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The Week in Photos: His future coach found him working in a slaughterhouse; and it’s a no to $55,000 to leave a rent-controlled apartment.

Dennis Kasumba throws an old tire to build strength outside his home in Guyaza, Uganda.
Dennis Kazumba throws an old tire to build strength outside his home in Guyaza, Uganda.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
By Silvia RázgováNews Photo Editor 
Photography by 
Times Photography Staff
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s selection of top stories in pictures by Los Angeles Times photographers.

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His future coach found Dennis Kasumba working in a slaughterhouse. The teen was orphaned at a young age and living in poverty and despair. Now, a young man, he has now found purpose in pursuing his dream to become Uganda’s first Major League Baseball player. His coach and family are using TikTok to get him there.

A diptych of barefoot person holding a broken shovel, left, and a baseball player running the bases barefoot
Dennis Kasumba, left, shovels cow manure to earn money to feed his grandmother and siblings. At right, a player runs the bases barefoot in Guyaza, Uganda
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A young man is framed behind silhouetted netting.
With aspirations of becoming an major leaguer, Dennis Kasumba takes a break during batting practice. Kasumba works out twice a day and sometimes eats only one meal a day.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Is a $55,000 payment enough to leave a rent-controlled apartment? A community of low cost-housing tenants says no to such a cash-for-keys offer. As the Los Angeles rental market soars, such sums still put affordable housing out of reach for many working families.

A man is framed in the window of an apartment, with a downtown L.A. in the distance.
Pedro Villegas live with his family in an apartment on Vin Scully Avenue. The residents of neighboring complexes near Dodger Stadium have received cash-for-keys offers by developers, but they’ve refused.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
A boy hangs upside down from a bunk bed, while a man sits at the computer on the right
Emiliano Rodriguez-Donantonio, 5, hangs upside down from a bunk bed while his uncle Salvador Donantonio works at a computer in the living room of their family’s Los Angeles home.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
A woman sits at a kitchen table with plates of food in front of her. A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs on the wall.
Elvira Rincon has lived in her apartment near Dodger Stadium for more than three decades, raising her children and now her grandchildren.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

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After a 15 years of calm, talks between leaders of the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached an impasse, triggering a strike by the WGA. On Tuesday, the writers picked up picket signs and took to the pavement in front of all major movie and TV studios in L.A. and New York to demand better pay from streaming and improved working conditions. Take a look at scenes from the strike and find out how it could disrupt Hollywood. The current writers’ strike is just the latest in Hollywood. Since the 1950s, writers have gone on strike eight times.

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Left, a group of protesters with picket signs, and, at right, a man with raised fist and chants holding a sign
Striking Writers Guild of America workers picket outside the Sunset Bronson Studios in Hollywood. Right, Cheech Manohar, a writer and actor, strikes with other members of the Writers Guild of America outside NBCUniversal Studios in Universal City.
(Luis Sinco; Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
A billboard for a Netflix show hangs on a building across the street where protesters walk a picket line along a building
A billboard for a Netflix show hangs from a building overlooking Writers Guild of America members walking a picket line in front of Bronson Sunset Studios in Hollywood, where Netflix leases production and office space.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
WGA members walk the picket line on the first day of their strike in front of Paramount Studios in Hollywood
WGA members were out in force in front of Paramount Studios in Hollywood on the first day of their strike Tuesday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Most California colleges don’t offer rape kits on campus and students are demanding better access to care, lobbying politicians and putting pressure on university administrators to create more on-campus treatment for sexual violence. A new sexual assault forensic exam site at UC Irvine is a potential model for better systemic access.

Two students stand side by side, leaning against a stone wall behind them, looking at the camera.
UCLA students Georgia Lavery Van Parijs, left, and Julianne Lempert want all college campuses to provide sexual assault forensic exams.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Purple light reflects off a person holding a flashlight-like device in a darkened room.
Nurse Malinda Wheeler at the UC Irvine forensic exam site demonstrates a special light used to identify bodily fluids in sexual assault investigations.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Last Saturday marked the beginning of a new trout fishing season. Despite record snowfall that left some favorite areas inaccessible, anglers turned out before sunrise in the Eastern Sierra to stake out their spots.

Frame in a low-angle a man bends over two hooked fish standing near trees, as sun rises on the horizon.
Bill Waters hooks up his second trout of the morning in Bishop as the sun rises above the White Mountains.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A woman casts a line in a lake surrounded by snowy mountains
An angler casts her line on an ice-free patch of water Saturday at the outlet of Convict Lake.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Family, friends and fellow Los Angeles police officers gathered at the LAPD’s Wall of Honor downtown on Wednesday for a commemorative ceremony honoring the 239 officers who have died in the line of duty.

Police officers, families and friends of fallen officers assemble near LAPD headquarters. City Hall is behind.
Fellow officers, families and friends assemble with roses in their hands at a ceremony to honor the 239 LAPD officers who have died in the line of duty outside police headquarters on Wednesday.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman cries while seated in a row of people; all wearing black.
Claudi Membreno, center, and Jose Arroyos, second from left, parents of fallen Officer Fernando Arroyos, at the ceremony.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Coachella who? While the last notes of the popular music festival were still echoing in the ears of concertgoers, the festival grounds — Indio’s Empire Polo Club — were again full of music. Last weekend, thousands of fans attended the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which is billed as “country music’s biggest party.”

A man stands atop an RV raising an American flag as friends cool off in a portable pool with a Ferris wheel in the distance
Tyler Black of San Diego stands atop an RV raising an American flag while friends cool off in their annual Stagecoach camp pool at the beginning of the three-day country music festival in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Lighted by blue and magenta color a couple dances, holding hands, among other people.
Country music fans dance at the K-Frog & KSON Dance Party in the Dome at Stagecoach 2023.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
At left, palms trees and two figure silhouettes are framed against sunset sky; at right, a young woman smiles
At left, fans watch Melissa Etheridge perform as the sun sets on the first day of the Stagecoach festival. Right, a concertgoer watches Parker McCollum perform on the last day of the three-day event at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Three women in cowboy boots, hats and shorts ride an electric bike on the Stagecoach campground.
Young women ride an electric bike through the Stagecoach campground on Saturday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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And finally, an opportunity to enjoy a moment of peace, joining this couple enjoying fragrant warm breezes on a hike along a winding path through the lush hills of Chino Hills State Park.

A couple huddled together under sun umbrella past a windmill on stilts; walking on a winding path between lush hills
A couple hikes past a windmill to view the superbloom of California poppies, black nustard and other wildflowers blooming at Chino Hills State Park.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Silvia Rázgová

Silvia Rázgová is a former photo editor at the Los Angeles Times. She joined The Times in 2022 after previously working for the newspaper and other publications as a freelance photographer. Born in Slovakia, she immigrated to the United States in 2000 and continued her education, receiving a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After working as a contract photojournalist for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, Rázgová became a staff photographer at the National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where she covered daily news, documentary projects, and features for nearly five years. In 2016, she moved to Los Angeles working on commissions as a photojournalist and continued to photograph projects in the UAE and Slovakia. In her personal work she explores the themes of home, loss, belonging and poignancy of life.

Times Photography Staff

The award-winning Los Angeles Times’ photo staff works across Southern California, the state, the nation and the world to bring readers images that inform and inspire daily. A complete list of the Visual Journalism staff can be found on the Newsroom Directory. Recent galleries can be seen on our photography page.

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