Newsletter: Today: A Terror Suspect Is Charged — and Trump Charges Ahead

The suspect in this week’s New York City terror attack is talking to authorities. President Trump says the U.S. needs to demonstrate more toughness and strength. Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

A Terror Suspect Is Charged — and Trump Charges Ahead

Investigators say the man charged in the deadly New York truck attack told them he became radicalized watching Islamic State videos on his cellphone, planned the attack for Halloween to maximize its carnage and even asked for an ISIS flag to be draped in his hospital room. Will he get the death penalty? That’s what President Trump called for in a tweet, after earlier suggesting the man may be sent to Guantanamo Bay. While the investigation proceeds into the driver and his “mysterious” life, and an international group of victims is mourned, Trump has given his condolences; criticized Democrats; called for a crackdown on immigration programs, including the one used by the suspect to enter the U.S.; and expressed frustration with the criminal justice process, calling it “a joke” and “a laughingstock.”

Brett Ratner Faces the Fallout Amid Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Allegations

Brett Ratner is one of Hollywood’s most powerful players, having directed, produced or financed dozens of box-office hits such as “Rush Hour,” “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “Horrible Bosses.” In interviews with The Times, actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge and four other women have accused Ratner of sexual harassment or misconduct. Through his attorney, Ratner has denied all the allegations. The fallout in Hollywood has been swift: Warner Bros. is severing ties with the filmmaker; Playboy Enterprises is temporarily stopping plans to team with him to produce a biopic of the late Hugh Hefner; and stars have added their views on Twitter.

The Astros Win and Leave L.A. in a Blue Funk

The June 30, 2014, issue of Sports Illustrated called it: The Houston Astros are “your 2017 World Series champs.” But there was nothing in that story about the crazy, epic stretch of games against the Dodgers that led up to Wednesday’s Game 7 at Dodger Stadium. After all the drama, the final game was a 5-1 blowout, after pitcher Yu Darvish did not rise to the occasion and the Dodgers left 10 men stranded on base. “This one was over before it started,” says Times columnist Bill Plaschke. It gave the Astros their first championship in the franchise’s 55-year history. For the Dodgers’ disappointed fans, it’s now 29 years and counting. At least we’ll always have these amazing photos to remember this year’s run.

The Houston Astros celebrate beating the Dodgers to win the World Series.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times )

Congress to Silicon Valley: Delete Your (Fake) Accounts

One Facebook ad showed Hillary Clinton’s face with a black X on it. Another demanded she be removed from the presidential race because of “the dynastic succession of the Clinton family in American politics.” And one account urged people to protest at a Houston mosque while another encouraged Muslims to counterprotest. The link: Russia. Members of the House and Senate released these ads and told executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google that they failed to do enough. “You created these platforms and now they are being misused,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said. “You have to be the ones to do something about it or we will.”

462 Arrested, 3 Charged: How L.A. Responded to Anti-Trump Protests

Were Los Angeles police too aggressive in arresting protesters after the election of Donald Trump last year? During marches between Nov. 7 and Nov. 12, the LAPD arrested 462 people, far more than any other law enforcement agency in the country. Of those, a Times analysis shows, the department sought formal charges in 10 cases, and prosecutors have filed charges against just three people. As protests to mark the one-year anniversary near, civil liberties advocates say the tactics used in 2016 could have a chilling effect on people’s exercising of their 1st Amendment rights.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- From the locker room: Dodgers players Kenley Jansen, Corey Bellinger and Rich Hill talk about losing Game 7.

-- For bored Baghdadis seeking a thrill, daredevil motorcycle tricks are the way to go.

CALIFORNIA

-- If the homeless woman you saw were your mother, would you keep moving or step in to help? Columnist Steve Lopez takes another look at the problem of helping the gravely ill on the streets.

-- A federal appeals court has decided that an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who in 2013 continued to shoot a felled suspect and then stomped his head may be sued for using excessive deadly force.

-- With the first major storm of autumn expected in Northern California this weekend, officials are scrambling to contain potentially toxic runoff from the ash and debris of wine country burn zones.

-- Meanwhile, officials in Imperial Beach say sewage flowing up the coast from Tijuana fouled miles of shoreline over the weekend, severely sickening surfers and other beachgoers.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Dustin Hoffman has apologized after being accused of sexually harassing a 17-year-old intern in 1985 on the set of a TV adaptation of “Death of a Salesman.”

-- Film critic Kenneth Turan says Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” is a coming-of-age movie so real you won’t believe it’s fiction.

-- Netflix is bringing author Margaret Atwood back to the small screen with “Alias Grace.” TV critic Lorraine Ali calls it “gripping.”

-- Robert Plant says he is too enamored of the music he’s making with the Sensational Space Shifters to give any serious thought to public clamoring for another Led Zeppelin reunion.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Before Burt Lancaster became a Hollywood star, he was a college athlete who quit to join the circus, a clothing salesman, a firefighter, a truck driver and a draftee into the armed forces during World War II. Lancaster, who was born in New York on this date in 1913, would win an Oscar for his role in 1960’s “Elmer Gantry.” When Lancaster died in 1994, his friend Kirk Douglas said: “You know, Burt isn’t really dead…. People years from now will still be seeing us shooting at each other ... still watching him in his many other great films. At least he’s at peace now.”

NATION-WORLD

-- Attorneys representing news outlets including the Los Angeles Times have filed two lawsuits in Nevada asking officials to turn over law enforcement records related to the Las Vegas massacre.

-- More from the Las Vegas aftermath: A woman’s desperate search for the man she had tried to save after the shooting.

-- How the Día de los Muertos tradition continues in Mexico, even for those who lost everything in the 7.1 magnitude quake.

-- Brazilian teens share their take on the volatile political situation in their country.

BUSINESS

-- The decision by House Republican leaders to retain the current top individual tax rate disappointed conservatives, but experts say there is still plenty to make the richest Americans the overall winners.

-- How Las Vegas and California’s wine country are trying to lure tourists back after tragedies.

-- Tesla says full-speed production of its Model 3 car won’t come for months, and it reported a loss of $671.1 million in the third quarter. So far this year, it’s lost $1.66 billion.

SPORTS

-- Hey, at least one L.A. team could beat a team from Texas: The Clippers rolled to an easy victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

-- Also looking on the positive side: Jared Goff’s career as a Ram has started a lot like Eli Manning’s when he broke in with the Giants. Manning would become a two-time Super Bowl champion.

OPINION

-- Don’t use the New York terror attack to justify watering down our freedoms.

-- Admit it: Radical Islamic terrorism is different.

-- Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the right mouthpiece for a truth-twisting president: See the David Horsey cartoon.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- The atmosphere inside the White House is said to be intense after this week’s indictments. (Vanity Fair)

-- Then again, Trump says that he isn’t “angry at anybody” and that “I’m not under investigation, as you know.” (New York Times)

-- “How Martin Luther changed the world” by starting the Reformation 500 years ago. (The New Yorker)

ONLY IN L.A.

For more than three decades, the 100-inch telescope at the Mt. Wilson Observatory was the largest in the world. But its debut on the night of Nov. 1, 1917, was less than spectacular. When several notable astronomers trained it on Jupiter, they were dismayed to find that everything was a blur. Here’s how they got it into focus, ushering in a greater understanding of the universe — until the lights of L.A. began fuzzing up the picture again.

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