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[
"Daily Pilot",
"Daily Pilot Staff"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:16:29 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-around-town-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-565ccc20/turbine/tn-dpt-me-fb-logos-20151117-002/600 | en | null | Around Town: SOY gets new executive director | null | null | www.latimes.com | Save Our Youth, a Costa Mesa nonprofit, announced Wednesday the appointment of Penelope Agosta as the organization's new executive director.
"Penelope will bring leadership and creativity to the center's programs and a deep sense of commitment to our organization's core values and mission," Cesar Cappellini, SOY board chairman, said in a statement.
Agosta has a master's degree in human services and social work and credentials in nonprofit management, according to a news release.
"I myself have benefited from programs targeted to serve teens who are highly impressionable, and I know the deep impact it can have during this critical time of development," Agosta said in a statement.
The Save Our Youth Center was established in 1993 to provide low-income youths with alternatives to gangs and other at-risk lifestyles through mentoring, tutoring and help with college preparedness.
Center Club to hold beer and wine festival
The Center Club of Orange County's 10th annual Charity Classic will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 29, including a beer and wine festival in support of efforts to fight ALS — also known as Lou Gehrig's disease — and five Orange County charities that support health and employment programs.
Organizations that will benefit from the festival include the ALS Therapy Development Institute, the Anaheim Family YMCA and Women Helping Women.
The Center Club is at 650 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.
For tickets to the event and other information, visit bit.ly/charity_classic. | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-around-town-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1639e7a02619ffcb81aa24aa78dee8d4016233caad98dc87c88fb98cd078f798.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-31T10:50:02 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-hahn-contributions-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c63f99/turbine/la-me-ln-hahn-contributions-20160829-snap | en | null | Hahn may have run afoul of campaign finance rules in L.A. County supervisor race | null | null | www.latimes.com | County supervisor candidate Janice Hahn may have to refund more than $280,000 in contributions from political action committees after county election officials alleged that her committee probably violated campaign finance rules.
Hahn, a congresswoman and former Los Angeles city councilwoman, is running for the seat being vacated by county Supervisor Don Knabe. She is competing in a run-off with Knabe aide and former Manhattan Beach Councilman Steve Napolitano.
Napolitano’s campaign obtained a copy of a letter sent by the county registrar’s office to Hahn notifying her of the possible campaign finance violation and shared it with The Times.
A spokesman for the registrar confirmed that the office had sent the letter and said Hahn’s campaign was given 30 days to respond, but declined to comment further.
In the Aug. 10 letter, County Registrar Dean Logan wrote that Hahn had exceeded the county's cap on the total amount a campaign committee may accept from political action committees, which is $150,000 per election. From Jan. 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016, Hahn’s campaign received $439,619 from political action committees, the registrar said.
Caption 90 seconds: 4 stories you can't miss Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Caption Kim Jong Un executes using anti-aircraft gun South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August.
Napolitano asserted that Hahn had committed a “serious violation of the county's ethics laws.”
“Janice Hahn is the poster girl of L.A. city’s entitled political elite, so her campaign knew or should have known about these rules,” he said in an interview. “Had she won in June, she would have done it with hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from special interests.”
Hahn’s campaign said it had been told that campaign finance limits were lifted because Napolitano had elected to largely self-fund his own campaign.
While the county normally sets a limit of $1,500 per contributor, in some circumstances, that limit can be increased or lifted.
John Shallman, a spokesman for the Hahn campaign, pointed to an earlier letter sent by the registrar, which informed Hahn that the contribution limit for her campaign had been removed because Napolitano had announced his intention to spend an unlimited amount of his own personal funds on his campaign.
The Hahn campaign contended that the limit on total contributions she could accept from political action committees was also lifted.
"When your multimillionaire opponent is trying to buy a seat on the board of supervisors and you get a letter from the county registrar telling you, in bold and underscored print, that your contribution limits have thus been removed, you take them for their word,” Shallman said in a statement. “We believe that the rule expressed in that first letter was correct and represents the intent of the supervisors when they passed the law and we will work with county counsel to ensure that the voice of teachers, firefighters, police officers and working families are not silenced.”
Napolitano has contributed almost $1.4 million to his own campaign to date. His campaign and Hahn’s have each raised about $1.7 million in total to date.
Hahn’s nearly $440,000 from political action committees included $53,000 from Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs State PAC, $29,070 from California Assn. of Professional Employees PAC and $26,500 each from the political action committees for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 and the Teamsters.
The Aug. 10 letter from the registrar said the lifting of the contribution limits applied to those made by each individual or committee, not to the limit on total contributions from political action committees.
Bob Stern, an attorney who helped write campaign finance rules for the state of California and the city of Los Angeles, said after reading the county campaign finance code, “It seems really clear to me that they couldn’t receive more than $150,000 in PAC money.”
The registrar’s letter told Hahn that the “possible violation may be cured without penalty” if the campaign returns the money within 30 days of being notified of the issue.
The county’s campaign finance code outlines a potential civil penalty of up to three times the amount by which an expenditure or contribution limit has been exceeded. Intentional violation of the campaign finance rules can be charged as a misdemeanor.
Shallman said if it is ultimately determined “that the initial instructions from the registrar were incorrect and, as a result, the committee accepted excess PAC contributions, the committee will return the excess contributions.”
[email protected]
Twitter: @sewella
ALSO
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Inspired by accusations against Bill Cosby, California lawmakers move to lift time limits on rape cases | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hahn-contributions-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/e6ed82b29f599e9a57bb88b800e6f1dce4b3d233e1869f5b1c77aaf1f44ce1a8.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-27T18:49:06 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Folympics%2Fla-sp-oly-rio-2016-olympics-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b0c78c/turbine/la-sp-oly-rio-2016-olympics | en | null | 2016 Summer Olympics: The U.S. dominates Rio Games with 121 medals | null | null | www.latimes.com | 10:45 p.m.: That's all, folks, at least for the official part of the program. Partying might go deep into the night. Thanks, Rio.
10:40 p.m.: A taste of Carnival, some fireworks, some confetti. Athletes dancing with the performers.Exuberant and vibrant ending.
10:25 p.m.: Olympic flame is extinguished. Now, much dancing and merriment.
10:20 p.m.: IOC President Thomas Bach declares the Rio Games closed, calls upon world's youth to reassemble in Tokyo in four years.
10:16 p.m.: Bach says Rio Olympics will leave a "unique legacy." Seems to be the say-nothing equivalent of calling someone is 'nice.'
10:15 p.m.: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach praises unifying effect of athletes living and competing together at the Games. The scene of the two livid Mongolian wrestling coaches stripping in protest of a bronze-medal match result earlier Sunday and being escorted out by police wasn't quite in line with that lofty ideal.
10 p.m.: Rio 2016 chief Carlos Arthur Nuzman continues the Olympic spin by saying the rain is coming to celebrate. It looks like it's actually just making everyone cold.
9:55 p.m.: Tokyo offers a teaser about its Olympics. Looks pretty cool, actually.
9:47 p.m.: Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes booed as he's introduced.
9:45 p.m.: Now for the flag handover ceremony from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo. Here's hoping they complete the exchange better than the U.S. men's 400-meter relay team exchanged the baton.
9:35 p.m.: Coming up soon: a ceremony recognizing the Games' volunteers -- that workforce was one of the trouble spots for the event in both numbers and training -- then then Olympic flag will be lowered.
9:25 p.m.: Medal ceremony for marathon top three. Way cool.
9:15 p.m.: Now: a tribute to lacemaking. Really. As for the Olympic channel, will it show everything on delay, as NBC did?
9:12 p.m.: Next up: a heart-pounding segment on ... the launch of Olympic channel. At least the athletes have the waves of cold rain to keep them awake.
9:05 p.m.: The athletes have entered. Was wondering if they'd get into the stadium before the next Olympics. Hey, PyeongChang Games are only, what, 18 months away!
8:50 p.m.: Rain really coming down hard. Many athletes wearing ponchos, jackets with hoods.
8:40 p.m.: Inside the Games is reporting that major electrical problems at Maracana Stadium have required the use of generators to keep the show going.
8:35 p.m.: No sign yet of the shirtless Tongan guy from the Opening Ceremony. Did NBC delay his entrance, like it has delayed everything else??
8:30 p.m.: Loads of the big-name U.S. athletes have already departed Rio de Janeiro, including Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps and, uh, Ryan Lochte. Simone Biles, however, is still here and is the U.S. flag-bearer.
8:25 p.m.: Athletes still parading in. Line looks as long as I'm anticipating the airline check-in line will be tomorrow morning at GIG.
8:20 p.m.: 'Heroes of the Games'--the athletes--enter the stadium. Colorful display.
8:15 p.m.: The closing ceremony is underway on a rainy night in Rio de Janeiro. Maracana Stadium is about two-thirds full, continuing the Games-long problem with empty seats.
The 2016 Summer Olympics come to an today, with the closing ceremony scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Pacific time at Maracana Stadium.
You will not be able to watch it on TV, however, until 7 p.m. on NBC, with coverage scheduled to end at 9:30. So, some things could be edited out for time.
As usual, the closing ceremony will end with the official handover of the Olympic flag to Yuriko Koike, governor of Tokyo, host of the 2020 Games, and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.
And, no, Ryan Lochte is not expected to be there. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-oly-rio-2016-olympics-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/cf26487eaa8b55cc0d3640f8e52e34d2833ae36aa326d4928a35a99ddb6009a2.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"David Ng"
]
| 2016-08-29T22:50:05 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2Fla-et-cm-getty-museum-parmigianino-painting-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0b53b/turbine/la-et-cm-getty-museum-parmigianino-painting-20160826-snap | en | null | Getty Museum aims to acquire 16th century Parmigianino painting | null | null | www.latimes.com | A valuable 16th century painting by the Renaissance artist known as Parmigianino could soon find a home in Los Angeles, but the work of art is still subject to an export license from Britain.
The J. Paul Getty Museum said that it hopes to acquire the biblically themed painting, titled “Virgin With Child, St. John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene.” The museum said the painting has been in private hands for more than 400 years and that a private sale is being arranged through Sotheby’s.
Standing approximately 2 ½-feet-tall, the late Renaissance work was previously on loan to the Getty and has also been exhibited at the National Gallery in London. Parmigianino — whose full name was Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola — is believed to have completed the work between 1530 to 1540.
“It’s one of the few late Renaissance paintings still in private hands,” said Timothy Potts, director of the Getty Museum, in an interview. “It’s in fantastic condition, which is so rare for this period.”
Potts said that he had been interested in the painting since seeing it at the National Gallery when he previously served as director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England.
The Getty’s planned acquisition has been “a combination of our making gentle inquiries and discussions with Sotheby's,” said Potts. He declined to disclose the seller and the selling price but said the painting is extremely valuable.
Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival.
The acquisition remains subject to an export license from the Arts Council England. British law allows for the veto of a foreign purchase of artwork if a British institution can offer a competitive price and the work is deemed of significant cultural value.
The Getty faced a similar situation when it sought to acquire an early Rembrandt self-portrait from a dealer. The museum ultimately prevailed in 2013 and received an export license.
But the Getty’s 2002 bid of $46.6 million for Raphael’s "Madonna of the Pinks" failed to go through when the British government stepped in to help with a rival bid. The work now resides at London’s National Gallery.
The selling price of the Parmigianino could come to light when the Getty applies for an export license from the British government. The museum said that the export application is being filed by the seller’s representative, Sotheby’s.
The painting is notable because the artist executed it on paper before laying it down on panel.
The piece is “in an extraordinary state of preservation,” said Davide Gasparotto, senior curator and head of the paintings department at the Getty.
He added that the painting shows Parmigianino “at the peak of his artistic maturity” and “encompasses in the best possible way the ideal of beauty and refinement of the mature Italian Renaissance.”
If the acquisition succeeds, the piece would be the first painting by Parmigianino to enter the Getty’s collection, though the museum already owns several of the artist’s drawings.
[email protected] | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-getty-museum-parmigianino-painting-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/e46b1335a93d9fb6872aa0125d3e1a60e316230f26e66bb20ad4bda9a9e37b8b.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Christie D'Zurilla"
]
| 2016-08-29T22:49:35 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fla-et-mg-guy-pearce-carice-van-houten-baby-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Guy Pearce and Carice van Houten welcome a baby boy, say they plan to 'keep him' | null | null | www.latimes.com | Guy Pearce and Carice van Houten are now parents, The Times has confirmed — and their first-time baby announcement is equal parts cute and quirky.
“A cute little package arrived and told us his name's Monte Pearce,” the “Memento” actor tweeted Monday. “We think we're gonna keep him. Placenta smoothie anyone?”
Aww! And, um, eww …
“Both Carice and Monte are doing very well,” said a rep for Van Houten, the Dutch actress who plays Melisandre on “Game of Thrones.” The baby was born last week, though they’re keeping the exact birth date “L.A. Confidential” for now.
Cute fact: When the couple announced in March that they were expecting a child, they were already anticipating some “shadowbaby” jokes. “GoT” fans will understand why.
Aussie actor Pearce, 48, and Van Houten, who turns 40 next week, worked together in 2015 on the western thriller "Brimstone.”
They sparked relationship rumors early this year when they were photographed grocery shopping together in Los Angeles, E! News reported. The romance apparently started about a year after Pearce’s January 2014 split with Kate Mestitz, his high school sweetheart, following 18 years of marriage.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.
ALSO
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Homeland Security is investigating nude-photo cyberattack on Leslie Jones
Teyana Taylor is the star of Kanye West's 'Fade' video — and a whole lot more | http://www.latimes.com/la-et-mg-guy-pearce-carice-van-houten-baby-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1897effb57369b0b9853d9e81b686684b869e79576b6c63becdfc66e2ce74294.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Hannah Fry"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:16:26 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-ameri-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57be68c1/turbine/tn-dpt-me-ameri-20160824 | en | null | Lawsuit wants Newport council candidate Fred Ameri's given name on ballot | null | null | www.latimes.com | A Newport Beach resident is seeking a court judgment mandating that City Council candidate Fred Ameri use his given name instead of his nickname on the November ballot.
Ameri, whose given name is Farrokh Ameri, is running to replace termed-out Councilman Keith Curry representing District 7, which includes Newport Coast and Newport Ridge. Also vying for the seat are local attorney and Finance Committee member Will O'Neill and attorney Phil Greer.
Ameri, who was born in Iran, is a 19-year Newport Beach resident, a retired business executive and a former city planning commissioner.
Resident William Stewart filed a lawsuit Monday in Orange County Superior Court against Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and Newport Beach City Clerk Leilani Brown.
Stewart's attorney, Bruce Peotter, brother of Newport Councilman Scott Peotter, wrote in court documents that the state election code mandates that a candidate's legal name be used on the ballot and that Kelley and Brown should be required to amend the document to list Ameri's given name.
"Farrokh Ameri's name must appear on the ballot, not a fictitious name that will mislead voters," the lawsuit states.
Ameri, who said he does not know Stewart, said he is angry that he's being accused of being dishonest. He said the lawsuit is a way to "distract people from the real issues facing the city."
The suit lists several Irvine police officers, a U.S. District Court clerk who processed Ameri's naturalization papers in 1989 and several notaries who Stewart believes, based on court records, know Ameri as Farrokh instead of Fred.
Stewart also points to misdemeanor charges filed against Farrokh Ameri in 2004 alleging driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, reckless driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level higher than the legal limit. Ameri pleaded not guilty in 2004, and all charges were dismissed that year, Orange County Superior Court records show.
"That's part of the evidence that he's not using his legal name," Bruce Peotter said Wednesday. "It's part of the argument that someone can avoid scrutiny by using a name that people can't research. If you're a regular old citizen doing background searches, you're not going to find them in public records because you don't have the right name."
Ameri said he is widely known as Fred and that it's not a nickname he invented to mislead voters.
"These are racist allegations, and for me, as a person that has lived in this county for 55 years and Newport Beach 19 years without having a single negative spot on my record, this hurts me emotionally and physically," he said.
Stewart also is requesting that Ameri's candidate statement, which will appear in documents received by voters, remove what Stewart interprets as a reference to other candidates for elected office.
Stewart takes issue with Ameri's statement that since he is providing the funds for the majority of his campaign expenses, he is "the only independent candidate."
The California election code says any candidate's statement "shall be limited to a recitation of the candidate's own personal background and qualifications and shall not in any way make reference to other candidates for that office or to another candidate's qualifications, character or activities." | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-ameri-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1b19868606d81a0350a6de58b6010267b4c0b447ddcc4ff50766985053dc09b5.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Chuck Schilken"
]
| 2016-08-29T18:50:03 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fla-sp-broncos-siemian-sanchez-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c46755/turbine/la-sp-broncos-siemian-sanchez-20160829-snap | en | null | Trevor Siemian is named Peyton Manning's successor as Broncos' starting quarterback | null | null | www.latimes.com | Trevor Siemian will be the quarterback leading the Denver Broncos’ defense of their Super Bowl championship, winning the starting spot over 2016 first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch and veteran Mark Sanchez.
If the Broncos cut Sanchez, as some expect, they will save $3.5 million and a conditional seventh-round draft pick. If that draft pick doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, remember that the team found its new starting quarterback in the same round just last year.
Siemian’s only regular-season NFL snap was a kneel-down last season as the third-string quarterback. But Peyton Manning retired and Brock Osweiler went to Houston as a free agent, so Siemian is set to become the first quarterback with no career passing attempts to start for a defending Super Bowl champion team in Week 1.
Coach Gary Kubiak made the announcement to the team after telling the quarterbacks separately.
Siemian started the Broncos’ preseason game against the Rams on Saturday night and completed 10 of 17 passes for 122 yards. Lynch came in next and completed six of 13 passes for 57 yards.
Sanchez, obtained in an off-season trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, did not play. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-broncos-siemian-sanchez-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/41e4aec904bba067ce71ab4a3c8e1b895ed69dc214c4f4dc58919ed9fdd8b40b.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Noelle Carter"
]
| 2016-08-26T16:49:22 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Ffood%2Fla-fo-farmers-market-report-tomatillos-20160827-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bb5d4d/turbine/la-fo-farmers-market-report-tomatillos-20160827-snap | en | null | Farmers market report: Tomatillos are in season. We have recipes. | null | null | www.latimes.com | What’s in season: A vibrant shade of green, tomatillos look like tomatoes hidden under a paper-like husk. A cousin of the tomato and the Cape gooseberry, tomatillos are known by a variety of names, including husk tomatoes, jam berries and Mexican green tomatoes. Peel back the flesh to find a firm, slightly sticky fruit with a scent reminiscent of freshly picked herbs. Tomatillos can be found much of the year, but their main season generally ranges from May through October. Allowed to mature, the vivid green shade might shift to yellow, red and even purple.
What to cook: In Spanish, tomatillo means “little tomato.” The fruit has a sweet-tart flavor, with a gentle but assertive acidity similar to plum, apple and citrus. Cooking sweetens the flavor of the fruit, softening its acidity, and tomatillos lend themselves to a variety of cooking methods. Roast or sauté the fruit, serving it diced or puréed as a sauce alongside pork, chicken, fish or pasta. Grill tomatillo wedges and serve with grilled shrimp and tortillas, or use the colorful fruit in vibrant salsas, green enchiladas or as part of a rich batch of chile verde.
What’s on the horizon: Sweet bell peppers, typically in season from late summer through October, are showing up now.
Some of our favorite tomatillo recipes from our recipe database. (Noelle Carter) (Noelle Carter)
SPAGHETTI WITH GREEN SAUCE
Total time: 20 minutes | Serves 2
1/2 pound spaghetti
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 mild Anaheim pepper or 1 jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
8 tomatillos, peeled
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 pound Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)
1. Bring large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add salt and spaghetti and stir for a good minute so spaghetti strands don't stick together. After 12 minutes, fish a strand of spaghetti out with a fork and run it under cold water. If spaghetti is tender and not firm or hard, it is ready. (If you haven't finished preparing sauce, just turn heat off under pot of spaghetti and let it stay hot until sauce is finished.)
2. As spaghetti cooks, cut chile into 1/4-inch strips. Hold strips in bunched up pile and chop crosswise into 1/8-inch pieces. Set aside. Cut stems from tomatillos and slice tomatillos in 1/4 inch slices. Hold each sliced tomatillo together and slice into small pieces crosswise.
3. Place garlic, cilantro, onion, pepper and tomatillos in small saucepan and set aside. Just before draining spaghetti, warm green sauce 3 to 5 minutes over medium heat; this isn't to be cooked, just barely warmed so spaghetti stays hot.
4. Drain spaghetti into colander and shake colander to remove as much excess water as possible. Combine spaghetti and warmed sauce in mixing bowl and serve. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.
Each serving: 595 calories; 583 mg sodium; 19 mg cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 101 grams carbohydrates; 27 grams protein; 1.25 grams fiber.
Love cooking as much as I do? Follow me @noellecarter
ALSO
Frozen cocktail: Try these peach sangria popsicles
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How to slice a steak the right way, and a recipe for tri-tip salad | http://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-farmers-market-report-tomatillos-20160827-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6237fc95323f2f8ce071b002802ef8115c0d8fe7915d0eb6035f94513550208d.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Pedro Moura"
]
| 2016-08-29T00:49:45 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fangels%2Fla-sp-angels-report-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c363aa/turbine/la-sp-angels-report-20160828-snap | en | null | Jefry Marte is getting opportunity to prove himself with Angels | null | null | www.latimes.com | In 2007, much maligned New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya signed a highly touted teenaged triumvirate of Latin Americans: infielders Jefry Marte and Wilmer Flores and outfielder Cesar Puello.
All three would find their way onto top-prospect lists over the next half-decade. None have quite reached their potential. And the Mets have given up on all three. They agreed to trade Flores to Milwaukee for Carlos Gomez at the 2015 trade deadline, only to watch the trade fall apart, then released Puello later that year.
But Marte was first. Three years earlier, they traded him to Oakland. The Athletics then released him in 2014. He made it to the majors with Detroit last year, but the Tigers, too, soon gave up on him.
Enter the Angels, who acquired Marte for double-A infielder Kody Eaves in January, and, in this season of trials for trials’ sake, have given him nearly 200 plate appearances to prove himself in the majors.
He has shown, chiefly, that he has power. The 25-year-old’s home run Sunday against his former team was his 10th of the season. His .243 average and .286 on-base percentage are pedestrian, but his .453 slugging percentage is better than Albert Pujols’ mark.
“He’s showing us what was projected,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He can definitely drive a ball to all parts of the field. Hopefully this experience of getting at-bats will let us see what his upside is and if he can reach it.”
In saying he could be an everyday third baseman, Scioscia referenced Marte’s game Sunday as evidence he is developing. Both his homer and, later, his sacrifice fly came with two strikes.
Marte also homered against Detroit and its Sunday starter Anibal Sanchez earlier this season.
“That’s the team that I was with first,” Marte said. “So, I had to do my best.”
Until Saturday, Marte had started one game at third base since July 1 and made an errant throw in that game. He played there Saturday and Sunday, but will not do so regularly once Yunel Escobar is activated, likely later this week.
Marte and rookie Kaleb Cowart each specialize in third base, and the Angels want to provide September opportunities to both of them. They won’t be at their traditional positions.
“Yunel’s our third baseman,” Scioscia said. “We’re gonna have to get creative. We might have to tap into some of their versatility.”
Short hops
Right-hander Cam Bedrosian is slated to see a vascular specialist Monday or Tuesday to determine whether he needs season-ending surgery for the blood clot in his upper right arm that was found last week. … Right-hander Garrett Richards will throw from 105 feet for 15 minutes on Monday, in the next stage of his steady throwing progression after a stem-cell injection improved his torn ulnar collateral ligament. … Left-hander Brett Oberholtzer will remain in the Angels’ rotation for at least one more cycle. He made his first start of the season Saturday. … The Angels outrighted infielder Johnny Giavotella to triple-A Salt Lake after he cleared waivers. He will be used as a utility man in the team’s final week of the season.
[email protected]
Twitter: @pedromoura | http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-report-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6da72dd2a2eaaea156dc251f1d3d2b25901f54f6255dff0ed5f739a637d7a882.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Lisa Dillman"
]
| 2016-08-30T20:50:09 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fsportsnow%2Fla-sp-tennis-madison-keys-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5d46b/turbine/la-sp-tennis-madison-keys-20160830-snap | en | null | Madison Keys survives long and early U.S. Open test | null | null | www.latimes.com | Madison Keys became a spokesperson for an organization before the U.S. Open and promptly gave its name an honest test run in her first match, coming within two points of elimination.
Fearlessly Girl.
Now the premise of the organization, Fearlessly Girl, is not tennis-based -- it works with young women in “promoting kindness and sisterhood” in schools -- but Keys certainly embodied the name on a record-setting night in New York with her three-set win over Alison Riske. The match spilled over to Tuesday and ended at 1:48 a.m. in New York, the latest women’s finish at the Open.
It was also the first test for Keys since she tearfully departed the Olympics, going out in the semifinals and then losing in the bronze-medal match. Unlike other Olympians, tennis players don’t have to wait years for the next significant event, merely a couple of weeks after Rio until the next major.
“It still hurts, but you don’t have to wait four years so it makes it a little bit easier,” Keys said last week to The Times, before the Open.
Keys talked about the Olympics and how she is handling increased expectations, as well as her association with Fearlessly Girl. Kate Whitfield, the founder and CEO of the organization, said, via email, that Keys got in touch with them more than a year ago and felt the goals were “in line with the message she wanted to send.”
Said Keys: “It’s amazing to me that so many girls can feel so isolated and alone, just being able to sit down and talk to each other is amazing. I think it could be helpful and beneficial.
“If there’s anything I can help a couple of girls with … just being able help another generation.”
The messages could work at home too. Her two younger sisters are in high school, one is a senior and the other a freshman.
“They’re definitely going through a lot of it right now,” Keys said. “I think it’s kind of cool, my older sister can be someone who can help the freshman. Funny, how even in my own house it’s playing out.” | http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-tennis-madison-keys-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6beb8d610aee78dfe5a28b141c37ec9edd83f0614e5cae08793ab5c27e01a3a5.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Jim Puzzanghera"
]
| 2016-08-29T14:49:38 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-consumer-spending-income-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c43002/turbine/la-fi-consumer-spending-income-20160829-snap | en | null | Consumer spending rises for fourth straight month as incomes post strong gains | null | null | www.latimes.com | Although the pace of growth slowed, consumer spending posted its fourth straight monthly increase in July, a sign that the economy is poised for a rebound in the second-half of the year.
The Commerce Department reported Monday that personal consumption expenditures were up 0.3% last month, a solid figure that was in line with economists’ expectations.
The spending increase came as incomes posted a strong 0.4% gain in July, the best since April.
With incomes rising at a faster pace than spending, consumers tucked away more money last month. The share of disposable income saved increased 0.2 percentage point to 5.7%.
Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and has been showing solid gains after a weak winter plagued by concerns about global growth.
Incomes also have been rising since March, giving consumers more money to spend. Taking into account inflation, disposable personal income jumped last month by the most since December, the Commerce Department said.
The price index for personal consumption expenditures, a key measure of inflation, was unchanged last month.
For the 12 months ended July 31, prices rose just 0.8% — well below the Federal Reserve's annual 2% target.
Core inflation, which excludes often volatile food and energy costs, increased 1.6% during the same 12-month period. That was the identical pace as for the 12 months ended June 30.
Analysts are expecting economic growth to pick up in the third quarter of the year after a weak first half of 2016. The economy expanded at at just a 1.1% annual pace in the second quarter, after an anemic 0.8% growth rate in the first quarter.
Still, consumer spending was strong in the second quarter, and that was expected to carry over into the second half of the year.
On Friday, Fed Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen said that solid growth in household spending was helping the U.S. economy and that the case for another small increase in a key interest rate had “strengthened in recent months.”
[email protected]
Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter
MORE BUSINESS NEWS
New rules on small drones kick in today: What you need to know
Mylan will launch a cheaper, generic version of the EpiPen
Energy storage is taking on a greater role in the power grid. But how big can it get? | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer-spending-income-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/023a3243d5323b049bd83f8ca44f2ac752434fd3ba9d6a5f355a2302e0700645.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"David Horsey"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:14:15 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Ftopoftheticket%2Fla-na-tt-trump-bigot-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bff255/turbine/la-na-tt-trump-bigot-20160826-snap | en | null | Trump calling Hillary Clinton a bigot is the tactic of a 5-year-old | null | null | www.latimes.com | Donald Trump has said many crazy things, some quite entertaining, many wildly fantastical and incendiary. Now he may have outdone himself with his charge that Hillary Clinton is a bigot.
Even people who oppose Clinton and loathe her political views — maybe even those who believe that she is corrupt and think she should be “locked up” — would have a hard time agreeing that she is a bigot. Perhaps Trump does not know what the word actually means. Given his record and the company he keeps, he should.
Back in the early 1970s, around the same time a young Clinton was going undercover in Alabama to expose discrimination against black children in segregated academies, a young Trump and his father were sued by the Nixon Justice Department for blatant discrimination against blacks in Trump-owned rental housing. In a CNN interview Thursday, Trump misrepresented the nature of that suit and how it was settled. He claimed that the resolution of the case proved there had been no wrongdoing. The record, however, shows that the Trumps were required to take remedial actions and were later sued again when they failed to follow through.
Trump bends reality to put himself in a better light on a near daily basis, so it is no surprise when he revises his own history. His charge that Clinton is a bigot is yet another attempt to twist facts after being stung by allegations that he is empowering real bigots.
Clinton made that charge in a very public way in Reno on Thursday, giving a speech in which she said Trump has delivered power in the Republican Party over to a “radical fringe.” She noted that Trump’s new campaign CEO, Steve Bannon, comes from Breitbart News, an online entity that is the mouthpiece of the so-called alt-right that includes overtly racist elements.
“There’s always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, a lot of it arising from racial resentment,” Clinton said. “But it’s never had the nominee of a major party stoking it, encouraging it and giving it a national megaphone until now.”
Clinton’s sharp-elbowed speech follows on the heels of a new anti-Trump campaign ad that features video of several white supremacists enthusiastically giving him their endorsement. Trump could have responded in many ways to this onslaught, but he chose to take the approach of a 5-year-old who has been called a name and simply shouts the same name back — “I’m not a bigot, you’re a bigot!
It is no surprise that Trump is annoyed. The contention that he is allied with racists undercuts his newly launched effort to reach out to non-white voters. In a speech this week given to a mostly white audience, Trump pleaded for blacks and Latinos to give him a chance. “What do you have to lose?”
Trump knows what he has to lose: an election. His support is abysmal among African Americans and Latinos, worse than any past Republican presidential nominee. According to polls, most of those people think he is a racist. There are simply not enough angry white voters to make up for his deficit with the minority electorate. And, with Clinton playing the race card, he needed to respond if he wants to preserve any hope of shifting perceptions his way.
But calling Hillary a bigot? That’s a tactic that assumes blacks and Latinos do not know what a real bigot is. Bad assumption, Mr. Trump. They know. They know too well.
[email protected]
Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-trump-bigot-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/295997a77927cbfe6388a7e8914fb879d986733c2d80928cc2d51f129cf58eda.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Jazmine Ulloa"
]
| 2016-08-30T20:49:37 | null | 2016-07-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fla-pol-sac-drone-bills-california-20160731-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-579bc70e/turbine/la-pol-sac-drone-bills-california-20160731-snap | en | null | Why California may not see statewide rules on the use of drones anytime soon | null | null | www.latimes.com | The last time state lawmakers tried to place limits on drones in the skies above California, they were met with the veto of Gov. Jerry Brown, who said he did not want to create new crimes to enforce bans on the use of such devices.
This year, the pushback to new rules is coming not from the governor but through the lobbying efforts of a budding industry that hopes to influence policy at the state Capitol and nationwide.
As drones multiply in number and category, cities and states want to set boundaries. But drone manufacturers and associations this legislative session boosted their politicking, successfully beating back several bills they said would create a patchwork of laws that vary by state and hinder innovation.
“We want to solve problems and address concerns, but to do it in a way that is constantly clear across the country,” said Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and legal affairs for DJI Technology Co., the world’s largest drone maker. “Otherwise, it will be too confusing for commercial users and consumers to understand what the rules are when they travel from place to place.”
The Consumer Technology Assn. expects 2.4 million drones to be sold nationwide this year, up from 1.1 million in 2015.
California has been home to some of the most innovative uses of the technology and is now also a central battleground over industry policy as it has become more commercialized.
Farmers are employing unmanned machines to spray pesticides over vineyards, first responders are using them to train for chemical spills, and Realtors are sending them into the air to capture aerial photos of homes and businesses.
But cities are seeking to pass their own rules and ordinances to prevent hobbyists from wreaking havoc. Just this month, a Placer County man was arrested on suspicion of flying a drone into a firefighting effort northeast of Sacramento.
Brown last year signed a bill prohibiting the use of drones to record audio or video on private property. But he stopped short of signing bills that would have made it illegal to use drones over wildfires, schools, prisons and jails.
Industry opposition this year has helped block two sweeping pieces of California legislation: One would have outlined drone regulations for law enforcement and another sought to drastically reduce the space in which the devices can be flown near power lines and critical infrastructure, private property and parklands and wildlife refuges.
Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Santa Barbara Democrat who authored the latter bill, said she had spent months working on an approach that would balance the need to protect privacy, public safety and parkland with promoting the benefits of the technology.
But she said tech industry leaders “had not been willing to come to the table.”
“The rules should be clear,” she said. “The rules should be fair. The rules should be a coordinated effort by all the stakeholders, but until we get the tech industry to sit down and participate, we are going to have to go at it alone.”
Opponents of the bill contended it would have required drone operators to obtain insurance, though there is no data that accurately reflects the danger the drones pose. And they said it created “inconsistencies and contradictions” that undermined federal law regarding aircraft operations.
Sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter »
Debate has raged in recent years over just where federal authority begins and ends. Lawyers with the Federal Aviation Administration have said their agency has jurisdiction over any airspace above a blade of grass, though it has typically only regulated spaces at least 500 feet above the ground. The agency has also been slow to release regulations, revealing its latest set of rules for commercial users only late last month.
In Washington, major firms with an eye toward drone delivery services, among the most aggressive of which has been Amazon, have poured millions of dollars into lobbying Congress as a way of pushing the FAA along. Major drone manufacturers have even created their own industry advocacy group, the Drone Manufacturers Alliance, focused on the consumer market.
But industry experts say the battles with the highest stakes could play out at the state level, where lawmakers are trying to balance the needs of cities with those of drone operators.
In California, DJI Technology Co. and GoPro, a body-wearable camera maker working on its own drone, doled out more than $125,000 for the first time this session to hire lobbying firms. And even Google and Amazon have added the unmanned machines to their lobbying priorities in Sacramento.
The opposition helped stall another bill by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) that would have required law enforcement to issue policies and obtain a search warrant before using drones. It has remained on the Senate floor since last year but is expected to be withdrawn.
Of the five remaining proposals in the Legislature, criticized by some as piecemeal solutions, two of the most significant bills would ban the use of drones in state parks without permission and would hold that emergency responders and volunteers who damage a drone are not subject to liability.
Another would mandate that the devices must be sold with a copy of FAA rules and that those with GPS technology must turn off near airports, sensitive infrastructure or fires.
Jackson, whose drone legislation was vetoed by the governor last year, said she will try to pass statewide regulations for the third time next session. Cities are already moving forward, she said — with or without the state.
[email protected] | http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-drone-bills-california-20160731-snap-story.html | en | 2016-07-31T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1d37897724e42a5253a6f163eb1e1c2384b4d72cb9155be6a7e4228356035dae.json |
[
"La Cañada",
"Valley Sun Staff"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:15:32 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fla-canada-valley-sun%2Fcommunity%2Ftn-vsl-me-armed-forces-griffith-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bdf307/turbine/tn-vsl-me-armed-forces-griffith-20160824 | en | null | La Cañada teen on the path to becoming a Marine Corps officer | null | null | www.latimes.com | John Griffith, the son of Susanna and Doug Griffith of La Cañada Flintridge, graduated Aug. 6 from Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va.
The 18-year-old next plans to earn his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Cal State Los Angeles, from which he expects to graduate in May 2017. Griffith began attending the university at the age of 14 via its early entrance program. Once he receives his degree, he'll be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.
An aspiring astronaut, he interned during two summers at Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) in El Segundo.
Griffith is a product of local schools, having attended Paradise Canyon Elementary and La Cañada High 7/8 before moving on to Cal State L.A. He returns to the LCHS campus annually to lead a rocket-building and launch exercise as part of the eighth-grade science curriculum.
Once commissioned as a second lieutenant, Griffith will participate in six months of follow-on officer training at the Basic School in Quantico. After that, he hopes to begin flight school in Pensacola, Fla., to become a naval aviator. | http://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/community/tn-vsl-me-armed-forces-griffith-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5bada784cb1b6bcf1bd2736f2aaebc799f540b0742a06416b91742c10ed9c8ae.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T22:50:09 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fessential%2Fla-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-inmates-in-county-jails-can-t-be-denied-1472507591-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4afa0/turbine/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-inmates-in-county-jails-can-t-be-denied-1472507591 | en | null | Inmates in county jails can't be denied visits from family, under bill now on its way to Gov. Jerry Brown | null | null | www.latimes.com | All of California's county jails would be required to provide visits from inmate family members under legislation approved on Monday by the state Senate.
Senate Bill 1157 would force a change in as many 11 counties that have either fully switched to video conferencing or are in the process of eliminating in-person visitation.
"Without this, it means we will have incarcerated people in our jails who are not able to bond with children or family members for years," said state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), the bill's author.
Critics have said that existing law has allowed counties to save money by shifting to video-only visitation for inmates. During debate on the Senate floor, Mitchell said that some counties are making money by charging family members to connect long distance via closed video systems.
Republican opponents largely focused on the potential cost for counties that don't have any in-person visitation space. But some GOP senators lashed out that SB 1157 would allow more illegal items smuggled into jails, and that jail inmates must accept the consequences of their crimes.
" That is the penalty for continuing to victimize their fellow citizens," said state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber).
Counties that don't offer in-person visits and are instead moving toward video systems would have until 2022 to change their operations. | http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-inmates-in-county-jails-can-t-be-denied-1472507591-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/874880f2d43d5b6f300ecf1e1a8a9b140dce9ad69ad95c1ecccd2da576220444.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Thomas Curwen"
]
| 2016-08-29T10:49:36 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Ftravel%2Fcalifornia%2Fla-me-divingcoach-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c35717/turbine/la-me-divingcoach-20160829-snap | en | null | Defying gravity: life lessons on the diving board | null | null | www.latimes.com | Dressed in a metallic-blue Speedo and well-oiled against the sun, Lenny Larsen reclines poolside in his power wheelchair. Larsen loves the midday warmth. A slight breeze musses his wispy blond hair.
Two divers, eager for his advice and counsel, wait at the foot of the one-meter springboard. Kevan Roche climbs on top and collects his thoughts before attempting a front 1½.
“Right foot, left foot, knee up high,” Larsen says. “You’ve got the steps, but where do I want your arms to be?”
“Up high,” Roche says.
“Yes!”
At dusk, Louis Morales of Pasadena dives in as his coach Lenny Larsen keeps a watchful eye on him at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times At dusk, Louis Morales of Pasadena dives in as his coach Lenny Larsen keeps a watchful eye on him at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. At dusk, Louis Morales of Pasadena dives in as his coach Lenny Larsen keeps a watchful eye on him at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Roche steps into his lunge. Airborne, he begins his flip high in the air but falls fast, slapping his back against the still surface of the water. He bobs to the surface, wincing from the pain.
“Oh, that didn’t hurt,” Larsen says.
Gravity is every diver’s nemesis, and Larsen knows its lessons well. Three years ago while practicing a backflip on a trampoline at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, he broke his neck. Now a quadriplegic and coach, he believes that the lessons he learned from his mistake are worth sharing.
“Kevan,” he says, “slow down and relax. Don’t make it rocket science. That’s my job.”
Let other coaches gesticulate and model proper form, send signals from sidelines or pace their dugouts; such demonstrations are not available to Larsen. He has only words to make a point, and even they are constrained. Larsen speaks between the inhales – 12 a minute – delivered by a ventilator to his lungs.
Physical therapy for diving coach Lenny Larson includes standing with the help of a team at NextStep Fitness in Lawndale. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Physical therapy for diving coach Lenny Larson includes standing with the help of a team at NextStep Fitness in Lawndale. Physical therapy for diving coach Lenny Larson includes standing with the help of a team at NextStep Fitness in Lawndale. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Diving is simple, he tells his students; it isn’t a POW exchange. It begins with a jump and ends with the lineup into the water. In between are the variables that need to be navigated. He knows that only a few corrections – seven, 10 at most – will turn a bad dive into a good dive, but he has to find dozens of ways to say it.
“Stop running down the board like a bull.”
“You’re throwing back your head like you’re pulling on the emergency brake.”
“You need to see your feet … I want you to give yourself a pedicure on the way down.”
Larsen has found his style: the apt analogy, a word of encouragement, an unsentimental goad. His divers – more than 20 in a master’s class – speak of him with a Yelp-like affection.
Without irony, they turn to the man in the wheelchair for help.
::
Tao Kwan does acupuncture on Lenny Larsen in his Pasadena home. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Tao Kwan does acupuncture on Lenny Larsen in his Pasadena home. Tao Kwan does acupuncture on Lenny Larsen in his Pasadena home. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Almost 2,500 years ago, a fresco painter captured the first diver, a man leaping from a stone platform, arms extended, head first. The image, decorating the inside of a tomb in southern Italy, has been interpreted as a metaphor for life: Every moment, even a few seconds in the air, is an opportunity to do something brave, outlandish, perhaps even beautiful.
Larsen, 36, discovered his moment 10 years ago when he leaped off a diving board in Pittsburgh, and there was no turning back. He had come to the sport late, and competitions, like the Olympics, eluded him.
But he started to compete at the master’s level with divers in his age category. At his first international meet in Sweden in 2010, he placed second in a three-meter event.
By then he had moved to Pasadena and was training at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, where he started to coach as well. Perfecting his skills as a diver, he helped a range of amateurs perfect theirs. Some went on to become national champions on the master’s circuit.
The Arroyo Seco, seen from the 10-meter platform, 33 feet above the water, was his home, and the air was his stage.
“Launch, flip, twist,” he says. “It is a dance, all in 2.2 seconds at 35 miles per hour.”
Divers about to execute a new twist or flip often pause on the board or platform to find their focus. Too easily, their minds wander to all that might go wrong with a new maneuver – from the flops and the splats to the dislocated shoulders, the retinal detachment, the broken arms, the concussion, lacerations and scalpings.
Diving coach Lenny Larsen talks with his diver Luis Bahamon at the the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Diving coach Lenny Larsen talks with his diver Luis Bahamon at the the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Diving coach Lenny Larsen talks with his diver Luis Bahamon at the the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
For some, the delay is less than a minute before they leap into space. For others, it drags on until they walk away.
“Don’t wait. Show confidence,” Larsen tells them. “You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t do it.”
The key is to have faith in your strength and training — and to never count on your brain. Count on your brain, he says, and bad things will happen. This is a visual sport; your brain will lie to you every time.
Larsen’s betrayal took place on a summer morning in 2013. He had arrived at the aquatics center for practice before driving to Woodland Hills, where he worked for a company that designed theme parks. In a month, he planned to dive at a national competition in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The pool was crowded with swimmers, and he and the other divers turned to the trampolines to start their morning routine.
“I was doing a ridiculously simple backflip,” he recalls.
Halfway through, he knew he had miscalculated. His brain told him that he had carried his feet over far enough.
But he hadn’t.
After two surgeries within 48 hours, he woke up unable to move or breathe on his own.
Fellow divers hung in his room a banner, words of encouragement. A boyfriend, whom he’d been dating for a few months, stood by his side. Friends came and went. His parents were there every day.
During two months in the ICU, he thought he was dying, an experience he says was made horrible and beautiful by the nightmares and medications he was on.
Eventually he went to Chicago for rehabilitation, and after nearly a year and a half, he returned to Pasadena and the aquatics center. When he rolled out onto the pool deck, he felt that he had come home.
For once, nothing else mattered.
Diving coach Lenny Larsen of Pasadena gets a hug from Kelly Kerns, of Van Nuys at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Diving coach Lenny Larsen of Pasadena gets a hug from Kelly Kerns, of Van Nuys at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Diving coach Lenny Larsen of Pasadena gets a hug from Kelly Kerns, of Van Nuys at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
::
When Larsen dreams, he dreams of flying.
He lunges on his right leg, arms stretched behind him. In one sweep, he reaches overhead, lifts his left leg and springs up on the board before coming down into a near squat.
Launched, he feels the air rush by. He bends at the hips and grabs behind his knees. The momentum sets him spinning, once, twice, before straightening, head first, arms extended, one hand grabbing the top of the other to punch a hole in the surface of the water.
All goes silent but for the sound of the silver bubbles rushing to the surface.
Today just holding his head up would be enough.
He is in Lawndale, where he comes three times a week for physical therapy. His trainers have him strapped into a chair-like contraption that will elevate him to a nearly upright posture. Only his head is free, and they are careful to hold it upright for him. | http://www.latimes.com/travel/california/la-me-divingcoach-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/745ec7b28312e8671ab0d73f5cf06a616881377834c8f1f98192be3d4446b9cd.json |
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"Los Angeles Times"
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| 2016-08-26T12:54:54 | null | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-steve-bannon-ceo-of-donald-trump-s-1472178059-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bfb2cf/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-steve-bannon-ceo-of-donald-trump-s-1472178059 | en | null | Stephen Bannon, Trump campaign CEO, faced domestic violence charge in 1996 | null | null | www.latimes.com | Stephen Bannon, who last week was appointed CEO of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, faced domestic violence charges in California two decades ago.
The charges, reported by Politico on Thursday night, came after a January 1996 incident in Santa Monica. The case was ultimately dismissed.
According to the police report posted by Politico, Santa Monica officers responded to a hang-up 911 call. Once officers arrived, they found "red marks" on the wrist and neck of Bannon's then-wife, whose name was redacted from the documents. The report notes that the altercation stemmed from a dispute over their finances.
A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not immediately returned on Thursday night.
Bannon, who is chairman of Breitbart News, a conservative website that is widely known for its favorable coverage of Trump, was appointed to his new role in the Trump campaign in its latest staff shake-up. Bannon, a former Navy officer, currently lives in Laguna Beach.
In recent years, he made a name for himself in conservative circles for producing laudatory films about Sarah Palin and other public figures.
A separate report by the New York Post on Thursday evening cited divorce documents between Bannon and his then-wife.
The Post quoted her as saying in the documents: "I took the phone to call the police and he grabbed the phone away from me throwing it across the room, and breaking it as he [was] screaming" at her, including expletive-laden insults. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-steve-bannon-ceo-of-donald-trump-s-1472178059-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/c4716d9371783f09ee03b994d56fcfd9ce8a0cf8f00f933c7762136d38134e90.json |
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"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-30T00:50:02 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-u-s-welcomes-10-000th-syrian-1472505306-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4c0a6/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-u-s-welcomes-10-000th-syrian-1472505306 | en | null | U.S. reaches refugee milestone amid campaign debate | null | null | www.latimes.com | The U.S. was set Monday to welcome its 10,000th refugee from Syria, hailed by the White House as an achievement reached ahead of schedule and “without cutting any corners.”
Whether the country should have admitted even that many, or far more, remains the subject of fierce political debate.
The escalation of the Syrian civil war prompted a global refugee crisis last summer as millions fled to Europe from the Middle East and other global trouble spots. Amid pressure from the international community to ramp up the pace of refugee admissions, President Obama set the goal last fall of resettling 10,000 Syrians in the U.S. — a figure far lower than some international allies had sought but one the administration’s critics saw as tantamount to “opening the floodgates” and inviting a potential national security threat.
In marking the milestone, the White House charged that both sides had politicized the issue and that Obama’s focus throughout has simply been to do the right thing. In a statement, National Security Advisor Susan Rice thanked government agencies that played a role in the screening processes, as well as the communities that have welcomed “these new neighbors, demonstrating the values that have made our nation great.”
Although Rice said the 10,000 refugees represented a six-fold increase over the previous year's admissions, the number was a minuscule fraction of the 20 million refugees currently fleeing war zones and other harsh conditions around the world. Activists called on the U.S. to do more, including accepting larger numbers.
"Thousands of families from Syria have found safety on our shores, and that is a wonderful thing," Tarah Demant, senior director of the U.S. branch of Amnesty International, said in a statement. "But so many are still trapped in horrific conditions in refugee camps or war zones. The U.S. must do more to uphold its responsibility to do all it can to protect those fleeing human rights abuses.”
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the president hopes the U.S. will “expand our ambition” to admit more refugees. Secretary of State John F. Kerry is discussing the matter with members of Congress, but Earnest conceded the increase would likely not be more than several thousand.
As of March, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had submitted more than 32,000 Syrians to the U.S. for resettlement consideration. Over the last five years, more than 378,000 Syrians have sought asylum in Germany, by comparison.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has attacked Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for proposing a more significant uptick; she called for admitting 65,000 Syrian refugees during a 2015 interview.
In a speech this month, Trump proposed modifying already-rigorous screening measures to preclude admitting “any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles — or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.” | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-u-s-welcomes-10-000th-syrian-1472505306-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/2dd655e9fe22ef14f9b714a096dc6f71dcff5014f0c8f7c3ae41636c4c1862ac.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Steve Lopez"
]
| 2016-08-27T10:48:52 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Fcalifornia%2Fla-me-0828-lopez-end-of-beach-20160824-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0c776/turbine/la-me-0828-lopez-end-of-beach-20160824-snap | en | null | After five weeks and 1,100 miles, a deeper love of the California coast, a greater desire to watch over it | null | null | www.latimes.com | It was late on a chilly night when I descended a winding mountain road to Shelter Cove, one of the few California coastal communities I’d never visited.
I checked into the Inn of the Lost Coast, dropped my bags on the floor of my room and opened the back door to see how close I was to the water.
The essence of the sea drifted up from the base of a cliff and I took in deep drafts of salt air. I kept the door open so I could hear the tide lapping against the rocks, a concert as old as time, and descended into a sleep as deep as the sea.
Catch up on Steve Lopez' road trip and photographer Allen Schaben's images of California's 1100 miles of coast »
There is no stage like the one where land meets surf, no drama more mesmerizing.
Photographer Allen Schaben and I traveled 1,100 miles in five weeks, starting at the Oregon border.
As I said a few weeks ago, my crush on the coast began half a century ago with summer vacations in Santa Cruz, and it grew deeper on this trip.
More battles remain
So, too, did my determination to keep an eye on the public officials whose job is to uphold the protections laid down by the Coastal Act, which turned 40 this year.
The anniversary wasn’t the only thing that begged review of a powerful agency with a sacred duty. The clumsy firing of Executive Director Charles Lester in February, by the politically appointed commissioners, was a debacle that demoralized the agency’s paid staff and enraged hundreds of people up and down the coast.
Steve Lopez on the California coast at the Mexico border Times columnist Steve Lopez arrives at the Mexico border after traveling along the California coast from the Oregon border. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Times columnist Steve Lopez arrives at the Mexico border after traveling along the California coast from the Oregon border. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) See more videos
Many of them believed this particular set of commissioners, led by Gov. Jerry Brown’s four appointees, was dangerously cozy with developers and their hired guns, and was trying to exert more control over the agency and support construction even when their own staff experts determined that doing so would violate the Coastal Act.
Commissioners carp and crab about such criticism. But commissioners’ own shabby behavior — not all of them, but several of them — exposed a sloppy culture of ethical lapses and broken rules.
Thanks to scrutiny by outraged agency watchers and the L.A. Times, investigations are underway and legislative reforms in play.
The fragile, awe-inspiring shoreline and the public deserve better, and you’re reminded of that along every mile of the coast. Ordinary people fought in the late ’60s and early ’70s for conservation of fisheries and estuaries, and for enhanced public access, and the achievements over four decades have been extraordinary.
The agency’s delicate duty is to balance private property rights against public interest, and the entrenched bureaucracy — challenged by chronic understaffing — has frustrated many.
Yet, because wise commissioners have managed over the years to push back against nuclear power plants and sprawling developments, Californians can visit rocky shores, pristine beaches and ocean-view bluffs where marine animals, birds and plant life flourish.
More battles remain.
As Coastal Act author Peter Douglas famously said: “The coast is never saved; it’s always being saved.”
In Half Moon Bay, I visited a beach that was a popular destination for decades, until a billionaire blocked access.
Farther south, a sand-mining operation is causing an astonishing level of beach erosion.
I toured a dune near Monterey, where a long-frustrated developer vows to begin construction of a 368-unit hotel and residential project this fall, despite fears of harm to nesting birds protected by the Endangered Species Act. At Hollister Ranch, wealthy landowners including singer Jackson Brown enjoy a slice of California much like what the first Spanish explorers encountered, while security guards keep average Californians from the ranch’s wet sand — which is public land.
Miles south, at Huntington Beach, a proposed desalination plant seems to be more of a money-making scheme than a well-conceived response to drought.
The Newport Banning Ranch proposal — by oil companies and their real estate partner — would turn the largest undeveloped, privately owned land on the Southern California coast into a massive residential, hotel and commercial enterprise despite claims of damage to environmentally sensitive habitat.
And in Malibu — and up and down the coast, for that matter — homeowners still find ways to keep the public off public beaches, a reminder that California’s leaders, including its coastal commissioners, have a responsibility to keep fighting for the Coastal Act’s requirement of enhanced access to low- and middle-income residents.
We all have to keep watching, not just occasionally, but always, and more closely than we have in the past.
News agencies that once regularly covered the Coastal Commission have been decimated by market forces. But the decline of accountability reporting makes it all the more important for journalists to prioritize what issues need covering.
California’s coast is of global interest — if you doubt that, listen to the cacophony of languages spoken at state beaches during the summer. Media worldwide have a stake in watching one of America’s most powerful resource protection agencies as it forges a new course.
In the coming months the Coastal Commission will hire a new executive director, choose a new chair and see the appointment of at least two new commissioners.
Where’s our state’s environmental hero in the midst of this historic change?
Beats me.
For months I’ve been trying to let readers know what Gov. Jerry Brown thinks of his state’s coast and the commission that’s supposed to guard it. His spokesman told me again last week that if he becomes available for an interview, they’ll let me know.
Brown’s non-voting but all-powerful Coastal Commission appointee, Janelle Beland, isn’t making herself available, either.
...Commissioners’ own shabby behavior... exposed a sloppy culture of ethical lapses and broken rules.
What we do know is that Brown proposed the lifting of Coastal Act review for low-income housing along the shore, and that Beland has challenged staff findings that environmentally sensitive habitat at Newport Banning Ranch would be harmed. She also pushed for parking fees along the Sonoma Coast to help bolster state parks revenues, despite claims that such fees will limit access for low-income families in areas where public transit is not an option. | http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0828-lopez-end-of-beach-20160824-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/3ffc05505e4ea358243e668f282cc9476b31f25dbbed9da5a0c5826914e8ed99.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
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| 2016-08-31T04:49:52 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-trump-glosses-over-immigration-hours-1472617301-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c65ffc/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-glosses-over-immigration-hours-1472617301 | en | null | Trump glosses over immigration on the eve of his meeting with Mexican president | null | null | www.latimes.com | The night before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with the president of Mexico and deliver a long-awaited speech on immigration, he barely mentioned his signature issue at a boisterous rally in Washington state.
There were no calls to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it, or a deportation force to deal with the millions of people who are in the country illegally. Instead, the sole reference to immigration at the Everett, Wash., rally Tuesday night focused on the drug epidemic.
"We are also going to secure our border and stop the drugs from pouring in and destroying our country," Trump said. "And I'll be talking about that tomorrow night in Arizona -- big speech on immigration, Arizona tomorrow night.”
He went on to cite large increases in heroin overdoses in the Seattle area. “It's getting worse, it's getting horrific,” he said.
Trump made the remarks shortly after he tweeted that he would be meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday, before he delivers his immigration speech amid questions over whether he was softening the hard-line stance he took on the issue during the Republican primary.
Trump also pushed back at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s recent argument that he does not represent the mainstream Republican party because of his incendiary statements about various groups and his support from racists.
Trump, who said he was proud to represent the party of Abraham Lincoln, pointed to Democrats’ past support of slavery and opposition to civil rights. “It is the Democratic Party that is the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow and the party of opposition,” he said.
Democrats largely lost the south after they abandoned such positions.
Trump’s remarks were overshadowed by news of his trip. He was to be accompanied by Sen. Jeff Sessions and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to Bloomberg News. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-glosses-over-immigration-hours-1472617301-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/57467d50f97bfaa53af328685faed8e1657f35ca9a1f47f97294df68bf0aeb18.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
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| 2016-08-27T10:48:50 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-08272016-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Donald Trump heads to Iowa for annual 'Roast and Ride' | null | null | www.latimes.com | Donald Trump travels to Iowa where he'll attend Sen. Joni Ernst's annual "Roast and Ride"
Meanwhile, allegations of domestic violence by Trump's senior adviser come to the forefront
Hillary Clinton defends plans for future of family foundation
defends plans for future of family foundation Sarah Palin puts Trump on notice that he'll lose support if he backs down on immigration
puts Trump on notice that he'll lose support if he backs down on immigration The race to 270 - what states matter? | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-08272016-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/e21347b2fa89041c2c2509108b16cbc2f08bf10fb60be20c1c6a75484641045b.json |
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| 2016-08-26T13:14:22 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fla-ed-nearby-planet-20160825-20160825-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bf9f63/turbine/la-ed-nearby-planet-20160825-20160825-snap | en | null | Why we keep looking for life on other planets | null | null | www.latimes.com | Astronomers this week are exulting over the discovery of a planet they can’t see, orbiting a star that they can’t get to, at least until they find a way to travel 25 trillion miles in less than the 17,157 years it would take with existing technology. Still, the star, appropriately named Proxima Centauri, is what passes for a neighbor in our Milky Way galaxy. It is the nearest star to our solar system. And the planet, Proxima b, orbiting it, is in the so-called “habitable zone” near its sun — not so close that it’s scorching, not so far that it’s frigid. So it might have earthlike conditions. And that conjures the possibility of life thriving on a planet that, despite its distance, is physically closer than any other earthlike planet scientists have discovered.
Our obsession with finding intelligent life on other planets is adventuresome, practical and narcissistic all at once. We fantasize about it, make movies about it and go searching for it, with radio, optical and space telescopes, scouring cosmic haystacks for needles. And the hunt is enduring. The great 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote a science fiction novel, “Somnium,” intended to describe how the Earth might look from the moon, and for that, he put living creatures there. There is an exquisite asymmetry to the question of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. If scientists find it, then we have proven that it exists. But as Owen Gingerich, a historian of science and professor emeritus at Harvard University puts it, “if we don’t find it, we can never be sure that it’s not out there. No one can disprove it.”
So we continue to look. And why shouldn’t we? Even a failed quest to find life in our mirror image — and it’s not quite clear why we think it will look like us — still enriches our knowledge of the universe we inhabit. “Finding other Earths will teach us more about our own,” says astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell.
And there’s some encouraging news about looking for life on Proxima b. The European Extremely Large Telescope, which will be the world’s largest optical telescope when construction on it is finished, should be ready by 2024 and give astronomers a sharper sense of Proxima b. And the Breakthrough Starshot initiative — a program designed to build probes capable of accelerating to 20% of the speed of light — could get a spacecraft there in 20 to 25 years. Of course, it will take at least that long to build it. But just think — once it’s built, we could be there in no time at all.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook | http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-nearby-planet-20160825-20160825-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/d3d22439b9c72e06581c2e7a035090a580ffb272f40bec6f7a3b6b43d5b53117.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Jazmine Ulloa"
]
| 2016-08-30T18:49:51 | null | 2016-08-02T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fla-pol-sac-human-trafficking-legislation-20160802-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-579fdbf8/turbine/la-pol-sac-human-trafficking-legislation-20160802-snap | en | null | State lawmakers' competing ideas on how to stop human trafficking prevent steps forward, critics say | null | null | www.latimes.com | Before she became district attorney in Alameda County, Nancy O’Malley prosecuted rape cases. She soon came to recognize a number of young women and girls who cycled through the courtroom.
Their stories were always the same, she says. They loved their boyfriends, who coerced them into selling sex to other men.
“That is when we started seeing that there was money attached to sexual exploitation,” she said. A lot of money.
Two decades later, the trade of forced sex and labor now has a name and its own criminal statute — human trafficking. And in recent years, as advocates and prosecutors like O’Malley have worked to push the issue to the political forefront, there has been no shortage of proposed solutions in the state Capitol.
More than 30 bills this legislative session alone have attempted to combat a multibillion-dollar industry that now operates as much online, if not more, as it does on the streets. But much of the legislation, still pending as lawmakers return to Sacramento for their final month of deliberations, varies in its approach to the problem. Critics say the competing proposals present a difficult path forward.
There is no easy solution to modern-day slavery — if there was, we would have already been doing it. — Stephanie Richard, policy and legal services director at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
“There is no easy solution to modern-day slavery — if there was, we would have already been doing it,” said Stephanie Richard, policy and legal services director at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.
California passed its first laws against human trafficking in 2005, five years after a federal law to crack down on the international trade of victims brought attention to the vulnerable children and teens swept into the industry.
“Federal lawmakers used to think it happened only in third world countries, and we noticed that it was a large criminal industry right here in our own counties,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan, who heads the Human Trafficking Advisory Council in San Diego County.
In the decade since, coalitions and task forces have emerged across California to curb the business. They brought advocates, social services workers and law enforcement officials together to target traffickers and improve the safety net for victims.
Although human trafficking encompasses the trade of people for labor, the attention this legislative session at the state Capitol has centered on curbing the sale of sex. As statewide efforts have grown, so has knowledge of the problem in certain legislative districts.
State-run regional human trafficking task forces arrested nearly 1,800 people and identified 1,277 victims from mid-2010 to mid-2012, 72% of whom were American and 56% of whom had been trafficked for sex, according to the state attorney general’s office. FBI statistics consider three California cities among the areas with the highest rate of child sex trafficking: Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
Victims tend to be young. Boys are typically ages 11 to 13 when they are entered into the trade; girls are usually between 12 and 14.
With such staggering numbers, local coalitions began focusing on diverting young victims away from the criminal justice system and dismantling the perception that children and teens willfully and knowingly enter prostitution.
The most significant changes came in 2012 with the passage of Proposition 35, which increased sentences for all trafficking crimes and clearly articulated that trafficked people are victims, not criminals.
Now agencies are continuing the move from an approach that criminalizes prostitution to one that protects trafficked victims from prosecution and provides them with social services. But as lawmakers join the cause, how the Legislature can help make the shift is up for debate.
San Diego launches campaign to expose 'Ugly Truth' about sex trafficking and child exploitation »
“I don’t think this is the end of the road, but we are in a precipice of sea change with how we deal with human trafficking and human trafficking victims,” said Sean Hoffman, director of legislation for the California District Attorneys Assn.
Lawmakers approved a $10-million effort in last year’s state budget to support grants for community groups that provide resources including housing to human trafficking victims. The Legislature added another $10 million for those services this year.
Some two dozen pieces of legislation on the issue are awaiting action before the legislative year ends Aug. 31. The proposals run the gamut, from providing protections for human trafficking victims in court to enhancing penalties for sex buyers. Some have no opposition.
A bill by former Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and supported by state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris would create a state task force to coordinate human trafficking investigations across multiple agencies. Another bill by Atkins would establish pilot programs for intensive social services in three counties.
Other proposals have struggled to find consensus, in some cases pitting advocates against law enforcement, and in others, stirring clashes between organizations and agencies that typically align on the same side of the cause.
In Alameda County, O’Malley’s office, which has garnered national recognition for its work on human trafficking, has been embroiled in allegations that at least one of its investigators, officers with the Oakland Police Department and members of other Bay Area agencies engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor at the center of one of their cases.
The scandal has brought attention to a bill that would allow the seizure and impoundment of a vehicle used in the solicitation of prostitution. It falls in line with at least three other bills that seek to tackle the demand for the sex trade and its profits through harsher repercussions for those who solicit sex and greater protections for young witnesses testifying against traffickers in court.
But opponents are concerned some of the laws could lead to unconstitutional seizures and violations of defendants’ rights. | http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-human-trafficking-legislation-20160802-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-02T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/41133f0eabe479c8e5a3577133486037be20191dd1e8cd8d80c73f17537d0c56.json |
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"Los Angeles Times"
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| 2016-08-26T13:14:51 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-trump-s-new-campaign-chief-arrested-for-1472209644-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0318d/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-s-new-campaign-chief-arrested-for-1472209644 | en | null | Trump's new campaign chief arrested for domestic violence in 1996, according to reports | null | null | www.latimes.com | Stephen Bannon, Trump's new campaign chief executive officer, was arrested for domestic violence in 1996. The charges were dropped.
Stephen Bannon, the newly minted chief of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was arrested on domestic violence charges two decades ago, according to a report in the New York Post.
A fight between Bannon and his then-wife occurred on New Year’s Day 1996 after an argument over finances, according to the Post and other published reports. Police in Santa Monica responded to the couple’s house and found Bannon’s wife with bruising on her neck and wrist, the reports said.
Bannon, who has taken a leave as the head of Breitbart News to become the Trump campaign's chief executive officer, was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness, according to the reports. The charges were dropped when Bannon’s wife did not appear in court, they said, and the couple, parents of twin infants, divorced the following year.
"The bottom line is he has a great relationship with the twins, he has a great relationship with the ex-wife, he still supports them," Alexandra Preate, Bannon's spokeswoman, told Politico.
Bannon was brought on to lead Trump’s White House effort last week after turmoil in the campaign.
