Category: 1-HeadlineNews

The Miss Navajo Nation pageant has been going on almost every year since the 1950s. It’s not about swimsuits or evening gowns, though. This tradition is all about making sure the culture of the largest Native American tribe in the United States remains alive — and vibrant.In this episode, you’ll hear from this year's contestants, judges and the winner. And you’ll get a sense of why the Diné — what Navajos call themselves — place such importance on something nonmembers, at first glance, might dismiss as a mere beauty contest or country fair frivolity.

More reading: 

A pageant like no other: ‘Can you imagine Miss USA or Miss Universe butchering a sheep?’ 

Navajo shepherds cling to centuries-old tradition in a land where it refuses to rain

Navajo Nation surpasses Cherokee to become largest tribe in the U.S.

Jacqueline Avant was a force many times over in Black Los Angeles and beyond. She was a renowned philanthropist, a political king and queen maker, a patron of the arts. She was also a wife, mother, a friend to community activists and U.S. presidents alike. Last week, an intruder fatally shot her in her Beverly Hills home. Tributes from across the world have poured in to mark a life ended too soon. Today, we devote our episode to the life and legacy of Jacqueline Avant, who was 81 years old.

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The killing of Jacqueline Avant: What we know 

‘Unfathomable’ slaying of Jacqueline Avant stuns Hollywood and political world 

Philanthropist Jacqueline Avant helped unite the worlds of Black politics and entertainment

There are about 20 million people in the United States with felony records and unemployment rates among the formerly incarcerated is especially high — 27%, a few years ago, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Compare that with the overall unemployment rate around the same time, which was less than 4%. The stigma of a criminal record has long influenced this reality, but with the Great Resignation unfolding before us, the situation for these folks seems to be looking up. Today, we'll hear from L.A. Times business reporter Don Lee, who has written about the issue, and from someone who's working to connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs — and who was formerly incarcerated himself.

 

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Once shunned, people convicted of felonies find more employers open to hiring them 

Tight job market is good for felons, people with disabilities and others who are hard to employ. But can it last?

Visit the Honest Jobs website

Our sister podcast “The Envelope” — which does deep-dive interviews with movie and TV stars — just started a new season, so we’re giving you a taste.

In this episode, Kirsten Dunst shares stories about growing up in Hollywood, why she decided to publicly address her mental health break, and the joyful — though sometimes awkward — moments of acting opposite her real-life partner, Jesse Plemons, in “The Power of the Dog.”

More reading:

‘Power of the Dog’ writer-director Jane Campion explains her enigmatic career choices

Review: ‘Power of the Dog’ reasserts Jane Campion’s mastery and reveals a new side of Benedict Cumberbatch

Kodi Smit-McPhee walks us through that ‘Power of the Dog’ ending

The Envelope podcast homepage

On Nov. 2, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai published a letter on her verified social media account that accused a former top Chinese government official of sexual assault. Then suddenly, she disappeared. But it’s not just people with name recognition who are disappearing in the country. Human rights group Safeguard Defenders estimates that more than 45,000 people were subjected to a form of secret detention since President Xi Jinping assumed power in 2013.

Today, we speak with L.A. Times Beijing Bureau Chief Alice Su, who has been investigating this phenomenon. And we’ll also hear from a writer who studies feminism in China.

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They helped Chinese women, workers, the forgotten and dying.

 Then they disappeared Women’s tennis tour suspends events in China over Peng Shuai concerns 

EU wants ‘verifiable proof’ that Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is safe

Today, we’ll spend the show with food personality David Chang to talk about his new Hulu series, "The Next Thing You Eat," which — full disclosure — our host Gustavo Arellano appears in. We’ll discuss what David found, why he thinks Southern California is such a great place for food, and also the future of the food industry in the era of COVID-19.

He also has a raw conversation about how the harsh working conditions in restaurants can be improved, and about his own anger.

More reading:

Watch "The Next Thing You Eat" on Hulu

David Chang on restaurants and his own life: ‘The old ways just don’t work anymore’

David Chang doesn’t want your compliments

For more than a century, California's approach to incarcerating people has gone mostly like this: Incarcerate them. But now, there’s a program offered by the Cal State University system that helps incarcerated folks not only develop skills but also reimagine themselves — as people who could have lives after serving long prison terms, as scholars. Today, we’re going to talk about this new educational opportunity for those on the inside with L.A. Times education reporter Colleen Shalby.

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They were supposed to die in prison. Instead, they earned freedom as college graduates 

Editorial: For former prisoners to have a shot at a normal life, we need successful reentry programs 

Apodaca: UC Irvine law professor sees college degrees as a way to reduce recidivism

 

An L.A. Times investigation found that from 2017 to July of this year, 70% of bicyclists that L.A. County sheriff’s deputies pulled over were Latinos, even though the group makes up only about half of the county’s population. And they searched 85% of bike riders they stopped, even though deputies often had no reason to think they’d find something illegal. They ended up making arrests or writing citations 21% of the time. Today, we talk to the L.A. Times journalists who reported this story. And we talk to a Latino cycling activist about how it is to cycle around Los Angeles.

More reading:

L.A. sheriff’s deputies use minor stops to search bicyclists, with Latinos hit hardest 

Bicyclists share stories of being stopped by L.A. County deputies: ‘Everybody is a suspect until proven otherwise’ 

L.A. County supervisors seek to decriminalize bike violations after Times investigation

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.

An earlier version of this episode was published May 28, 2021. 

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

Alison Roman is a chef, food writer, cookbook author and video maker whose unfussy recipes pack a punch. Those recipes, along with her fun persona, made her a bright spot for many fans especially as the pandemic began taking hold. Then Roman, who is white, lobbed some criticism at celebrities Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo — women of color — and controversy engulfed her. Roman was canceled. Or was she? What exactly does being canceled mean, anyway? What can a person learn, and where can they go from there? L.A. Times reporter Erin B. Logan asks Roman these questions. But first: What's Roman making for Thanksgiving, how did she get into the food world, and how does she make simplicity taste so good?  (Psst: This is the last episode before The Times' Thanksgiving break. We'll be back Monday!)

More reading: 

Alison Roman moves beyond Chrissy Teigen backlash and vows to grow from it

When Alison Roman insulted Chrissy Teigen: Everything to know about their online spat

Column: Cancel culture is as American as apple pie

Alison Roman's website