Today’s Headlines: L.A.’s COVID eviction protections are set to end by February

By Elvia Limón and Jason Sanchez

Hello, it’s Wednesday, Oct. 5, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today.

TOP STORIES

L.A. landlords can resume evictions starting Feb. 1

After nearly three years of COVID-19 emergency restrictions, landlords will again be allowed to evict tenants who fall behind on their rent, the L.A. City Council voted. The decision enables the eviction protections, some of the longest-lasting in the country, to end as of Feb. 1, 2023.

As part of the council’s actions, beginning in February 2024, landlords will be able to evict tenants for unauthorized pets or residents not listed on leases. In rent-controlled apartments — about three-quarters of the city’s apartment stock — rent hikes will be allowed to resume at that time.

Will a streetcar fast-track Santa Ana’s gentrification?

A new electric-powered streetcar line, which will run about four miles from Santa Ana to Garden Grove, may be a boon to some businesses on a 4th Street strip that’s starting to cater to hip, high-end customers.

With its tightly packed bungalows and historic charm, homeowners in the downtown area also benefit if property values go up.

But some Santa Ana residents fear the streetcar will accelerate changes already underway, forcing longtime Latino-owned businesses out as trendy restaurants and bars sprout up around quinceañera shops.

A radical plan to save the Salton Sea has been rejected

For as long as the Salton Sea has faced the threat of ecological collapse, some local residents and environmentalists have advocated a radical cure for the deteriorating lake: a large infusion of ocean water.

By moving desalinated seawater across the desert, they say, California could stop its largest lake from shrinking and growing saltier, and restore its once-thriving ecosystem. Without more water, they argue, the lake will continue to decline, and its retreating shorelines will expose growing stretches of dry lake bed that spew hazardous dust and greenhouse gases.

But advocates of tapping ocean water were dealt a significant blow when a state-appointed panel of experts rejected the idea after a yearlong review.

Two-thirds of California voters say Trump should be prosecuted

Two-thirds of California voters believe former President Trump should be prosecuted if the government feels there is sufficient evidence of crimes, but far fewer believe he is likely to face charges, according to a new poll.

The Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found stark partisan divides over the investigations into the former president, with nearly 6 in 10 Republicans believing that prosecuting Trump would not be good for the country, while just 4% of Democrats feel the same.

Still, there are signs that Trump’s hold on the GOP is diminishing in California, with a small but noticeable drop in Republican voters who identify themselves as Trump supporters instead of supporters of the party.

More politics:

• A new program designed to settle Venezuelans who fled to Colombia could serve as a “model for the world,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said.
• Lawyers for Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate.
• The Supreme Court’s liberals strongly defended the Voting Rights Act, arguing THAT Alabama should be required to draw election maps that give Black voters a chance at equal representation.

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A corrupt FBI agent protected an L.A. crime figure

A decorated FBI agent, Babak Broumand, was found guilty of sharing confidential information about investigations in exchange for monthly cash payments and other bribes.

Although the panel acquitted Broumand on two charges and decided that the government could not seize a Lake Tahoe vacation home prosecutors claimed was bought with dirty money, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Broumand’s attorney, Steve Gruel, said he planned to appeal the verdict.

Edgar Sargsyan, a phony lawyer who had made a fortune through identity theft, has pleaded guilty to bribing Broumand and another federal agent, lying to federal authorities and defrauding banks. He testified at the trial in hopes of getting a reduced sentence.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Safe landing: U.S. Navy Leap Frogs perform parachute jumping. See more photos: “Pacific Airshow goes high and mighty over Huntington Beach.”

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

Your guide to Los Angeles’ November ballot measures. Angelenos won’t just be electing a new mayor and City Council members this fall. They’ll have to decide whether to support two new taxes and a technical change to how housing is planned in the city of Los Angeles. Here’s what those measures are all about.

Anti-Karen law? A Berkeley ordinance would outlaw racially biased 911 calls. The ordinance would expand the current municipal code outlawing false reports to the police to ban reports based solely on discriminatory reasons. The ordinance would also allow victims of the crime to pursue civil action, such as seeking damages.

Six shooting deaths in California are related, police say. All of those killed were men, shot in the late-night or early-morning hours, with no signs of robbery, police said. Five of the six were Latino, according to police. Five of the killings occurred in Stockton — making the community of just over 322,000 uneasy — and one in Oakland.

NATION-WORLD

North Korea’s latest missile test reminded the world of its threat. The reclusive state recaptured the world’s attention when it launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017. The North Korean missile, which landed in the Pacific Ocean, marked the nation’s fifth round of weapons tests in 10 days. The launch came a month after Pyongyang declared itself a nuclear weapons state with the right to make a preemptive strike.

Russian state TV is struggling to deal with the nation’s setbacks in Ukraine. Russian news and political talk shows are trying to find ways to paint Ukraine’s recent gains in a way that is favorable to the Kremlin. Frustration has long been expressed in social media blogs run by nationalist pundits and pro-Kremlin analysts, but it’s now spilling out on state TV broadcasts and in the pages of government-backed newspapers.

