locke 0 La Habra 11, Sonora 4 La Palma Kennedy 9, Garden Grove Pacifica 2 La Sierra 5, Patriot 3 Legacy 11, Bell 3 Los Angeles Hamilton 13, Los Angeles University 0 Maranatha 17, Las Vegas Mountain View Christian 2 Mater Dei 1, JSerra 0 Mission Viejo 7, Aliso Niguel 4 Montclair 7, Don Lugo 3 Murrieta Mesa 12, Temecula Valley 0 Northridge 18, Sherman Oaks CES 1 Nuview Bridge 18, Temecula Prep 1 Orthopaedic 23, Central City Value 12 Oxnard 16, Oxnard Pacifica 0 Palisades 14, Los Angeles CES 1 Pasadena 17, Muir 2 Quartz Hill 17, Eastside 0 Ramona 11, Arlington 5 Royal 17, St. Bonaventure 2 San Bernardino 19, Rubidoux 8 San Jacinto 18, West Valley 0 San Juan Hills 17, Dana Hills 2 Savanna 8, Magnolia 5 Silverado 5, Adelanto 2 Simi Valley 6, Oak Park 4 Smidt Tech 20, Alliance Bloomfield 3 Sunny Hills 7, Troy 0 Tesoro 9, Capistrano Valley 3 Trabuco Hills 4, San Clemente 3 Viewpoint 9, Campbell Hall 1 Villa Park 2, Esperanza 0 Warren 16, Paramount 1 Western 17, Santa Ana Valley 0 Westminster La Quinta 17, Bolsa Grande 6 Wilmington Banning 9, San Pedro 5 Woodbridge 23, Irvine University 0

Some California transit agencies ask riders to still wear masks, despite court decision

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-18/transit-agencies-in-california-ask-riders-to-still-wear-masks-despite-court-decision

Some public transit agencies in California are asking riders to continue wearing masks on buses and trains, despite a federal court ruling in Florida on Monday that struck down the masking mandate on public transportation. The Biden administration said Monday’s court decision means that the federal order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requiring mask use on public transit — including planes, airports, buses and trains — is not in effect at this time. The CDC still recommends the public wear masks when using public transportation. California transit agencies scrambled to formulate messages on mask-wearing guidance and requirements on their transit systems. It was unclear Monday whether local transit officials would adopt stricter rules and require masks, but some agencies asked passengers to still wear face coverings while they await further clarification by the federal government. Los Angeles International Airport is following the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s lead by no longer enforcing the mask requirement “in indoor public transportation settings,” said Heath Montgomery, an airport spokesman. It will be up to each traveler to decide for themselves whether to wear a mask at the airport, Montgomery said, adding that officials encourage anyone who wants to wear a mask to continue to do so. “We encourage everybody to be a good fellow traveler to everybody else and respect the choices they make,” he said. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it is “continuing to ask riders to please wear masks on our system. We are aware of today’s ruling and waiting for further guidance from the federal government,” spokesman Dave Sotero said in a statement. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which runs the DASH bus service in downtown L.A. and Commuter Express lines across the region, said it is continuing to ask riders to wear masks, pending further review. But Metrolink, a commuter rail service system for Southern California, said masks are no longer required aboard its trains or at its stations “effective immediately.” However, spokesman Scott Johnson said the CDC “still recommends that people continue to wear masks in indoor public transportation settings.” “We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust as needed, always with the safety of our riders in mind,” he said in an email. In the San Francisco Bay Area, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Rapid Transit commuter rail system, Alicia Trost, said it was waiting to see whether TSA will issue a formal decision that a mask-wearing directive is no longer in effect. “If we get that, there will not be a mandate” on BART, Trost said. San Francisco’s Muni system — which runs buses, light rail, streetcars and cable cars — said a mask order remains in effect until further guidance from the Federal Transit Administration is issued. “We’re waiting to hear more,” spokeswoman Erica Kato said. The Associated Press and Times staff writer Gregory Yee contributed to this report.

Cristiano Ronaldo says one of his newborn twins has died

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-04-18/cristiano-ronaldo-says-one-of-his-newborn-twins-has-died

Cristiano Ronaldo took to social media on Monday to say one of his newborn twins has died. “It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away,” the Manchester United striker wrote in a post also signed by his partner, Georgina Rodriguez. “It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel.” Ronaldo announced last year that the couple was expecting twins. “Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness,” he wrote on the social-media post. “We are all devastated at this loss,” the post added, “and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time. Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you.” Ronaldo already had four children.

Musk tweets disappear after Twitter discloses he won't join the company's board

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-04-11/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-wont-join-twitters-board-after-all

Twitter’s largest investor, billionaire Elon Musk, is reversing course and will no longer join the company’s board of directors, less than a week after being awarded a seat. Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal announced the news, which followed a weekend of Musk tweets suggesting changes to Twitter, including making the site ad-free. Nearly 90% of Twitter’s 2021 revenue came from ads. However, a number of the tweets posted by Musk over the weekend regarding potential changes at Twitter no longer appear on the platform. “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective on 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he would not be joining the board,” Agrawal wrote in a reposted note originally sent to Tesla employees. “I believe this is for the best.” Agrawal didn’t offer an explanation for Musk’s apparent decision. He said the board understood the risks of having Musk, who is now the company’s largest shareholder, as a member. But it “believed having Elon as a fiduciary of the company, where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward,” he wrote. The rapidly evolving relationship between Musk and Twitter began exactly one week ago when regulatory filings revealed the mercurial billionaire had amassed a 9.2% stake in the social media platform, making him its largest shareholder. Twitter gave Musk a seat on the board on the condition that he not own more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock, according to a regulatory filing. While Musk has been one of Twitter’s loudest critics, the sudden withdrawal from the board, a move that became official Saturday, could signal that the rapidly evolving narrative between Musk and Twitter will become more acrimonious. “This now goes from a Cinderella story with Musk joining the Twitter Board and keeping his stake under 14.9% helping move Twitter strategically forward to likely a “Game of Thrones” battle between Musk and Twitter with the high likelihood that Elon takes a more hostile stance towards Twitter and further builds his active stake in the company,” wrote Daniel Ives, who follows Twitter for Wedbush. That, according to Ives, could mean that Musk will join with another major investor to force “strategic changes at Twitter,” or that he will try to force the company to move in a new direction by rattling board members and executives. In a letter to employees, Agrawal wrote: “There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.” Shares of Twitter Inc., which jumped nearly 30% after Musk’s stake became public last week, fell almost 2% at the opening bell Monday. Musk posted a few cryptic tweets late Sunday, including one showing a meme saying, “In all fairness, your honor, my client was in goblin mode,” followed by one saying, “Explains everything.” Another, later tweet was of an emoji with a hand over its mouth. He now has a 9.2% stake in Twitter, raising questions about how he might try to reshape the social media platform as Twitter’s biggest shareholder. Musk’s 80.5 million Twitter followers make him one of the most popular figures on the platform, rivaling pop stars such as Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. But his prolific tweeting has sometimes gotten him into trouble, such as when he has used it to promote his business ventures, rally Tesla loyalists, question pandemic measures and pick fights. In one famous example, Musk apologized to a British cave explorer who alleged the Tesla CEO had branded him a pedophile by referring to him as “pedo guy” in an angry — and subsequently deleted — tweet. The explorer filed a defamation suit, although a Los Angeles jury later cleared Musk. He’s also been locked in a long-running dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his Twitter activity. Musk and Tesla in 2018 agreed to pay $40 million in civil fines and for Musk to have his tweets approved by a corporate lawyer after he tweeted about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share. That didn’t happen but the tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump. His lawyer has contended that the SEC is infringing on Musk’s free speech rights. Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has said he doesn’t think Twitter is living up to free speech principles — an opinion shared by followers of Donald Trump and several right-wing political figures who’ve had their accounts suspended for violating Twitter content rules. But what’s really has been driving Musk’s Twitter involvement isn’t clear. Other preoccupations with the service include arguing to make Twitter’s algorithm viewable by the public, widening the availability of “verified” Twitter accounts, and blasting a profile photo initiative involving non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Musk has also called “crypto spam bots,” which search tweets for cryptocurrency-related keywords and then pose as customer support to empty user crypto wallets, the “most annoying problem on Twitter.” Twitter’s CEO and other board members have praised Musk, suggesting they might take his ideas seriously. Agrawal’s initial actions since taking over from co-founder Jack Dorsey in November have involved reorganizing divisions without making major changes. The company has long lagged behind its social media rivals and boasts far fewer users.

