Hello, it's Monday, May 15, and here are the stories you shouldn't miss today:
TOP STORIES
A border app poses new challenges for asylum seekers after the end of Title 42
After 5½ months living in a shelter across the border from Yuma, Ariz., Soraya Amaya started feeling desperate.
The 22-year-old from El Salvador had applied daily for months for asylum appointments for her family of five using CBP One, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection mobile app that launched in January and that migrants must now use to seek humanitarian protection.
Just 1,000 appointments are granted daily through the app, which was intended to reduce the number of crossings between ports of entry.
The expiration of Title 42, a policy implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented many asylum seekers from entering the U.S., has added urgency to the app for many migrants stranded in Mexico. While there was generally no consequence for being expelled multiple times under Title 42, being deported now can have life-altering ramifications.
Writers on the picket line talk pay, family and how the strike is hitting home
On daily picket lines outside studios and production facilities in Los Angeles and New York, television and film writers have been hoisting placards and chanting in unison, hoping to force the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to heed their demands for what they regard as fair compensation and better working conditions in an industry that has been radically reshaped by streaming.
With the two sides still far apart over a range of thorny issues, many fear the standoff could drag on for months, sending aftershocks across the industry and doing untold damage to the local economy.
But for writers, the effects of the strike are already being felt in shrinking bank account balances, hours of sleep lost to anxiety and profound uncertainty about the future of the art form. The Times spoke to five writers about how the strike is affecting them — and of why, despite the hardship, they are determined to persist.
How much COVID is in your community? It's getting harder to tell
Officials and experts continue to preach the importance of individual decision-making to assess and manage their health risks, but monitoring coronavirus conditions is becoming more difficult as data collection and reporting endeavors are either scaled back or abandoned entirely.
Part of this is by design. Experts shunted some incomplete metrics, such as officially reported case counts, in favor of others like wastewater monitoring, which can provide a clearer picture of the virus' circulation in a community.
But dwindling data make it more difficult for people to adjust their attitudes and behaviors accordingly — a potentially unsettling development for those who remain most at risk of falling seriously ill.
California Democrats further torn after seeing Sen. Feinstein's return to Washington
Questions about Sen. Dianne Feinstein's future have been swirling for quite some time over concerns about declining mental and physical capabilities. Concerns grew after California's senior senator was briefly hospitalized earlier this year and, while recuperating at home in San Francisco, missed votes that resulted in a holdup for confirming some of President Biden's judicial nominees.
Feinstein flew back to Washington on Wednesday and she cast critical votes Thursday. And yet, among some California Democrats, Feinstein's return did little to quell concern about her likely effectiveness in the Senate, heightened further by the Democrats' razor-thin majority.
Two good men are dead in Davis stabbings and two families cope with their loss
David Breaux preached forgiveness to his sister and the ultimate test of forgiveness came April 27. That's when Breaux's body was found stabbed on the bench where he often slept in Davis' Central Park.
Two nights later, according to police accounts, the same person fatally stabbed another resident, UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm, 20, as he biked home from a university event.
For the families and friends of the two men killed in the seemingly random attacks — Breaux, a gentle man of 50 who preached a gospel of compassion, and Abou Najm, a computer science whiz known to be brilliant and kind — the journey ahead will be less about the legal proceedings and more about how to continue after such a crushing, senseless loss.
CALIFORNIA
James Boss, 30, left, and a friend wait in their tent on San Vicente Boulevard to get housing under the Inside Safe program. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
'Challenging' Westside homeless camp drew complaints. Now its residents are getting housing. At least 25 people were relocated from a homeless encampment on San Vicente Boulevard as part of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program.
What you need to know about Newsom's plan to offset California's $31.5-billion deficit. The deficit is forcing Gov. Gavin Newsom to begin reining in his progressive policy agenda, in a stark change from the surpluses that graced his first years in office.