“Nothing to lose”: Iran’s protesters are increasingly defiant as a potential showdown looms. The fury was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, who arrested her because she allegedly violated laws mandating hijabs and modest dress for women. Two and a half weeks later, protesters show little sign of giving up. If anything, they’ve stepped it up.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Loretta Lynn has died at age 90. The firebrand singer and songwriter transformed coal into diamonds by exploring her dirt-poor childhood in eastern Appalachia in her career-defining 1970 hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Her family said she died from natural causes at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. Lynn’s songs advanced a new world order of domestic life in rural America, one where submissiveness would no longer be tolerated.

A generation later, “The Love Boat” crew sails on. Time has not dulled the nostalgic glow around the series and its irresistible gimmick — an ever-changing rotation of major and minor celebrities involved in various rom-com adventures about the ship. Actors Ted Lange, who played bartender Isaac Washington, and Jill Whelan, who played the captain’s daughter, Vicki — are hitting the high seas again this week, as they reunite for CBS’ “The Real Love Boat,” a reality series inspired by the vintage comedy.

The Supreme Court won’t review the “What Men Want” case. The decision brings to an end at least part of screenwriter Joe Carlini’s multiyear fight with Paramount Pictures over a script he co-wrote and alleged the movie was based on. Carlini sued the studio in 2019 for copyright infringement and unfair competition, claiming that his 2014 script “What the F Is He Thinking” was the basis of the 2019 film “What Men Want.” His claim was dismissed last year, with Paramount arguing that the romantic comedy was a sequel to its 2000 film “What Women Want.”

BUSINESS

Elon Musk has offered to end his legal fight with Twitter and buy the company for his original $44-billion bid. The mercurial Tesla CEO made the offer in a letter to Twitter, which the company disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The offer comes just two weeks before Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to force Musk to go through with the deal goes to trial in Delaware Chancery Court.

Hankering to try Trader Joe’s sweet potato pasta salad or pumpkin cookies? Free samples are back. The company has brought back its beloved free samples after a years-long hiatus due to the pandemic. One person on Twitter said the move is a sign that the “world is healing.”

OPINION

How companies can strong-arm their suppliers into cutting carbon emissions. A new study found that the average corporation’s supply chain is responsible for 11 times more emissions than the company itself, making the contracts that govern supply chains a powerful tool for climate mitigation.

SPORTS

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge hit his 62nd homer to break the AL record. Judge broke Roger Maris’ American League record and set what some fans considered baseball’s “clean” standard.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson wants UCLA to reach higher. The veteran quarterback celebrated the first pass breakup of his career Friday night by waving his arms horizontally to signal incomplete. “That was honestly my play of the game,” he said Monday. Thompson-Robinson turned the Rose Bowl into his own jukebox during the Bruins’ 40-32 victory over Washington, hurdling one defender and sidestepping another.

How the Dodgers share their secrets of success at the plate. They’ll sit in a group, study-session style. And they’ll start to talk — about that game’s pitcher, about their plan of attack and about how to raise the bar for baseball’s best offense a little higher. Hitters’ meetings like this are standard around baseball. What’s different with the Dodgers is the way they go about it.

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Dogue, at 988 Valencia St. in San Francisco’s Mission District, offers French-inspired pastries and cuisine crafted just for dogs.

(David Trapani)

The dog’s dinner. Whereas some eateries may welcome customers’ furry companions during a sit-down meal, Dogue — which opened Sept. 25 in San Francisco’s Mission District — serves only canines.

During the week, Dogue serves Parisian pastries and “dogguccinos” that start at $4.95. A $75 three-course meal — which is seasonal and rotates frequently — is served only for Sunday walk-ins. Owner and head chef Rahmi Massarweh says pet owners can choose among a variety of dishes to serve their faithful companions, such as organic beef chuck steak with fermented carrots and beets or green-lipped mussels with fermented carrots and wheatgrass.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

May 23, 1942: Rita Hayworth and her mother, Volga Cansino, in court in Los Angeles for divorce proceedings. Hayworth was divorcing Edward Judson. A year later, she married Orson Welles.

(Los Angeles Times)

Seventy-five years ago this week, on Oct. 2, 1947, The Times reported that Rita Hayworth had filed for divorce from Orson Welles. The filmmaker, then 32, was Hayworth’s second husband.

According to the report, “their troubles were multiplied by the circumstance of her having accepted a role in a film which he had written and in which he was acting and directing.”

Hayworth, 28, said: “I can’t take his genius anymore.”

“The Lady From Shanghai” was completed despite their estrangement. The film noir “was a major flop in its day,” former Times classic-Hollywood guru Susan King wrote in 2000. “It was only when Welles went to live and work in Europe in the 1950s that he discovered the film had many admirers.”

Appreciation for the movie grew over the years. In 2018, it was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry — this despite being long on atmosphere but short on plot. Director Peter Bogdanovich, who supplied audio commentary when the DVD of the film was released in 2000, told Susan with a laugh: “In fact, if you ask me today, I don’t know what the hell it is [about]. I don’t think it’s essential to know the plot.”

Times staff writer Amy Hubbard contributed to this report.

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