Newsletter: Today: No Drama Obama

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

No Drama Obama

By August, the FBI had evidence that Russian-backed hackers had targeted electoral systems in 21 American states, officials confirmed Wednesday. So why did the Obama administration wait until Oct. 7 to reveal the cyberattack on the U.S. elections process? Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, said Obama administration officials feared they would be blamed for trying to influence the election. “We were very concerned that we would not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign,” he said.

Who Will be Uber’s Next CEO?

With Uber co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick’s resignation Tuesday, the ride-hailing company — the world’s most valued start-up, with $6.5 billion in annual sales — is searching for a new chief. Experts expect it will be an outsider, with an eye on improving company culture. The San Francisco company hopes to move past a trail of scandals, including allegations that complaints of sexual harassment were ignored and that the company used a program to dodge inquiries from public officials. Uber, valued at nearly $70 billion, is also looking to make other high-level hires, to replace executives who have departed. “If the board doesn’t act quickly and decisively, this executive merry-go-round can lead to a crisis of confidence,” said Joseph Daniel McCool of the McCool Group, which advises companies on recruitment and succession planning.

Searching for a Bone-Marrow Match

Matthew Medina is a 40-year-old Los Angeles police officer with a rare blood disease. Doctors tell him he will likely die without a bone marrow transplant, but his chances of finding a donor are less than 50%. Medina, who is being kept alive by blood transfusions, is Filipino, and most registered donors are white. Few Filipinos have signed up as potential donors. Medina, who has aplastic anemia and is quarantined at his Bellflower home with his wife and two young daughters, needs a transplant soon, because his weakened immune system means exposure to a common virus can kill him.

Let the Finger-Pointing Begin

Tens of millions of dollars could not propel political neophyte Jon Ossoff to victory in Georgia’s traditionally Republican 6th district. Now comes the teeth-gnashing and finger-pointing. Who blew it? House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi? The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee? The cautious millennial candidate himself, who avoided attacking Trump, did not live in the district, and seemed less a Georgian than a Washingtonian? The president himself weighed in with some thoughts.

Trump Took a Personal Interest in the Otto Warmbier Case

President Trump rarely raises human rights concerns as part of his foreign policy, and his secretary of State says that advocating for them “creates obstacles” in advancing American interests abroad. But the president has shown interest in cases of individual Americans imprisoned overseas, as with Otto Warmbier, the university student who was arrested as a tourist in North Korea last year and died Monday. “What are we doing for that kid in North Korea?” Trump asked his briefers, according to a U.S. official. The president approved a risky operation to demand his release.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Roger Waters talks about his first solo album in decades, and his new tour.

-- Artist Kam Redlawsk describes how her rare genetic disorder has informed her perspective.

-- At Griffith Park, a summer solstice celebration.

CALIFORNIA

-- Immigration officials pointed to a pair of decades-old misdemeanor convictions as the basis for arresting Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen and longtime resident of the United States. He was arrested in Highland Park after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school, and has been detained for nearly four months. Now that Avelica-Gonzalez, 49, has resolved those misdemeanors, his lawyers hope to stop his threatened deportation.

-- A proposed salary package, backed by L.A.’s mayor and headed to the city council, would give six raises in five years to thousands of employees at the Department of Water and Power. It is expected to embolden other city employees and their unions to push similar deals. “Every time you give a pay raise to Water and Power employees, you know you’re going to get a knock on your door from the city employees, saying, ‘Us too,’” said Zev Yaroslavsky, who has served on the city council and the county Board of Supervisors.

-- Oakland’s mayor and its former police chief mishandled a sexual misconduct scandal in the city police department, according to a report filed Wednesday by a court-appointed investigator. The scandal stems from a teenager’s claims that she had sex with as many as two dozen officers, starting at age 16.

-- As a heat wave continues to roll across California, the National Weather Service says the Southland should prepare for an increased fire risk.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

--- Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the playful directors behind “The Lego Movie,” have been removed from the Han Solo “Star Wars” spinoff four months into production over “creative differences.” The details are still ambiguous, but their departure raises questions about how independent Hollywood really wants its directors to be in the franchise era.

-- A child development expert is suing Walt Disney Co. over the 2015 Pixar hit “Inside Out.” The claim? That the plaintiff had repeatedly pitched an idea to the studio years earlier about animated characters who embodied a child’s different moods.

-- At 73, Roger Waters is one of rock’s senior statesman and an enduring provocateur. The English rocker from Pink Floyd has produced his first solo album in decades, and his latest tour tackles themes of political polarization. “There is a whack at Trump in a couple of the songs,” he says. He doesn’t shy from controversy, though his prior activism has reportedly exacted a financial toll, as when he weighed in on the Middle East.

-- Critic Robert Lloyd calls Spike’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Mist” a well-made creep show, but lacking in comic relief.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

“Some Like It Hot.” “Ninotchka.” “Double Indemnity.” “The Lost Weekend.” “Sunset Boulevard.” These and so many other classic films were the work of writer and director Billy Wilder, who fled Germany for Hollywood after Adolf Hitler came to power. He was born on this date in 1906 and died March 7, 2002.

NATION-WORLD

--Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, is “the new public face of Saudi Arabia.”

--Iraqi officials say Islamic State destroyed a historic mosque in Mosul.

BUSINESS

-- L.A. County’s median home price has surged to $560,500, passing the historic high it reached in 2007 (just before the great crash).

-- Crude oil stock dived Wednesday to its lowest point since last summer, though healthcare and tech stocks made gains.

SPORTS

-- What do you do on the eve of the NBA draft? If you’re Lonzo Ball you chill in a Manhattan hotel room with some chicken nuggets and sports news on the TV. Will the Lakers take the hometown phenom with the second pick? We find out today.

-- Yasiel Puig stayed hot at the plate in the Dodgers 8-2 win over the Mets. He’s slugging .722. But Puig sure did take his time rounding the bags when he hit a homer in the fourth inning.

OPINION

-- Columnist Michael Hiltzik asks whether the resignation of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is good for the company. Yes, because it will allow the company to improve its reputation and recruit talent. No, because his departure will focus attention on what Hiltzik calls “the fundamental unprofitability of its business model.”

-- It’s been nearly a decade since the public first got its hands on an iPhone. And boy has it changed us. Looking back, there’s no doubt Steve Jobs knew he was making history.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

--From The Atlantic: “The Fall of a Foreign Affairs Reporter.”

--From The New York Times: “Audrey Tautou’s Very Private Self-Portraiture.”

ONLY IN L.A.

It was a startling alert from the U.S. Geological Survey: A 6.8 magnitude quake had struck off the coast of Santa Barbara. The quake was real, the date was real, the year, however, was 92 years in the past. The error happened when a Caltech scientist tried to correct the exact location of the deadly Prohibition-era Santa Barbara earthquake.

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