Hello, it's Tuesday, May 16, and here are the stories you shouldn't miss today:
TOP STORIES
Scientists take flight to map California's vast snowpack and measure flooding threats
Flying thousands of feet above the Sierra Nevada in a plane equipped with specialized imaging devices, Elizabeth Carey has been scanning the mountains with lasers to precisely map the snow.
"The amount of water that we have in the snowpack this year is just mind-blowing," she said. "It's just been extraordinary."
By mapping the snowpack with laser pulses and spectrometers, Carey and her colleagues are able to provide a detailed picture of one of the biggest snow accumulations ever recorded in the state. The flights are also collecting data to estimate when and how fast the snow will melt, helping California officials prepare for the runoff, manage water releases from dams, and assess which areas are most at risk of flooding.
L.A. dispensaries openly sell 'magic mushrooms' as state weighs decriminalization
The cannabis dispensary in a rundown shopping center in coastal Los Angeles County offers the standard fare: pre-rolled joints, vape pens, a wide range of edibles and a selection of smoking accessories.
But there's one extra class of items that distinguishes this storefront on the county's suburban fringe. A glass case displays "magic mushrooms" and a variety of items containing psilocybin, the compound that provides said magic to those who consume it.
A compound that is still illegal statewide.
Is a four-day workweek as good as it sounds? Employees share what it's really like
Efficiency and time management are key when you're on a four-day work schedule, as the more than 250 corporate employees at ThredUp are. The online secondhand reseller is one of a small but growing number of companies that have bucked the traditional five-day week in favor of what advocates and participants say is greater work-life balance.
Still, getting your work done in four days can be intense and stressful. ThredUp employees said it can be challenging to fit everything in so they can keep their Fridays free. Even then, several said they do still work a bit on Friday.
A Hollywood producer says he makes 'dreams come true.' But fraud allegations dog him.
Over the last 14 years, Hollywood producer David Brown has faced repeated accusations of fraud and deceit that allegedly occurred in many of the productions he has worked on as accountant and producer, according to a review of court records and more than 30 interviews.
In a series of at least 10 lawsuits, two bankruptcy proceedings and two criminal cases in the last decade and a half, Brown and the companies he controls have been accused of forging Kevin Spacey's signature, skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars off the top of at least two productions, failing to pay crews and background actors and failing to pay back million-dollar loans he took out for projects.
Border crossings drop significantly after end of Title 42, U.S. officials say
Some speculated that the end of Title 42, a policy used amid the COVID-19 pandemic to turn back migrants at the border without giving them access to asylum protections, would bring about an influx of crossings.
But the Biden administration has long said it was prepared for the moment and had been planning for the change, despite attacks from Republicans who argued that border policy was being mismanaged.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
IMAGE Magazine | May 2023 Paisa Boys | Landscapers (Carlos Jaramillo / For The Times)
What would L.A.'s visual identity be without landscape artists? Landscapers are architects of beauty in Los Angeles‚ the stewards of the land, whisperers of the plants. Their bodies of work are all around — we are inside a live group exhibition created and cared for by workers who walk among us.
CALIFORNIA
Gloria Molina, Chicana who blazed paths across L.A. politics, died. The daughter of working-class parents and an unapologetic Chicana who transformed the political landscape of Los Angeles, died Sunday night after a three-year battle with cancer. She was 74.
After landslide, an Orange County beach town finds itself between a bluff and a hard place. A landslide beneath the historic Casa Romantica in San Clemente underscores the threat of coastal instability exacerbated by last winter's powerful storms.
A year later, Taiwanese church remembers mass shooting in Laguna Woods. Feng Feng Lee and most of the hundreds of others at Sunday's commemoration spoke in the Taiwanese dialect, as they typically do during church services. The gunman, according to prosecutors, hated them for that.