California is investigating the corporation that took over its Medicaid drug program

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-07/california-investigating-corporation-took-over-medicaid-drug-program

Prescription drug costs for California’s massive Medicaid program were draining the state budget, so in 2019 Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the private sector for help. The new Medicaid drug program debuted this January, with a private company in charge. But it was woefully unprepared, and thousands of low-income Californians were left without critical medications for weeks, some waiting on hold for hours when they called to get help. What happened in the two years between the contract award and the start of the program is a case study in what can go wrong when government outsources core functions to the private sector. California awarded the Medi-Cal Rx program to a unit of Magellan Health, a company with expertise in pharmacy benefits and mental health. But Magellan was then gobbled up by industry giant Centene, worth roughly $50 billion, which was looking to expand its mental health portfolio. Centene was already a big player in state Medicaid drug programs — but one with a questionable record. The company was accused by six states of overbilling their Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and pharmacy services and settled to the tune of $264.4 million. Three other states made similar allegations and have settled with the company, but the amounts have not been disclosed. Centene, in resolving the civil actions, denied any wrongdoing. KHN has learned California health officials also are investigating Centene. Handing Over Control In his 2019 inauguration speech, Newsom vowed to use California’s “market power and our moral power to demand fairer prices” from the “drug companies that gouge Californians with sky-high prices.” Drug spending by the state for its Medicaid, prison, state hospital, and other programs had been climbing 20% a year since 2012, so the first-term Democrat issued an executive order requiring California to make its own generic drugs and forge partnerships with counties and other states to buy drugs in bulk. He also directed the state to buy prescription drugs for Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, which covers roughly 14 million people. California Thousands of patients are having trouble getting their medications because of problems with California’s new Medicaid prescription drug program. Feb. 9, 2022 Newsom no longer wanted to allow the state’s two dozen Medi-Cal managed-care health plans to provide prescription drug coverage to their enrollees, arguing the state would get a better deal from drug companies by harnessing its purchasing power. That December, California awarded a competitive $302-million contract to Magellan Medicaid Administration, a subsidiary of Magellan Health, to make sure Medi-Cal enrollees get the medications that California would buy in bulk. Magellan provides pharmacy services to public health plans in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Even though Magellan’s biggest money maker is mental health insurance, it met a key requirement of the state’s call for bids: It didn’t provide health insurance to any Medicaid enrollees in California. Magellan was supposed to take over the drug program in April 2021. But on Jan. 4 of that year, Centene — which was seeking a greater role in the lucrative behavioral health market — announced plans to buy Magellan. St. Louis-based Centene, however, is one of the largest Medi-Cal insurers in the state, a factor that would have disqualified it from bidding for the original contract. Centene provides health coverage for about 1.7 million low-income Californians in 26 counties through its subsidiaries Health Net and California Health & Wellness. It earned 11% of its revenue from California businesses in 2019, according to its 2021 annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the state bent over backward to make it work, delaying implementation of the program while Magellan set up firewalls, sectioned off its business operations from Centene, and paid for a third-party monitor. State regulators reviewed the merger in a 30-minute public hearing in October 2021. They didn’t mention Centene’s legal settlements with other states. The state Department of Managed Health Care approved the merger Dec. 30. Two days later, the state launched its new prescription drug program with Magellan at the controls. Centene’s Legal Troubles In the past 10 months, Centene has settled with nine states over accusations that it and its pharmacy business, Envolve, overbilled their Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and services: It settled with Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and Ohio, according to news releases from attorneys general in those states. The three other states have not been identified by Centene or the states themselves. The company has set aside $1.25 billion for those settlements and future lawsuits, according to its 2021 report to the SEC. Centene, which has denied wrongdoing in public statements, did not respond to multiple requests by KHN for interviews, nor did it respond to emailed questions. Magellan also did not respond to interview requests. From the start, other California health insurers opposed the state takeover of the Medi-Cal drug program, partly because it took away a line of business. They were even more furious when the state allowed one of their biggest competitors to seize the reins — especially given its legal entanglements. The state Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal, acknowledged to KHN in March that it’s investigating the company but declined to provide specifics. The state is investigating Centene’s role in providing pharmacy benefits before the state took the job from managed-care insurers. “DHCS takes all allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse seriously and investigates allegations when warranted,” department spokesperson Anthony Cava said in a statement. A Sale in the Offing? When Medi-Cal Rx debuted Jan. 1, thousands of Californians couldn’t refill critical — sometimes lifesaving — medications for days or weeks. Doctors, pharmacists, and patients calling for help often languished on hold for as many as eight hours. Magellan blamed the problems on staff shortages during the COVID-19 Omicron surge and missing patient data from insurance plans. State health officials went to great lengths to fix the problems and appeared before legislative committees to provide lawmakers with assurances that the contractor wouldn’t be paid in full. But Medi-Cal patients still face uncertainty. Not long after Magellan took over California’s Medi-Cal drug program, reports surfaced in Axios and other publications that Centene might sell Magellan’s pharmacy business. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has launched several initiatives to cut rising drug prices, but the savings haven’t been as large as he promised. March 3, 2022 Centene officials have not confirmed a sale. But it would align with the company’s recent moves to restructure its pharmacy operations in the face of state investigations — such as seeking an outside company to begin managing its drug spending. “Once you tell a PBM they actually have to behave, that’s when there’s no more money in it. It’s time to go,” said Antonio Ciaccia, president of drug-pricing watchdog 3 Axis Advisors, referring to businesses known as pharmacy benefit managers. Yet another ownership change in California’s drug program could bring more disruption to the state’s most vulnerable residents, some of whom are still having trouble getting their drugs and specialty medical supplies after Magellan’s rocky takeover. “I don’t know what kind of instability that creates internally when there’s a change of this magnitude,” said Linnea Koopmans, chief executive of Local Health Plans of California, which represents the state’s publicly run Medicaid insurers that compete against Centene. “It’s just an open question.” Koopmans and other Centene critics acknowledge that California has long relied on private insurance plans to offer medical and prescription drug coverage to Medi-Cal enrollees and that the state shouldn’t be surprised by ownership changes that come with consolidation in the healthcare industry. For example, Centene has a history of taking over California contracts after an acquisition — it did so when it purchased Health Net in 2016. But consumer advocates say the Centene fiasco makes it clear that the state must improve oversight of corporate mergers if it chooses to hand over responsibility for public programs. “In an ideal world, this is all backroom machinations that people don’t notice — until they do, until there is a problem,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. “It just increases the need to make sure that that oversight is there, that accountability is there.” This story was produced by KHN (Kaiser Health News), one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation).

