Today’s Headlines: U.S. will stretch supply of monkeypox vaccine by giving smaller doses

By Elvia Limón and Amy Hubbard

Hello, it’s Wednesday, Aug. 10, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

U.S. will stretch the supply of monkeypox vaccine

As monkeypox cases continue to increase among high-risk people, federal officials said they will stretch limited vaccine supplies by giving just one-fifth the current dosage.

The move would quintuple the existing supply of monkeypox vaccine doses, a priority in hard-hit communities such as Los Angeles County and San Francisco, where the virus has been rapidly increasing in communities where men have sex with men and vaccines remain in short supply.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency-use authorization allowing healthcare providers to use the new vaccination technique for high-risk adults.

Plus: It is possible to get a monkeypox vaccination in L.A. County if you’re eligible. It just might require a little patience. Here’s what you need to know.

Inside the fight to make L.A. more walkable

In the city where car is king, activists are pushing to claim strips of roads and even whole streets for bicyclists and pedestrians. And now, it could make its way to the ballot box.

Los Angeles City Clerk Holly Wolcott has cleared the way for a 2024 voter initiative that fast-tracks the city’s own ambitious traffic plan to create hundreds of miles of more walkable and bikeable streets by implementing it every time roads are repaved. The Los Angeles City Council must now decide whether to send it to voters or adopt it outright.

As it is, the 7-year-old city plan reworks some of Los Angeles’ most storied boulevards, adding bicycle lanes, building wider sidewalks, planting more trees and creating more visible crosswalks.

The seriousness behind the unprecedented FBI search

Few specifics are known about what the FBI sought during the daylong search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. But one thing is clear: For federal investigators to seek a search warrant and conduct an unannounced search of the property while Trump was not present indicates they believe the evidence they sought was worth any expected political blowback.

The onslaught began quickly after the former president publicized the search, with his allies demanding more information and rallying around calls for an investigation of the events, which they decried as a partisan witch hunt and an abuse of power.

Justice Department officials have yet to comment publicly about the search. And they may not, given the department’s reluctance to acknowledge ongoing investigations.

More politics

• President Biden signed a broad competition bill into law that will direct $52.7 billion toward domestic semiconductor research and development.
• Biden formally welcomed Finland and Sweden joining the NATO alliance as he signed the instruments of ratification that delivered official U.S. backing for the Nordic nations’ membership.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom urged California lawmakers to harden the state’s climate and energy goals, releasing a five-point legislative plan that promises to intensify the governor’s clash with the state’s powerful, billion-dollar oil industry.

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

The trial starts over the Kobe Bryant crash photos

They were caught sharing graphic photos they had stored on their phones of the helicopter crash that killed Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others. Since then, nearly all of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies involved in the scandal have gotten new phones.

The failure to preserve the electronic evidence to ensure the photos didn’t spread beyond those employees will be a key component in Vanessa Bryant’s federal civil lawsuit against Los Angeles County, which is scheduled to start today. The trial marks the culmination of a two-year legal fight over one of the most highly publicized scandals within the Sheriff’s Department.

California child-care providers fight to ‘retire with dignity’

More than a year after newly unionized child-care providers in California signed their first-ever contract with the state, a push to “retire with dignity” has moved to the top of the 40,000-member organization’s priority list.

The state budget signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in June includes funding for a study regarding potential retirement benefits for child-care providers who offer state-subsidized care out of their homes. What those benefits would actually look like, and cost, is unknown and will have to be negotiated between state and union leaders — complex bargaining that could last years.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

How hot is it? Emma Aguilar, 6, makes use of the Hansen Dam Aquatic Center. Triple-digit heat and increased humidity are expected to hit Los Angeles County this weekend.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

L.A. City Council meeting erupts in chaos, with one protester arrested. A public speaker climbed over a bench and onto the council floor to confront council President Nury Martinez, prompting police to fill the chamber. Martinez abruptly recessed the meeting, leaving dozens of activists in the room chanting “Abolish 41.18!” — a reference to the city law prohibiting homeless encampments at libraries, freeway overpasses and other locations.

L.A. teachers union demands the withdrawal of extra school days in the first clash under Los Angeles schools chief Alberto Carvalho. The union has filed a complaint alleging that the district acted illegally in adding four days to the upcoming school year and is demanding that the optional days be rescinded.

Monterey Park police officer killed in Downey had just started his career. The victim was identified Tuesday as Gardiel Solorio, 26, an off-duty officer from the Monterey Park Police Department. He started his career in July, Monterey Park Police Chief Kelly Gordon said.

Nearly 150 roosters were euthanized after deputies busted an illegal cockfighting event in Riverside County. John Welsh, a Riverside County Department of Animal Services spokesperson, said the birds needed to be euthanized because the department “cannot adopt out such birds as they are valuable and they would almost always end up back in a cockfighting ring.”

NATION-WORLD

A grand jury declines to indict a woman, 87, whose accusation led to Emmett Till’s killing. After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter. It is now increasingly unlikely that Donham will ever be prosecuted for her role in the events that led to Till’s lynching.

A former Twitter employee was convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia. Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. resident born in Egypt, was found by a jury to be guilty of charges including acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and falsifying records. He faces 10 to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced.