The investment-banker-turned-Hollywood-producer has no experience leading a political campaign, but he is known for his pugilistic style and his conservative news organization has long been pro-Trump. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-s-new-campaign-chief-arrested-for-1472209644-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/73925db4e4a6c686fde84eb28c3293b7ab740e8eeb3a82e77bb2e78eaa360985.json |
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| 2016-08-27T02:48:55 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fucla%2Fla-sp-ucla-podcast-the-bear-facts-episode-1-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0f2f3/turbine/la-sp-ucla-podcast-the-bear-facts-episode-1-20160826-snap | en | null | Podcast | The Bear Facts: Josh Rosen's maturity, the Mique Juarez situation and a UCLA season preview | null | null | www.latimes.com | Podcast | The Bear Facts: Josh Rosen's maturity, the Mique Juarez situation and a UCLA season preview
Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen warms up before the start of a training camp practice at Cal State San Bernadino on Aug. 15.
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen warms up before the start of a training camp practice at Cal State San Bernadino on Aug. 15. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) | http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/la-sp-ucla-podcast-the-bear-facts-episode-1-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/888b11298c91f3936376646f348b5ddfd38d2c29df4328f33238000c5d6791f3.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Robyn Dixon"
]
| 2016-08-31T12:50:11 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fafrica%2Fla-fg-zimbabwe-flag-man-snap-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4b4f6/turbine/la-fg-zimbabwe-flag-man-snap | en | null | Why a modest pastor with a flag is so threatening to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe | null | null | www.latimes.com | The Zimbabwean flag in Evan Mawarire’s office seemed to taunt him. He was a humiliated father. His children’s monthly school fees were due, but he had no money.
In another country, he would have those fees, he thought. He would get the things his wife, Samantha, and his two daughters needed. Why, at the age of 39, he’d even have a house by now.
He hunched over his webcam that April evening and poured out a visceral howl of frustration for Zimbabwe, the flag with its garish yellow, red, green and black stripes draped around his neck.
The Baptist pastor was hours away from launching the first grass-roots protest movement his troubled country has seen in years.
There is at times a note of absurdity to Zimbabwe’s problems. Its 92-year-old president, Robert Mugabe, dozes off in meetings or reads the wrong speech in parliament. An embarrassing Internet meme sprang up after Mugabe tripped in 2015, while his handlers denied he ever fell. After spectacular hyperinflation and the printing of a $1-trillion bill, Zimbabwe dumped its own currency in 2009. It regularly runs out of the American dollars it adopted, so soldiers, police and teachers don’t get paid on time.
Through all this, Mugabe is living out his vow to rule until the age of 100, and rival factions are jostling for his position, anticipating the old man’s death. His wife, Grace, nick-named the “First Shopper,” seems to be maneuvering to take over.
For a nation where many people have long since ceased to feel much civic pride, Mawarire’s four-minute video monologue has an unexpected beginning: He kisses the flag.
“This flag. This beautiful flag. They tell me that the green is for the vegetation and for the crops. I don’t see any crops in my country.” The yellow in the flag, diamonds, gold and platinum, have been sold off or stolen, he laments. The red, blood shed for freedom, was wasted.
“They tell me that the black is for the majority, people like me. Yet for some reason, I don’t feel that I am a part of it,” he continues. “This is the time that a change must happen.”
He hesitated six hours before posting the video online, sensing it would get him into trouble. “That sort of thing is something that I’d never done in my entire life,” he said. “When I did it, I watched it and I thought, ‘Oh my God, am I sure I’m going to post it?’”
It immediately took off online. Zimbabweans draped themselves in the flag and posted selfies in response. The enthusiasm Mawarire’s rant generated coalesced into a political movement, rallying around the hashtag #ThisFlag.
https://twitter.com/PastorEvanLive/status/724107793419112449
Mawarire led a national strike last month, a rare success in a nation fearful of protests. Something in Zimbabwe seemed to be shifting. The normally reticent middle class became suddenly hopeful that Mawarire could be their savior.
But enemies of Mugabe often end up in jail, die in unexplained fires or accidents, or mysteriously disappear like activist Itai Dzamara did in March 2015.
In July, Mawarire was arrested and charged with treason. He fled to South Africa, just as Mugabe once fled to Mozambique in 1975, during the bush war against the white minority regime of Ian Smith.
Mugabe has made it almost impossible for Mawarire to return to Zimbabwe. But the pastor’s canny use of social media and regular video speeches allows him to send his message deep into Zimbabwe’s discontented cities — though he acknowledges that reaching rural areas, where people cannot even afford to buy a newspaper, let alone a smartphone, is difficult.
The preacher continues to inspire a blossoming of courage in Zimbabwe, and protests continue to bubble up there. On Aug. 17, protesters in Harare marched on a reserve bank, angry at plans to introduce worthless local “bond” notes to replace the dollar — only to be violently put down by riot police. Activists have also pledged a general strike on Aug. 31.
Many now wonder if a humble pastor can lead a successful mass movement for change where opposition leaders have failed — or if Mugabe, wily and ruthless, will swat Mawarire, the way he has dealt with many threats before.
::
When Mawarire strides into a South African shopping mall, the flag draped around his shoulder, there’s a moment of frozen disbelief and delight.
Waiters and shop assistants, some of the millions of Zimbabweans who have crossed the crocodile-infested Limpopo River into South Africa to escape a long stagnant economy, race to shake his hand and take selfies with him.
“The only man who can save Zimbabwe,” one man says.
A tall, thin, bespectacled man with an earnest air, Mawarire introduces himself as “a father and a husband and the accidental founder of a movement.”
A #ThisFlag activist in Pretoria, South Africa, on July 14, 2016, during a march to the Zimbabwean Embassy. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP/Getty Images)
Some nights he is too excited to sleep, thinking about the thrilling possibilities of peaceful revolution. Others, he can’t sleep for paranoia, worrying about what might happen to him. “When … the whole system of the whole government zeroes in on one person and you start to feel the might and the weight of the repressive regime, it scares you,” he says in an interview in the back corner of a Johannesburg cafe, two weeks after leaving the country. He says he is being followed by agents of the Zimbabwean intelligence services in South Africa.
The speed with which the movement has taken off, and the hundreds of emails he gets, have surprised Mawarire. “Those emails make me feel scared. There’s days when I think I feel like I don’t own my life anymore.
“This is a hugely new world for me,” he added. “Sometimes people want to elevate me to that savior position, and that’s what got us into trouble in the first place.”
Mawarire says he has never been an activist. As a boy, he revered Mugabe as the country’s liberating hero after independence in 1980. The oldest son of civil servants, an auditor and a matron, he went to a top private school but when he failed one exam, his father sent him to a rural high school with no sports fields or toilet doors. He saw how lucky he was, compared with children who walked 10 miles to school. He later trained as an auto-electrician, and became a motivational speaker and set up his own church.
He says he has no desire now to become a politician and believes he inspires hope because he doesn’t look, sound or act like a politician. “The average politician doesn’t relate to the daily struggle, which is what it takes to put a meal on the table,” he says.
His one objective is to inspire Zimbabweans to “scale the wall of fear,” and demand change from their leaders. “There’s a sense of something really powerful moving in the hearts of Zimbabweans. Catastrophe has been our story for far too long,” he says.
Mawarire acknowledges that his plans are vague; he doesn’t have a clear ideology, a strategy or policy proposals. He poses a threat, analysts say, because Mugabe fears that his calls for sweeping change could be powerful enough to spark a popular revolution like the “Arab Spring.”
Zimbabwean Pastor Evan Mawarire gestures after addressing students during a lecture at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, on July 28, 2016. (Mujahid Safodien / AFP/Getty Images)
“He represents something that I think many Zimbabweans have been hungry for,” said Piers Pigou, an analyst on southern Africa for the International Crisis Group. “He’s been a bit of an enigma and it allows him to cut across a whole range of different constituencies.”
Mawarire’s lack of a central political organization made it difficult for authorities to categorize him, Pigou said, and his movement risks losing focus without more structure. “Ultimately a movement of this nature at some stage is going to require political direction.”
Students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, cheered wildly last month when Mawarire addressed them. He broke into song, belting out one of the stale liberation anthems that celebrate the victory in the war against white minority rule, often sung at Mugabe rallies.
He choked back tears describing his drive home each night along Robert Mugabe Way, seeing old women vegetable peddlers and their grandchildren bedding down on the roadside, huddled against the cold under thin blankets because they didn’t sell enough that day to afford a commuter minibus ride home.
Tapiwa Muzvidzwa, a commerce student from UNISA in Pretoria who came to hear Mawarire speak, voiced a fear that many feel: that as in the past, fear will win and Mawarire will be crushed.
“You have started something that has been burning in all of our hearts. We want to say, ‘In 2016, we were there, when it started.’ The movement must not die,” he urged Mawarire, to cheers.
Some of the students, who have seen no other ruler but Mugabe, are skeptical of Mawarire's calls for peaceful protest. They believe the way to change Zimbabwe is through some form of violent revolution. The pastor brushed off the students’ calls.
“If there’s one thing our government is very good at, trust me, it’s violence. If you take to the streets with violence, they’re waiting to give you such a beating, it will destroy every brick of courage,” Mawarire said. “Our strength is in our numbers.”
As Marawire finished, students surged to the front, pressing to get close to him, to talk to him, and soak up some of his hope. For a moment, everything seemed possible. Then he climbed into a small anonymous car, and disappeared into the night.
[email protected]
Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT | http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-zimbabwe-flag-man-snap-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/bfe3d3d41fe5291873576c7dfc7e8b39c60b22a76b078054e8fed8a3bc2a810d.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Eric Sondheimer"
]
| 2016-08-30T18:50:11 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fvarsity-times%2Fla-sp-vi-football-this-week-s-fox-sports-west-prep-zone-coverage-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Football: This week's FOX Sports West Prep Zone coverage | null | null | www.latimes.com | Fox Sports Wests's Prep Zone will feature five games streamed live on the web.
For Friday night, the games are St. John Bosco-La Mirada, Narbonne-Long Beach Poly, Redondo-Vista Murrieta and Etiwanda-Redlands East Valley.
On Saturday night, the IMG Academy-Corona Centennial game will be streamed live.
On Friday at 8 p.m., the La Habra-Tesoro game will be shown tape-delayed on Prime Ticket.
For the latest on high school sports, follow @LATSondheimer on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-football-this-week-s-fox-sports-west-prep-zone-coverage-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/c9fb0b7bd7113c05b38b391f592d5a952204cceb385cff2c804fefe6e864b5fd.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-28T10:49:12 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-08282016-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Campaign 2016 updates: Donald Trump insists that on Day 1 he'll deport criminals in the country illegally | null | null | www.latimes.com | A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the White House. Most states predictably vote red or blue, but a small handful swing either way and make up the main election battlegrounds. What does it take to win the presidency? | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-08282016-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6845c49c2b966397e04edb9d1da90084aafd6d8d99ba387edc3b38398840e085.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Hugo Martin"
]
| 2016-08-26T22:49:05 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-airline-fines-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0b91d/turbine/la-fi-airline-fines-20160826-snap | en | null | Four airlines fined for giving inaccurate compensation information | null | null | www.latimes.com | Four of the nation’s largest airlines were fined by the Federal Aviation Administration for giving passengers inaccurate information about how much compensation they should get for being kicked off an overbooked flight or having their luggage lost or damaged.
Alaska Airlines was fined $40,0000; American Airlines was fined $45,000; Southwest Airlines was fined $40,000; and United Airlines was fined $35,000. All four were ordered to stop such violations.
Under Department of Transportation rules, passengers who are involuntarily bumped off an overbooked domestic flight must be offered an alternative flight that arrives no later than an hour after the original flight.
If the airline puts a bumped passenger on a flight that arrives between one and two hours after the original flight’s scheduled landing, the carrier must compensate the passenger 200% of the cost of the original fare, up to $675.
If the airline puts the bumped traveler on a flight that arrives more than two hours after the original arrival time, the airline must pay 400% of the cost of the ticket, up to $1,350.
Those dollar amounts were increased slightly last year, but DOT investigators said the airlines still were handing out pamphlets to passengers showing lower compensation amounts. In some cases, the airlines couldn’t produce information telling passengers how much they were entitled to collect.
The top payout a carrier must give each passenger whose luggage has been lost or damaged was raised last year to $3,500 from $3,400, but DOT investigators said the carriers were giving passengers notices that said the payout was less than $3,500.
In consent agreement documents provided by the DOT, all four airlines said they take passenger compensation rules seriously but agreed to pay the fines to settle the allegations.
“We are committed to ensuring that air travelers know the rules and have accurate information about compensation when they are bumped from flights and for lost, damaged or delayed baggage,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
[email protected]
To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter. | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airline-fines-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6afd14f64ec1a06466342c21ba6568c211321d69245ddffaf5b0f912e6493c4e.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Neal J. Leitereg"
]
| 2016-08-26T18:51:04 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Frealestate%2Fhot-property%2Fla-fi-hotprop-troy-tulowitzki-colorado-mansion-sale-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c06f08/turbine/la-fi-hotprop-troy-tulowitzki-colorado-mansion-sale-20160826-snap | en | null | Blue Jays slugger Troy Tulowitzki sells his Colorado mansion for $4.55 million | null | null | www.latimes.com | Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has circled the bases on a home sale, selling his estate in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., for $4.55 million.
The former Cal State Long Beach star was traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Blue Jays last summer and put the two-plus-acre estate on the market in December for $5.89 million. In March, the price was lowered to $5.485 million.
The Traditional-style home, built in 2005, has more than 14,100 square feet of living space across two floors plus a finished basement with a fitness center, a wine cellar and separate billiards, media and rec rooms. An elevator and two staircases service each of the home’s three levels.
The custom mansion in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., sits on about 2.5 acres with a circular motor court and a swimming pool. (Realtor.com) (Realtor.com)
Other features of note include a great room with box-beam ceilings, a chef’s kitchen with an oversized island and two studies with custom built-ins. The master suite, with his and hers closets, a steam shower and a soaking tub, takes in panoramic mountain views. There are seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and seven fireplaces in all.
An outdoor pavilion, patios, a swimming pools a separate spa, lawns and landscaping fill the grounds. A large circular motor court fronts the estate.
Tulowitzki, who made the all-star team five times with the Rockies from 2006 to 2015, bought the house in 2011 for $4.8 million.
Jeff Hendley of LIV Sotheby’s International Realty represented both sides of the transaction.
The 31-year-old Tulowitzki has 21 home runs in 97 games for Toronto this year. He is in the sixth year of a 10-year, $134 million contract he signed in 2010.
[email protected]
Twitter: @NJLeitereg
MORE HOT PROPERTIES:
L.A. Clippers star Chris Paul puts his Bel-Air home in play at $11.5 million
Former Angels slugger Garret Anderson seeks $11 million for Irvine mansion
James Perse's latest design in Malibu sells for the nearly $13-million asking price
Guns N' Roses' Slash tones down and relists his villa in Mulholland Estates | http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-troy-tulowitzki-colorado-mansion-sale-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/b3e0ba243be7225b679834a06d5eb2256bb865ef350df571a59276e1ace2d3c7.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-27T00:49:16 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fmlb%2Fla-sp-baseball-notes-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0dc31/turbine/la-sp-baseball-notes-20160826-snap | en | null | Blue Jays acquire Dioner Navarro for depth at catcher | null | null | www.latimes.com | The Toronto Blue Jays have added depth at catcher for the stretch run by re-acquiring veteran switch-hitter Dioner Navarro from the Chicago White Sox.
The Blue Jays sent minor league left-hander Colton Turner to Chicago in Friday's waiver deal. Navarro is likely to be the backup in Toronto behind Russell Martin.
The 32-year-old Navarro spent two seasons with the Blue Jays before signing a one-year, $4-million deal with the White Sox as a free agent in December. He has struggled this season, hitting .210 with six homers and 32 RBIs in 85 games.
“I could see the smile through the phone,” General Manager Ross Atkins said. “This should be a boost of energy for him, coming into a contender.”
Mets to skip deGrom
Trying to make a push in the crowded NL playoff race, the New York Mets plan to skip struggling right-hander Jacob deGrom the next time through the rotation.
The team said it hadn't decided who will start in deGrom's place Monday night against Miami, another club in the wild-card hunt. New York Manager Terry Collins rattled off five potential candidates: Sean Gilmartin, Seth Lugo, Logan Verrett, Gabriel Ynoa and Rafael Montero.
The latter three are in the minors. Lugo, who earned his first major league win Thursday night at St. Louis, would have only three days of rest after throwing 82 pitches against the Cardinals. He exited with cramping in his right calf but was fine by Friday, the Mets said.
The 2014 NL Rookie of the Year, deGrom is 7-7 with a 2.96 ERA in 143 innings. He had been on an extended roll, lowering his ERA to 2.29, before getting rocked for 13 runs and 25 hits over 9 2/3 innings in his last two outings, against San Francisco and St. Louis.
Etc.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have activated center fielder A.J. Pollock and he was in the lineup for Friday night's game against the Cincinnati Reds Pollock, an All-Star and Gold Glove winner last season, broke his right elbow in a head-first slide at home in a preseason game two days before the start of the regular season. … The Colorado Rockies called up Stephen Cardullo from triple-A Albuquerque, the first time the 28-year-old infielder-outfielder has been on an active major league roster.
Texas Rangers reliever Jeremy Jeffress, twice suspended in the minor leagues for violating drug rules, was away from the team Friday following his overnight arrest in Dallas on a drunken driving charge. The club placed Jeffress on the restricted list. GM Jon Daniels said he expected the former Milwaukee closer acquired in a trade Aug. 1 to be back with the team Saturday. … The Tampa Bay Rays will release outfielder Desmond Jennings on Saturday. Jennings has been on the disabled list with hamstring and knee injuries for all but five days since July 4. The 29-year-old hit .200 with seven homers and 20 RBIs in 65 games this season. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-baseball-notes-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/c7ba7d3bfe0b5b4d136145e27501c4ed3ee39daa04eb26fc82bca01f2b9b5288.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-27T20:51:04 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fla-sp-nfl-report-20160827-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c1f06d/turbine/la-sp-nfl-report-20160827-snap | en | null | Cowboys QB Tony Romo has broken bone in his back; return is unknown | null | null | www.latimes.com | Dallas Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett says quarterback Tony Romo has a broken bone in his back and there is no timetable for his return.
Garrett made the comments on Saturday during a conference call. He said an MRI exam revealed the break, but the coach did not provide further details.
Asked if Romo would be back, Garrett said there's no timetable but that the 36-year-old quarterback would play this season.
Romo has had back surgery twice before. His latest injury occurred during the third play of Thursday night's exhibition game at Seattle. He was tackled by Cliff Avrill and was rolling in pain before he was taken off the field and replaced by rookie Dak Prescott. Later, Romo said he was OK.
The Cowboys open the season Sept. 11 at home against the New York Giants. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-report-20160827-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/477910f0ff840c9c5f59429266e879b1ebe20d742d0078fbc1036cbd5d558df1.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-26T22:49:06 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-trump-prides-himself-on-hiring-the-best-1472238363-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0bab4/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-prides-himself-on-hiring-the-best-1472238363 | en | null | Trump prides himself on hiring the best people. So what's with his rotating cast of campaign leaders? | null | null | www.latimes.com | News broke late Thursday that Stephen Bannon, Trump’s new campaign chief and the former head of Breitbart News, was accused two decades ago of hitting his then-wife . He was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness. The charges were dropped when Bannon’s wife did not appear in court.
Donald Trump’s frequent assertion that he hires only the best people is once again being challenged, this time by revelations of a domestic violence accusation against his freshly minted campaign CEO.
The revelations are only the latest controversy involving Trump’s rotating cast of campaign leaders.
Part of this is due to the unconventional nature of Trump's campaign — he has frequently relied on people he connects with on a gut level but who have little political experience.
Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager, is a prime example. Fiercely loyal, Lewandowski was comfortable with allowing Trump to be Trump rather than acting like a traditional candidate.
He was ultimately sent packing after repeated clashes with Trump’s children, who serve as informal counselors for their father's campaign.
Lewandowski was also accused of manhandling a female reporter; prosecutors declined to pursue charges.
But even after firing him, Trump continued to seek counsel from Lewandowski, whom he credits with helping him ascend to the top of the field in the Republican primaries.
Lewandowski was replaced by veteran operative Paul Manafort at a time when Trump was facing the prospect of a contested Republican convention and being urged to bring on experienced advisors. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-prides-himself-on-hiring-the-best-1472238363-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/ede9d24ca8b5a4f2d926c38c86350624dad7f42ac3898f0060f53fafa0a8c1a7.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Tamara Dietrich"
]
| 2016-08-27T22:49:07 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fla-na-nasa-capsule-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0faf6/turbine/la-na-nasa-capsule-20160826-snap | en | null | Capsule makes a splash in NASA test, and the scientists are pleased | null | null | www.latimes.com | A full-scale replica of the next-generation Orion crew spacecraft, tipped at a 90-degree angle, hung from cables 40 feet in the air from the huge, historic gantry at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
At the close of a 15-second countdown, the capsule swung left.
Then, with a bang from the explosive release bolts, the nearly 7-ton capsule dropped with an impressive splash into the Hydro Impact Basin.
It shot a wave toward media cameras and a small host of onlookers — engineers, soldiers, children, local politicians, congressional staffers, journalists and others — gathered to witness Thursday's splashdown test for a capsule designed to carry U.S. astronauts farther than they've ever gone before: to Mars, asteroids and other deep-space missions.
The test was conducted to see how the Orion craft would perform if it lost one of its three landing parachutes. Steve Helber/Associated Press The test was conducted to see how the Orion craft would perform if it lost one of its three landing parachutes. The test was conducted to see how the Orion craft would perform if it lost one of its three landing parachutes. (Steve Helber/Associated Press)
"That's exactly what we were looking for," said chief engineer Jim Corliss, principal investigator for NASA Langley's Orion test project.
The test was the ninth in a series that began in April at the center in Hampton, Va. to simulate a water landing from deep space and to see whether the computer models NASA uses to make the capsule safe for an astronaut crew are accurate.
It's all part of what Bill Hill calls "the journey to Mars," which NASA plans for the 2030s.
"This is an important part of it," said Hill, deputy administrator at NASA headquarters. "We've got to prove that we can actually pull this off."
NASA experts say they're pleased with the results so far.
"What we've learned to this point is that our computer models actually do a very good job of predicting the loads and stresses in the actual structure and in the crew," Corliss said.
The Orion replica drops into the Hydro Impact Basin with an impressive splash. Steve Herbert/Associated Press The Orion replica drops into the Hydro Impact Basin with an impressive splash. The Orion replica drops into the Hydro Impact Basin with an impressive splash. (Steve Herbert/Associated Press)
The Orion was designed and built to NASA requirements by primary partner Lockheed Martin under a long-term, $11-billion contract.
Each test drop is designed to address particular questions about the vehicle's design or performance.
The recent test was to see how the craft would perform if it lost one of its three landing parachutes, causing it to drop in the ocean at higher speed with greater impact.
"We want to make sure the crew are not injured if one of those three parachutes fails," Corliss said.
Under full parachutes and with no wind, the Orion will splash down at a vertical velocity of about 16 mph, he said. Under only two parachutes, the speed increases to around 20 mph.
Strapped inside the replica capsule were two test dummies, or anthropomorphic test devices. They were in full spacesuits and hooked to dozens of sensors to see how they fared under the physical stress.
The pair represent two extremes of possible astronauts: a 5-foot-2 female weighing 119 pounds and a 6-foot-2 male weighing 236 pounds.
In all, the mock capsule and mock crew were equipped with about 535 channels of instrumentation — the better, Corliss said, to assess a highly complex spacecraft.
Engineers will now begin the lengthy process of analyzing all that sensor data.
See more of our top stories on Facebook »
NASA and Lockheed originally planned nine drops through August, but added a 10th that's intended to stretch the boundaries of possible landing conditions.
The center has spent more than two years preparing for these drop tests, including installing the same heat shield that flew in space on the first test flight of an Orion capsule in December 2014.
NASA plans to launch an uncrewed Orion in 2018 aboard a new and cutting-edge Space Launch System booster — a super-heavy-lift rocket especially designed to carry the Orion and a four-person crew into deep space.
That spacecraft is set to travel 40,000 miles beyond the moon over a three-week mission before returning to splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA says Orion could carry a real crew as early as 2021.
Dietrich writes for the Daily Press.
ALSO
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Found: An Earth-sized planet 4.2 light years away that could have conditions for life | http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nasa-capsule-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/a0f7977f0986dbb6b8bb0127c98172d9a642940acd6248f4d2e2b3bc988c682d.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Hannah Fry"
]
| 2016-08-31T00:52:22 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-planning-commission-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c624c0/turbine/tn-dpt-me-planning-commission-20160830 | en | null | Shorter version of 150 Newport Center heads to Planning Commission | null | null | www.latimes.com | A Newport Center townhome and condominium project that would replace a car wash and gas station will again be reviewed by the Newport Beach Planning Commission on Thursday, this time with a shorter version than previously proposed.
Newport Center Anacapa Associates' 150 Newport Center project has gone through a series of changes in the past several months at the commission's behest. Most recently, the developer reduced the planned height of the 45-unit building to 50 feet in five stories from 65 feet in six stories.
The developer also is considering an alternative plan that would reduce the number of units to 35, according to a city staff report.
If approved, the project would replace the Beacon Bay Auto Wash and an adjacent gas station on 1.26 acres along Newport Center Drive near Anacapa Drive.
After about two hours of public discussion Aug. 18, planning commissioners were unable to come to a consensus about various points of the project, including density and height.
The majority of commissioners said they are open to a residential project on the site, as it would advance the city general plan's goal of creating a walkable community in Newport Center.
But the commission provided some parameters for 150 Newport Center, including setting the maximum number of units at 45 and a maximum building height of 50 feet, which would put it in line with other buildings in that area, commissioners said.
Newport Center Anacapa Associates originally proposed a seven-story, 49-unit building reaching 69 feet tall. However, after its initial meeting with the Planning Commission in July, the developer reduced the plan to six stories with 45 units reaching 65 feet.
For the development to move forward, the Planning Commission would have to vote to change the land-use designation for the site from regional commercial office to multi-unit residential to allow homes to be built. The City Council also would have to sign off on the proposal.
Two local groups, Stop Polluting Our Newport, an activist organization, and Line in the Sand, a political action committee, began circulating a petition last week via email and social media urging the Planning Commission to reject the development.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the groups said they expect more than 1,200 individuals to register their support.
The petition argues that 150 Newport Center is inappropriate for the location because of its height and bulk and the fact that it proposes residential use on a site not zoned for it. The zoning should remain commercial, the groups say.
They also point to noise issues that could arise from the units being close to restaurants, bars and a movie theater at Fashion Island.
Thursday's Planning Commission meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.
. File illustration A rendering depicts the entrance to Museum House, a 295-foot-tall, 100-unit condominium tower proposed for the site currently occupied by the Orange County Museum of Art. A rendering depicts the entrance to Museum House, a 295-foot-tall, 100-unit condominium tower proposed for the site currently occupied by the Orange County Museum of Art. (File illustration)
Museum House to be discussed during study session
Before its regular meeting, the Planning Commission will take its first comprehensive look at Museum House, a 100-unit condominium tower also proposed for Newport Center.
Related California LLC's project would replace the Orange County Museum of Art at 850 San Clemente Drive with the 295-foot tower and two levels of subterranean parking.
OCMA has called the 2-acre property home since 1977. The museum has announced plans to construct a new building in Costa Mesa near the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and Related California has entered an agreement to eventually purchase the San Clemente Drive site. The sale would help fund the museum's move, officials said.
For Museum House to move forward, the Planning Commission would have to approve a general plan amendment to change the property's land use from private institutional to multi-unit residential, with a maximum development of 100 units. The City Council also would have to approve it.
The Planning Commission is not expected to take action on the proposal Thursday but could provide feedback to the developer.
The study session will begin at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall.
[email protected]
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-planning-commission-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/483c1d2ab6b6dd74f39b67d87e883b1e2bed373c48af9a0faa70433fc502677d.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Eric Sondheimer"
]
| 2016-08-28T20:49:14 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fvarsity-times%2Fla-sp-vi-football-julian-lewis-gives-narbonne-a-fourth-top-linebacker-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Football: Julian Lewis gives Narbonne a fourth top linebacker | null | null | www.latimes.com | As if Narbonne didn't have enough talent at the linebacker position with Raymond Scott, Anthony Pandy and Darien Butler, now you can add the name Julian Lewis.
Scott didn't start on Friday against Gardena Serra (unexcused missed practice), so Lewis, a junior, was put in, and Coach Manuel Douglas said, "He played great."
Now Douglas has the option of putting Pandy back at defensive end during games, his position of last season, and adding Lewis to the mix. Lewis played at Cathedral as a freshman and missed most of last season with a hand injury.
He adds another option to an already highly regarded defense that will take on Long Beach Poly on Friday at Veterans Stadium, which has put in a new all-weather surface.
Narbonne is fast and physical, which should make for quite a game considering Poly is the same way.
For the latest on high school sports, follow @LATSondheimer on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-football-julian-lewis-gives-narbonne-a-fourth-top-linebacker-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/013a0b1df71bf20be5f714da08e4e0a2881d362b2881f053d62c8e3b185554b3.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Razzan Nakhlawi"
]
| 2016-08-31T02:50:24 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fla-fg-targeted-killings-drone-snap-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57749f6d/turbine/la-fg-targeted-killings-drone-snap | en | null | President Obama's militant kill list doesn't end at Osama bin Laden | null | null | www.latimes.com | Since taking office, President Obama has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents. Obama’s administration has authorized Navy SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and approved the fatal drone strike on an American cleric in Yemen.
Here is a look at targeted killings under the Obama administration.
Abu Muhammad Adnani | Islamic State
Adnani, the Islamic State militant group's spokesman, is shown in this undated image provided by SITE Intelligence Group. (Associated Press)
When: Death announced Aug. 30, 2016
How: Pentagon confirmed that Adnani was targeted in an airstrike but could not confirm his death. Islamic State said he was killed.
Where: Al Bab, Syria
Adnani was deeply involved in the Sunni Muslim militant group’s larger operational strategies and served as its spokesman, creating a propaganda machine that has attracted foreign recruits from all over the globe.
Read more >>
Hafiz Saeed Khan | Islamic State
When: July 26, 2016
How: Killed in a drone strike
Where: Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
The State Department last year designated Khan a global terrorist, saying he is the leader of Islamic State in Khorasan, which includes former members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. Khan had previously been a Tehrik-e Taliban commander, but last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour | Taliban
Mansour in an image released by the militant group in December 2015. (Afghan Taliban)
Killed: May 21, 2016
How: Drone strike
Where: In western Pakistan along the Afghanistan border
Mansour was killed when a drone strike hit his vehicle as he traveled in Baluchistan, Pakistan.
Mansour, known for his mercurial leadership, had been in the U.S. military’s crosshairs for years. He officially took charge of the Taliban in the summer of 2015 after the group acknowledged the death of founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Read more >>
Rahman Mustafa Qaduli, a.k.a. Abu Ala Afri and Haji Imam | Islamic State
Rahman Mustafa Qaduli (U.S. State Department.)
When: March 24, 2016
How: Died during an attempt by special operations to capture him
Where: Syria
Qaduli was an influential finance minister for Islamic State and a close advisor to the group's leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi. He was a key player in Islamic State's military and financial operations, according to the Pentagon.
Qaduli, who had as many as a dozen aliases, joined Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004, serving as Abu Musab Zarqawi's liaison for operations with Pakistan. The group was later rebranded as Islamic State. He was held in U.S. custody at the Camp Bucca military prison in Iraq in 2006, along with many other prisoners who went on to senior positions in Islamic State. He was released in 2012.
Read more >>
Abu Nabil, a.k.a. Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi | Islamic State
(AFP PHOTO / HO / AL-HAYAT MEDIA CENTRE)
When: Nov. 14, 2015
How: Killed by jet strike
Where: Derna, Libya
Nabil led Islamic State in Libya and was a longtime Al Qaeda figure. He was killed during a F-15 jet strike targeted at his compound in eastern Libya – the country’s government in effect has been a void since the toppling of Moammar Kadafi in 2011.
The Pentagon suggested Nabil may have played a key role in an execution video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christian Egyptians along the southern Mediterranean coast in early 2015.
Read more >>
‘Jihadi John’ Mohammed Emwazi | Islamic State
(AFP/Getty Images)
When: Nov. 12, 2015
How: Killed by drone
Where: Raqqah, Syria
The 27-year-old British citizen was given the moniker “Jihadi John” after he appeared in videos announcing the killing of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as the slaying of American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Emwazi was described as a quiet and hardworking schoolboy in affluent northwest London and a graduate of University of Westminster’s computer science program, and his presence brought the issue of homegrown extremism to the forefront.
"He was one of the worst, who hit and tortured without any restraint,” Didier Francois, a journalist held for 10 months in Syria, told a French radio station.
Read more >>
Muhsin Fadhli | Al Qaeda
When: July 8, 2015
How: Vehicle was hit during drone strike
Where: Sarmada, Syria
Fadhli, who fought for the Taliban as a teenager in Afghanistan, had advanced notice of the Sept. 11 attacks. Years later, U.S. intelligence analysts had fears that his faction was progressing in its ability to attack jets and other Western targets.
