By Elvia Limón and Jason Sanchez
Hello, it's Wednesday, Sept. 28, and before we dive into our top stories, we'd like to highlight a story about "Wall Street Whiz Kid" David Bloom, who has been convicted and accused of hurting real people and bottoming out real bank accounts, all to feed one man's ego and lifestyle.
Times staffer James Queally told us: "This story is why you don't delete the crazy e-mails. At least not the ones your editor forwards you. I had no idea who Bloom was a few weeks ago, and when I was reading the 'tip' that came in full of links to news articles from the 1980s, a suggestion to listen to an episode of a Ringer podcast and ramblings about a 'Wall Street' scam artist who was hanging around a Hollywood bar, I was kinda surprised the message wasn't written in cutout magazine letters.
"Now I'll direct you to the scoreboard: Crazy Looking E-Mail 1, James 0. The deeper I got into court records and conversations about Bloom, the more I realized this was a serious story that needed to be told. ... It's a story we couldn't have told if someone didn't reach out, ask for help and find the temerity to speak out for this piece." Read the full story here.
TOP STORIES
UCLA is buying a campus in Rancho Palos Verdes
UCLA said it is buying two expansive properties owned by Marymount California University, a small Catholic institution in Rancho Palos Verdes that shuttered its doors last month.
UCLA's $80-million purchase of Marymount's 24.5-acre campus and an 11-acre residential site in nearby San Pedro marks the university's most significant expansion to help meet the burgeoning demand for seats.
UCLA drew nearly 140,000 first-year applications for about 6,600 spots in fall 2021 and even more this year. But UCLA, whose 419-acre Westwood footprint is the smallest among U.C.'s nine undergraduate campuses, has no room to grow, prompting the campus to look for alternatives.
Newsom signs abortion protection and reproductive health bills
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 13 abortion protection and reproductive health bills, codifying key parts of California's campaign to counter the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
The newly signed laws also set the stage for a November vote to enshrine abortion rights directly into California's Constitution under Proposition 1.
Newsom's signatures were expected after the governor advocated for many of the measures and come after California launched a publicly funded website — at abortion.ca.gov — this month to make it easier for those seeking to end their pregnancies to find services and financial assistance.
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State bar announces a probe of L.A. lawyers Geragos, Kabateck
The State Bar of California said two prominent Los Angeles attorneys are under investigation for their conduct in a landmark, multimillion-dollar settlement for Armenian genocide victims.
The public disclosure that lawyers Mark Geragos and Brian Kabateck are under scrutiny came six months after a Times investigation revealed how the historic legal case devolved into corruption, diverted funds and disillusionment for ethnic Armenians around the world hoping for compensation.
The state bar announcement was highly unusual. The agency's investigations of lawyers are normally conducted in secret. And it has a reputation for shying away from probes of powerful attorneys.
Most Angelenos have a favorable view of the LAPD, despite concerns
The public's confidence in the Los Angeles Police Department has improved slightly over the last two years, although more than half of the city's residents believe policing remains tainted by racial bias among officers, according to a new survey from Loyola Marymount University.
Roughly 3 of 4 respondents, for example, said seeing LAPD officers in their neighborhoods makes them feel safe and 71% of people surveyed felt that police were "serving and protecting my neighborhood" — up from 63% in 2020. But a large majority said it would be better if police alone were not called on to handle calls involving vulnerable groups such as the mentally ill and homeless.
He was in prison. Now he may be Brazil's next president
Three years ago, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was languishing in a prison cell. The former president of Brazil, who led the country from 2003 to 2010, was months into a 12-year jail sentence for corruption. His political career appeared to be over.
Now, Lula, as he is widely known, appears poised to win Brazil's presidential election. The question, polls suggest, isn't whether he will beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, but when.
A victory for Lula — who was released from prison in 2019 after a court ruled that the judge who oversaw his corruption trial was biased — would cap off one of the most remarkable political resurgences in recent memory.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
CALIFORNIA
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill allowing California IDs for immigrants in the country illegally. Newsom has signed into law Assembly Bill 1766, also known as "California IDs for All." Under the bill signed last week, California ID eligibility will be expanded for close to 2 million people who lack legal status. The law will go into effect no later than July 1, 2027.
California attorney general warns Temecula not to pass abortion ban. Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta's office sent a letter to the City Council, stating that local legislation that goes against state law is considered "void," after Councilwoman Jessica Alexander proposed earlier this month a resolution barring abortions.
Sheriff removes guns and duties from Alameda County deputies deemed 'not suited' for hire. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office has stripped 47 deputies of their firearms and peace officer duties after an internal audit revealed they were never qualified to be hired because they had failed their psychological evaluations, authorities said.
California bans unnecessary pesticide and chemical testing on dogs and cats. The law goes into effect Jan. 1. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) authored Senate Bill 879, which bans unnecessary toxicity testing that exposes dogs and cats to industrial and consumer products. Products tested on animals include pesticides, chemical substances and food additives, Wiener said.
