Newsletter: Today: How Thailand’s Lost Boys Were Found
In Thailand, a dozen missing boys and their soccer coach were found alive in a cave, but getting out will be difficult.
TOP STORIES
How Thailand’s Lost Boys Were Found
For more than a week, the 12 members of a youth soccer team and their coach had been missing in a water-filled cave in northern Thailand. Rescuers searched, Buddhist monks prayed, and people around the world hoped for their survival. On Monday, two British divers found the group alive but hungry. Yet their ordeal is not coming to an immediate conclusion.
A New Test for the U.S. and Mexico
Border security. The war on drug trafficking. NAFTA. The Mexican government’s approach to all of these issues and more could change dramatically under Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Based on his writings and campaign rhetoric, Lopez Obrador appears to put less of an emphasis on making nice with the United States than his predecessors. He’ll also have his hands full with a number of challenges at home. And then there’s the X-factor: how he gets along with President Trump.
More Politics
-- Judge Amy Coney Barrett, one of President Trump’s top candidates for the soon-to-be-open Supreme Court seat, has been unusually frank in her support for overturning precedents that are not in line with the Constitution.
-- “We beg you to help us”: Immigrant women in detention describe their treatment and share their fears about their children.
-- Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is heading back to North Korea for a visit Thursday.
He Shocked the Sheriff
Alex Villanueva had no professional campaign consultant, virtually no money and little name recognition in his campaign to take on L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell in the June primary. Yet the CrossFit gym owner and retired sheriff’s lieutenant forced the powerful and well-funded McConnell into a runoff, a situation seen only four times in the last century. How did Villanueva do it, and is McConnell worried? Read on.
Showtime, Indeed
LeBron James went Hollywood years ago, performing in the 2015 Amy Schumer comedy “Trainwreck,” cofounding his own production company and buying not one but two houses in Brentwood. So now that he’ll be playing for the Lakers, the team that invented Showtime, it’s only natural his arrival has turned into a red carpet marketing event. The price of season tickets has leaped, jersey sales are popping, and hockey’s Great One, Wayne Gretzky, has weighed in. There’s also been some rain on the parade: Republican Rep. Devin Nunes told James to “prepare to pay the highest taxes” of his life, while columnist Bill Plaschke questions why the Lakers added “three veteran misfits” the day after landing James.
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MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- A margarita-loving bear had a “grand old time” taking a dip in an Altadena hot tub.
-- With the Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers spied a planet being born around a young star.
CALIFORNIA
-- Major healthcare groups say they will pursue a statewide soda tax initiative on the 2020 ballot to pay for public health programs. This comes after state lawmakers passed a 12-year ban on local taxes for soda.
-- Los Angeles authorities have settled another case against a healthcare facility accused of illegally dumping homeless patients. It’s the eighth such case to be settled in the last five years.
-- A raging wildfire in Yolo County had ripped through 60,000 acres by Monday evening, as a year-round fire season has once again driven people from their homes.
-- A heat wave is expected to hit Southern California by the end of the week, bringing the potential for record-breaking temperatures after a month sprinkled with June gloom.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- Harvey Weinstein is facing new criminal charges. This time, he could receive a life sentence if convicted.
-- After a six-year hiatus from making albums, Christina Aguilera is back and reinventing herself again. “After I’m dead and gone, I really want the music paid attention to,” she says.
-- At the L.A. County Museum of Art, Trump’s tariffs and rising costs are giving urgency to finish raising $650 million for a new museum building.
-- The Japanese animated feature “Fireworks” is a time-travel romance, but film critic Justin Chang says it’s lacking in magic.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
This week in 1951, the classic comedy team of Bob and Ray — Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding — premiered their NBC radio series, one of the many gigs they’d have over a nearly five-decade career that ended with Goulding’s death in 1990. The secret to their success? “We tried different things, and nobody complained. We never did jokes,” explained Elliott in 2014, two years before he died. “It was characters and situations that we had seen happen in real life.”
NATION-WORLD
-- The suspect in an Idaho mass stabbing has been charged with first-degree murder after a 3-year-old who was wounded at her own birthday party died.
-- An effort to close brothels in one Nevada county has failed to get enough signatures for the November ballot.
-- For this transgender men’s team in Brazil, soccer is a path toward self-acceptance.
BUSINESS
-- Another challenge for Elon Musk: As Tesla tax credits disappear, will Model 3 deposit-holders stick around?
-- A divided California Supreme Court ruled that Yelp cannot be ordered to remove posts about a San Francisco law firm that a judge determined were defamatory.
SPORTS
-- At the World Cup, Mexico lost to Brazil, but its long-suffering fans have a philosophical slogan: We played like never before but we lost like always.
-- Former Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was granted dismissal of his misdemeanor domestic abuse conviction in a move that could clear a path for his return to the National Hockey League.
OPINION
-- This flag is your flag, not Trump’s: Why his opponents should stop allowing him or his allies to claim the symbols of patriotism without a fight.
-- A new court-packing scheme could save the Supreme Court from right-wing domination, writes columnist Michael Hiltzik.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- In Baltimore, the task of announcing new murders falls to police spokesman T.J. Smith. One year ago, he confronted a killing that hit home. (The Atlantic)
-- How the film “Coming to America,” the Showtime Lakers and N.W.A. ushered in a cultural revolution. (The Undefeated)
-- Should theatrical plays come with trigger warnings? (CBC)
ONLY IN L.A.
When columnist Robin Abcarian’s 89-year-old dad was reported by his doctor to the DMV for testing, they held their breath. Would he pass the written and physical driving tests to keep his driver’s license? The red tape that ensued was hard to believe, even for the DMV. Here’s how things took more than one left turn.
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