Tuesday, March 26

Racist remarks rock Los Angeles politics just a month before key election


Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, Oct. 10. I’m Kinsee Morlan, editor of “The Times,” our news podcast featuring the best LA Times stories about the world, the West Coast and sometimes the weird or whimsical. (Subscribe already, mmmkay?) I’m writing from Lemon Grovehome of the world’s largest lemon — not a real one, sadly, but a quirky 3,000-pound statue that sits above five minutes from where I live.

An October 2021 leaked recording of a private conversation between Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez, councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and a well-known local labor leader is roiling City Hall.

In the roughly hourlong conversation, Martinez says a white councilman, Mike Bonin, treats his young Black son as though he were a fashionable “accessory,” like a purse, and calls the child “It looks like a monkey,” like a little monkey. Of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, she says, “F— that guy. … He’s with the Blacks.”

The Times first reported on the explosive content on Sunday.

The audio was posted on Reddit earlier this month. Not much is known about the now-suspended Reddit user who posted it, how they got it or why the almost year-old recording was posted less than a month before an election that could shift the balance of power at City Hall to the left.

What we do know about the audio is that it may have been recorded on LA County Federation of Labor property. The city leaders did not appear to know that they were being recorded. And the group was talking about the city’s contentious process of redrawing council district boundaries, strategizing how to draw districts that would give more power to Latinos.

Martinez has issued a statement apologizing for her comments. De León called the comments “wholly inappropriate” and said he regrets “appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments.” Cedillo told The Times he doesn’t remember the conversation. The labor leader, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, didn’t respond to several requests for comment. But Julie Gutman Dickinson, a lawyer representing the LA County Federation of Labor, sent a letter saying the conversation was recorded illegally, and by publishing information from it, The Times is condoning illegal conduct.

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Our lawyer disagrees with that take.

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.

THE STORIES

Harvey Weinstein’s back in court. After being convicted of sexually assaulting two women in New York, the former movie producer is facing criminal charges related to five other women in Los Angeles. Weinstein’s trial begins Monday in Los Angeles. BuzzFeed

Driveway surprise: Mountain lion believed to be the famed P-22. Los Feliz residents Cylin Busby and Damon Ross were returning to their home near Griffith Park Saturday night when they spotted what they believe was the mountain lion known as P-22. The famous cougar has long lived in the Griffith Park area. Los Angeles Times

Check out “The Times” podcast for essential news and more

These days, waking up to current events can be, well, daunting. If you’re seeking a more balanced news diet, “The Times” podcast is for you. Gustavo Arellano, along with a diverse set of reporters from the award-winning LA Times newsroom, delivers the most interesting stories from the Los Angeles Times every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

How California’s bullet train went off the rails. A bullet train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco was supposed to be the US’ first foray into high-speed-rail. But the sluggish pace of the project has kept us all waiting (and waiting and waiting) to board the super-fast trains, because the dream, in short, has become a multibillion-dollar nightmare filled with big problems and thorny politics. New York Times

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

A possible pattern for the man accused of kidnapping, killing four in Merced. Kathy and her daughter Katrina, who asked that their last name not be used, were held at gunpoint and robbed by Jesus Manuel Salgado, the same man accused of kidnapping and killing four people in Merced. The robbery happened in 2005. Salgado was caught a few days later, after the family reported him to the police. He served nearly 10 years in prison before being paroled in 2015. Salgado was taken into custody again Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering four members of the Singh family. Los Angeles Times

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SDSU criticized for giving conflicting accounts of how it handled gang rape allegation. Officials at San Diego State University have provided shifting and conflicting accounts about their response to accusations, which surfaced months ago, that a star football player and his teammates assaulted a 17-year-old high school senior at an off-campus party. A Times investigation in June revealed that the university had not alerted the campus or launched its own investigation after receiving reports about the alleged October 2021 gang rape. Los Angeles Times

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

California tribes will manage state coastal areas. Five California tribes will reclaim their right to manage coastal land significant to their history under a first-in-the-nation program backed with $3.6 million in state money. The tribes will rely on their traditional knowledge to protect more than 200 miles of coastline. Associated Press

In California, one pine tree has survived for 4,800 years. Way up in the White Mountains of central California, groves of Great Basin bristlecone pines stand with their gnarled branches reaching to the sky. Some of the twisted trees have been there for nearly 5,000 years. However, the pines face a number of climate-change challenges that might finally take them down. New York Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Nikki Finke, once the ‘most feared writer’ in Hollywood, dies. Veteran journalist Nikki Finke, who founded the entertainment trade site Deadline, died at age 68. In her heyday, her column served up juicy industry scoops and skewered Hollywood’s elite. According to a family representative, Finke died Sunday morning in Boca Raton, Fla., after a prolonged illness. Los Angeles Times

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Opening of the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. Six years in the making, the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center opened its doors in San Diego. The inaugural exhibit is about the National Historic Landmark Chicano Park and the neighborhoods surrounding it. San Diego Union-Tribune

How the Black experience renews ‘Death of a Salesman.’ For the first time, Willy Loman and his family are played entirely by Black actors in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” which opened Sunday at the Hudson Theater in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times

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CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

The Angels: 78, partly cloudy. San Diego: 72, partly cloudy. San Francisco: 66, partly cloudy. Saint Joseph: 79, partly cloudy. Ash tree: 92. Sacrament: 93.

AND FINALLY

Today’s california memories is from Wendy Wilke.

I lived in the San Fernando Valley in the ’60s, near Victory and Balboa. The house was next to a small wash. I looked out on the Sepulveda Reservoir and the Encino Hills. Silver Queen corn was grown in the reservoir, where the owner checked every ear for rot before we could buy it. The hills at night were alit like little stars. We had lemon and apricot trees and lots of bamboo in the backyard where my children played. It was really idyllic.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to [email protected].




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