Newsletter: Today: Michael Flynn and the Turkish Connection

President Trump’s former national security advisor is under scrutiny for his ties to Ankara.

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Michael Flynn and the Turkish Connection

Michael Flynn lasted 24 days in the White House as President Trump’s national security advisor before being forced out for misleading officials about his meetings with the Russian ambassador. But Flynn’s ties to Turkey, and his conversations during the campaign and transition about a Turkish cleric who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, could be even more problematic for the man who led the “Lock her up!” chant at the Republican National Convention. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is on the case.

More Politics

-- Republicans are pushing hard for the GOP tax overhaul, but polls show voters just don’t seem to be that interested.

-- Trump used a Thanksgiving gratitude message to American troops overseas to “give thanks to God” for freedom and to take credit for a “win” in Afghanistan.

When a Blackout Could Prevent a Burn-Up

Are there ways to prevent deadly wildfires such as the ones that devastated Northern California last month? Strong, dry winds — which can be predicted — can knock down power lines, sparking a fire. That’s why some experts say it’s time for California to take tougher steps than simply mandating brush clearance and fire-resistant building materials. Among them: burying utility lines, banning development in certain areas and even preemptively shutting down the power grid when the winds arrive.

Down and Out in the ’Bu

Even in Malibu, homelessness is an issue. The city of 13,000 has roughly 180 homeless residents. For nearly two decades, religious groups have fed the homeless, while the city and private donors have put up hundreds of thousands of dollars for social workers. Now, Malibu United Methodist Church is stopping its twice-weekly dinners, after city officials suggested they were making the homeless problem worse. That’s prompted an emotional exchange around Thanksgiving.

People line up as volunteers serve food at Malibu United Methodist Church. Dinners for homeless put on by the church are ending amid pressure from the city.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times )

An Apartment, a Hotel, or Both?

With L.A. facing a shortage of affordable housing, activists are upset about an obscure provision in the city codes that allows apartment units to be rented out for as briefly as one night. They argue that such an arrangement amounts to an “illegal hotel.” The landlords see it quite differently: as a way to serve both long-term and short-term residents, by following the rules.

Colombia’s Cash Crop

Last year in Colombia, when a five-year civil war came to an end, the conditions finally seemed right to clamp down on the cocaine industry. The government promised the farmers, known as cocaleros, opportunities to grow legal crops instead. But so far, those alternatives have been slow to materialize, and production of the coca plant is up. When anti-narcotics police moved in on one village, farmers resisted, resulting in a deadly confrontation. What happens in Colombia has big implications for the U.S., which gets 92% of its cocaine from the country.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Once upon a time, downtown L.A. was the shopping destination for Angelenos. Long before Black Friday became a phenomenon, stores there banded together for an event called Dollar Day, usually held in the spring and fall rather than the day after Thanksgiving. The Times reported in 1940 that one Dollar Day drew 200,000 people by car, bus and streetcar. But with the rise of suburbia and its malls, Dollar Days had mostly faded away by the end of the 1970s.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- This South L.A. high school football team was rocked by scandal, but it’s not giving up.

-- Freddy Negrete is a pioneer of the “black-and-gray” style of tattooing; his work is at the Natural History Museum, where you can get inked too.

-- Filmmaker Dan Gilroy on how Denzel Washington took ownership of his “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” character.

CALIFORNIA

-- This year’s Thanksgiving Day in downtown L.A. was the hottest since record-keeping began in 1877.

-- Generations of family and friends showed their gratitude to one South L.A. woman known for her generosity.

-- A renegade environmental activist says he’s found a rare plant that could derail the Ballona Wetlands restoration.

-- Five Asian American police officers are suing the San Gabriel Police Department, alleging they were subjected to widespread discrimination and a hostile work culture.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

-- Our interactive holiday gift guide.

-- “Call Me by Your Name,” “1945” and other new films to see in theaters.

-- Five can’t-miss strategies to keep your fitness goals on track this holiday season.

-- The best college football games to watch.

-- Have you entered The Times’ seventh annual Holiday Cookie Bake-Off yet? Deadline is midnight tomorrow, Nov. 25.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- The women who accused “Gossip Girl” star Ed Westwick of sexual assault speak out. In Twitter posts, Westwick has adamantly denied the allegations.

-- “The Room,” the “Citizen Kane” of bad movies, was the basis for James Franco’s new film “The Disaster Artist.” He and Seth Rogen discuss.

-- TV critic Lorraine Ali says Spike Lee’s Netflix reboot of his film “She’s Gotta Have It” occupies an odd space of being both timely and dated.

NATION-WORLD

-- It turns out that a slain Baltimore homicide detective was scheduled to testify before a federal grand jury in a case against indicted officers.

-- The Argentine navy confirmed that its missing submarine experienced an explosion Nov. 15 in the southern Atlantic but had no information on the fate of the 44 crew members.

-- Despite an accident, people in Las Vegas are still willing to gamble on riding a driverless shuttle.

-- In America, there was a time when even “Thanksgiving” was a fightin’ word.

BUSINESS

-- Analysts expect to see a healthy increase in holiday retail sales this year because of higher consumer confidence and employment gains.

-- California’s ski season has begun with good snowfall and higher lift prices.

SPORTS

-- Quarterback Philip Rivers played one of the best games of his career on Thanksgiving to lead the Chargers to a 28-6 victory over Dallas, putting his team squarely back into the playoff race.

-- NASCAR is facing a challenging reboot after losing the star power of drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Danica Patrick.

OPINION

-- An energy bill that’s bad for marine mammals and most everything else on the planet.

-- Black Friday retail workers are treated like yo-yos. They need scheduling protections.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A sign of something big? Michael Flynn’s lawyers reportedly notified Trump’s legal team that they could no longer discuss the special counsel’s investigation. (New York Times)

-- The last remaining iron lung users in the U.S. and the specter of polio’s return. (Gizmodo)

-- The 1965 news story about Arlo Guthrie’s arrest for illegal dumping that inspired the song “Alice’s Restaurant.” (The Berkshire Eagle)

ONLY IN L.A.

President Trump wants to “build that wall!” But even before it’s constructed, artists and activists are knocking it down — figuratively, of course. Last weekend, a group projected images of a ladder and other designs on prototypes of the wall in San Diego. “You can think of it as power games,” says one of the organizers, “but you can also think of it as the long tradition of the clown and clowning around.”

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