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Newsletter: Today: Can California Drive the Climate Change Fight?

Marchers gather at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco for the "Rise For Climate" event on Sept. 8. Climate change experts from around the world will gather this week in the city for a summit hosted by California Gov. Jerry Brown.
Marchers gather at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco for the “Rise For Climate” event on Sept. 8. Climate change experts from around the world will gather this week in the city for a summit hosted by California Gov. Jerry Brown.
(Amy Osborne / AFP/Getty Images)
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An international climate change summit in San Francisco this week could establish a new dynamic in combating global warming.

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Can California Drive the Climate Change Fight?

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Leaders from around the world will be in San Francisco today through Friday for a summit on combating climate change. Gov. Jerry Brown, who is hosting the meeting, says it was conceived after the Paris accord was signed in 2015, when it was assumed the United States would take the lead in the global warming fight. Since then, President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the agreement and sought policies that undermine its goals. The summit will serve as a key test of whether California can lead the country and the world on the subject when Congress and the White House won’t. The biggest challenge: trying to meet the goal of killing off the production of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035.

Opening Hearts and Doors

Much has been written about protests and legal fights in response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. But there’s another form of “resistance” quietly taking place: People in California and elsewhere are helping asylum seekers get out of detention and sponsoring them in their homes. “We are responding to this elevation of hatred and meanness that feels like it is allowed now in this administration,” said one Bay Area resident who took in a woman from El Salvador.

More Politics

-- With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas, Trump turned attention back to the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico a year ago, deeming it “incredibly successful” even though a recent federal report found that nearly 3,000 people died.

-- The president and First Lady Melania Trump joined an observance at a Sept. 11 memorial in a field near Shanksville, Pa., as the U.S. marked the 17th anniversary of the attacks.

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A crowd looks on at the Sept. 11 Flight 93 memorial service in Shanksville, Pa.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

-- The Irish government says Trump has canceled a planned trip to Ireland amid promises of demonstrations to protest his policies.

Jim Crow, Alive and Well in Louisiana

Nearly 140 years ago, Louisiana lawmakers passed a split jury rule that would become part of the state constitution that stands to this day. The idea then was to negate the influence of black jurors by requiring only 10 of 12 jurors to agree on a felony conviction. Today, advocates say, the law still has a disproportionate effect on minority defendants and jurors. In November, Louisiana residents will be able to vote to amend the Louisiana Constitution and require future juries to return unanimous verdicts.

Shaken by Corruption

Mexico is considered a world leader in earthquake safety with its strict building codes. But when a magnitude 7.1 quake hit Mexico City nearly a year ago, dozens of buildings collapsed and 228 people died. A new report by the nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity says many of the structures that fell had been shoddily constructed and wrongly deemed safe by building inspectors who looked the other way for financial gain.

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A Fight Over a Trail Follows an Odd Path

For years, residents have fought over access to a trail that cuts through the community of Lake Sherwood, a gated development near Thousand Oaks that has been home to celebrities including Sylvester Stallone and hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Then a dead deer mysteriously showed up on the trail. Now, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating.

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MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Oscar-winning producer-director Steve McQueen and co-writer Gillian Flynn discuss the heist thriller “Widows.”

CALIFORNIA

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-- Columnist Steve Lopez examines how taxpayers could foot the bill when coastal officials are accused of wrongdoing.

-- The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a temporary measure Tuesday that would limit rent increases in unincorporated areas to 3% annually and allow landlords to evict tenants only with justification.

-- Authorities arrested a suspect after police responded to reports of an active shooter at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Downey. The man is said to have thrown a chair through a window and produced a handgun.

-- Michael Grunstein, a longtime professor of biological chemistry at UCLA, has won the Albert Lasker award for basic medical research. The prize has been called the “American Nobel.”

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Director James Stern talks about his documentary “American Chaos,” which travels through the seething fervor of Trump territory. It opens Friday.

-- With the gay conversion therapy drama “Boy Erased,” writer, director and star Joel Edgerton hopes to stir hearts and change minds. We caught up with him at the Telluride Film Festival.

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-- The Time’s Up movement is calling on CBS to donate former Chief Executive Leslie Moonves’ $120-million severance to groups fighting sexual harassment.

-- Rapper Mac Miller is suspected to have died of an overdose, but toxicology tests will take weeks to confirm.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Barry White, who was born on this date in 1944, became famous for his erotically charged music. But the late singer insisted his private life was sedate: “What does Barry White do when he relaxes? I play video games. I love my fish. I deal with my dogs. I stay home. I spend time with my children. I’m not a party animal.”

NATION-WORLD

-- A study has found that shootings in the U.S. that involved a semiautomatic rifle resulted in nearly twice as many deaths compared with shootings carried out with only handguns, shotguns or non-semiautomatic rifles.

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-- Another suicide attack in Afghanistan has raised questions about the strength of the government and U.S.-led forces.

--With the Catholic Church in crisis, Pope Francis will meet Thursday at the Vatican with a delegation of American bishops who are demanding tough measures be taken in response to a new wave of clerical sex abuse allegations.

-- An alternative weekly newspaper in Montana, the Missoula Independent, was abruptly shut down Tuesday, the latest casualty in the troubled newspaper industry.

-- An Australian newspaper is defending an artist after his cartoon depicting Serena Williams was decried as racist.

BUSINESS

-- America’s malls are dying. Owners are hoping virtual reality, luxury health and fitness offerings and haute cuisine will save them.

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-- Apple’s new iPhone, being introduced today, may make it easier for consumers to switch networks.

SPORTS

-- In a friendly match in Nashville, the U.S. men’s soccer team defeated Mexico 1 to 0 in a fiery battle of youth.

-- Boxing trainer Abel Sanchez is funny, provocative and a reason Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez want to destroy each other.

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OPINION

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-- The House GOP is teeing up another round of tax cuts. Fiscal responsibility? Pffft.

-- California needs to take another look at its Catholic Church sexual abuse cases, writes columnist Gustavo Arellano.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Drivers who deliver packages for Amazon have some disturbing stories to tell about their working conditions. (Business Insider)

-- Actress Sally Field opens up about the abuse she endured as a child and her relationships as an adult. (New York Times)

-- Comedian Norm Macdonald is in hot water for saying he’s “happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit” and making other statements in this interview. (The Hollywood Reporter)

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ONLY IN L.A.

Hockey players are used to having repairs done to their faces. Usually it involves stitches. For new L.A. Kings player Ilya Kovalchuk this week, it involved makeup. The left winger with a three-year, $18.75-million contract was in a nondescript studio in Torrance shooting a humorous, Hollywood-themed video before training camp opens this week. He shoots, he scores? The Kings can only hope.

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