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NATION-WORLD
Analysis: 'Love fest' for Zelensky in Europe shows worries over the 2024 U.S. presidential race. "Berlin is preparing for the possibility that Donald Trump could beat Joe Biden in the next election," the newsmagazine Der Spiegel wrote last month, adding that such an outcome could spell "disaster" for Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Two Florida moms are at the center of the fight against book banning in America. Jen Cousins and Stephana Ferrell track school board votes and the fates of books across the state's 67 districts, and try to find wins in a state firmly in the hands of a conservative Republican Party.
They're desperate to flee violence in Sudan. But their passports are stuck, so they are, too. Almost a month into the fighting, hundreds — potentially thousands — of passport-holding Sudanese remain stranded because their documents are stuck in embassies whose international staff has long since been evacuated.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
The 15 most banned books in America this school year.
"Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe has become the most banned book in America, a target of school boards, conservative candidates, preachers and parental groups who condemned it as pornography aimed at impressionable children.
This Cannes Film Festival could be the most explosive in years. Here's what to expect. Will there be strikers waving signs outside the Palais, or just the usual bunch of festivalgoers requesting last-minute tickets ("Une admission s'il vous plaît")?
Hulu documentary delves deeper into the Randall Emmett scandal. Emmett's downfall began with an investigation by The Times into claims that include allegations of race discrimination, workplace abuse and questionable on-set behavior toward actor Bruce Willis as his mental acuity declined ― all of which Emmett denies.
Wait, are Charlize Theron and Megyn Kelly about to throw down over drag shows? "I will f— anybody up who's like trying to f— with anything with you guys," Theron said at the "Drag Isn't Dangerous" telethon. Kelly took up the challenge and threw it back at Theron.
BUSINESS
Vice Media files for bankruptcy, the latest in a string of digital media setbacks. Monday's filing comes amid a wave of media layoffs and closures — including job cuts at Gannett, NPR, the Washington Post and more over recent months.
If you get a class-action settlement notice, here's what to consider when deciding to join or opt out. In most cases, there's little downside to joining these lawsuits, which combine many legal claims — often thousands — into one claim against a single defendant, reducing fees for each claimant and potentially earning a much larger payout.
SPORTS
Column: Mookie Betts is playing at his peak. Will he sustain it through October? What remains a mystery is whether Betts can sustain his recent form, whether he can be more consistent and eliminate the extended periods in which he is a nonfactor. He isn't making any promises. "I'd like to," Betts said, "but no telling what's going to happen."
Lakers vs. Nuggets: What scouts expect in Western Conference finals. League insiders interviewed by The Times agree that the series will again hinge on the starring duos who have remained: The Lakers' LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Denver's Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
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OPINION
Opinion: 'Unprecedented by most measures': Calculating the astonishing economic costs of COVID. The three sectors that lost the most over the first 30 months of the pandemic were air travel, dining, and health and social services, which contracted by 57.5%, 26.5% and 29.2%, respectively.
Opinion: Who will Catholics follow? Pope Francis or the right-wing U.S. bishops? At age 86, Pope Francis is close to the end of his pontificate. Among American Catholics, a stunning 82% view him favorably. But he may not live to appoint enough like-minded cardinals to elect a similar successor.
Column: Shouting down racists isn't effective. Gen Z needs to find another way. "If any generation can come together, it's [Gen Zers]. But young liberals need to learn to communicate productively, placing more value on dialogue and less on derogatory judgments that are known to alienate their peers," Jean Guerrero writes.
ONLY IN SoCal
The water tower at the Inn at Mattei's Tavern. (The Inn at Mattei's Tavern)
Blending old and new has been a theme in Los Olivos, a charming town just two hours north of Los Angeles that's known for its vineyards, lavender farms, orchards and horse trails.
Here are 14 things to do in the magical country town filled with wine and lavender blooms.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
An Oscars statue at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Matt Sayles / Matt Sayles/invision/ap)
On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Academy President Douglas Fairbanks handed out 15 statuettes for outstanding achievement in 1927 and 1928.
Since then, the Academy Awards has become an event watched around the world. In 2017, the Times published a year-by-year look at the Oscars.
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