Newsletter: Today: Trump Won’t Fight Climate Change? California, Here We Come

Can California help lead a coalition of states and countries to fight climate change? 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

Trump Won’t Fight Climate Change? California, Here We Come

California, New York, China … you’re on your own when it comes to the fight against climate change. Flanked by coal miners, President Trump signed an executive order to drop the Obama-era Clean Power Plan aimed at curbing carbon pollution. Now the governors of California and New York are trying to form a coalition of other states and countries to pick up the mantle that the federal government has dropped.

Devotees: Give Trump a Chance, but We Don’t Like the Tweeting ...

Public opinion polls show Trump at historic lows, but most of those who voted for him don’t have buyer’s remorse. When Times reporter Noah Bierman recently went to the rust belt city of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the resounding theme from Trump voters was “Give the man a chance.” If they had one criticism, it would be to cool it on the tweeting.

More Politics

-- The House voted to kill landmark privacy restrictions for Internet service providers and sent the bill to the White House, which indicated Trump would sign it into law.

-- Rep. Devin Nunes rebuffed calls for him to step aside from the House investigation on Russian meddling. Also, a lawyer for former deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Yates wrote in letters last week that the White House was trying to limit her testimony; the administration denied that.

-- To fight a woman’s defamation claim, Trump’s lawyers have cited the Bill Clinton-Paula Jones case. One problem: The then-president lost that one.

-- A bitter struggle over trade policy is being fought behind the scenes in the Trump administration.

The Power of Fear

The “U” in the online photo project called “The Power of U” stands for “undocumented.” The idea was to share the stories of those who had lived in the U.S. illegally and how they or their offspring made it in America. After Trump’s election, though, few are willing to out themselves. That fear made Miguel Luna rethink his project. As the latest installment of our series “On Edge in Trump’s America” shows, it gave him a new sense of urgency.

Miguel Luna started the “Power of U” campaign.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A $110-Million Turn in the Wells Fargo Saga

It started with a 2013 Los Angeles Times investigation into Wells Fargo’s practice of creating as many as 2 million accounts without customers’ authorization. Now the bank has agreed to pay $110 million to settle a dozen class-action lawsuits. If approved by a federal judge, it would be in addition to any money customers have received as part of a settlement last year.

20 Years in Prison for Sleeping at Home

Marco Contreras spent 20 years behind bars for a shooting in Compton he didn’t commit. On Tuesday, he walked free, thanks to the efforts of Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent, which began looking into his case in 2012. Three other men have now been charged with the crime. But how was Contreras convicted in the first place? Attorneys say it was because an eyewitness inaccurately identified him as the shooter, when he actually was sleeping at home.

Gravely Disabled or Conveniently Avoided?

You don’t have to go to skid row or Hollywood to find chronically ill homeless people. Some have been on the streets for years, and when medical help is offered, they won’t take it. Advocates are trying to convince authorities that more aggressive, humane intervention is possible under existing law for when a person is “gravely disabled.” Columnist Steve Lopez offers a closer look at what can be done for “the wounded, the hollow-eyed, the weather-beaten souls.”

CALIFORNIA

-- The acting director of ICE told a Sacramento crowd that immigration officials do not target immigrants at churches or students at schools, nor they do seek out victims at hospitals or witnesses at courthouses. “We prioritize criminals,” he said.

-- Prosecutors have charged two antiabortion activists with 15 felonies; the duo’s undercover videos accused Planned Parenthood doctors of selling fetal tissue.

-- The state is gearing up to give out $103 million in Proposition 47 grants for offender rehabilitation programs.

-- After a season of record snowfall, the Owens Valley is bracing for the spring melt … and flashing back to the water wars of yesteryear.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow,” N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and a 1957 Vin Scully broadcast of the Brooklyn Dodgers are headed for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

-- Take a look back at the original “Ghost in the Shell,” which was a watershed film in animation history.

-- To protest Trump, art-house theaters will screen the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984” next month.

-- Emmy Rossum is the latest celebrity living in the San Fernando Valley to be burglarized. This time, thieves took $150,000 in jewels from a safe.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Forty-four years ago this week, Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather refused Marlon Brando’s Oscar in front of millions of viewers. Watch the speech and read her account of what happened afterward here.

NATION-WORLD

-- With British Prime Minister Theresa May launching the U.K.’s two-year “Brexit” process today, Scottish lawmakers have voted to seek a new referendum on independence.

-- A top American general said that a U.S.-led coalition airstrike “probably had a role” in the deaths of 200 civilians in Mosul.

-- Peru’s brutal season of floods has left nearly 100 people dead and 700,000 homeless.

-- Carlos the Jackal, who was once the most-wanted man in the world, received a third life sentence for the 1974 bombing of a Paris shopping arcade.

-- The father of a teenager accused of raping a 14-year-old female student at a Maryland high school was arrested by federal authorities, who said the man is in the U.S. illegally.

-- Michigan will spend $87 million to replace thousands of aging water pipes in Flint.

BUSINESS

-- How does your doctor rate? Check out this new website.

-- Elon Musk is starting yet another company, this time to create implantable brain chips to treat neurological disorders and one day, perhaps, protect us from evil robot overlords.

SPORTS

-- NBC’s prime-time coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea will air live across the United States, a first since the Games became a major TV event in the late 1960s.

-- The stars of tomorrow: Here are the top male and female high school basketball players in the L.A. area.

OPINION

-- Trump may actually win the war against Islamic State, but it could be a “catastrophic success” like we saw in Iraq.

-- Taxpayers are picking up the tab for Trump’s pricey golf excursions: See the David Horsey cartoon.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- The brazen killing of a Vladimir Putin critic in Ukraine has others worried about who might be next. (Foreign Policy)

-- Scientists have found a way to use spinach leaves to build working human heart muscle. (National Geographic)

-- Adventures with Oliver Sacks: lunch at Björk’s house, chamber music with Lauren Hutton, and a cancer diagnosis, as told by Sacks’ partner. (The Guardian)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

The squirrels of UC Berkeley are a campus institution. Doctoral student Mikel Delgado wondered: How do the furry creatures decide where to bury their food? Now she and a team of researchers are using microchipped hazelnuts to study the thinking of their squirrel subjects, who go by the names Flame, Autumn, Cookie and Britney Spears.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.

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