Newsletter: Young and driven to save the planet
The kids are not all right with global warming, as protests today call for action.
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Young and Driven to Save the Planet
Today, what’s expected to be one of the largest environmental protests ever is unfolding around the warming planet. A global climate strike is being led by young people with more than 5,000 demonstrations in 156 countries — including 100-plus in California alone. The demonstrations, headed by organizers including 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, are the start of a weeklong campaign surrounding the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. By organizing school walkouts, public protests and social media campaigns, young people have drawn attention to global warming in ways that decades of studies could not. Underneath the activism lies a simple truth: Many young people are incredibly scared about climate change.
Who Should Judge ‘Credible Fear’?
Border Patrol agents, rather than highly trained asylum officers, are beginning to screen migrant families for “credible fear” to determine whether applicants qualify for U.S. protection, the Los Angeles Times has learned. The first Border Patrol agents arrived last week to start training at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, the nation’s largest immigrant family detention center, according to lawyers working there and several employees at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The move expands the Trump administration’s push for Border Patrol agents to take over the interviews that mark the first step in the lengthy asylum process.
More Politics
— The government’s intelligence watchdog refused Thursday to discuss the substance of a whistleblower complaint that reportedly concerns President Trump making an unspecified promise to a foreign leader. Trump rejected the report as “fake news” and “presidential harassment.”
— A federal judge has ordered a temporary injunction against California’s law requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns for a spot on the presidential primary ballot. It’s an early victory for Trump but a decision that will almost certainly be appealed by state officials.
— Trump ratcheted up his attacks on California over its homelessness crisis, threatening San Francisco with some type of violation notice for what he described as environmental pollution.
The Donor and ‘Dr. Kevorkian’
In political circles, Ed Buck was best known as a wealthy donor who championed animal rights and LGBTQ causes, dumping more than half a million dollars into the coffers of Democratic candidates. In West Hollywood’s Plummer Park, less than a mile from Buck’s home, homeless men in desperate circumstances had a much simpler frame of reference for the 65-year-old. They called him “Dr. Kevorkian.” A 22-page federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday paints a depraved picture of how Buck earned that grim name.
The Sunny Side of ‘Cancer Camp’
When Alejandro Trujillo was a child, he developed cancer. During one of his weekly chemotherapy visits at the hospital, he heard of a camp for children with cancer and their siblings. Over the years, the camp in the mountains of Julian, Calif., would change his life — even as an adult. In this week’s L.A. Affairs column, read how “cancer camp” will play a prominent part in Trujillo’s wedding on Saturday.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
On this day in 1919, weeks into his nationwide railroad tour to promote American participation in the League of Nations, President Woodrow Wilson arrived in Los Angeles. About 200,000 spectators showed up for his parade through downtown, The Times estimated, and that night he expounded “the principles of the League of Nations” to about 7,000 at the Shrine Auditorium. But the U.S. would never join the organization he played a chief role in building. See more photos of Wilson’s L.A. visit and parade here.
![Sept. 20, 1919: A parade for President Woodrow Wilson in downtown Los Angeles.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/91cc3b5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2302x1800+0+0/resize/1200x938!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2Fcb%2F6977036f4869a793478133863f30%2Ffa-332-wilsonla11-1800.jpg)
CALIFORNIA
— The dive boat Conception wasn’t built to charge dozens of phones, cameras and other devices. Did this cause the fire that killed 34 people on Labor Day?
— Eight Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies formerly assigned to the East Los Angeles station are suing the county, alleging they were pressured to quit their jobs or leave the station by members of a clique of deputies called the Banditos.
— Authorities say a small plane crashed onto the roof of a Torrance shopping center after taking off from a nearby airport, killing one person in the plane and critically injuring another.
YOUR WEEKEND
— Between the country and funk rock, the norteño and Pitbull, a wide range of live music is drawing diverse crowds to the L.A. County Fair — a big change after decades of mostly oldies acts.
— Here are 10 things to do this weekend in L.A. and Orange County, from Itzhak Perlman to a flamenco fable, from Sandra Bernhard in Long Beach to the “Sound of Music” singalong at the Hollywood Bowl.
— Then there’s the free day of all-ages, all-abilities dance workshops and performances for National Dance Day in Costa Mesa.
— If that’s not enough to keep you busy, here are the 82 most interesting things to do in L.A. this fall, courtesy of our fall arts preview.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
— Don’t ask Catherine O’Hara why people are so obsessed with her “Schitt’s Creek” character Moira Rose — not that she won’t miss playing the part and wearing the wigs. O’Hara is up for an Emmy Award on Sunday.
— Speaking of the Emmys, here are awards columnist Glenn Whipp’s predictions of who will win (and his thoughts on who should win).
— Soon to be displayed in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington: portraits of Lin-Manuel Miranda (who’s in full “Hamilton” garb) and Jeff Bezos (who’s not). Short of visiting, you can see the works here.
— The “Saved by the Bell” reboot has a Zack Morris problem.
— The new “Almost Famous” musical doubles down on the ‘70s rock of the movie that inspired it, and casts a revisionist light on one mysterious but problematic character.
NATION-WORLD
— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival, Benny Gantz, has declared victory after near-final vote tallies showed his narrow election lead widening. But neither seems close yet to winning the parliamentary majority needed to form a government.
— Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to stanch the scandal threatening his tough reelection campaign, after the publication of a photo of him in brownface at the age of 29, in 2001.
— North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970, an alarming 29% drop, according to a new analysis.
BUSINESS
— The Impossible Burger makes its supermarket debut today in one Southern California grocery chain.
— Trump’s revocation of California’s treasured authority to set its own auto emissions rules rests on very shaky legal ground, columnist Michael Hiltzik writes.
— Hoodies, phone cases and other vapes in disguise are confounding parents and schools.
— Apple‘s brand is taking a hit in China, a sign of the growing challenge Trump’s trade war poses for American companies there.
— Airbnb is waiting until next year to go public.
SPORTS
— Columnist Arash Markazi has the inside look at how the Clippers landed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
— UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero is retiring next June.
— Despite the hype, rookie Gavin Lux wasn’t expected to play for the Dodgers this season. But a few factors changed their plans — not least how he handles the likes of Noah Syndergaard.
— Washington Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne was named the WNBA’s MVP, making her the first player to win the honor as a member of two different teams.
OPINION
— Gov. Gavin Newsom is usually willing to stand up to Trump, so it’s especially galling that he’s rejecting a bill that would have protected the state’s endangered species from the president’s environmental rollbacks, The Times Editorial Board writes.
— Climate action and racial justice are inextricably linked and must be tackled together, UC Berkeley law professor Ian Haney López writes.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
— Fake butter is back, buoyed by the rising tide of plant-based processed foods. Just don’t call it margarine. (Vice)
— Iran may exploit Israel’s political uncertainty to launch an attack. Former U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro has advice for how Trump should warn Tehran off. (Haaretz)
— Newly unearthed documents show how the University of Texas kept out black students during the civil rights era and used a new focus on testing to hide its segregationist aims. (The Atlantic)
ONLY IN L.A.
The baroque space was built by Charlie Chaplin in 1929, and sitting in the center of the atrium dining room can feel as if you’re in a “Game of Thrones” set piece. A line snakes out the door in the morning: customers waiting to buy eclairs, cakes, cookies, muffins, caneles, crostatas, tarts, brioches, Danishes and doughnuts. They’re all part of the mystique of République. Critic Bill Addison explains why it’s the one restaurant he recommends more than any other.
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