Today: Trump Tosses the Paris Accord, but We’ll Always Have Pittsburgh

President Trump announces that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.

June 2, 2017 5 AM PT

President Trump is happy with pulling out of the Paris climate accord. The mayor of Pittsburgh isn’t. 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.

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Trump Tosses the Paris Accord, but We’ll Always Have Pittsburgh

“A reassertion of America’s sovereignty.” That’s how President Trump described his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, couching it as a raw deal that caused others to “start laughing at us as a country.” And, he declared, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Never mind that the mayor of Pittsburgh joined a 50-city coalition, including L.A. and New York, that pledged to adhere to the Paris agreement’s guidelines. They’re not alone: Gov. Jerry Brown, who is now America’s unofficial climate change ambassador, is heading to China today for a series of meetings, and several executives expressed their dismay, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s Robert Iger, who both quit White House advisory councils. As for the timing of a pullout, it’s expected to take almost four years to complete, which means we already have one campaign issue for 2020.

More Politics

-- Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to revive his temporary ban on foreigners arriving from six majority-Muslim nations.

-- With an eye toward a Mideast peace deal, Trump put off his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

-- Get to know Nigel Farage, the British politician reported to be a “person of interest” in the Russia probe.

John Dean Has Some Advice for Trump

John Dean has been portrayed as a hero and an arch-villain in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon. Today he’s an in-demand commentator on Trump and one of his harshest critics. Times writer Mark Z. Barabak sat down with Dean in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel to get his take on Nixon versus Trump and to find out what advice Dean has for the current president.

They Toil in the Fields but Are Told to Get Out of Town

The strawberries you find at the market didn’t get into those clear plastic boxes by themselves; a farmworker had to select and place the fruit inside. Last year, California recruited more than 11,000 guest workers, according to an L.A. Times analysis, mostly to pick strawberries or cut lettuce. But while Californians enjoy the fruits of their labor, some don’t want the workers living next door, which means the laborers end up in seedy roadside hotels or cramped housing.

Helping the Homeless Is Easier Budgeted Than Done

Amid L.A.’s worsening homeless crisis, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s 2016-17 budget called for spending an unprecedented $138 million to address the problem. But as the fiscal year enters its final month, the city has spent about half that figure on services and programs for homeless people, including housing, shelter beds and outreach workers. What’s the holdup? Read on.

Dispatch From Palmyra’s Ruins: Battered but Some Still Stand

The storied ruins of Palmyra, Syria, suffered massive damage when Islamic State occupied the city not once but twice. The good news is that they have not been completely obliterated, as Times foreign correspondent Patrick J. McDonnell reports. He and special correspondent Liliana Nieto del Rio were among the first Western journalists to survey the destruction, even as Islamic State militants remain within striking range. In Palmyra, they met an archaeologist with “the world’s saddest job.”

When a Teen Led the ‘Charge!’ at Dodger Stadium

Donna Parker fondly remembers three summer months in 1972, when she was 15 years old. Longtime Dodgers fans reminisce about her vacation too. After all, the Baldwin Park High School sophomore served as the Dodger Stadium organist at the time. Forty-five years later, columnist Bill Plaschke caught up with Parker about how the Dodgers took her out to the ballgame as a child prodigy.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

On this date in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a Westminster Abbey ceremony attended by more than 7,000 people. Hundreds of thousands more lined the streets. But when she was born, she wasn’t expected to ascend to the throne. Listen to her first speech and see her coronation in this timeline.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Breakthrough! A monstrous tunnel-boring machine sees daylight in downtown L.A.

-- Five questions with “Nashville” actress Connie Britton.

-- The magic of going to the movies: Times film writers talk about their first movie experiences.

CALIFORNIA

-- The single-payer healthcare plan advanced in the state Senate, but without a way to pay its $400-billion tab.

-- Why has Inglewood kept details of a fatal police shooting top secret, even after the five officers involved left the force?

-- New research has found that a fault under the heart of San Diego can produce stronger and more frequent earthquakes than previously thought.

-- A group of artists will take over Mt. Wilson Observatory for science-inspired exhibitions and a performance this weekend.

YOUR WEEKEND

-- Evan Kleiman offers this pasta PSA: Please don’t buy terrible supermarket fresh pasta.

-- Kids shouldn’t have all the fun. Here are eight summer camps for adults. Ready to stomp some grapes?

-- This is why you’re seeing more purple at the supermarket.

-- Baked apple, green tea and not so plain vanilla: 19 recipes for ice cream.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- The Eagles are calling on family and Vince Gill to carry on without Glenn Frey for a bicoastal music festival.

-- Netflix has canceled its big-budget sci-fi series “Sense8” after two seasons.

NATION-WORLD

-- A gunman stormed a casino in Manila and torched gambling tables in a crowded space, creating a choking level of smoke that killed at least 36 people, authorities said.

-- Fifteen children have died in a botched measles vaccination campaign in South Sudan. The deaths are blamed on human error.

-- Russian President Vladimir Putin said some “patriotically minded” volunteer hackers may have acted on their own to influence the election in the U.S.

-- Even before the train killings, Portland, Ore., was embroiled in conflicts over hate and racism.

-- Scientists have detected the signal from a cataclysmic collision between two black holes that lie 3 billion light-years away, much farther than previous discoveries.

BUSINESS

-- Interpreters play a vital role in immigration courts, but the National Labor Relations Board says the interpreters’ rights are being violated.

-- How can payday lenders charge an annual interest rate of 460% for a two-week loan? Because they aren’t subject to California’s usury law.

SPORTS

-- Kevin Durant led the Golden State Warriors to a 113-91 victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

-- Jerry West remains unabashed in his affection for the Lakers and even admits that a part of him still yearns to work for the team.

OPINION

-- Pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord is the clearest evidence yet that Trump is turning the U.S. into a force for bad in the world.

-- Al Franken hates all those “no joke” headlines about him.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A former acting and deputy CIA director gives his take on the Jared Kushner story. (The Cipher Brief)

-- In 2016, Tom Price purchased pharmaceutical stocks, then went on an overseas trip to push for trade protections for drug companies. (ProPublica)

-- This podcast features a documentary filmmaker who follows a real-life exorcist in search of evil. (KCRW)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Memorial Day marked the unofficial start of summer, but Yosemite’s Half Dome still has winter hiking conditions. Even if you wait for the snow and ice to melt, though, you’ll need to enter a lottery to obtain a permit to make it all the way to the top — something Ansel Adams didn’t have to worry about.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.

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