Newsletter: In the path of Dorian’s destruction

Hurricane Dorian hits the northern Bahamas as the southeast U.S. braces for the storm on this Labor Day.

TOP STORIES

In the Path of Dorian’s Destruction

Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, with 185-mph winds ripping off roofs and tearing down power lines as people hunkered in schools, churches and other shelters. Millions from Florida to the Carolinas are keeping a wary eye on slow-moving Dorian. which tied the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to come ashore, equaling the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. Here is the latest.

The Cycle of Violence Continues

It began with a traffic stop and ended in an exchange of gunfire in a movie theater parking lot. Now, authorities in west Texas say that the death toll in Saturday’s mass shooting has increased to seven and that they’ve identified the gunman, who was also killed. In all, officials say more than 20 people were shot in apparently random attacks over two hours. Two researchers who study mass shootings say the incident continues a disturbing trend: Such shootings are becoming far more frequent and deadlier.

A Crossroads in the Trade War

The first big wave of U.S. tariffs on consumer goods made in China took effect Sunday, and it won’t be long before Americans are paying more for many everyday purchases. In earlier rounds, President Trump slapped 25% duties on $250 billion of Chinese products, but those were mainly machinery and industrial materials and parts. This time, the list includes 90 types of boots, slippers, leather shoes and other footwear; more than 125 kinds of watches and clocks; various color TV sets and video monitors; and hundreds of clothing items.

More Politics

-- “My jaw dropped seeing this”: Trump’s tweet of a high-resolution reconnaissance image of the damaged Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran has caused quite a reaction among intelligence experts.

-- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked how she is feeling after radiation treatment for cancer. “How am I feeling? Well, first, this audience can see that I am alive,” Ginsburg said to applause and cheers, adding she’s on her way to being “very well.”

Thrust Back Into Harm’s Way

U.S. officials have been expelling tens of thousands of Central Americans, Cubans and others back to Mexico’s crime-ridden border cities under the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, known informally as “Remain in Mexico.” Extortion-minded mobs in Mexico see migrants as easy prey who lack family connections and have relatives in the U.S. with access to money. The recent kidnapping of a pastor is underscoring what can happen.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

For years, major parades in downtown Los Angeles marked Labor Day, which is held the first Monday of every September and honors the American labor movement. Here’s a look back in pictures at celebrations from 1936 to 1948.

CALIFORNIA

-- Scientists citing new research say an earthquake fault along the Los Angeles coast — known as the Wilmington Blind-Thrust fault and previously believed to be dormant — is active and could cause a destructive magnitude 6.4 earthquake if it ruptured.

-- Millions of Californians would receive new protections against large rent increases under an agreement announced late Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders. The deal, which needs the approval of the Legislature in the next two weeks, would cap rent increases statewide at 5% plus inflation per year for the next decade.

-- State lawmakers have backed off from a proposed ban on crazily long receipts. But it may be back for discussion next year.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Comedian Kevin Hart and his driver suffered major injuries when his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda rolled down an embankment on Mulholland Highway in Calabasas.

-- Columnist Mary McNamara remembers Valerie Harper, who died at 80 last week, and the timeless cool of her character Rhoda Morgenstern.

-- The film “Joker” premiered in Venice, Italy, this weekend. Film critic Justin Chang says its dark themes speak to 2019 with a mesmerizing Joaquin Phoenix.

NATION-WORLD

-- In New York, the clock is ticking on a deadline for student vaccinations.

-- In an escalation of hostility between Israel and Lebanon not seen since the war they fought in 2006, the Israeli military and the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah traded attacks on Sunday.

-- Police in Hong Kong call demonstrators “cockroaches,” while protesters call the police “terrorists.” Three months since unrest began, the rhetoric has shifted to match a rise in violence.

BUSINESS

-- Some Tesla residential rooftop solar panels have caught fire, and the lawsuits have begun flying.

-- What to do about a spouse’s bad investment decisions? Here are a few strategies.

SPORTS

-- How did Tyler Skaggs come to die with two opioids in his bloodstream, plus enough alcohol that he would have been considered legally impaired? Investigations into that question could determine whether the Angels and the family of one of their most popular players face off in legal proceedings.

-- After Naomi Osaka’s victory over Coco Gauff at the U.S. Open, there was a lesson in class, as columnist Helene Elliott writes.

OPINION

-- What does Labor Day mean in a gig economy? A Cornell professor argues that labor as a social movement doesn’t mean much to most Americans now.

-- The California Channel, our version of C-SPAN, is shutting down. It’s a loss for the Capitol and the public, writes columnist George Skelton.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Linda Ronstadt opens up about “living with Parkinson’s, the perils of stardom, and mourning what the border has become.” (The New Yorker)

-- Astronomers have spotted an exoplanet that is making them rethink how solar systems form. (Salon)

ONLY IN L.A.

Tom’s One Hour Photo in Koreatown hasn’t changed much since it opened in the 1990s. In a world of digital everything, days can go by without a customer. But that all changed last week, after Grammy-winning country artist Kacey Musgraves and her sister happened upon the place and fell in love with it — then blasted it out on social media. Things developed from there. “She said ‘a lot of people will be calling you,’” owner Tom Tuong said. “And she was right.”

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