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California's Proposition 187 won alongside Gov. Pete Wilson in the 1994 election. But the victories proved to be a double-edged sword. Wilson, who had aspirations to run for higher office, never won another election. And although Proposition 187 eventually was declared unconstitutional, torpedoed the California GOP and inspired many Latinos to get involved in their communities, it also laid lay the political groundwork for successful xenophobic campaigns nationwide. That paved the way for Donald Trump to win the U.S. presidency in 2016.

This is Part Three of our rerun of the L.A. Times-Futuro Studios 2019 podcast series “This is California: The Battle of 187,” about the 1994 California ballot initiative that sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants but instead radicalized a generation of Latinos in the state. 

More reading:

State GOP haunted by ghost of Prop. 187 

Prop. 187 flopped, but it taught the nation’s top immigration-control group how to win 

The legacy of Proposition 187 cuts two ways

We hear from the Latinos who were about to lose the battle over Proposition 187 — but ended up winning California.

This is Part Two of our rerun of the L.A. Times-Futuro Studios 2019 podcast series "This is California: The Battle of 187," about the 1994 California ballot initiative that sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants but instead radicalized a generation of Latinos in the state. 

Further reading:

Giant steps: Walkouts against 187 trace the growth of an issue into a cause 

L.A. march against Prop. 187 draws 70,000

Prop. 187 forced a generation to put fear aside and fight. It transformed California, and me

This week, we’re re-airing "This is California: The Battle of 187," a four-part podcast the L.A. Times did back in 2019 in collaboration with Futuro Studios (and we'll wrap up the week with a brand-new update). The series is about Proposition 187, the 1994 California ballot initiative that sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants but instead ended up radicalizing a generation of Latinos — and set the stage for Donald Trump to win the presidency in 2016 on a xenophobic platform. 

Today, in Part One of "This is California: The Battle of 187," we take you back to a time when the Golden State wasn’t a progressive paradise — and how Republicans decided that undocumented immigrants were California’s true problem and thus needed to be demonized. 

More reading: 

Initiative to deny aid and education to illegal immigrants qualifies for ballot

Prop. 187 creators come under closer scrutiny 

The Times Poll: Anti-illegal immigration Prop. 187 keeps 2-to-1 edge

This year, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele made his country the first in the world to embrace bitcoin as legal tender. That means that come September, Salvadorans will be able to pay bills and taxes in bitcoin and that all businesses will be required to accept the digital currency — from McDonald's to the fruit vendor on the corner.

Today, L.A. Times Latin America correspondent Kate Linthicum explains how El Salvador got into the cryptocurrency game.

More reading:

How a California surfer helped bring bitcoin to El Salvador

El Salvador makes bitcoin legal tender

A look at El Salvador’s meme-loving, press-hating autocratic president

For a century, California sterilized women in its prisons and hospitals, often without their consent. Government officials did it in the name of eugenics — of trying to curtail the number of working-class people and people of color. The Golden State apologized for its actions in 2003 but didn’t ban the practice until 2014. Now the state will try to address the wrong of its forced sterilization program with a historic move: It wants to pay survivors reparations.

On today's episode, we speak with Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), who sponsored the legislative bill that will create California’s reparations effort. And we also talk to one of the activists who have brought this dark chapter in American history to the public.

More reading:

California poised to pay compensation to victims of forced sterilization

Editorial: Paying $25,000 to every living forced-sterilization victim is the least California can do

Forced sterilization: A stain on California 

Shootouts. Armed guards. Stolen water. Killings. It’s not the dramatic climax of a Wild West movie. It’s what’s happening in California’s southern desert right now — thanks to illegal marijuana farms.

Although marijuana is legal in California, it still isn’t in most of the United States. So drug cartels and out-of-state growers have set up scores of illegal farms among Joshua trees and tortoise reserves. And locals are begging law enforcement to do something about it.

Today, we speak with L.A. Times reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove, who co-wrote a story with Louis Sahagún about how the Mojave Desert is suddenly awash in illegal marijuana. And we talk to a local politician who wants legal cannabis in his community — and the illegal stuff out.

More reading:

Illegal pot invades California’s deserts, bringing violence, fear, ecological destruction 

California offers $100 million to rescue its struggling legal marijuana industry

California weighs steep new fines to combat illegal cannabis sellers

QAnon or New Age? Increasingly, in California’s vast health, wellness and spiritual worlds, there's an intersection between the two communities so pronounced that the phenomenon has a new nickname: “Woo-Anon,” and it’s coming to a yoga studio near you. Today, we speak with L.A. Times investigative reporter Laura J. Nelson and yoga instructor Seane Corn about the growing movement, as well as the broken friendships and business partnerships that are happening in a once-placid scene.

More reading:

California’s yoga, wellness and spirituality community has a QAnon problem

‘Woo-Anon’: The creep of QAnon into Southern California’s New Age world 

Former La Habra police chief, now yoga instructor, indicted on Capitol riot conspiracy charges

For over 40 years, Daniel Ortega has loomed over Nicaragua like few others. He was part of the Sandinista rebel forces that in 1979 overthrew the Somoza family dynasty that had ruled the Central American nation for decades. Ortega then became part of the transitional government that instituted democratic elections, and served as president from 1985 to 1990, and again since 2007. Over those 40 years, critics say, Ortega has transformed into the very dictator he once fought against. Today, we talk to L.A. Times reporter Julia Barajas about a recent crackdown on opponents of Ortega in Nicaragua. We also speak with Pedro X. Molina, a political cartoonist living in exile after having drawn one too many unflattering portraits of the president.

More reading:

International pressure mounts against Nicaragua’s crackdown on government critics

Latinx Files: What is happening in Nicaragua? 

Pedro X. Molina uses cartoons to comment on the political and social realities of Nicaragua

Danny Trejo has lived a life worthy of a book. Addict. Prisoner. Actor. Owner of a donut and taco shop. And, now, author of a memoir. "Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood" tells his life story with many jaw-dropping anecdotes. Today, we pass the mic over to L.A. Times culture reporter Daniel Hernandez, who talks to Danny Trejo. Come for the "Machete," stay for the Edward James Olmos incident!

More reading:

Danny Trejo opens up about being typecast — and a close call with the Mexican Mafia

Danny Trejo, a lethal talent 

Column: ‘Machete’ for U.S. Senate? The bold choice for California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Landing a job at one of the prisons in the northeastern California town of Susanville has been a sure way to get a middle-class life for decades. Now, one of the prisons, California Correctional Center, is scheduled to close. And this charming town of just over 13,500 residents, roughly 40 percent of whom are incarcerated, must confront a truism of small-town American life: when you rely on one industry for your economy, you’re eventually going to get left with the bill. Today, we get the story of Susanville from L.A. Times reporter Hailey Branson-Potts. We also hear from residents and an advocate for prison closure who says there is a future after a lockup gets closed up.

More reading:

California’s prison boom saved this town. Now, plans to close a lockup are sparking anger and fear 

A rural Northern California county had few COVID-19 cases, until an inmate transfer led to a large prison outbreak 

Town’s Last Mill to Be Shut Down