Today’s Headlines: A drought emergency declared for all Southern California

Hello, it’s Thursday, Dec. 15, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

A drought emergency declared for all of Southern California

As California faces the prospect of a fourth consecutive dry year, officials with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have declared a regional drought emergency and called on water agencies to immediately reduce their use of all imported supplies.

Residents reliant on California’s other major supply — the Colorado River — had not been included in that emergency declaration.

Officials said the call for conservation could become mandatory if drought conditions persist in the coming months, which some experts say is likely.

Universities are studying weed’s health effects — and being funded by Big Cannabis

When UCLA started its cannabis research initiative five years ago, the university hailed the undertaking as one of the first academic programs in the world dedicated to studying the health impacts of pot. The Times asked UCLA officials whether the university accepted donations from the industry to support the program. They said no.

However, documents show that cannabis companies and investors provided at least some of the early financial support, writing checks for tens of thousands of dollars in donations and assisting with fundraising events.

The industry support underscores potential conflicts of interest as pot goes mainstream and researchers try to assess the health and other impacts of cannabis.

Pelosi’s alleged attacker also targeted Tom Hanks, Hunter Biden, Gavin Newsom

The case against David DePape, the man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in Pelosi’s San Francisco home, will go to trial, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled.

DePape will be arraigned Dec. 28 on charges including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, first-degree burglary and threatening the family member of a public official. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. DePape could face a life sentence if convicted.

The judge ruled at the preliminary hearing that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to move forward with a trial. An investigator also said DePape had a “hit list” that included actor Tom Hanks, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

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People with disabilities reap benefits of the surge in telework

After generations of being overlooked and sidelined in the job market, Americans with disabilities are enjoying an unprecedented employment boom — thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Widespread acceptance of remote working and an overall labor shortage have opened up historic opportunities for some of the nation’s most skilled and underutilized workers.

The question now is whether people with disabilities can hold on to those gains as a possible recession looms and more employers press their employees to come back to the office.

More top coronavirus headlines

• China says it will stop reporting asymptomatic COVID-19 cases since they’ve become “impossible” to track now that mass testing is no longer required.
• Long COVID illnesses contributed to about 3,500 deaths in the U.S. through the end of June 2022, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  

Stay up to date on variant developments, case counts and vaccine news with Coronavirus Today.

Hesperia, sheriff to pay $1 million in civil rights lawsuit

A Mojave Desert community and sheriff’s department will be forced to spend nearly $1 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit alleging they discriminated against Black and Latino renters, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Federal prosecutors hailed the case against the city of Hesperia and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department as a landmark effort to combat policies popular in California and across the country that encourage landlords to evict or exclude tenants with criminal histories or brushes with law enforcement.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Amid drought, a garden that tends to people: Kevin Perez, Rodrigo Cruz Perez, Gilberto Gonzalez and Uriel Rios share a laugh at the Woodlake Botanical Garden. In the Central Valley, this garden gives young volunteers a sense of purpose.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

CALIFORNIA

Picketers disrupt UC regents meeting as strike drags into fifth week. Hundreds of striking UC academic workers — whose massive five-week walkout has disrupted finals week and stirred angst among students and faculty about term grades — converged on the UCLA campus Wednesday shouting for better pay and benefits and a swift end to the contract dispute.

LAPD doesn’t fully track its use of facial recognition, report finds. Two years after Los Angeles police leaders set tougher limits on the use of facial recognition technology, a follow-up report found the department lacks a way to track its outcomes or effectiveness.

Coast Guard rescues a dozen migrants after boat washes up in Orange County. A lifeguard with Huntington Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division spotted a boat that appeared abandoned floating off the shore of Sunset Beach on Tuesday evening, said a spokesperson for the city of Huntington Beach. Upon boarding, the lifeguard found 12 people on the ship and called the Coast Guard.

NATION-WORLD

A poker cheating investigation is over. Here’s what it uncovered — and questions that remain. A nearly three-month investigation into one of the most controversial hands of poker ever played has concluded with no findings of wrongdoing against Robbi Jade Lew, who was accused of cheating by one of the game’s most prominent stars.

