Today’s Headlines: The Chauvin verdicts

The conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin brings a complicated moment of catharsis.

TOP STORIES

The Chauvin Verdicts

It was a moment etched in time: Three guilty verdicts, read in quick succession. Within minutes, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and led from the courtroom after being convicted of murdering George Floyd.

It took the jurors less than 12 hours to reach their decision in a landmark trial that centered on police brutality and spoke to a nation shaken over the last year by protests against racial injustice and demands to reform law enforcement.

Chauvin, who was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter on Tuesday, could face up to 40 years in prison.

The moment for many marked a step toward justice as the white former officer was convicted in the death of a Black man, whose cries — “I can’t breathe” — have been etched into the nation’s psyche.

From Minneapolis to Los Angeles and around the world, the outcome sparked celebrations but also led to a sobering realization that it took the harrowing video of Floyd’s death to deliver a rare conviction against a police officer in a case of excessive force. In Washington, D.C, President Biden and leading Democrats said it was just the first step on the path to national healing, while renewing their push for sweeping criminal justice reform.

But by Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio, protesters once again filled the streets over another tragedy: Just before the Chauvin verdict was read, police had shot and killed a teenage girl.

More From the Trial

— In preparation for the Chauvin verdict, Facebook cracked down on content that incites violence. Why didn’t it do so sooner?

— Columnist Erika D. Smith: “With Chauvin’s conviction, justice was served for once. I’ll cheer when it’s a norm.”

— Why don’t police shootings of Latinos get more national attention? It’s a common question, but it’s not the one Latinos should really be asking, writes columnist Gustavo Arellano.

— Photos: A nation reacts to a guilty verdict.

A Judge’s Order on Homelessness

A federal judge overseeing a sprawling lawsuit about homelessness in L.A. has ordered the city and county to offer some form of shelter or housing to the entire homeless population of skid row by October.

Judge David O. Carter granted a preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs in the case last week and now is telling the city and county that they must offer single women and unaccompanied children on skid row a place to stay within 90 days, help families within 120 days and finally, by Oct. 18, offer every homeless person on skid row housing or shelter.

It’s unclear whether the city and county will challenge the order, which also calls for the city to put $1 billion into an escrow account — an idea that has raised concerns among city officials. And as columnist Steve Lopez writes, the order “presents more than a few big, vexing questions.”

The Anxiety of a ‘Return to Normal’

With COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County having plummeted since January’s peak and a sizable portion of California’s population getting vaccinated — more than 50% of adults in the state have received at least one shot — we seem to be on the cusp of returning to normal life.

But for many people, transitioning back to the “before times” is proving to be a lot more fraught than expected.

While the experts may say vaccines offer excellent protection from the virus, some people can’t help but feel it all sounds too good to be true. As with just about everything in this pandemic, Angelenos’ feelings about the county’s reopening run the gamut from elation to alarm.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this date in 1930, Ford Motor Co. opened its new Long Beach assembly plant, replacing an earlier factory in downtown Los Angeles. The Times reported the next morning that the lieutenant governor had, before hundreds of lunch guests, “pressed an electric button that started the assembly line of the plant in motion.

“And it may be regarded in some quarters as another one of those Ford stories, but it is a fact that hardly had the button been pressed than the sound of the horn on the first completed car came back from the factory over the broadcasting system connecting the plant with the club dining-room.”

CALIFORNIA

— Years after lawmakers backed it, Los Angeles still isn’t mandating annual inspections for oil and gas facilities. The fledgling office that oversees them is down to two employees, and the proposal has stalled even as politicians float a far more dramatic plan to phase out drilling entirely.

— As underserved areas in L.A. grapple with vaccine inequities, Sean Penn’s nonprofit joins the effort to get doses to residents.

— Lawyers representing hundreds of patients of former UCLA gynecologist Dr. James M. Heaps urged others to opt out of a $73-million class-action settlement, saying it lets the university keep too many other sexual abuse allegations secret and calling it an “outrageous travesty.”

— Investigators believe that Kristin Smart’s body was recently moved from beneath the deck at the Arroyo Grande home of the father of Paul Flores, who is accused of her murder, according to court records.

NATION-WORLD

— The Justice Department has brought charges against more than 400 people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, but one of its most pivotal potential cases involves a man who never set foot inside the building.

— The State Department urged Americans to reconsider any international travel they might have planned and said it would issue specific warnings not to visit roughly 80% of the world’s countries due to risks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

— A woman from the capital of Damascus has applied to run for president of Syria, the parliament speaker said, making her the first woman to make a bid for the country’s top job. The largely symbolic election is certain to be won by President Bashar Assad.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— If you think learning math is hard on Zoom, try learning to play rock and roll. The kids learning the ropes at the School of Rock learned to adapt during the pandemic — but now, in L.A., they’re finally able to turn up the volume in person again.

— Phil Berk is out at the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., hours after NBC called on it to remove him over an email in which he called Black Lives Matter a “hate movement.” The ouster comes a day after the diversity strategist hired last month by the group, which hands out the Golden Globes, quit the job.

— In a movie season turned upside down by COVID-19, it seems right on brand that this year’s eight best picture Oscar nominees all channel a feeling of the unsettled — in their narratives, but also in the architecture that they depict.

— WME’s owner Endeavor plans to raise around $511 million in its initial public offering, valuing the company at about $10 billion.

BUSINESS

— Netflix significantly missed its estimates for how many subscribers it would add in the first quarter, citing a delay in productions during the pandemic as a factor.

— Southern California home prices soared in March, rising by double digits for the eighth straight month in a pandemic-fueled housing boom one analyst calls a “feeding frenzy.”

SPORTS

— The Dodgers got back their winning ways thanks to a strong pitching effort in a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners — and that wasn’t even their best news Tuesday. The better news: X-rays on Mookie Betts’ left forearm were negative.

— Athletes reacted to Chauvin’s murder conviction with a mix of joy and wariness. As Minnesota’s two professional basketball teams put it: “We are hopeful that today’s decision will serve as a step forward, but it does not ease the physical and emotional pain that continues in an environment where systemic racism exists.”

OPINION

— Chauvin’s conviction is less a victory or a vindication than an expression of faith, The Times’ editorial board writes — evidence of justice as yet unseen, but hoped for.

— A judge’s ruling requiring L.A. to shelter everybody on skid row might well set back the city’s homelessness programs and housing efforts — and it won’t be enough to put people on a path toward a sustainable, decent life, the board says.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— Intensive parenting wasn’t always a thing. Now, it comes at the expense of social relationships. But why? (The Atlantic)

— “Real Housewives” and the reckoning: What does the Bravo network look like “when it grows a conscience”? (Vulture)

ONLY IN L.A.

There’s the Virgil sandwich, with its beets in zhoug. Or the Normandie, with prime brisket with a shoyu-dashi marinade and mustard aioli. At Open Market, the sandwiches make for an interesting map of Los Angeles, not only taking their names from its streets but also reflecting its cultures. The new corner store and cafe in Koreatown aims to be by — and for — the community, and its food is an ode to the L.A. flavors that have influenced it. Said chef Andrew Marco: “Every single dish that we make has Los Angeles DNA in it.”

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