Newsletter: Girding for the impeachment battle

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TOP STORIES

Girding for the Impeachment Battle

With public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump starting next week, both sides of the aisle are gearing up. Democrats are planning to start by narrowly focusing on Trump’s alleged abuse of power with respect to Ukraine, putting aside — for now at least — other potential high crimes and misdemeanors in hopes of making as clear an argument as possible.

Republicans are considering adding a vocal Trump supporter, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, to the House Intelligence Committee to complement Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, the ranking member. And late Thursday, House Democrats subpoenaed acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, demanding his testimony today. Mulvaney isn’t expected to appear.

More Politics

— Michael R. Bloomberg just might run for president after all. Eight months after he ruled out a run, the billionaire former New York City mayor is filing to get on the ballot in Alabama’s Democratic primary.

— Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, is asking a judge to throw out his guilty plea for lying during the Russia investigation. It’s a risky legal strategy, but experts say his intended audience is actually somebody else.

— A New York judge has ordered Trump to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging he misused his charitable foundation to further his political and business interests.

After the Fires

It’s been one year since fires devastated communities in two California communities hundreds of miles apart. In Northern California, the Camp fire — the most destructive in state history — destroyed almost the entire town of Paradise. Today, the process of rebuilding is a balancing act, and based in part on a perplexing question: Just how many fire safety measures can Paradise afford?

Meanwhile, in Southern California, recovery from the Woolsey fire — which ripped through Malibu, the Santa Monica Mountains and eastern Ventura County — has been agonizingly slow.

‘Our Lives Will Never Be the Same’

In the remote town of La Mora, Mexico, families have begun burying the nine women and children who were ambushed and killed by assailants while driving through the mountains. The community, largely made up of members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect with dual American and Mexican citizenship, did not just grieve for the victims. They also mourned a bygone time in which Americans, and especially women and children, were off-limits from narco violence.

Save the Abalone

Abalone once were to California what lobster is to Maine and blue crab to Maryland. The coast here once teemed with millions of white abalone. But overfishing, warming oceans and predators devastated the species. Now scientists are trying to save this mysterious sea snail.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this date in 1994, California voters approved Proposition 187, an initiative that sought to deny certain government services to undocumented immigrants, including access to public healthcare and education. Its passage was preceded by weeks of protests against the measure, as seen in these pictures.

Still, it passed by a wide margin of 59% to 41%. Yet as a recent Times story and podcast note, Proposition 187 ended up transforming California in ways its supporters never intended.

Oct. 16, 1994: Thousands march down Cesar Chavez Avenue near downtown Los Angeles denouncing Proposition 187, which would deny services to immigrants in the country illegally.

(Andy Scott / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— In a dramatic shift on how Southern California cities plan to grow over the next decade, a regional agency has decided to push for more housing in coastal rather than inland communities.

— U.S. border agents have written fraudulent court dates on asylum seekers’ paperwork before sending them back to Mexico, keeping some of them south of the border indefinitely, records obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune show.

— Thousand Oaks marked the first anniversary of the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting by unveiling a Healing Garden and more.

— A pilot flying to a small airport in San Bernardino County was killed when his single-engine plane crashed into a home.

YOUR WEEKEND

— Seeing an Irish dance troupe’s take on “Swan Lake” or a classic fairy tale told with puppets are among nine things to do in L.A. this weekend.

— Visit national parks and forests for free Monday in honor of Veterans Day.

— How to choose native plants for your yard? There’s a new low-tech guide.

— Those fees at Las Vegas Strip restaurants? You don’t have to pay them.

— Kung pao chicken’s legacy, from the Qing Dynasty to Panda Express.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— LGBTQ representation on network TV hit a record high for a fourth straight year, with such characters making up 10.2% of regulars in prime-time scripted shows, a new GLAAD report found.

— TV critic Lorraine Ali says “The View” is America’s kitchen table, political squabbling included.

— Those classic Shelby race cars in “Ford v Ferrari” aren’t what they seem.

— Columnist Chris Erskine has an idea for how to kickstart the Oscars: Let Quentin Tarantino direct.

NATION-WORLD

— A 22-year-old Hong Kong student died Friday after falling from a multistory parking lot during a protest days earlier. Spontaneous demonstrations erupted throughout the city.

— The votes for a Seattle City Council seat are still being tallied, but one thing’s for sure: Amazon spent big to defeat this socialist council member.

— French President Emmanuel Macron says that a lack of U.S. leadership is causing the “brain death” of NATO and that the EU must step up and start acting as a strategic world power.

— Historic Armenian monuments have been obliterated in what some are calling “cultural genocide.”

BUSINESS

— As the Port of Los Angeles automates dock workers’ jobs, some folks are cheering on the robots — namely, the truck drivers.

— About 53 million American workers earn low wages. Their prospects for improving their lot aren’t great.

SPORTS

— The Chargers made their last trip to Oakland before the Raiders skip town for Las Vegas. It didn’t end well for the team that now plays in L.A.

— Mike Bohn is ready to join the USC family as its new athletic director, but he says a decision on Clay Helton can wait. Columnist Dylan Hernandez says Bohn needs to tune out the noise about Urban Meyer.

— The NBA has fined the Clippers $50,000 for comments by Doc Rivers that it says were “inconsistent with [Kawhi] Leonard’s health status.”

OPINION

— As alarmed as Wall Street might be by the prospect of nominating a Democrat like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, our deputy editorial page editor Jon Healey isn’t so sure Bloomberg could beat her.

— “Lock him up” is the new “Yes, we can,” writes columnist Virginia Heffernan.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— The book by an anonymous author described as a “senior official” in the Trump administration claims that fellow officials considered resigning en masse in a “midnight self-massacre” to sound a public alarm about Trump’s conduct. (Washington Post)

— Tom Junod met Fred Rogers, a.k.a. Mr. Rogers, 21 years ago for a magazine assignment, and they ended up becoming friends. He writes that Rogers today has never been more revered — or more misunderstood. (The Atlantic)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Do you remember the mysterious case of the 32-year-old ring-tailed lemur who showed up at the Newport Beach Marriott Bayview last year? Isaac, as the lemur is called, appeared in a crate with a handwritten note: “This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was taken last night. Please bring it to police.”

As it turns out, the FBI says that the Orange County man who stole Isaac actually had his heart set on a monkey when he entered the zoo — but none of the monkeys would cooperate with him.

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