Today’s Headlines: Harvey Weinstein convicted of rape in Los Angeles
Hello, it’s Tuesday, Dec. 20, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:
TOP STORIES
Harvey Weinstein convicted of rape
A Los Angeles jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty of raping a woman, delivering a verdict that further condemns the disgraced movie titan whose treatment of women helped spur the #MeToo movement.
The decision all but assures that Weinstein, who is 70, in poor health and serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for other rapes, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the Los Angeles case early next year, but must complete his current prison sentence before being transferred to California.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for the L.A. Times biggest news, features and recommendations in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Jan. 6 panel refers Trump for possible criminal prosecution
The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol unanimously recommended that former President Trump be criminally prosecuted for insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, knowingly and willfully making materially false statements to the federal government and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The referrals for Trump and others in his orbit are nonbinding recommendations and cannot compel the Justice Department to act.
But they show the committee believes it has gathered sufficient evidence to prove Trump provided “aid and comfort” to a mob that ransacked the Capitol and actively tried to prevent the peaceful transition of power to a new president selected by voters, Joe Biden.
More politics
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a temporary order that will preserve — for now — a Trump-era policy that turned away most migrants seeking asylum.
- A scandal-plagued L.A. City Council is deeply unpopular, but voters have faith in Karen Bass, poll finds.
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will launch a city program to move people living in tents on the streets into hotel and motel rooms.
Sign up for our California Politics newsletter to get the best of The Times’ state politics reporting and the latest action in Sacramento.
San Francisco fell behind on housing its homeless population
A $1.1-billion Biden administration effort to rapidly house Americans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic includes new emergency housing vouchers. These vouchers are supposed to be a golden ticket: a promise that the federal government will pay most of a recipient’s rent for years.
A year and a half after they were handed out, just 56% of the new vouchers have been used across the country. In California, which has one of the worst housing crises in the nation, less than 50% of emergency housing vouchers are in use. And in San Francisco — one of the most expensive housing markets in the country — just 44% of the 906 vouchers the city received have actually housed people.
As The Times has previously reported, other expensive cities, including San Diego, have excelled in placing people into homes with the vouchers. Despite its local housing agency and city government’s efforts, San Francisco has fallen behind.
Taiwanese, Koreans, Hong Kongers are finally traveling to see family
With strict COVID-19 travel restrictions recently relaxed, many immigrants in the Los Angeles area who have been separated from relatives in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are returning home this holiday season. Grandchildren will be meeting their grandparents for the first time. Those who have worried about elderly parents through the pandemic will finally be able to share a meal with them.
But Southern Californians with roots in mainland China are out of luck. Even with the recent easing of “zero COVID” restrictions, travelers must quarantine at government-designated locations, and lockdowns of neighborhoods or even whole cities remain a risk.
Is farm-breeding an octopus an act of cruelty?
The Kanaloa Octopus Farm in Hawaii bills itself as a research institute designed to help tease apart the secrets of the day octopus’ reproductive cycle. Doing so, farm owner Jacob Conroy and his staff say, could help protect the species from overfishing by providing humanity with a stable, captive-bred population of protein-packed cephalopods.
But Conroy’s farm has come under harsh criticism from those who say keeping octopuses in captivity is cruel.
The farm, which invites visitors to pet the invertebrates and features a gift shop stocked with octopus-inspired jewelry and Christmas ornaments, has become ground zero in a growing movement demanding humane treatment of these playful sea dwellers.
Check out "The Times" podcast for essential news and more.
These days, waking up to current events can be, well, daunting. If you’re seeking a more balanced news diet, “The Times” podcast is for you. Gustavo Arellano, along with a diverse set of reporters from the award-winning L.A. Times newsroom, delivers the most interesting stories from the Los Angeles Times every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
CALIFORNIA
Conservationists near the goal of turning Orange County oilfield into a nature preserve. A nonprofit completed the purchase of the Newport Beach land, once sought after by developers.
