Hello, it's Thursday, May 11, and here are the stories you shouldn't miss today:
TOP STORIES
California's transitional kindergarten is expanding, but progress is slow
Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a big plan for some of California's littlest children. By 2025, he said, nearly 400,000 4-year-olds would be enrolled in an additional year of public education called transitional kindergarten, or TK, launching what is expected to become the largest universal preschool program in the country.
But as the first year of this ambitious expansion comes to a close, family interest in the program has been surprisingly lackluster and many school districts are still focused on meeting even the most basic requirements for starting this new grade.
Feinstein casts her first vote back in Senate after a long absence
Sen. Dianne Feinstein returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to cast her first vote in the Senate since taking an extended illness-related absence that threatened Democrats' slim majority and led to mounting calls for her resignation.
Feinstein, who at 89 is the eldest sitting senator, was brought onto the Senate floor in a wheelchair that she may at times require to travel around the Capitol as she works "a lighter schedule," her office said in a statement.
U.S.-Mexico border towns brace for Title 42 expiration
Across the southwest border with Mexico Wednesday, communities, migrants and border agents braced for the long-anticipated end of Title 42 orders. Most U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities were already over capacity. Border towns in Arizona and Texas struggled to process migrants as they attempted illicit crossings or turned themselves in to agents under the belief that they would be sent away come Thursday.
"[The U.S. Department of Homeland Security] is struggling to manage the numbers of arriving noncitizens," a Department of Homeland Security official told The Times on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely. "Planning for the imminent end of Title 42 while at the same time working to manage a huge surge of migrants places an enormous strain on the workforce and results in a lot of stress and confusion."
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SoCal parrot lovers on edge after recent exotic bird thefts
A December break-in at Martin's Feed Barn store in Dana Point was one of several parrot thefts in Southern California in recent months. The feathered creatures, which can retail for as much as $6,000 depending on the breed, have been stolen from pet stores, porches, even a veterinarian's office.
Many of the thefts have an eerie similarity.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is escorted by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) into the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
CALIFORNIA
California attorney general to launch an investigation of Antioch police after racist texts. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has launched a civil rights investigation into the Antioch Police Department. Reports detail bigoted messages.
Could a Narcan vending machine help stem opioid deaths among young people? A free vending machine that dispenses the overdose-reversal drug naloxone was unveiled this week at Santa Clara University, the first such campus resource in the Bay Area, school officials said.
California to pay $24 million in death of a man who yelled 'I can't breathe' as California Highway Patrol pinned him. Seven CHP officers and a nurse have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of Edward Bronstein, a 38-year-old Burbank resident.
A $3.4-million fine was proposed over a Huntington Beach oil leak. A federal agency is proposing a multimillion-dollar fine against Amplify Energy Corp. over the oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches in 2021.
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NATION-WORLD
A British tabloid group admits that it unlawfully gathered info on Prince Harry. The publisher of the Daily Mirror has acknowledged and apologized for unlawfully gathering information about Prince Harry in its reporting, and said it warranted compensation, at the outset of the prince's first phone-hacking trial.
An army sergeant who murdered a BLM protester was sentenced to 25 years. Texas' governor wants to pardon the man. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is reviewing the man's case on Gov. Greg Abbott's orders, but it is unclear when it will reach a decision.
DNA 'reference guide' is expanded to reflect human diversity. Experts say the new reference should help scientists understand more about what's normal and what's not.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
In the shadow of the writers' strike, Hollywood studios turn to directors for a deal on pay. In years past, the studios have turned to the Directors Guild of America — which has gone on strike just once (for a few minutes) and has a history of settling contracts quickly and peacefully — to craft an agreement that could serve as a framework for other unions.
Could Tchaikovsky's music spur a 'full body orgasm? A brief history of surprising orchestra reactions. Spirited audience reactions, particularly in theater and dance spaces, have been common and even expected for centuries. Sitting in complete silence while taking in a theatrical performance is a fairly new phenomenon.
Henry Winkler opens up about 'debilitating' psychic pain in the years after 'Happy Days.' "There were eight or nine years at a time when I couldn't get hired because I was 'The Fonz,'" Winkler said, "because I was typecast."
BUSINESS
MTV News, which chronicled the music and politics of the '90s, shuts down. The news division was shuttered as part of a larger round of layoffs that saw MTV and Showtime's domestic staff cut by nearly 25%, according to an internal note to employees.
Even at 7 feet tall, Shaq is anything but an easy target in the FTX fraud suit. The former Lakers star and NBA commentator is among numerous celebrities targeted in a suit claiming they funneled investors into a Ponzi scheme by promoting FTX's unregistered securities.
Tucker Carlson announces his new show on Twitter. Elon Musk says there's no deal 'of any kind whatsoever.' It's Carlson's first attempt at a new show since he was terminated by Fox News on April 24, six days after Rupert Murdoch's network paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems.
SPORTS
Fan favorite Winston the French bulldog is a Westminster finalist again. Can he win it all? The French bulldog who stole America's heart on his way to a second-place finish in the 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has advanced to Best in Show judging in this year's competition.
Are the Dodgers staying at a haunted hotel? Mookie Betts won't be there to find out. For the Dodgers' series in Milwaukee this week, Betts has opted to rent a local Airbnb with some friends rather than stay with his teammates at the legendary Pfister Hotel, which many claim is haunted.
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OPINION
Editorial: How many more racehorses must die before the sport changes or goes away? "We should not accept a sport that, even when its officials and participants say they are trying to do better, routinely allows horses to die. That's not a sport that any of us should want to endorse."
Column: Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll. There's no denying it now. "It was pretty obvious to anyone keeping track that what Trump did to Carroll was pretty much what he said he did to women whenever he felt like it," Robin Abcarian writes. "There's a poetic justice to Trump's own vile words coming back to haunt him."
Opinion: Why Biden's really bad approval ratings don't matter. "The reality is, in this day and age, the way we interpret polls has got to change. There needs to be a recognition that, realistically speaking, the days of a president enjoying approval ratings above 50% are effectively over," writes Kurt Bardella.
ONLY IN L.A.
Illustration for Summer Preview 2023 Arts list. (Illustration by David Milan / For The Times; photographs by Joan Marcus; Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection; Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times; Gary Wolstenholme / Getty Images)
Scorching temperatures are expected this summer. Luckily, L.A. has no shortage of cool, air-conditioned museums, music halls and theaters.
From indie theater across the city for the 13th Hollywood Fringe Festival to a Stephen Sondheim tribute at the Hollywood Bowl, here's 13 unmissable arts events we're looking forward to this summer.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
On this day 42 years ago, Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley died of cancer at 36.
Marley is regarded as reggae music's greatest figure here in the U.S. and across the globe. But nothing compares to the love he got from the natives in his home country. Images of the singer appear everywhere in Jamaica: on the walls of Kingston's stateliest hotels, on rolling papers and lighters, on thousands of T-shirts and beach towels.
So it was no surprise that Marley's remains became the subject of an international family feud and intellectual debate over whether he belongs to the world, the Rastafarian religion or his impoverished homeland.
The Times wrote about the discord in 2005, 24 years after his death.
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