Today’s Headlines: Tulare Lake’s rebirth will reshape life in the San Joaquin Valley

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Tulare Lake’s rebirth will reshape life in the San Joaquin Valley

In the lowlands of the San Joaquin Valley, last winter’s torrential storms revived an ancient body of water drained and dredged decades ago, its clay lake bed transformed into a powerhouse of industrial agriculture.

Tulare Lake’s rebirth has reshaped life in the Tulare Basin and likely will do so for years to come. Some residents grew up picking cotton here. Others found their way to the basin as adults, fell in love with the country sunsets and never left. After a winter of hardships, they remain committed to the San Joaquin Valley and its remarkable seasonal rhythms.

New data show wide fentanyl and meth use in a Mexican border city

As fentanyl has ravaged the United States, killing tens of thousands of Americans each year, Mexican leaders have insisted their country has been virtually untouched by the opioid.

But new data tell a different story.

A novel testing initiative in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, found that 23% of more than 1,100 bodies sent to the morgue over the last year tested positive for fentanyl, a synthetic opioid as much as 50 times stronger than heroin.

9th Circuit conservatives blast homelessness ruling

Some of the most powerful conservative judges in the United States took collective aim at the idea that homeless people with nowhere else to go have a right to sleep in public, excoriating their liberal colleagues for ruling as much.

Their scathing comments came in a set of responses to a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals not to rehear a case in which a smaller three-judge panel affirmed such rights in September.

Threads, Meta’s Twitter clone, has some problems already

On Wednesday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, launched its Twitter rival app: Threads. Just like Twitter, the platform is aimed at creating public conversations, according to the company.

For users hoping that Threads would offer the same experience as Twitter minus the headaches, the debut has been a mixed picture. Complaints about the new service are already cropping up on Threads itself and other social media platforms.

• Twitter threatens legal action over Threads, calling Meta’s new app a “copycat.”

Affirmative action ruling raises stakes on college application essay

The college admission essay, a high-stakes pitch in which applicants have limited words to describe who they are and why campuses should admit them, just got even more stressful for students of color.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down race-based affirmative action has raised myriad questions about the all-important essay.

Admission officers rely on essays to get to know a student beyond grades and transcripts — and it’s become even more crucial at institutions that have eliminated consideration of standardized tests.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Corrie Siegel, executive director of the Museum of Neon Art, poses by the famed Brown Derby sign in the storage warehouse. Read more: “Go inside the Museum of Neon Art’s storage facility for a rare glimpse of vivid treasures”

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

California officials join Texas sheriff in calling for a federal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant flights. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta call for a federal investigation into migrants sent to Sacramento.

Here we go again: ‘Intense heat wave’ expected next week across Southern California. Triple-digit temperatures are expected by Wednesday in many parts of Southern and Central California. Even the coasts will feel significantly warmer.

Southern California hotels hit by strike say the union is unlawfully pushing a housing agenda. Southern California hotels file a National Labor Relations Board complaint accusing Unite Here Local 11 of unlawfully striking over nonlabor issues.

California high court: Employers are not responsible for COVID spread to workers’ families. Employers in California are not legally responsible for preventing the spread of COVID-19 from their employees to the employees’ family members, the California Supreme Court has ruled.

NATION-WORLD

Saving an election on Insta: Guatemalans go to social media to try to protect the presidential vote. As their presidential election hangs in the balance, Guatemalans are taking to social media to try to circumvent what they see as interference and a threat to democracy.

Immigrant women are joining the job market at record levels, boosting U.S. employment. Statistics now show that the labor participation rate of foreign-born women blew past record levels this year and has nearly caught up with that of U.S.-born women, whose numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Roller coaster riders trapped upside down for hours in Wisconsin. It took nearly 3½ hours to get all the passengers down. One person was taken to a hospital.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Jill Scott’s remixed national anthem goes viral after her performance at Essence Festival. In front of a packed audience, Scott belted out her remixed anthem. She received ovations and applause from the arena and gained buzz across social media.

The Eagles set ‘swan song’ with Long Goodbye farewell tour. The Eagles are ready to fly one last time, soaring for a farewell tour this fall to cap off their five decades of touring.

