Hello, it’s Tuesday, November 30, and, just in case you missed it, Merriam-Webster announced the word of the year. It is not a branch type: “vaccine.” The rate at which people went to the dictionary site to search for that word increased by 601% during 2020.
What was interesting – and heartwarming – was that the word “perseverance was one of the” best observations of 2021 “. It’s a good word to keep in mind now that a new version is making headlines. More about that below:
Contents
TOP STORIES
As the WHO looks at the Omicron threat, Biden says the United States is prepared
The World Health Organization has warned that new outbreaks with Omicron pose a “very high” global risk, with some governments moving to impose travel bans and border closures in an attempt to keep the highly mutated version at bay. But health authorities believe Omicron is already widely circulated.
President Biden announced a ban on international visitors from South Africa and other nations in the region but said: “Sooner or later we will see cases of this new version here.” The United States is preparing, he said. its administration is already working with pharmaceutical companies to formulate updated vaccines, he said, though “we do not yet believe further measures will be needed.”
Stories to read from the L.A. Times
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How bad will Omicron be? Here’s what scientists need to figure out
In the next chapter of the pandemic there could be an Omicron version that spreads more easily than Delta and blows over the protections of a fully vaccinated immune system. At the other end of the broad spectrum of possibilities, mankind could take a break.
Nearly two years into a pandemic, scientists have to re-measure the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This time, they have changed by an unprecedented number of mutations with a worrying history. And they are assessing their strengths and weaknesses in a potential host population ranging from uninfected-and-susceptible to vaccination-and-boom.
Stay up to date on various developments, case counts and vaccine news with Coronavirus Today.
Some cities in California aim to blunt the new duplex law
With California about to allow multi-unit housing in neighborhoods previously reserved for single-family homes, several cities are rushing to pass restrictions on new developments.
Among other constraints, local plans aim to limit the size and height of new development, mandate parking spots and require that such housing be rented only to those on moderate or low incomes.
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Detectives L.A. acknowledging ghosts acknowledging prolific serial killing
In the hundreds of hours of interviews with investigators, former boxer Sam Little claimed to have committed 93 murders across the U.S., several in Los Angeles. The scraps left details he offered – a year, a crossroads, a landmark – the FBI and local police scrambling to fill in the gaps and confirm his chilling confession.
With Little’s death last year in a California prison and the resignation of the chief investigator next month, detectives hoping to close cases are launching public pressure on answers.
Here are tips about 16 people he claimed to have killed in L.A. they were not identified by the police.
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CALIFORNIA
L.A. gun shop theft exploded and LAPD scandal. LAPD and LA County district attorney’s records and interviews with The Times show that what started out as a torch fired on missing firearms and gun store manager at the Los Angeles Police Academy over the past year and a half, sparked allegations of criminal activity , misconduct and corruption by officers and commanders.
San Diego City Council moved forward with a vaccination mandate. City employees, including police officers, must be vaccinated under the mandate, which passed despite strong opposition from the police union.
Four children and a woman were shot to death at a house in Lancaster. A one-story house on a quiet street in Lancaster came into the scene of a tragedy Sunday night when a father shot and killed his four children and a grandmother, authorities said. A man was arrested Monday morning.
Solicitor employed by City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office admitted bribery. The lawyer pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in a nearly $ 2.2 million kick-back scheme resulting from the 2013 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power billing fiasco, prosecutors said.
Encino’s house was hit by a 100,000 pound tree. A 64-year-old man was killed when the giant oak fell into the house late Sunday. Two others were rescued.
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NATION-WORLD
Iran’s nuclear talks in Vienna will resume amid calm hopes. Negotiators have resumed talks on a 2015 Iran nuclear deal to revive world powers, hoping to make rapid progress after a new hard-line government in Tehran found a hiatus of more than five months.
