Today’s Headlines: July was the planet’s hottest month on record — so far

Hello, it’s Wednesday, Aug. 16, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

July was the planet’s hottest month on record — so far. A sizzling month marked by record heat waves, major wildfires, melting sea ice and a burgeoning El Niño will go down in the books as the hottest July on record — at least until next year, federal officials said.

Temperature data through July make it virtually certain that 2023 will rank among the five warmest years on record, with a nearly 50% probability that it will be the single warmest year on record, the agency said.

How the Maui fires consumed Lahaina. The fires on Maui are the deadliest in 100 years of U.S. history. The first warning signs came more than a week ago, when on Aug. 4 the National Weather Service said to expect dry weather and high fire danger in Hawaii the following Monday into Wednesday as a system of low pressure — namely, a hurricane — moved from southeast of Hawaii to southwest of the state, while high pressure remained to its north.

What happened next would result in the destruction of a one-time capital of the Hawaiian kingdom.

Maui authorities on Tuesday began releasing the names of some of the people who died in the Lahaina fire.

Why Detroit, America’s poorest city, doesn’t have an L.A.-sized homeless problem. Detroit is a high-crime city with the country’s worst poverty rate — nearly 1 in 3 people meet the federal definition. But Detroit also has one of the nation’s lowest rates of homelessness.

The public tends to blame Los Angeles’ high levels of homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even Southern California’s warm weather. But poverty, drug use and crime are challenges for many American cities with far fewer homeless people than L.A.

Recycling: Are we doing it correctly? Can we do it correctly? Californians recycle because “they’re attached to the environment they live in,” says Rachel Machi Wagoner, the director of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, known as CalRecycle. “Especially with the impact of the pandemic, we’re craving connection to people in our community, our state and our country.”

But Californians still have a way to go.

• Plastics are everywhere. As an environment reporter, Susanne Rust makes informed choices when shopping, trying to minimize the amount she brings in. Or she thought she was.
• Will California’s efforts to adapt to climate change move the needle? Our experts have answers.

Sign up for Boiling Point to get the latest on climate change, energy and extreme weather from the L.A. Times.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Dana McGregor, at center with blue hat, owner of the Surfing Goats of Pismo Beach, joins friends along with surfing goat Chupacabrah on a giant surfboard at San Onofre State Beach last Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Photos: Surfing with ‘The Goatfather.’ It all started when longtime Pismo Beach surfer Dana McGregor would leave his late pet goat, Goatee, at home when he would go surfing and she would cry all the time he was gone, much to the annoyance of his neighbors. So he took her to the beach and taught her to surf, and she quickly became a tourist favorite.

CALIFORNIA

Frustration and criticism as L.A.’s D.A. struggles to reform sentencing. When he took office, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said up to 30,000 people could be eligible for re-sentencing under his progressive policies.

Lacking political power in California, conservatives turn their focus to local school boards. Republicans lacking power in California are focusing on local school boards’ policies, setting up a fight with Gov. Gavin Newsom over “parental rights.”

La Habra condo owners see a gaping chasm where their greenbelt used to be. Condo owners in La Habra’s Coyote Village have been waiting years for the reconstruction of a collapsed flood channel that cuts an ugly gash across their complex.

Fifty years later, hip-hop is still influencing California politics. From police brutality to artificial intelligence, hip-hop artists have been fueling discussions about issues politicians are still grappling with today.

NATION-WORLD

Watch ‘Split Jury,’ part of a special Short Docs series. Nearly 90 years after Oregon allowed split jury verdicts, one formerly incarcerated man and a law professor seek justice for hundreds of people as Oregon confronts the long-term consequences of this unconstitutional jury system.

‘I have enough ovaries to apply the law.’ As gender enters a presidential race, will it matter? Two female presidential front-runners in Mexico are campaigning hard to get on the ballot in next year’s election. As one aims to represent the president’s party and the other fights for an opposition coalition’s nomination, each is invoking her gender and the glass ceiling she would shatter.

