Hello, it's Tuesday, April 25, and here are the stories you shouldn't miss today:
TOP STORIES
Biden announces bid for a second term in 2024
The much-anticipated announcement sets up a potential rematch between Biden and former President Trump, who has already declared his candidacy and leads the field of Republican 2024 hopefuls.
Biden, a self-described "great respecter of fate," has weighed the decision for months. Though most presidents wait to announce a reelection campaign to avoid triggering federal election reporting restrictions, Biden's age has played an outsized role in his decision. He is the nation's oldest president and would be just shy of 82 on election day in 2024.
Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon are out
Tucker Carlson, the provocative conservative prime-time host who helped build Fox News into a ratings juggernaut, has been forced out of the network.
Fox News announced the stunning departure of its top-rated host Monday with no explanation, but people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch with input from board members and other Fox Corp. executives.
Also, prominent CNN host Don Lemon on Monday announced that he has been fired after 17 years at the cable news network. The network confirmed the news in a statement. But CNN also challenged Lemon's account of how he was fired.
More coverage
California's first heat wave of the year
After weeks of uncertainty, an incoming heat wave in Central California will trigger rapid snowmelt and deliver heavy flooding to portions of the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills later this week, forecasters say.
Temperatures in the region will climb to the high 80s and mid-90s beginning Wednesday and into the weekend, with the potential for some areas to approach daily records.
Eleni Kounalakis announces early bid for California governor
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis announced she is running for governor, laying down an early marker for what is likely to be a vigorous 2026 campaign to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The Democrat asserted in her announcement that she is well qualified for the post because of the combination of her experience in government — two terms in her current office as well as serving as U.S. ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration — as well as in the private sector, in which she led a Sacramento development company founded by her father.
More politics
- The prosecutor who is investigating whether then-President Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia said she expects to announce charging decisions this summer.
- The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from two San Diego-area school board members and decide whether public officials who take to social media are free to block their critics.
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Russian military contractor Wagner steps into the limelight
Once content to work in secret, the Russian private military contractor Wagner is now busy boosting its brand as its fighters try to subdue Ukraine.
In Ukraine, its cadres — whose ranks include prison recruits — stand accused of horrific abuses against their foes, and sometimes against their own fighters.
Long after South Korea's Gwangju uprising, an ex-soldier atones
It was May 23, 1980, and the southwestern city of Gwangju was under siege.
The Chun Doo-hwan military junta, which would go on to rule South Korea as a dictatorship for the next eight years, had just seized power in a coup d'etat and declared martial law. Branding the pro-democracy protesters filling the streets of Gwangju as violent insurrectionists, the junta sent about 3,000 elite paratroopers — among them a 21-year-old Choi Byung-moon — to crush the demonstrations. At least 165 people were killed.
During the dictatorship, Choi believed he had simply done his duty. His awakening of conscience came in the early 1990s, when he happened to glance at a newspaper article about two boys who had gone missing during the uprising.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Developers Alexandra Hack, left, Jonathan Curtis and Garret Weyand of Cedar Street Partners stand in front of the Christian Science Church building in La Cañada Flintridge. The developers are trying to build an affordable housing complex, but the city is trying to stop the project. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
CALIFORNIA
Detectives say a karate teacher had a gruesome secret. They needed 42 years to unravel it. After more than four decades and a couple of wrong turns, DNA left at the scene of two homicides led detectives to an Oxnard karate teacher.
Riverside sheriff's 'embarrassing' sting goes wrong, leaving 60 pounds of meth with a trafficker. Deputies in Riverside tasked with getting drugs off the street accidentally unleashed the meth into the community when a sting operation went sideways.
'Stay tuned': California sees the northern lights again, and experts say the spectacle will repeat. Another strong solar storm created conditions that brought the northern lights as far south as California — the second time this spring that the dazzling sight was seen from such low latitudes.
Gov. Gavin Newsom enlists California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard to help San Francisco tackle its fentanyl crisis. The new partnership is meant to target traffickers, dismantle the supply of fentanyl into the city and address drug-related crime, the governor's office announced Friday.
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NATION-WORLD
Supreme Court to decide if public officials have a right to block their critics on social media. The Supreme Court will decide whether two San Diego-area school board members violated the 1st Amendment by blocking their critics on social media.
Mexico's López Obrador tests positive for coronavirus for the third time. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suspended a tour of the Yucatán peninsula after testing positive for the coronavirus for the third time.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
A sculpture shown at LACMA ended up on Craigslist. A DJ turned it into a sound studio. 'Migrant Dubs' was created by Los Jaichackers and shown in the groundbreaking 'Phantom Sightings' in 2008. Now it's a sound studio for DJ Escuby.
You heard it through the grapevine: The Ed Sheeran-Marvin Gaye trial starts today. Ed Sheeran is expected to testify in a trial that will decide whether his song 'Thinking Out Loud' plagiarized the Marvin Gaye classic 'Let's Get It On.'
U2 sets dates for splashy launch of Las Vegas Sphere. 'All-in' tickets begin at $140. U2 on Monday set performances for its Las Vegas show 'U2:UV Achtung Baby' over two weekends this fall with plans to safeguard against exorbitant resale prices.
BUSINESS
Hiltzik: Julie Su would be a perfect Labor Secretary. That's why Big Business hates her. By any measure, Su is spectacularly qualified for the position. She has been a stalwart and exceptionally effective advocate for workers' rights throughout her professional career.
Disney begins a second round of layoffs; staff reductions to reach 4,000 this week. The Burbank entertainment giant in February projected that its job cuts would total 7,000 by the beginning of summer.
SPORTS
Sam Farmer's final 2023 NFL mock draft: Four QBs set to go in the first round. The 2023 NFL draft appears top heavy with quarterbacks. Sam Farmer makes his predictions and picks for Nos. 1-31 in his final mock draft. Round 1 is Thursday.
A look inside deaf, autistic basketball player Kade West's unique journey. Basketball saved West, but it was briefly taken away. Watch this video examining the deaf, autistic Cerritos College athlete's journey.
Plaschke: Beating Grizzlies with his grit, LeBron James claims full ownership of the Lakers. The Lakers are LeBron James' team, period. They belong to nobody else. They are led by nobody else. They will only go as far as the ageless wonder will take them. They will only survive for as long as their relentless superstar survives.
Carrie Forsyth retiring as UCLA women's golf coach after 24 years, two NCAA titles. Longtime UCLA women's golf coach Carrie Forsyth will retire after the NCAA championships. She will become a special assistant to AD Martin Jarmond.
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OPINION
School meals are laden with sugar and sodium. Students need healthier food. Free school meals should be tasty, but nutrition is more important. New USDA guidelines should keep this in mind.
ONLY IN SoCal
Tania Romero, a graduate student and avian biologist, checks feathers of Townsend's warbler caught in a net at Bear Divide in San Gabriel Mountains. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
The San Gabriel Mountains loom like an impregnable fortress for millions of migrating birds making their long and perilous journey to distant breeding grounds in the far north.
But scientists recently discovered that many of these spring migrants use a surprisingly unassuming strategy to get over the peaks: They fly extremely low over a dirt parking lot wedged between steep slopes at the western end of the range. There is no simple answer to the phenomenon.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Los Angeles Times (The front page of the April 26, 1898 issue of the Times of Los Angeles announce that congress has declared war on Spain. )
One-hundred twenty-five years ago today, Congress declared war on Spain. The Spanish-American war would go on for just 10 weeks. The result: Spain ceded to United States Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. The U.S. also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.
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