Today’s Headlines: L.A.’s teachers union pushes for a 20% raise

Hello, it’s Tuesday, Dec. 6, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Teachers in L.A. want more money and less testing

The Los Angeles teachers union is pressing its demands for a 20% raise over two years, smaller class sizes and a steep reduction in standardized testing — the latest stress test for the nation’s second-largest school district and Supt. Alberto Carvalho as the system struggles to address students’ deep learning setbacks and mental health needs in the wake of the pandemic.

For United Teachers Los Angeles — which staged three simultaneous rallies Monday — their contract platform speaks to the intense stress they say is faced by those in their profession, leading to dire teacher shortages in California and throughout the nation. Economic pressures, including the high cost of living and lack of affordable housing in Los Angeles, have intensified their demands, while teachers worry about career sustainability and increasing workloads.

The Supreme Court was leaning in favor of a business owner’s right to turn away gay weddings

The high court’s conservative majority appeared ready to rule that a Christian website designer has a free-speech right to refuse to work with same-sex couples planning to marry.

The justices heard arguments in a Colorado case that posed a conflict between the 1st Amendment rights of a business owner and a state anti-discrimination law that gives customers a right to equal service without regard to their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

The outcome could cut out a hole in the laws of California and 21 other mostly blue states that directly forbid discrimination against LGBTQ customers. The three liberal justices said the court should be wary of granting a new constitutional right to discriminate.

Newsom shared a first look at his plan to cap oil refinery profits

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled an outline of his plan to place a cap on oil refinery profits in California, a proposal he’s asking lawmakers to approve in hopes of reducing future spikes in gasoline prices.

After convening a special legislative session, the governor publicly shared a first look at his plan more than two months after he said he would ask the Legislature to penalize what he called excessive profits by the oil industry, accusing companies of price gouging by intentionally elevating the cost of gas for California drivers.

The industry contends recent high prices are a result of the state’s policies to phase out the use of oil and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

More politics

• Karen Bass will be sworn in as L.A. mayor by Vice President Kamala Harris.
• Arizona’s top officials have certified the midterm election results despite complaints by Republicans.
• The Biden administration extended temporary protections to more than 100,000 Haitians living in the U.S.

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‘Save the children at any cost’

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Moscow has been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories to be raised there. At least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area, before Ukraine recaptured it last month, local authorities say. The children’s whereabouts are still unknown.

But residents say even more children would have gone missing had it not been for the efforts of some in the community who risked their lives to hide as many children as they could.

Michael Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison

The once-swaggering celebrity lawyer, undone by his proclivity for embezzlement and fraud, was sentenced for dodging taxes and stealing millions of dollars from clients.

The sentencing concluded the last of three federal prosecutions of the former attorney, who gained notoriety for representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her court battles against former President Trump.

Avenatti accomplished “good things in his life” but has “also done great evil,” U.S. District Judge James V. Selna said as he handed down the sentence. He ordered Avenatti to pay $7.6 million in restitution to victims and $3.2 million to the government.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A different kind of runner’s high: A new crop of fitness companies are blending workouts with weed. Above, Stoned+Toned instructor Bree Deanine puffs while in plank position. Scroll down to “Only in L.A.” for more.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

The man who plunged to his death at Disneyland was identified as a Huntington Beach principal. Christopher Christensen, 51, of Westminster was the principal at Newland Elementary School and a musician who performed across Southern California. Christensen was facing misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and battery at the time of his death, court records show.

A 21-year prison sentence was handed down in the shooting of Lady Gaga’s dogwalker. James Howard Jackson, who pleaded no contest, was the triggerman in the shooting of Ryan Fischer on Feb. 25, 2021, as Fischer was walking the pop star’s three French bulldogs in Hollywood. Fischer fought back when two men tried to snatch the dogs and was shot in the chest. He was later released from a hospital.

NATION-WORLD

The first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms off the West Coast is today. The live online auction for the five leases off California — three off the Central Coast and two farther north — has attracted strong interest, and 43 companies from around the world are approved to bid. The wind turbines will float roughly 25 miles offshore.

The Real ID deadline has been extended. Again. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has pushed the date by which travelers will need a new federally compliant identification card for domestic flights from May 3, 2023, to May 7, 2025.

In India, press advocates warned that independent news media were teetering on a precipice. Some Indian observers say that the impending hostile takeover of India’s first 24-hour news channel could signal the death knell of independent voices. NDTV, they say, has been the only remaining Indian broadcast network that questions Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda.

Scientists around the world urged the U.N. summit to “avoid trade-offs” between people and conservation needs. The conference known as COP15, which begins today, hopes to set the goals for the world for the next decade to help conserve the planet’s biodiversity and stem the loss of nature. So far the world has failed to meet goals set at previous meetings.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Actor Kirstie Alley has died at age 71 of cancer that was “only recently discovered.” “She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead,” said a statement from her children.