Bobby Rydell, 60s teen idol and 'Bye Bye Birdie' star, dies

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2022-04-05/bobby-rydell-60s-teen-idol-and-bye-bye-birdie-star-dies

Bobby Rydell, a pompadoured heartthrob of early rock ‘n roll who was a star of radio, television and the movie musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” died Tuesday. Rydell died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in a suburb of his hometown of Philadelphia, according to a statement posted by his marketing and event coordinator Maria Novey. Rydell, who credited a 2012 kidney and liver transplant with extending his life, was 79. Along with James Darren, Fabian and Frankie Avalon, Rydell was among a wave of wholesome teen idols who emerged after Elvis Presley and before the rise of the Beatles. Between 1959 and 1964, he had nearly three dozen Top 40 singles including “Wild One,” “Volare,” “Wildwood Days,” “The Cha-Cha-Cha” and “Forget Him,” a song of consolation for a bereft girl that helped inspire the Beatles’ classic “She Loves You.” He had recurring roles on “The Red Skelton Show” and other television programs, and 1963’s “Bye Bye Birdie” was rewritten to give Rydell a major part as the boyfriend of Ann-Margret. He didn’t want to move to Hollywood, however, and “Birdie” became his only significant movie role — though the high school in the hit ’70s musical “Grease” was named for him. Rydell never strayed far from his Philadelphia roots, living in the area for most of his life. The block of 11th Street where he grew up was christened Bobby Rydell Boulevard by his hometown in 1995. “I never thought of myself as a celebrity,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003. “I was just a guy who went out there and worked.” He was born Robert Ridarelli in a South Philadelphia neighborhood that would also produce teen idols Darren, Fabian and Avalon. They knew each other as children — Rydell played drums with Avalon on trumpet in a group called Rocco and the Saints. Before he graced the covers of teen magazines and movie screens, Rydell made his bones as a youngster in Philadelphia clubs. He made his performance debut as a 7-year-old drummer, not a singer. His first drum kit was a gift from his father, Al Ridarelli, who inspired his son’s choice of instrument by taking him to see Gene Krupa perform. At age 9, he debuted on an amateur television show and became its regular drummer for three years. Rydell got his big break in 1959 on “American Bandstand,” which originally was broadcast from Philadelphia. His first hit, “Kissing Time,” quickly followed, and the skinny 17-year-old with a pompadour haircut rocketed to stardom. Rydell and his fellow Philadelphia performers were ideal for “Bandstand” host Dick Clark, who sought to make rock n’ roll palatable to young and old. He also made live appearances nationwide on a tour organized by Clark. Changing musical tastes ushered in by the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion defused the hit-making careers of Rydell and his compatriots, and he continued performing and recording music with limited success in the late 1960s and 1970s. But in 1985, he joined his old friends Avalon and Fabian for what they thought would be a few appearances. They dubbed themselves “The Golden Boys of Bandstand,” and the shows were so successful that the trio ended up touring for three years and performing 300 shows nationwide. “We weren’t out to prove anything. We just said to ourselves, ‘Here are three Italian kids from South Philadelphia, born and raised within two blocks of each other. Let’s go out there and have fun,’” Rydell told The Atlantic City Weekly in 2006. “That hasn’t changed. I think people see that attitude coming from the stage. It’s a fun show to watch — that’s what’s made it so successful. We have a great time doing it.” Rydell’s childhood sweetheart and first wife, Camille, died in 2003. He is survived by his second wife, Linda Hoffman, whom he married in 2009, along with son Robert Ridarelli, daughter Jennifer Dulin, and five grandchildren.

Another L.A. juvenile hall fails inspection weeks after Central Juvenile Hall evacuation

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-01/another-l-a-juvenile-hall-fails-inspection-weeks-after-central-juvenile-hall-evacuation

Barry J. Nidorf juvenile hall failed an inspection by state regulators Thursday, just weeks after approximately 140 youths were hastily transferred there due to the shutdown of Los Angeles County’s other troubled juvenile facility. Once again, inspectors from the Board of State and Community Corrections found that youths were being held in isolation longer than necessary, according to Tracie Cone, a spokeswoman for the board. The error marked a violation of the corrective action plan put in place by the BSCC after the oversight agency found the county’s juvenile halls were unsuitable to house youths last year, Cone said. At its next public meeting on April 7, the BSCC could once again deem the county unsuitable to care for young people, which would give the county Probation Department 60 days to fix problems outlined by state regulators or remove all youths from the facility, Cone said. The failed inspection is the latest in a series of blunders by the Probation Department, which oversees the county’s juvenile halls. Last month, the Probation Department hastily transferred 140 youths to Nidorf Hall from the long troubled Central Juvenile Hall ahead of a scheduled BSCC inspection. California All 147 youths at Central Juvenile Hall were moved out over the weekend in a mass transfer that employees called disorganized and dangerous. March 16, 2022 The Times reported in March that employees were given little to no warning of the move and that the Probation Department had insufficient staff on hand to conduct the transfers safely. Employees who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity described a chaotic situation that saw youths lashing out at officers, while parents who were not properly notified of the transfers showed up at Central, confused about why their children weren’t there. During previous BSCC reviews, the Probation Department was chastised for failing to complete health assessments for newly admitted young people and failing to justify placing youths in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Cone said the more recent violations were less severe. California Los Angeles County officials were told this week that they’ll either have to remediate the problems at their detention centers or move young people elsewhere. Sept. 18, 2021 “They still had some issues with room confinement by not consistently meeting their self-imposed one-hour time limit during shift changes,” Cone wrote in an email to The Times, noting that the board would take into consideration the fact that staff are “dealing with the increased population from Central and appear to be making strides toward compliance.” In a statement issued late Friday, the Probation Department said it had implemented a new directive to fix the problem, and officials had “not determined that the youth will be moved to any other location” and will stay in Nidorf. The BSCC’s investigator also raised issues with the fact that youths were not being given “meaningful” access to outdoor recreation, and instead were spending most of that time inside Nidorf Hall watching television, according to a Probation Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. At the hearing next week, the board will have the option to postpone until its June meeting a determination as to whether the county facilities are suitable to house juveniles. That would give the Probation Department more time to make improvements, Cone said. Operations at Central Juvenile Hall were suspended for 90 days last month, but probation officials have said they expect to reopen the facility ahead of schedule. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors, meanwhile, approved a motion last month to examine the permanent closure of Central Juvenile Hall, citing its long history of problems and decrepit conditions at the century-old structure. In a statement, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the failed inspection was illustrative of larger problems with the Probation Department and further proof of the need to find alternatives to incarceration for youths who have committed crimes. “With this failed inspection, it has put the youth at Barry J. Nidorf and Central Juvenile halls at further risk which will require swift and decisive action from the Probation Department’s leadership, with oversight from the Probation Oversight Commission and the Board [of Supervisors], to come up with a plan to get the two county juvenile halls up to standard while temporarily finding a more suitable place for the youth,” she said.

