Today’s Headlines: Here’s what’s affected by the L.A. city workers’ strike

Hello, it’s Tuesday, Aug. 8, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Here’s what’s affected by the L.A. city workers’ strike. For the first time in over a decade, thousands of Los Angeles city workers will walk off the job Tuesday, upending some services across the city for 24 hours.

That means lifeguards, traffic officers, airport custodians, engineers and sanitation workers will be among those on the picket lines Tuesday. Starting early in the morning, the services they provide could be affected.

• As thousands of workers prepare to strike, Mayor Karen Bass says L.A. is ‘not going to shut down.’

Authorities probe the Cabazon helicopter crash that killed three. Authorities on Monday were trying to discern how two helicopters battling a small fire in Riverside County collided, leaving three people dead.

The two choppers struck each other around 7:05 p.m. Sunday near Cabazon, with one crashing and the other landing safely. The incident marks a rare instance in which the aviation battle of a California wildfire resulted in a midair crash.

• Three men died in the Cabazon helicopter crash. Here’s what we know about them.

Three co-workers running for the same Senate seat? That’s awkward. Reps. Katie Porter, Adam B. Schiff and Barbara Lee are running for the same Senate seat, creating some uncomfortable dynamics in California’s Democratic House delegation.

Conversations with more than half of the 40 members of the delegation revealed that the trio of lawmakers had remained civil adults and had not put any of them in a tough spot.

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

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Dwight Hwang, helped by his wife Hazel, lowers a piece of calligraphy paper onto a sheephead that has been painted with ink.

(Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Burned out after 20 years of 16-hour days on movie sets, he found a new calling: ‘gyotaku.’ Dwight Hwang has mastered gyotaku art, which is the Japanese version of taxidermy. The Orange County artist’s work can be found in restaurants and scientific research.

CALIFORNIA

Prosecutors seek a 6-year prison term for Mark Ridley-Thomas: ‘This was a shakedown.’ “He lied, cheated, and deceived, repeatedly,” prosecutors wrote in a 32-page memo.

Potty training, ‘accidents,’ wiping issues complicate 4-year-olds’ start at public schools. As part of the state’s expansion requiring elementary schools to add a new grade level, transitional kindergarten, campuses are enrolling more 4-year-olds. The children arrive at varying stages of development.

• Help children learn to use the bathroom on their own with these expert resources.

9th Circuit overturns butterfly knife ban, citing Supreme Court ‘history’ standard on guns. The ruling, which may be appealed, has implications beyond Hawaii, including in California and other states that also ban or severely restrict butterfly knives.

NATION-WORLD

A cop feared for her life around her boyfriend. What happened after she killed him. In a country where an average of 10 women were slain a day last year, sometimes by their romantic partners, Alina Narziso’s case shows how Mexico deals with a lesser-known outcome: when a woman kills her alleged abuser.

South Korean actors in Netflix originals want better pay. The company refuses to meet with their union. Netflix has provided immense opportunity for South Korean actors — but just for those at the top. The company declines to meet with the actors’ union.

A former officer is unrepentant as he gets nearly 5 years in the George Floyd killing. At his sentencing hearing, Tou Thao said he never intended to hurt anyone that day and spoke at length about his growth as a Christian during his 340 days behind bars, but denied any responsibility for Floyd’s death.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

William Friedkin, director of ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The French Connection,’ dies at 87. Friedkin died Monday in Los Angeles, his widow, Sherry Lansing, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. CAA, which represents Lansing, said the director died at home from heart failure and pneumonia.

• In ‘The Exorcist’ and beyond, Friedkin gave the devil his due.

Emmys 2023: Answers to all your burning questions about the comedy races. With a comedy class that includes “The Bear,” “Ted Lasso,” “Barry” and “Abbott Elementary” (and ... what’s this ... “Jury Duty”??), there’s a lot to like — and a lot to discuss — about how the comedy races will play out.

50 years, 50 game-changing moments: How hip-hop took over the world. The most important Black-pioneered art form of our time, hip-hop began as — and to some degree remains — a product of the street, accessible to anyone, even as it’s grown into a global industry that now generates billions.

Inside the California African American Museum’s $5-million, ‘momentum’-fueled upgrades. On Saturday CAAM reopens its doors, debuting the upgrades and five new exhibitions. The changes at CAAM are quiet, but game-changers: a new HVAC system, refinished floors, a new roof and weatherproofed glass ceiling panels in the atrium.

BUSINESS

L.A.’s striking hotel workers are being roughed up by employers’ security, union says. A video circulating online shows footage of security personnel pushing and tackling picketing hotel workers after a march Saturday in Santa Monica that ended at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows.

Even Zoom is calling employees back to the office. A one-time darling of the work-from-home era, is calling workers back to the office. Oh, the irony.

SPORTS

Commentary: The Lionel Messi circus is taking MLS by storm, but will it cost the league its soul? Lionel Messi and Inter Miami could meet LAFC in the Leagues Cup final, but soccer’s most electrifying player might be causing a radical shift in MLS.

Daiyan Henley was born into the deadly world of his dad, who put him on a path to the NFL. Daiyan Henley inspired his father to change his life and steer his son away from the L.A. streets and to a life in football that led Daiyan to the Chargers.

Major changes are likely coming to U.S. women’s soccer, starting with its coach. Part of Vlatko Andonovski’s job over the last four years was to rejuvenate a team that had grown old under Jill Ellis. In that, he has succeeded. But his future with the team is uncertain.

OPINION

L.A.’s key justice reform survives court challenge. Time to pick up the pace. Los Angeles County’s Measure J may be the nation’s most lasting and consequential criminal justice reform strategy to arise from the 2020 George Floyd racial ‘reckoning.’ Struck down by a trial judge, an appeals court has reinstated it.

Over-the-counter birth control is coming. But will it be affordable? The FDA has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill. But without policy changes, the pills would be inaccessible for young women.

ONLY IN L.A.

A colorful array of soft serve from Wax Paper on July 24, 2023, in Los Angeles.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

With bright colors, toppings, hard-shell dips and an out-of-this-world name, some of L.A.’s best soft serve can be found within one of the city’s most popular sandwich shops.

Here’s your summer guide to soft serve in L.A.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Nixon resigns in ‘interests of nation,’ announces the front page of the Aug. 9, 1974, edition of the Los Angeles Times.

(Los Angeles Times)

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation after facing the near-certain prospect of impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal.

He was succeeded by Gerald Ford the following day.

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