Today’s Headlines: UC strike exacts a harsh toll at a pivotal moment

Hello, it’s Thursday, Dec. 8, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

UC is limping through finals week

As the massive strike by teaching assistants, tutors, graduate student researchers and postdoctoral scholars drags into its fourth week, the walkout is exacting its harshest toll yet on students, faculty and picketers at a crucial time: finals week.

The striking workers’ absence from classrooms and offices provides the greatest show yet of the contributions they make to University of California’s reputation for excellence. These are the workers who conduct study sessions, offer crunch-time tutoring, read term papers, and proctor and grade exams.

A tally from the Council of UC Faculty Assns. estimates faculty will withhold at least 34,000 grades. The 240 students in UCLA political science professor Michael Chwe’s class are each submitting a 15-minute video as their final. Grades? “I couldn’t physically do it.”

Dangerous weeks lie ahead as the coronavirus surges in L.A. County

A few weeks ago, there was cautious optimism that this winter would not see a significant COVID-19 surge. But in Los Angeles County, that outlook is in jeopardy.

Why is the nation’s most populous county contending with such a significant spike? Factors that may be at work include a shorter incubation period for the latest Omicron strain, meaning there would be fewer days between when someone is exposed to the virus and when they become sick.

More top coronavirus headlines

• An experimental decoy drug that’s designed to lure the coronavirus away from cells is being readied for tests in humans.
• In a sharp reversal, China has announced a series of measures rolling back some of its most rigid “zero-COVID” restrictions.

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

The Supreme Court may rule narrowly for the GOP in an election law case

The Supreme Court’s conservatives hinted they might rule — but only narrowly — for Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina who are claiming an exclusive power to set election maps without review by state courts.

The justices heard arguments in the gerrymandering case, which could dramatically reshape how congressional and presidential elections operate at the state level, potentially giving virtually unfettered power to partisan politicians.

But the case may yield a more modest ruling that holds state legislators may set rules for elections, including drawing maps of voting districts, but with at least some oversight by state courts.

More politics

• Even before Republicans take control of the House in January, their narrow majority is exposing the long-standing rift between the party’s right-flank Freedom Caucus and its dwindling center-right.

Sign up for our California Politics newsletter to get the best of The Times’ state politics reporting and the latest action in Sacramento.

Household water wells are drying up

Across California, domestic wells are drying up in record numbers due to severe drought and the overpumping of underground aquifers. The crisis has hit rural farming areas particularly hard and left some families to fend for themselves or wait years for permanent solutions as nonprofits, state water officials and well drillers struggle with a growing backlog of assistance requests.

This year, nearly 1,400 household wells have been reported dry — an increase of almost 40% over the same period last year, and the highest annual number reported since 2013, when the California Department of Water Resources launched the Dry Well Reporting System. The actual number of dry wells is probably higher because reporting is voluntary.

Schizophrenia and California’s failed mental health system

The California Policy Lab at UCLA counts just over 4,500 people living on the streets of L.A. County who have a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia, and that number includes only those who have received outreach services.

Ever since the state hospitals were shuttered in the 1970s, California has tried to make up for deficiencies in its care of mentally ill individuals. Now, the CARE Act, signed into law in September by Gov. Gavin Newsom, promises to mandate treatment and housing for those unable to care for themselves.

Existing treatments and services can ease the immediate distress of severe mental illness but don’t go far enough in helping individuals commit to long-term recovery and return to their communities.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

California’s black cowboys: A cowboy stands atop his horse after a trail ride in Oakdale, Calif. Black cowboys and cowgirls are finally getting their moment to shine in the mainstream, writes The Times’ Tyrone Beason.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

Only 1 in 9 Los Angeles students will attend extra learning days. What happened? A signature $123-million Los Angeles school district plan to help students struggling with pandemic-related learning setbacks by offering extra school days has failed to attract widespread participation.

No charges were filed in the SDSU gang rape case, the San Diego district attorney’s office said. Former Buffalo Bills and San Diego State University punter Matt Araiza will not be charged criminally in connection with the reported gang rape of a 17-year-old girl. “Ultimately, prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction,” the office said in a statement.

Advocates are pushing to force California lawyers to report misconduct by fellow attorneys. A bill introduced this week by state Sen. Tom Umberg comes after a Times story noting that California is the only state that does not require or encourage lawyers to report wrongdoing and that highlighted how that outlier status may have figured into the corruption by L.A. lawyer Tom Girardi.

NATION-WORLD

Brittney Griner freed from Russian penal colony in high-level prisoner swap. Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, with the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, U.S.officials said. The swap achieved a top goal for President Biden, but left behind another American who has been jailed for nearly four years in Russia.

China’s first-time demonstrators are trying to find a voice. They sang anthems and held blank sheets of paper in rebuke of China’s pervasive censorship. Together they made up the country’s largest-scale protests since 1989, though questions remain about whether the protesters can maintain their momentum.

German police arrested 25 people on suspicion of plotting an armed right-wing coup. Dozens of people — including a self-styled prince, a retired paratrooper and a former judge — were seized. Police alleged that the suspects had discussed the violent overthrow of the government.

