Los Angeles police say they are looking into “assault with a deadly weapon” charges after someone drove a truck through a crowd of people demonstrating in support of protesters in Iran. A banner on the side of the vehicle said “No Shah” and “Don’t repeat 1953” in apparent reference to that year’s US-backed coup.
Published On 12 Jan 202612 Jan 2026
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WASHINGTON — After a day of partisan feuding over illegal immigration, Senate Republicans and Democrats agreed Thursday to commit $3 billion to gain “operational control” over the southern U.S. border within two years.
The money would be used to build more fencing, vehicle barriers, and camera and radar towers, as well as hire additional border and immigration agents.
The decision to attach the funding to the Homeland Security spending bill puts President Bush — who has said he would veto the overall legislation — in the uncomfortable position of opposing a popular initiative to improve border security.
The 89-1 vote came just two months after the Senate failed to pass a broad immigration bill amid an impassioned assault by critics who branded it as “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. And it reignited the debate in the Senate over two of the thorniest issues: whether the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. should be allowed to become citizens, and whether enforcement alone can stem illegal immigration.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stressed that the $3-billion amendment to the $37.6-billion domestic security bill was just a start to overhauling immigration laws. “Democrats believe stronger border security is an important first step toward fixing our broken immigration system, and we will continue to work toward the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.
The bill passed later Thursday, 89 to 4.
Republicans and Democrats had tangled on the Senate floor Wednesday over a more punitive version of the amendment. But Reid and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) came to a late-night agreement that eliminated some elements Republicans had backed, such as a measure allowing hospital workers and police to ask about immigration status.
“Some say we’ve tried enforcement. We really haven’t, in my view,” Cornyn said. “We can do it, it’s just a matter of political will.”
The amendment passed Thursday would pay for substantial increases in manpower — boosting the number of Border Patrol agents to 23,000 from the current 12,000 and adding customs and immigration agents, human smuggling investigators and deputy marshals.
It also would finance significant new fortifications along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico: 700 miles of fencing, 300 miles of vehicle barriers, 105 camera and radar towers, and four unmanned aerial vehicles.
The measure would bolster other enforcement efforts as well: It would reimburse state and local governments for the cost of helping federal agents enforce immigration laws, improve systems to allow employers to check worker eligibility, and require the deportation of people who overstay their visas. The measure also would ensure that federal officials have the space to detain up to 45,000 illegal border crossers at one time.
“This $3 billion is as necessary for national security as any spending we do in Iraq,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the amendment’s author.
Graham had been a central supporter of the Senate’s failed immigration bill and had argued that the only way to overhaul the system would be comprehensively.
But in the wake of that bill’s demise and amid withering criticism from his constituents, Graham — who is up for reelection next year — began to argue that it was time to approach the immigration problem in stages.
On Thursday, he likened the decisive vote to pass his amendment to “having been robbed 12 million times and finally getting around to putting a lock on the door.”
Graham’s allies in the push for a comprehensive bill were critical Thursday. “The fact is that border security is an important part of a comprehensive package, and everyone knows that this is not the answer,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said.
But Cornyn, who voted against the comprehensive bill, said the approach to immigration reform would have to be an incremental one. He predicted that heightened enforcement would make it increasingly difficult for employers to find legal workers, leading businesses to pressure Congress to pass more comprehensive reform.
“Frankly, employers were not as vocal as they should have been” during the immigration debate, he said.
Kennedy was asked, within earshot of Graham, whether he agreed with Cornyn’s theory. “Say yes,” Graham suggested. Kennedy did not answer.
California’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted for the amendment.
The lone dissent came from Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), who objected to the level of “irresponsible and excessive” spending. Voinovich pointed out that the bill already contained $14.9 billion to pay for port, border and transportation security, as well as funding for first responders in emergencies.
Voinovich also noted that the Department of Homeland Security already spends one-third of its budget on border security and immigration enforcement, “a clear reflection of its priorities.”
The House earlier passed its version of the Homeland Security spending bill, and congressional negotiators will decide whether to include the additional border security spending in the final version.
Bush threatened to veto the Senate bill — which included $2.4 billion more than he had requested even before the $3-billion border amendment. Republican senators said the White House also opposed that amendment. But, they said, the addition of the border spending would make it harder for Bush to veto the bill.
The White House did not return calls for comment.
On Thursday, Reid sent Bush a challenge.
“The Senate demonstrated today that it overwhelmingly supports tough border security,” Reid said. “We hope the president shows us he shares our concern by dropping his irresponsible threat to veto the Homeland Security spending bill.”