72,000 L.A. students show up for school on the first day of winter break. Los Angeles Unified School District officials considered the turnout for “acceleration days” — two extra days of school to address struggling students — a success.
Colder temperatures will give way to warm Christmas Day. It will be an unseasonably warm Christmas in Southern California, according to official forecasts.
Support our journalism
Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.
NATION-WORLD
The Supreme Court issues temporary order to keep border closed for now. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s order will preserve — for now — a Trump-era policy that turned away most migrants seeking asylum at the southern border.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to extradition to U.S. A lawyer for Bankman-Fried said his client would return to the U.S. to face criminal charges related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange following a chaotic court appearance in the Bahamas.
Historic deal to protect lands and oceans reached at U.N. biodiversity conference. The deal would represent the most significant effort to protect the world’s lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
The best movies of 2022 — and where to find them. Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” Todd Field’s “Tár” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter” are among our critic’s favorite films of the year.
“Below Deck” was just “a terrible idea.” This salty captain turned it into reality TV gold. Icons of Bravo’s compulsively watchable reality show, which follows the hard-partying crew members and entitled guests aboard luxury yachts, reflect on 10 years of TV.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp settle defamation case. In a statement Monday, Heard explained her decision not to pursue the appeal she had filed after a turbulent Virginia trial, saying “This is not an act of concession.”
Terry Hall, frontman for English ska-punk band the Specials, dies at 63. Hall’s death was announced on the band’s Facebook page. The Specials’ first two albums were landmarks of the interracial ‘2-tone’ scene that swept England and beyond in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, alongside peers such as the English Beat, Madness and the Selecter.
BUSINESS
FTC hits Epic Games with record $520 million in penalties. The maker of the hit game “Fortnite” will pay a record amount to settle claims that it violated children’s privacy.
Column: Is this my last post about Elon Musk, Twitter boss? Musk’s public standing has crashed with his management of Twitter. Now he’s asking users if he should resign and business columnist Michael Hiltzik is ready for the end of this saga.
OPINION
A contrarian love letter to LAX, the world’s best airport. LAX does a remarkably good job at getting people on planes. “Which is all I ask of an airport,” writes culture columnist and critic Mary McNamara.
Free online games
Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at latimes.com/games.
SPORTS
UCLA lands commitment from Dante Moore, highest-rated QB in Bruins history. Moore immediately becomes a possible high-end replacement for the departing Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who has not announced whether he will play one final game in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30 against Pittsburgh.
What lessons can the 2026 World Cup in North America learn from 2022? In 2026, the tournament will be spread across four time zones with stadiums separated by as many as 3,500 miles, from the altitude of Mexico City and the humidity of Miami to cosmopolitan Toronto and homespun Kansas City, Mo.
Former NFL star Willie McGinest was arrested in L.A. on an assault charge. McGinest was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of assault and released on $30,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The alleged crime occurred about two weeks ago in the 7900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, sheriff’s officials said. No other details were released.
ONLY IN L.A.
L.A. Times readers remember and mourn P-22. We asked readers to share their thoughts and memories of L.A.’s celebrity mountain lion after he was euthanized due to illness and severe injuries. They described him variously as a source of community, as “neighbors would share thrilling sightings of him doing his lion-y things upon the local landscape;” a point of connection with nature; and “the closest thing we had to a city symbol.” Read the eulogies here.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Former U.N.-secretary General Ralph Bunche died 51 years ago. He was 67. The winner of the Nobel Prize in 1950 for his part in peace negotiations following the 1948 Arab-Israel war, Dr. Bunche was the highest-ranking American in the U.N. headquarters at the time.
Dr. Bunche was born in Detroit and was graduated from Jefferson High School in Los Angeles and from UCLA in 1927. He later entered the State Department and served on loan to the United Nations in its beginning. He became a permanent member of the U.N. staff in 1947.
We appreciate that you took the time to read Today’s Headlines! Comments or ideas? Feel free to drop us a note at headlines@latimes.com.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.