Peru’s president was ousted after trying to dissolve Congress. Peru’s Congress voted to remove President Pedro Castillo from office and replace him with the vice president shortly after Castillo tried to dissolve the legislative body ahead of a scheduled vote to remove him. The national ombudsman’s office called Castillo’s attempt to dissolve the Congress a coup.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

As Trevor Noah’s last episode looms, “The Daily Show” has announced celebrity guest hosts. Noah’s final episode is set to air today. Until the show chooses a permanent replacement, a rotation of hosts will fill in, including Al Franken, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Jones, John Leguizamo and Hasan Minhaj.

Dean Martin charmed your parents. Can his music attract younger fans too? Since his death 27 years ago, Martin is best known as a ghost of Christmas past, haunting tinseled malls and cocktail-party playlists. But a music industry veteran thinks Martin’s work has the potential to be much more, and achieve year-round appreciation.

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival lineup has arrived. Here are the highlights. Among the titles this year are both fresh discoveries and new works from established talents. The 2023 festival will also mark the first in-person gathering for the event since the prepandemic days of January 2020.

BUSINESS

Has child care pushed you to quit your job or delay finding work? A shortage of day-care and other child-care options is driving Californians to drop out of the workforce. Has child care been a factor in your decisions around work? If so, The Times would love to hear from you.

Holmes’ former partner got nearly 13 years in the Theranos case. Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced for his role in the company’s blood-testing hoax. His prison term is slightly longer than that given to company chief Elizabeth Holmes, who was his lover and accomplice in one of Silicon Valley’s biggest scandals.

OPINION

Here’s how to tighten the oil spigot that finances Russia’s war without hurting the world economy. The Group of 7, European Union and Australia have imposed a price cap on Russian crude oil. It’s an important step, but the coalition should tighten its policy.

The VA must do better to house homeless veterans on its West L.A. campus. A new lawsuit was filed by 14 homeless veterans in the L.A. area who say they have no place to live, suffer from various mental or physical disabilities and have no easy way to get to the medical center on the campus.

SPORTS

The push to get a daring Mexican millionaire named Jorge Pasquel enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Before Jackie Robinson, Pasquel broke baseball’s color barrier in Mexico. In the 1946 Mexican League season, Pasquel used suitcases full of money to lure nearly two dozen white American players south, where they played alongside Negro League stars banned from the majors because of the color of their skin.

A new voice has joined the small but vocal chorus opposing UCLA’s move to the Big Ten Conference. Ramogi Huma, a former Bruins linebacker who serves as executive director of the National College Players Assn., sent a letter to UC regents asking them to block UCLA’s planned exit from the Pac-12. Huma described the move as a “shortsighted money grab.”

The Raiders return to L.A. on Thursday night. In many ways, it’s as if they never left. The team’s presence is felt emotionally, through fans who rooted for the team at the Coliseum in the 1980s, were part of the craze in the early 1990s when N.W.A. made the Raiders brand national, and passed along the obsession to their children. It remains physically, through the logo and colors still synonymous with pockets of L.A., as well as the retail store 20 miles from SoFi Stadium. “The Raiders still own this town,” said a shopper.

ONLY IN L.A.

L.A. has plenty of great restaurants, but these are the Hall of Famers that help define the city. The Times has released its annual list of the city’s 101 best restaurants, with options for every taste and budget. But critic Bill Addison has also assembled a companion list, because, “In our region’s sweeping pluralism, there are restaurants so enmeshed in the culture of Los Angeles — so defining of what it means to eat and live in Southern California — that they surpass the notion of annual lists,” he writes.

These 14 “peerless modern classics” include downtown L.A.’s Cielito Lindo, Hawkins House of Burgers in Willowbrook and Spago, the Beverly Hills destination for power, celebrity and smoked salmon pizza.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

John Lennon is interviewed in Los Angeles in 1974.

(Tony Barnard / Los Angeles Times)

Forty-two years ago today, on Dec. 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment building at age 40.

The Times’ longtime pop music critic Robert Hilburn had interviewed Lennon just weeks before the pop star was killed, and Lennon talked about recent personal tough times, coming out of depression, and being excited about creating new music. Bob wrote in his memoir about his relationship with Lennon, which he said over the years had deepened beyond interviewer and subject. They shared a love of Elvis, he said, and “I enjoyed his company.”

Bob recalled that final interview, where he accompanied Lennon and wife Yoko Ono to a New York recording studio: “As the limo pulled up to the studio’s dimly lit entrance, I could see the outlines of a couple dozen fans in the shadows. They raced toward the car as soon as the driver opened John’s door. Flashbulbs went off with blinding speed. Without a bodyguard, John was helpless, and I later asked if he didn’t worry about his safety. ‘They don’t mean any harm,’ he replied. ‘Besides, what can you do? You can’t spend all your life hiding from people. You’ve got to get out and live some, don’t you?’” Read more here.

Times staff writer Amy Hubbard contributed to this report.

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