The head of a shadowy cell of veteran Al Qaeda operatives known as the Khorasan Group, he was killed while traveling in his vehicle near the Turkish border in the Syrian town of Sarmada. He was identified as the authority of Al Qaeda’s operations in Iran before relocating to Syria.
Read more >>
Ali Awni Harzi | Islamic State
When: June 15, 2015
How: Airstrike
Where: Mosul, Iraq
Tunisian-born Harzi was a suspect in the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans. His brother, Tariq Harzi, was known as the “emir of suicide bombers” for orchestrating hundreds of suicide bombings among jihadists.
"While it may have taken years to track down and eliminate Ali Awni al Harzi, those who kill Americans must understand that our memories are long and our commitment to justice is steadfast," Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said.
Read more >>
Mokhtar Belmokhtar | Al Mourabitoun
(AFP/Getty Images)
When: June 13, 2015
How: Airstrike
Where: Libya
The Al Qaeda-linked North African was the architect of a 2013 plot to seize a natural gas refinery in Amenas, Algeria, which resulted in the deaths of more than 38 foreign captives from 10 countries, including three Americans.
Belmokhtar had an extensive history of organizing terrorism, yet always slipped out of the clutches of the U.S. military and its allies. In fact, the French government had nicknamed the Algerian militant "the Uncatchable."
Read more >>
Adan Garar | Shabab
When: March 12, 2015
How: Vehicle struck by drone strike
Where: Bardera, Somalia
Garar was a strategic commander who planned the high-profile attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, which killed at least 67 people including children. Only those who could prove they were Muslim were spared.
The Shabab leader was killed in his vehicle near the southwestern town of Bardera in Somalia. The Shabab, which has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda rather than Islamic State, has suffered blows to their military capabilities in recent years.
Read more »
Adam Gadahn | Al Qaeda
( AFP/Getty Images)
When: Jan. 19, 2015
How: CIA drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
The Orange County native, who served as a top propagandist for Al Qaeda, was killed in a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, Pakistan.
The grandson of a Jewish doctor, Gadahn converted to Islam in 1995. He frequented the Islamic Center of Orange County, where those close to Gadahn say he fell under the influence of Hisham Diab, an accountant who lived in the Little Gaza section of Anaheim, who espoused extremist views
Gadahn appeared in five incendiary Al Qaeda videos before his death and became the first American since the World War II era to be charged with treason.
Read more >>
Hakimullah Mehsud | Pakistani Taliban
Mehsud in 2008. (AFP Photo / A Majeed)
When: Nov. 1, 2013
How: CIA drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, was killed by a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, Pakistan. He was known for attacking a CIA base in Afghanistan and a campaign that killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security force members.
Mehsud was considered a top militant, and the FBI held a $5-million bounty on his head in the months before he was killed. Yet, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the drone strikes, calling them an attempt to sabotage peace talks between the Pakistani government and the Taliban.
Read more >>
Maulvi Nazir | Pakistani Taliban
Maulvi Nazir meets with associates in South Waziristan in April 2007. (Ishtiaq Mahsud / Associated Press)
When: Jan. 2, 2013
How: Drone strike
Where: Northwest Pakistan
A U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan killed the top Taliban commander responsible for coordinating attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Nazir was one of two Taliban commanders in the Waziristan tribal regions to issue decrees against polio vaccination efforts in their areas. Nazir said his decision to ban the vaccinations was motivated by Washington’s drone campaign and a phony inoculation program orchestrated by the CIA in 2011 to help track down Osama bin Laden.
Read more »
Abu Yahya al Libi | Al Qaeda
When: June 4, 2012
How: Drone strike
Where: North Waziristan, Pakistan
Al Qaeda’s former second-in-command, Libi was killed in a U.S. drone missile strike on Hesokhel, a small village in North Waziristan near the Afghan border. North Waziristan has long been a stronghold for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other militant groups.
Libi’s death was a big win for covert U.S. anti-terrorism operations in Pakistan, which had their milestone with the killing of Osama bin Laden in early 2011.
Read more >>
Sakhr Taifi | Al Qaeda
When: May 29, 2012
How: Airstrike
Where: Kunar, Afghanistan
Al Qaeda’s second-in-command in Afghanistan was killed in an airstrike coordinated by coalition forces. Taifi frequently commanded attacks against NATO and Afghan forces, and he traveled frequently between Afghanistan and Pakistan to relocate weapons and insurgent fighters.
Read more »
Abdul-Rahman Awlaki and Ibrahim Banna | Al Qaeda
When: Oct. 14, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: Azzan, Yemen
Awlaki, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, was eating dinner along the side of a road when he was killed by a drone strike. Awlaki’s father, Anwar, was killed two weeks earlier for terrorist operations, but the son’s killing sparked outrage among human rights activists who argued that Awlaki’s death was unrelated to his father’s activities and he was executed without charge, trial or legitimate reasoning.
"If the government is going to be firing Predator missiles at American citizens, surely the American public has a right to know who’s being targeted and why." Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said.
Also killed was Egyptian-born Banna, whom officials described as the media chief of the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.
Read more >>
Anwar Awlaki | Al Qaeda
A file picture released by the SITE Intelligence Group on September 26, 2010 shows US-Yemeni radical Anwar al-Awlaki speaking during a video lecture at an unknown location. (AFP/Getty Images)
When: Sept. 30, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: Azzan, Yemen
The American-born Muslim cleric, accused of inspiring and plotting terrorist attacks on Americans, including the deadly shooting at an army base in Texas, was killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a drone aircraft operated by the CIA.
Although Awlaki was a midlevel figure in Al Qaeda, he cast a potent shadow in U.S. counter-terrorism circles because he spoke fluent English and was effective at reaching disaffected Muslims in the United States and elsewhere via speeches and sermons on the Internet.
His death marked not only an escalation of Obama administration efforts to kill leaders of Al Qaeda and its affiliates, but also another significant intelligence coup after the CIA-led raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, in Pakistan.
Read more >>
Atiyah Abdul Rahman | Al Qaeda
When: Aug. 22, 2011
How: CIA Predator drone strike
Where: Waziristan, Pakistan
Rahman first met Osama bin Laden in his teens, and the Al Qaeda kingpin appointed him to chief liaison for the group in Iran. Though he was unknown to most Americans, he "gained considerable stature in Al Qaeda as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar," according to the website of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.
“Atiyah was at the top of Al Qaeda's trusted core," said an intelligence official, who would not be identified discussing sensitive defense matters. "His combination of background, experience and abilities are unique in Al Qaeda; without question, they will not be easily replaced."
Read more »
Ilyas Kashmiri | Al Qaeda
Ilyas Kashmiri (Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images)
When: June 3, 2011
How: Drone strike
Where: South Waziristan, Pakistan
Ilyas Kashmiri, a key Al Qaeda strategist, was killed in a 2011 strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Reports on Kashmiri alleged that he trained mujahedin to counter Soviet forces in 1980s Afghanistan and that he was tipped to command Al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden’s death.
Kashmiri led a militant group in Pakistan and in recent years had been brought into the leadership of Al Qaeda, running a training camp and planning attacks against targets in India and Europe, said a U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Read more >>
Osama bin Laden | Al Qaeda
Osama bin Laden (Associated Press)
When: May 2, 2011
How: U.S. special forces unit raid
Where: Abbottabad, Pakistan
The founder of Al Qaeda and the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks was killed during a special forces raid of his compound. The Saudi Arabia-born extremist kingpin vanished after the fall of the World Trade Center towers.
Once or twice a year, Bin Laden popped up on a new video or audio recording, mocking America's leaders and urging his faithful to follow his path. They did so with bombings in London, Madrid, Bali, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
Interrogators at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were pushed to ask Al Qaeda suspects in custody about possible couriers. The information came in pieces, a U.S. official said, and it took years.
Read more >>
Abdallah Umar Qurayshi | Al Qaeda
When: Sept. 25, 2010
How: Airstrike
Where: Kunar, Afghanistan
The bombing of a compound in Kunar province, close to the border with Pakistan, killed Abdallah Umar Qurayshi, who had led Al Qaeda-affiliated Arab fighters operating in two eastern provinces, and Abu Atta Kuwaiti, an explosives expert.
Western troops, nearly all of them American, pulled out of the remote, rugged Korengal Valley after suffering heavy losses over several years. Fighters led by Qurayshi had staged attacks on Western forces in Kunar and Nuristan provinces, where insurgents sometimes targeted isolated U.S. outposts with devastating results.
Read more »
Sheik Said Masri | Al Qaeda
When: May 21, 2010
How: Drone Strike
Where: Pakistan
Al Qaeda's former third-ranking leader — a close associate and relative by marriage to Osama bin Laden — was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region. The death of Masri, an Egyptian who was believed to act as the terrorist network's operational leader, was a major blow to Al Qaeda, which had suffered a steady degradation of its leadership and ability to mount attacks since the U.S. stepped up its campaign of missile strikes by unmanned aircraft in the tribal region.
Read more >>
Hussein Yemeni | Al Qaeda
When: March 8, 2010
How: Drone Strike
Where: Miram Shah, Pakistan
The death of the elusive Yemeni proved a source of elation for U.S. intelligence officials after the expert bomb maker was killed by drone strike in early 2010. It is believed that Yemeni played a strategic role in the 2009 Camp Chapman suicide attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees and contractors.
A counter-terrorism official described the Miram Shah strike as a "clean, precise action that shows these killers cannot hide even in relatively built-up places."
Read more >>
Baitullah Mahsud | Pakistani Taliban
Baitullah Mehsud (A. Majeed / AFP/Getty Images)
When: Aug. 5, 2009
How: Predator drone strike
Where: Miram Shah, Pakistan
Mahsud was a founding militant of the Pakistani Taliban, which U.S. intelligence suggested could have been behind the 2007 assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Despite his small stature, it is suggested that he had commanded as many as 20,000 fighters and provided refuge for Afghani Taliban members after the 2001 U.S. invasion.
Read more >> | http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-targeted-killings-drone-snap-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/d2e585444d621f5b29b3580690bd0103d68d46050af7809e456e49baced23389.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-27T06:48:55 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fnationnow%2Fla-na-mississippi-nuns-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c12e33/turbine/la-na-mississippi-nuns-20160826-snap | en | null | Man faces capital murder charges in deaths of two Mississippi nuns | null | null | www.latimes.com | A man has been arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in connection with the deaths of two nuns who were slain in Mississippi, police said.
Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, was charged in the deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both 68, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said in a statement released late Friday night.
Their bodies were discovered Thursday after the women, both nurse practioners, failed to show up for work at a medical clinic in Lexington, about 10 miles from where they lived.
“Sanders was developed as a person of interest early on in the investigation,” Lt. Col. Jimmy Jordan said in the statement.
Sanders was being held in an undisclosed detention center awaiting his initial court appearance.
Meanwhile, in the poverty-stricken Mississippi county where the two nuns were slain, forgiveness for their killer is hard to find.
Held and Merrill dedicated their lives to providing healthcare to people in the poorest county in the state. And as authorities sought the killer, many residents wondered how they will fill the absence the women's deaths have left.
“Right now, I don't see no forgiveness on my heart,” said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker who has diabetes and was a patient of Merrill's at Lexington Medical Clinic.
He said Merrill would want him to forgive whomever killed the women, but he hopes the perpetrator is arrested, convicted and executed.
“She doesn't deserve to die like this, doing God's work,” Morgan said, shaking his head. “There's something wrong with the world.”
Both women worked at the clinic, where they gave flu shots, dispensed insulin and provided other medical care for children and adults who couldn't afford it.
Their stolen car was found abandoned a mile from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven't disclosed a motive.
Authorities have not said how the women were killed, but the Rev. Greg Plata of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, where the nuns led Bible study for years, said police told him they were stabbed.
The state posted a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Plata said both nuns' religious communities have asked that people pray for the killer or killers. Asked about people's struggles to forgive, the priest said: “Forgiveness is at the heart of being a Christian. Look at Jesus on the cross: `Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”
On Friday, a handwritten sign on the front door of Lexington Medical Clinic said it was closed until Monday.
The clinic and the nuns' home in Durant are in Holmes County, population 18,000. With 44% of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the seventh-poorest county in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.
The slayings did more than shock people and plunge the county into mourning. They leave a gaping hole in what was already a strapped healthcare system.
Dr. Elias Abboud, who worked with the sisters for years and helped build the clinic, said it provided about 25% of all medical care in the county.
The two nuns cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples, according to clinic manager Lisa Dew.
“This is a poor area, and they dignified those who are poor with outreach and respect for them,” Plata said. “They treated each person as a child of God.”
Merrill's sister Rosemarie, speaking by telephone from her Stoneham, Mass., home, said her sister had been in Mississippi helping the poor since 1981 and had previously worked in Holly Springs, where she used to ride around on a moped and was instrumental in locating the source of a tuberculosis outbreak.
Merrill was raised in the suburbs of Boston and came from a working-class family, her father a laborer and her mother a bookkeeper, her nephew David said. He said his aunt had worked with Held for many years.
“We always considered Margaret just part of the family,” he said. “The word `sister' has many meanings, and they fulfilled all of them.”
Rosemarie Merrill said she doesn't know what will happen to the clinic now and worries about the effect on healthcare in Holmes County. She said her sister and Held would often go into the clinic on Sundays after Mass or on their days off.
“It's just going to be a disaster,” she said.
Genette Pierce, who works at a home health and hospice business a few doors down from the clinic, said: “Their patients — all of them — they're going to be lost without them right now.”
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UPDATES:
10:55 p.m.: Updated with new information.
This article was first posted at 10:35 p.m. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-mississippi-nuns-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/a1238d2d83616d326dba67f0485de02bb72203f4b3fbc4d8bb10675a75e6499c.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-26T20:49:06 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-obama-and-biden-will-return-to-the-1472238839-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0958e/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-obama-and-biden-will-return-to-the-1472238839 | en | null | Obama and Biden will return to the campaign trail for Clinton next month | null | null | www.latimes.com | Hillary Clinton will send two heavyweight allies to campaign for her in the coming weeks in Ohio and Pennsylvania — President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden will hit the trail for the Democratic nominee in Ohio, and Obama will campaign for Clinton in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13, shortly after his return from a long trip to Asia.
White House aides say the president and vice president plan to highlight the same message: the "high stakes" of November's election for the working and middle classes.
The stakes are also high for them, as the outcome of the election will greatly influence how much of their policy will stand. Republican Donald Trump has promised to set to work dismantling the Obama-Biden legacy. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-obama-and-biden-will-return-to-the-1472238839-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/258cb25b5a86b2b3de5d5289cde74332c23104d80f5c660711cb4cc99442c001.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-31T04:49:51 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-donald-trump-to-travel-to-mexico-to-1472612039-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c657ae/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-donald-trump-to-travel-to-mexico-to-1472612039 | en | null | The Republican presidential candidate and the Mexican president confirmed the news on Twitter | null | null | www.latimes.com | Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to sit down with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, both politicians confirmed Tuesday night.
"I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow," Trump said in a Tweet.
Pena Nieto's office said in its own Tweet that the two will meet privately Wednesday. Pena Nieto's office said in a statement Tuesday that the Mexican president extended an invitation for a meeting Friday to Trump as well as his rival, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The unlikely meeting between the Mexican president and Trump, who has repeatedly railed against Mexican immigrants for bringing crime and taking jobs away from U.S. workers, comes just hours before Trump is scheduled to deliver a major policy speech on immigration in Arizona Wednesday night. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-donald-trump-to-travel-to-mexico-to-1472612039-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1a04103dc1666a0b4070c2b6a049ce5e7ca1769a97ea6e1f8501ca9a2966cad1.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-30T00:49:51 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fessential%2Fla-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-ratepayers-utilities-gas-1472485949-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4d67b/turbine/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-ratepayers-utilities-gas-1472485949 | en | null | Ratepayers will remain on the hook for gas leaks after Assembly rejects new legislation | null | null | www.latimes.com | Though it was approved by the state Senate earlier this year, legislation that would have prevented ratepayers from being charged for natural gas lost during leaks fell far short and stalled in the Assembly on Monday.
The issue gained new attention in the wake of the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak, which lasted four months and forced thousands of people to relocate because of foul air. Although an executive order from Gov. Jerry Brown helped protect ratepayers from covering the cost, there are other, smaller leaks where they're still charged.
“If your gas bill is $50 a month, some small part of that is paying for gas you never got," said Timothy O'Connor, an attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund.
Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the bill's author, said utilities would be more likely to fix problems with their equipment and prevent methane pollution if they couldn't charge ratepayers for gas that is lost due to leaks or venting.
“Why we should we be paying for the faults in their system?" he said. "We’re paying to work against our own climate goals.”
Advocates said utilities ramped up their lobbying in their effort to kill the measure, which they view as unnecessarily punitive. The bill would “penalize utilities for the value of natural gas lost due to factors outside of the utilities’ control,” said Chris Gilbride, a SoCalGas spokesman. “This includes venting for safety and reliability, and damage to pipelines caused by third parties.
Other business organizations, including the California Chamber of Commerce, have also opposed the bill, calling it "yet another burden put onto already heavily regulated industries." | http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-ratepayers-utilities-gas-1472485949-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/30e25ebda0f05f4079ef99c89d0823ce8d4eeaed0f4674feecc5b506d311a7c7.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T04:49:46 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fla-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-cinematography-winner-1472231530-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Beyoncé's 'Formation' wins cinematography award | null | null | www.latimes.com | It's fair to say Beyonce stole the MTV VMAs with an extended performance inspired by "Lemonade." It was also a special evening for Rihanna, who performed throughout the night before Drake presented the Vanguard award to the woman he's "been in love with since [he] was 22 years old." And Britney Spears returned to the VMAs stage; it was an admirable effort, but even those shadow fingers couldn't come close to topping Beyonce. | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-cinematography-winner-1472231530-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/fdf5d0b2351fa3707b0c50bf8551e27ba493c066e5bede5242d792c9b29c93f3.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Joseph Serna"
]
| 2016-08-30T20:50:00 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-bart-robbery-screwdriver-stabbing-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5d049/turbine/la-me-ln-bart-robbery-screwdriver-stabbing-20160830-snap | en | null | Screwdriver-wielding robber stabs two men in head, steals another's bike in BART attack, police say | null | null | www.latimes.com | Two men riding a Bay Area Rapid Transit train into Fremont over the weekend were stabbed in the head by a screwdriver-wielding robber, BART police officials said.
The men were on the train approaching the Fremont station about 7:15 p.m. Saturday when BART police say Ronald Nalls, 49, tried to rob them.
Witnesses said the men fought with Nalls, who stabbed them in the head then ran out of the train when it reached the station, BART police Sgt. John Power said.
Nalls ran up to the street, threatened another person with the screwdriver and stole a bike, Power said. BART police alerted local law enforcement, who found Nalls not far away and arrested him.
Nalls, a San Francisco resident, was booked on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder and three counts of robbery. He’s due in court Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
One of the stabbing victims suffered a “serious” injury and was rushed to the hospital where he is recovering, Power said. The second victim suffered a less-serious wound and has been released. All of the victims’ property was returned, Power said.
Caption 90 seconds: 4 stories you can't miss Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Caption Kim Jong Un executes using anti-aircraft gun South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August.
[email protected]
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bart-robbery-screwdriver-stabbing-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/fd4812f1de3c69edd063ee2710b6bf0336978874bffd2eb17047356bfc8f05f8.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Molly Hennessy-Fiske"
]
| 2016-08-29T12:50:14 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fla-na-haunted-plantation-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c24d28/turbine/la-na-haunted-plantation-20160826-snap | en | null | 'All our apparitions are friendly,' he said. A skeptical reporter's Louisiana ghost story | null | null | www.latimes.com | It was a dark and stormy night when I arrived at Nottoway Plantation, eager to get to my room, unaware of the ghosts.
Western Louisiana was flooding. Roads were washed out, hotels in short supply. I had pointed my rented Jeep toward one of the few places with a room, a mansion by the Great Mississippi River Road 30 miles south of Baton Rouge that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was about 1 a.m. when I finally passed sugar cane fields surrounding the plantation on Bayou Goula, cane so tall and thick you could walk a foot into it and disappear. Out of the lush fields and the darkness rose the 40-room plantation, which bills itself as the South’s largest antebellum house, an Italianate-Greek revival built in 1859 with 22 white columns, the “White Castle of Louisiana.”
The grounds of the Nottoway Plantation evoke another era. Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times The grounds of the Nottoway Plantation evoke another era. The grounds of the Nottoway Plantation evoke another era. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)
The night security manager, Jim Denis, insisted on carrying my bag up to Room 14, the only one available.
The massive door was nearly as tall as the 15-foot cypress walls, and Denis opened it to reveal a mahogany canopy bed, draped in a heavy red and gold bedspread with matching drapes that pooled on the floor.
Jim headed for the door, but not before muttering with a smile, “All our apparitions are friendly.”
I was going to make a joke, but he had already disappeared.
Looking back, I remember noticing two water-stained flower prints on the wall next to the claw-footed tub in the bathroom down a short hall. In the room, next to a display of vintage jewelry, was a photograph of an elderly woman.
The next night, after capturing the stories of flood survivors, I asked Denis what he’d meant by “apparitions.”
“Oh, that room is haunted,” he said matter-of-factly.
I started.
“The ghost especially has a thing about women with long hair,” he said.
I have long hair.
Some guests have ended up fleeing Room 14 at Nottoway Plantation. Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times Some guests have ended up fleeing Room 14 at Nottoway Plantation. Some guests have ended up fleeing Room 14 at Nottoway Plantation. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)
Denis said several female guests had swiftly left the room after encountering ghosts. One woman was showering when the lights went out and she felt a cold hand on her neck, shifting her hair. Another woman was showering when the tub jolted toward the wall; after she tried to reason with the ghost, it jolted back and the feet fell off. That might account for the water stains on the bathroom pictures, I thought.
So where was I staying tonight?
The carriage house, which was also haunted, Denis said, but by a kindly ghost — a girl who died there 150 years ago. On the computer in front of him, he showed me security camera video of a girl’s pale outline floating around the front parking lot.
I am a news reporter who deals in facts. But I am also Catholic, fairly superstitious and a fan of ghost stories. I collected them as a child, told them as a camp counselor. Stephen King’s books are among my favorites, including “1408,” his short story about a skeptical writer who insists on staying in a haunted hotel room whose digits add up to 13 and where people had died. As ghostly forces take hold, the writer loses his grip on reality and tries to leave, but the room won’t let him.
I may be skeptical, but I slept with the lights on. I did not shower. I did not peer in the mirrors or out at the parking lot. I willed myself not to reread King’s story or Google “Nottoway ghosts.” (If I had, I would have seen the plantation had so much paranormal activity that it was featured on Discovery Channel’s “Ghost Lab.”)
See more of our top stories on Facebook »
Nothing happened. The next morning, I passed one of the housekeeping staff and asked whether he’d seen any ghosts.
“Oh, people leave all the time,” the staffer, Roy Johnson, said, especially from Room 14.
He recalled cleaning a room when he heard a ruckus next door: furniture rattling, shifting. He called the main desk, but they said the guests had already checked out.
“So I knocked like this, ‘Housekeeping!’ ” he said.
No response. He opened the door. Empty.
He tried not to work too late, he said. He didn’t know how Denis could handle staying after dark, roaming the property, doing security checks.
That night the moon was full. I stayed in cottages next to the main house. Denis assured me they were not haunted, but when I stopped at a nearby coffee shop for cafe au lait and beignets, two local police officers laughed at me.
“That’s worse!” one of them said. “That’s the old slave quarters.”
But it didn’t feel haunted to me. I turned out the lights and slept soundly.
The "White Castle" doesn't look scary during in sunshine, but staffers say odd things happen in daytime too. Molly Hennessy-Fiske/Los Angeles Times The "White Castle" doesn't look scary during in sunshine, but staffers say odd things happen in daytime too. The "White Castle" doesn't look scary during in sunshine, but staffers say odd things happen in daytime too. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske/Los Angeles Times)
The next day during a tour I discovered there had been plenty of deaths and dramas at Nottoway, which was owned by the Randolph family (forebears of William Randolph Hearst) and named after the county they came from in Virginia. This was a house built and staffed by hundreds of slaves, who crafted its signature bousillage molding from Spanish moss, horsehair and river mud. At least one slave, Judah, was beaten by the overseer and jailed before joining the Union Army.
The house came under attack during the Civil War but was spared when a Union officer realized he had stayed there. Three Randolph sons fought for the Confederacy, and one died at Vicksburg. Another was disowned for running off with the daughter of a slave. One Randolph daughter married a Yankee. Another never married, despite etching her name in one of the windows with a diamond ring, a custom of the betrothed.
The Randolphs themselves were wary of ghosts. In their white ballroom, my guide lifted a delicate German porcelain keyhole cover designed, he said, to prevent spirits from traveling room to room.
He said the woman in the photo in Room 14 was Nottoway’s last occupant owner, Odessa Owen. When she sold the house to be turned into a resort in 1980, Miss Odessa stipulated that she be allowed to spend the rest of her days there. She was beloved by the staff whom she visited at the gift shop until the day she died — in Room 14.
Another night manager, Bob Green, told me he didn’t believe in ghosts. “Jim’s scared. I’m a skeptic,” he said of Denis.
For each of the ghost stories Denis told, Green offered plausible explanations. The cold hand on the neck could have been a bug, of which there are lots on the bayou. The electricity going out and tub moving could just be the failings of an old house.
The house is also full of optical illusions, he said.
He walked me outside and pointed to the third floor porch of the main house.
“See the witch?” he said.
There she was! We could see her shadow, in profile, especially her pointy black hat. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-haunted-plantation-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/7973d29f677abac08b631abb37a81d0577efc9309a1c618362e84bd5a8141fb5.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Samantha Masunaga"
]
| 2016-08-29T12:49:46 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-drone-rules-20160829-snap-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c3ac24/turbine/la-fi-drone-rules-20160829-snap | en | null | New rules on small drones kick in today: What you need to know | null | null | www.latimes.com | For companies that want to use small drones, a new era began Monday.
That’s when rules kicked in that free them from having to request special permission from the federal government for any commercial drone endeavor — a waiver process that often took months.
Although industry experts say the Federal Aviation Administration’s new rules on commercial drones largely make it easier for companies to use the unmanned aerial vehicles, there are still a lot of constraints.
Here’s what you need to know.
What do the rules say?
Under the new commercial-drone rules, operators must keep their drones within visual line of sight — that is, the person flying the drone must be able to see it with the naked eye — and can fly only during the day, though twilight flying is permitted if the drone has anti-collision lights. Drones cannot fly over people who are not directly participating in the operation or go higher than 400 feet above the ground. The maximum speed is 100 mph.
As drones fill the California skies, lobbying efforts in a budding industry push back against drone regulations »
Drones can carry packages as long as the combined weight of the drone and the load is less than 55 pounds.
Before Monday, people needed a pilot’s license to fly a commercial drone. Under the new rules, people over age 16 can take an aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved facility and pass a background check to qualify for a remote pilot certificate.
What if companies have plans that would break those rules?
Businesses can apply for a waiver of most of the operational restrictions as long as they can prove their proposal will be safe.
The new set of rules “just standardizes the exemption process and lowers the barrier to entry,” said Arthur Holland Michel, co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
But, he said, the new waiver process will probably help regulators understand how companies want to use drones beyond these initial, limited regulations. That could one day lead to rules for more complex drone operations, such as those proposed by Amazon or Google.
What types of industries will benefit most from these rules?
Real estate, aerial photography, construction and other industries that want to use drones for basic functions, such as taking a few photos or videos of a property, probably will benefit the most because their plans align more closely with the regulations, industry experts said.
NEWSLETTER: Get the day's top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj »
But companies with more ambitious or capital-intensive plans, such as oil and gas firms that want to investigate pipelines, or farmers that want to look at large fields, will largely be limited by restrictions such as the visual line-of-sight rule. Even security companies that want to have drones patrol after dark will need to apply for a waiver if they want to operate.
What about drone delivery companies?
Although the new rules allow drones to carry loads, the visual line-of-sight rule and the weight restriction will keep more ambitious companies with plans for long-distance travel, such as Amazon, from making significant deliveries that way.
Will these rules lead to a huge increase in commercial use of drones?
It’s hard to tell because the industry is so new, Holland Michel said.
The elimination of the pilot’s license requirement lowers the barrier to entry — operators just need to get their remote pilot certificate and register their drone — but it’s not clear whether users will think it’s worthwhile to invest in drone operations with the current restrictions, he said.
Gretchen West, senior advisor at law firm Hogan Lovells and co-executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance advocacy group, said she expects to see an uptick in use once the rules take effect.
But regulations are only one obstacle to wider adoption of commercial drones, she said. Many enterprise companies are averse to risk, and issues surrounding privacy and public perception still need to be addressed.
“There’s still a lot of challenges we have to overcome as an industry to prove the value of drones, even outside the regulatory environment,” West said.
[email protected]
For more business news, follow me @smasunaga
ALSO
You can visit the first SpaceX rocket booster that blasted off and came back
Say hello to underwater drones: The Pentagon is looking to extend its robot fighting forces
Garbage orbiting Earth can pulverize satellites. How to clean up? Here are some ideas | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drone-rules-20160829-snap-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/925eeaef064604dc531411aabb3aa97f9ee768697f1ab5da670aa677365bbc41.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-31T02:50:11 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fessential%2Fla-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-officially-not-1472609080-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Officially not happening | null | null | www.latimes.com | Welcome to Essential Politics, our daily feed on California government and politics news. Between now and Wednesday night, the big focus will be on the last hours of this year's legislative session in Sacramento.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a ban on using bullhooks to control elephants, a bill he vetoed in 2015.
An expansion of existing rules requiring equal pay, regardless of gender, is headed to Brown's desk.
Lawmakers approved a bill Monday requiring county jails to provide in-person visits for the families of inmates.
We're also tracking key bills and policy debateshere as the Legislature wraps up its work.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter for more, or subscribe to our free daily newsletter and the California Politics Podcast | http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-officially-not-1472609080-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/74195eb679333c60fb1ed773d9e35cfcd87970d1e272bfd96df9aca53d5e63d2.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Christie D'Zurilla"
]
| 2016-08-26T22:49:00 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fgossip%2Fla-et-mg-anna-chlumsky-baby-2-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0b188/turbine/la-et-mg-anna-chlumsky-baby-2-20160826-snap | en | null | Anna Chlumsky welcomes her second daughter with husband Shaun So | null | null | www.latimes.com | “Veep” actress Anna Chlumsky has welcomed her second daughter with husband Shaun So.
The former “My Girl” child star, already mom to 3-year-old Penelope Joan, gave birth to Clara Elizabeth So on July 28, her rep confirmed.
Clumsky’s on her fourth Emmy nomination for her work in “Veep,” which means she has until Sept. 18 before she has to find a babysitter and hit the carpet outside the Microsoft Theater in downtown L.A.
The parents of two met at a University of Chicago party and married in 2008. They’d dated long-distance for years before So joined the Army Reserve and was sent to Afghanistan, Chlumsky wrote in Glamour in 2014. So came home from war in January 2006 and proposed to her that May.
Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. Caption Director Andrew Ahn on his new film, 'Spa Night' Actor Joe Seo and director Andrew Ahn discuss what inspired the new film "Spa Night." Actor Joe Seo and director Andrew Ahn discuss what inspired the new film "Spa Night."
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.
ALSO
Oops! Britney Spears does 'Carpool Karaoke' with James Corden
Homeland Security is investigating nude-photo cyberattack on ‘SNL’s’ Leslie Jones
Amber Heard calls out Johnny Depp for donating her divorce settlement directly to charity | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-anna-chlumsky-baby-2-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/12c91d331cc5333e4fee34a8b90231b67d02d594ec110670e37078756ed5479f.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T00:49:46 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fla-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-beyonce-and-blue-ivy-play-the-ultimate-1472427932-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Beyonce and Blue Ivy play the ultimate fantasy dress-up on the 2016 VMA red carpet | null | null | www.latimes.com | Beyonce goes full angel wings and daughter Blue Ivy is dressed as a priceless princess -- in pale peach sneakers, no less -- on the 2016 VMAs red carpet on Sunday.
The dresses aren't the only fairy-tale part of the looks, both are clad in Lorraine Schwartz jewelry -- Queen Bey in some $13 million all by herself.
We haven't received official word on the provenance of Beyonce's dress, but according to the interwebs it is Francesco Scognamiglio F/W 2016 couture. | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-beyonce-and-blue-ivy-play-the-ultimate-1472427932-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/e3f8cb492e335863140ff7127344ced3f84fda7e23a97638c427dc01fb28cd9f.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-27T00:49:08 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-1472253127-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Campaign 2016 updates: Clinton defends wind-down plan for namesake foundation | null | null | www.latimes.com | People don’t know how well we're doing with the Hispanics, the Latinos. We're doing so well. I think a lot of people don’t understand it. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-1472253127-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/0c468bdc1b0ae0f6d44e2eca715cf9d4c885b076449b48397d613e00cd2888c0.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Eric Sondheimer"
]
| 2016-08-30T22:50:09 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fvarsity-times%2Fla-sp-vi-marlborough-unveils-its-new-sports-facilities-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Marlborough unveils its new sports facilities | null | null | www.latimes.com | Located down the street from Wilshire Country Club and in the fashionable Los Angeles neighborhoods of Hancock Park and Windsor Hills, Marlborough School, an all-girls school, has completed a $27 million project that should be a boon for its sports program.
