Newsletter: Today: Paying Respects to the Queen of Soul
Remembering the force of nature that was Aretha Franklin.
TOP STORIES
Paying Respects to the Queen of Soul
Ever since the news came that Aretha Franklin was seriously ill, the tributes to the Queen of Soul began filling social media and many fond memories were shared. When she passed Thursday, there was an even greater outpouring of observances from music icons as well as a poignant tribute from former President Obama. Franklin not only took soul music to its creative and commercial pinnacle (while keeping her turbulent private life out of the spotlight), but also inspired generations of singers, was an accomplished pianist and a master of the modern viral video, showed her opera chops at the Grammys and even once called the L.A. Times to explain a line from the song “Respect.”
Will Trump Remake the 9th Circuit?
Reshaping the liberal-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has long been a Republican goal. Yet as President Trump has appointed a slew of young, conservative judges to the nation’s appellate courts, the bench out West has been a different matter. The Senate has confirmed only one 9th Circuit judge since Trump took office, and seven openings remain. Now there are signs Trump could be setting his sights on those slots. A bruising battle with Democrats would be sure to follow.
More Politics
-- Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman released an audio recording to back up her claim that Trump’s campaign offered her a high-paying job to stay quiet.
-- The Trump administration is close to striking a deal with Mexico on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement, analysts said, but thorny issues are yet to be resolved with Canada.
-- The Veterans Day military parade ordered by Trump won’t happen this year. The news came after a report that the parade would cost about $92 million, more than three times the maximum initial estimate.
A Tax Law of Unintended Consequences
Eight years after 1978’s Proposition 13 reshaped the property tax landscape, California gave homeowners another break: the ability to pass their low property taxes to children through inheritance. The idea was to keep people in their family homes. A Times data analysis shows that many of those who inherit property use these houses as investments, especially in upscale communities such as Malibu, Playa del Rey and Manhattan Beach. The tax breaks mean school districts, cities and counties lose out on billions of dollars.
A Double Whammy of Heat
What’s to blame for this summer’s punishing heat waves that are breaking records not just on land, but also on the surface of coastal waters? Global warming? The old familiar weather patterns? Scientists say it’s both. “What we’re seeing now is the atmosphere doing what it has always done,” says one Columbia University researcher. “But it’s doing it in a warmer world, so the heat waves occurring today are hotter.”
One Step Toward Transparency
After decades as one of the most secretive states in protecting police misconduct records, California appears one step closer to shedding some light on those files. An effort to make some internal law enforcement investigations open to the public cleared a key hurdle in the Legislature on Thursday. Police unions, which have long argued that the rules protect officer safety and privacy, have vowed to fight it.
Sign up to get Today’s Headlines delivered to your inbox. »
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
Until the Dodgers arrived in 1958, Wrigley Field was the home of Los Angeles baseball. It was designed to look like Chicago’s famed field, with some notable exceptions, such as a California-style exterior with red roof and white façade. But this hitter’s dream, located where Gilbert Lindsay Park is today, would face the wrecking ball in 1969.
MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- Aretha Franklin talks about her hit song “Respect” and her love of music in a 2008 interview.
CALIFORNIA
-- A rare “fire tornado” that barreled into Redding during the destructive Carr fire was responsible for killing a firefighter, an investigation has found.
-- The state Legislature could soon end money bail, but some of the criminal justice reform groups that worked toward that goal aren’t celebrating.
-- Dave Dave, an artist disfigured since childhood after his father set him afire at a Buena Park motel, has died at age 42.
-- L.A. officials moved to ban rental scooters in March. So why are they everywhere?
YOUR WEEKEND
-- Want your own Dumbo from Disneyland? An authentic Skyway car? Park history is headed to an auction.
-- Get out and grill: 29 great burger recipes, including our version of In-N-Out.
-- At this insiders’ tour of the Hotel Figueroa, you can tag along with the architects behind its most recent face-lift.
-- Some Las Vegas resorts are adding a 20% fee to spa and salon services. That’s supposed to be relaxing?!
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- In the film “Juliet, Naked,” Ethan Hawke brings the charm, and Rose Byrne brings the pathos.
-- Also for your filmgoing consideration: “Madeline’s Madeline” is an explosively creative cinematic portrait of a teenage actress.
-- Ouch: Fox News apologized for using an image of Patti LaBelle during its coverage of Aretha Franklin’s death.
NATION-WORLD
-- The Vatican expressed “shame and sorrow” about a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy it says raped and molested children in six dioceses.
-- Trump’s sanctions on Iran are already having harsh effects, and Iranians worry the worst is yet to come.
-- As China and Taiwan spar, a tiny coffee bean business is thriving amid the bitter political dispute.
-- Beads, booze and babies? New Orleans’ French Quarter debates whether to become more family friendly.
BUSINESS
-- In soybean country, Trump’s trade war with China is testing farmers’ patience and nerves.
-- It’s no mystery why Americans are abandoning their cable subscriptions, but who exactly is responsible? Start with Netflix, Disney and the Dodgers.
SPORTS
-- Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been suspended for two games for “fighting and inciting a bench-clearing incident” in a game against the San Francisco Giants.
-- Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is preaching a message of better days ahead, and as columnist Helene Elliott writes, fans are believing.
OPINION
-- Here’s why the L.A. Times didn’t participate in Thursday’s nationwide editorial page protest against Trump’s attacks on the media. Many readers wished we had.
-- The San Onofre nuclear plant is a “Fukushima waiting to happen.”
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, tells Trump: “I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well.” (Washington Post)
-- Geologist Gerta Keller has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that dinosaur extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by volcanic eruptions. (The Atlantic)
-- Retro video games and the psychology of nostalgia. (The Conversation)
ONLY IN L.A.
Gloria Putnam was trained as a physicist and spent years working in the semiconductor industry. A decade ago, she bought two goats. “I thought, how do you get fresh milk? I was totally naïve,” she says. Today, she runs a 70-acre goat farm in the Angeles National Forest and spends her days making cheese, hosting farmstay guests and tending to the herd and a menagerie of other animals.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