A rabbit rescue operation is working to save bunnies from rising floodwaters. After one of the wettest winters in years, a team from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has for months navigated the Central Valley to rescue stranded riparian brush rabbits, an endangered species.
Whittier College president resigns amid financial troubles, plunging enrollment. Linda Oubré, who took the helm five years ago, did not address the controversies in her resignation email, but her announcement came amid a turbulent time for one of California's oldest liberal arts institutions.
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NATION-WORLD
AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters. Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, experts say this fake content can spread far and fast.
North Carolina governor vetoes abortion limits. In front of an exuberant crowd, North Carolina's Democratic governor vetoed legislation Saturday that would have banned nearly all abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy and challenged leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
Turkey votes in pivotal election that tests leader Erdogan. On Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has governed Turkey as either prime minister or president for two decades, held a narrow lead in the toughest reelection bid of his career.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
'The Little Mermaid' left Halle Bailey 'tired' and 'isolated.' And she thanked God for it. In embracing her turn in the spotlight — her first major film role, and her first project apart from her sister, Chlöe Bailey — the multi-hyphenate talent has faced so many challenges.
MTV News was essential to a generation. Former staffers reflect on what's been lost. At a time when there was little access to the internet and no such thing as social media, MTV News was the go-to source for young people on everything from Axl Rose's latest brush with the law to political efforts to thwart gun violence.
Review: Trace Lysette shines in the quietly powerful 'Monica.' Directed by Andrea Pallaoro from a script he wrote with frequent collaborator Orlando Tirado, "Monica" is an intimate look at the complexity of grief, reconciliation and family.
BUSINESS
Hyperloop TT gets Italy deal, giving Elon Musk's transport vision a jolt of energy. The Hyperloop TT deal could bring new energy to a technology and company where enthusiasm has dimmed recently. So far, the concept for a 760-mph superhighway, which attracted a raft of entrepreneurs seeking to realize Musk's vision, has failed to achieve much traction.
I spent $399 on Frontier's 'All You Can Fly' pass. Is it worth the hype? Unlimited flight passes have been around for years. And while such programs are always enticing, they tend to go wayward.
SPORTS
Tony Gonsolin, Mookie Betts lift Dodgers to win over Padres. Gonsolin allowed two hits over five innings and Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer as the Dodgers swept the San Diego Padres with a 4-0 win.
I was wrong: These Lakers can win an NBA championship. They have a championship roster, championship schemes, championship connectivity and, now, championship belief, writes columnist Bill Plaschke.
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OPINION
Rejected by a top-tier college? Don't worry, it won't hurt your chances for future success. "We do college applicants great harm if we give them the false impression they will do better in life if they attend highly selective schools."
We should pay attention to AI, but let's remember that it isn't magic. Just as with real-life sausage, the components that make up ChatGPT are obscured over the course of its production. But that doesn't mean they defy explanation, especially by manufacturers.
ONLY IN L.A.
(Samuel Rodriguez / For The Times)
Jimmy O. Yang describes his best Sunday in Los Angeles. The scene-stealing actor, comedian and writer keeps a busy schedule of filming — both his latest project and his YouTube series. But on the weekend, he likes to slow things down and focus on food, from food truck-hopping in Boyle Heights to tending to his vegetable garden to lunch with his parents. Here's what else he would do on a free Sunday.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
May 8, 1952: Two frames show a model of Los Angeles City Hall blowing up during the filming of "War of the Worlds." (Phil Bath / Los Angeles Times Archive / UCLA)
In May 1952, Los Angeles City Hall was the target of an attack by Martians. The filming of "War of the Worlds" was underway at Paramount Studios and the film's crew tried to imagine what such a Martian attack might look like. A Times photographer was on set to observe the special effects shoot, which involved demolishing a detailed plaster model of the building stuffed with detonation cord to simulate an attack with a "deadly ray." The photos ran in the May 9, 1952, edition of The Times.
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