What's on TV Thursday: Season finale of ‘Grown-ish’ on Freeform; ‘Welcome to Flatch’ on Fox

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-03-24/whats-on-tv-thursday-march-24

The prime-time TV grid is on hiatus in print. You can find more TV coverage at: latimes.com/whats-on-tv. Station 19 Sullivan and Natasha’s (Boris Kodjoe, guest star Merle Dandridge) past is revealed in flashbacks, while Ben and Bailey (Jason George, Chandra Wilson guest-starring in her “Grey’s Anatomy” role) have a discussion with Pru’s (Janai Kaylani) grandparents. Lachlan Buchanan also guest stars in this new episode. 8 p.m. ABC MasterChef Junior Working in groups, contestants have 20 minutes to make pizzas in this new episode. 8 p.m. Fox Awards Many great artists suffer for their work, and celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay is no exception. Aug. 11, 2017 BattleBots The round of 32 concludes. 8 p.m. Discovery Restaurant: Impossible In this new episode the restaurant owner is a former NASA physicist who felt confident he could thrive in the business. After a decade of failures, chef Robert Irvine is called in. 8 p.m. Food Network Grey’s Anatomy (N) 9 p.m. ABC Call Me Kat Sheila (Swoosie Kurtz) invites Kat (Mayim Bialik) and Oscar (Christopher Rivas) to join her on a double date with a man who owns a restaurant. Also, Randi and Max (Kyla Pratt, Cheyenne Jackson) try to adjust to their new living situation in this new episode of the comedy. 9 p.m. Fox Television “The Big Bang Theory’s” Mayim Bialik returns to TV in Fox’s “Call Me Kat,” an appealingly conventional sitcom about an unconventional woman. Jan. 7, 2021 Growing Up Hip Hop (season finale) 9 p.m. WE Welcome to Flatch Kelly (Holmes) recruits Shrub (Sam Straley) as a business partner as she launches a ride-sharing service in this new episode of the comedy. Aya Cash, Seann William Scott and Justin Linville also star. 9:30 p.m. Fox Big Sky (N) 10 p.m. ABC Grown-ish After four years, Zoey (Yara Shahidi) is graduating from college and her family (“black-ish” cast members Tracee Ellis Ross, Anthony Anderson, Marcus Scribner, Marsai Martin and Miles Brown) will be there to celebrate in the season finale. 10 p.m. Freeform Atlanta Donald Glover and Brian Tyree Henry star as the series returns with two new episodes. 10 and 10:45 p.m. FX Television Donald Glover, who broke up one of television’s great comedy teams – his Troy to Danny Pudi’s Abed – when he left “Community” in its penultimate season, is back with a series of his own. Sept. 6, 2016 Becoming a Popstar A new music competition for rising TikTok creators. 10 p.m. MTV Dicktown In the first of two new animated adventures, John (voice of John Hodgman) persuades David (voice of David Rees) to help him trap his stalker, using techniques familiar to any “Scooby-Doo” fan. 11 p.m. FXX PGA Tour Golf Corales Puntacana Championship, first round, 7:30 a.m. Golf; WGC, 11 a.m. Golf ATP/WTA Tennis ATP/WTA Tennis Miami Open: Women’s second round and men’s first round, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. BSSC Figure Skating ISU World Championships: Pairs free, 10 a.m. USA; Men’s short program, noon USA FIFA World Cup Qualifying Portugal versus Turkey, noon ESPN2; Mexico versus United States, 7 p.m. CBSSN College Basketball NCAA Division II Tournament Semifinals: Black Hills State versus Northwest Missouri State, 1 p.m. CBSSN; Augusta versus Indiana (Pa.), 3:30 p.m. CBSSN. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Regional Semifinals: Arkansas versus Gonzaga, 4 p.m. CBS; Michigan versus Villanova, 4:30 p.m. TBS; Texas Tech versus Duke, 6:30 p.m. CBS; Houston versus Arizona, 7 p.m. TBS Sports March Madness is officially here. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2022 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. March 14, 2022 CBS Mornings Anthony Mangieri; Emmanuel Acho; Simone Ashley. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter Grace Franklin; Jill Martin; Ina Garten. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America Tory Johnson; Riverdance performs. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV Live With Kelly and Ryan Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Take Me Out”); Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”). (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Celebrating Women’s History Month; Regina Hall. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Wendy Williams Show Veterinarians Vernard Hodges and Terrence Ferguson (“Critter Fixers: Country Vets”). (N) 11 a.m. KTTV The Talk Dominic Cooper; Fran Drescher; George Wallace. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS Tamron Hall Catherine Price. (N) 1 p.m. KABC The Drew Barrymore Show Amy Schumer and Violet Young; Olivia Rodrigo. (N) 2 p.m. KCBS The Kelly Clarkson Show Daniel Radcliffe; Yuh-Jung Youn; Nicole Remy. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC The Ellen DeGeneres Show Channing Tatum. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC The Real (N) 3 p.m. KCOP Amanpour & Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; midnight KVCR; 1 a.m. KLCS The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Ethan Hawke; Jim Jeffries; Yard Act performs. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Sandra Bullock; Billy Strings performs. 11:35 p.m. KCBS Jimmy Kimmel Live! Gwen Stefani; Jude Hill; Wilderado performs. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC The Late Late Show With James Corden Ike Barinholtz; Chloe Kim; Parcels performs. 12:37 a.m. KCBS Late Night With Seth Meyers Amy Poehler; Jeffrey Wright; Carter McLean with the 8G Band. 12:37 a.m. KNBC Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC King Richard Director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s 2021 biographical sports drama stars Will Smith in the title role as the father and coach of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams (Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton). Aunjanue Ellis also stars. 8 p.m. HBO Movies Reinaldo Marcus Green’s biographical sports drama also boasts strong performances from Aunjanue Ellis and Saniyya Sidney. Nov. 18, 2021 Dark Waters (2019) 8 a.m. Showtime The Parallax View (1974) 8:40 a.m. TMC The Hunger Games (2012) 9 a.m. Epix A Quiet Place (2018) 9 a.m. FXX Double Jeopardy (1999) 9:12 a.m. Cinemax It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) 9:30 a.m. TCM Solaris (2002) 9:35 a.m. HBO To Catch a Thief (1955) 11:25 a.m. Epix Predator (1987) Noon AMC Trainwreck (2015) Noon E! Mid90s (2018) Noon Showtime The Time Machine (1960) 12:30 p.m. TCM Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015) 1:15 p.m. Epix Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) 1:19 p.m. Starz Die Hard (1988) 2:30 p.m. AMC 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 2:30 p.m. TCM Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) 2:45 p.m. Epix Superbad (2007) 3 p.m. E! Tigerland (2000) 3:14 p.m. Encore Nowhere Boy (2009) 3:20 p.m. TMC Contact (1997) 5 p.m. BBC America Despicable Me 2 (2013) 5 p.m. Nickelodeon The Producers (1968) 5 p.m. TCM Fruitvale Station (2013) 5 p.m. TMC Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) 5:15 p.m. TNT Die Hard 2 (1990) 5:30 p.m. AMC Freaky (2020) 6:16 p.m. Cinemax Airplane! (1980) 6:30 p.m. Epix Tom Jones: Director’s Cut (1963) 6:45 p.m. TCM Black Panther (2018) 7 p.m. FX Star Trek (2009) 7 p.m. Paramount Big (1988) 7:12 p.m. Encore Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) 8 p.m. AMC The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) 8 p.m. Epix Zombieland (2009) 8 p.m. Syfy The Piano (1993) 8 p.m. TMC Ready Player One (2018) 8 p.m. TNT Apollo 13 (1995) 8:30 p.m. BBC America The Peanuts Movie (2015) 9 p.m. Nickelodeon Splendor in the Grass (1961) 9 p.m. TCM Point Break (1991) 10 p.m. Paramount Sophie’s Choice (1982) 10 p.m. TMC Pretty Woman (1990) 10:30 p.m. Bravo Entertainment & Arts TV highlights for March 20-26 include ‘Bridgerton,’ ‘Atlanta,’ the new sci-fi series ‘Halo’ and the ‘iHeartRadio Music Awards.’ March 20, 2022 Television Movies on TV this week March 20: ‘After Yang,’ Showtime; ‘Finding Nemo’ on Freeform; ‘Glory,’ Epix; ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ TCM; ‘Local Hero’ KCET March 18, 2022 Movies on TV for the entire week, March 20 - 26 in interactive PDF format for easy downloading and printing March 18, 2022 TV Grids for the entire week of March 20 - 26 as PDF files you can download and print March 18, 2022 Television Looking for what to watch on TV? Here are television highlights from the Los Angeles Times. July 26, 2022