A novelization of RBG’s life reminds us what the Supreme Court once stood for. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, idolized as the “Notorious RBG,” died less than three years ago. But her legend lives on, most recently in Elizabeth Silver’s new novel, “The Majority.”

Inside the freakout over AI music. AI won’t replace your favorite artist. But it will render obsolete some working musicians and songwriters.

BUSINESS

‘The Profit’ producers win in arbitration after a $30-million lawsuit from a bankrupt contestant. The case was one of several of complaints involving “The Profit,” a popular, eight-season-long documentary-style show about struggling businesses that swap a stake in the company for cash and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis’ guidance.

SPORTS

Enough! The Dodgers need to rescue a lousy starting rotation and trade for an ace, now! “The Dodgers have barely played half of their games, but when it comes to their starting pitching, a trade needs to be made — the sooner the better,” writes Bill Plaschke.

Bobby Miller isn’t perfect but is tenacious in Dodgers’ 6-4 win over the Pirates. Three months into the season, Miller isn’t a shiny rotation depth piece for the Dodgers. He’s an essential, high-octane arm they’re relying on every fifth day earlier than anyone expected to stay afloat in the National League playoff race.

Clippers have summer vision for Jason Preston, whose surgery sharpened his shooting eye. Now when attempting three-pointers “the rim, you know, looks a little bigger,” he said. “Now it’s nice to have 20/20 vision when I’m playing,” he added. Still slightly unclear? His future.

OPINION

Column: Why Wimbledon favorite Novak Djokovic can win anything but tennis fans’ love. “Djokovic’s desire to be the game’s ambassador is at odds with his need to be its chief antagonist. He splits the difference, which doesn’t satisfy anyone,” LZ Granderson writes.

Column: Why blocking Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is healthy for politics. “While targeting relatively small debts held by lower-income community college graduates is more defensible, sweeping student debt forgiveness is regressive, rewarding people with an asset — a college or graduate degree — who are better equipped to pay it off than other debt-burdened Americans,” Jonah Goldberg writes.

YOUR WEEKEND

A group of people collage during a meetup hosted by Crista Quintos at Oeno Vino in Los Angeles. Quintos’ three-hour collage group has gained popularity for fueling people’s desire to be present, unwind and connect with others.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

How this L.A. collage club is using DIY art for collective self-care. The weekly collage classes are led and created by artist Crista Quintos and have become a chill activity that helps people in Los Angeles unwind, bond with others while in a creative flow and reimagine how meditation can take shape in their lives.

14 things to do on the mystical Mendocino coast — like ride a railbike in a redwood grove. In addition to dozens of hidden coves and secret beaches that would take months to explore, here are 14 things to do, see and eat.

4 Black day parties to infuse radical joy into your summer plans. L.A.’s Black day parties fill a need for belonging and partying in peace without discrimination or marginalization. (Plus, you get home at a reasonable hour.)

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

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Despite battle over politics, Florida tourism rolls on. Some travelers said that while they were against many laws recently passed in Florida, they didn’t feel that canceling their vacations would help anyone — or change the policies. In fact, several travelers said that they visited Disney and certain parts of Florida to get away from politics. New York Times

They were riding the Carolinas’ hottest roller coaster. Then someone noticed a crack. A visitor at a North Carolina amusement park spotted a large crack on a roller coaster’s pillar on Friday. The ride, which was billed as one of the tallest of its kind, has now been closed as crews make repairs. Charlotte Observer

Yes, it’s hot. But this could be one of the coolest summers of the rest of your life. In the years to come, heat waves like those in the American South and Europe are likely to get worse on the whole, not better. So while this summer might be unbearably hot, it’s likely to be one of the coolest summers for decades to come. Vox

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor raises her right hand to be sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 9, 1981.

(John Duricka / Associated Press)

On July 7, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was nominated by President Reagan to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reagan wanted a conservative justice, and in O’Connor he got one. But since she first took the bench, The Times wrote in 1988, feminists had more to applaud than they might have anticipated — and surely more than they have had with any of the men Reagan had selected.

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