Today’s Headlines: Fentanyl overdoses, deaths are a daily battle for L.A.’s homeless population

Hello, it’s Thursday, June 1, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

A daily battle for L.A.’s homeless population

In homeless encampments around Los Angeles, life-and-death battles with fentanyl take place every day: hardened addicts revived after their hearts have stopped; people who shared a pipe, not knowing what it contained; the loss of friend after friend.

Many have witnessed an overdose, suffered one themselves or helped save someone’s life. Narcan is nearly as common in tents as Tylenol is in medicine cabinets.

This is the reality behind numbers recently released by the L.A. County Public Health Department showing a surge in overdose deaths among homeless people, driven by the explosive rise of fentanyl.

House approves bipartisan deal to suspend the debt limit

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a deal to suspend the debt limit, reducing the risk of a potentially disastrous default. The legislation must still pass the Senate and be signed by President Biden before the U.S. runs out of money to pay its bills, which could happen as early as Monday.

The compromise allowed the federal government to dodge a crisis, and was a political victory for both Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The president reinforced his brand as a bipartisan dealmaker, and the speaker forced Biden to bargain after he refused to do so for weeks.

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Actor Danny Masterson convicted of rape in second L.A. trial

Actor Danny Masterson was convicted of two counts of rape after his second trial on charges that he sexually assaulted several women he met through the Church of Scientology in the early 2000s.

After a week of deliberations, jurors were convinced the 47-year-old actor — who rose to prominence on the sitcom “That ’70s Show” — had sexually assaulted two women in his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s. The jurors hung on a third count stemming from allegations made by a third woman.

Majority of Californians fear worsening weather swings

As California continues to experience swings from one weather extreme to another, a majority of residents say they are increasingly concerned about the state’s changing climate, and some worry that weather impacts could force them to move in the future.

Nearly 70% of registered voters say they expect that volatile fluctuations between severe drought and periods of heavy rain and snow — what some call weather whiplash — will become more common in the future due to climate change, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Retired Stockton boxer Rodney Jones, 54, vaguely knew about the boxers’ pension, but had no information on how to apply until contacted by The Times. Jones now works as a financial coach.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

California to step up efforts to find boxers owed pensions following a Times report. The California State Athletic Commission said it will begin sending annual statements to all vested boxers beginning early next year and that it has brought in state investigators to search for fighters with unclaimed money.

How a convicted murderer’s bid for freedom sparked a fight between L.A. County judges. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patrick Connolly sought to disqualify a fellow justice from ruling on the resentencing of a convicted cop killer. Legal experts say the move is nearly unprecedented and deeply concerning.

A summer bummer for gas: Pump prices are expected to remain high thanks to travel demand. After a spike in prices over the Memorial Day weekend, gas prices in California are expected to stay high during the summer travel season.

Volunteer awarded $6.8 million after being mauled at an animal shelter run by troubled L.A. agency. Kelly Kaneko, 36, still has nerve and bone damage in her right arm, where the dog latched onto her for over five minutes in October 2019, forcing her to drag herself and the dog around the facility to find help.

NATION-WORLD

Earth is ‘really quite sick now’ and in a danger zone in nearly all ecological ways, a new study says. Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into “the danger zone,” not just for an overheating planet that’s losing its natural areas, but for well-being of people living on it, according to the study.

Only three of 23 Guatemalan presidential candidates campaigned in L.A. Immigrants are upset. For decades, Guatemalans living in the U.S. have helped shore up their ancestral nation’s revenue stream by sending back remittances. If for no other reason, many immigrants believe, that should give politicians an incentive to care about their votes.

The biggest extinction event in the planet’s history is happening again — in Santa Cruz. Researchers created a postapocalyptic scenario in a greenhouse on the roof of UC Santa Cruz’s Interdisciplinary Sciences Building to determine what life could return after an extinction event.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Splash Mountain closing day: Why Disneyland’s long goodbye is long overdue. The 1989 ride, popular for its five-story drop but made infamous by the controversial movie that inspired it, has closed. Most fans were hopeful for what’s to come, an attraction themed to “The Princess and the Frog,” the 2009 fairy tale that stars the company’s first Black princess. Some, however, were sorrowful that a piece of their childhood would be lost.

‘The Flash’ isn’t out yet and its director already wants Ezra Miller for a sequel. “If [a sequel] happens, yes,” the director said about Miller returning to the title role, despite the mountain of controversy surrounding the embattled actor. “I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did.”

Pick your own doomscape: The future looks bleak on TV. This Emmy season, four series offer thoughtful variations on the theme of global doom. Here’s a look at shows that fictionalize ways in which brain-infecting viruses, unchecked carbon dioxide and hucksterism could determine whether the world ends with a bang or a whimper.

BUSINESS

Thousands of local hotel workers are on the verge of striking: ‘Living in L.A. is no longer an option.’ A union is asking 15,000 workers at hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties to authorize a strike during the height of tourist season.

A Glendale woman sues Delta Air Lines over claims of carbon neutrality. A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Delta Air Lines inaccurately billed itself as the world’s “first carbon-neutral airline” and should pay damages. The consumer class-action complaint also alleges the airline relied on carbon offsets that were largely bogus.

SPORTS

Column: Athletics believe a move to Las Vegas is worth the gamble and will pay off. This is probably Las Vegas’ best chance at a major league team, because expansion would be far more competitive and far more expensive. Still, the hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies essentially mean legislators would be gambling with taxpayer money.

OPINION

Opinion: The debt ceiling deal’s ‘work requirements’ really just take food away from poor people. “The agreement to avoid defaulting on U.S. debt targets one group, struggling workers in their 50s, for particularly harsh treatment by denying many of them food assistance. This is indefensible,” writes David A. Super.

Column: There’s a reason for the anti-LGBTQ+ backlash. And it isn’t all bad news. “Why are we stuck in the middle of a moral panic about sexuality and gender identity? Why now?” asks Robin Abcarian. “Because the stigma so long attached to gay, nonbinary and transgender people may finally be starting to fade away. Cue the backlash.”

ONLY IN SoCAL

People participate in the annual L.A. Pride Parade in West Hollywood on June 9, 2019. L.A. Pride began on June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the historic Stonewall riots in New York City.

(Agustin Paullier / AFP via Getty Images)

Let your rainbow flag fly with our curated list of Pride Month parades, street festivals, live performances, film screenings and more happening around Southern California this June.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Marilyn Monroe wearing a gold lamé gown by Travilla from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953).

(Twentieth Century-Fox)

On this day 97 years ago, Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles.

She went on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, in addition to a major sex symbol and cultural icon.

It’s been more than 60 years since her body was discovered on Aug. 5, 1962, in her bed in her Brentwood home, with her hand draped lifelessly over the phone. Her shocking death has generated decades of speculation as to whether her overdose was a suicide, an accident or something more sinister.

Last August, The Times’ Noah Goldberg wrote about why Monroe’s death still evokes mystery.

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