By Elvia Limón and Jason Sanchez
Hello, it's Wednesday, Aug. 17, and here are the stories you shouldn't miss today:
TOP STORIES
Imposing new water restrictions
After Colorado River Basin states failed to meet a deadline for emergency drought reductions, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced new emergency water cuts for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico as the nation's two largest reservoirs declined to perilously low levels.
The seven states that rely on Colorado River water were told two months ago to develop plans to drastically reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet, but those talks have grown acrimonious. At a news conference, federal officials said that an agreement was urgently needed and that it was declaring a Tier 2 shortage for next year — a historic first for the shrinking river.
Biden signs a landmark climate bill into law
The nearly $400-billion investment in clean energy subsidies will mark the United States' most serious effort ever to combat climate change. A cap on prescription drug costs will ensure that seniors on Medicare pay no more than $2,000 a year for their medications. And an extension on subsidies provided during the COVID-19 pandemic will lower healthcare costs for 13 million Americans.
The Inflation Reduction Act passed on a party-line vote, as did 2021's $1.9-trillion American Rescue Plan. But a bill to boost domestic microchip production, another providing healthcare for veterans exposed to toxic materials, and last year's $1-trillion infrastructure overhaul won cross-party support, fulfilling President Biden's vow to bring bipartisan legislating back to Washington.
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Tijuana gets back to normal
At least two dozen vehicles were hijacked and burned around Baja California on Friday, state officials said, a shocking, significant escalation of violence across the border in areas that Californians regularly visit.
Things, however, have appeared to be returning to normal. Businesses kept their doors open and the hours-long traffic to go through border checkpoints to the United States were back. The incidents were the third time in a week that violence erupted in towns across the border, a grim reminder of the hold cartels continue to have in the region.
California's controversial fetal homicide law is back in the spotlight
A menagerie of pristine plush creatures marked the blackened corner where Armani Lester's life ended before he took his first breath.
Six bodies were found by the coroner at the Aug. 4 crash site in Windsor Hills. Six murder charges were filed against the driver of the car that barreled through the intersection. The fiery collision was so violent, the L.A. County Coroner spokeswoman said, it tore Armani from his mother's womb.
Yet California law remains split over how to number its victims and what counts as justice for pregnant women whose babies die before birth. That's why the driver was charged with only five counts of vehicular manslaughter.
A nonstop crush of weddings in Kyiv
Tulle and taffeta, garlands and lace: Some nuptial trappings, at least, have survived the nearly 6-month-old Russian invasion that has upended virtually every aspect of life in Ukraine.
But the matrimonial scenes that unfold almost daily at Kyiv's main Civil Registry office — their numbers swelling rapidly after a hiatus in the conflict's first few months — are also an emblem of war's vicissitudes.
For many couples, what might have been in peacetime a days-long extravaganza is compressed into a moment where a few family members witness a hasty exchange of vows and a kiss during a break from front-line duty.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
CALIFORNIA
Activists sue for the right to protest Rick Caruso's campaign at the Grove. The lawsuit against the mayoral candidate was filed on behalf of leftist former mayoral candidate Gina Viola, the Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles group and Sim Bilal, an organizer for that group. Bilal and Viola had been denied permission to hold anti-Caruso events at the Grove, the developer's open-air retail complex in the Fairfax District.
A youth sports coach was charged with molesting a teen athlete in O.C. Chris Flores, 37, who goes by the nickname Coach Frogg, pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of committing a lewd act on a child and two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object. He faces a maximum sentence of six years and four months in state prison if convicted.
He walked outside a Beverly Hills steakhouse to smoke — and was shot. A man was reportedly hospitalized after being shot outside Nusr-Et Steakhouse Beverly Hills, a restaurant next to Spago. "My wife and I came downstairs to say hello to the guys at the valet and all of the sudden you hear, 'Pop, pop, pop,'" said a tourist who was staying at the Maybourne hotel.
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NATION-WORLD
The escalating border war in Africa tests a Biden administration already weighed down by global crises. The administration is wading into one of the most complicated conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa: escalating violence along the border between Congo and Rwanda that has echoed in the wars, genocide and rapes that have stalked the region in recent decades.
A new Scottish law makes menstrual products free. Under the new law, schools, colleges and universities as well as local government bodies must make products such as tampons and sanitary pads available for free in their bathrooms. The Scottish government already has invested millions of pounds since 2017 to fund free menstrual products in educational institutions, but the law makes it a legal requirement.