A horrific rape case raises South Africa ghosts. The gang rape of eight women — allegedly by illegal miners — has transfixed South Africa and encapsulated numerous evils plaguing this society all at once. Women activists lamented that a form of xenophobia threatened to overshadow the egregious violence against women.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Matt Stone and Trey Parker talk 25 years of “South Park.” A quarter of a century after the series’ debut episode, “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,” the Comedy Central series is still cranking out profane and often timely episodes. To mark 25 years, Parker and Stone are coming full circle with a concert filmed at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre near Denver, headlined by Primus and alternative rockers Ween and featuring musical numbers from the series’ history.

Amanda Seyfried still can’t believe she had to walk on set without underwear at 19. Seyfried, who goes into next month’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony with an acting nomination for her portrayal of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” said that she sometimes wishes she could come up in Hollywood now, when intimacy coordinators are required on sets and performers are encouraged to speak up.

Issey Miyake, the famed Japanese fashion designer, dies at 84. Miyake defined an era in Japan’s modern history, reaching stardom in the 1970s among a generation of designers and artists who reached global fame by defining a Japanese vision that was unique from the West. Miyake’s origami-like pleats transformed usually crass polyester into chic. He also used computer technology in weaving to create apparel.

Hollywood almost turned Colman Domingo ‘bitter.’ An unexpected role changed his life. Around 2015, the actor-writer-director was planning to quit it all and find a new career. But instead of giving up, he revamped his approach — and found new happiness.

BUSINESS

How Edison goofed. SoCal Edison told thousands of its customers that a new rate plan would mean no increase in their bill. One Santa Monica household’s bill, reviewed by The Times, showed the customer’s old rate was $1,030 per year. The new rate? Also $1,030. Then a second letter from Edison arrived a few months later: The new rate was actually $1,723 per year — a 67% increase.

Eli Lilly assailed a strict Indiana antiabortion law — after giving money to the law’s supporters. The company, one of the largest employers in Indiana, said the recent enactment of the antiabortion law would force it to “plan for more employment growth outside our home state.” But it’s provided financial support for many of the state legislators who voted for the measure — including its two sponsors — writes Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik.

OPINION

The onslaught of political advertising that will fly at us this election season is shaping up to be more intense than ever. Most of it is trained on two dueling measures to permit sports betting. Gambling interests have already anted up roughly $350 million to wage campaigns for and against Propositions 26 and 27 on the November ballot. Experts expect the total haul may grow to half a billion dollars by the time the election is over.

3 Good Things: Serendipitous science, underwater art and a ticket to affluence. Two archaeologists are driving through the desert. One says to the other, “What do fossil footprints look like?” The other archaeologist points out the window and answers: “Well, kind of like THAT!” It’s no joke. It’s the story of how 12,000-year-old footprints were discovered through sheer luck.

SPORTS

Serena Williams says she plans to retire from tennis. Williams did not say exactly when her retirement would begin but wrote in an Instagram post, “I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.” She is playing this week in an event in Toronto and indicated she intends to play in the U.S. Open later this month in New York.

Rams coach Sean McVay reveals he has a new contract. At the outset of training camp, when asked about the status of his contract, McVay said, “We’re in a good place.” He said his answer was in reference not only to his status but also to general manager Les Snead’s.

In promoting ‘A League of Their Own’ reboot, Maybelle Blair finally embraces her truth. Blair came out as a lesbian in June, while promoting the series at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. She had kept her secret for decades. In truth, she feared losing her security clearance at her job with Northrop Aircraft (now Northrop Grumman) and feared she’d be shunned by the parents of kids whose careers she wanted to advance. She would have been shattered if they’d rejected her.

ONLY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

A Brachiosaurus sculpture stands above a forest of plants in the Green Place.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The Green Place plant shop in Fullerton is filled with greenery, but people don’t always come for the plants. They might paint their own terracotta pots, parking themselves at the plant shop’s center table to start crafting. They might bop their heads to Elvis or Blondie as they sip iced coffee on the couch. If they’re the guy from next door, they might come in on their daily lunch break to play the well-loved piano.

With local artwork, partnerships with other city vendors and owner Jennifer Aragon managing the front desk, the store is a love letter to Fullerton. Aragon is the decorator: “My vision was really to make it feel like you were in someone’s house, like you come and it’s comfortable. About 90% of everything here is handmade or given or just donated, so everything has a story in its own sense — and that’s what I wanted.” Read more about the Green Place.

FOR THE RECORD: In Tuesday’s Only in L.A., we mentioned a talk at Griffith Park by micro-forest expert Katherine Pakradouni. It’s not happening today, as we said, but on Thursday. Sorry for the confusion. Details here.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

July 26, 2017: A view of the Milky Way from Joshua Tree National Park.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Eighty-six years ago today, on Aug. 10, 1936, Joshua Tree was dedicated as a national monument. Soon after, The Times wrote about the new monument and its topography: “Rounded, elongated mountain ranges rising from saucer-like valleys to heights of approximately 1,000 feet dominate the area.”

With the Desert Protection Act, Joshua Tree became a national park in 1994. The Times reported that the legislation elevated both Death Valley and Joshua Tree to national parks, affording them greater protection and creating 4 million more acres of wilderness in those parks and a new national preserve in the eastern Mojave: “The terrain is filled with ecological diversity, including several mountain ranges, huge sand dunes, some 2,000 plant and 600 animal species, more than 100,000 archeological sites and even dinosaur tracks.”

In June, the California Fish and Game Commission deadlocked on whether to declare the western Joshua tree a threatened species. Conservationists maintain that, without special state protections, the species could lose 90% of its range by 2100.

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