Today: The Final Primary Countdown. America’s Muslim Hero.
I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.
TOP STORIES
The Final Primary Countdown
In the last weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s primary, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders offered a contrast in styles. Both barnstormed the state: Sanders with his big rallies decrying the “rigged economy” and outings to the Santa Monica Pier and In-N-Out, Clinton with her speeches attacking Trump and policy discussions with locals in Santa Ana and the Bay Area. But as Cathleen Decker writes, where Clinton really tried to set herself apart was in the optimism department. We couldn’t tell if Sanders knew about In-N-Out’s secret menu.
Fit to Judge? Not Muslims and Latinos, in Trump’s Book
It’s only June, but GOP leaders are fretting about what November may bring. The fear: Donald Trump might damage Republican candidates across the nation if he doesn’t tone things down. So far, he’s not – by insisting that a Latino judge can’t preside fairly over a fraud lawsuit because of his ethnicity, and then by saying it’s possible a Muslim judge might not treat him fairly either.
More From the Campaign Trail
-- Clinton wins the Puerto Rico primary, and is on the verge of locking up enough delegates for the nomination.
-- In California, Clinton looks to black voters to offset losses among millennials and independents voting for Sanders.
-- The Latino judge attacked by Trump battled Mexican drug cartels as a federal prosecutor.
A Great American … and Muslim Hero
The Louisville Lip. The People’s Champ. The Greatest. Cassius Clay. Muhammad Ali. All the names only begin to hint at the figure he cut inside and outside the boxing ring. “I am America,” Ali once said. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me.” The world did. And now it mourns him. Here’s our look back at the man for whom “Impossible is nothing.”
More About Ali
-- He was the greatest, but his greatest fights took a lot out of him.
-- He defied the draft, and polarized the nation, five decades ago.
-- Commentary: America’s first and last Muslim hero.
Too Insane to Execute?
Ronnie McPeters killed a 27-year-old aspiring model at a Fresno hot dog stand in 1984 after she refused to give him a handout. He’s been on death row for decades. He’s also been found to be mentally ill. Now, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris’ office has asked the state Supreme Court to convert his sentence to life in prison, arguing he will always be too gravely disabled to execute. If the court agrees, it could open the door for more like him –despite the objections of victims’ families. Take a closer look at the questions surrounding the issue and the cases of 20 on death row.
A Doctor’s Dilemma: The Aid-in-Dying Law
On Thursday, the End of Life Option Act will take effect in California: It allows patients with less than six months to live to request their doctors for drugs to end their own lives. But physicians aren’t under any obligation to do so, and it’s forcing them to discuss how to navigate a once-taboo topic. “We have always, up till now, been able to say we will never hasten a death,” says one. “Suddenly, that bright line is not so bright.”
Can’t Stop That Loving Feeling
Mildred and Richard Loving got married in 1958, but in their home state of Virginia, they were convicted for marrying outside their races. It wasn’t until nine years later that the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state bans on interracial marriage were unconstitutional. To mark the anniversary of Loving Day on June 12, we’ve been asking readers to submit their own stories. Here is a selection of them so far.
OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND
-- Quick action by professors kept the UCLA gunman from escaping and potentially shooting more people.
-- “Where We Find Ourselves”: Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem on the shooting at UCLA.
-- Prosecutors release a moving 12-page statement from a woman raped by a former Stanford swimmer.
-- Steve Lopez: Is Gov. Jerry Brown about to condo the coast? Find out in the latest Cali-Novela episode of “One Shore, Many Sharks.”
-- That little section of the L.A. River someone inherited might actually be worth something.
-- From useful to wasteful: How utility ratepayers have borne the brunt of failed projects.
-- The summer music scene gets a jolt of L.A.’s rock legacy with Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Prophets of Rage.
-- In San Ignacio Lagoon, the whales are so close you could kiss them, or at least try.
CALIFORNIA
-- No clear front-runner has emerged in the race for the L.A. County supervisor seat being vacated by Michael D. Antonovich.
-- A watchdog report finds that LAPD jailers didn’t conduct proper cell checks 8 times out of 10.
-- Dozens attend a reburial ceremony for a girl whose grave was left behind in the Bay Area and discovered about 150 years later.
NATION-WORLD
-- Okinawans grapple with the death of a woman allegedly killed by a former U.S. Marine.
-- Two Southern California residents were among nine soldiers killed in an accident at Ft. Hood last week.
-- A tiny museum in Hong Kong fights to reclaim the memory of the Tiananmen Square uprising.
-- Islamic State’s Syrian capital becomes the prize in an international fight for legitimacy.
-- “Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal”: The Philippines’ president-elect urges the public to kill drug dealers.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- “UnREAL” goes where reality TV dares not tread in its second season.
-- In pianist Vadym Kholodenko, talent and tragedy mix.
-- Megan Fox tackles the truth behind the pyramids and the “brainwashed” public.
-- “The Little Mermaid” at the Hollywood Bowl: Diving into the scene.
-- Emilia Clarke trades dragons for tragedy in the romantic weepie “Me Before You.”
BUSINESS
-- The economic recovery just turned 7 years old, and here’s why it feels so weak.
-- Michael Hiltzik: When universities try to behave like businesses, education suffers.
SPORTS
-- The Warriors win Game 2 of the NBA Finals in another blowout, and the Cavaliers lose Kevin Love to injury.
-- Santa Anita trainer Phil D’Amato is putting Wild About Deb in the Belmont Stakes. It’s just one big event in his life.
OPINION
-- It’s almost over! For now. Here are The Times’ endorsements.
-- Don’t panic, Democrats, Clinton will beat Trump.
-- Harambe the gorilla dies, and meat-eaters grieve.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- The mayor of London says he’ll miss coffee the most during Ramadan. (The Guardian)
-- Some private, nonprofit museums are getting a closer look from the federal government. (The Art Newspaper)
-- Deadlines, schmedlines: It took this writer 47 years to turn in his magazine manuscript. (Scientific American)
ONLY IN L.A.
Nine floors above the Miracle Mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard, a man threatened to jump. For two hours, a police psychologist, a chaplain and others tried to coax him down, while a crowd started to chant “Go! Go!” and “Jump!” Then, a two-tone brown Rolls-Royce arrived, and out sprang Muhammad Ali. Read on to see how Ali talked the man off the ledge on a January day in 1981.
Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
