L.A.’s Black-Latino alliance has always been fragile. Can it survive racist recordings?
LAT, JESSICA GARRISON/RUBEN VIVES/MARISA GERBER/ANGEL JENNINGS/DAVID ZAHNISER: "Jorge Nuño learned the hard way how race, power and politics work in Los Angeles.
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Police on Saturday arrested a man they believe is the serial killer who has shot and killed five people in Stockton, terrorizing the central California city since his presence was first announced last month.
Police said they intercepted the suspect, Wesley Brownlee, as he hunted for a victim around 2 a.m. Saturday, dressed in black and carrying a handgun. Brownlee was booked into custody on several felony charges, including murder and carrying a concealed weapon. His arrest ended weeks of speculation and fear after police connected him to a string of shootings in Stockton’s north side.
Following his arrest, Brownlee, 43, was taken to the San Joaquin County jail, where he remained on Sunday with no bail set."
LAT, HARRIET RYAN/TERRY CASTLEMAN/SUMMER LIN/MATT PEARCE: "Three Los Angeles City Council members went to a squat office building near MacArthur Park last October to seek advice from an influential labor leader about solidifying their grip on power.
The strategy session was supposed to be a discreet backroom conversation, but as it got underway in a private room at the headquarters of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, someone was recording it. Over the next hour, a device captured the Democratic politicians and the labor leader, all Latino, speaking contemptuously about those they regarded as rivals or impediments. The recordings included racist, bigoted and crude remarks about Black, Jewish, Armenian, Indigenous and gay people.
“My goal in life is to get the three of you elected, and you know, I’m just focused on that,” Ron Herrera, president of the federation, told Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León at one point. “I mean, we’re like the little Latino caucus of, you know, our own.”"
Once seen as a trailblazer, Kevin de León tumbles after leaked racist tape
Nury Martinez’s ‘little Latina girls’ line in resignation letter backfires: ‘Girl WHAT?’
LAT, CHRISTI CARRAS: "Nury Martinez’s Los Angeles City Council resignation letter did not go over well on social media.
Actor Melinna Bobadilla, writer Myriam Gurba and TV host Areva Martin were among many Twitter users who criticized Martinez’s announcement — particularly the part where the disgraced politician addressed “all little Latina girls across the city” and said, “I hope I’ve inspired you to dream beyond that which you can see.”
“Girl WHAT? Cómo crees?” Bobadilla tweeted on Wednesday. “You are not # goals or inspo; you are a cautionary tale of power hungry girl-bossery gone awry. This is an example of narcissism & gaslighting BYE.”"
The Chronicle, CAMRYN PAK: "DeWayne Cox of Los Angeles spends 15 hours a week hooked up to an artificial kidney machine. During that time, Cox is strapped into a chair and can’t move his arms — not even to answer a phone call.
For him, receiving dialysis treatment has been routine for the past 12 years."
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Concern is rapidly growing over emerging omicron coronavirus variant BQ.1 and its sibling BQ.1.1, which experts say appear to be strong candidates for a winter surge in the U.S. and could knock the BA.5 variant out of its dominant spot.
The BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants, descendants of BA.5, were first identified in mid-July, according to UC Berkeley infectious disease expert John Swartzberg.
They were first detected in the U.S. just a month ago and each rose quickly to account for 5.7% of cases sequenced nationwide for the week ending Oct. 15, according to updated estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s variant tracker."
AP, COLLEEN LONG/ZEKE MILLER: "Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced President Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted “cruelty and exclusion at every turn,” including toward those fleeing the "brutal" government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the Nov. 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor’s playbook."
LAT, JON HEALEY: "The U.S. Department of Education has started accepting applications for student loan forgiveness on a trial basis, but said access to the forms would be “periodic.”
The “beta test” began Friday evening, but the form was not available and a notice posted at studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application instructed borrowers to “check back soon.” By Saturday morning, the form was available again.
The department has said it will make a final version of the form available by the end of this month. If you manage to get access to the application during the beta test, you won’t have to apply again once the final form is released."
The Chronicle, PETER HARTLAUB: "Sixty years ago this week, Bay Area residents woke up to one of the most fascinating and astounding stories of the century, as three young and athletic masterminds achieved something that had long been accepted as impossible: They escaped from Alcatraz.
“Three Alcatraz convicts dug their way out of a thick concrete cell block with spoons and escaped from the prison yesterday,” The Chronicle’s front page story began on June 13, 1962. “Their fate is unknown.”"
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Bay Area stargazers will want to mark their calendars this week for an incandescent sky show linked to the famed Halley’s Comet.
The event, the annual Orionid meteor shower, will peak in the early morning hours Friday. If the weather conditions are right and you’re willing to stay up very late (or get up very early), you’ll have a good chance of seeing some meteors zooming by."
Placer candidate files defamation lawsuit against right-wing blogger and restaurant owner
Sac Bee, DARRELL SMITH/JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Roseville City Councilman Scott Alvord is suing a conservative blogger and a local restaurateur, alleging they defamed him in posts linking him to forced COVID-19 vaccinations and calling him a “communist.”
He filed the lawsuit in Placer County Superior Court on Wednesday against Lincoln restaurant owner and Rocklin City Council candidate Matthew Oliver and Aaron Park, who manages RightOnDailyBlog.com. Neither Oliver nor park has been served with a complaint.
Alvord alleges that the pair said the councilman forced children during the COVID-19 pandemic to vaccinate against the virus and wear face masks, and also accused the entrepreneur of being against small businesses.