The left-wing opposition candidate has a dominant leadership in the Honduran vote. Candidate Xiomara Castro was in the lead Monday as the Hondurans of the Conservative National Party appeared to seize power after 12 years of rule.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were “partners in the crime,” a prosecutor said. Opening remarks at Maxwell’s trial, the prosecutor said she was central to the late Epstein scheme for sexually abusing teenage girls. The defense objected that Maxwell, like so many women before him, was being made a scapegoat for male misconduct.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
Chris Cuomo is on fire again for advising his brother. Details of CNN anchor involvement in the management of Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal in New York are raising new concerns within the cable news network.
There’s a new crop of “raunchy as hell” Christmas movies. Filled with bawdy dialogue, stormy characters and terrifying shenanigans, the new VH1 holiday movie slate “Naughty or Nice” gives the Christmas movie genre a sharper edge.
Prosecutors call on the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling that overturned Bill Cosby’s conviction. Cosby, convicted of sexual assault, was released after three years in prison. Central to the case is the release of news from a former prosecutor, one that prosecutors say was treated as an exemption agreement, which they claim could set a dangerous precedent.
“I didn’t want to be gay.” In “Coming Out Colton,” a new Netflix series that premieres this week, Colton Underwood, the star of the “The Bachelor” franchise, takes viewers through his journey as a reality TV celebrity, former athlete and current Christian out in April.
BUSINESS
Jack Dorsey is stepping down as Twitter chief executive. Dorsey is sending the job to the company ‘s chief technology officer, Parag Agrawal. The move is effective immediately, though Dorsey will remain on the social media company’s board until its term expires in 2022, Twitter said.
Google workers say they were burned for following the company’s “Don’t Be Evil” slogan. Three former employees have sued the tech giant, claiming they were wrongly burned for challenging a plan to cooperate with border administration agencies of the Trump administration.
SPORTS
Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play for the Masters, has died at 87. A native Texan who developed his game during split times while caddying, Elder made history in 1975 at Augusta National, which was an all-white tour until he was invited.
Did Max Scherzer join the Mets as a result of Trevor Bauer’s uncertainty? The Dodgers are one of the richest franchises in the majors. But the Dodgers still considered Scherzer’s cost too rich, with his time on the team unofficially ending Monday. One probable factor: the uncertainty of Trevor Bauer.
The Dodgers ’central off-season took another turn for the worse. Hours after the Scherzer news, Corey Seager, another free-agent, chose not to return to Los Angeles. Instead the shortlist agreed to sign a 10-year, $ 325-million contract with the Texas Rangers.
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OPINION
The Supreme Court is hearing a case calling for her to set aside Roe vs Wade. Please, jurors, do not take abortion rights from any women, anywhere, writes The Times ’editorial board.
What do virtual reality and artificial intelligence mean for sex, love and intimacy? Chatbot AI’s personalized friends are one thing, but love, romance and sex would certainly depend on mutual acceptance – human uniqueness. Maybe not.
ONLY IN SOCAL
Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge on 16 November.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Visit Sherman Library & amp; Gardens in Corona del Mar. Check out the “12-tatami-mat tea house” at Storrier Stearns Japanese Gardens in Pasadena. Or walk the Central Garden trails – a kind of live artwork with a fast flowing stream and a waterfall that drops into a swimming pool – at the Getty Center Gardens in Brentwood. These are three of our 16 most beautiful and planted public gardens in Southern California.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
On this day in 2007, Evel Knievel passed away at the age of 69. As The Times reported in Knievel obituary, the hard daredevil motorcycle jumped over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho’s Snake River Canyon as an international icon for him in the 1970s. Below, he’s pictured preparing for a stunt at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. in February 1973. The Times reported that he had managed to jump a stack of 50 junk cars.
From The Times’ article: “He walks with a brave profit, the badge of his trade, and carries a walking stick with a silver rope that may be in the style of a river boat gambler. Evel Knievel’s cane, however, is empty and loaded with vials of vodka and scotch, helping him animate even his morning coffee. “
Note: We would like to thank readers who noticed poor mathematics in Leo Carrillo’s 1937 photograph from the Archive, which was 84 (not 75!) Years ago.
48 years ago: Evel Knievel on his motorcycle at Memorial Coliseum in 1973.
(Tony Bernard / Los Angeles Times)
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– Amy Hubbard and Laura Blasey
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