Another political leader is killed in Ecuador, days after a presidential candidate’s assassination. The unprecedented violence roiling Ecuador claimed the life of another political leader Monday, bringing the number of politics-related slayings within the last four weeks to three.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia says jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich is in good health. Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions. He is the first American reporter to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

A new firearms report casts doubt on Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ account. It’s unclear whether prosecutors will use the report’s findings to bring new charges in the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured the film’s director, Joel Souza, who has since recovered.

From Taylor Swift’s Eras tour to ‘Barbie,’ women drive blockbusters. Will Hollywood notice? Note to Hollywood: When you create a cultural event that appeals to multiple generations of women, you might get a billion-dollar blockbuster.

Madonna reschedules Celebration tour after health scare. See the new L.A. dates. She was set to play Crypto.com Arena in downtown L.A. Sept. 27, 28, and 30 and Oct. 1. Now, Angelenos will have to wait until 2024 to welcome the pop icon.

Michael Oher, the NFL star who inspired ‘The Blind Side,’ alleges the Tuohy family never adopted him. Instead, the 37-year-old alleged, the couple duped him into signing a legal document in 2004 that made them his conservators, according to a copy of the court filing obtained Monday by The Times.

BUSINESS

L.A. doesn’t love N.Y. over ‘We’re No. 1’ seaport claims. Not so fast, New York. The latest port statistics show that Los Angeles and Long Beach together moved 7.9 million cargo containers during the first six months of the year, compared with 3.7 million handled by New York-New Jersey.

This Reddit list is tracking L.A. restaurants charging ‘service fees.’ A group of Los Angeles consumers is taking a stand against so-called service fees that have increasingly made their way onto cafe and restaurant bills across the country.

Exploitation, retaliation and alarming conditions: Inside the crisis at West Coast mushroom farms. Advocates say the conditions in the mushroom farms in Sunnyside, Wash., and Half Moon Bay, Calif., highlight how discrimination and illegal working conditions in the industry can often go unreported because workers — who have few resources or advocates— are afraid to speak up for fear of being fired.

SPORTS

Improved pitching and a soft schedule help Dodgers take charge in NL West. The Dodgers have won 12 of 13 games this month to build a commanding lead in their division. Clayton Kershaw’s return has helped settle the rotation.

How California’s lack of certified athletic trainers negatively impacts high school athletes. High school athletes in California, particularly in City Section, lack quality care when injured since the state does not mandate certified trainers.

El Segundo is gearing up for its first Little League World Series game. On Thursday, they will play against a team from Ohio in Williamsport, Pa., at 4 p.m. on ESPN. El Segundo is considered one of the favorites among the 10 teams from the U.S.

OPINION

A raid on a Kansas newspaper was possibly illegal — and definitely troubling. It was the sort of conduct one usually associates with totalitarian governments: Law enforcement officers swarm a newspaper office and confiscate computers, servers and cellphones of reporters and editors. Yet this raid took place not in a faraway autocracy, but in a small town in Kansas, despite a federal law prohibiting such searches in most cases.

Hollywood strikes prove Netflix and other streamers have grown too powerful. Time to break them up. The old vertical studio system was broken up by the Justice Department. It may be time to do the same with these 21st century behemoths.

ONLY IN L.A.

A mango Kakigori from Tonchin. The Japanese dessert is made from shaved ice with syrup.

(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

From Santa Monica to downtown L.A., Silver Lake and beyond, be sure to save room for these 19 frozen desserts.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On Aug. 16, 1977, rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley died. He was 42.

The singer was found fully clothed but unconscious in a bathroom of his Graceland mansion by his road manager, Joe Esposito.

A story about Presley’s death was featured on the front page of the L.A. Times the following day.

Shelby County Medical Examiner Jerry Francisco told newsmen after an autopsy that Presley had died of “cardiac arrythmia,” which he described as a severely irregular heartbeat. He said it had been brought about by “undetermined causes.”

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