Emilio Delgado, Luis on 'Sesame Street' for 45 years, dies

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2022-03-10/emilio-delgado-luis-on-sesame-street-for-45-years-dies

Emilio Delgado, the actor and singer who for 45 years was a warm and familiar presence in children’s lives and a rare Latino face on American television as fix-it shop owner Luis on “Sesame Street,” died Thursday. His wife, Carol Delgado, told the Associated Press that Emilio Delgado died from the blood cancer multiple myeloma at their home in New York. He was 81. As Luis, Delgado, a Mexican American, got to play an ordinary, non-stereotypical Latino character at a time when such depictions were few and far between on TV, for adults or children. “There really wasn’t any representation of actual people,” Delgado said in a 2021 interview on the YouTube series “Famous Cast Words.” “Most of the roles that I went out for were either for bandits or gang members.” Television Two new muppets, Wes and Elijah, explain the concept of race to Elmo during the first installment of ‘ABCs of Racial Literacy’ from ‘Sesame Street.’ March 24, 2021 That changed with “Sesame Street,” where a diverse cast interacted with a diverse group of children, along with Jim Henson creations Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo and Grover. Delgado joined the show starting with its third season in 1971. He said the producers embraced his suggestion to sprinkle Spanish terms into the script. “The first time that I saw Big Bird walk on, my line was, ‘Big Bird!’” Delgado said in the 2021 interview. “But I didn’t say ‘Big Bird,’ I said, ‘pájaro!’” After a quick meeting in which Delgado explained that “pájaro” meant “bird,” the producers decided to keep it in. “I called him ‘pájaro’ from then on every time I saw him,” Delgado said. Delgado was born in 1940 in Calexico, Calif., near the U.S.-Mexico border and raised a few miles away in Mexicali, Mexico. From his home, he could hear music into the night from a pair of beer gardens across the street. “I remember going to sleep to the sound of mariachis,” he said in a 2011 interview on the public television series, “Up Close with Patsy Smullin.” He was enchanted, and decided to become a performer, singing whenever possible and appearing in school plays, with the full support of his proud parents. Books In ‘Sunny Days,’ David Kamp, author of ‘The United States of Arugula’ mines the history of PBS kids TV and shows how “Sesame Street” led to hip-hop. May 13, 2020 As a young man he moved to Los Angeles to become an actor, and had little luck. He received a call out of the blue from the producers of “Sesame Street” in New York. After an interview with “Sesame Street” producer Jon Stone, in which he spoke to Delgado, but didn’t ask for any kind of audition, he got the job. “He didn’t want actors,” Delgado said in the 2021 interview. “He wanted real people.” He would remain on the show for 45 years, an integral part of the childhood of generations of children, and for Latino kids a rare character that looked like them. “His warmth and humor invited children to share a friendship that has echoed through generations,” the Sesame Workshop said in a statement Thursday night. “At the forefront of representation, Emilio proudly laid claim to the ‘record for the longest-running role for a Mexican-American in a TV series.’ We are so grateful he shared his talents with us and with the world.” “Sesame Street” would also allow him to sing regularly, and sometimes play his guitar. Luis Rodriguez (the adult characters had last names, though they were rarely used), would marry the show’s prominent Latina, Maria Figueroa, played by Sonia Manzano, in a ceremony on the show in 1988. The storyline allowed the show to teach children about love, marriage and childbirth. “Luis and Maria were the first Latinos I ever saw on TV,” Rosy Cordero, a television reporter for Deadline, said on Twitter. “They were a huge part of my family. They paved the way.” He would leave the show when his contract was not renewed during a retooling in 2016. Delgado made frequent appearances in the theater and on other TV series during his time as Luis. He played a recurring character on the newspaper drama “Lou Grant” from 1979 to 1982, and made multiple appearances on “Quincy M.E.,” “Falcon Crest” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” His death was first reported by TMZ. Delgado was diagnosed with multiple myeloma late in 2020, but was still making appearances and giving interviews in 2021, until his health started to decline.

