Today’s Headlines: Inflation gives the GOP political ammo

Hello, it’s Thursday, Nov. 11, and if you’re like us, you watched the recent wildfires encroach on California’s sequoias with sadness and dread. But — for now — there’s good news emerging from Sequoia National Park: It’s partially reopening!

Early onlookers say rain has meant new grass: Some areas resemble “a green carpet.” In burned areas where regrowth has begun, “it will look like spring a little bit.”

Here are today’s headlines:

TOP STORIES

The specter of inflation is stalking President Biden

Inflation is frustrating Americans who would otherwise be enjoying the benefits of an economy that’s climbing out of a pandemic-induced recession. Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier, with food, gas and housing prices surging.

The problem isn’t on the demand side, experts say; it rebounded even faster than expected. Last month, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, a sign of ongoing economic recovery. It’s the supply side causing problems. Manufacturers have struggled to keep pace with demand for reasons including shortages of workers and COVID-19 restrictions. Plus the supply chain has been strained to its limits to keep products flowing from overseas to American doorsteps. The result? The cost of goods is going up.

Republicans are using price spikes to attack Biden’s economic agenda, and candidates will likely use it as political fodder ahead of next year’s midterm election.

More politics

• Kamala Harris is in Paris making the case that Trump’s “America First” era has ended.

• A group looking to oust Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin says it has submitted more than 39,000 signatures in support of a recall measure — a number proponents believe is enough to qualify for the ballot.

• Several California members of Congress could face uphill battles to remain in office under newly released draft political maps, with some incumbents drawn into the same districts and others possibly forced to run in areas where their party trails in voter registration.

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

What do L.A. students want most?

In a survey of middle school and high school students in L.A. Unified, students said they had suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed a “non-negotiable” need for academic success: mental wellness.

The survey said 1 in 3 students of color didn’t have an adult at school with whom they felt comfortable enough to talk about how they were feeling, and it drove home kids’ high-priority needs: access to tech and opportunities for tutoring, extra classes and extracurricular activities.

More top coronavirus headlines

• A federal judge ordered a halt to the enforcement of Texas’ ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools.

• The WHO reported that COVID-19 deaths rose by 10% in Europe in the last week, making it the only region in the world where coronavirus cases and fatalities are both steadily increasing.

• There are continued concerns that California could see a resurgence of COVID-19 over the coming weeks and months. Officials and experts largely agree that California is unlikely to see a surge that reaches the grim heights of last winter’s, but a winter spike in cases is a real possibility.

Stay up to date on pandemic developments, coronavirus case counts and vaccine news with Coronavirus Today.

Is the cargo jam at ports easing?

One key problem facing the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been the towering piles of containers left at the import terminals for days on end, taking up space that should go to new containers unloaded from the ships offshore.

In response, officials at the ports voted in late October to impose a new fee on containers that sit around for more than six days if intended for rail transport or nine days if intended for trucks. With less than a week to go until the fee kicks in, it seems to be making a difference.

More on the supply chain

• The U.S., Britain and 17 other countries committed at the U.N. global climate summit to curbing emissions from the shipping industry by creating zero-emission shipping routes, a move that comes amid growing concern over shoreline air pollution from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

• Supply chain woes are bringing attention to an industry that for generations has raised concerns about fair competition, treatment of workers and damage to the environment even as it brings in record profits.

Texas governor orders criminal probe into ‘pornography’ in school books

Conservative furor over what is taught in public schools reached a fever pitch in Texas as Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced a criminal probe into what he called “pornography” in school libraries, his third directive on the matter this month.

Texas state lawmakers last summer banned public schools from teaching critical race theory, a decades-old academic theory taught on some college campuses. In addition to a call to remove books deemed pornographic, Texas conservatives have also moved to ban books that deal with race and gender.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

103 years ago today: the top story on The Times’ cover from Nov. 11, 1918.

(Los Angeles Times)

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the armistice marking the cessation of hostilities in “the war to end all wars” was signed. The Times marked it with a one-word banner headline. In 1938, Armistice Day became a federal holiday, and in 1954, it became Veterans Day, to honor the veterans of all wars.

CALIFORNIA

Inside ethnic studies class. At a time when schools throughout the country are under siege for how race and history are taught — with at least 12 states passing legislation to limit the discourse — California is barreling in the opposite direction, the first state to mandate a high school ethnic studies course. Here’s how the curriculum could look.