There's a new aquatics center featuring a pool that's 33 meters by 25 yards. There's an expanded sports field with all-weather turf composed of cork and sand rather than the environmentally challenging rubber pellets that will allow the soccer and lacrosse teams to play games for the first time on campus. There's a new fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment.
There's an alumni garden for students to hang out in. There's new and improved tennis courts, plus additional parking. The school demolished five houses that it owned to create additional space.
The school was founded in 1889 and advertises itself as the first school to have a girls' basketball team in Los Angeles. It has 530 students and took a little more than a year to complete the project once construction began after graduation ceremonies in 2015.
Track standout Kate Grace represented Marlborough at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The sporting events have to be held during the day time in an agreement with neighbors.
The bottom line is the facilities are a great addition to the school and the neighborhood.
For the latest on high school sports, follow @LATSondheimer on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-marlborough-unveils-its-new-sports-facilities-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/58ad4afe9d81104186812141ff0669b9eb530da49bca53269e8fc195e6ef0121.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T14:49:37 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-anthony-weiner-is-back-sexting-with-1472476751-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Anthony Weiner is back -- sexting with a Trump supporter | null | null | www.latimes.com | The Twitter account of Anthony Weiner, husband of a top Hillary Clinton aide, is no more after a report Monday of a new sexting encounter with a woman.
The New York Post reported that Weiner, the former congressman who resigned in 2011 after disclosure of his sexually-charged private tweets -- was at it again in 2015 after the birth of his son.
Weiner is the husband of Huma Abedin, who has been Clinton's longtime top aide and is crisscrossing the country with the campaign.
The woman who engaged with Weiner on Twitter is a supporter of Donald Trump, the report said. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-anthony-weiner-is-back-sexting-with-1472476751-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/61395bee2de2210f39f212dcf36cba5375bb646b5429f2d3976195272a7e43a9.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Emily Alpert Reyes"
]
| 2016-08-28T22:49:31 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-blue-line-malfunction-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c35d83/turbine/la-me-ln-blue-line-malfunction-20160828-snap | en | null | Firefighters help passengers off Blue Line train that lost power | null | null | www.latimes.com | Firefighters used ladders to help passengers off a Metro Blue Line commuter train on Sunday afternoon after power problems brought it to a halt near Washington Station.
A Los Angeles Fire Department crew was dispatched to 1945 Long Beach Ave. just before 1:15 p.m. after the train lost power, said department spokesman Erik Scott. No passengers were injured and there was no fire at the scene, he said.
Metro officials informed travelers via Twitter that buses were replacing trains between the Washington and Vernon stations. About 1:45 p.m., the transit system said that Blue Line trains were resuming service with “minor residual delays” until 2:30 p.m.
[email protected]
Follow me on Twitter at @LATimesEmily | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-blue-line-malfunction-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/02eca3d62432c3cfe48cea883326bc413d148d28e335d2bdec5a7431437e327d.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Devin Ugland"
]
| 2016-08-27T06:48:57 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fla-sp-santa-margarita-mission-viejo-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c12aaf/turbine/la-sp-santa-margarita-mission-viejo-20160826-snap | en | null | Mission Viejo coach's concerns about move to Division I prove unfounded in opener | null | null | www.latimes.com | There’s nothing subtle about Bob Johnson’s displeasure with the 2016 Southern Section football playoff groupings.
The longtime football coach at Mission Viejo High is unhappy that his Diablos were placed in Division I, which features the top private schools in the section, and he hasn’t been shy about voicing his displeasure.
Johnson’s theory was put to the test in Mission Viejo’s first game of the season Friday night against Santa Margarita, a Division I private school, and the conclusion didn’t match his hypothesis.
The Diablos handily defeated the Eagles, 48-21, in front of a pleased red-clad home crowd for their 29th consecutive victory, a streak that dates back to September 2014.
Johnson kept the focus on his team’s performance, good and bad, after the impressive victory.
“Defensively, I thought we played outstanding,” he said. “We’ll watch film and trim it up.”
Behind quarterback Matthew McDonald, Mission Viejo (1-0) left no doubt that it belonged among the giants.
The senior, who transferred from Santa Ana Mater Dei, connected on 11 of 14 pass attempts in the first half for 306 yards and four touchdowns. He also added a 12-yard rushing touchdown.
“I’ve been looking forward to this moment for so long,” McDonald said. “Our skill guys are off the charts, my line gave me time, and with that kind of time, we’re going to pick teams apart.”
McDonald finished 14 for 18 for 378 yards with five touchdown passes, of 23, 82, 39, 37 and 35 yards. Olaijah Griffin and Austin Osborne caught two apiece and Gio Pavon had the other touchdown reception.
“We wanted to make a statement going into this that we could play Division I football and I think we did that,” McDonald said.
Santa Margarita (0-1) scored two of its three touchdowns on kickoff returns by Malone Mataele, covering 97 and 94 yards.
[email protected] | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-sp-santa-margarita-mission-viejo-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5f31a256bca02df368b1dd606cac996e89e9bd4e931b38255ee39edacb6f387f.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Nabih Bulos"
]
| 2016-08-26T16:49:29 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fla-fg-syria-damascus-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c00edb/turbine/la-fg-syria-damascus-20160826-snap | en | null | Syrian rebels withdraw from Damascus suburb, ending long-running siege | null | null | www.latimes.com | Syrian rebel fighters evacuated from the Damascene suburb of Darayya on Friday, government officials and rebel leaders said, ending one of the longest-running sieges in the country’s devastating civil war.
Syrian state news operator SANA reported that “a reconciliation agreement” had been struck in the city of Darayya on Thursday, a short 15-minute drive from the center of Damascus, “so as to empty it of arms and gunmen in preparation for the return of all state institutions and the inhabitants of the city.”
Families now in the besieged suburb will be transferred to “temporary residency centers” while roughly 700 gunmen would be moved to the rebel-held province of Idlib after surrendering their medium and heavy weaponry to the Syrian government troops, Darayya’s mayor, Marwan Ubeid, was quoted as saying.
An opposition activist in the city who gave his name as Mutaz for reasons of privacy, confirmed the deal in an interview early Friday. He said that roughly 4,000 civilians will be taken to the Damascus suburbs of Qudsaya and Kisweh. The transfers will occur under international supervision, he said.
Later on Friday, a SANA reporter said that the evacuation operation had begun. Aid trucks from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent entered the suburb hours after the deal was struck.
Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese news channel close to Assad ally Hezbollah, broadcast live images from Darayya showing government troops standing near what it said were 45 green-and-white buses prepared to move out civilians. Meanwhile, officials were checking off names of those fighters who had chosen to leave, while those remaining behind would be evacuated over the next four days, the news agency reported.
The U.N.’s Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, issued a statement Friday saying, “The situation regarding Darayya [was] extremely grave.”
“It is tragic that repeated appeals to lift the siege of Darayya, besieged since November 2012, and cease the fighting have never been heeded,” said Mistura, adding that he was “made aware of the agreement to evacuate the civilians and fighters” overnight.
“The U.N. was not consulted or involved in the negotiation of this agreement. It is imperative that the people of Darayya are protected in any evacuation that takes place, and that this takes place voluntarily.”
He appealed to members of the International Syria Support Group, a coalition of countries, including the U.S. and Russia, working to bring about an end to the war in Syria “to ensure that the implementation of this agreement and its aftermath is in full compliance with international humanitarian law and protection standards.”
Opposition activists uploaded video depicting rebel fighters embracing family members before their departure. Other photos showed women and men dragging their luggage through neighborhoods all but pulverized by almost four years of constant fighting.
The deal marks the end of one of the Syrian civil war’s most punishing standoffs.
Darayya, a suburb once home to 78,000 people and thought to be the site where Paul the Apostle had his conversion on the road to Damascus, was one of the first areas near the capital to join anti-government uprisings and became a byword for opposition to the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The suburb is also close to Mezzeh military airport, which reportedly houses headquarters of the government’s elite Republican Guards and the much-feared Air Force Intelligence.
In August 2012, Darayya was the site of what U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said was “an appalling and brutal” massacre that killed more than 200 people, many of them civilians, after fierce clashes forced rebel fighters to withdraw to the suburb’s outskirts. Both sides blamed the other for the killings.
Rebel factions seized control of Darayya later that year, but found themselves steadily losing a war of attrition with pro-government forces who mounted an increasingly tight siege on the area. Despite intense lobbying by the U.N., only one food shipment had entered Darayya since June, when a fragile ceasefire deal was forged to allow the delivery of aid.
Meanwhile, activists in the town spoke of frequent bombings by government warplanes, including one they claimed took out the last remaining hospital in the suburb last week.
Images broadcast by both government and opposition supporters hinted at the scale of the destruction within, and of the bitter calculus that would count Darayya a victory for the government in Syria’s vicious civil war; hardly any neighborhood escaped unscathed, with anywhere from 60% to 90% of the buildings damaged or destroyed.
The reconciliation agreement follows similar deals forged in the central city of Homs in May 2014, which saw fighters and their families evacuate the city’s old quarter and move to Idlib.
Opposition supporters took to social media to condemn the agreement; they excoriated rebel factions in the country’s south for not doing more to help break the siege on the city.
Yet rebel activists in Darayya insisted they would leave the city only to fight the government once again.
“We only left to return,” media activist Mohammad Abu Al-Zain said on his Facebook page Friday.
Abu Jaafar Al-Homsi, the nom de guerre of a commander in the Martyrs of Islam Brigade, one of two major factions in the suburb, posted a defiant statement on Twitter, saying the deal had come after “thousands of failed incursion attempts” by pro-government forces.
“We leave the stones of Darayya in the care of Allah … and accompany with us the heroes of Darayya and their rifles,” he wrote.
“Darayya is where the battles are, for no land can contain Darayya.”
Bulos is a special correspondent.
ALSO
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As women are fined for wearing head scarves, French activists push back on 'burkini' ban
Crews find living among the dead as search goes on for survivors of Italy quake
UPDATES:
8:30 a.m.: This article has been updated with a report of aid trucks entering the suburb. | http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-damascus-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/36e475413c92206e6b9e2f5e64e6b4d9ac31b9a63a88b731a8c3e7b416473948.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Carolina A. Miranda"
]
| 2016-08-31T14:49:48 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fla-et-cam-marina-abramovic-neighborhood-integrity-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c67b0e/turbine/la-et-cam-marina-abramovic-neighborhood-integrity-20160830-snap | en | null | Roundup: Gagosian's Clinton fundraiser, Abramovic's aboriginal controversy, an initiative that's not-so-hot for housing | null | null | www.latimes.com | A historic cultural destruction trial. Continued fallout from the Marina Abramovic controversy. And Larry Gagosian helps Hillary Clinton. Plus: The unstable art market, what the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative could do to housing (not pretty) and a perfume ad for the ages. This is the Roundup:
— Islamic extremist pleads guilty to destroying Timbuktu mausoleums in the first trial for cultural destruction at The Hague. The Art Newspaper
— Earlier this month, racially charged observations about aboriginal Australians made by performance artist Marina Abramovic drew wide criticism. Performance artist Sarah-Jane Norman, who is aboriginal, responds. AWAYE!
— Mega dealer Larry Gagosian is staging a benefit sale for Hillary Clinton at one of his Manhattan galleries. ARTnews
— Nearly two months ago, Google took down writer Dennis Cooper’s blog, which featured a number of his projects, including his GIF novels. But the author says that Google will now return his data to him. Artforum
— A Los Angeles makeup artist is suing appropriation artist Richard Prince for using one of her Instagram images as the basis of an inkjet painting. The Art Newspaper
— In other legal news, the New York Police Department arrested a performance artist who threw crickets and worms in a crowded subway car. Maybe driving the 10 Freeway at rush hour isn’t all bad. Hyperallergic
— “It was like someone turned the faucet off.” A downtown Manhattan gallerist talks about why she’s closing — because of a shifting market and art fair exhaustion. ARTnews
— Sort of related: How Qatar’s oil boom led to the creation of a decadent art scene, but also, ultimately, to its demise. Quartz
— “Completely out of touch with the needs of the city.” Why the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative would be a “horror show” for housing in Los Angeles. LAist
A 700-unit apartment complex rises in downtown Los Angeles in 2015. The proposed Neighborhood Integrity Initiative could put a moratorium on such projects. Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times A 700-unit apartment complex rises in downtown Los Angeles in 2015. The proposed Neighborhood Integrity Initiative could put a moratorium on such projects. A 700-unit apartment complex rises in downtown Los Angeles in 2015. The proposed Neighborhood Integrity Initiative could put a moratorium on such projects. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
— What can be done about a city’s fabric as high rents push out mom-and-pop retail outlets? New York Times
— Earlier this year, the Museum of Neon Art moved to Glendale. Kevin Roderick reports that it is thriving. LA Observed
— An art show for dogs and an ice cream sandwich inspired by the Barnes Foundation. Because the art industrial complex can also be good for sugary treats. Mental Floss, ARTnews
— Do you need an MFA to become an art star? Ben Davis parses the data. Artnet
— How the Museum of Modern Art helped key artists — from Marc Chagall to Marcel Duchamp — flee Europe during the tumult of World War II. Perhaps this will inspire some U.S. museum to help out Syrian artists too. Inside/Out
— Tyler Green tells the story of how California came to be mapped — and the role that photographer Carleton Watkins (and his 1,000 pounds of photographic gear) had in that odyssey. Zocalo Public Square
A couple makes their way up California's Mount Diablo, one of the key peaks used in the state's mapping. Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times A couple makes their way up California's Mount Diablo, one of the key peaks used in the state's mapping. A couple makes their way up California's Mount Diablo, one of the key peaks used in the state's mapping. (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)
— Speaking of photography: A Q&A with Carrie Mae Weems. Lenny
— Plus, an all-around terrific interview with painter Enrique Chagoya. Hyperallergic
— And how the Tate Britain is using artificial intelligence to pair historic paintings and photography. The Guardian
— Playing “Pokémon Go” in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Rob Walker | http://www.latimes.com/la-et-cam-marina-abramovic-neighborhood-integrity-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/772856d4d4902d5cd9e364c096ca198ce697adf36c0a44ea7b47339772444f29.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Ben Bolch"
]
| 2016-08-30T00:49:59 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fucla%2Fla-sp-ucla-football-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4ba93/turbine/la-sp-ucla-football-20160829-snap | en | null | Late start of classes seems to give UCLA an early jump on opponents | null | null | www.latimes.com | One aspect of UCLA Coach Jim Mora’s job might make him feel like he’s still in the NFL.
The Bruins enjoy about three weeks each season when their only worry is the game. There are no classes, late-night study sessions or jostling with other students for three-ring binders at the campus bookstore.
UCLA has made the most of the extra prep work, going 13-1 during pre-fall quarter games in four seasons under Mora. The Bruins have gone 16-1 during the same span in August and September, with the only loss coming against Oregon State in the fourth game of 2012.
The academic calendar doesn’t become a factor this season until UCLA starts classes on Sept. 19.
“We need to push school back to like January,” Mora quipped Monday.
Those who study UCLA’s schedule will note that three of its toughest games — on the road against Texas A&M and Brigham Young and at home against Stanford — fall in September. And two of the three opponents will have long started school by the time the Bruins receive their course syllabi.
Texas A&M, UCLA’s opponent in its season opener Saturday in College Station, Texas, started classes Monday. The same goes for Nevada Las Vegas, which plays the Bruins on Sept. 10 at the Rose Bowl, and Brigham Young, which plays host to UCLA on Sept. 17.
Bruins linebacker Kenny Young said he used his extra spare time to study the playbook and meet with coaches and teammates, among other activities.
“There’s no class or rushing to get to class,” Young said. “You have practice for about two hours and guys can just focus on football and focus on A&M. For the next two or three games, it’ll be like that.”
The flip side is that UCLA might be at a disadvantage in its Pac-12 Conference opener. Stanford, which plays the Bruins on Sept. 24 at the Rose Bowl, is also on the quarter system. The Cardinal don’t start classes until Sept. 26 — a week later than the Bruins.
Numbers game
UCLA seemed to have it backward at practice Monday. Its top players scurried about without uniform numbers in relative anonymity while the scout teamers wore the numbers of the Texas A&M starters they tried to mimic.
Freshman quarterbacks Devon Modster and Matt Lynch wore the No. 8 of Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight. Mora said several players filled the role of Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett, widely projected as a top pick in the 2017 NFL draft.
Since no one could exactly match Garrett’s talent, other means were used to create a realistic simulation.
“We just try to bring them in waves,” Mora said of his young defensive ends, “and we’re lining them up a little bit offside to get that extra jump.”
Quick hits
Mora said defensive end Deon Hollins and fullback Cameron Griffin, both recovering from concussions, are considered doubtful to play against Texas A&M. . . . Linebacker Mique Juarez, who has missed more than two weeks of practice with an excused absence, will sit out the game against the Aggies. “He’s dealing with some personal issues,” Mora said, “and he’s getting the help he needs to get through it and he’s doing well and that’s all I can tell you about that.” . . . Tight end Austin Roberts (concussion) wore a red noncontact jersey in practice and could participate fully Tuesday if he suffers no setbacks, Mora said.
[email protected]
Twitter: @latbbolch | http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/la-sp-ucla-football-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/08874c2a69ebc54dca7dc7d2555f5d3ea1a31c24b91efffe8267c54c88328cfb.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Alex Chan"
]
| 2016-08-27T00:51:20 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-statewide-assessment-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-565ccc20/turbine/tn-dpt-me-fb-logos-20151117-002/600 | en | null | Newport-Mesa students show improvement in math and English testing | null | null | www.latimes.com | During the second year of new state standardized tests in math and English language arts, Newport-Mesa Unified School District students showed moderate improvement over last year. More than half either met or exceeded the exams' standards.
Beginning in January, nearly 3.2 million students in grades 3-8 and 11 at more than 11,000 public schools statewide took the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, also known as the "Smarter Balanced" assessments.
This year, about 11,400 Newport-Mesa students completed the online exams, which ask participants to write clearly, think critically and solve complex problems.
In the district, 58% of students who were tested met or exceeded state standards in English language arts. Within that same pool of test-takers, 51% met or exceeded math standards.
English and math scores showed a 4% increase in students who met or exceeded the standards.
All tested grade levels showed improved scores for both English and math standards, according to the district. Newport-Mesa's English-learners also showed growth in English language arts scores.
"I am pleased to see positive growth in all grade levels throughout the district," Newport-Mesa Supt. Fred Navarro said in a statement. "This is a good indication that the collaborative efforts of teachers and staff, and the dedication of our students, are moving in the right direction. There is still a lot of work to be done, and we will not shy away from that challenge."
Scores for four schools — Newport Harbor and Estancia high schools and Adams and Sonora elementary schools — showed growth of more than 10% in English and math, according to a district news release.
Overall, just 49% of all students tested in California either met or exceeded the English standards, while 37% did so in math. Compared with last year, the number of students passing in English increased by 4%, while the math number increased by 3%.
Education officials consider the exams more rigorous than the previous Standardized Testing and Reporting program, or STAR. | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-statewide-assessment-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/af35ac95495e598bff6d7ef1415c92611416671b2bb1d85b13c98aab076e0087.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Eric Sondheimer"
]
| 2016-08-28T20:49:17 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fvarsity-times%2Fla-sp-vi-football-four-transfers-from-upland-to-corona-centennial-ruled-ineligible-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Football: Four transfers from Upland to Corona Centennial ruled ineligible | null | null | www.latimes.com | Corona Centennial played its football opener on Saturday night without four former Upland players who transferred to Centennial during the off season.
All four have been declared ineligible by the Southern Section, section spokesman Thom Simmons said. It was first reported by the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Sione Piutau, Semisi Pahulu, Liahona Pahulu and Siani Malere would have the chance to appeal. The Southern Section informed Centennial on Friday, and the school hasn't responded as to what comes next.
For the latest on high school sports, follow @LATSondheimer on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-football-four-transfers-from-upland-to-corona-centennial-ruled-ineligible-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/7564fe7196322780d846b65b5fb7870bf81cf837f94eaa84a09a036f2e8c2d5b.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Neal J. Leitereg",
"Lauren Beale",
"Hot Property",
"Contact Reporter"
]
| 2016-08-27T08:48:44 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Frealestate%2Fhot-property%2Fla-fi-hotprop-html-20160827-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c03901/turbine/la-fi-hotprop-html-20160827 | en | null | Hot Property: Extended prime time | null | null | www.latimes.com | Late August is typically not the best time of year to list your home. People wanting to get their kids settled in schools already have made their housing selections, realty agents traditionally head to the Riviera (or at least we like to imagine that’s where they vacation) and sales slow.
The hot Southern California market, however, is a world unto itself — active pretty much 24/7 year-round. Personally, we love it.
Here’s a look at the late-summer celebrity movers-and-shakers scene.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
Ellen is into reruns
Pay attention now: Ellen DeGeneres has sold the same home in Hollywood Hills West for a second time.
The television talk-show host first sold the place in 2007 to Milgard Manufacturing scion Allison Milgard for $10 million. Then she bought it back seven years later for $8.75 million. Now, property records show that she sold the ranch-style midcentury residence again for $9.9 million.
Rebuilt and redesigned by architecture firm Marmol Radziner, the 4,000-square-foot house has five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Vaulted and beamed wood ceilings, flagstone floors and walls of glass are among the features.
Considering how hot the housing market is, we’re surprised she sold today for a hair less than in 2007.
DeGeneres sold one of her many L.A. properties for $9.9 million in an off-market deal. (Associated Press)
Bouncing out of Bel-Air
Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul has his estate in Bel-Air for sale at $11.495 million.
The perennial All-Star bought the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion four years ago from singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne for $8.495 million. Among the amenities are a 12-seat theater, a billiards room and a gym with a sauna. An elevator services both floors.
Obscured on either side by tall privacy hedges, the two-story Mediterranean sits on half an acre in guard-gated Bel-Air Crest and takes in canyon and reservoir views. The 12,184-square-foot house seems a bit close to the neighbors’ houses for the asking price. He recently bought a Calabasas home with two acres of elbow room.
The 31-year-old averaged 19.5 points and 10 assists for the Clippers last season, his fifth with the team.
Paul put his home in Bel-Air on the market for $11.495 million. (belaircrestmansion.com | Inset: Los Angeles Times)
‘Real’ housewife on the move
Kelly Dodd, the newest regular on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” and her husband, Michael, have put their home in Corona del Mar on the market for $6.25 million.
The contemporary-style house looks like it has had an extensive makeover since the couple bought it two years ago for $3.575 million. Among eye-catching details are sparkling chandeliers and fixtures, textured tile and a glass-paneled staircase. White walls are everywhere, as are light wood-plank floors. Rooms open to terrace space with ocean views.
The master suite features a freestanding soaking tub, a steam shower and an oversized walk-in closet/dressing room that’s very glamorous.
Dodd, the newest housewife on "The Real Housewives of Orange County," listed her remodeled home in Corona del Mar for $6.25 million. (David Heath)
Brigitte Bardot slept here
While we’re talking glamour, the former vacation home of French actress-singer-model Brigitte Bardot is for sale at $5.65 million.
Set in the hills overlooking the French Riviera, the stone-clad residence is where Bardot stayed in her early 20s after divorcing her first husband, Roger Vadim. Le Castelet, which dates to the 13th century, has been renovated and restored.
Rough-hewn beams, French doors and period hardwood lend the 6,500-square-foot house a classy look. A formal living room retains its original Louis XIV fireplace.
A pool house, two infinity-edge swimming pools, a wine cave, private cellars, formal gardens, an olive grove and three vineyards make up the grounds.
Bardot, 81, was a sex symbol during her day, with scores of film credits such as “Act of Love” (1953), “And God Created Women” (1956) and “Contempt” (1963).
The country estate in southeastern France, listed for about $5.65 million, was once owned by Bardot. (Beauchamp Estates | Associated Press)
Easy out in Malibu
Here’s a driveway a home buyer would never have trouble exiting. The motor court features a car turntable — no backing up, ever.
Studio veteran Chris McGurk has listed the geometric contemporary in Malibu at $7.95 million.
Sitting on 65 feet of beachfront, the distinctive house has a copper roof, nearly 5,650 square feet of interiors and coastline views.
The lower level has an indoor lap pool — another feature one rarely sees.
McGurk put his oceanfront home in Malibu's Encinal Bluffs on the market for $7.95 million. (Max Crush Films | Los Angeles Times)
Ex-coach forfeits home
George Karl, the veteran basketball coach who was fired by the Sacramento Kings this year, has sold his home in Sacramento for $910,000. He bought the remodeled two-story last year for $870,000.
Built in 1950, the renovated 3,180-square-foot house is outfitted with modern fixtures and light hardwood floors. Outdoors, there’s a swimming pool with a baja shelf and a waterfall.
Karl, 65, is the fifth most-winning coach in NBA history, having passed former Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the all-time list last year. He previously coached the Seattle SuperSonics and the Denver Nuggets.
Karl sold his house in the Arden Park area for $910,000. (Realtor.com | Associated Press)
From the archives
Twenty years ago, Scott Bakula of “Quantum Leap” fame put his Ojai home on the market at $1.8 million. He built the nearly 8,000-square-foot house on four acres, but decided to sell to be closer to work. The stone, wood and glass house was reached by way of a bridge over a stone creek.
Also 20 years ago, Eriq La Salle of “ER” bought a Beverly Hills-area house that had been owned in the ’50s by early screen beauty Susan Hayward. He picked up the four-bedroom 4,000-square-foot home with a guest house for about $1.6 million. More recently, the actor has found new ground in Bel-Air in the form of a ranch house overlooking Stone Canyon Reservoir.
What we’re reading
— Billed as the most expensive house in the world, the onetime residence of Belgian King Leopold II is for sale in the south of France at $1.13 billion. Located near Nice, the 35-acre estate features a 10-bedroom palace with a ballroom, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, gardens and 20 greenhouses, reports the Express. The ritzy locale boasts such neighbors as composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
— Chalk up a win for online rental sites in the ongoing battle between Anaheim and hundreds of short-term rental properties that have sprung up near the Disneyland Resort and the Anaheim Convention Center. Officials say they won’t enforce a new law that imposes fines on short-term rental sites for listing homes and apartments that violate the city’s rental regulations, reports The Times’ Hugo Martin. But the city will continue to enforce restrictions placed on the property owners themselves.
— It’s not always a seven-year wait for a home buyer to get a new mortgage after a foreclosure, writes Liz Weston in The Times’ Business section. The time span can be as short as three years when borrowers can prove “extenuating circumstances” led to the foreclosure, such as a job loss or major medical expenses.
For more luxury real estate, visit us at the Hot Property blog and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. | http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-html-20160827-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/82ea2b04bee6c11585e8cda84acc16a8f74e2ba4c3520b1e5ae862ac3ef44d2e.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Daily Pilot Staff"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:16:42 | null | 2016-08-23T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-political-landscape-20160823-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-565ccc20/turbine/tn-dpt-me-fb-logos-20151117-002/600 | en | null | Political Landscape: Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn. endorses 3 council candidates | null | null | www.latimes.com | The Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn., which represents the city's fire personnel, has endorsed Sandy Genis, Jay Humphrey and John Stephens in the November City Council election.
"Sandy, Jay and John have all demonstrated that they genuinely understand the challenges that our firefighters and paramedics face on a daily basis and will help ensure that the residents of Costa Mesa receive the levels of service that they deserve." association President Rob Gagne said in a statement Tuesday.
Genis is seeking reelection to a second consecutive four-year term after having also served on the council from 1988 to 1996.
Humphrey served on the council in the 1990s and also ran in 2014.
Stephens, an attorney, last ran in 2012.
Three seats are available in the election Nov. 8.
Moorlach helps honor '70s Olympian
State Sens. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) and Janet Nguyen (R-Santa Ana) honored 1970s Olympic medalist Shirley Babashoff with a resolution on the Senate floor recognizing her accomplishments and community involvement.
Babashoff won eight medals, two of them gold, in swimming at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. She made headlines in 1976 when she suggested that East German swimmers were using performance-enhancing drugs — suspicions that were later proven correct.
She now works as a mail carrier in Huntington Beach.
"I am so proud to honor an Olympic athlete of her caliber," Moorlach said in a statement. "Shirley possessed the skill and determination to succeed in the Olympics and now displays the same spirit as she serves her community." | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-political-landscape-20160823-story.html | en | 2016-08-23T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6119cf13991181f63240883a929a4bcd8401012def2a812fe2388e9daf74e016.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T12:50:07 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-antonovich-race-runoff-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | An unlikely supervisors' race runoff launches with a Santa Clarita forum and a fight over ballot statement | null | null | www.latimes.com | In the race to replace retiring L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, a long-shot candidate is hoping to ride anti-Donald Trump sentiment to victory by playing up his Democratic Party affiliation, while his more established and better-funded opponent has tried to keep the party out of the officially nonpartisan race.
Antonovich's chief of staff, Kathryn Barger, is facing off against a political newcomer, Darrell Park, a former staffer with the White House Office of Management and Budget turned entrepreneur. Park surprised most observers by beating out several better-known and better-funded candidates to make it to the runoff.
Park edged out the third-place candidate, state Sen. Bob Huff, by 2,826 votes, less than 1 percentage point, whereas Barger, the top vote-getter, led Park by 14 percentage points.
Barger has raised more than $1.3 million, and an additional $1.2 million flowed into an independent expenditure committee set up by labor groups to support her bid; Park has raised about $230,000.
Antonovich held his county seat, representing the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and parts of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, for 36 years before being forced out by newly instated term limits. He is the most conservative member of the nonpartisan board, but the district has shifted to the left since his tenure began. Barger is also a Republican but is a political moderate who is backed by labor and other groups that typically support Democrats.
Although Barger has aimed to run a nonpartisan campaign, Park has made party affiliation a centerpiece of his strategy, in both the primary — where the presumed front-runners were all Republicans — and in the runoff.
His campaign statement proclaims, “I am the only candidate endorsed by the Democratic Party.”
Barger challenged the wording of the statement in a court petition, saying that the election code prohibits candidates from including party affiliation in their statements. She also took umbrage at another line in Park’s statement: “Los Angeles County cannot afford to elect a supervisor who will support Donald Trump’s extreme Republican agenda.”
Barger’s petition, which called the statement a “false statement in a direct personal attack,” said, “Importantly, Barger neither supports Donald Trump nor his agenda.”
Park responded in a statement that he is “proud of my opposition to Donald Trump” and noted that he used largely the same statement in the primary campaign and no one challenged it.
At the first candidates’ forum of the runoff election, put on by the Santa Clarita Valley Signal newspaper Thursday, Barger and Park were largely cordial as they debated local infrastructure needs and development decisions. But the tug-of-war over party affiliation continued.
“What I’m saying is as a candidate for supervisor — as the Democratic candidate for supervisor — we will shut that facility down,” Park said as he wrapped up a commentary about the controversial Chiquita Canyon Landfill.
Barger pointed to her support from local and national elected officials from both parties.
“It’s important to be bipartisan and understand that you need to work with everybody to solve a problem and that you attack the problems, not the people,” she said, during a response to a question about wastewater standards for the Santa Clarita Valley that some consider to be overly burdensome.
Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said the better-known candidates — including Huff, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander, former Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and prosecutor Elan Carr — split the vote, and Park had been able to mobilize enough support among Democrats to squeak through.
In the runoff, Guerra said, “I think the only strategy he has is to try to make it Republican vs. Democrat. ...There’s no major cleavage issue in the district or in L.A. politics that he could leverage, and therefore he would have to leverage the biggest difference in politics, which is party.”
But, he said, with limited funds, Park will have a hard time getting that message through to voters.
“With all of the noise from the presidential [race] on down, it’s a stretch to get voters to remember that he’s a Democrat,” he said.
In a second supervisorial race, U.S. Rep. and former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn is facing off against Steve Napolitano, a former mayor of Manhattan Beach and longtime aide to incumbent Don Knabe.
Knabe, who has held his seat since 1996, is also being forced out by term limits.
[email protected]
Twitter: @sewella | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-antonovich-race-runoff-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/308fe72afa72da5c6f735d5a2dafcdc335d7f701f0e9a5ade4fb4970b30ce46b.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-28T04:49:29 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fla-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-broncos-fail-to-eat-the-clock-lead-1472357000-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Broncos fail to eat the clock, lead 17-9 late in fourth quarter | null | null | www.latimes.com | Paxton Lynch completed a 16-yard pass to Mose Frazier on what could have been the final possession had he been able to connect with running back Juwan Thompson on third down a few plays later.
Kapri Bibbs had four carries on the six play drive, but none went for more than 2 yards.