The Take: Celebrating indie achievements at the Spirit Awards

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-09/independent-spirit-awards-photos-portraits

“The Lost Daughter” was the big winner at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday, with the Netflix adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel winning best feature plus screenplay and director honors for Maggie Gyllenhaal. The inclusive, big-tent atmosphere of the awards’ return as an in person event was made literal by the fact that the show actually takes place in a big tent, constructed near the beach in Santa Monica. Guests milled about in the sunshine, enjoying cocktails and the company of friends and colleagues reuniting for the first time in two years, since the start of the pandemic. Awards “The Lost Daughter,” from writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal, was the big winner at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards. March 6, 2022 The Times spoke to attendees for their take on the state of independent filmmaking, awards shows and a late-winter afternoon by the beach. “You see the same actors on television cross over into film and vice versa, where back in the ’80s that would never happen,” Harvey Guillén, best known for the FX series “What We Do in the Shadows,” said of the Spirit Awards’ second year honoring TV alongside film. (“Reservation Dogs” and “Squid Game” were among the event’s big winners.) He was at the ceremony to support his friends involved with “Zola.” “In this time and age a good artist can convey a story on the small screen or on the big screen and in an indie film or a big-budget film. At the end of the day it comes down to the artist and what they can contribute. We’re trying to create stories and tell stories.” “It’s such an awesome opportunity,” Jaylen Barron said of her role in the Starz series “Blindspotting,” nominated for new scripted series. “It means that I’m sending out a message of representation of the different cultures, of different backgrounds and seeing strong women in front of the camera.” Attending the Spirit Awards for the first time, she was excited to see some of the other nominated performers, adding, “I’m a fan of quite a few actors who are here, of course, but I haven’t seen anybody yet. Everybody’s hidden around, like incognito.” Shahrzad Davani was last at the Spirit Awards more than 10 years ago with the nominated film “Obselidia,” which she co-produced. This year she attended as first assistant director of “Zola,” the most recognized film going into the event, with seven nominations including one for director Janicza Bravo. The film won two, for editor Joi McMillon and lead actress Taylour Paige. “I mean, Janicza’s a genius and so it’s much deserved,” Davani said. “I can’t wait to see everything she does.” “It’s my first time here, and to be nominated, I feel like I’m about to have my first kiss. I’m so nervous,” said actress Isabelle Fuhrman, whose nomination for her lead role as a manically ambitious college rower in “The Novice” was one of five for the film. “We made this film for a micro-budget and it was such a small movie and a passion project, and to have five nominations for a tiny boat movie is just so unlikely. And then to be nominated for best actress has been a dream of mine since I was really young. Especially for the Independent Spirit Awards, because independent film is where I love to make movies. I love to be around that passion, the rush, the insatiable thirst to tell a story that only you can tell.” “I’ve been producing indie films for 14 years, [these are my] first nominations and first time in the tent,” said Milan Chakraborty, an executive producer of “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” which earned nominations for Frankie Faison for lead actor and Enrico Natale for editing. “After the last two years, a celebration of indie films feels so special. We’re back, we’re all together. It’s a nice kickoff to the year.” “I’ve wanted be a director since I was 15 years old. I saw ‘Kill Bill’ and then I made a decision I want to do this. So it’s been a dream I’ve been chasing for a long time,” said writer-director Lauren Hadaway. Her film “The Novice” was nominated for five awards, including best feature, director and editing. Hadaway noted the isolation of doing postproduction work during the pandemic, and the great feeling to be out celebrating the film with others. “I left a whole first career, in sound, a successful career, to take a gamble and devote years to making this film. So to be here, nominated with some of the people I’m nominated with, it feels incredible. It’s the dream come true. I’m a redneck from Texas, and I’m standing here right now, so it feels great.” Writer-director-producer Shatara Michelle Ford saw their movie “Test Pattern” nominated for first feature, first screenplay and female lead for Brittany S. Hall. “I made the film four years ago with a bunch of credit cards and money that friends and family were ferrying to me at different points,” Ford said. “It was almost four years ago to the day that I made the film, had absolutely no institutional support, it didn’t get into any festivals. I didn’t really think it was going to have any kind of life whatsoever and miraculously 2½ years after I finished the film Kino Lorber decided to distribute it. And it changed my entire life. So this is very much an accumulation of all that persistence and hard work of just trying to keep pushing the film out there.” “I appreciate that it’s celebrating independent, innovative, visionary work. But it’s also among peers in the industry,” said filmmaker PJ Raval of how the Spirit Awards’ final voting is done by Film Independent’s full membership. “So I think it’s great that it’s peer-recognized.” “It means so much to have a life in a pandemic that was such a slow burn and to feel so supported by young women watching the movie and the indie filmmaking community,” said Rachel Sennott, star of “Shiva Baby,” which played in theaters for months during the pandemic thanks to positive word-of-mouth for the anxiety-inducing comedy. “It just means a lot.”

Pamela Anderson set to make her Broadway debut in 'Chicago'

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-03-07/pamela-anderson-set-to-make-her-broadway-debut-in-chicago

One of the planet’s biggest celebrities will play a woman desperately craving fame when Pamela Anderson makes her Broadway debut next month in the musical “Chicago,” the Associated Press has learned. Anderson will play Roxie Hart from April 12 to June 5 at the Ambassador Theatre, a remarkable union of one of the most recognizable sex icons of the last few decades with a show that skewers fame. “From ‘Baywatch’ to Broadway. I am inspired by the unexpected,” Anderson told the AP in a Monday statement. “This is it, and I will not hold back anymore. I am letting go. I am ready to see what I’m capable of. For ‘Chicago,’ I’ll be putting all my cards on the table. I am doubling down — on me.” Set in the 1920s, the musical is a scathing satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals. It has Bob Fosse-inspired choreography, skimpy outfits and killer songs such as “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango.” “Chicago” tells the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to leave her. To avoid conviction, Roxie hires Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to help her dupe the public, media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by creating shocking headlines. “Pam is a very moral person, extremely moral. She cares about animals. She cares about the planet. She cares about people,” said producer Barry Weissler. “The difference between her as Pam and Roxie is Roxie doesn’t care about anyone but herself, and she doesn’t give a damn about the outside world as long as she can be famous. So Pam comes with totally opposite attributes in life, but she fits because of her celebrity, what she’s gone through in life.” Anderson had a breakout role on “Home Improvement” as a “Tool Time girl” before getting global attention for playing C.J. Parker on “Baywatch.” Her credits include “Barb Wire” and “Superhero Movie.” Television Reframing of the couple’s sex tape saga has mixed results, but the series’ treatment of culture at the dawn of the internet is stupidly entertaining. Feb. 1, 2022 There’s been renewed interest in Anderson’s life story thanks to the Hulu series “Pam & Tommy,” which stars Lily James as Anderson and Sebastian Stan as Tommy Lee and fictionalizes their whirlwind romance. Anderson also this month announced a new authorized documentary about her life upcoming from Netflix. Weissler said he had approached Anderson about the Roxie part over a decade ago, but their schedules didn’t work. “Now that we’re doing it, it’s even more opportune. It’s more timely. She’s really standing for something now — as a professional, as an activist, as a very talented lady. She can surprise a lot of people. The woman has acting chops. She certainly can dance, and her singing voice is quite good. So here we go.” The celebrity-craving heroine at the heart of “Chicago” has been played by dozens of women since the show opened in 1996, including Melanie Griffith, Christie Brinkley, Marilu Henner, Brooke Shields, Lisa Rinna, Gretchen Mol, Ashlee Simpson, Brandy Norwood, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Givens. The revival has managed to last a quarter of a century thanks to the savvy decision to cast celebrity replacements in all the lead spots — basically asking famous performers to join a musical about the venality of celebrities — and mold the show around their strengths. Just some of the other stars who have done stints in the show include Sofia Vergara, Paige Davis, Rita Wilson, Usher, Huey Lewis, Michael C. Hall, Jerry Springer and Billy Zane. A 2002 film version starred Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah and Richard Gere.