Amber Heard has officially appealed the decision in the defamation case brought by Johnny Depp. Her attorneys cite what they believe to be numerous errors committed at trial, including allowing the case to be heard in Virginia and refusing to allow communications between Heard and certain doctors to be admitted as evidence.

Harry and Meghan teased the “full truth” and set a new release date for their Netflix series. A dramatic new trailer revealed that the first and second volumes of the six-episode docuseries starring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would debut this Thursday and Dec. 15.

Humor, humanity and a pig on a leash. Stephanie Hsu brought it all for dual roles. The actor talks about her roles as Joy, the depressed, queer, tattooed daughter of the disapproving Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and havoc-wreaker Jobu Tupaki in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

BUSINESS

Nickelodeon animation production workers are the latest group to push for unionization. At the studio, 177 production workers voted last month to unionize under the Animation Guild, IATSE local 839, in a bid to get higher pay and more affordable healthcare, the union said in a statement. Nickelodeon has yet to voluntarily recognize the bargaining unit.

The fast food industry pushed to halt a law that could raise worker wages. Businesses and restaurant trade groups said they had submitted enough voter signatures for a ballot measure to overturn a landmark California law that could raise fast food workers’ wages to $22 an hour — signatures that labor advocates allege were obtained fraudulently.

This Hollywood company is placing its bets on internet stars. Sitting somewhere at the intersection of management agency, record label and artists collective, FaZe is largely built around influencers, streamers and web personalities with ties to the world of video games. It’s not the only firm trying to turn “likes” and shares into a sustainable business model. Indeed, with so much money sloshing around the creator economy, there are a lot of financial incentives to spin off individual influencers into larger business ventures.

OPINION

The Child Tax Credit is our greatest antipoverty program. Why is Congress letting it wither? Something doesn’t compute here. The Child Tax Credit worked superbly well to fulfill its goals, yet it gets no love from Congress. The explanation tells an ugly story about America’s political leadership and our economy’s embedded inequality, writes business columnist Michael Hiltzik.

Free Billy! L.A. Zoo’s longtime elephant has earned retirement. A City Council committee has voted in favor of relocating the Asian bull elephant — who has worried many with his head bobbing — to a sanctuary. The full council should now do the same and instruct the zoo to start the process by studying how and where. This isn’t about accusing the zoo of mistreatment but a recognition of its inherent shortcomings in providing everything this particular elephant needs.

SPORTS

Clayton Kershaw is back, but the Dodgers missed out on Justin Verlander. While the team did the expected, officially re-signing Kershaw to a one-year, $20-million contract, they failed to pull off the spectacular, losing out in the Verlander sweepstakes after news broke that the free-agent pitcher would be signing with the New York Mets.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is among finalists for the Heisman Trophy. He joins fellow quarterbacks Max Duggan of Texas Christian, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Stetson Bennett of Georgia, all of whom will be in New York for the award ceremony Saturday.

UCLA women’s soccer pulled off a miracle comeback over North Carolina for the NCAA title. Top-seeded UCLA captured its second national title, beating second-seeded North Carolina 3-2 in double overtime, avenging the 2000 championship game.

ONLY IN L.A.

Is working out while high L.A.’s next fitness craze? Stoned+Toned, a Los Angeles-based company, is among those betting big on the legal cannabis boom bringing fitness along. San Francisco is home to a “cannabis gym” that encourages visitors to light up and lift. A “Pelostoned” Facebook group has thousands of members who smoke cannabis and ride their stationary bikes. Researchers are taking note of the trend too.

“This is a huge market and I think it’s something that again is changing the conversation around fitness, which really needs to be done,” said Morgan English, who founded Stoned+Toned with her husband in 2019.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Harriet Russell Strong designed canal and reservoir systems.

(J. T. White Company)

One hundred and thirty-five years ago today, on Dec. 6, 1887, Harriet Russell Strong — who as a female inventor was a rarity in the era — was awarded the first of several patents. Strong had faced stiff odds to finding success. Not only was she a semi-invalid due to spinal issues, but she was also widowed and broke. Her husband killed himself after learning a mine he’d invested in had been “salted” with phony ore.

“Hattie,” now a single mother of four girls, was left in financial straits. But on her ranch near what is now Whittier, she seeded her own fortune by planting walnuts and pampas grass. She became a savvy inventor, inspired by the need to store water to irrigate her crops. She also became a marketing whiz, at one time “convincing the organizers of the 1892 and 1896 Democratic and Republican national conventions to purchase her plumes dyed in red, white, and blue” to wave on the convention floor, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Strong also was an outspoken suffragist, The Times wrote in 1999, and was once warned by Susan B. Anthony to tone down her view that: “It isn’t any more masculine for women to vote than for men to cook dinner, and it would be all right for either to do both.” She later presented Congress with a plan to dam the Colorado River to generate electricity, conserve water and provide irrigation to farms. The plan was rejected at first — she said because “it was thought of by a woman.” But two years after her death in a car accident, Hoover Dam was approved by Congress.

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