Hate crimes are up by 20% in L.A. County. And they are growing increasingly violent. Last year was the third in a row in which the percentage of violent hate crimes rose.

Prosecutors want murder charges for fentanyl dealers. Some Southern California district attorneys are joining a growing national push to file murder charges against drug dealers who manufacture or sell fentanyl that ends up leading to deaths.

NATION-WORLD

Houston police say there’s no need for an outside probe of the Astroworld tragedy. Chief Troy Finner refused to turn over to an outside agency a criminal investigation into Travis Scott’s deadly Astroworld festival, even as he and other local officials faced criticism over their ties to the hometown rapper.

A Capitol rioter is sentenced. A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to more than three years in prison, a likely benchmark for dozens of other rioters who engaged in violence that day.

The U.S. and China have agreed to cooperate on climate change. The world’s top carbon polluters, the two nations agreed to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions, signaling a mutual effort on global warming at a time of tension over their other disputes.

How hundreds of Nicaraguans secretly monitored an election. The Nicaraguan government excluded traditional international monitors to scrutinize the presidential election Sunday. So about 1,450 volunteers stationed themselves at 563 voting centers across the country to do the job themselves, bringing some transparency to an election widely denounced as illegitimate.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Rapper Kid Cudi is photographed at home in Calabasas.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Look at the Kid now. The subject of today’s photo pick is Kid Cudi, who spoke to The Times recently about his rise to fame — he left Cleveland in 2005 with just $500 and a demo tape to pursue a rap career in New York; he paid for studio time by working at Applebee’s. Cudi, whose portfolio now includes a clothing line, a film production company and movie credits, is the subject of the Amazon Prime doc “A Man Named Scott.”

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

A “Rust” gaffer says the bullet “narrowly missed him.” The chief lighting technician on “Rust,” who held cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in his arms as she lay dying on the movie set, is the first member of the film crew to sue the “Rust” production company.

Adam McKay talks about his apocalyptic new comedy. The Netflix-produced “Don’t Look Up” features an all-star cast, and its sharply honed satire is after more than apocalyptic thrills. It’s the next step in McKay’s ongoing cinematic evolution, which has already produced the Oscar-nominated “The Big Short” and “Vice.”

Here is virtually every movie coming this holiday season. We’ve compiled a list of films set to premiere in the next few months in theaters and on streaming services, from a documentary on U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to more than one family-friendly comedy about dogs.

BUSINESS

A SpaceX crew launch marks 600 space travelers in 60 years. No. 600 was aboard the rocket that carried four astronauts toward orbit Wednesday night. The repeatedly delayed flight occurred just two days after SpaceX brought four other astronauts home from the International Space Station.

The Justice Department is suing Uber. The company charges a wait-time fee to passengers with disabilities who need more time to board vehicles and allegedly has refused their refund requests, making them feel like “second-class” citizens, the department said.

SPORTS

Lakers rally late to beat Heat in overtime. They lost two more bodies to the injury list, leaving the already depleted Lakers with fewer contributors, but still pulled out a 120-117 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

The Ducks general manager has resigned. Bob Murray resigned his job effective immediately and will enroll in an alcohol abuse program, the club announced.

There’s just one choice for Clayton Kershaw. Columnist Dylan Hernandez says whether Kershaw pitches for the Dodgers is now entirely up to him. If he decides to pitch a 15th season in the major leagues, it should be for the Dodgers.

OPINION

Op-Ed: A crisis of violence. The United States has yet to deal adequately with the crisis of the vast numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in our country. But next week, for the first time since 2016, the White House Tribal Nations Summit will be held, providing tribal leaders an opportunity to address how to fight the epidemic of abuse.

What took so long? UC Hastings College of Law, is finally changing its name. Serranus Clinton Hastings, a man behind murder, genocide and theft from Native Americans, should be remembered for his crimes, not honored as the founder of a respected law college.

ONLY IN L.A.

Our latest Image issue looks at sports style in the City of Champions. Exhibit A: the Koreatown Run Club. Yes, they formed a community around running — but it’s also about the fashion. They run and look fabulous at the same time. The issue also has an ode to that incredibly L.A. symbol: the Dodgers hat, whose appeal transcends sports.

A hat that’s less about the Dodgers and more about L.A.

(Randijah Simmons / For The Times)

Thanks for taking the time to read Today’s Headlines! Comments or ideas? Feel free to drop us a note at headlines@latimes.com.

— Amy Hubbard and Laura Blasey