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The post of California lieutenant governor is a bit like the human appendix: It serves no necessary function and at times it can be a real pain. This is because the top two officials are independently elected and the rule in recent years has been to have a governor of one party and a lieutenant governor of the other. Lieutenant governors have at times caused mischief when a governor of the opposing party traveled out of state, leaving the No. 2 official as acting governor.
It appears, however, that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante will have a major role in the administration of the new governor, Democrat Gray Davis. Bustamante, a Fresno Democrat, stands to be the first lieutenant governor in modern California history to wield real clout.
Recent governors have treated their lieutenant governors with indifference or antagonism, even when they were of the same political party. The lieutenant governor has few official duties but one enormous responsibility: succeeding to the governorship if the chief executive dies or resigns.
Now there’s a new look in Sacramento. Bustamante, a former speaker of the Assembly, campaigned with Davis and became an integral part of his transition team, helping select the first appointees to Davis’ administration. This past week, Davis put Bustamante in charge of a key commission that will develop a plan to meet California’s infrastructure needs for the next decade.
Beyond that, Bustamante’s specific role in the new administration has yet to be spelled out. But he is expected to be the administration’s liaison with Mexico, a job in which he can perform a valuable service in shoring up California’s tattered relations with our southern neighbor.
Reformers keep trying to change the state Constitution so that candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket. But all such proposals have been defeated. For now, relations between the two officials must depend on how much the governor wants the No. 2 official to be involved.
So long as they serve independently, however, there is one constitutional change that is urgently needed: that the governor retain his powers when he leaves the state. The idea that the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor the minute the chief crosses the state line is a relic of stagecoach days. The Legislature should start the process to amend the Constitution to recognize this reality.
For now, at least, whenever Davis must leave California, it appears he will have a trusted ally–not an appendix–filling in for him. That is good for Davis and good for California.
The NFL play-offs have got off to a thrilling start with the Los Angeles Rams needing a late touchdown to escape a huge upset at the Carolina Panthers.
The Rams were not only heavy favourites to win on Wildcard Weekend but are among the Super Bowl favourites.
But they needed a touchdown by tight end Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds remaining to claim a 34-31 win in Charlotte.
Despite coming into the post-season with a losing 8-9 record, Carolina had home advantage having stumbled to the NFC South division title.
The Rams, who finished the regular season 12-5, looked on course for a straightforward passage to the Divisional Round after Puka Nacua scored the opening two touchdowns.
But the Panthers regrouped and rushing touchdowns by Chuba Hubbard and quarterback Bryce Young cut the score to 17-14 at half-time, before the hosts tied the game in the third quarter.
Hubbard and Jalen Coker twice put the Panthers in front during the final quarter, but the Rams replied each time with Kyren Williams then Parkinson scoring from passes by quarterback Matt Stafford, who is favourite for this season’s Most Valuable Player award.
Molly Yard, National Organization for Women president, and Eleanor Smeale, former president, do not speak for all NOW members when they say they will not work for any current Democratic candidate (Part I, Aug. 25) other than Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.).
Granted, there probably isn’t a feminist alive who does not respect and admire Schroeder. I, for one, would rejoice to have her as our President.
But it is erroneous to suggest NOW members will sit out the 1988 elections because the other candidates are dull.
This NOW member believes we have several exciting, strong, intelligent candidates.
Furthermore, to imply there is no difference between a (Democratic Massachusetts Gov.) Michael Dukakis (who favors reproductive choice for all women, including medical funding of abortions for poor women) and a (Republican New York Rep.) Jack Kemp (who favors a constitutional amendment banning abortion for all women, even victims of rape) is not only inane, it is downright irresponsible.
I am distressed that as a NOW activist I might be associated with their unenlightened point of view. Speaking for myself, come 1988, I’ll be out there–and I suspect thousands of other NOW women and men will be there with me–working for the pro-civil rights, pro-human rights, pro-reproductive rights candidate. Schroeder? Dukakis? (Illinois Sen. Paul) Simon? Or . . . ?
JOANNE J. PARKER
West Los Angeles Chapter
California NOW Foundation, President
The main ingredient in lomo saltado, the juicy, stir-fried comfort dish of my childhood, only takes a minute to cook. It can go by in such a flash that you can miss it if you’re not paying attention, so I always made sure to watch for that moment when the flames go up.
I remember standing in rapt attention at the edge of the stovetop as my mom tossed fresh, thinly sliced beef into an oiled pan set on maximum heat. The steak hissed and leaped in a dramatic dance as flames licked the pan from underneath. My mom turned to me and said, “This is why it’s called lomo saltado: the lomo is the steak, and watch how it’s saltando — jumping.”