Peru’s new government declares police state amid protests. The declaration Wednesday comes in response to violent protests following the ouster of President Pedro Castillo. The 30-day national emergency declaration suspends the rights of “personal security and freedom” across the Andean nation.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Stephen “Twitch” Boss, DJ and former reality star, dies at 40. Boss rose through the TV ranks as the DJ and later executive producer on the long-running “Ellen DeGeneres Show” before he ended his own life. He was remembered fondly by family, colleagues and DeGeneres on Wednesday.

Huntington Library acquires the papers of Thomas Pynchon. At 85, Pynchon, the famously reclusive postmodern novelist known for intricate, cacophonous “great American” novels, has chosen the library to house his papers. The collection included typescripts and drafts of each of his novels, handwritten notes, correspondence with publishers and research.

Kehlani draws a line with fans after a sexual assault claim: “Respect me as a human.” In a since-deleted Instagram Stories post on Monday, the Grammy-nominated “Distraction” artist said a fan put their “hands up my skirt & started pulling my underwear to touch my genitals.”

Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong channel the soulfulness in “Armageddon Time.” In playing their director’s parents, the actors had little to go on but instinct. Strong says his role was written as “a Jewish Stanley Kowalski with a PhD.” “I don’t know how to rearrange myself into that.”

BUSINESS

Fed raises key rate by half a point and signals more to come. The Federal Reserve boosted its benchmark rate half a point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years. Though smaller than its previous three-quarter-point hikes, the latest move will further heighten the costs of many consumer and business loans and the risk of a recession.

Twitter suspends account that monitored Elon Musk’s jet. Twitter suspended an account run by a college student that tracked the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet, despite the chief executive of the social media platform previously saying he wouldn’t suspend the account. The company also suspended the student’s personal Twitter account.

OPINION

Ten years after Sandy Hook, we owe it to survivors to press beyond cynicism. “Like many people, I believed the shootings would serve as a catalyst for the federal government to be able to enact stronger gun control measures and ensure that the horrors of Sandy Hook would never be repeated. ... It fills me with frustration, rage and sorrow that those things did not come to pass.”

SPORTS

France defeats Morocco and will face Argentina in World Cup final. France is back in the World Cup final, with Theo Hernández’s goal in the fifth minute sparking Les Bleus to a 2-0 win over Morocco, ending the Atlas Lions’ Cinderella run to the semifinals.

Renowned U.S. soccer writer Grant Wahl died of undetected heart aneurysm. Wahl, who was 49, was stricken while covering Argentina’s quarterfinal match against the Netherlands at the World Cup in Qatar. His wife said Wednesday that an autopsy was conducted by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.

ONLY IN L.A.

Foliage outside the Idyllwild Area Historical Society.

(Julie Wolfson)

Here are 20 things to do in Idyllwild. The tiny town is about 2½ hours east of Los Angeles, perched 5,400 feet up in the San Jacinto Mountains amid a forest of pine and cedar trees.

In 2012, an election was held as a fundraiser for the Idyllwild Animal Rescue Friends in which local residents could nominate their cats and dogs as mayor. Max the golden retriever, owned by residents Phyllis Mueller and Glenn Warren, became the first mayor. He was so popular that in 2014, Idyllwild decided to continue Mayor Max’s office in perpetuity.

Idyllwild is a destination for hikers, rock climbers, music aficionados, art enthusiasts, nature lovers, bird watchers and anyone in search of a quiet, cozy place to unwind. Here’s what to do, see and eat on a weekend visit.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

“Godfather of Soul” James Brown backstage at the Apollo Theatre with his cape man Danny Ray in 1964 in New York.

(Don Paulsen / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Soul singer James Brown, known as the “Godfather of Soul,” began his prison sentence 34 years ago. Brown had been convicted of two counts of assault and failing to stop for police, charges leveled against him after he led police on a chase that straddled the Georgia-South Carolina border. He was released from prison in Columbia, S.C. in 1991.

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