Category: 1-HeadlineNews

It's been quite the year for the Los Angeles Public Library — and the COVID-19 pandemic is only part of the story. Inauguration Day saw a reading by Amanda Gorman, who got her start with poetry readings via the L.A. Public Library's youth program. And teen punk group the Linda Lindas got worldwide fame after a concert at the library system's Cypress Park branch. Today, we talk to L.A. librarian Kevin Awakuni about how the city's public library has turned into an incubator for making libraries hip worldwide. We also get L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison to explain how a city long dismissed as an intellectual wasteland learned to treasure its libraries in the wake of a devastating fire.

More reading:

‘Whoa, this is crazy’: L.A. teen punks the Linda Lindas on going viral (just before finals)

How a 22-year-old L.A. native became Biden’s inauguration poet 

Who started the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Library? Susan Orlean investigates in her new book

California Rep. Katie Porter (D -Irvine) has been a political rock star ever since the progressive won the 45th Congressional District seat in South Orange County — long a bastion of conservative politics — in 2018. We talk to her about her Iowa roots, the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol invasion, her attempts at bipartisanship and the color of her favorite marker that she uses for her already-legendary whiteboard lectures during congressional hearings.

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Democrats loved Katie Porter when she bashed Trump. Now she is making them squirm

Video: Katie Porter’s “Whiteboard of Justice”

Video: Rep. Katie Porter on impeachment and the consequences of Jan. 6

The Laotian community in California is not large enough to support newspapers or television news programs in Lao, leaving monolingual immigrants especially isolated. So these immigrants have created elaborate phone trees with designated leaders that can spread important information to thousands of people within an hour. In sprawling California suburbs, the phone trees are an attempt to re-create village networks from back home. And it's a crucial service — one that's especially important because there are not enough Lao speakers for government agencies to translate fliers, as is often done in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. For instance, some Laotians did not know a COVID-19 vaccine existed until they received a call from the phone tree. On today's episode, our host is L.A. Times entertainment reporter Tracy Brown, and our guest is Times Metro reporter Anh Do.

More reading:

Elaborate phone tree links Laotian immigrants to COVID info, one another 

Column: Laotian Americans’ stories are obscured by history. That’s why we need ethnic studies 

San Diego’s Laotian community pushes for a place in California history books

On January 5, 2021, one day before the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, there was another breach of a government building — in Northern California. Dozens of people, angered by COVID-19 lockdowns, let themselves into a Shasta County government building. There, the board of supervisors was holding a meeting. Although most of the supervisors were attending remotely, angry residents — including members of a local militia — still let them have it. It was a preview of things to come: a campaign to take Shasta County's local revolt national via videos, social media, violent rhetoric — and more. Our guests are L.A. Times Northern California reporters Anita Chabria and Hailey Branson-Potts, satirist Nathan Blaze, and Cottonwood Militia member Carlos Zapata.

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Threats, videos and a recall: A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county 

A day before Capitol attack, pro-Trump crowd stormed meeting, threatened officials in rural California

In California’s rural, conservative north, there are big dreams for cleaving the state

At just 23 years old, Naomi Osaka is already one of the best tennis players in the world. She was scheduled to play the French Open this month, which is one of the sport's biggest tournaments. But Osaka caused a stir when she announced before matches even began that she wouldn’t be at any news conferences. She cited the “huge waves of anxiety” she feels talking at them. French Open officials weren’t sympathetic and fined her $15,000. Then on Monday, Osaka stunned everyone. She announced she was withdrawing from the competition altogether. On today's show, we speak with L.A. Times sports columnist Helene Elliott about the importance of Osaka’s move. It's highlighted an issue long bubbling in the sports world: In a place where stress is a big part of the game, what's the best way to handle an athlete’s mental health?

