Category: 1-HeadlineNews

In this collaboration with our sister podcast “The Envelope,” we talk all things Emmys, which are coming up Sept. 19. Who are the favorites? The snubs? The underdogs? 

In this roundtable, host Gustavo Arellano — who still subscribes to DirecTV and mostly watches local news and Bravo, so at least he’s familiar with “Below Deck” — joins his entertainment-side colleagues, columnist Glenn Whipp and television editor Matt Brennan. They know what’s up.

More reading:

Last year, we turned to TV for comfort. Emmy voters followed suit

This year’s Emmy nominations are clear: The age of the antihero is over

The BuzzMeter experts predict the 2021 Emmy winners — and so can you

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sounds like a bureaucratic borefest, but it’s actually pretty important. It files lawsuits against companies and landlords accused of discrimination.

Now it’s tackling sexism in the world of video games.

Today we talk about California’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The Santa Monica company made $8 billion last year on the strength of classic video game titles like “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft.” But the state argues the company let fester a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture” that led to sexual harassment against women. The move comes during a years-long debate in video games about equity in a culture long dominated by white men.

More reading:

Activision Blizzard lashed out when accused of sexism. Workers don’t like that response

This may be one of the most important entertainment lawsuits ever filed — and no one seems to care

Blizzard president out in wake of discrimination lawsuit and employee walkout

The Medical Board of California was established to protect patients by licensing doctors and investigating complaints when things go wrong.

But even when it accuses a doctor of causing patients to lose limbs, become paralyzed or die, the board often lets the doctor continue to practice. There’s no limit on the number of times the board can put a doctor on probation.

Today we speak with L.A. Times investigative reporter Jack Dolan. He, along with our colleague Kim Christensen, looked into how and why the medical board rarely takes away doctors’ licenses and has long pushed back against calls to toughen its approach. We’ll also hear from people who were operated on by California doctors who were on probation and woke up from their surgeries worse off than they were before.

More reading:

Botched surgeries and death: How the California Medical Board keeps negligent doctors in business

A doctor was charged in a billion-dollar fraud scheme. But his license remains active

Critics say physicians ‘cartel’ obstructing efforts to punish bad doctors

Finding information about your doctor isn’t always easy. Here are some ways to dig deeper

When a warehouse filled with ammonium nitrate and fireworks exploded at the Port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, it pushed out a fireball into the air, followed by a shock wave that raced inland at supersonic speed. A trail of devastation followed: 200 people dead, thousands wounded and 300,000 homeless.

The Lebanese capital’s more than 2 million residents have spent the last year trying to rebuild not just their lives and buildings but also the pride and confidence of a city and country left in tatters. Their government hasn’t helped.

Today we talk with L.A. Times Middle East bureau chief Nabih Bulos, who was injured in the explosion. And we hear from relatives of those affected.

More reading:

Once, they were symbols of promise. The Beirut blast turned them to monuments of despair

Lebanon’s people line up in ‘queues of humiliation’ as their country unravels

A roar, an explosion, then a blank: An L.A. Times reporter’s ordeal in the Beirut blast

Graceful, playful and tough, the gray whale is a beloved icon of the Pacific coast. The whales’ annual migration from the waters off Alaska to Baja California is one of the longest undertaken by any mammal, a journey that has happened for thousands of years.

But in the last couple of years, fewer gray whales have made the trip. These magnificent giants are dying in numbers unseen in decades. Nobody knows exactly why, but there are some clues.

Today, we speak with Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Susanne Rust about what’s happening.

More reading:

Something is killing gray whales. Is it a sign of oceans in peril?

Gray whales: What to know about our West Coast leviathans and their uncertain future

As cargo shipments boom, ship strikes imperil whales in California and worldwide

How we delved into the odyssey of whale deaths even as a pandemic raged

He was a legendary lawyer. She’s a Real Housewife. Together, Tom and Erika Girardi made a striking couple. He funded their lavish lifestyle with multimillion-dollar settlements. She used that money to create a career as a pop singer named Erika Jayne. But did they break the law to build their dream life?

