Newsletter: Today: Will ‘Do Your Job!’ Get the Job Done? Where Immigrants Now Fear to Tread.

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Will ‘Do Your Job!’ Get the Job Done?

By now you’ve probably seen the videos: “Do your job!” chants the crowd, as a beleaguered lawmaker grits those teeth. Congress is in recess this week, and in big cities and rural hamlets alike, citizens are showing up at town halls to voice their displeasure — and sometimes to protest the protesters. But will these “so-called angry crowds,” as President Trump referred to them in a tweet, amount to a meaningful political movement?

Where Immigrants Now Fear to Tread

Trump’s supporters have praised his crackdown on illegal immigration, and though it will take time to be fully implemented, it is already affecting the lives of immigrants across the nation. Many are expressing fear of being arrested or deported at any moment. Some say they’ve changed their routines. And those who are in the country legally have found acquaintances relying on them to do errands.

“I haven’t been out in almost a week,” says this Salvadoran mother in the U.S. illegally. “I’ve been afraid to come out.”

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

More About Immigration

-- Did a Mexican migrant leap to his death at the border minutes after being deported?

-- Trump’s top deputies are hoping to shore up ties with a suspicious Mexico.

-- What you need to know about the Trump administration’s new immigration rules.

Another Salvo in the Bathroom Battle

The Trump administration says it’s a matter of states’ rights. Activist groups call it a matter of students’ rights. White House officials have rescinded an Obama-era directive about which bathrooms transgender public school students may use, saying that local and state governments as well as Congress could adopt “appropriate policies or laws” to address discrimination, bullying and harassment. California law already forbids discriminating against students based on gender identity or gender expression.

Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

It’s too early to say whether the seven Earth-sized worlds that astronomers have discovered in a solar system just 39 light-years away are truly Earth-like. But scientists can dream, can’t they? “The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if but when,” says one. For those who can’t wait, there’s already a travel poster to the exoplanets orbiting around an “ultracool dwarf star.”

In San Jose, a Flood of Questions

The worst flooding to hit Silicon Valley in a century drove more than 14,000 people from their homes in San Jose this week. Now, they want to know why they didn’t receive more of a warning. “If the first time a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly there has been a failure,” San Jose’s mayor said.

CALIFORNIA

-- Video appears to show an off-duty LAPD officer firing his gun during a confrontation with a group of teenagers in Anaheim. About 300 demonstrators took to the streets to protest the case.

-- An arts nonprofit in Boyle Heights is closing shop after “constant attacks” by anti-gentrification activists.

-- Lee Baca in court, Round 2: Here’s a look at what will sound familiar in the retrial, and what will be new.

-- A federal judge has denied a request to allow more people to join a lawsuit against a group of surfers in Lunada Bay.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Countdown to the Oscars: “La La Land” sound mixer Ai-ling Lee makes history with an “invisible” art … and car horns.

-- Finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prizes include Zadie Smith and Rep. John Lewis, while novelist Thomas McGuane will be honored for lifetime achievement.

-- “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 40-year career has outlasted some of the artists he has parodied.

-- Desert X aims to be the Coachella of the art world. Get a sneak peek.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were pure gold on screen, but they never shared in the wealth off it, because they earned a flat salary for their films. “It’s been a great life,” Laurel said, “and I’m happy that I have made people forget some of their sorrows — but it would have been nice to have made a little money along the way. I’m not complaining. I’ve got all I want in this little apartment.” On this date in 1965, Laurel died in that small Santa Monica apartment, with his fourth wife, Ida, and a nurse at his side.

NATION-WORLD

-- Ten people were arrested as authorities closed in on a Dakota Access pipeline protest camp.

-- Authorities say one of two teenage girls killed along a northern Indiana hiking trail last week used her cellphone to capture video of a man police now consider the main suspect.

-- A retired CIA officer has been taken into custody in Portugal and faces extradition to Italy to serve a four-year sentence for her role in the kidnapping of a radical Muslim cleric.

-- The far right party is leading election polls in the Netherlands. Will a politician known for his platinum blond streaked hair be the new prime minister?

BUSINESS

-- A report says L.A. County has traded high-paying jobs for low-paying positions.

-- Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey has finalized his exit after 12 years managing the legendary movie studio. It has struggled to produce box-office hits.

-- Meanwhile, FilmNation is the emerging Oscar powerhouse you’ve probably never heard of.

SPORTS

-- Chargers Coach Anthony Lynn has surrounded himself with loads of head-coaching experience.

-- The USC men’s basketball team isn’t happy with its No. 1 ranking in an unusual category.

OPINION

-- Stephen Miller was no hero fighting left-wing oppression at Santa Monica High School.

-- SeaWorld was right to stop breeding orcas, but it should go further.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- What’s behind an epidemic of unnecessary medical treatments? (ProPublica)

-- The real meaning of these two words: Allahu Akbar. (Hazlitt)

-- Testing, testing: the history of Rorschach’s inkblots. (New Republic)

ONLY IN L.A.

Twenty-two years ago, they told Jimmy Kimmel he would not go far when he tried to crash the Oscars’ Governors Ball. He sneaked in anyway. Now, on his dressing room, they’ve hung a star for him to host the Academy Awards. Here is how he’s getting ready for Sunday — in a Dickies work shirt, shorts and black socks.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.

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