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Why Naomi Osaka’s news conference boycott is a major tennis talking point 

Naomi Osaka withdraws from the French Open 

Naomi Osaka needs empathy and help, not condemnation, for showing strength

In 2019, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated it hosted nearly 43 million tourists. Officials were expecting a record year for 2020, and the Nevada metropolis did set one … in the negative direction. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic barely 19 million visitors came to town — the lowest total in decades. Today, restaurants and casinos will return to full capacity. If the move is successful, you'll see a flip on the city's tagline. What happened to Vegas won't stay in Vegas. Our guests are Los Angeles Times national correspondent Kurtis Lee and Culinary Union Local 226 secretary-treasurer Geoconda Argüelo-Kline. Plus, a rant about loquats!

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Las Vegas is betting on the gamblers and tourists returning. Will lost jobs come back? 

Democratic candidates court Culinary Union, the kingmaker of Nevada

COVID pushed Cirque du Soleil into bankruptcy protection. Now for a Vegas comeback

On today's episode, we turn the mic over to the hosts of our Asian Enough podcast, L.A. Times entertainment reporters Jen Yamato and Tracy Brown. They share excerpts from a recent episode featuring actor Sandra Oh, in which Oh talks about her career, the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and whether she'd ever reprise her role of Dr. Cristina Yang on "Grey's Anatomy."

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Follow the "Asian Enough" podcast on Apple Podcasts

Sandra Oh won’t return to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ before it ends: ‘I have moved on’

Why Sandra Oh considers ‘Killing Eve’ a ‘transitional’ role

Our guest host Faith E. Pinho, a Metro reporter at the L.A. Times, speaks with Times culture writer Daniel Hernandez about the cast of characters and cars that have been lining the wide boulevards of Southern California for decades. They look at who is embracing cruising culture and its uneasy relationship with law enforcement.

More reading:

The lowrider is back: The glorious return of cruising to the streets of L.A. 

Here are 8 key lowrider moments in pop films and TV, according to Estevan Oriol 

During pandemic, trash and crime increased on Whittier Boulevard. Lowrider clubs said: Enough

They stand across the West in ruins, ghostly apparitions of one of the darkest moments in American history. Concentration camps, 10 in total, built during World War II to incarcerate 120,000 Japanese Americans for the crime of not being white. But only two are designated as national sites. Manzanar in California and Minidoka in Idaho. Now, a bill in Congress seeks to designate a third concentration camp as a historic site, the Granada War Relocation Center in southeast Colorado, better known as Camp Amache. At a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans continue to rise, activists say it couldn't come at a more important time. Today, we'll talk with Caitlyn Kim, a Colorado Public Radio reporter who's covering the push to turn Camp Amache into a national historical site. And we'll speak with Bruce Embry, who has been making an annual pilgrimage to Manzanar for over 50 years. Embry's mother was incarcerated there.

More reading:

Advocates For Historic Designation Of Colorado Japanese Internment Camp Say It Would ‘Help Tell A More Complete Story of America’ 

Sue Kunitomi Embrey, 83; Former Internee Pushed for Historic Status of Manzanar

The ‘No-Nos’ of Tule Lake

In 1981, Los Angeles Dodgers rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela uncorked a full-fledged revolution. Baseball, Los Angeles, Latinos, sports — none have been the same since Valenzuela dominated batters four decades ago. He helped to make the national pastime international, bridged racial divides in L.A. and gave Latinos a hero everyone could embrace. Even if you don’t like sports, even if you’re a Yankees fan or — heaven forbid — root for the San Francisco Giants, you gotta know about the legacy of Valenzuela’s magical year from so long ago. It influenced many levels of American society in ways that still resonate today. And you gotta call it by this name: Fernandomania. Our guest is L.A. Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez.

More reading:

Column: Fernando Valenzuela’s lasting impact on baseball makes him worthy of Hall of Fame

Column: The Gospel of Fernandomania: Forty years later, Fernando Valenzuela still a Mexican American icon

Watch the "Fernandomania @ 40" episodes here