Jennifer Hudson is entertainer of the year at NAACP Image Awards

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-27/jennifer-hudson-wins-top-honor-at-53rd-naacp-image-awards

Jennifer Hudson was named entertainer of the year at the 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards that highlighted works by entertainers and writers of color. After Hudson accepted the award Saturday night, the singer-actor thanked the NAACP for inspiring “little girls like me.” She beat out Regina King, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion and Tiffany Haddish. “I was just standing here thinking ‘It was here — the NAACP Awards — where I watched so many legends and icons that inspired me,” said the Oscar and Grammy winner. “Now, I’m standing here holding an award like this. It’s because of seeing the Arethas, the Patti LaBelles, the Halle Berrys, all these legends right here on this stand that inspired me.” Hudson played her idol Aretha Franklin in the film “Respect.” She was summoned to meet with Franklin in 2007 to portray the Queen of Soul shortly after Hudson won an Oscar for “Dreamgirls.” “Respect” follows Franklin from childhood through the 1972 recording of the gospel album “Amazing Grace.” “This is for Ms. Franklin’s legacy,” Hudson said after she earlier won best actress. The awards ceremony aired live on BET in Los Angeles with some talent appearing in person while others watched virtually. There was no in-person audience. Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were honored with the President’s Award. Prince Harry showed gratitude to the NAACP for welcoming him into their community before he spoke about those in Ukraine affected by the ongoing Russian invasion. “We would like to acknowledge the people of Ukraine who urgently need our continued support as a global community,” said Prince Harry while standing next to his wife. The two were recognized for their outreach efforts in the United States and around the world. “It’s safe to say I come from a very different background than my incredible wife,” he said. “Yet, our lives were brought together for a reason. We share a commitment to a life of service, a responsibility to confront injustice and a belief for the most overlooked that are the most important to listen to.” Both talked about inspiring the next generation of activists through the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award. It’s a newly created award that acknowledges leaders creating change within the social justice and technology realm to advance civil and human rights. On Friday, the inaugural award was given to Safiya Noble, a professor at UCLA in the African American Studies and Information Studies departments whom Meghan called a “visionary.” Samuel L. Jackson received the NAACP Chairman’s Award for his public service. The ceremony highlighted his acting achievements and activism including a moment when he was expelled from Morehouse College in 1969 for locking board members in a building for two days in protest of the school’s curriculum and governance. The video mentioned Jackson’s efforts to raise awareness of autism and for cancer checkups for men. It also spotlighted him and his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, for creating a performing arts center at Spelman College. Jackson quoted activist Marian Wright Edelman after he accepted his award. “I was fortunate to grow up in a lot of different eras where I had the opportunity to use my voice and my legs and my body to fight for things that were right,” said the 73-year-old actor. He has appeared in more than 100 films, including Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever.” Jackson also starred in the films “Do the Right Thing,” “Unbreakable,” “Snakes on a Plane,” and in multiple Marvel movies, including “The Avengers” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” “We got it done,” he continued. “Right now, we still have things we need to do. The most important thing being the Voting Rights Act. I know we can’t change that. But we can put our legs, our bodies and our voices to work to make sure that people do get out and vote — no matter what they do to keep us from doing it.” The awards ceremony featured a performance by nine-time Grammy winner Mary J. Blige, who was a co-headliner at the Super Bowl halftime show this month. She performed her single “Good Morning Gorgeous” and “Love No Limit” from New York City’s Apollo Theater. Music Dre was joined by Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and guest 50 Cent in one of the great halftime shows of all time. Feb. 13, 2022 Anthony Anderson, who returned as the show’s host, won best actor in a comedy series. With his mother in attendance, the “black-ish” star screamed out “I told you I was going to win, Momma” before he ran on stage and chest-bumped her. “I would like to thank my momma for sleeping with my daddy and making me,” he jokingly said before turning serious. “I’m just a kid from Compton, California. If you dream and believe, anything is possible.” Other top awards handed out included Will Smith for best actor for his roles in “King Richard” and “The Harder They Fall,” which took home best film. Issa Rae won for best comedy series and Nikole Hannah-Jones was honored with the social justice impact award. Sterling K. Brown shouted with joy when he won outstanding actor for a drama series. After Tiffany Haddish virtually presented him with the award, the “This Is Us” actor thanked the show’s network, NBC, before he joked about hanging out with Anderson’s mother. “There’s way too many white people on my show for me to actually win this thing,” he said. “But I got to say ‘Thank you, Black people, for voting for me. I really do appreciate it.’” Movies Netflix, “Insecure” and H.E.R. are among the top nominees at the 2022 NAACP Image Awards. See who and what else is nominated this year. Jan. 18, 2022

Oscar-nominated 'MASH' actor Sally Kellerman dies at 84

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2022-02-24/oscar-nominated-mash-actor-sally-kellerman-dies-at-84

