Newsletter: Today: Terror in Brussels, Another Round of Voting

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Terror in Brussels

Belgium has been described as ground zero for Islamic State networks in Europe. That assertion was proved true yesterday when at least 30 people died and scores were injured in the Belgian capital after terrorists set off bombs at Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek metro station. Islamic State has claimed that its “soldiers of the caliphate” are responsible for the attacks, which came four days after a suspect in November’s Paris massacre was caught in Brussels with a large cache of weapons. Here is our full coverage.

Molenbeek: Jihadi Capital or Black Sheep of the World?

It is a teeming working-class neighborhood in the heart of Belgium’s capital. It sits across a canal from a trendy neighborhood. Salah Abdeslam, accused in last year’s terror attacks in Paris, grew up here and was captured here. Many jihadists have called it home. But its advocates complain the neighborhood is being demonized, and a deputy in the Brussels Parliament worries about it becoming “the black sheep of the world.”

The Voting: Who Won?

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton rolled to big victories Tuesday in Arizona, bolstering each candidate’s case for their party’s nomination. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the Utah caucuses, the day’s other contest, and took all 40 delegates and slowed Trump’s progress before his lead becomes insurmountable. And Sen. Bernie Sanders notched wins in the Utah and Idaho caucuses.

Prisons With No Bars. Why Not in the U.S.?

Baz Dreisinger, an English professor who teaches college classes to inmates in New York, spent two years visiting prisons in nine countries to study penal reform. She went to Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, Jamaica, Australia and Norway, whose “open” prisons have no bars. “I think that a lot of people don’t realize how the U.S. in many ways invented the modern prison system,” said the author, who is discussing her book today at the Central Library in downtown L.A.

A Diner Spends Big on Sushi, but Leaves a Cold-Blooded Tip

At a Studio City sushi joint on Sunday, a 46-year-man shelled out $200 but was kicked out when he displayed a small snake to other diners. Defiant, the reptile enthusiast returned with a much larger snake — a 13-foot python — and sent customers fleeing, witnesses say. Turns out it was not his first reptile-related incident. There was that unpleasantness with the Gila monster lizards some years back...

CALIFORNIA

— The L.A. City Council approves a pair of towers near the Hollywood Palladium.

— A jury acquits in the corruption case against a former council aide and his wife.

— Long Beach aquarium plans a $53-million expansion.

NATION-WORLD

— Belgian police have identified two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the Brussels Airport as brothers who had police records but until now had not been linked to terrorism.

— In the Middle East, condemnation and finger-pointing after the deadly Brussels attacks.

— President Obama goes to the ballpark in Cuba.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— Sarah Palin will become a pretend judge on TV.

— Margot Robbie will star as figure skater Tonya Harding in the “I, Tonya” biopic.

BUSINESS

— David Lazarus: Airlines are scuttling bereavement fares.

— Time Warner Cable lowers the price of its Dodgers channel.

SPORTS

— Will soccer eclipse baseball in Cuba?

— UCLA’s Dan Guerrero: “We’re not all about a coaching carousel.”

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— Journey to Jihad. (The New Yorker)

— The Violent Remaking of Appalachia. (The Atlantic)

— Should parents of children with severe disabilities be allowed to stop their growth? (The New York Times)

ONLY IN L.A.

For years, the raucous parties at Danny Fitzgerald’s Hollywood Hills homes were a sore spot with neighbors. They complained of the noise, of a lion, even an elephant. Fitzgerald says he tried to make nice with neighbors, and blamed a real estate agent who rented his lavish properties to a hard-partying crowd. This week, Fitzgerald sued a Saudi prince who rented his Weidlake Drive home last August. Fitzgerald claims the prince left behind $86,000 in property damage. Among the incidents alleged in the complaint: A party with more than 800 people, featuring strippers dancing on kitchen countertops. “Here I am putting my reputation back together and then he just destroys it in one month,” Fitzgerald says.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.