Newsletter: Today: A ‘Cowardly Act of Terror’ in New York

Authorities are investigating a deadly attack using a pickup truck not far from the World Trade Center site in New York.

TOP STORIES

A ‘Cowardly Act of Terror’ in New York

At least eight people were killed and a dozen injured along a Lower Manhattan bicycle path on Tuesday in a style of attack that has become all too familiar: a vehicle plowing into a crowd. Law enforcement sources say the driver of the rented pickup was a 29-year-old native of Uzbekistan who moved to the United States in 2010 and was a legal U.S. resident. After leaving a trail of destruction for nearly a mile, he crashed the truck into a school bus, then ran into the street waving a pellet gun and paintball gun before being shot by police. Before being arrested, sources say, he shouted “God is great” in Arabic. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described it as a “particularly cowardly act of terror,” resulting in the first terrorism-related deaths in New York since 9/11. President Trump vowed “to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!”

How Mueller Is Scripting the Flip

Follow the money. Work your way up the chain. See who’ll go along or “flip.” It’s a classic strategy used to go after white-collar criminals and the mob. Now, former prosecutors say, we’re seeing it play out in the first criminal charges filed in the FBI investigation of Trump’s campaign aides and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. But where is it leading? That’s where the opinions veer off in starkly different directions.

The GOP Files for a Tax Extension

Republicans in the House of Representatives were planning on releasing their big tax overhaul plan today, but now they say it will push to Thursday. The reason: 11th-hour disagreements over key details such as how quickly to cut corporate rates, which state deductions to drop and new caps of 401(k) accounts. Get the details here. (And no, we won’t use a parable about buying beer to explain them.)

More Politics

-- Facebook, Twitter and Google are in the hot seat as they answer questions related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

-- A White House official says Trump won’t be making a “cliché” visit to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea during his 12-day tour of Asia.

-- In Virginia, a likely 2018 election strategy is getting a preview: racially fraught advertising.

The Dodgers Take It to the Limit (and Need to Win One More Time)

Days ago, the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig vowed the World Series would not end Tuesday. His teammates promised pitcher Yu Darvish the same. Tonight, Darvish will get the start in Game 7 of the World Series, the first time Dodger Stadium has ever hosted such a game since opening in 1962. To win Game 6 on Halloween against the Astros, the Dodgers had to dig deep, as columnist Bill Plaschke writes. They also got in some digs, such as when pitcher Rich Hill stepped off the mound to let the fans give extra boos to Houston’s Yuli Gurriel, who made a racist gesture toward Darvish in Game 3. Will it be seventh heaven for the boys in blue? Game time is 5:20 p.m. Pacific.

Joc Pederson celebrates a home run in the seventh inning of Game 6 at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times )

After You Pay at the Pump, Will They Pay at the Ballot Box?

Did you fill up your car’s gas tank yesterday? Today, California will start collecting 12 cents more per gallon in taxes to pay for fixing the state’s aging roads, bridges, mass transit and the like. Though the increase is likely to be offset somewhat this week by the annual switch to winter-blend gasoline, Republicans hope the Democrats who supported it will pay dearly. Many have already latched onto this as a hot-button issue in next year’s elections, on top of lawsuits, recall efforts and proposed ballot measures aimed at overturning the tax.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Dodgers players Rich Hill, Kenley Jansen, Enrique Hernandez, Justin Turner and Corey Seager discuss winning Game 6 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.

-- Dodgers fans showed up on Halloween in all kinds of costumes, including dressed as Dodger dogs.

-- NBA veteran Tyson Chandler has put his estate in gated Hidden Hills back up for sale at $7.995 million, a drop of $2 million from the asking price two years ago. Viewing here is free.

CALIFORNIA

-- Beverly Hills police say the department has opened investigations into movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and filmmaker James Toback after recently receiving allegations that they committed sexual assaults.

-- Police officers swarmed a Riverside elementary school classroom and shot a parent who had taken a teacher hostage, ending an hours-long standoff.

-- Los Angeles lawmakers have voted to ban protesters from carrying pepper spray, baseball bats, glass bottles, stun guns and other items after violent clashes in other cities.

-- At least eight people were arrested at Cal State Fullerton during tense protests as conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos spoke on campus.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Want to work in Hollywood? Here’s the kind of nondisclosure agreement you have to sign first.

-- Production has halted on “House of Cards” after a recent accusation levied against Emmy-nominated star Kevin Spacey.

-- Don’t have a ticket to “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” at the Broad? Our art critic says that “looking at the ubiquitous photos of them is as fulfilling as actually being there.”

-- Actor Sean Astin has fans of the Netflix show “Stranger Things” shouting: What about Bob?

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

When Marcia Wallace moved from Iowa to New York City, “I weighed 230 pounds and I had $150 in the bank,” she wrote in her autobiography. “When people ask me, ‘How do you break into show business?’ I say, ‘Well, first of all, your ready cash should at least equal your weight.’ ” She’d go on to become a staple of 1970s TV, including talk shows, game shows and “The Bob Newhart Show,” but it was for her role as Bart Simpson’s teacher, Edna Krabappel, that she won an Emmy in 1992. Wallace was born on this date in 1942 and died in 2013

NATION-WORLD

-- Billionaire Democratic donor Tom Steyer says his online petition asking Congress to impeach President Trump garnered more than 1.1 million signatures in its first week.

-- Here’s what we know about what Trump calls the “Uranium to Russia deal.”

-- Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont insisted that he remains the Spanish region’s president and will not return to Spain from Belgium until he is guaranteed a fair trial.

-- Researchers say how your brain processes certain words can help predict your risk of suicide.

BUSINESS

-- The bustling Grand Central Market, one of Los Angeles’ best-known cultural landmarks, has been sold to a Beverly Hills real estate investor who is vowing to preserve its historic charms.

SPORTS

-- At 42, Meb Keflezighi, the best American long-distance runner ever, will retire after Sunday’s New York City Marathon.

-- Five story lines to watch in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

OPINION

-- If California insists on keeping its car culture alive, it needs to do so without fossil fuels.

-- Is “Weinsteining” getting out of hand?

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- How the Air Force plans to outsource its squadron of aircraft from other countries that are used in the training of U.S. combat pilots. (Foreign Policy)

-- “The myth of the kindly General Lee.” (The Atlantic)

-- The Angriest Librarian has something more to say, beyond the Twitter rant that made him famous. (City Lab)

ONLY IN L.A.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway, a.k.a. the northern stretch of the 110 Freeway, has historic status as L.A.’s oldest freeway. So a Caltrans crew had to get special permission to paint the Park Row bridge near Elysian Park with Dodger blue instead of the usual gray to cover up graffiti — and perhaps give the team some luck. It seems to have worked for Game 6. How about tonight?

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