In this crossover episode with our sister podcast “The Envelope,” we get into a story straight out of a reality TV plotline. (The couple’s unraveling and legal travails are, in fact, included in this season of Bravo TV’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”)

It’s way more than fluff: Tom Girardi was a big-deal attorney — one of his cases served as the basis for the Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich” — and he wielded substantial political clout. But a troubling side recently emerged: Clients, including widows and orphans, say they never received tens of millions of dollars his firm was supposed to pass along to them.

We speak to the Los Angeles Times investigative reporters who are covering the Girardis’ downfall. And we talk to the Los Angeles Times television reporter about why the public just can’t turn away from this story.

More reading:

Vegas parties, celebrities and boozy lunches: How legal titan Tom Girardi seduced the State Bar

The legal titan and the ‘Real Housewife’: The rise and fall of Tom Girardi and Erika Jayne

‘Real Housewives’ attorney Tom Girardi used cash and clout to forge powerful political connections

It takes skills to get a tiny golf ball into a faraway hole. It also takes money, connections, power, time and privilege — things historically denied to people of color. Data compiled by the PGA of America show that people of color make up about 18% of golfers in the United States. Black people: only 3%.

Pro basketball superstar Steph Curry has stepped up to change that, in partnership with Howard University, a historically Black institution. The school recently restarted a men’s and women’s golf team thanks to a donation from Curry that’ll fund it for six years. A few weeks ago, Howard’s golf program got a new pile of money at a fundraiser in California.

Today we hear from Farrell Evans, a reporter and golfer who writes about the intersection of race and golf. And we check in with Howard’s golf team.

More reading:

Steph Curry brings golf back to Howard University

Lee Elder, who broke the color barrier, honored during Masters ceremonial tee shot

Howard’s Gregory Odom Jr. plays through grief to win PGA Works Collegiate golf title

Thanks to the Delta variant, the coronavirus is stronger than ever. Medical and government officials blame the rise largely on one group: the unvaccinated. So a debate that has persisted for months is now raging hotter: Does shaming persuade folks to finally get the shots?

Today, we talk about what’s being done to increase vaccinations among Black people and Latinos. The two groups have suffered inordinately from COVID-19 — yet they don’t have nearly the same shot rates as whites and other groups.

We talk to L.A. Times reporter Brittny Mejia, who recently attended a vaccination event in a working-class Latino neighborhood and talked to people about what finally convinced them to get the Fauci ouchie. And columnist Erika D. Smith talks with host Gustavo Arellano about whether shame can convince the vaccine-hesitant to get a shot. She says no. He really wants the answer to be yes.

More reading:

Why haven’t you been vaccinated? With COVID-19 raging, people explain what took so long

Column: I wish I could be angry with the unvaccinated. Being Black makes that complicated

Column: Don’t be a ‘pandejo.’ Take the pandemic seriously

We conclude Drought Week with a panel of L.A. Times foreign correspondents who are reporting on droughts in their areas of coverage.

In Mexico, a drought in the northern state of Sonora imperils the cattle industry. In Taiwan, water shortages threaten to disrupt the semiconductor industry. And in China, alternating years of drought and floods threaten the nation’s infrastructure.

After that, stick around to hear from skateboarder Cory Juneau about his path to the Tokyo Olympics and why he never wants a coach.

More reading:

The current drought is worldwide. Here’s how different places are fighting it

The most important company you’ve never heard of: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Amid crushing floods in China, officials focus not on climate change but on control

In Episode 4 of Drought Week, we focus on Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam and fed by the Colorado River. It’s the nation’s biggest reservoir, providing water to 25 million people in California, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico.

Lake Mead is projected to shrink this year to levels that would trigger the first-ever official shortage declaration in the region. That means Nevada, Arizona and Mexico would have to make do with less water. If the trend continues another year, California gets partially cut off too.

L.A. Times national correspondent Jaweed Kaleem visited Lake Mead and talked to cattle ranchers, fishermen and other stakeholders. What they had to say ain’t reassuring.

After that, track and field athlete Christina Clemons talks about her road to the Olympics and what it’s like to be a Black woman representing the United States.

More reading:

‘Unrecognizable.’ Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis

Lake Mead drops to a record low amid drought

Apocalypse, cow — our growing drought and the great L.A. cattle escape