The Rams take possession of the ball on their own 25-yard line with 1 minute and 51 seconds left in the game. No timeouts. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-broncos-fail-to-eat-the-clock-lead-1472357000-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/9478c908efd7c933aa1b91d6b0802ca2685aa71f96e5a9cafcb56ec1723e7f7d.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Alexia Fernandez"
]
| 2016-08-30T00:52:06 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-adam-trinidad-arraignment-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-565ccc20/turbine/tn-dpt-me-fb-logos-20151117-002/600 | en | null | Costa Mesa police arrest man on suspicion of pimping | null | null | www.latimes.com | A felon arrested in Costa Mesa on suspicion of pimping a young woman and possessing a loaded firearm with the serial number removed has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, prosecutors said Monday.
Adam Rocky Trinidad, 24, of Fresno was charged with felony counts of pimping, pandering, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person and possession of a firearm with identification numbers removed, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years and four months in state prison.
Between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25, Trinidad is accused of pimping an 18-year-old woman from Fresno to areas in Orange County known for human trafficking and prostitution, prosecutors said.
Costa Mesa police arranged to meet the woman at a motel on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa on Aug. 25, prosecutors said.
Trinidad waited at a nearby bus stop during the woman's meeting with police, prosecutors said. He also sent the woman text messages that identified him as her pimp and ones that said he booked the motel room in his name, prosecutors said.
Police found a bag in the room that contained a loaded firearm with the identification number scratched off, prosecutors allege.
Trinidad was arrested near the motel.
Authorities also allege that he posted sexually explicit ads of the woman to solicit commercial sex and kept part of the money she received from people who paid for sexual acts.
Trinidad is being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Sept. 7 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.
Trinidad has a previous felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance for sale in 2012 from Fresno.
[email protected]
Twitter: @alexiafedz | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-adam-trinidad-arraignment-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/c41a8327baf304ed88be8e2950134f3f081194f0d578c98e86483c754f482f74.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-31T00:50:05 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Fcalifornia%2Fla-me-updates-wildfire-season-firefighters-on-the-scene-of-the-bogart-1472600550-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c61acc/turbine/la-me-updates-wildfire-season-firefighters-on-the-scene-of-the-bogart-1472600550 | en | null | Firefighters on the scene of the Bogart fire | null | null | www.latimes.com | A rash of fires this summer has destroyed homes, subjected residents to evacuation orders and disrupted activities at Hearst Castle.
Here are some of the fires now burning in California (numbers updated Monday, Aug. 30): | http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-updates-wildfire-season-firefighters-on-the-scene-of-the-bogart-1472600550-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/35ff9b48f2602f460693623aeb79281115b5f162193a47495ff1cee56f8da3ab.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Randall Roberts"
]
| 2016-08-29T20:49:58 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmusic%2Fla-et-ms-weezer-el-rey-charity-concert-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4516d/turbine/la-et-ms-weezer-el-rey-charity-concert-20160829-snap | en | null | Weezer to have rare club appearance at the El Rey for a cause | null | null | www.latimes.com | Weezer fans will be afforded the rare opportunity to see the arena-playing band in a little club -- and write off the ticket at the end of the year, to boot.
Monday morning, Santa Monica's best rock band announced that on Nov. 3 the band will perform at the El Rey. Tickets went on sale Monday morning.
Like most rare things, the opportunity may set you back some money. But the cause is worth it. All proceeds will go to support Rhonda’s Kiss, an L.A.-based charity that supports cancer patients who cannot afford treatment.
Specifically, proceeds will benefit the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and help further the Rhonda's Kiss mission.
Next year Weezer will celebrate 25 years as a band, and in that time it has delivered so many alt-rock staples that it blows the imagination. The band’s most recent album, “Weezer,” came out earlier this year, and debuted in the top five of Billboard’ Top 200 album chart.
Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray will emcee the event.
Tickets are $60 for general admission, $250 for access to the VIP mezzanine (with open bar) and $450 for a balcony VIP ticket (with open bar). They can be purchased after 10 a.m. Monday at the Rhonda’s Kiss website.
Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival.
There’s a lot of terrible music out there. For tips on the stuff that’s not, follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-weezer-el-rey-charity-concert-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/a2d8696c7e5b43c34cef1844691ebdf7283e142ba30532d5bd0fd868693a956a.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-31T02:50:07 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-donald-trump-headed-to-mexico-1472611230-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Donald Trump headed to Mexico | null | null | www.latimes.com | Tuesday's primary elections will show the effects of Trump and Clinton's candidacies in down-ballot races.
Marco Rubio, John McCain face pro-Trump challengers in Tuesday's primaries
face pro-Trump challengers in Clinton continues to outpace Trump on ad spending
continues to outpace Trump on ad spending What does Barry Goldwater's Trump's chances with black voters? presidential campaign say about
Meg Whitman, a Republican, who ran for California governor in 2010, stumps for Clinton in Colorado | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-donald-trump-headed-to-mexico-1472611230-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5eddd4c1a40186b7910edc7548bad57c4adb8724e03ae79e0b98ab6218eac993.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-26T18:51:28 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fessential%2Fla-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-201608-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-579ea18a/turbine/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-201608 | en | null | Essential Politics: Bills on climate change, sex offender email addresses go to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk | null | null | www.latimes.com | Flanked by legislative leaders, Gov. Jerry Brown said new measures approved on Wednesday would be a milestone for the state's climate change policies.
"This is a real commitment backed up by real power," he said during a Capitol news conference.
Brown and top lawmakers spoke with reporters shortly after the Legislature gave their final stamp of approval to the two bills, a stark change in fortune after they appeared to lack the necessary support earlier this month. The governor has said he plans to sign the bills.
Senate Bill 32, sponsored by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), would extend and expand California's target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The current goal is to hit 1990 levels by 2020; the new proposal would require the state to reduce emissions by an additional 40% by 2030.
Pavley, who is retiring this year because of term limits, said, "This is a great way for me to spend my last week in the Legislature.”
The second measure, Assembly Bill 197, sponsored by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), includes a mix of proposals to increase legislative oversight of state regulators and focus their attention on disadvantaged communities.
Those issues have been emotionally charged for lawmakers, and assuaging their concerns was key to piecing together enough votes for the legislation this year.
Garcia said it was important to “make sure all communities of California are benefiting from our climate change policy.”
The legislation does not resolve all of the issues facing California's climate programs. In particular, the measures do not address the cap-and-trade program, which is facing a lawsuit claiming the program is an unconstitutional tax.
Brown has signaled that he plans to pursue new steps to safeguard from ongoing legal uncertainty the cap-and-trade effort, which requires companies to purchase permits in order to release greenhouse gas emissions. | http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-201608-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/504108db039ade72b9128ab80b163166497314ac255584bee1b489a62288c323.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Ben Poston"
]
| 2016-08-26T20:49:20 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-la-city-council-emergency-motion-skid-row-overdose20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c07ea5/turbine/la-me-ln-la-city-council-emergency-motion-skid-row-overdose20160826-snap | en | null | L.A. City Council asks city attorney to draft ordinance to ban synthetic drug 'spice' | null | null | www.latimes.com | The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved an emergency motion directing the city attorney’s office to draft an ordinance that would ban the manufacture and sale of a synthetic drug that may be linked to dozens of overdoses in downtown’s skid row.
The motion, submitted by council members Mitchell Englander and Jose Huizar, asks the city attorney to work with police and fire officials to write the ordinance and to work on strategies to crack down on manufacturers and dealers of the synthetic drug “spice.”
Those who make the drug “are taking advantage of those most vulnerable in society,” Englander said. “It’s wreaking havoc in our communities.”
In the past week, more than 50 people on skid row have been hospitalized, many suspected of ingesting the synthetic drug.
(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
LAPD Capt. Don Graham described the scene as “chaos” last Friday when dozens of people collapsed on skid row and had to be taken to hospitals.
Graham said 85% of the arrests for dealing spice have been near 5th and San Pedro streets, where the overdose episodes occurred.
“The insidiousness of this drug is the price point — $1 for two joints for an average high of six hours,” Graham said.
San Diego leaders recently enacted an ordinance banning the sale and manufacture of synthetic drugs like spice. The San Diego ordinance focuses more on the intoxicating effects than the chemical compounds that make up the drug, which can change on a weekly basis, officials said.
In the past week, officials in L.A. have been working to warn people about the drug, which can produce effects similar to those of marijuana but is actually a different plant material sprayed with a psychoactive chemical. Health experts say smoking spice is risky because it’s impossible to know what’s in each batch of the drug.
Spice, or K2, has been available on skid row for years, with several people on San Pedro Street peddling it every day, advocates say. Spice joints go for a dollar or less, making them an appealing fix for addicts — and a challenge for those trying to tamp down sales.
Community groups began handing out fliers on skid row this week, warning of the dangers of spice. The health department also alerted doctors to watch out for patients with extreme anxiety, vomiting or other possible effects of the drug.
In April, 15 people in skid row were hospitalized after consuming the drug. LAPD officials said most victims simply collapsed on sidewalks, though none died.
[email protected]
Follow @bposton on Twitter. | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-city-council-emergency-motion-skid-row-overdose20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/f886426adf9badd6fcf2156dae8e8f3217140aff650a173f250c15d29199e48e.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Kevin Baxter"
]
| 2016-08-28T00:49:23 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fsoccer%2Fla-sp-soccer-baxter-20160827-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c20aa9/turbine/la-sp-soccer-baxter-20160827-snap | en | null | U.S. Soccer contemplates a future without Hope | null | null | www.latimes.com | Hope Solo's days with the women's national soccer team may not be over, but they are certainly numbered.
Yet that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve seen the last of her in a U.S. uniform.
Solo was given a six-month suspension and her contract with U.S. Soccer was terminated last week over ill-considered comments she made following her team's quarterfinal loss to Sweden in the Olympic soccer tournament, a clear sign the federation has grown tired of Solo’s inability to control herself.
She is eligible to be called up to the team in February, though it’s unlikely she’ll be invited back then despite the fact she’s the best goalkeeper in the history of women’s soccer.
In 15 years with the national team, Solo made 202 international appearances, winning 153 games and posting 102 shutouts. No one else is even close to any of those numbers — nor will anyone else ever get close to those numbers.
But Solo also set a record for off-the-field controversy and chaos.
Over the last decade she has been charged with two counts of domestic violence, failed a drug test, was riding shotgun in a team van when her husband was arrested for DUI, admitted she appeared on national television drunk and was suspended from the team three times.
Given that track record, Solo’s comments after the Olympic loss, in which she called the Swedes “a bunch of cowards,” seemed mild by comparison. The difference this time is neither her teammates nor U.S. Soccer rushed to her defense.
Megan Rapinoe, an influential team leader, told NBC Sports she was "really disappointed" in Solo while Alex Morgan said, “I don't agree with the things that she said.”
But a bigger factor in Solo’s suddenly uncertain future with the national team may be the timing of her remarks. In the past, U.S. Soccer has tended to forgive Solo’s behavior to keep her on the field in important tournaments — as it did during last summer’s Women’s World Cup, when federation President Sunil Gulati ignored calls from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and others to dismiss Solo from the team after ESPN revealed damning details from her arrest on domestic-violence charges a year earlier.
However this time the next World Cup game is three years, not three days, away. That gives Coach Jill Ellis plenty of time to find a replacement for Solo, who will be 37 by the time the 2019 tournament kicks off.
And that makes this the most opportune time for U.S. Soccer to finally find fault with Solo’s behavior.
“Taking into consideration the past incidents involving Hope, as well as the private conversations we’ve had requiring her to conduct herself in a manner befitting a U.S. national team member, U.S. Soccer determined this is the appropriate disciplinary action,” Gulati said in announcing Solo’s suspension.
Solo responded with a statement of her own: “For 17 years, I dedicated my life to the U.S. Women’s National Team and did the job of a pro athlete the only way I knew how — with passion, tenacity, an unrelenting commitment to be the best goalkeeper in the world, not just for my country, but to elevate the sport for the next generation of female athletes. In those commitments, I have never wavered. And with so much more to give, I am saddened by the federation’s decision to terminate my contract.”
Here’s what happens next.
Rich Nichols, general counsel for the women's national team players association, will file an appeal, having called Solo’s termination “excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate, and a violation of … First Amendment Rights.”
Ellis will begin auditioning new goalkeepers, starting during next month’s friendlies with Thailand and the Netherlands. She may have to cast a wide net though since only two players called up in the last year — Alyssa Naeher and Ashlyn Harris — have played a game in goal for the national team and both will be over 30 by the 2019 World Cup in France.
Although Solo’s future in the National Women’s Soccer League is not affected by U.S. Soccer’s actions, her salary may be. She will get three months’ severance pay from U.S. Soccer and her NWSL salary, which is paid by the federation, reportedly will not be affected. Next season could be a different story, though. On Saturday, Solo was granted an indefinite leave by her club, the Seattle Reign, but it’s likely she’ll return and continue to play well, challenging U.S. Soccer to kiss and make up.
Solo’s detractors are correct when they say her inability to exhibit even a modest amount of self control has damaged the reputation of a women’s national team that has otherwise remained above reproach.
But Solo’s defenders are equally justified in charging a double standard regarding the treatment of male and female athletes. Latrell Sprewell played eight more years in the NBA after choking his coach. Kobe Bryant played 13 more years for the Lakers after being accused of rape and Adam “Pacman” Jones was given a series of second chances in the NFL after repeated run-ins with the law.
Solo had her contract terminated after she expressed her opinion — not a particularly unpopular one — moments after an emotional game.
But despite all the lines that were drawn in the sand last week, Solo’s future with the national team ultimately hangs on one thing: can history’s greatest goalkeeper be replaced?
If Ellis can do that, Solo will quickly fade away. If not, Solo better begin brushing up on her French because she’ll need it for the next World Cup.
U.S. goaltender Hope Solo gives up a goal to Sweden during a penalty shootout in a quarterfinal match of the 2016 Olympics. Andressa Anholete / EPA U.S. goaltender Hope Solo gives up a goal to Sweden during a penalty shootout in a quarterfinal match of the 2016 Olympics. U.S. goaltender Hope Solo gives up a goal to Sweden during a penalty shootout in a quarterfinal match of the 2016 Olympics. (Andressa Anholete / EPA)
WHAT SHE SAID
After the U.S. team’s quarterfinal loss to Sweden, in a penalty-kick shootout, at the Rio Olympics, Solo was critical of Swedish Coach Pia Sundhage’s defensive game plan:
"We played a creative game. We had many opportunities on goal. We showed a lot of heart. We came back from a goal down. I’m very proud of this team. We played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly believe that.
"Sweden dropped back. They didn't want to open play. They didn’t want to pass the ball around. They didn’t want to play great soccer, entertaining soccer. It was a combative game. A physical game. Exactly what they wanted. Exactly what their game plan was. We had that style of play when Pia was our coach. I think it was very cowardly. But they won, they’re moving on. And we’re going home," | http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-soccer-baxter-20160827-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/fd86a837435a3822e02f7b0a999a4144182fc64fab7eb23cff5e5a0436d5f677.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-29T00:49:49 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fmore%2Fla-sp-golf-roundup-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c37aac/turbine/la-sp-golf-roundup-20160828-snap | en | null | Patrick Reed wins the Barclays, but Rickie Fowler plays way off Ryder Cup team | null | null | www.latimes.com | Patrick Reed picked up two victories in one day. He won The Barclays to assure himself a clear shot at the $10 million bonus in the FedEx Cup, and he easily secured a spot on his second straight U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Rickie Fowler, with a surprising meltdown, walked away empty from Bethpage Black in Farmindale, N.Y.
Reed overcame an early two-shot deficit and built a big enough lead on the back nine that some nervous shots and sloppy play didn't keep him from winning for the first time since the 2015 opener at Kapalua.
A bogey on the final hole gave him a one-under 70 and a one-shot victory over Sean O'Hair and Emiliano Grillo.
Fowler still hasn't won in four tries as a 54-hole leader on the PGA Tour, and this one might sting. He was still in contention, two shots behind with four holes to play, and at least figured to have one of the eight automatic spots on the Ryder Cup team locked up.
Fowler needed to finish third to move past Zach Johnson into the eighth spot in the U.S. standings, and he was two shots clear of O'Hair and Grillo.
His tee shot into deep rough left of the 15th fairway led to bogey. From more rough on the 16th, he went into a bunker and took two shots to reach the green, making a double bogey. After a 20-foot birdie putt kept alive his hopes, he promptly found more rough on the 18th and finished with a bogey for a 74.
Fowler tied for seventh and moved up one spot to No. 11 in the standings.
He still has a reasonable chance to be at Hazeltine on Sept. 30 for the Ryder Cup because Davis Love III doesn't make his three captain's picks until after the next two FedEx Cup playoff events. The fourth pick will be after the Tour Championship, so that's another month to audition.
Reed finished at nine-under 275. He moved to No. 9 in the world ranking, and No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, and is assured of being in the top five who only have to win the Tour Championship to take the $10 million.
Jutanugarn triumphs in Canada
Ariya Jutanugarn ran away with the Canadian Pacific Women's Open at chilly Priddis Greens for her LPGA Tour-leading fifth victory of the year — all in the last 10 events.
Nine days after withdrawing from the Rio Olympics because of a left knee injury, the 20-year-old Thai player made a 12-birdie putt on the final hole for a six-under 66 and a four-stroke victory.
Bundled up in a winter jacket between shots with the temperature in the lows 50s on the overcast afternoon, the second-ranked Jutanugarn matched the tournament record for relation of 23 under set by So Yeon Ryu two years ago at London Hunt in Ontario and the mark for strokes of 265 set by Ryu and also accomplished by Lydia Ko in 2013 at par-70 Royal Mayfair in Edmonton.
After a late meltdown cost Jutanugarn her first LPGA Tour victory in April in the major ANA Inspiration, she broke through in May with three straight victories.
She won the Women's British Open in the event before the Olympics, and made it two in a row on the tour Sunday in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies — blasting two-iron and three-wood off the driving holes on the tree-lined course.
South Korea's Sei Young Kim, a two-time winner this year, was second after a 65.
South Korea's In Gee Chun, the 2015 U.S. Women's Open champion, was third at 18 under after a 69.
Canada's Alena Sharp had the best result of her LPGA Tour career, birdieing the final two holes for a 67 to finish fourth at 16 under. Three-time champion Ko had a 69 to tie for seventh at 13 under.
Langer wins again on Champions Tour
Bernhard Langer made a three-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff with Woody Austin and Kevin Sutherland to win the PGA Tour Champions' Boeing Classic for the second time.
A day after his 59th birthday, Langer birdied the par-five 18th in regulation for a five-under 67 to match Austin and Sutherland at 13-under 203 at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge. Austin also had a 67, and Sutherland shot 64.
Langer played the back nine in six-under 30, also making birdies on Nos. 10-13 and 15.
Gene Sauers, the second-round leader and U.S. Senior Open winner two weeks ago, shot a 72 to finish a shot out of the playoff.
Pieters claims victory in Denmark
Belgium's Thomas Pieters won the Made in Denmark tournament by a stoke to improve his chances of earning a captain's pick for the European Ryder Cup team.
The 24-year-old Pieters birdied the final three holes at Himmerland for a six-under 65 and a 17-under 267 total. He has three European Tour victories.
Wales' Bradley Dredge (67) was second. American David Lipsky (67) and Spain's Adrian Otaegui (67) were two strokes back. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-sp-golf-roundup-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/2dd20143d118f106a9a9cfd38387e9e13130a3a1e812a5d6ae8fd4daa023d764.json |
[
"Daily Pilot",
"Hannah Fry"
]
| 2016-08-26T18:51:34 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fdaily-pilot%2Fnews%2Ftn-dpt-me-west-newport-forum-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-565ccc20/turbine/tn-dpt-me-fb-logos-20151117-002/600 | en | null | Council candidates forum Wednesday to address Balboa Peninsula and West Newport | null | null | www.latimes.com | Voters will have another chance Wednesday to hear where Newport Beach City Council hopefuls stand on the issues.
The West Newport Beach Assn. will hold a candidates forum featuring general questions about civic affairs and specific questions related to the Balboa Peninsula and West Newport. Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer some questions and 15 seconds to answer others, said association President George Schroeder.
Schroeder will moderate the roughly 90-minute discussion.
"We believe we're the largest candidate forum this side of the bay featuring questions on both general topics that appeal to all voters and those that relate specifically to the residents of the Balboa Peninsula and harbor area," Schroeder said.
Three seats on the seven-member City Council are up for election Nov. 8.
Harbor Commissioner Brad Avery and law student Shelley Henderson are running for the District 2 seat, which represents Newport Heights and Newport Crest. The district's current council member, Tony Petros, is not running for reelection.
Businessman and community activist Mike Glenn, businessman Lee Lowrey and retired educator Jeff Herdman are vying for the District 5 seat, which represents Balboa Island, Harbor Island, the Fashion Island area and a portion of Big Canyon. Councilman Ed Selich, who currently represents District 5, is termed out this year.
Attorney and city Finance Committee member Will O'Neill, attorney Phil Greer and former Planning Commissioner Fred Ameri are running for the District 7 seat, which represents Newport Coast and Newport Ridge. Councilman Keith Curry, who currently represents the area, also is termed out this year.
Henderson and Lowrey have not yet confirmed whether they plan to attend Wednesday's forum, Schroeder said.
The forum will begin at 6 p.m. at Marina Park, 1600 W. Balboa Blvd. Parking is free. | http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-west-newport-forum-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/de0dccb5709a4c3fec92ffe30844d9fc70267e018e97de8335a340246ad16bb2.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-28T02:49:29 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fla-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-rams-9-broncos-7-late-in-second-1472351115-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Rams 9, Broncos 7, late in second quarter | null | null | www.latimes.com | Jared Goff is back on the field and playing from behind as he has in both previous exhibition games.
When Goff does throw the ball it looks pretty good, even when slightly off target.
The rookie quarterback connected with rookie receiver Pharoh Cooper on a 19-yard pass the wideout had to reach up and pull down to convert on a third down early in the drive.
Cooper missed a similar catch in both players' first exhibition game.
The Rams went to Cooper again on a screen pass, but another rookie drew a flag. Tight end Tyler Higbee was called for pass interference.
Goff was given plenty of time to throw on the next play and, eventually, after stepping up in the pocket he saw an open Duke WIlliams in the up the middle of the field. Williams dropped the ball, but was lit up by Broncos corner Bradley Roby.
The rookie targeted Higbee again later, nearly giving up a pick-six if it weren't for the ball falling out of safety Darian Stewart's hands.
Goff saw another pass dropped by running back Malcolm Brown killing the drive, but allowing kicker Greg Zuerlein to see some more action. Zuerlein made a 48-yard field goal to give the Rams a lead with less than a minute remaining in the first half. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-rams-9-broncos-7-late-in-second-1472351115-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/9de417c70f37908824cbf980ff9611d1862555d0493837aaeeaf866aa77b9b4c.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-30T22:50:01 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-whitman-stumps-for-clinton-demurs-when-1472589136-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5fb5d/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-whitman-stumps-for-clinton-demurs-when-1472589136 | en | null | Meg Whitman stumps for Hillary Clinton, demurs when asked about Cabinet post | null | null | www.latimes.com | Republican billionaire Meg Whitman, in her first appearance on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton, wouldn’t rule out serving in a Cabinet position if the Democratic presidential nominee wins the White House in the fall.
“We’ll see what happens,” Whitman told KUSA-TV in Denver, adding that she enjoyed her life in California and was committed to Hewlett-Packard, where she is chief executive.
Whitman, a lifelong Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in California in 2010, has previously made clear her distaste for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. She has called him a “dishonest demagogue” and compared him to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Earlier this month, she endorsed Clinton and pledged to donate to her campaign and help her raise money.
Speaking to business leaders at a breakfast in Colorado, Whitman did not mention Trump by name but said she was “all in” for Clinton.
“The stakes in this election are significant. We have to put country before party,” she said, according to several attendees.
Whitman, who previously served on the GOP presidential campaigns of 2016 candidate Chris Christie, 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and 2008 nominee John McCain, praised Clinton’s “compassion, commitment and courage,” and told the crowd that Clinton would be the steward for the nation’s economy.
“If you are a lifelong Republican, it’s hard to come across [the partisan divide,]” Whitman said, according to the Denver Post. “But I decided that this year it was clear to me that Secretary Clinton’s temperament, leadership experience and commitment to America’s foundational values make her the far better choice for president.”
In interviews with local media, Whitman said she remained a Republican, and after voting for Clinton in November, she would work to rebuild her party.
That may come as a surprise to California Republicans. After Whitman spent $144 million of her own money on her unsuccessful race against Democrat Jerry Brown in 2010, critics say she did little as the state party further eroded.
Trump’s campaign pointed to that loss when asked about Whitman’s efforts for Clinton on Tuesday.
“It’s incredibly disappointing, but it’s more disappointing than surprising,” said campaign manager Kellyanne Conway on Fox News Radio's “Kilmeade & Friends.” “Let's remember: Meg Whitman lost her own race by 12 points.” [Whitman actually lost by 13 points.]
Whitman declined an interview request by The Times.
After the Clinton event, Whitman donned a cowboy shirt and hat and attended a charity luncheon with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-whitman-stumps-for-clinton-demurs-when-1472589136-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/2508a8c3e216c625e8ffaa8779191c7a91b4858312ac723ebab1714c83f792d1.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Christie D'Zurilla"
]
| 2016-08-30T22:49:57 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fgossip%2Fla-et-mg-taylor-swift-jury-duty-nashville-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5a743/turbine/la-et-mg-taylor-swift-jury-duty-nashville-20160830-snap | en | null | Taylor Swift does her (jury) duty in Nashville but gets a pass because of her own pending case | null | null | www.latimes.com | Taylor Swift was cool with fans and didn’t brag about being a pop star Monday when she reported for jury duty in Nashville. She was also dismissed from service on an aggravated rape, kidnapping and domestic abuse trial because a judge decided she couldn't be impartial.
"She asked to be left off out of concern for an upcoming trial in Denver where she was — she used the term 'groped' — by a fan at a meet-and-greet," Ken Whitehouse, spokesman for the Davidson County prosecutor’s office, told the Associated Press.
Swift told the judge she’d be happy to serve on any other kind of case, the AP said.
The 26-year-old, who the Tennessean said was called for service in December but requested a deferral, likely because she was on tour in Australia at that time, labeled herself a “songwriter” when asked to state her occupation.
"She’s really a nice girl," Michael Washington of Nashville, who also reported for jury duty Monday, told the paper. "She didn’t have a problem with taking pictures. If she didn’t want to be there, she didn’t act like it. She was just doing her civic duty. Very sweet."
Caption 'Jurassic World: The Exhibition' at the Franklin Institute “Jurassic World: The Exhibition” at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia opens Nov. 25. “Jurassic World: The Exhibition” at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia opens Nov. 25. Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer.
About 15 or 20 people asked the “Shake It Off” singer for a photo or autograph at the courthouse, the AP said. "She's about as famous as they come, but she couldn't have been nicer," said Bryan Merville, a fellow juror who got a snapshot with her for his big-time-fan daughters. "She took the time to talk to every person who asked her for a picture."
Swift was reportedly cut loose around 1 p.m.
She was sued in federal court in September 2015 by a former Denver radio personality who says he lost his job after she accused him of grabbing her butt during a meet-and-greet in 2013, the Associated Press reported last year. David Mueller said in his suit that one of his superiors at the radio station was the real culprit.
The songwriter countersued that October, according to People, alleging in the suit that the man "lifted her skirt and groped her" while posing for a photo with her and that she told the photographer, her tour manager and security about it afterward.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.
ALSO
Taylor Swift donates $1 million to Louisiana flood victims
Madonna does jury duty, gets cut loose quickly as a 'distraction'
Calvin Harris didn't thank Taylor Swift for the VMA-winning song she wrote | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-taylor-swift-jury-duty-nashville-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/8879cb9d23ddbe675d300ab325d92671f722957fa50a0c32fe74385994d70260.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-30T02:50:06 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-trump-raising-money-in-1472516685-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4ef11/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-raising-money-in-1472516685 | en | null | Trump is raising money in California | null | null | www.latimes.com | Donald Trump, shown in a file photo, is fundraising in California on Monday and Tuesday.
When Donald Trump comes to California these days, it's not to rally the state's voters. It's to meet donors.
The Republican presidential nominee is hitting California for a two-day fundraising trip, starting Monday with a Napa County event where tickets range from $5,000 to $446,700 (a cap based on federal and state contribution limits) and a Silicon Valley event where the price of admission is $25,000, according to published reports.
On Tuesday, he is scheduled to raise money in Tulare County, with tickets running $2,700 to $25,000.
Trump’s California director did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump once vowed to make the state competitive in the general election, but has not held a public event in California since winning the state's GOP primary in June.
Polling shows Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with double-digit leads in California. She raised $19 million in a three-day California trip last week.
The last time Californians voted to send a Republican to the White House was 1988. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-trump-raising-money-in-1472516685-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/2c13436ec7fc7bb7fbd2a4b85dcd1c2362d81e4fcc6a8751a83c5ba638628e2a.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-27T18:49:05 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fnationnow%2Fla-na-sos-hawaii-rescue-20160827-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c1c4ee/turbine/la-na-sos-hawaii-rescue-20160827-snap | en | null | 'SOS' in sand leads to rescue of 2 people stranded on Hawaii island | null | null | www.latimes.com | The U.S. Coast Guard says two stranded mariners were rescued Friday after crews saw their "SOS" in the sand on an uninhabited island in Micronesia, Hawaii News Now reports.
A U.S. Navy aircraft crew spotted the pair on the beach and gave their location to the Coast Guard in Guam. Hawaii News Now says the two, who had no emergency equipment, were picked up and taken to a patrol boat.
The Coast Guard received a report about the couple's 18-foot vessel going missing Aug. 19. Hawaii News Now says the two departed Weno Island on Aug. 17, and they were expected to arrive at their destination to Tamatam Island the next day.
Hawaii News Now says that on Wednesday, a ship noticed flashing lights from the uninhabited Chuuk State island, where the two later were found. The U.S. Navy was alerted and spotted the survivors on the beach.
ALSO
Man faces capital murder charges in deaths of two Mississippi nuns
Texas man charged with beheading wife after police visit
Judge rules University of North Carolina can't enforce transgender bathroom restrictions | http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-sos-hawaii-rescue-20160827-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/9b725e6c553714c301ffac666b52722dc3a0f53d6d89b56f4f2558a4e94af000.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-27T06:48:50 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Fcorrections%2Fla-a4-correx-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | For the record | null | null | www.latimes.com | Downtown loft remodel: In the Aug. 27 Saturday section, a photo caption with an article about a remodeled loft referred to the building as the Toy Story. It is the Toy Factory.
If you believe that we have made an error, or you have questions about The Times’ journalistic standards and practices, you may contact Deirdre Edgar, readers’ representative, by email at [email protected], by phone at (877) 554-4000, by fax at (213) 237-3535 or by mail at 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. The readers’ representative office is online at latimes.com/readersrep. | http://www.latimes.com/local/corrections/la-a4-correx-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/7dcf4d5cc80aac0bd5ddd4a4be0033dbe2f5a7eefbe11d7206f5fb84cba3a5c0.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Eric Sondheimer"
]
| 2016-08-29T20:49:51 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fvarsity-times%2Fla-sp-vi-football-four-ineligible-players-at-corona-centennial-given-three-options-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Football: Four ineligible players at Corona Centennial given three options | null | null | www.latimes.com | Four football players who transferred from Upland to Corona Centennial and were declared ineligible on Friday have three options, Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons said.
They can attend another school and sit out the opening month of the season. They can return to Upland and be eligible immediately. Or they can file an appeal and try to reverse the decision of the Southern Section.
Sione Piutau, Semisi Pahulu, Liahona Pahulu and Siani Malere are the players involved. Two were scheduled to start on defense for the Huskies.
They're still deciding how to proceed.
For the latest on high school sports, follow @LATSondheimer on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-football-four-ineligible-players-at-corona-centennial-given-three-options-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/8620462910bd801bc065544384fae5cf869da077dfc6cd4ac16b7e93fcab0134.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-26T20:48:55 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-so-tim-kaine-is-donald-trump-racist-1472244063-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | So Tim Kaine - is Donald Trump racist? | null | null | www.latimes.com | Hillary Clinton has defended future plans for the Clinton Foundation that experts say don't do enough.
Clinton defends plans for future of family foundation
Sarah Palin puts Donald Trump on notice that he'll lose support if he backs down on immigration
puts The Trump campaign's new leader, Stephen Bannon , once faced domestic violence charges
campaign's new leader, , once faced domestic violence charges Bernie Sanders creates his own political group, Our Revolution | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-so-tim-kaine-is-donald-trump-racist-1472244063-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5f5d681f17ee722d30e8c63cfc651d5b21c42486286ad6865116633567faafe0.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Associated Press"
]
| 2016-08-31T12:50:09 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fla-fg-us-cuba-flight-20160831-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c6cda2/turbine/la-fg-us-cuba-flight-20160831-snap | en | null | Historic commercial flight from U.S. to Cuba set to take off | null | null | www.latimes.com | The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than half a century is scheduled to fly from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, reestablishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War.
