Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik has written for the Los Angeles Times for more than 40 years. His business column appears in print every Sunday and Wednesday, and occasionally on other days. Hiltzik and colleague Chuck Philips shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry. His seventh book, “Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America,” was published in 2020. His latest book, “The Golden State,” is a history of California. Follow him on Bluesky at hiltzikm.bsky.social, on X at twitter.com/hiltzikm and on Facebook at facebook.com/hiltzik.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames the Democrats for the air travel chaos, but while in Congress he voted against funds for the FAA.
- Voices
Hiltzik: Crypto was already in bad odor before jumping into bed with Trump. Now it smells worse
Trump’s cryptocurrency deals have even Republicans getting concerned about the potential — and possibly the reality — of conflicts of interest and unconstitutional transactions.
With his tariff ‘deals,’ President Trump leaves international trade relationships even more unsettled than before.
With a demand that vaccine boosters be tested against placebos, RFK Jr. puts an old antivaccine claim at the forefront of government health policy.
Red states are responding to employer complaints about a tight labor market by loosening their child labor laws, exposing youngsters to hazardous work and longer hours.
Does it really matter that California’s economy is the fourth largest in the world, since California isn’t an independent country?
Republicans are plotting to cut the federal match for Medicaid expansion, which could cost states as much as $600 billion and leave 20 million Americans uninsured.
Colossal Biosciences’ claim to have achieved the ‘de-extinction’ of the dire wolf has been questioned by geneticists, but the media swallowed the claim whole.
- Voices
Hiltzik: RFK Jr.’s views on autism show that anti-science myths are rampant at the agency he leads
At his recent news conference, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spewed a firehose of falsity about autism. Experts in the condition are appalled.
From Mr. Mulliner to Bertie and Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse’s creations make me laugh out loud. In today’s world, that’s gold