Newsletter: Today: California’s Weather Whiplash
Drought. Flood. Repeat. A new study says this California weather cycle will get worse.
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California’s Weather Whiplash
California has a long history of extreme weather, including serious droughts and devastating storms, such as those that put much of the state underwater in the Great Flood of 1862. A new study says Californians should get ready for more, including widespread flooding, in coming decades. The culprit? Human-caused climate change, scientists say. The bigger, more sudden swings between severe drought and intense storms will put added pressure on California’s aging dams and flood-control networks.
Pompeo and Circumstance
It went down to the wire, but CIA Director Mike Pompeo narrowly won the approval of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as secretary of State, averting an embarrassing rebuke for President Trump. Pompeo appears on track to be confirmed by the full Senate later this week, with some Democrats lining up behind him. Still, most Democrats remain concerned that Pompeo would advocate for military force, not diplomacy, and would fail to serve as a counterbalance to Trump.
More Politics
-- First Lady Melania Trump remains a bit of a mystery, but the shroud of invisibility over her has lifted during a week of public attention.
-- The Supreme Court heard arguments in an arcane dispute over administrative judges that poses a potentially far-reaching question about the president’s power.
-- Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston with an infection, just after attending the funeral of his wife, Barbara.
Hannity & Co.
Sean Hannity has long railed against “Learjet liberals” and media “elites” while earning a multimillion-dollar salary as a Fox News personality. Still, the revelation that he apparently built a real-estate empire worth tens of millions of dollars that spans at least four states came as a surprise. Here’s a closer look at the properties owned by shell companies reportedly linked to Hannity.
‘He Could Have Stopped’
Authorities in Toronto are trying to piece together why a driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 15 others. Witnesses said the driver was moving fast and appeared to be acting deliberately. Here is the latest.
Double Helix With a Twist
You remember learning in biology class about DNA and its nice, orderly double helix structure? Turns out real life is bit messier. For the first time, scientists have detected a DNA structure inside living human cells that looks more like a four-stranded knot. The tangled shape, known as an i-motif, can fold and unfold. As for what it does, if anything at all, more research is required.
A Tragedy in Ventura
Outrage has spread through the quiet city of Ventura after authorities say a homeless man fatally stabbed a 35-year-old father at a steakhouse while his wife and daughter looked on in horror. Hours earlier, police had received a call of a man being disruptive, but nearby officers were busy, so they monitored him on a surveillance camera. Now, Ventura’s police chief has admitted the officers made a mistake, while homeless advocates fear a backlash.
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MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- At the L.A. Times Festival of Books, these authors got animated.
CALIFORNIA
-- Mayor Eric Garcetti said he would “absolutely” consider extending rent control in Los Angeles to cover newly built apartments if California voters repeal a state law that prohibits it.
-- A survey of L.A. city employees finds that many chose not to report harassment at work.
-- A string of armed robberies at Trader Joe’s locations has police investigating whether they’re linked.
-- The beer truck bandit? Police in Santa Rosa say they arrested a man who stole a Coors truck while wearing just a pair of American flag shorts and loosely tied sneakers.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- In this Q&A, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child describes what it was like to be part of Beychella.
-- Antonio Banderas got a chance to show his artistic side in Nat Geo’s “Genius: Picasso.”
-- Two-time Tony-winning actress Chita Rivera and seven-time Tony-winning producer and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber will add another Tony Award this year as recipients of lifetime achievement honors.
-- Some people are already going crazy over the first trailer for “Crazy Rich Asians,” a film about the perils of dating the rich and famous.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, the Who, Paul McCartney, Kansas, Queen ... they all owe a debt of gratitude to pro basketball and hockey? Yes, they do. When the NBA and NHL expanded in the late ’60s, sports arenas blossomed — and the era of arena rock was ushered in. It would change not just the music business but also the music itself.
NATION-WORLD
-- The man who was arrested on suspicion of gunning down four people at a Nashville Waffle House had displayed increasingly bizarre behavior in recent years.
-- Saying “I was wrong,” Armenia’s prime minister has resigned amid large-scale protests.
-- Nicaragua has scrapped an unpopular welfare overhaul plan, but unrest there continues.
-- The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby boy, and for the first time in the history of the British royal family, a female will not get pushed aside with the arrival of a younger brother.
BUSINESS
-- The median home price in Southern California hit an all-time high in March. Meanwhile, a $110-million home sale in Malibu is set to be a record for Los Angeles County.
-- Is Paramount Pictures poised for a renaissance? The chief executive who took over at the struggling studio a year ago thinks so.
SPORTS
-- Playing tennis has served Josh Rosen well as he prepares for life as an NFL quarterback. He was once a nationally ranked tennis prodigy.
-- UCLA’s women’s gymnastics team won a national title over the weekend, and columnist Helene Elliott says they brought out the best in the sport.
OPINION
-- In Travis Allen, the California governor’s race has its own version of Trump. Let’s not let history repeat itself.
-- Like a bad penny, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper is back. Only this time, columnist Robin Abcarian writes, he wants to break the state into three pieces, instead of six.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the Trump administration is taking a more hands-off approach to complaints of racial discrimination at schools. (ProPublica)
-- In Denmark, they’re really big fans of enormous windmills. (New York Times)
-- Photographer Jane Rule Burdine, 72, takes soulful portraits and some wacky shots too in the Deep South. (Vice)
ONLY IN CALIFORNIA
Monkey see, monkey sue? Not if the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has anything to do with it. A three-judge panel ruled that animals may not sue for copyright protection, after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued on behalf of Naruto, a 7-year-old crested macaque in Indonesia who purportedly took several selfies in 2011. In short, the judges thought the case was bananas.
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