Newsletter: Today: The Early Warnings to Trump About Flynn

Michael Flynn’s potential legal troubles are growing. I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

The Early Warnings to Trump About Flynn

The warnings were there, according to former government officials: In November, President Obama cautioned Donald Trump against picking Michael Flynn as national security advisor. In January, acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates told White House lawyers that Flynn “could be blackmailed” by Moscow, may have violated criminal statutes and had misled Vice President Pence about his dealings with Russian officials. But the rest, as they say, is history. After the testimony of Yates and former Director of National Security James Clapper before the Senate on Monday, Trump responded with a tweet storm — and an update of his Twitter banner to drive home the point: “Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows — there is ‘no evidence’ of collusion w/ Russia and Trump.”

The Travel Ban Gets Its Day in Court (Again)

During her testimony, Yates also defended her decision not to defend Trump’s travel ban, getting into a particularly pointed exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz. Meanwhile, judges in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments over Trump’s revised executive order. For them, it comes down to whether the order is based on national security or religious discrimination. Again, Trump’s own campaign language came back to haunt the discussion.

More Politics

-- The Trump administration will not reappoint half the expert members of a board that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on the integrity of its science.

-- More and more former political operatives are choosing Silicon Valley over K Street and Wall Street as their destination of choice.

Video: Ted Cruz Never Slammed Those ‘Houston Values’

Deep in the heart of Texas, Houston has become a city of cowboys and Indians and Ethiopians and immigrants from all points in between. By one measure, it has become the most racially and ethnically diverse major metropolis in the country, surpassing New York in 2010. Doesn’t fit the Texas stereotype, does it? Now, with Texas’ governor having signed a bill to punish so-called sanctuary cities, Houston could be on the front lines in the immigration battle.

The Margaret Long Wisdom High School soccer team in Houston hails from Central America, Mexico, Africa and beyond.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

UC’s Students of Color Won’t Be Denied

The University of California is running into some difficult tests. The system’s topmost echelon faces questions about its accounting and credibility, and Berkeley has found itself in the center of a free speech free-for-all. At the same time, discontent among many UC students of color has been growing. Several incidents have led them to believe that administrators and some fellow students slight them, and in recent days they have scored a big student body electoral victory at UCLA and housing concessions at UC Santa Cruz.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- Three key minutes of Sally Yates’ testimony before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

-- If Amanda Peet could star in “Cagney & Lacey,” who would her costar be?

-- Take a drive on scenic Highway 33 in the 610-horsepower Lamborghini Huracán.

CALIFORNIA

-- The Los Angeles Police Department paid nearly $81 million in legal settlements last year, a sharp increase as the city closed the books on several high-profile and costly cases.

-- The furor over Joe Bray-Ali’s online comments has provided a lift to L.A. City Councilman Gil Cedillo, an unpopular incumbent.

-- Being a member of the Communist Party would no longer be a fireable offense for state jobs under a measure narrowly approved by the state Assembly. It now goes on to the Senate.

-- Jacob Dekema, who reshaped Southern California in general and San Diego in particular with hundreds of miles of freeways, has died at age 101.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Mary J. Blige explains the mission of her music: “It’s OK to not be OK — just don’t stay there. Keep pushing.”

-- Harrison Ford keeps coming back for the sequels: “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars,” of course, and “Blade Runner” later this year.

-- Playwright Rajiv Joseph’s latest work, “Archduke,” is a dark comedy about the assassin who triggered World War I.

-- Suing to the oldies: Richard Simmons wants to take the publisher of National Enquirer and Radar Online to court, claiming libel and invasion of privacy.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Johnny Grant knew how to put on a show as the honorary “mayor of Hollywood” presiding over Walk of Fame ceremonies. When he put on a 1991 parade to welcome home Persian Gulf War troops, he claimed 1 million people attended. But when a Times reporter told him that no more than 500,000 could fit along the route, he admitted, “You know Hollywood. It’s hype.” Grant was born on this date in 1923.

NATION-WORLD

-- South Korea’s presidential election could change its relationship with the United States.

-- The suspect in the killing of two Boston doctors was arraigned at his hospital bed.

-- China has been turning up the heat on Taiwan in some subtle and not so subtle ways.

-- Life expectancy in the U.S. varies from county to county by a lot.

BUSINESS

-- Union membership is on the downswing nationwide, but in Hollywood organized labor controls nearly every aspect of production.

-- Video on demand and a la carte TV programming aren’t such new concepts, columnist David Lazarus discovered. In the 1950s, one experiment let you drop coins in a box to watch.

-- Will Sinclair Broadcast Group take on Fox News after buying Tribune Media in a $3.9-billion deal?

-- Stanley Weston, who conceived of G.I. Joe but reaped few financial rewards from the toy, has died at 84.

SPORTS

-- For the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Gift Ngoepe, being the first major league baseball player from Africa is the latest stop in an amazing journey.

-- Chris Taylor and his grand slam during the Dodgers’ 12-1 rout of the Pirates show that the trade for him is paying off.

OPINION

-- France’s election proves it: America is now an example of what not to do.

-- A lesson in free speech: This Jewish writer felt empowered after meeting with Holocaust deniers.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A small group of scientists has developed an approach to stopping implicit racial bias, and it seems to be working. (The Atlantic)

-- The creator of Pepe the Frog has killed off the character after it was co-opted by the alt-right. (The Guardian)

-- Out with the old, in with the new: Crayola is getting rid of its Dandelion crayon, and taking its spot will be a bright blue color that chemists discovered by accident. (NPR)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

The plane is called the Spirit of St. Louis, but it was built in San Diego. At a dirt airfield called Dutch Flats, Charles Lindbergh would fly the wood, cloth and metal machine for the first time on April 28, 1927 — three weeks before making the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Harry Bishop, chief photographer for the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune, documented that test, but many of his images apparently went unseen for decades. See the photos here and discover how they were lost and found.

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