Category: 1-HeadlineNews

The U.S. has lost more than 1 million people to COVID — and the virus isn’t done with us yet. Frontline hospital workers have experienced the devastation up close and in real time. And for one L.A. Times photographer who documented the losses and wins against COVID, looking back at the images she captured and revisiting the hospital rooms where people fought for their lives — spaces a hospital chaplain now calls ‘sacred ground’ — has helped her process the pain and remember the moments of connection and hope.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times photojournalist Francine Orr

More reading:

The fight against COVID, a chaplain says, unfolded on ‘sacred ground’

U.S. reaches 1 million COVID deaths — and the virus isn’t done with us

 

Ukraine was never a utopia for gays and transgender people, but activists there say things have improved over the years. Now, though, people are worried that Russia’s invasion could put all of that progress at risk. Today we talk to two LGBTQ+ Ukrainians, one who’s fighting against Russia for his country — and another who fled Ukraine but is continuing her fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Read the full transcript here.

Host: The Times: Daily News from the L.A. Times producer David Toledo

Guests: L.A. Times Latin America correspondent Kate Linthicum

Patriots for America patrols the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, stops migrants, and questions children. They call it faith-based ministry work; civil rights groups say they’re just another racist group of extremists. Today, we follow them in action. Read the full transcript here.

Host: Molly Hennessy-Fiske

More reading:

Texas border militia stops migrants and shoots video of kids. Rights groups say they’re racist

Texas militia sanctioned by sheriff seeks government support to halt flow of migrants

Minutemen Project begins recruiting volunteers to man U.S. border

Unprecedented water restrictions in Los Angeles County are going to ensure the slow demise of lawns. And now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ready to deal green lawns a final blow. Today, how Southern Californians will have to get used to browner lawns — and why even that might not make a dent in a historic drought.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James

More reading:

Newsom urges aggressive water conservation and warns of statewide restrictions

California just adopted new, tougher water restrictions: What you need to know

California bans watering ‘nonfunctional’ grass in some areas, strengthening drought rules

It’s pitting neighbors against neighbors in suburbs across the United States. Tempers are flaring. Tension is high. And nope, all the drama has nothing to do with politics or COVID or any of the usual suburban suspects. The culprit now: pickleball.

Today, we serve you the rapid rise of a sport whose popularity boomed during the pandemic and the intense backlash rising right alongside it. 

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times investigative and enterprise reporter Connor Sheets

More reading:

Pickleball noise is fueling neighborhood drama from coast to coast

Pickleball is a godsend for older players. L.A. needs to fund new courts

 

Pickleball is a smash hit in SoCal. Now younger players are picking up the paddle

Overdose deaths in the United States have risen rapidly during the pandemic. It’s a trend driven largely by the spread of fentanyl.

In California, the push to save lives and stop the fallout has led some activists and politicians to propose safe injection sites — places where people can take drugs with clean needles, without fear of arrest. There’s already one site like this operating in San Francisco.

But in Vancouver, Canada, there’s a neighborhood that has hosted a safe injection site for almost 20 years. In today’s episode, we go visit it.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times columnist Anita Chabria

More reading:

Column: Vancouver’s safe drug-use sites are wrenching to see. California should open them anyway

In a bid to stop overdose deaths, California could allow drug use at supervised sites

With overdose deaths rising, here’s how to test drugs for fentanyl

 

Today we talk about California’s huge role in influencing gun control laws in the U.S. and about the backlashes. We discuss the state’s historic 1989 ban on assault weapons and why a federal judge issued an order to overturn that ban. And we talk to the mayor of San Jose, who wants his city to be the first in the United States to require gun owners to buy liability insurance.

Read the full transcript here.  

An earlier version of this episode was published Aug. 23, 2021. 

Last week, we partnered up with KCRW for a live mayoral debate with some of the city’s top candidates for the top job.

It was the final group debate before the primary on June 7. And in it, three candidates talked a lot about a housing-first approach and took progressive stances on the issue of homelessness.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano and KCRW housing reporter Anna Scott

Guests: Rep. Karen Bass, L.A. councilmember Kevin de León, and activist Gina Viola

More reading:

With Caruso absent, L.A. mayoral candidates argue for progressive moves on homelessness

L.A. on the Record: Renters are getting short shrift in the mayor’s race, advocates say

L.A.’s mayoral candidates agree homeless encampments need to go. The question is how

In this episode of the “Border City” podcast from our sister paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, longtime U.S.-Mexico border reporter Sandra Dibble brings us to an awful time for Tijuana: the three-year window from 2008 to 2010. Cartels ramped up violence to horrifying levels, targeting cops and doctors. Police tried to purge traitors from their ranks — and went too far. But through it all, the spirit of Tijuana stayed alive. In the darkness, there were still sparkles of music and art and joy.

Read the full transcript here.

Host: Sandra Dibble

More reading:

Must Reads: Meth and murder: A new kind of drug war has made Tijuana one of the deadliest cities on Earth

Images from the front lines of Tijuana’s deadly drug war

Reporter’s Notebook: Behind the story: How The Times reported on Tijuana’s massive rise in homicides

The pandemic has made a lot of us rethink a lot of things. On the forefront of that existential rethink: restaurant workers. 
This realignment of priorities and personal interests drove lots of restaurant workers to quit. Now, two years after COVID-19 upended the restaurant industry, so many food spots are still short-staffed and help-wanted signs are seemingly everywhere. That's motivating employers to offer better pay, conditions and perks. 
Today, L.A. Times business reporter Samantha Masunaga discusses why the labor shortage is still a big problem for restaurant owners across the country and how they can persuade workers to come back. Read the full transcript here.