Newsletter: Today: A Mile-Long Dive Through Peril

In northern Thailand, a dangerous rescue operation continues.

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A Mile-Long Dive Through Peril

The journey is harrowing: It begins with a more than one-mile dive through narrow passageways filled with muddy water. The water flows so fast in some places that even experienced divers have had to turn back. One former Thai Navy SEAL died Friday. But with time running down, storm waters threatening to rise and no consensus on an alternative, rescuers have begun leading some of the dozen boys trapped in a flooded northern Thai cave through that route. Four emerged Sunday, with a second group slated for today. The ordeal for the boys and their soccer coach began more than two weeks ago.

The Fog of Diplomacy

To hear Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo tell it, his two days of negotiations in North Korea late last week over Pyongyang’s nuclear disarmament were “productive.” To hear North Korea’s Foreign Ministry tell it, the U.S. made “unilateral, gangster-like” demands that could “rattle our willingness for denuclearization.” Though Pompeo has insisted he heard a different tune behind closed doors, the conflicting statements have only underscored the complex path that lies ahead.

More Politics

-- President Trump plans to announce his next Supreme Court nominee at 6 p.m. Pacific. Meanwhile, Democrats have started a Hail Mary campaign to block the pick.

-- Affordable Care Act insurers are facing new uncertainty that could drive up premiums or push companies to stop offering coverage, after the Trump administration’s latest move to cut off subsidies.

-- With Russia a looming presence to the East, Poland has looked to NATO for security. Some Poles worry Trump’s upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin could take a too-friendly turn.

A Separated Child’s Life in New York City

When the Trump administration separated migrant children from their parents at the border, the kids were often sent far away. At least 350 to 600 of them arrived in New York City and its suburbs, according to estimates by city and consular officials. Their days are spent inside classrooms at a yellow-brick building in East Harlem. By evening, they return to foster parents, who say they try to give the kids a sense of normality. “They cry, but you just have to give them more love and attention,” says one foster mom.

The Heat Dissipates, but the Heartbreak Remains

Southern California is finally getting some relief after days of stifling heat and destructive fires. Amid a heat wave that peaked Friday and continued to set records in many places over the weekend, several fires broke out. Perhaps the most destructive of them was the Holiday fire in Goleta, which destroyed 10 homes and nine other structures in what has become a familiar litany of terror and loss in Santa Barbara County. On Sunday, the fire was 80% contained, with full containment expected by Wednesday. Crews were also working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers. For the rest of the week, the forecast is still hot — just not as oppressively so.

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OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

-- “They framed me”: Kevin Cooper, convicted in 1985 of murdering four people in Chino Hills and sentenced to death, is pushing for new DNA tests.

-- As people in Compton and Willowbrook are finding out, abolishing a water district isn’t easy, even when it’s accused of nepotism, mismanagement and delivering brown water.

-- Gang injunctions, once a key tool in fighting crime in California, are falling by the wayside after recent court orders. Police are now having to rethink how they use them.

-- Beyond “Black Panther”: Oakland is having a Hollywood moment thanks to a wave of homegrown filmmakers.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Scenes from the wildfire in Goleta, one of several blazes that destroyed homes amid a record-setting heat wave in Southern California.

-- A wave along Oahu’s North Shore killed Amber Mozo’s father 13 years ago. Now she returns to the same waters to honor his photo legacy.

CALIFORNIA

-- A Northrop Grumman spokesman says a systems engineer in Redondo Beach who is suspected of being a member of a white supremacist organization and participating in a violent rally in Charlottesville, Va., is no longer employed at the company.

-- An investigation has found that two Los Angeles Trade-Technical College administrators received a combined $157,000 from a federal grant but failed to prove the work they did for it was outside their regular duties.

-- Outside funders, including Eli Broad’s foundation, are giving the L.A. Unified School District under new Supt. Austin Beutner a $3-million vote of confidence. He’s not faring so well with the teachers union, though.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- The second season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” is ending Wednesday, and TV critic Lorraine Ali says it’s mirrored today’s headlines with chilling accuracy, especially for a show made months in advance.

-- At the box office, Disney-Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” reigned supreme while Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2”surpassed the $500-million mark in North America alone.

-- With a little help from his friends, Ringo Starr celebrated his 78th birthday with a “Peace and Love” event in Nice, France.

-- At 97, artist Luchita Hurtado is the hot discovery of the Hammer Museum’s “Made in LA” biennial.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

It took French director Claude Lanzmann seven years to film the 1985 documentary “Shoah” in 14 countries and an additional five years to edit it down from 350 hours of footage into a nearly 10-hour film about the Holocaust. In the process, he changed the genre. More important, as film critic Kenneth Turan writes in this appreciation of Lanzmann, who died last week at 92, is that he “took one of the most unimaginable events in modern history and helped us come to grips with it in a way that would not seem possible for those who had not been personally involved.”

NATION-WORLD

-- The Japanese government says at least 100 people have died or are presumed dead from heavy rains, floods and mudslides that have struck western Japan.

-- A woman who was poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent in southwestern England has died, eight days after police think she touched a contaminated item.

-- In Brazil, judges have issued contradicting orders on whether former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should be freed while he appeals a 12-year prison sentence for money laundering and corruption.

-- Two U.S. warships passed through the strait separating Taiwan from mainland China, shining new attention on improving Taipei-Washington relations despite Chinese irritation.

-- Photo essay: As the lava continues to flow from the Kilauea volcano, it’s creating a ghostly spectacle on Hawaii’s Big Island.

BUSINESS

-- The 30% U.S. tariffs on imported solar panels show such measures can have unpredictable consequences that can disrupt an industry.

-- The rise of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft is forcing Southern California parking companies to adapt or die. Some are turning their lots into pumpkin patches at Halloween.

SPORTS

-- Travis Pastrana jumped the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Sunday, just like Evel Knievel did in 1967. For many, it was a blast from the past.

-- Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue plans to meet with Lakers coaches to discuss how to work with LeBron James. “LeBron’s not the problem,” Lue says. “It’s the outside tension that’s the problem.”

OPINION

-- When people die in police custody, respectful interaction with grieving families would seem to be a given. Too often, it is not.

-- Readers want to know: What’s the point of civil discourse when one side refuses to accept the truth?

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- American officials’ objection to an international breast-feeding initiative, including threats of punishment to would-be sponsor Ecuador, has stunned world health officials. (New York Times)

-- “On its face, I broke one of the cardinal rules of journalism, but what he was doing should cause a source to lose protection”: why a national security blogger revealed a source to the FBI and became a witness in the Russia investigation. (Washington Post)

-- To take pictures of buildings, this man drove more than 100,000 miles across 44 states and six Canadian provinces between 1977 and 1996. Here are some of his images. (Atlas Obscura)

ONLY IN L.A.

In the Golden Era of Hollywood, they had style and they had grace. They also had a lot of stuff. That’s where California’s oldest moving company came into the picture, with a client list that included Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and extends through to some of today’s stars. The company even moved Ronald Reagan and family into the White House — and has a warehouse of crates that resembles the final scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

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