Today’s Headlines: Vaccines could be required for eligible LAUSD students

Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

All eligible LAUSD students would have to be vaccinated by January

All Los Angeles public school children 12 and older would have to be fully vaccinated by January to enter campus — sooner for students involved in many extracurricular activities — under a proposal to be voted on Thursday by the Board of Education.

If approved as expected, the requirement would catapult the L.A. Unified School District into the forefront of school systems nationwide with the most sweeping and aggressive safety measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nation’s second-largest school system has moved faster and more comprehensively than most others, testing all students and employees for infection every week, requiring masks indoors and outdoors and ordering employees to get vaccinated.

The special meeting was posted shortly after the school board emerged from a closed session Wednesday for which the only listed item was “anticipated litigation.”

More top coronavirus headlines

— A drumbeat of chants criticizing vaccine and mask mandates carried into the unusually sparse hallways on Wednesday at the state Capitol, where lawmakers were wrapping up the final week of their legislative session without the bills that hundreds came to Sacramento to protest.

— The highly contagious Delta variant is showing signs of slowing in some parts of California but worsening in others. The Central Valley is becoming California’s COVID-19 hot spot, with hospitals filling and health officials raising alarms, saying things could get worse before they get better.

— Scientists and officials have long hoped full government approval of a COVID-19 vaccine would help allay stubborn concerns about the shots’ safety and perhaps trigger a new boost in inoculations, but so far, there hasn’t been an obvious uptick — nationally or in California.

For more, sign up for Coronavirus Today, a special edition of The Times’ Health and Science newsletter.

Frenemies no more. Kamala Harris stumps for Gavin Newsom.

A Newsom defeat in next week’s recall election would pose a significant problem for the Biden administration. It would put a Republican governor in charge of the biggest and arguably most progressive state — demoralizing Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

That doesn’t mean the competitive juices between Harris and Newsom have evaporated. “She may be getting a bit of amusement watching him suffer,” said a San Francisco Democrat who requested anonymity to discuss the pair’s fraught relationship.

“They wouldn’t be trying to recall him but for the fact that he has always stood for reproductive rights,” Harris said at a rally in San Leandro.

Hours after the rally with Harris, Newsom’s campaign released a 30-second ad featuring former President Obama, who told voters that Republicans are trying to recall the governor “and overturn common sense COVID safety measures for healthcare workers and school staff. “

More recall headlines

— Larry Elder cuts short Venice homeless encampment tour after hostile confrontation.

— Ballot collection is the hot-button topic no one wants to talk about. It was hotly debated in 2020, but now, during a potentially close recall election, both parties are downplaying their use of the method to maximize turnout on a short timeline.

— Larry Elder complained that The Times had never reviewed his books. So we did, like it or not.

Sign up for our California Politics newsletter to get the best of The Times’ state politics reporting, including full coverage of the recall election and the latest action in Sacramento.

How a California climate program lets companies keep polluting

California is leading the world in confronting climate change. Its push toward renewable electricity is inspiring other states and countries to step up their goals. The state’s strict rules on tailpipe emissions and its plans to ban sales of new gas-powered cars and SUVs by 2035 are forcing the auto industry to reckon with its outsized role in global warming.

Yet an opaque carbon trading scheme that is a linchpin of the state’s climate efforts — California is leaning on it to meet as much as half of its greenhouse gas reductions — is under serious strain at home even as it is getting copied far beyond California.

More climate news headlines

— A brutal summer of record heat and punishing drought has claimed yet another California victim: the majestic, snow-covered slopes of Mt. Shasta.

— A fight between the nation’s largest gas utility and California’s influential climate change regulators has reached a quiet conclusion — but it won’t be the last such battle as the Golden State hurries to eliminate heat-trapping fossil fuels.

— Biden administration says solar could power 40% of U.S. electricity by 2035

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this day in 1996, The Times reported that rap star Tupac Shakur was in critical condition after being gunned down in a car-to-car attack near the Las Vegas Strip.