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NATION-WORLD
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba as Florida braces for its turn. Ian left 1 million people without electricity, then churned on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters expected to strengthen it into a catastrophic Category 4 storm. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Cuba suffered "significant wind and storm surge impacts" when the hurricane struck with sustained top winds of 125 mph.
More than 194,000 Russians flee Putin's call-up. Russian nationals have fled in droves to neighboring Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland — most often by car, by bicycle or on foot — in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists. The mass exodus of men — alone or with their families or friends — began Sept. 21, shortly after Putin's address to the nation, and continued all this week.
Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks; Denmark suspects sabotage. Denmark said it believed "deliberate actions" by unknown perpetrators were behind big leaks, which seismologists said followed powerful explosions, in two natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. Although filled with gas, neither pipeline is currently supplying it to Europe.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
Niecey Nash-Betts has been busy. On top of a starring role on the new ABC series, "The Rookie: Feds," she also appears as Glenda Cleveland in Netflix's "Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," and has hosting duties on the Fox game show "Don't Forget the Lyrics." It's the kind of career Nash-Betts once dreamed of as a 5-year-old, watching TV with her grandmother and discovering actress Lola Falana: "I said, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up: Black, fabulous and on TV.'"
Creem has risen. The rebirth of Creem has been a lifelong dream for J.J. Kramer, whose father once owned the notorious rock magazine. Now, after decades of false starts and two lawsuits, Creem magazine is back in action as a subscription-only quarterly with an active online presence. It lands this month as a sophisticated, large-format publication that is both contemporary and true to Creem's original flavor, without slipping into nostalgia for the rock 'n' roll past.
KTLA turmoil over anchors' departure highlights concerns about Latino representation. For nearly two weeks, the station has endured backlash from angry viewers over the exit of Lynette Romero and her co-anchor on weekend morning shows, Mark Mester. Mester was fired last Thursday after an emotional on-air appeal in Romero's defense. Romero's departure leaves KTLA without a full-time Latina anchor to serve a market in which Latinos make up nearly 50% of the population.
BUSINESS
Walmart to cover fertility treatments under its insurance plan. The nation's largest retailer and private employer said Tuesday it's partnering with New York-based Kindbody to offer these benefits regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. Beginning Nov. 1, Walmart's employees will get access to more than 30 fertility clinics and in vitro fertilization labs across the U.S. Kindbody's clinics will be available to help eligible workers access Walmart's surrogacy and adoption benefits, as well.
OPINION
Hurricane Fiona devastated Puerto Rico. When will these Americans get the help they need? Approximately 900,000 residences are without electricity in Puerto Rico after the hurricane made landfall, but the disaster was not unexpected after Puerto Rico's public grid was privatized in 2021 and contracted out to Luma Energy, a U.S-Canadian energy company. Under Luma, energy prices have soared while delivery has remained subpar. Each community across the archipelago faces its own obstacles, but all share the awareness that we cannot rely on a federal and local government that has chronically failed us.
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SPORTS
Galaxy to open the 2023 season at Rose Bowl. The Galaxy are heading back to the neighborhood where they played their first MLS game in 1996. But that wasn't the biggest surprise announcement: The team will play inter-city rival LAFC in the Feb. 25 matchup. In just five seasons, the series between the teams has grown into the fiercest in U.S. club soccer.
UCLA eyes return to NCAA women's basketball tournament. After missing the tournament for the first time since 2015, UCLA is in a position to rebound immediately with the top freshman class in the country. Headlined by the nation's No. 2 overall recruit, Kiki Rice, and Camarillo star Gabriela Jaquez, the rookie class is UCLA's first No. 1 group since the 2014 group led by Jordin Canada and Monique Billings that went to three consecutive NCAA regional semifinals and the school's second Elite Eight.
ONLY IN L.A.
Knock it off with 'Angelino,' says columnist Patt Morrison. "Someone who lives in Los Angeles, city or county, is an Angeleno. Not an Angelino. Every few years, this topic pops up like dormant insects persistently rising from their hibernation. And so it's time again to bring out the bug spray and kill off "Angelino," and even worse contortions of the simple and elegant word for who we are.
What, you say? Live and let live? "Los Angelino" or "Angelean" or "Los Angelean" — whatever?
Nope no non nein não nyet nahi không voch, and ixnay. If you call yourself an "Angelino," then you must live in a place called "Los Angelis," wherever that is.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
John Lennon being interviewed in Los Angeles in 1974. In this interview, Lennon stated he was "clearheaded and not drinking," and was writing more. (Tony Barnard / Los Angeles Times)
This month marks 51 years since John Lennon's second solo album, "Imagine," was released in the United States. The Times' review of the album called it a "strong, flavorful, intriguing follow-up that it's certain to be a leading contender for" best of the year, just as his first album had been in 1970.
Produced by Lennon, Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, the album was recorded in England with the string section later added in New York. Among the numerous musicians featured on the album: George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Klaus Voorman, the bass player whose name is always mentioned as a substitute in any possible neo-Beatles lineup.
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