“The secret is in the smoke,” says Miriam Ramirez, owner of Lonzo’s Restaurant in Culver City. “When you cook lomo saltado, the room should be filled with the smell of smoke. I remember getting it for lunch in Peru and thinking, ‘Oh no, my hair smells like smoke!’ But that’s how I knew it would be good.”
Lomo saltado consists of tomato, onion and bell pepper, seared with steak, traditionally in a wok, and served with sides of rice and potato fries. Peruvians call soy sauce, which is used generously in the dish, “sillao” (pronounced see-yow).
Newcomers to Peruvian cuisine might be surprised to find that soy sauce has a major place in recipes. My Peruvian family always says that in any good meat dish, sillao is the secret ingredient.
“When the dish is already so simple, every ingredient matters,” Ramirez says.
“See-yow” is also the pronunciation for soy sauce in Cantonese. Understanding how a Cantonese word entered Peru’s lingo is a long historical lesson that can be best explained by another Chinese-Peruvian word: chifa. Chifa, which comes from the Mandarin word “chīfàn,” meaning to eat, describes the thriving Chinese-Peruvian fusion cuisine and indirectly, the immigrant history of Peru.
According to researcher Patricia Palma, Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru in the mid-19th century, as laborers after the abolishment of slavery created a demand for cheap labor. As this population grew over the years, Chinese-Peruvian descendants carved out a niche in chifa that reflected their heritage alongside centuries-old Peruvian staples.
“L.A. is so diverse and that’s why I think Peruvian food draws people in. It has a multicultural identity too,” says Benny Gomez, owner of Rosty Peruvian Food in Highland Park. “There’s Chinese and Japanese communities who identify with the Asian influence but also Mexican people who are seeing a different type of Latino food.”
Peru’s lomo saltado is not only a beautiful marriage of the two cultures, but a perfectly balanced ode to each culture’s culinary traditions: Peru is reflected in the potatoes, aji amarillo and bell pepper, and China in the stir-fry technique and of course, the sillao.
“Peruvian food has 14,000 years of history,” says Ignacio Barrios Jacobs, lead chef of Merka Saltao in Culver City. “I think [lomo saltado] holds the story of Chinese immigrants who were cooking their food for people who said, ‘this needs my potato and chile peppers.’”
In Culver City, East Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley, Peruvian restaurants are combining traditional flavors with distinctly Angeleno flair, like saltado burritos or California oak wood-fired rotisserie chicken.
“When my dad opened his Peruvian restaurant 30 years ago, Peruvian was not popular at all in L.A.,” says Dennis Tamashiro, owner of Mario’s Peruvian and Seafood. “Now, people are paying attention, because it proves that it’s unique.”
Here are eight takes on lomo saltado to try in Los Angeles, from classic versions that remind me of home, to creative takes that make the dishes distinctly L.A.
Santa Fe, N.M. — Meow Wolf is coming to Los Angeles. And with its move to the Southland, the experiential art collective isn’t just taking over a former movie theater, it is, in a sense, placing a skewed spotlight on Hollywood’s grandiosity itself.
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Born in Santa Fe, N.M., more than a decade ago, Meow Wolf’s fast-tracked rise has taken the company to Denver, Las Vegas, Houston and the Dallas suburbs. Along the way the firm has skirted the line between theme park-like interactive experiences and hand-made, outsider art, pitching itself as a new form of all-encompassing, maximalist, sensory overloaded entertainment — or, in the words of one of its creative directors, “that classic feeling of good confusion.”
Destined to open in late 2026 at West L.A.’s Howard Hughes entertainment complex, Meow Wolf has kept much of its plan for Los Angeles under wraps. Until now.
Meow Wolf arist Chris Hilson spins a hanging mobile. Hilson is working on multiple pieces for Meow Wolf Los Angeles.
(Gabriela Campos / For The Times)
A work in progress piece by Los Angeles collective Everything Is Terrible. “Los Angeles is a city built on madness, dreams — broken and realized — and most importantly, simulacra. With this work, we are confronting propaganda, competing narratives, forgotten labor and myths that refuse to die,” said the group in a statement.
(Gabriela Campos/For The Times)
It’s been known that the installation would be taking over a large section of what had long been the Cinemark movie theaters. Meow Wolf, however, is using the location to lean into one of L.A’s longest standing — and currently troubled — ritualistic experiences. In the same way exhibitions in Santa Fe or Las Vegas begin in an otherworldly house or an extraordinary grocery store before getting truly psychedelic, Meow Wolf Los Angeles will launch via a fantastical movie theater, one complete with a concession stand — beware of the animated, sentient candy — and a grand auditorium. Here, describes co-founder and executive vice president Sean Di Ianni, guests may spy transparent seats that appear to be floating.