JetBlue Flight 387 was set to take off at 9:45 a.m. EDT for a 72-minute journey that will open a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel, with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island.
"Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality. That has a huge psychological impact," said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book "Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy."
The restart of commercial travel between the two countries is one of the most important steps in President Obama's 2-year-old policy of normalizing relations with the island. Historians disagree on the exact date of the last commercial flight but it appears to have been after Cuba banned incoming flights during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said on Twitter that the last commercial flight was in 1961.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Caption 90 seconds: 4 stories you can't miss Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Caption Kim Jong Un executes using anti-aircraft gun South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue Chief Executive Robin Hayes and a specially selected five-member crew of Cuban Americans were slated to be on board the 150-seat Airbus A320.
"It's a positive step and a concrete contribution to the process of improving relations between the two countries," Cuba's vice minister of transportation, Eduardo Rodriguez, told journalists Monday.
U.S. travel to Cuba is on track to triple this year to more than 300,000 visitors in the wake of the 2014 declaration of detente. Cuba's cash-starved, centrally planned economy has been bolstered by the boom in U.S. visitors, along with hundreds of thousands of travelers from other nations hoping to see Cuba before more Americans arrive.
Commercial flights are expected to significantly increase the number of American visitors, although it's not clear by how much. Many of the air routes are currently used by expensive charter flights that are largely expected to go out of business with the advent of regularly scheduled service from the U.S.
Hundreds of thousands of Cuban-born Americans fly to the island each year with the chaotic, understaffed charter companies, which require four-hour check-in waits and charge high rates for any luggage in excess of restrictive baggage allowances. Americans without ties to Cuba have found it hard to negotiate the charters, most of which don't accept online bookings or help travelers navigate the federal affidavit still required for U.S. travelers to Cuba.
Cuban officials insist that the continuing U.S. ban on tourism will limit the impact of commercial flights to Cuba, but some experts believe the drastic reduction in the difficulty of flying to Cuba could turn the surge in U.S. visitors into a tidal wave. Americans are allowed to visit the island on "people-to-people" cultural and educational visits, among other reasons.
Americans who fit one of 12 categories will now be able to fill out a federal affidavit by clicking a box on an online form and, in many cases, buy their Cuban tourist visa near the check-in counters of U.S. airports. Within weeks, Americans will be able to fly direct from cities including Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, Miami and Fort Lauderdale to eight Cuban cities and two beach resorts.
The final announcement of routes to Havana, which could be announced Wednesday and start before December, is slated to include flights from Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Houston, among others.
ALSO
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Why Iran is desperate for U.S. passenger planes, but can't have them | http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-us-cuba-flight-20160831-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/443124abdc134f6fc93b5d3f48dab801744e8283db797dc13e68882115805449.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Mark Olsen"
]
| 2016-08-29T20:49:55 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmovies%2Fla-me-gene-wilder-obit-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c49248/turbine/la-me-gene-wilder-obit-20160829-snap | en | null | Gene Wilder dies at 83; 'Willy Wonka' star and Mel Brooks collaborator | null | null | www.latimes.com | Gene Wilder, a two-time Oscar nominee and comedy star, has died at age 83. The Associated Press reported Monday the news that Wilder died Sunday night in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Wilder appeared in some of the most enduring comedies of the modern era. He had an ability to capture a frazzled persona on the brink of meltdown, bringing audiences ongoing delight. His collaborations with Mel Brooks, on films “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein,” are all considered classics.
Other notable performances include “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” “Silver Streak,” “Stir Crazy” and “The Woman In Red.” Wilder was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor for “The Producers” and for co-writing “Young Frankenstein” along with Brooks. He won an Emmy in 2003 for a guest role on “Will & Grace.”
Story developing
Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival.
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From the Archives: Gene Wilder discusses his acting successes and preference for writing | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-me-gene-wilder-obit-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/33ecdf6b9cee7068d71f447a04ea8713fce50f68772452a89ee467981cb95156.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Emily Alpert Reyes"
]
| 2016-08-28T18:49:14 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-riverside-church-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c31ae4/turbine/la-me-ln-riverside-church-20160828-snap | en | null | Teen shot and killed in parking lot of Riverside church | null | null | www.latimes.com | A teenager was shot and killed early Sunday in the parking lot of a Riverside church, according to police.
Police say the victim was walking with some friends shortly before 1:15 a.m. in the 5600 block of Arlington Avenue when they were confronted by someone and a fight broke out.
A suspect pulled out a handgun, shot the victim and fled, police said.
The victim was found by police in the parking lot of the Central Community Christian Fellowship. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The victim has not yet been publicly identified by the Riverside County coroner, but KTLA and a CBS Los Angeles report both identified him Sunday morning as Luis Quintanar.
Although police identified him as a 17-year-old, KTLA reported that the mother of the victim said he had recently celebrated his 18th birthday.
Riverside police detectives believe that others may have witnessed the crime and left before officers arrived. The department is asking for anyone with information on the shooting to call Det. Mike O’Boyle at (951) 353-7213 or Det. Dave Smith at (951) 353-7103.
[email protected]
Follow me on Twitter at @LATimesEmily
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Jewelry, wine, clothing and sports tickets: D.A. collects more than $10,000 worth of gifts | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-riverside-church-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5616903d13a7380ba5b9875eef669620db8ed854ca7083934c0367c6d6025050.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T22:49:52 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fessential%2Fla-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-california-farmworkers-could-see-1472509716-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4b951/turbine/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-california-farmworkers-could-see-1472509716 | en | null | California farmworkers could see overtime expanded in the next decade after historic Assembly vote | null | null | www.latimes.com | Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) center, tells farmworkers and their supporters that he would do everything in his power to get the farmworker overtime bill passed.
In a historic win for farmworkers, California lawmakers on Monday passed legislation that would expand overtime pay for more than 825,000 laborers who bring produce to stores and tables across the state.
AB 1066, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown after it was approved 44-32. The decision followed another intense showdown on the floor of the state Assembly, where a similar proposal died in June four votes short of the majority it needed to pass.
In the emotional debate, supporters of the bill framed the legislation as a matter of human rights and dignity of work, saying farmworkers deserved the same protections as the vast majority of workers.
Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside) called the vote an opportunity to correct a wrong against a subset of workers that would do more to honor Cesar Chavez than any ceremony, walk or statue.
Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) said it was about a simple equation: “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”
“This is not an attack on those who employ farmworkers,” Thurmond said. “But this is in fact what farmworkers have asked us to do. They have asked us to give them dignity, and we have the opportunity to make history today—history that has been 80 years in the making.”
Opponents said they were frustrated with rhetoric that implied farmers did not care about their workers, calling the bill purely symbolic. In a critique similar to those used by opponents of increasing the minimum wage, they argued it could backfire on farmworkers, as it saddled farmers and growers with higher costs and could force them to limit work hours and hire more employees.
“We are asking our farmers to compete in a global market with a higher cost than any other industry,” said Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield).
Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Nicolaus) argued the bill ignored the will of "people with their hands in the dirt."
“This bill means they will get less hours, that they will have less money in their pockets,” he said.
The issue of farmworker overtime festered in recent weeks into one of the most contentious at the end of a two-year session that has been marked by major internal Democratic strife, with rifts growing between those members aligned with business interests and those allied with labor.
Gonzalez quietly revived her proposal against this backdrop, pushing past the normal procedures used to introduce legislation by replacing the language of an unrelated bill.
The United Farm Workers of America, which sponsored the measure, argued it corrected an injustice farmworkers have lived with since they were first exempted from federal minimum wage and overtime standards nearly eight decades ago.
But prominent business groups, led by the California Farm Bureau Federation and a coalition of agricultural producers, countered its provisions further burdened farmworkers already dealing with increased regulations and an ongoing water crisis.
Emotions flared Thursday when hundreds of farmworkers arrived at the Capitol as the state Assembly had been primed to take its final vote. For reasons that are in dispute, the lower house abruptly adjourned without ever taking up the issue, and although Gonzalez contended she had the 41 votes she needed to get the bill passed, the lack of action suggested she did not have the support. | http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-california-farmworkers-could-see-1472509716-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/5f7b1e56efcf6177575947af85d5e2d88cbf9979f939e2ef24db1fbc70f19f27.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Susan King"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:15:02 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2Fla-ca-cm-hal-linden-fantasticks-20160819-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bb4bd6/turbine/la-ca-cm-hal-linden-fantasticks-20160819-snap | en | null | Hal Linden returns to the stage for 'The Fantasticks,' the longest-running musical in history | null | null | www.latimes.com | Hal Linden, 85, acknowledges he’s not the most disciplined human being — and that turned out to be a good thing for his career.
“If I had discipline, I would have been a professional musician,” said Linden, who played the clarinet in big bands. “Today, I could be making hundreds of dollars a week. I got sidetracked into theater.”
Making his Broadway debut opposite Oscar-winning actress Judy Holliday nearly 60 years ago in the musical “Bells Are Ringing,” Linden won the Tony for lead actor in a musical in 1971 “The Rothschilds.” But he’s best known for his Emmy-nominated turn in “Barney Miller,” the acclaimed ABC sitcom (1975-1982) about a detective squad in Greenwich Village.
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Since then, Linden has appeared in countless TV shows and specials, movies, theater and concert performances. He’s currently in rehearsals for “The Fantasticks,” the longest-running musical in history. It begins previews Sept. 6 at the Pasadena Playhouse. The allegorical story revolves around two neighboring fathers who trick their offspring, Matt and Luisa, into falling in love. Linden plays an old actor named Henry who is hired along with his fellow actor Mortimer to stage a mock abduction of Luisa.
Caption With the L.A. River, Frank Gehry thinks L.A. won’t need to import as much water, saving a lot of money Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about the L.A. River Revitalization project and cost of imported water. Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about the L.A. River Revitalization project and cost of imported water. Caption Watch Frank Gehry in conversation with architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne at the Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange During a Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange event at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne spoke to Frank Gehry about why he never worked for Richard Neutra, his famous Santa Monica home, and the L.A. River revitalization project. During a Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange event at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne spoke to Frank Gehry about why he never worked for Richard Neutra, his famous Santa Monica home, and the L.A. River revitalization project.
During a break in rehearsals the spry and charming Linden chatted about “The Fantasticks” and his career.
Had you ever done “The Fantasticks” before?
Nope. I saw the original.
With Jerry Orbach?
Yes. At that point, he was Jerry Orbach and I was an understudy. Eventually Jerry and I were competitors on Broadway, leading-man competitors.
How would you describe Henry, your character?
The kind of wonderful thing about Henry is that there are really no bounds. He can be anything. He can be everything. He can be over the top, because he is. We keep adding to him every day.
Are you adding business for him to do?
No, not just business, attitudes. A line can be literal or it can raise a question. There's a mine-full of stuff to do and it's all valid. That's the wonderful part about it.
When you do a play — and I'll get philosophical here, actor-philosophical — the function of a character is to fulfill the play as the author intended it or as the director envisioned it. The first question you always ask is, how does my character affect what happens and how should it affect what happens? That's the basis for all choices you make. His character is kind of outside the story, so anything goes basically. I don't have that limitation.
It’s refreshing that this is basically a colorblind production.
El Gallo is black. The lovers, the boy is WASPy-looking, the girl is Asian. I have no idea what her background is. The Asian girl's father is black, and the boy's father is Japanese. It works and in a sense points out the universality of this little story.
Why do you think “Fantasticks” continues to enchant audiences?
It's a simple little story about truth, about life and love. The first act is the picture version that we get, the sanitized version we get, and the second is about what really happens in life.
You’ve played the clarinet in big bands, starred for years in “Barney Miller” and do concert performances. But I sense the theater is your big love.
The most-asked question that I get is which do you prefer, theater, television, movies, or performance? I used to say all of the above and leave it at that. Truth be told, what I like best is rehearsal — going in there, taking words on a page and fleshing it out and making it live. That to me is the creative part. Doing the show is fun because you get audiences that tell you how wonderful you are.
How did you go from doing Broadway to star in “Barney Miller”? Did [co-creator and executive producer] Danny Arnold see you in “The Rothschilds”?
Exactly, Danny did. I've heard different versions, but I think Danny told me that it was only pure accident that he went. His children had come [to New York] for Christmas, he was shooting a picture. He didn't have time to be with them, so he put them in a limousine with a stage manager and they took them to a Knicks game, they took them to a hockey game, they took them to a trip around the island, just to keep them busy until the evening when he could spend time with the kids. One day, the kids objected. They wanted to be with him. He got in the car, and he went where they were scheduled to go, which was “The Rothschilds.”
Two and a half years later, when the time came to cast “Barney Miller,” and the network sent him a list of who they thought would do well as Barney Miller, he said “No, I saw this actor in New York,” and that was it. I never auditioned for it. He just called and made a deal.
Were you reluctant initially to leave Broadway for television?
[Danny] had a track record. He made it sound interesting, so I was interested in doing it. The truth is, that pilot did not sell, so I was back on Broadway. That season, I had an offer to do a Broadway musical and then all of a sudden, he somehow managed to get the network to go for two more episodes, two more pilots basically. He called and said, would you do it?
So how did you make your decision to leave the musical and take a chance on “Barney”?
The truth is, it was entirely cavalier. I couldn't make my mind up. The Broadway producer finally said, “Close of business Friday, I've got to know.” I remember sitting in my manager's office, he sat behind the desk and said you got to make a decision. I'll quote myself. I said, “We did Broadway, let's try television.”
Follow The Times’ arts team @culturemonster. | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-hal-linden-fantasticks-20160819-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/ae2a3268086ac471d32252443274cf758aad6e6e41cd4da9019ae1a6b312d0f9.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Robert Lloyd",
"Television Critic"
]
| 2016-08-28T00:49:19 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftv%2Fla-et-st-ladybug-and-cat-noir-comes-to-dvd-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c09a8b/turbine/la-et-st-ladybug-and-cat-noir-comes-to-dvd-20160826-snap | en | null | 'Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir,' a French turn on teenage superheroes | null | null | www.latimes.com | Here is – "voici," I should say — the Parisian high school superhero cartoon series you have been looking for.
"Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir" premiered domestically on Nickelodeon last December, just two months after its French premiere. A second American DVD collection, "Spots On," is being released Tuesday by Shout Factory’s Shout Kids sub-label, following a first volume in May. While my interest in superheroes is perhaps inversely related to the degree to which they have occupied the culture, my Francophilia is such that I am critical putty in its CGI-animated hands. (And I am no particular fan of CGI animation, either.)
And it’s good — clever, romantic, fun, the way some of us prefer our superhero stories.
Set in a Paris of recognizable spaces and landmarks — including, along with the unavoidable Eiffel Tower, the Hotel de Ville, the Pont des Arts, Notre Dame, art nouveau Metropolitan signs, poster-plastered kiosks and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid in the forecourt of the Louvre (which gets thanked in the credits) — it is a bouillabaisse of local Gallic detail. The main character's father is a baker; on parents' career day, he brings croissants to her class; the supernatural sidekick of another has a taste for Camembert. The authorship of "Sleeping Beauty" is assigned to Charles Perrault and not to Walt Disney. And the DVDs allow you the choice of listening in the original French, which feels classy.
SNAP Video "Miraculous" cosplay on the streets of Paris. "Miraculous" cosplay on the streets of Paris. See more videos
The action is centered among a group of students at whatever they call high school over there, the usual complement of types locally familiar from teenage comedies and Archie comics, and now recognized internationally: spoiled girl, spoiled girl's lackey, bohemian, jock, nerd, like that. Marinette (Cristina Vee) is the French-Chinese smart girl who takes time off from studies to protect Paris in the guise of Ladybug, a costumed crusader into whom she transforms with the help of a pair of magical earrings. (As is traditional, the battle is for the soul of a single city; there are no field trips to Lyons or Toulouse.)
Marinette has a crush on her classmate Adrien (Bryce Papenbrook), an unspoiled rich kid who moonlights as a model, and like, Marinette, as a superhero, Cat Noir. (That the male hero wears a catsuit, cat ears and a sort of tail is what to American eyes may seem a surprisingly foreign and/or feminine touch.) Although Ladybug and Cat Noir fight as a team, neither suspects the other's secret identity, a situation complicated by the fact that Marinette has a crush on Adrien and Adrien has a crush on Ladybug. It's the classic Clark-Lois-Superman triangle, if Lois were also a superhero, too, rather than just a damn fine reporter.
As the “Popeye” cartoons of old, with their predictable progression of conflict-spinach-resolution, every episode of "Miraculous" has a similar outline. A frustrated character is unwittingly converted to thematically appropriate super-powered badness by the interference of Hawk Moth, the supervillain of the piece. A policeman becomes a robocop; a spurned lover a Dark Cupid.
Like Sauron or Voldemort in his middle years, Hawk Moth never leaves his dark aerie but enlists proxies to try to steal the "miraculous" (it's a noun here, plural "miraculouses") that enable Marinette and Adrien to become Ladybug and Cat Noir and whose possession will increase his power. Battle is engaged. Invariable catch phrases and ritual poses from our heroes, with Ladybug ever so slightly in charge, lead to order restored.
Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. Caption Director Andrew Ahn on his new film, 'Spa Night' Actor Joe Seo and director Andrew Ahn discuss what inspired the new film "Spa Night." Actor Joe Seo and director Andrew Ahn discuss what inspired the new film "Spa Night."
The characters do have the look of extruded plastic common to CGI cartoons — especially to those operating on a budget. (That also means a Paris oddly devoid of passersby — though full of little French cars.) But within these limits the design is lovely and the animation elegant, and a lot of work has gone into the staging and execution of the action scenes. An episode that plays off horror movie tropes captures the proper, properly cinematic atmosphere. And a car chase through the streets of Paris — in pursuit of an evil mime (yes, a mime, it's France!) — is the best Paris-based car chase I've seen since "Ronin." Oui! C’est vrai!
[email protected]
On Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-ladybug-and-cat-noir-comes-to-dvd-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/bef5181a9a43b87a639fbad28264b52e734b0b0acbcd2a402656c575cfdbe8b9.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Melissa Healy"
]
| 2016-08-29T10:49:30 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fscience%2Fsciencenow%2Fla-sci-sn-pediatricians-vaccines-exemptions-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bf4615/turbine/la-sci-sn-pediatricians-vaccines-exemptions-20160828-snap | en | null | Pediatricians urge states to get tough on parents who don’t want to vaccinate their kids | null | null | www.latimes.com | The nation’s pediatricians are pushing back against parents who resist having their children vaccinated against a broad range of dangerous diseases by calling on states to stop offering waivers to those with non-medical objections to the practice.
In a policy statement issued Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics also said that if parents continue to refuse vaccinations despite exhaustive efforts to change their minds, it would be “acceptable” for doctors to exclude these families from their practices.
The pronouncements are intended to guide U.S. pediatricians as they grapple with a rising tide of vaccine “hesitancy” on the part of parents. Among doctors who are members of the nation’s largest organization of pediatricians, 87% have been challenged in the last year by parents who refused to have their children immunized, up from 75% in 2006.
Imperturbable in the face of colicky babies, toddlers’ tantrums and teen angst, many pediatricians have reached the end of their patience with parents who are unconvinced of vaccines’ life-saving benefits. In 2013, 12% of pediatricians routinely asked parents to find another physician if they weren’t willing to vaccinate their children. In 2006, only 6% routinely showed such parents the door, according to surveys by the academy.
That step should be a last resort, the group said.
In a lengthy report also released Monday by the AAP, 23 specialists in pediatrics and infectious diseases said doctors should begin discussing the benefits of vaccines as early as the first prenatal visit. In doing so, they should be prepared to explain the scientific evidence supporting vaccines’ use.
Caption How scientists use satellite data to track poverty in Africa This video explains how satellite imagery and machine learning can be combined to map poverty around the world. This video explains how satellite imagery and machine learning can be combined to map poverty around the world. Caption Watch a time-lapse video of the Perseid meteor shower from Joshua Tree The Perseid meteor shower, which gets its name because it appears to come from the direction of the constellation Perseus, is known for the high number of spectacular meteors on display. The Perseid meteor shower, which gets its name because it appears to come from the direction of the constellation Perseus, is known for the high number of spectacular meteors on display.
The panel also urged pediatricians to “personalize” the message that vaccines are safe, effective and powerful by sharing their own decisions to vaccinate their children or grandchildren. This particular advice was prompted by studies showing that skeptical parents tend to value the safety and comfort of their own children over arguments emphasizing the role of vaccines in benefiting the public at large.
Even as it gave physicians its blessing to dismiss vaccine refusers from their practices, the pediatricians’ group acknowledged a widely held view among rank-and-file members: that for a profession dedicated to the well-being of children and their families, the decision to show patients the door is often difficult.
“It was gut-wrenching,” said Dr. Alison Ziari, chief of pediatrics at the Austin Regional Clinic, a multi-specialty practice with 70 pediatricians in Texas that adopted a vaccinate-or-leave policy in July 2015. “These are our families. We love them and we want to care for them.”
After doctors had lengthy conversations with parents reluctant to vaccinate their kids fully by the age of 2, the majority of families chose to get the immunizations and stay with the practice, Ziari said. But the families of about 150 children — a small fraction of the more than 100,000 pediatric patients — persisted in their refusal and were asked to seek care elsewhere, she said.
The survey results released Monday show that parents’ concerns about vaccines have shifted in recent years. In 2006, pediatricians reckoned that nearly three-fourths of parents reluctant to vaccinate their children were motivated by fear that some vaccines could cause autism or have other adverse effects on a child’s safety.
By 2013, safety concerns and the discredited link between vaccines and autism appeared to be less prominent causes of parental resistance. Instead, physicians attributed a growing number of parental objections to the view that vaccines are an unnecessary discomfort for their young children.
Such complacency is a common, if ironic, response to vaccines’ success, doctors and epidemiologists say. Before a measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, virtually everyone got measles as a child, and hundreds of Americans died of the disease each year. Today, few parents of young children have even seen it.
Likewise, once a vaccine for pertussis came into wide use, that disease became a rarity. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, kills 1% of babies it infects in the first year of life and hospitalizes 5% of teens who get it. In Japan, after pertussis vaccination rates fell precipitously in the 1970s, more than 13,000 people contracted the disease in 1979 and 41 died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In a way, immunization has been a victim of its own success,” said Dr. Sydney Spiesel, a pediatrician in Woodbridge, Conn., who has dismissed several families from his practice for refusing to vaccinate their children. “If you don’t see terrible things happening, you’re not seeing the risks” of failing to vaccinate.
The new guidelines follow a steady uptick in local outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, most notably measles and whooping cough. In 2015, a measles outbreak originating at Disneyland sickened 147 people in the United States, including 131 in California. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. in March found that people who refused to vaccinate themselves or their children played a key role in initiating and accelerating those outbreaks.
Although all 50 states and the District of Columbia require that schoolchildren be immunized against a broad range of diseases, most states allow parents to opt out if they have a religious objection to vaccines and 18 allow for “philosophical exemptions” for those who object based on personal, moral or other grounds, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Disneyland outbreak helped spark an acrimonious debate over these non-medical exemptions. Last month, a California law removing the state’s “personal belief” exemption took effect, making California one of three states — along with West Virginia and Mississippi — that no longer grant non-medical exemptions to vaccines. | http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-pediatricians-vaccines-exemptions-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/ab888d472f81aaab3112c9670276329ed21ab8a112ffd4ceb8f98ee3829f4954.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"The Times Editorial Board"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:14:25 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fla-ed-hesperia-court-order-20160826-20160824-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bfa988/turbine/la-ed-hesperia-court-order-20160826-20160824-snap | en | null | City of Hesperia needs to obey a court injunction on group homes | null | null | www.latimes.com | The city of Hesperia, in its zeal to prevent crime in rental properties, enacted two housing ordinances of dubious constitutionality. The crime-free rental housing ordinance, which went into effect this year, compels landlords to run criminal background checks on all prospective tenants and to start eviction proceedings against any tenant arrested on or near the premises — even if the legal matter has not been resolved or charges were never brought. That’s ludicrous; an arrest is not a finding of guilt.
The second ordinance, adopted in 2007, forbids two or more people who are on probation from living in the same house. That’s unacceptable as well. No city should adopt a blanket discriminatory rule against people who have served their time in jail or prison and are now seeking to reenter society.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit and then requested a preliminary injunction to stop the city’s enforcement of the laws against its clients, which include the nonprofit Victor Valley Family Resource Center, pending the outcome of the lawsuit. The center offers housing and services to people on probation who are at risk of becoming homeless; it rents three properties in Hesperia. But even after U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. granted the injunction in July, the ACLU says, the city continued placing phone calls and sending multiple letters to the owners of the properties demanding tens of thousands of dollars in fees from citations and enforcement costs by the end of this month in connection with the enjoined laws. The city also pressed the landlords to say whether they were evicting the tenants — which landlords had initiated but halted after the injunction was issued.
The city brazenly admitted in court papers that code enforcement officials had, indeed, communicated with the landlords of the properties to see how the eviction process was going at each property. (Note to the city: See paragraph above. You’re not supposed to be moving forward on this.) Among the issues the city said needed clarification: Did the injunction mean the code enforcement personnel couldn’t enforce citations handed out prior to the filing of the injunction?
That’s right. It does. And Birotte said as much: “Clearly, enforcement of past citations for violations of the Ordinances is action to enforce the Ordinances.”
The court injunction is straightforward — and the city should follow it. City officials may not contact the landlords about paying fees for citations related to these ordinances. They must stop all enforcement of these ordinances against the plaintiffs.
Or the city could go one step further and settle the lawsuit, striking these unconstitutional and discriminatory laws off its books altogether. That would be the fair thing to do.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook | http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-hesperia-court-order-20160826-20160824-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/cec062b5742bbc835ce2c4a29d002cc64c8ef68d98a6137fd8779f2d5a234f33.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Natalie Kitroeff"
]
| 2016-08-26T22:49:12 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-climate-economic-impact-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c08016/turbine/la-fi-climate-economic-impact-20160826-snap | en | null | California's new climate bill may dampen growth but it won't cripple the economy | null | null | www.latimes.com | California’s landmark climate bill, passed by the Assembly this week, has earned the ire of business groups that say it will cripple their industries. The law will not be a moneymaker for everyone, but it probably won’t wreak havoc on the economy either, research shows.
The new legislation, SB 32, which Gov. Jerry Brown has vowed to approve, requires a cut in emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. It extends a 2006 measure that called for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
“The total impacts on the economy range from negligible from very slightly positive,” says Stephen Levy, an economist at the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto.
After the Legislature passed its initial carbon emissions bill a decade ago, California’s air regulator studied the economic effect through 2020.
That 2010 report, published by the California Air Resources Board, found that the law could slow growth slightly, but would probably have a negligible effect on personal income, compared with a scenario without any reduction in emissions.
Utilities and mining companies stood to lose the most jobs, the report said.
But the information sector, which includes tech jobs in Silicon Valley, would see increased demand for labor. That’s probably because getting to lower greenhouse emissions often requires developing new technology. Finance and agriculture could also see an increase in their need for workers, according to the study.
It is inevitable that a measure cutting emissions would also lead to job cuts, economists said, since some industries won’t be able to replace the work currently powered by fossil fuels. “That’s the point of legislation,” Levy said.
He added that the study didn’t factor in potentially broad economic gains, including improvements in workers’ health that would come from improving air quality in the state.
Levy was one of several economists who reviewed that initial study, and published a report showing California stood to lose at most 320,000 jobs. That is a significant number of positions, but their disappearance would not radically alter the economy in California, where the overall workforce has swelled to 19 million people.
In the best-case scenario, the state would add 10,000 jobs, the committee of economists found.
Since 2010, when the report was released, California has added more than 2 million jobs, including farm and nonfarm positions, for a growth rate of about 2% a year. That’s faster than the country as a whole, which grew jobs at around 1.5% a year over the same period.
The average weekly wage in California has increased by nearly 9% in that time, after adjusting for inflation, compared with a 6% increase for the country overall, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
It isn’t a sure bet that the report’s optimism applies to the new law, or to the current economic climate.
Oil refineries have vigorously opposed the new standards, arguing that they give too much power to the state government and undermine market-driven solutions to California’s smog problem.
“There is no accountability in providing blank check authority to a state bureaucracy,” the Western States Petroleum Assn., an oil lobbying group, said in a statement. The group added that the new law “puts accessible and reliable energy at risk.” The group did not address a partner bill, AB 197, that increases oversight over the Air Resources Board, which will administer the initiative.
Manufacturing groups have also complained. The California Manufacturers and Technology Assn., said the bill would “increase costs on manufacturers … threatening manufacturing jobs, expansions and other investments.”
At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, demanding even more emissions cuts may have a bigger effect than in the past.
The ports take in nearly 40% of all shipments to the country and rely heavily on trucks, which run on diesel.
Much of the large machinery hauling containers off ships is old and environmentally imperfect.
“You’re going to be increasing the cost of moving goods through California ports,” said Jock O’Connell, a trade expert at Los Angeles consulting firm Beacon Economics.
Feisty competitors on the South and East coasts have been eating into Los Angeles-area ports’ business, and in June the Panama Canal opened wider channels that may divert more traffic away.
“At some point [importers] reach a tipping point where they say it makes more sense to send goods through Houston, or Charleston,” O’Connell says.
That could be a threat to the hundreds of thousands of Californians who are directly or indirectly employed by port business. “You wind up jeopardizing an awful lot of blue collar workers,” O’Connell said.
In a news conference Wednesday, Brown dismissed concerns about jobs, saying evidence of losses is “very dubious.” Brown said he expected companies to adapt to the new rules, as they have in response to the state’s broader web of taxes and regulations.
“It’s up to government not to just rubber stamp the oil companies but to set some rules of the road that will make our society a better place,” Brown said.
[email protected]
Follow me @NatalieKitro on Twitter | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-climate-economic-impact-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/7bcd9b6dc8a640ebb369fd3cc9c02bf91b02ab2778e8dee86887339fa63a62f4.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-29T00:49:27 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmusic%2Fposts%2Fla-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-08282016-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57be3b70/turbine/la-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-08282016 | en | null | Live updates from the MTV VMAs: Beyonce and Blu Ivy slay on the red carpet and Drake shares Billboard-size love of Rihanna | null | null | www.latimes.com | Beyonce goes full angel wings and daughter Blue Ivy is dressed as a priceless princess -- in pale peach sneakers, no less -- on the 2016 VMAs red carpet on Sunday.
The dresses aren't the only fairy-tale part of the looks, both are clad in Lorraine Schwartz jewelry -- Queen Bey in some $13 million all by herself.
We haven't received official word on the provenance of Beyonce's dress, but according to the interwebs it is Francesco Scognamiglio F/W 2016 couture. | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-mtv-vma-live-updates-08282016-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/32b6696d3f56baa439ab85758a5fa22c917ffc21122b7ca3e68a41913c7f38f8.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Ben Poston",
"Laura J. Nelson"
]
| 2016-08-27T12:49:03 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-expo-line-behind-schedule-20201010-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b76c8c/turbine/la-me-ln-expo-line-behind-schedule-20201010-snap | en | null | Expo Line trains regularly run behind schedule, posing a challenge for Metro | null | null | www.latimes.com | A major selling point for the Expo Line extension has been the travel time between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica, which officials touted would be comparable to driving in sluggish rush-hour traffic on the 10 Freeway.
But in June, its first full month of operation, the 15.2-mile Expo Line was the least timely route in the Los Angeles County rail system, according to a Los Angeles Times review of Metropolitan Transportation Authority data. During evening rush hour, more than one-third of trains arrived at least five minutes behind schedule.
Early performance issues have not dimmed L.A.’s enthusiasm for the first rail line to the Westside in six decades. Since the $1.5-billion extension’s debut, weekday trips have risen by 40% and weekend trips have soared by more than half as commuters and beachgoers seek an alternative to driving.
But riders have also griped about punctuality problems, as well as crowded conditions and packed platforms caused by a shortage of rail cars.
The Expo Line’s growing pains underscore the challenges Metro faces as its rail system rapidly expands. More than 18 miles of track have been opened in the last six months, with 17 more miles slated to open within the next decade.
While most Expo Line delays are not serious enough to hobble the system, recurring reliability problems undermine one of Metro’s key selling points: that taking the train is a convenient, dependable alternative to driving.
Just 25% of eastbound trains made the trip from Santa Monica to downtown L.A. in the scheduled time of 47 minutes, the Times analysis found. Trains heading west fared better, with 58% of trains pulling into downtown Santa Monica on time or early.
Most late trains arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time, but some delays linked to disabled train cars or electrical problems can drag on much longer.
Metro does not consider a train late until it has missed its scheduled arrival time by five minutes. By that standard, 24% of Expo Line trains were late in June, the data show. In contrast, 17% of Gold Line trains and 16% of Blue Line trains were late.
Early schedule issues aren’t uncommon for a new rail line, Metro officials say. Operators often aren’t familiar with the quirks of the route yet, and new transit riders may prevent trains from leaving by blocking the doors or jumping onto a crowded train.
If the Expo Line is still consistently running late at the end of the year, officials will add time to the schedules, Chief Operating Officer Jim Gallagher said. That change would “reflect reality,” he said, and would discourage operators from doing anything unsafe to try to make up for lost minutes.
