Today’s Headlines: How giant vacuums could help the climate

It’s not science fiction: Machinery can pull carbon from the air and deposit it deep underground. But it won’t be easy.

TOP STORIES

How Giant Vacuums Could Help the Climate

Solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars will go far in helping California and the Biden administration meet their aggressive climate goals — but not far enough. As time runs short, scientists and government officials say the moment to break out the giant vacuums has arrived.

The art of industrial-scale carbon removal — sucking emissions from the atmosphere and storing them underground — has long been an afterthought in climate-action circles: too expensive, too controversial, too unproven.

But as the deadline to avert climate catastrophe barrels nearer, the Biden administration is making the technologies prominent in its plans, and California is scrambling to figure out how to put them to use.

The Mayor’s ‘Justice Budget’

Mayor Eric Garcetti offered his vision for helping Los Angeles emerge from the financial devastation of COVID-19, saying city leaders should commit to economic justice by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into relief programs and ramping up initiatives that keep residents safe, employed and out of poverty.

In his annual State of the City address, Garcetti promised to spend nearly $1 billion on initiatives for addressing homelessness and increase funding for gang intervention workers, sidewalk vending programs, arts activities and relief for businesses.

The mayor also laid out plans for delivering $1,000 per month to 2,000 of the city’s neediest households over the next year, as part of a “guaranteed basic income” pilot program that he described as the biggest of any city in America.

More Politics

— Former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale has died at age 93. Best known for losing to Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide, Mondale was an advocate for racial justice and against the Vietnam War, an introspective populist who tried to rally Americans to care for the poor and, later, a revered elder statesman of his party.

— Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to North Carolina to talk about economic opportunities and electric school buses. The trip was part of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote its $2-trillion infrastructure, clean energy and jobs plan.

— What is there left to say about a woman who has been in Washington longer than some members of Congress have been alive? Plenty, according to a new biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Waiting for a Verdict

The attorneys in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murdering George Floyd, have finished their closing arguments, turning over to jurors a case that has become the centerpiece in a high-stakes drama over race and justice in a nation with a troubled history of police brutality.

After three weeks of emotional testimony, Chauvin’s fate will be decided inside a room in a downtown Minneapolis courthouse that is guarded by razor wire and National Guard troops and ringed by demonstrators and boarded-up storefronts. The tension, of course, extends far beyond the city, as the Biden administration weighs how to respond and the Los Angeles Police Department faces a major test of whether it can improve its crowd control tactics after the verdict is read.

In an unsuccessful last-ditch effort, a Chauvin defense attorney called for a mistrial based in part on comments made by Rep. Maxine Waters, who told reporters “we’ve got to get more confrontational” if Chauvin is convicted of a lesser charge than murder. House Republicans are trying to reprimand Waters for her comments.

The Little Copter That Could

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter weighs less than 4 pounds, stands just 1.6 feet tall, and carries a payload of batteries, heaters and sensors that’s roughly the size of a tissue box.

But that didn’t stop it from setting a record on Mars as the first-ever powered flight on another planet.

Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge broke into applause as they learned that Ingenuity had hit every mark in its planned flight — spin-up, takeoff, climb, hover, descent, landing, touchdown and spin-down — without a hitch.

For more top stories, check out our new daily podcast, “The Times,” hosted by Gustavo Arellano.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Today is 4/20, a day internationally recognized by cannabis enthusiasts with its roots in California.

But the state wasn’t always welcoming to cannabis culture. According to a Sept. 9, 1948, story in The Times, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department discovered patches of plants growing beside a slaughterhouse in Rosemead and in a Huntington Park alley.

The narcotics squad staked out the Rosemead location for two weeks before determining the cannabis was likely to be growing wild, though the squad told The Times it was worth an estimated $20,000. Federal and local officials cut the plants and burned them.

Sept. 8, 1948: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Smith drags a load of marijuana from a roadside patch in Rosemead.

(Los Angeles Times Archive / UCLA)

CALIFORNIA

— Los Angeles County is expecting an uptick in its supply of COVID-19 vaccines this week, providing a welcome boost to the region’s inoculation efforts.

— A celebrity doctor known as “Dr. Drew,” who was nominated to an L.A. homeless commission by county Supervisor Kathryn Barger, has been pulled from consideration after community members objected.

— The tables have turned in the college admissions season, as students now get to accept or reject colleges. Schools are in sales mode, hoping to court their dream students.

— The pandemic has snuffed out San Francisco’s 4/20 celebration for a second year. Officials put up barriers around Golden Gate Park to prevent crowds from gathering.

NATION-WORLD

— Employees of the two main U.S. immigration enforcement agencies were directed to stop referring to migrants as “aliens,” a dated term that many people consider offensive.

— A federal judge ordered two members of the far-right Proud Boys back to jail pending trial, backing prosecutors’ most aggressive effort to jail those accused of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Meanwhile the Washington medical examiner ruled that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was injured in the violence, died after suffering a stroke.

— Dan Pena, a Los Angeles Chicano who rarely says his name without attaching the appellation “the trillion-dollar man,” lives in a Scottish castle and has plenty of opinions.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— A recent email sent by a former Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. president likening the Black Lives Matter movement to a hate group has touched off a firestorm among many members at a sensitive time for the Golden Globes organization, which is under pressure for having no Black members and for ethical and financial lapses raised in a Times investigation.

— A restoration of L.A.’s Union Station revealed vibrant ceiling paintings. They’ll get their close-up this week with the Academy Awards broadcast from inside the station.

— Hollywood wants Gen Z’s attention. But new data say young people would rather play video games, listen to music or browse the internet.

— Two key leaders have stepped down from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, blaming a “hostile” work culture and resistance to diversity initiatives, respectively.

BUSINESS

— For many fans, grabbing boba is as routine as grabbing a latte. But shop owners say a shortage is coming for the United States, the result of backed up international shipping.

— Does Spotify pay artists a fair rate? Here’s what musicians, managers and Apple Music have to say.

SPORTS

— How Elgin Baylor handled the toughest job in sports: working for Donald Sterling.

— The San Jose Sharks’ Patrick Marleau has surpassed “Mr. Hockey” for the most games played in NHL history. Here’s what keeps him going.

OPINION

— Child care is in crisis, but we can fix it by investing in the industry. The potential payoff for lower-income families is huge, and it’ll help the economy too, writes The Times’ editorial board.

— A billion dollars to help homeless people should get them into permanent housing, Times editorial board member Carla Hall writes.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— Can North Korea’s hacking army be stopped? (The New Yorker)

— Editing a Beat poet has its own set of challenges. (Literary Hub)

ONLY IN L.A.

What is it about film-themed frozen yogurt places in L.A.? Last month, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, name-checked having worked at Humphrey Yogart during her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. Now, Demi Lovato has apologized for slamming the Bigg Chill in West L.A. for promoting sugar-free cookies and “other diet foods.”

Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.