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The Week in Photos: Trump indicted; fentanyl devastates a town

A close-up of Donald Trump's face, framed nose and up.
Former President Trump was indicted on Thursday in an alleged hush money scheme.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s selection of top stories in pictures.

For the first time in American history, a U.S. president has been prosecuted on criminal charges. Donald Trump was indicted Thursday in an alleged hush money scheme in which he is accused of paying porn actor Stormy Daniels in the final days of his 2016 presidential campaign. It’s foolish to predict the effect of Trump’s indictment but there’s reason to believe things have changed and his scot-free days may be over.

Donald Trump walks in between two American flags, his face covered by one of them.
Former President Trump finishes a speech at the America First Policy Institute’s summit in Washington, D.C., in July. Does his indictment Thursday signal his retreat from the American political arena? Not likely.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Fentanyl addiction and homelessness haunt this New Mexico town. Generations have struggled with drug addiction in Española, but fentanyl is ripping through the already wounded community with new fervor, contributing to rising homelessness and overdose rates.

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Grandparents are raising grandchildren, and a “baby box” has been built at the fire station to take in unwanted infants. Shoplifters haunt the aisles at Lowe’s and Walmart.

— JEFFREY FLEISHMAN

A man, sitting beneath a blanket to block the wind, smokes fentanyl.
A man in Española, N.M., sitting beneath a blanket to block the wind, smokes fentanyl, a common occurrence in town.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A person sits on the median of the roadway next to a suitcase with a cardboard sign.
A person in Española, N.M., sits on a highway median with a suitcase and a cardboard sign that reads, “Sorry for asking but if you can Please Help Me out that’ll be great thank U Have a good Day.”
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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In California, a privilege that is the rare “California Double” — the state’s geography and recent wet weather — now allows for anyone so inclined to enjoy sand and snow in the span of one day.

Skiers and snowboarders ride a chairlift at Big Bear Mountain Resort.
Skiers and snowboarders get a lift at Big Bear Mountain Resort on a recent weekend in Big Bear Lake.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A man casts a long shadow as he jogs along the surf line.
A man casts a long shadow as he jogs along the surf line in Santa Monica last weekend.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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After a police killing, law enforcement agencies across California have been trained to keep families in the dark and grilled for information that is later used to protect their department, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

“[T]he more disparaging information the police have about someone they’ve killed, the less money the department may have to pay.”

— BRIAN HOWEY

A woman with long copper-toned hair looks at the camera. Sky with fluffy white clouds fills the background.
Crystal Leff sued the city of Garden Grove after police fatally shot her unarmed ex-boyfriend and afterward detained her for interrogation.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Storms may be on their way out, but they are expected to benefit Californians for months to come. Southern California is refilling its largest reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake — a backbone of the region’s water storage system — hoping to restore it to full capacity by the end of this year. The $2-billion, 4.5-mile-long reservoir, which is near Hemet, was built to provide a lifeline when all else fails: “When things go really bad, this is the one that saves our system,” said the general manager of a state water agency.

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Water cascades into Diamond Valley Lake from an inlet/outlet tower in Winchester, Calif., near Hemet.
Water cascades into Diamond Valley Lake from an inlet/outlet tower in Winchester, Calif., on Monday. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is refilling the region’s largest reservoir with state supplies made available by this winter’s storms.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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David Mora shot and killed his three daughters and a chaperone during a supervised visit last year. The children’s mother had warned the courts that he was dangerous, but no one listened.

“Because somehow putting ‘domestic’ before ‘violence’ makes us treat it as less deadly or harmful than a random attack by a stranger, though about three women are killed every day by an intimate acquaintance in the U.S.”

— ANITA CHABRIA

A woman rests her face in her palm while being comforted by another person.
Ileana Gutiérrez, mother of three slain daughters, is embraced by a family friend before a memorial anniversary in Citrus Heights, near Sacramento, in March. The girls were killed in a church by their father during a supervised visit a year ago.
(José Luis Villegas / For The Times)
Four teen girls embrace one another while grieving during a memorial service.
Larissa Reynosa, 14, Gabriela Martinez, 14, Brooklyn Muhammad, 15, and Zariahlyn Mickens, 14, embrace one another during a memorial service in Citrus Heights last month for the Gutiérrez girls: Samarah, 9; Samantha, 10; and Samia, 13.
(José Luis Villegas / For The Times)

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In California’s San Joaquin Valley, a “phantom lake” returns with a vengeance, as the spreading waters swallow fields and orchards and encroach on low-lying towns, unearthing an ugly history of water and the shallow inland sea that has defined the region for decades.

Floodwaters surround a house structure. A telephone pole leans from the water at the center.
Floodwaters from a break in levees in the San Joaquin Valley overtake structures of a farming operation near Corcoran. Tulare Lake, a body of water that was largely drained more than 100 years ago, has been filling up after a series of powerful storms that have struck California this winter.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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The Skid Row Housing Trust was regarded as a model for nonprofits housing homeless people in Los Angeles. But behind the scenes, it was falling apart — and leaving tenants in squalor. A Times examination found that the implosion of the celebrated housing nonprofit was a long time coming. The city is seeking receivership. for the trust’s 29 distressed buildings.

A man looks through a broken glass panel of an exit door
Jarian Banks is a five-year resident of the Sanborn Hotel Apartments, one of the properties owned by the Skid Row Housing Trust.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Though snow is beginning to melt, it is still piled high in the San Bernardino Mountains after recent storms. Members of citizen volunteer groups, who continue to provide a lifeline to snowbound residents, say they never want to be caught off guard again.

A volunteer drives an all-terrain vehicle through a snow-filled driveway
Volunteer Stephen Reilly drives an all-terrain skid-steer vehicle to clear a driveway access road for resident Regina Brown in Twin Peaks, Calif. The road had been impassable for three weeks due to the heavy snowfall in the San Bernardino Mountains.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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And finally, as a major storm caps California’s wet season with more rain, winds and snow, lately making L.A. rainier than Seattle, Southern California begins to dry out.

A toddler in a yellow raincoat runs near a small waterfall and palm trees.
Ray Sharaf, 2, of San Clemente explores the Dana Point waterfalls. The falls, which occur only during heavy rains, were activated by Wednesday’s storm.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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