Some early problems along the Expo Line have stemmed from “the vagaries of traffic,” Gallagher said, including in West L.A. and Santa Monica, where drivers are still adjusting to trains passing through intersections.
Unlike rail networks in other major U.S. cities, much of L.A.’s 105-mile passenger rail system runs at street level, including several portions of the Expo Line. Building the system above ground has lowered the cost of construction, but it also means that the region’s infamous traffic can dictate the speed of the trains, particularly during rush hour.
In some instances, drivers waiting at red lights have stopped on the train tracks and held up service, he said.
“These conditions will clear up once people realize that yes, there’s a train there every few minutes,” Gallagher said.
Trains running near downtown Los Angeles often stop at traffic lights along Exposition Boulevard. Although trains can reach speeds of up to 60 mph, they must follow the posted limit for drivers, which is mostly 35 mph.
Andy Kwan, 23, takes the train most days from Pasadena to his engineering job in West L.A. Commuting by train is preferable to driving, he said, but he hates watching the train slow to a stop near USC and downtown.
“It’s frustrating when you know you could be going faster, especially when it feels like cars are getting priority,” Kwan said.
Officials said Metro’s most congested junction, where the Blue Line and Expo Line converge onto a shared track, has also posed problems.
Because Blue Line trains are often longer than a city block and can obstruct two intersections at once, they receive the first go-ahead signal through the Washington Boulevard crossing. Expo Line trains — which are mostly shorter — wait, sometimes idling for several minutes.
At the end of this year, Metro plans to double the frequency of Expo Line trains to every six minutes, meaning a train will pass through the juncture every 90 seconds.
Accurate schedules will only become more important as the Metro rail system continues to grow, officials said.
Over the next decade, Metro plans to connect Mid-City to Westchester by rail, tunnel further west along the Wilshire subway to Beverly Hills and Century City, and knit together three light-rail lines in downtown Los Angeles.
The downtown project, known as the Regional Connector, will allow light-rail trains to travel seamlessly from Azusa to Long Beach and from East L.A. to Santa Monica without stopping. It will also dramatically increase the number of trains passing through shared tunnels beneath downtown.
“This system is going to get more complicated and increasingly difficult to manage,” Gallagher said. “It’s going to take a lot of brainpower on our part to keep those trains on time.”
In June, some Expo Line trains were affected by “the usual lineup of things that are unpredictable,” Gallagher said, including a surge in the power supply to the line’s overhead wires, a person struck by a train, and a suspicious package found at a station.
While a late train can be irritating, customers care more about frequency than they do about the train’s schedule down to the minute, Metro spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas said. | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-expo-line-behind-schedule-20201010-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/865479749740bb06ccc7a44b699b52a3a2f78f4dfa2b3659c4596713860ef1fd.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-30T14:50:05 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Ftrailguide%2Fla-na-trailguide-updates-1472560109-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c585c4/turbine/la-na-trailguide-updates-1472560109 | en | null | Tuesday's primary elections offer early test of Trump's down-ballot effect in battle for Congress | null | null | www.latimes.com | Tuesday is primary day in key states, and the results will provide an early look at Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's down-ballot effect in congressional elections ahead of November.
Races in Florida and Arizona are the ones to watch as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) try to fend off Trump-inspired challengers for the GOP nomination.
Both McCain and Rubio are favored to blow past the upstarts as they run campaigns aligned with -- but separate from -- Trump.
Rubio faces wealthy developer Carlos Beruff, who has been needling the senator for flip-flopping on his decision to seek reelection after his failed presidential bid. McCain squares off against Kelli Ward, who has made an issue of his age: The Vietnam veteran turned 80 this week.
But how the incumbent senators handle the Trump enthusiasts in their party will set the stage for a November showdown, when both face tough races with Democrats that could determine control of Congress.
Both men have endorsed Trump, albeit somewhat halfheartedly. Trump, in return, has endorsed both Rubio and McCain in their primary battles, despite his blistering personal attacks against both men in the past.
Trump has been a down-ballot drag on some candidates as they struggle to appeal beyond the GOP base to voters statewide, but not necessarily for Rubio and McCain.
On the Democratic side, a similar dynamic is underway.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former head of the Democratic National Committee who resigned from that post amid criticism of favoritism for Clinton, is trying to beat back pro-Bernie Sanders challenger Tim Canova in her Florida district.
In the Florida race for Rubio's Senate seat, the Democratic favorite is establishment-backed Patrick Murphy, but the congressman is being challenged by firebrand liberal Rep. Alan Grayson. | http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-1472560109-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/6508f0ec07ae11a38f8bac0f0ad5dc3f9ef6ef692c9cecc0329b0f9f8d3411e3.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Shan Li"
]
| 2016-08-31T00:49:56 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fla-fi-washio-startup-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c60d93/turbine/la-fi-washio-startup-20160830-snap | en | null | On-demand laundry start-up Washio shuts down | null | null | www.latimes.com | On-demand laundry and dry cleaning app Washio announced Monday it is shutting down, becoming the latest service-oriented start-up to wash out.
The Santa Monica company expanded quickly to six cities after its launch in 2013, attracting time-crunched customers who wanted their laundry picked up, washed and delivered within 24 hours. Despite raising nearly $17 million in funding, the three founders wrote on the Washio website that they had been forced to close its doors.
“We generated millions in revenue and hundreds of thousands of orders,” the letter said, “but the nature of startups is being innovative and venturing into uncharted territory: sometimes you make it, sometimes you don’t.”
Several on-demand start-ups, which seek to deliver products or services at the tap of a button, have folded or struggled recently. In 2014, rival laundry start-up Prim called it quits. Last year, home cleaning service Homejoy shut down after facing lawsuits alleging its workers should be considered employees, rather than independent contractors.
Washio was also hit with a labor lawsuit making a similar argument (the same attorney has also sued other on-demand companies including Uber, Lyft and Postmates).
Analysts said it can be extremely difficult for on-demand services to make money and hard to maintain high quality. Washio was charging $2.19 a pound for washing and folding clothing, along with a $5.99 delivery fee.
Caption 90 seconds: 4 stories you can't miss Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Huma Abedin leaves her husband, Anthony Weiner, Apple owes Ireland big, Brock Turner is released, and the 4 Aurora movie massacre survivors owe Cinemark lawyer fees. Caption Kim Jong Un executes using anti-aircraft gun South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Kim Jong Un had two North Korean officials executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August.
The company has been lambasted by unhappy customers online. On the iTunes store, its current app has only two stars.
“The service is ridiculously expensive,” one reviewer wrote. “Given the cost I would expect my things to be folded nicely and maybe have my socks bound together with a rubber band like every other laundry service in SF. Instead, I received a pile of underwear and a heap of socks.” | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-washio-startup-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/307a1f77ca985a9e61b2b30bd1fb58101283606110b89f340b5656d11ffefb2f.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times"
]
| 2016-08-28T02:49:32 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fla-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-jared-goff-comes-into-the-game-and-goes-1472349705-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd643a/turbine/la-l-a-times-logo-20160331/600 | en | null | Jared Goff comes into the game and goes three and out | null | null | www.latimes.com | Case Keenum's day is over and rookie Jared Goff is now in the game.
On his first play, Goff handed the ball to running back Malcolm Brown, who got one positive yard. Goff completed his first pass, a five-yard throw to receiver Brian Quick to set up a third and 4.
Goff kept the ball on the next play, attempting a slide with his right leg forward. He got a bit stuck on the turf, but appeared to be fine walking off the field.
Punter Johnny Hekker then delivered a 54-yard punt to put the Broncos on their own 33-yard line. | http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-live-updates-rams-broncos-jared-goff-comes-into-the-game-and-goes-1472349705-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/c31da0db229d8e744283851a0cadc5fc27a3381e773c58dc38063dd813612851.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Emily Alpert Reyes",
"Matt Stevens"
]
| 2016-08-29T02:49:44 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Flocal%2Flanow%2Fla-me-ln-juan-gabriel-reax-20160828-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c38269/turbine/la-me-ln-juan-gabriel-reax-20160828-snap | en | null | Juan Gabriel's fans mourn his passing | null | null | www.latimes.com | At a plaza off Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, Joanna Franco, 25, swayed Sunday evening to the sound of banda music with her fiancé.
Earlier, Franco was leaving a nearby museum when an employee asked whether she had heard that popular Mexican singer Juan Gabriel had died.
"I said, 'No, that can't be true,’" she recounted later Sunday. Franco checked her phone and noticed a couple of stories on his passing, "and that's when I knew."
"He's a big deal," she said. "If you live in a Mexican family, you know about Juan Gabriel. He's a staple. One of the legends."
A child of the 90s, Franco grew up listening to Gabriel — part of a wave of Mexican male pop artists whose music, Franco said, tugged at the heart strings of girls like her.
He was "a very pretty man," with a great voice and a "cult following," Franco said.
"My mom would listen to his music while she was cleaning … and so it was the music I grew up with when I had chores to do around the house," she said.
The South Bay resident called Gabriel’s death "upsetting" — and a sign she's getting older. Gabriel was 66.
"I see these artists going away, and it's like saying goodbye to the end of an era," she said. "A childhood of running around, having his music in the background of all your family parities — it's all gone."
Franco's mom was watching TV news reports about Gabriel's death earlier Sunday when the mother and daughter talked about it by phone.
Asked whether her mother would be OK, Franco said, "maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow."
Candy Solis, a 28-year-old dental assistant living in East L.A., said Gabriel was a phenomenal composer whose energetic style spurred many imitators among Mexican singers.
"What can I say? He was just the best," Solis said. "He would dance and perform and spin around.... You really felt the lyrics."
Frank Marez, who was visiting Los Angeles from Arroyo Grande, Calif., for a Dodgers game, said Gabriel’s music was familiar to him growing up.
"Like any big voice from Mexico, they all had their own sound," he said as he sat in the plaza near Olvera Street. "You knew a Juan Gabriel song when you heard it."
For Mexican Americans, "he represented a lot of pride, a lot of talent," Marez said. "It's hard when one of yours is gone."
Adriana Peña, a Burbank homemaker, said Gabriel was the first musician she ever saw in concert, at the age of 7 or 8 alongside her mother. She remembers being in awe of the flamboyant singer.
"He was very humble — but he put on a great show," she said. "He was like the Michael Jackson of Mexico."
When she heard that he had passed away, she thought it must have been a hoax. Her mother is still a huge fan, she said, and her aunt had tickets to see him in Texas next month.
"For the Mexican community, it's like Michael Jackson dying all over again," she said.
Veronica Hernandez, who lives in Lynwood, said Gabriel’s music was woven into her childhood.
"If you're Mexican, you know who Juan Gabriel is," she said.
Hernandez recalled ruefully that Gabriel’s last performance was at the Forum in Inglewood on Friday. She didn't go — but wished she had.
[email protected]
[email protected]
ALSO
Small but vocal group of Latinos rally for Trump in Orange County
Framed: She was the PTA mom everyone knew. Who would want to harm her?
‘Granny flats’ in Los Angeles are in legal limbo amid City Hall debate | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-juan-gabriel-reax-20160828-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/1663c09ba4ccc56d0c0dcf5f01c9a4e57c85c638c0243e5715057acba97f87a6.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Margaret Gray"
]
| 2016-08-26T18:51:01 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2Fla-et-cm-next-to-normal-review-20160826-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c07f6c/turbine/la-et-cm-next-to-normal-review-20160826-snap | en | null | In this 'Next to Normal,' the message is loud but not clear | null | null | www.latimes.com | "Next to Normal," the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a suburban mom's struggle with bipolar disorder, first arrived in Los Angeles in 2010, on its national tour. I remember feeling electrified — at once thrilled and unnerved — by the bracing honesty of Brian Yorkey's book and lyrics, the jagged edges of Tom Kitt's rock-infused score and the inventive staging by director Michael Greif that enabled a cast of six to fill the Ahmanson Theatre.
Even so, mine was among the voices in the lobby at intermission speculating that the show might work better in a more intimate space.
The current revival at the 99-seat Pico Playhouse, directed by Thomas James O'Leary, is an opportunity to test this theory. But an unexpected factor threatens to invalidate the whole experiment: The performers are miked, though they sing as though they're not. Not only can the vocals be oppressively loud, but they feel canned — the opposite of intimate.
The band is live, but it's hidden behind the stage and also blasted through the sound system. And the balance is off: At least on opening night, the music managed to drown out entire verses of lyrics.
But let's hope that the sound design (by Fritz Davis) is a work in progress. Even if not, the cast and direction are otherwise so strong that the production still casts a powerful spell.
The small set (designed by Jeff Cason and lighted, dimly, by Matt Richter, Adam Earle and Andrew Schmedake) offers no distractions from the play's painful atmosphere: the inescapable claustrophobia of the nuclear family, where members feel alone even when they're all singing the same song, in harmony.
Caption Why Frank Gehry never showed up to work for Richard Neutra Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about why he didn’t end up working for Richard Neutra. Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about why he didn’t end up working for Richard Neutra. Caption With the L.A. River, Frank Gehry thinks L.A. won’t need to import as much water, saving a lot of money Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about the L.A. River Revitalization project and cost of imported water. Los Angeles Times Ideas Exchange: The Time’s Christopher Hawthorne in conversation with Frank Gehry at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In this clip, Gehry talks about the L.A. River Revitalization project and cost of imported water.
Michelle Lane stars as Diana, a frazzled but upbeat housewife, witty and relatable, an Erma Bombeck for the new millennium — or so she initially appears. "My son's a little … and my daughter, though a genius, is a freak," she sings one morning as she cheerfully sends her husband and two teenagers out into the world. It's not until she starts frantically preparing sandwiches nobody wants that we — the audience and her family alike — realize that her zippy high spirits are the harbingers of a manic episode.
Her long-suffering husband, Dan (Nick Sarando), takes her to a series of doctors (all played with sympathy by Randal Miles), who prescribe a dizzying variety of medications. The play is especially effective in these sequences, using a sly theatricality to depict the patient-psychopharmacologist dynamic as a twisted romance.
The drugs "work," except that Diana doesn't feel like herself. The Tony-winning score's most haunting number, "I Miss the Mountains," is her love song to the highs and lows of her illness. But once she's flushed the pills, the electroshock treatments begin.
Diana's family suffers too, particularly her daughter, Natalie (the lovely, impressive newcomer Isa Briones), whom she neglects while doting with an Oedipal intensity on her snarky son (Harrison Meloeny). A driven student and classical pianist, Natalie meets a boy, Henry (the charming Blaine Miller, resembling a young John Cusack), who tries to loosen her up with jazz improvisation and pot. Soon, Natalie is stealing meds and bombing performances in her desperation to be noticed by her parents.
The first act is dazzlingly constructed, with a series of revelations that make us radically readjust our understanding of the family's dynamics. But once we've gotten the picture — a grim picture indeed — the plotting starts to falter. Characters continue their practice of alternately withholding and disclosing critical pieces of information, but by the second act, we already know the information. Story lines are left hanging, and lingering questions are swept under the rug by an unpersuasive, hopeful finale, "Light."
Diana's disorder isn't just a response to the pressures of modern life. It's rooted in a specific tragedy. Although useful dramatically, this "explanation" of her illness transforms her from an everywoman to a psychological case study. "Next to Normal" is most moving, paradoxically, when it makes the case that the difficulty of communication isn't a glitch that can be repaired with the right drug: The difficulty of communication is the status quo. It's just normal.
------------
"Next to Normal," the Pico Playhouse, 10508 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 25. $30-$34.99. (310) 204-4440 or www.picoplayhouse.com. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.
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Follow The Times’ arts team @culturemonster.
ALSO
Seeking answers to L.A.'s 99-seat theater crisis in the legacies of two theatrical trailblazers
Shakespeare's 'Love's Labor's Lost': Kathleen Marshall directs a winner at the Old Globe
Summer Shakespeare: A critic's take on the secret to theatrical success | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-next-to-normal-review-20160826-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/d97013fde4df8207f8d0630b01a02ec008822fe986272e1ed7f89e02b73c6a16.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Liam Dillon"
]
| 2016-08-29T10:49:40 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fpolitics%2Fla-pol-sac-energy-regulator-reforms-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c398bc/turbine/la-pol-sac-energy-regulator-reforms-20160829-snap | en | null | Even after reforms, the state's energy regulator can still have private meetings with utility companies | null | null | www.latimes.com | For years, state lawmakers have been trying to crack down on private meetings between utility companies and members of the California Public Utilities Commission after revelations that top officials and industry executives had frequent dinner dates, shared talking points and even sketched out details of the multibillion-dollar closure of a Southern California nuclear power plant during a secret rendezvous in a luxury hotel in Poland.
The push culminated in a deal announced in June between Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators to force both agency and utility leaders to disclose more details of their contacts and stiffen penalties if they don’t.
But the measure, part of a package of bills reforming the commission that remain under discussion in the final few days of this year’s legislative session, has worried some advocates and observers that it won’t do enough to break up the close relationship between power companies and those overseeing them.
Robert McCullough, a consultant who investigated the state energy system during the Enron Corp. scandal in 2001, argued there shouldn’t be any private communications between regulators and the industry when they’re deciding electric and gas rates for consumers.
“The amounts of money are so huge and the potential for abuse is so great that even just a pinkie on the scale can mean millions or tens of millions [of dollars],” McCullough said.
The federal government and a majority of other states with similar regulatory bodies don’t allow ex parte communications, or discussions in which all interested parties aren’t present, in these cases, according to a 2014 study by UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment.
“There’s a huge concern about the fairness of the process when certain parties can gain access to decision-makers behind closed doors,” said Deborah Behles, an environmental attorney who co-wrote the report.
The PUC has been under the microscope since a natural gas pipeline explosion killed eight people in Bay Area suburb of San Bruno six years ago.
Attention quickly focused on the relationship between the agency’s leaders and executives from Pacific Gas & Electric. Emails released in the wake of the explosion showed frequent chummy communications, including references to sharing bottles of wine while discussing the energy business and a request from a PG&E executive to hold off visiting a company control room during an audit because of unspecified problems there.
The outcry only grew after a criminal investigation into the PUC’s activities revealed a secret March 2013 meeting in a Warsaw hotel during an energy conference between a Southern California Edison executive and then-PUC President Michael Peevey regarding the shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. PUC regulators also have been criticized for not acting fast enough to prevent safety issues that eventually led to last year’s Aliso Canyon gas leak in Porter Ranch, which lasted four months and forced thousands from their homes.
The series of incidents led to criminal and internal investigations involving the PUC and utility companies. Michael Strumwasser, an attorney hired by the agency to examine its ex parte communication practices, concluded regulators and energy executives were interpreting them in ways that led to decisions made outside the public’s view.
“The PUC was kind of like a submarine with an open window,” Strumwasser said in an interview. “They had lots of apparent protection, but you wouldn’t want to take this boat under the water.”
The agency has since reopened its decision to saddle consumers with most of the costs to shutter San Onofre after Edison was fined almost $17 million for failing to disclose the secret talks.
Last year, legislators sent five bills to Brown’s desk to reform the PUC, including one from state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) that would have banned private communications between regulators and utilities when deciding rates.
Brown vetoed all of them, saying that although he agreed the agency needed reform, the bills tried to do too much at the same time and would be difficult to implement. He pledged to work with lawmakers this year on an overhaul.
The effort picked up steam in early June when the Assembly, on a bipartisan vote, passed a proposed constitutional amendment by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) that would have given voters the opportunity to break up the PUC and allow the Legislature to assign all its responsibilities to other agencies.
Less than a month after that vote, Brown, Gatto, Leno and state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) announced the reform package. Gatto then agreed to drop his constitutional amendment.
The deal also led Leno to remove the outright ban on ex parte meetings from his bill. He instead added the transparency provisions and upped the penalties for failing to disclose the communications.
“The governor would have vetoed it again,” Leno said of the need to revamp his original proposal. “They were very clear. This was a negotiated compromise. We went as far as we could.”
A spokesman for Brown said the governor wanted to preserve the ability for everyone involved in ratemaking cases to speak with PUC commissioners, and therefore ensure agency leaders had a diversity of perspective — a view shared by some environmental, technology and other advocates. | http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-energy-regulator-reforms-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/ffce82a52f271f24b3aa2c867595b322798566ca12cafc26785c58cfa8fee1e0.json |
[
"La Cañada",
"Sara Cardine"
]
| 2016-08-26T13:15:53 | null | 2016-08-10T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsocal%2Fla-canada-valley-sun%2Fnews%2Ftn-vsl-me-pick-up-20160810-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57abc59c/turbine/tn-vsl-me-pick-up-20160810 | en | null | La Cañada students, parents and teachers prepare for a new school year | null | null | www.latimes.com | La Cañada Unified School District campuses began to show signs of life this week, as employees, students and parents bid farewell to summer vacation and engaged in last-minute preparations for the 2016-17 school year, which starts on Tuesday.
Paradise Canyon Elementary School parents, many with children in tow, stopped by the school site bright and early Wednesday to pick up items of "Cougar wear" ordered earlier in the year. Elsewhere, guardians rushed to fulfill classroom wish lists, picking up glue sticks, notebooks and other necessities.
Fresh from a luncheon held Wednesday by the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada, in which 11 new secondary school and nine elementary school teachers were given a warm welcome, La Cañada Unified Supt. Wendy Sinnette said she and colleagues are anticipating an outstanding year to come.
"Today we were able to welcome a stellar group of certificated new hires to the district — they will join our amazing veteran teaching staff ensuring instructional excellence for our district's children," she said in an email interview. "We look forward to welcoming our students and families back to school on Tuesday."
La Cañada Unified will begin the new school year with a total of 4,019 students, according to district figures provided Wednesday. That number includes 119 students whose applications to transfer into the district were accepted, in keeping with imposed districtwide and grade-level caps.
Sinnette returned to work from her own summer vacation on Monday and hit the ground running, joining in the rush to get things letter perfect for next week's opening day.
"There is a wonderful enthusiasm and excitement in the air as we prepare for the new school year," she said. | http://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/news/tn-vsl-me-pick-up-20160810-story.html | en | 2016-08-10T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/0d599a7478c6abdab3c7cb90defb50e3d56df3c17a24d4ebdcd41575f19dabb4.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Stephen Battaglio"
]
| 2016-08-30T00:50:01 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fenvelope%2Fcotown%2Fla-et-ct-fox-tantaros-20160829-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4a1b0/turbine/la-et-ct-fox-tantaros-20160829-snap | en | null | Fox News says Andrea Tantaros' allegations are a 'smokescreen' for a contract breach | null | null | www.latimes.com | Fox News is denying the sexual harassment allegations of former co-host Andrea Tantaros and has asked that her complaints against the network go to arbitration.
In a memorandum filed Monday in New York Supreme Court, Fox News disputes Tantaros’ allegation that she was removed from her on-air role in retaliation for making a sexual harassment complaint against her former boss, Roger Ailes. She also contended in her lawsuit filed last week that other executives covered up for Ailes, describing Fox News as a “sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.”
Tantaros, a former co-host of the Fox News daytime program “Outnumbered,” has been off the air since April 25. The network has said her removal was due to her not allowing management to vet her book, called “Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable,” before it was published, as required in her contract.
“Tantaros's allegations about sexual harassment are a smokescreen to obscure her violation of her employment contract,” the court memorandum said.
A representative for Tantaros could not be reached for comment.
In her lawsuit, Tantaros said her tenure at Fox News “devolved into a sexual harassment nightmare” in the summer of 2014, when Ailes allegedly made inappropriate comments to her.
Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. Caption The Comedy Comedy Festival in Little Tokyo The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival. The comedy festival running Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood is an Asian American comedy fest with a bill of more than 100 comics of Asian descent. You probably wouldn't know that from the name of the event: the Comedy Comedy Festival.
Ailes resigned from Fox News on July 21 after former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against him, alleging he sexually harassed her and sabotaged her career. The suit led to an internal investigation at the 21st Century Fox unit; it found that other Fox News employees were subjected to similar behavior. Tantaros was not one of them, the memorandum said.
Tantaros asserts in her suit that she was never contacted to be interviewed in the investigation conducted by an outside law firm, Paul Weiss. But the response from Fox News said Paul Weiss attorneys had returned a call from her lawyer, Joseph Kane, about the matter. Kane never called back, the memorandum said.
The memorandum also said Tantaros never mentioned Ailes when she first complained of sexual harassment to Fox News programming chief Suzanne Scott, who is named in her lawsuit, and the company’s human resources department in February.
Ailes has denied all allegations of sexual harassment.
[email protected]
Twitter: @SteveBattaglio | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-fox-tantaros-20160829-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/9d8f6427ee63a4914c8a7b7d8efb452e646abc5b00d9d1cc30e4fd7392a1b86b.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Philip Brandes"
]
| 2016-08-30T16:50:00 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Farts%2Fla-et-cm-artists-at-play-review-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c59aa2/turbine/la-et-cm-artists-at-play-review-20160830-snap | en | null | Dynamic cast propels tale of two step-siblings across three decades | null | null | www.latimes.com | As it turns out, “The Two Kids That Blow ... Up” at the Lounge Theatre isn’t nearly as explosive as its expletive-laden title might suggest.
Tracing three decades in the complicated relationship between two Asian American urbanites struggling to find their place in the world, Carla Ching’s play impresses most with its delicacy of feeling. The result is a consistently engaging, deftly staged debut from the L.A. theater collective Artists at Play.
SIGN UP for the free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter »
As Diana and Max, the troubled step-siblings referenced in the title, Julia Cho and Nelson Lee skillfully chart their characters’ lives from childhood through middle age.
We first see them at age 38 in an awkward barroom reunion following years of estrangement, followed by a flashback to their early encounter as 9-year-olds playing in the snow while her father and his mother are having sex — an affair that eventually leads to the parents’ marriage and the union of their families.
Caption Juan Gabriel fans at mortuary As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. As news of Juan Gabriel’s death spread, fans gathered Monday at the Malinow and Silverman Mortuary in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the singer. Caption Who is Teyana Taylor? Teyana Taylor is a 25-year-old mother, singer, actress and recent star of the Video Music Awards. Teyana Taylor is a 25-year-old mother, singer, actress and recent star of the Video Music Awards.
In nonlinear sequence, subsequent scenes leapfrog between turning points in the characters’ teens, 20s and 30s before cycling back to the opening exchange as they contemplate the mess their lives have turned out to be. The combustible chemistry between rebellious artist Diana and compliant Max is touching in its vulnerability — the only stuff these kids manage to blow up are their opportunities for happiness.
The fractured chronology adds more complexity than Ching’s narrative warrants, though director Jeremy Lelliott helpfully includes voice-overs announcing the characters’ precise age at the start of each scene, and quickly exchanged costumes by Emily Brown-Kucera and Rachel Stivers add a visual assist.
Nevertheless, the heavy lifting falls to the skillful versatility with which Cho and Lee pivot into different stages of life. With absolute conviction, they evoke the characters’ deep-rooted caring and unwavering commitment to being truthful with each other no matter what the cost.
Lee has landed a film gig, and the company’s decision to end the run this week, earlier than planned, is unfortunate but understandable. There’s no plug-and-play substitution for a cast dynamic with emotional bonds this palpable.
------------
“The Two Kids That Blow … Up,” the Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Ends Sunday. $20-$32. On the web. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Follow The Times’ arts team @culturemonster.
ALSO
Frida Kahlo meets John Coltrane in electric dance homage
A 24-room labyrinth in Boyle Heights is a custom scare experience
In this 'Next to Normal,' the message is loud but not clear | http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-artists-at-play-review-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/984677b310de004846d6da51996d791d230299cb98a5782d44d98471198d59d8.json |
[
"Los Angeles Times",
"Bill Plaschke"
]
| 2016-08-31T02:50:20 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fsports%2Fucla%2Fla-sp-josh-rosen-plaschke-20160830-snap-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c63b8b/turbine/la-sp-josh-rosen-plaschke-20160830-snap | en | null | UCLA's Josh Rosen is just another college kid, right? | null | null | www.latimes.com | It’s a basic opening question, an icebreaker, an easy way to begin a conversation.
“So, you having fun?’’ the veteran columnist asks the kid quarterback.
The answer is almost always the same: a sigh, a nod, an explanation of how football is always fun, a simple cliche.
Except on a bright Tuesday morning in Westwood it becomes pretty clear, pretty quick, that Josh Rosen doesn’t do simple, and he doesn’t do cliche.
“Fun?’’ he asks, pausing. “On or off the field?’’
Then he laughs, because his question is actually an answer, one that carries far beyond the notion of fun and evolves into the far more compelling idea that UCLA’s leader will not be willingly confined, contained, or turned into yet another helmeted caricature.
“It’s not that I’m trying to be me,’’ he says. “It’s that I’m not trying to be somebody else.’’
Josh Rosen is 19 years old, and possibly the most talented college quarterback in the country, and maybe everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize the two things are not mutually exclusive.
Yes, he does stuff like fill an inflatable hot tub with a beer funnel in his dorm room, and profanely insult a presidential candidate with words on a baseball cap, and rip the entire college football system in a single tweet.
Yes, he is self-assured, he swears enough that some of his words were replaced with hyphens in a national magazine story, he challenges coaches, he questions systems, he sometimes acts every bit like an immature rich kid from Manhattan Beach.
“People that don’t know me don’t like me,’’ he says. “But people that know me, they really like me.’’
Yes, he was focused enough on the field last year to complete 60% of his passes for 3,670 yards and 23 touchdowns as a freshman. He has since grown stronger, and is fitting nicely into the Bruins’ new pro-style offense, and could sneak into this year’s Heisman race. He is considered a great teammate, a willing pupil, a trusted leader, and with a UCLA schedule that doesn’t include Oregon or Washington, he could even lead the Bruins into the College Football Playoff.
At which point, his media day news conference would no doubt result in a record number of raised eyebrows, dropped jaws and, ultimately, admiration for someone unafraid to remind folks that college football is played by, well, um, college students.
“We’re all college kids,’ he says. “I’m just not trying to hide it.’’
This spark was somewhat muted last season when, in deference to his age and inexperience, the Bruins made him available for interviews only after games.
That didn’t stop him from breaking the monotony of the season by posing for a photo with a woman while sitting in a dorm-room hot tub, which was removed at the school’s command and resulted in Rosen writing an apology paper. Then, this spring, he played a round of golf at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes while wearing a cap adorned with, “F--- Trump.’’ Later, he responded to UCLA’s $280-million deal with Under Armour by sending out a tweet that read, “We’re still amateurs, though….Gotta love non-profits.”
These sorts of things led Coach Jim Mora to ask him, in a question recounted on “The Rich Eisen Show,” “Who do you want to be? Johnny Manziel or Tom Brady?’’ But to Mora’s credit, he has let Rosen be himself, allowing him to conduct uncensored interviews and speak his mind and learn from his mistakes.
“He’s not a robot,’’ Mora says. “UCLA has a long history of socially conscious student-athletes; this is a time of growth and discovery in their lives, and we’re going to let them grow and discover.
“I’ll let him know there could be long-term consequences for his actions, real or imagined, and I’ll give him a word or two, but I’m not going to squelch him.’’
One of those consequences includes worry from an NFL establishment that prefers robots, but if Rosen keeps growing and improving to where he reaches his No. 1-overall-pick potential, his mouth won’t matter. The other consequence is in embarrassing his family and school, but so far he’s been guilty of little more than being just another over-sized teenager who, because of his athletic prowess, has growing pains that are public.
“I’ve never been in trouble with the law, never been in trouble with anything like that,’’ Rosen says. “But I’m also not going to put out that perfect image, because I’m going to change and evolve, and everyone is going to see the process.”
So he says what he feels, shows who he is, and learns on the fly. Agree with him or not, in an era of the sterile Southland quarterback, how refreshing is that?
Colin Kaepernick not standing for the national anthem? Sure, he’ll comment on that:
“He made the same mistake I made with the Trump hat,’’ Rosen says. “I support [Kaepernick’s] intention, but I don’t support his action. Only really ignorant people are disagreeing with him, but people have an issue with the way he executed it.. It was done in a very inefficient and insulting way.’’
UCLA always has to fight its way out of this town’s football shadows, even this fall when the Bruins are one of the Pac-12 Conference favorites. So, bring it on.
“I’m not going to talk about a specific team, but nationally there are certain teams where you literally have to lose for 15 years straight in order for people be like, ‘OK, dynasty is over,’’’ he says. “Here at UCLA we get publicity when we’re good, we won’t get it when we’re bad. We were bad last year, that’s why we’re not getting the publicity that a historic team like USC is getting.”
All of this will be become just background noise, of course, if Rosen and UCLA don’t have success beginning Saturday in the opener at Texas A&M.
“I mean, they’re as good as a lot of teams we’ve played,’’ Rosen says, later adding, “We think there are a few chinks in their armor on defense that we’re going to be able to exploit.”
And the fun continues.
[email protected]
Twitter: @BillPlaschke | http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/la-sp-josh-rosen-plaschke-20160830-snap-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.latimes.com/f2d35e0693a3825a23d88e881cb838f550045fab6c505b8c6f49d1c8880367f6.json |
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