Newsletter: Today: A ‘Big, Gray Cloud’ Over the White House.
I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.
TOP STORIES
A ‘Big, Gray Cloud’ Over the White House
President Trump unleashed a tweetstorm, but a “big, gray cloud,” as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes put it, hung over Trump’s administration after FBI Director James Comey’s testimony that the bureau has been investigating possible “coordination” between the Trump campaign and Russian authorities. The White House response: “Investigating it and having proof of it are two different things,” said Sean Spicer. Comey also knocked back Trump’s claim of wiretapping by the Obama administration. Here are five takeaways from the nearly five hours on the Hill. At least one thing’s clear: Fox News analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is being kept off the air indefinitely after his claim of British intelligence’s involvement in the alleged tap.
A Would-Be Justice Faces Cross Examination
In a different congressional hearing involving an entirely different judge, the Senate Judiciary Committee will have its first full day of questions for Neil Gorsuch as he seeks confirmation to the Supreme Court. Yesterday’s opening round allowed Gorsuch to speak of his family, his Colorado roots and his love of fly fishing. Republicans heaped praise on him, while Democrats wondered if he would stand up to Trump and big business.
More Politics
-- An attorney says Ivanka Trump will get a West Wing office, government-issued communications devices and a security clearance, albeit with no official title.
-- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi praised what he called a “new era” of cooperation after meeting Trump.
-- Facing pressure to attack, Gov. Jerry Brown explains his measured approach to Trump.
When Social Workers Face Criminal Charges
In May 2013, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez died after months of torture and abuse, prosecutors say, at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. A Superior Court judge says that “red flags were everywhere,” and that’s in part why she ruled that four social workers should stand trial on child abuse and other charges. Already, the case is sending shock waves through the ranks of child protection workers nationwide.
No Shoes, No Proof of Residency, No Service
Diana Carrillo says there is no doubt about what the waiter at an upscale restaurant in Huntington Beach asked her dining party of Latinas: “Can I see your proof of residency?” Her Facebook post on the incident has struck a nerve in a time when tensions are running high.
Living Life One Gamble at a Time
Frank Mirahmadi was reared in Beverly Hills (“90212, not 90210 with all the fancy, schmancy stuff”). He had a talent for impersonation, and that’s how he says he eventually talked Hollywood Park into letting him call two races in 1992. But Mirahmadi’s path to the upper echelon of horse race callers has been filled with twists and turns, the latest of which is Stage 3 colon cancer. He’s one of the more interesting people you’ll meet.
CALIFORNIA
-- Homeland Security released its first report on law enforcement agencies that are potentially “endangering Americans” by failing to cooperate with ICE detainers, and the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were on it.
-- More women than ever are leading police departments in L.A. County, but will they change policing culture?
-- Officials say a woman has died after drinking tea containing a plant-based toxin. She purchased the tea from an herbalist in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
-- A lawyer for Roman Polanski argued that the director should be allowed to return to the U.S. and be sentenced to time served, decades after he pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- The play “Building the Wall,” from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan, explores the concept of the banality of evil in Trump’s America.
-- Times music reporter Randy Lewis reveals his close encounters with Chuck Berry as a fan, musician and journalist.
-- Despite a much-publicized move to HBO, it’s business as usual for “Sesame Street.”
-- Times art critic Christopher Knight says you shouldn’t miss a retrospective of artist Kerry James Marshall’s work at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
“A martini. Shaken, not stirred.” Fifty-three years ago this week, Sean Connery began filming “Goldfinger.” What’s your favorite James Bond film starring Connery? Readers tell us here.
NATION-WORLD
-- A Georgia nonprofit says it unwittingly gave $25,000 to white nationalist Richard Spencer.
-- Analysts believe Russian hackers were probably surprised by the blowback from their cyberattacks on U.S. elections.
-- Thirty-five years past a deadline set by Congress, Nevada has ratified the Equal Rights Amendment.
-- A letter from Britain to the European Union will trigger the “Brexit” process on March 29.
-- Irish Republican Army warlord and Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister for a decade Martin McGuinness died Tuesday at age 66.
-- Norway is the happiest country on Earth, according to the World Happiness Report, and Americans are getting less happy. Sad!
BUSINESS
-- Columnist David Lazarus writes that people most likely won’t be able to rely on the FDA to monitor the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter supplements.
-- A Consumer Watchdog report says you shouldn’t trust the list prices on Amazon.
SPORTS
-- Fans of the UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina men’s basketball teams turned the Las Vegas Strip into a giant blue blob during March Madness.
-- Players on the U.S. women’s hockey team say they don’t get as much support as the men and they will boycott the world championships. Talks aimed at ending the impasse are ongoing.
OPINION
-- One more takeaway from the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia and Trump: The GOP tries, and fails, to make this a story about leaks.
-- The chancellor and dean at UC Hastings College of the Law says the California bar exam flunks too many law school graduates.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- The other women’s movement: the female supporters of Trump and European nationalist causes. (Foreign Policy)
-- When the Soviet Union recruited Ernest Hemingway. (The Daily Beast)
-- How Russell Westbrook went from Leuzinger High School to the NBA. (ESPN the Magazine)
ONLY IN CALIFORNIA
To some, it’s only a plastic cup. To others, it’s the Holy Grail of “Beauty and the Beast” fandom. At Disneyland, a cup with a rose at its center and flashing mini-strobe light on its lid sells for $13 (limit two per customer), but on eBay it’s being touted for $100 or more. Why are people standing two hours in line for it? Be our guest.
Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
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