Sally Kellerman, the Oscar and Emmy nominated actor who played Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in director Robert Altman’s 1970 film “MASH,” died Thursday. Kellerman died of heart failure at her home in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, her manager and publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 84. Kellerman had a career of more than 60 years in film and television. She played a college professor who was returning student Rodney Dangerfield’s love interest in the 1986 comedy “Back to School.” And she was a regular in Altman’s films, appearing in 1970’s “Brewster McCloud,” 1992’s “The Player” and 1994’s “Ready to Wear.” But she would always be best known for playing Major Houlihan, a straitlaced, by-the-book Army nurse who is tormented by rowdy doctors during the Korean War in the army comedy “MASH.” In the film’s key scene, and its peak moment of misogyny, a tent where Houlihan is showering is pulled open and she is exposed to an audience of cheering men. “This isn’t a hospital, this is an insane asylum!” she screams at her commanding officer. She carries on a torrid affair with the equally uptight Major Frank Burns, played by Robert Duvall, demanding that he kiss her “hot lips” in a moment secretly broadcast over the camp’s public address speakers, earning her the nickname. Kellerman said Altman brought out the best in her. “It was a very freeing, positive experience,” she told Dick Cavett in a 1970 TV interview. “For the first time in my life I took chances, I didn’t suck in my cheeks, or worry about anything.” The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, but her best supporting actress was its only acting nod despite a cast that included Duvall, Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould. The movie would be turned into a TV series that lasted 11 seasons, with Loretta Swit in Kellerman’s role. Sally Clare Kellerman was born in 1937 in Long Beach, the daughter of a piano teacher and an oil executive, moving to Los Angeles as a child and attending Hollywood High School. Her initial interest was in jazz singing, and she was signed to a contract with Verve records at age 18. She opted to pursue acting and didn’t put out any music until 1972, when she released the album “Roll With the Feeling.” She would sing on the side, and sometimes in roles, throughout her career, releasing her last album, “Sally,” in 2007. She took an acting class at Los Angeles City College and appeared in a stage production of “Look Back in Anger” with classmate Jack Nicholson and several other future stars. She worked mostly in television early in her career, with a lead role in 1962’s “Cheyenne” and guest appearances on “The Twilight Zone, “The Outer Limits,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” and “Bonanza.” Her appearance in the original “Star Trek” pilot as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner won her cult status among fans. She would work primarily in film in the years following “MASH,” including 1972’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” and 1975’s “Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins,” both with Alan Arkin, 1973’s “Slither” with James Caan, 1979’s ”A Little Romance” with Laurence Olivier and 1980’s “Foxes” with Jodie Foster. She would work into her 80s, with several acclaimed television performances in her final years. She starred in the comedy series “Decker” with Tim Heidecker and played comedian Mark Maron’s mother on his series “Maron.” “Sally Kellerman was radiant and beautiful and fun and so great to work with,” Maron said on Twitter Thursday. “My real mom was very flattered and a bit jealous. I’m sad she’s gone.” And in 2014 she was nominated for an Emmy for her recurring role on “The Young and the Restless.” Kellerman was married to television producer Rick Edelstein from 1970 to 1972 and to movie producer Jonathan D. Krane from 1980 until his death in 2016. She is survived by her son Jack and daughter Claire.

Ivan Reitman, 'Ghostbusters' director, dies at 75

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-13/ivan-reitman-producer-ghostbusters-director-dies-at-75

Ivan Reitman, the influential filmmaker and producer behind beloved comedies from “Animal House” to “Ghostbusters,” has died. He was 75. Reitman passed away peacefully in his sleep Saturday night at his home in Montecito, Calif., his family told the Associated Press. “Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” children Jason Reitman, Catherine Reitman and Caroline Reitman said in a statement. “We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world. While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will remember him always.” Known for big, bawdy comedies that caught the spirit of their time, Reitman’s big break came with the raucous, college fraternity sendup “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” which he produced. He directed Bill Murray in his first starring role in “Meatballs” and then again in “Stripes,” but his most significant success came with 1984’s “Ghostbusters.” Not only did the irreverent supernatural comedy starring Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis gross nearly $300 million worldwide, it earned two Oscar nominations, spawned a veritable franchise, including spinoffs, television shows and a new movie, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” that opened this last year which his son, filmmaker Jason Reitman, directed. Among other notable films he directed are “Twins,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “Dave,” “Junior” and “Six Days, Seven Nights.” He also produced “Beethoven,” “Old School” and “EuroTrip,” and many others, including several for Jason Reitman. He was born in 1946 in Komarno, in what was then Czechoslovakia, where his father owned the country’s biggest vinegar factory. When the communists began imprisoning capitalists after the war, the Reitmans decided to escape, when Ivan Reitman was only 4. They traveled in the nailed-down hold of a barge headed for Vienna. The Reitmans joined a relative in Toronto, where Ivan displayed his show biz inclinations: starting a puppet theater, entertaining at summer camps, playing coffee houses with a folk music group. He studied music and drama at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and began making movie shorts.

Drake was a star among A-listers at 'Homecoming' concert

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-02-13/drake-was-a-star-among-a-listers-at-homecoming-concert

Among the stars, Drake still shined the brightest. In an all-white outfit, the multi-Grammy winner had many concertgoers jostling for position to watch him perform at the Super Bowl eve party dubbed “Homecoming Weekend” on Saturday night. He made a dramatic entrance, darting down an aisle before performing center stage under an airy tent at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California. The crowd included many entertainers and athletes: Issa Rae, a mask-wearing Mike Tyson, Lil Wayne, Paul Pierce, Derrick Henry, Ricky Gervais, Jon Hamm, Nicole Scherzinger, Cedric the Entertainer, Karrueche Tran and Flava Flav. While waiting for Drake, attendees mingled for a couple hours. Once he arrived, many flocked toward the stage and pulled out their phones to capture his 45-minute set. Drake told the crowd that he was initially asked to deliver around five songs, but felt compelled to triple that amount because of where he traveled from. Rams Photos of Rams and Bengals fans after Rams win Super Bowl LVI Feb. 13, 2022 “They flew me out of like three feet of snow for this, so I got to perform for you,” said Drake, who went on to perform bangers including “No Friends in the Industry” and “Girls Want Girls” from his recent album “Certified Lover Boy.” The rap star talked about being able to perform in person and showed appreciation to everyone in attendance. “I’m sure at one point we’re all sitting at home – maybe a little depressed, maybe a little frustrated, maybe a little confused,” he said. “I want to make a toast to how grateful I am for being in this (expletive) room with each and every one of you. I wasn’t sure how and when we would be able to do this again. But cheers to each and everyone of you. More life.” Drake went on to perform hits including “Controlla,” “God’s Plan,” “Too Much” and “Passionfruit.” He surprised the crowd with a guest appearance by Future, who performed “Way 2 Sexy” with Drake before his uber-popular “March Madness.” Company Town The Super Bowl is a turning point for live events companies that had to adjust their business strategy during the pandemic. Feb. 11, 2022 At the end, Drake paid homage to Lil Wayne – who watched from a VIP section – before closing out his set by playing “I Will Always Love You,” the Dolly Parton song that Whitney Houston made famous. He sang every word along with many in the crowd. Proof of vaccination was required of the 1,500 guests. Only a few wore masks, including Tyson. The “Homecoming Weekend” show helped cap a full week of entertainment events leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the first in the Los Angeles area in nearly three decades, with the hometown Rams facing off against the Cincinnati Bengals. Justin Bieber sang and danced on the first night of the event, presented by The h.wood Group, REVOLVE, PLACES.CO and Uncommon Entertainment. Staffers were dressed in football uniforms, making the rounds with fancified versions of stadium food, including plant-based chicken bites, garlic fries and tiny pizzas. Miley Cyrus and Green Day performed across town at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.