A Kenyan opposition candidate says he'll challenge his close presidential election loss. East Africa's most stable democracy now faces weeks of disputes and the possibility that the Supreme Court will order a fresh election. Already, religious and other leaders have pleaded for calm in a country with a history of deadly postelection violence.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
When Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres were suddenly the most famous LGBTQ couple. Heche, who died last week from injuries she sustained in an Aug. 5 car crash, left behind a fascinating collection of film and television work, but the actor may have made her greatest impact offscreen. For 3½ years, she and DeGeneres were the most famous same-sex couple in the world, and their relationship permanently changed public perceptions of queer life.
Gina Lollobrigida, an icon from Hollywood's Golden Age, is campaigning for the Senate in Italy. The 95-year-old actor is running as part of the Sovereign and Populist Italy Party. The political faction was founded in July and described by Marco Rizzo, one of the party's leaders, as "the only alternative against the liberal, warmongering and sanitary totalitarianism."
An Australian actor thought to be missing was arrested on suspicion of biting a cop. Laura McCulloch was booked Friday night on suspicion of public intoxication and resisting arrest after she allegedly bit a police officer who had been called to a Santa Monica restaurant in response to an altercation, police said.
BUSINESS
CNBC makes a leadership change as the business channel adapts. The niche financial news channel announced that Mark Hoffman, who has led CNBC since 2005, would be replaced by KC Sullivan, a sales executive at parent firm Comcast. The appointment could portend a new era for the business news cable channel.
Disneyland annual pass holders can renew soon — but it will cost more. Annual pass holders who have been itching to renew their expiring passes will soon get the chance to do so, but there are two caveats. Prices are going up for all the passes, with the top-tier annual pass climbing from $1,399 to $1,599.
A seller's strike? Some homeowners back out of a slowing housing market. Homes that would have received dozens of offers at the beginning of the year get just a few these days. Other properties receive none, forcing owners to slash their asking price and relinquish dreams of record profits.
OPINION
L.A. is spending tens of billions of dollars to make climate change and traffic worse. Metro is building more than 100 miles of rail in the next 30 years. That ought to reduce the county's carbon footprint from transportation, right? Well, not if Metro also encourages more people to drive more miles. Its current transportation plan does exactly that.
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SPORTS
Galaxy and Herbalife agree to a multimillion-dollar jersey deal. The Galaxy reached an agreement with Herbalife Nutrition on the multi-year sponsorship renewal that will keep the dietary supplement company on the front of the team's jersey. The Galaxy's partnership with Herbalife dates to 2005, making it the longest-running jersey sponsorship deal in the history of U.S. professional team sports.
Tiger Woods is strongly opposed to LIV Golf. The PGA Tour is in Delaware for the first time, and although Woods isn't playing, he was on hand to meet privately with top players in the sport to discuss the threat of the Saudi-funded startup league, according to the Associated Press.
The Dodgers will sit Cody Bellinger for a few games amid another batting slump. There was an acknowledgment that, with the slugger's numbers dipping again, Roberts believed it was time to give the 27-year-old a midseason "reset," telling Bellinger he would sit for the next couple of games.
ONLY IN L.A.
How L.A. became the land of the single-family — and singular — home. Every home is distinctly the resident's, but especially in L.A. Some of our peak individual inventiveness, along with architectural talent, have been devoted for decades to the single-family home.
That's what enticed the multitudes here in the first place, writes Times columnist Patt Morrison. You move to New York despite the prospect of living in 400 square feet of a human sandwich. You move to Los Angeles in part because you expect to reign over your own kingdom in miniature — a house, a patio, a chicken adobada in every pot, and an orange tree in every garden.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
1970: Julia Child tapes her TV show. (Paul Child)
One hundred and ten years ago this week, on Aug. 15, 1912, Julia Child was born in Pasadena. The cooking instructor and author became a TV personality, inspiring novice cooks to tackle French cuisine. She "launched an enduring epicurean craze in America," The Times wrote in her 2004 obituary.
Child called herself a ham, and she displayed her sense of fun on her show "The French Chef," where she made it OK to be less than perfect in the kitchen. She was a longtime resident of Cambridge, Mass., but grew up in California and returned at a few points in her life, including when she was 25, after her mother died. She then dated Harrison Chandler, son of Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, but turned down his marriage proposal.
Child went on to serve in the diplomatic service, meet and marry artist-turned-mapmaker Paul Child, discover a love of cooking and become the first bona fide star of public television. A few years before her death at age 91, Child moved from Massachusetts back to her home state, to the city of Montecito. She had a modest kitchen, a place where she said she never felt lonely: "The kitchen has never stopped being a place just full of possibilities and pleasures."
Times staff writers Laura Blasey and Amy Hubbard contributed to this report.
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