Shakur, 25, was cruising in a five-car convoy with Marion “Suge” Knight, head of Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, when a white Cadillac pulled up and a man inside opened fire. Shakur died six days later.

He was regarded as one of the most influential and prolific rappers in hip-hop history. Shakur was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Tupac Shakur takes a break from a recording session in 1995.

(Perry C. Riddle / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— California electrical system regulators are extending a statewide flex alert into Thursday as soaring temperatures across the region are expected to create high power demand. The flex alert will run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, the California Independent System Operator said.

— California takes on Amazon, passing a bill that regulates tough warehouse work metrics. AB 701, which faced fierce opposition from business interests, passed the Senate on a 26-11 vote.

— National City outlawed the popular pastime of lowriding in 1992, saying it caused traffic congestion and crime. Now residents are fighting to bring the hobby back.

— An actor has agreed to plead guilty to running a massive Hollywood Ponzi scheme. He admitted in court papers that he duped investors into giving him more than $650 million for fictitious movie deals with HBO and Netflix.

NATION-WORLD

— The death toll in Louisiana from Hurricane Ida rose to 26 Wednesday after health officials reported 11 additional deaths in New Orleans, mostly older people who perished from the heat.

— After years of resistance and a long court battle, an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed in Richmond, Va. on Wednesday. The piece is one of America’s largest monuments to the Confederacy.

— The Taliban will allow between 100 and 150 Westerners, including Americans, to fly out from Kabul in the coming hours, Qatari officials said Thursday, marking the capital airport’s first such flight since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan last month.

— After being completely shut out from the Taliban‘s new government, women are keeping up the pressure on Afghanistan‘s new rulers with protests. Some have been met with violence.

— Hong Kong police Wednesday arrested four leaders of the group that organized the city’s annual Tiananmen Square commemorations after they refused to cooperate in a national security investigation.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— The tension between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were an infamously volatile couple during Fleetwood Mac’s 1970s peak, has only grown from there.

— How do you clean an 11-story-high glass dome? The window cleaners at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures share their secrets. (Hint: it includes rock climbing equipment.)

— Nintendo’s new “WarioWare” is the game for our attention-span-starved, pandemic times, writes games critic Todd Martens.

— Kristen Stewart blows critics away as Princess Diana. She’s ready to talk about it.

— Yolanda López, the Chicana artist known for her groundbreaking la Virgen de Guadalupe series, has died at age 79.

BUSINESS

— Just six years ago, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes seemed destined to fulfill her dream of becoming Silicon Valley’s next superstar. This week, she heads into a San Jose courtroom to defend herself against criminal allegations.

— NFL Media is kicking off an ambitious expansion with a new headquarters in Inglewood. The space includes five soundstages and a revolving neon NFL logo.

— Hiltzik: The end of the unemployment benefit boost shows how lousy work is in America.

SPORTS

— Plaschke: It’s been 70 years since the Rams’ NFL title in L.A. They should be primed to seize the moment.

— It’s taken longer than he’s expected, a maddening process going on over two months, but Clayton Kershaw finally sees the light end of his tunnel. The left-hander, on the injured list since July 7 with elbow inflammation, will start Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

OPINION

— Firefighters and police are pushing back against vaccine mandates. But they should support the requirements if they truly care about the communities they work in, writes the editorial board.

— “United States of Al” executive producer and UC Riverside professor Reza Aslan says watching TV sitcoms helped him see America as a refugee. Can TV help America see Muslims?

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Add this to your meager store of Millard Fillmore anecdotes: In 1850, his signature made California the 31st state, giving us a swell holiday that practically nobody remembers now. Admission Day, Sept. 9, used to be a gala-palooza in California. So what happened? Columnist Patt Morrison dove deep into state history to find out.

Vintage postcards, from Patt Morrison’s collection, depict the admission of California to the United States.

(Patt Morrison)

Today’s newsletter was curated by Seth Liss and Laura Blasey. Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.