“Over your head will be etherealized seats — sculptures of these kind of translucent seats that will be animated with light and hyper-directional sound,” Di Ianni says. “You might hear the inner monologue of a previous audience.”
Sean Di Ianni, co-founder of Meow Wolf, is leading development of the Los Angeles space, which is taking over part of Cinemark movie theaters at the Howard Hughes entertainment complex.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
A view into the Meow Wolf warehouse during a walk through of new art projects that will be featured in Meow Wolf L.A.
(Gabriela Campos/For The Times)
When Meow Wolf announced Los Angeles as its next destination for a full-scale, walk-through exhibition in 2024, it did so during a time of tumult, the company having just undergone a round of severe layoffs. And thus, Los Angeles became not just Meow Wolf’s next step but its rebirth.
During a two-day tour of Meow Wolf’s Santa Fe headquarters late last year, the company unveiled multiple pieces of art in various stages of planning, with installation in Los Angeles set to ramp up in the coming weeks. Though Meow Wolf is keeping certain story elements off the record for now, and some plans may shift as art is completed, expect an exhibit based around an intergalactic roadside attraction, a location destined for a pilgrimage. Throughout, guests will explore the hulls of a spaceship, hop on planet-traversing bikes and uncover a divey greasy spoon at the end of the galaxy, complete with sculptures of the proprietor at various stages of his life.
Artist Karen Lembke looks to see how the cape falls for a piece destined for Meow Wolf Los Angeles.
(Gabriela Campos/For The Times)
But by grounding it in the nostalgia and timeless appeal of a movie theater, the hope is to also learn some lessons from more linear entertainment. “We pushed really hard on this one to take that story experience to the next level,” says Shakti Howeth, creative director. “We got so much feedback from other shows that people want more of that. They want it to make sense. They want to understand it. They want to think about it afterwards. They want to grab onto certain characters.”
Thus, it will be Meow Wolf’s first exhibition with a firm beginning, middle and conclusion, even if the latter is a bit open-ended. Meow Wolf is known for its byzantine tales, but here the company is aiming to simplify, zeroing in on a story that coalesces around our instinct for a rite of passage. Think, for instance, of the way humans may trek to witness a newborn panda, or similarly cross the globe to capture the aurora borealis. Locally, ceremonial destinations such as Disneyland or the corner chapel spring to mind — anywhere people gather craving community, connection, reverence and, hopefully, a revelation.
Though narrative plans date to 2022, before Los Angeles was chosen as the locale, once the team knew it was moving into a former movie theater it was sold on the concept. That’s in part due to the transcendent nature of cinema, but also a recognition of what Los Angeles represents culturally.
“It’s cool that we’re creating a story about a pilgrimage because L.A. is that for so many artists, especially people involved in storytelling,” says Howeth. “It’s one of those places that’s built on layers and layers of dreams, and we’re really exploring that here. Not only dreams, but broken dreams — the compost that can happen when you digest broken dreams.”
It’s not the only way the exhibition hopes to reflect Los Angeles. Throughout, we’ll follow the lives of three characters, some known to Meow Wolf die-hards and some new creations, such as a Boyle Heights-raised usher. Elsewhere, an installation bathed in neon and shape-shifting projections nods to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House. And Meow recently completed the filming of multiple short movies that serve as cinematic parodies — a Bob Fosse-inspired musical, a Clint Eastwood-style western, a “Lethal Weapon”-like action flick and more. They’ll be shown throughout the space, and expect to encounter characters possessing a cult-like obsession to the films.
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1. Work in progress pieces by aritst Jess Webb. 2. Costumes by Emmanuelle John. 3. Chris Hilson’s space bike model. (Gabriela Campos/For The Times)
It isn’t lost on Meow Wolf creatives that they’re dabbling in themes of religious-like devotion to the art of storytelling at a time when Hollywood is in flux. The very venue for the exhibition, for instance, was open to the team largely because of the struggles that movie theaters have had to confront.
Early concepts had the exhibition starting, perhaps, in a motel, or a work that nodded to L.A.’s Midcentury architecture. “But being in L.A., a number of sites, due to the dire state of the movie theater business right now, were movie theaters,” says James Longmire, who works on Meow Wolf’s story development. “So why not a movie theater? Why not lean into that? In my mind, that immediately started to connect and feel a lot more resonant to this idea of art and story being important forces in humanity and human growth and how we grapple with not having answers to big questions.”
An art installation, partly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, is planned for Meow Wolf Los Angeles.
(Gabriela Campos / For The Times)
And it will be interactive. A spiritual temple, for instance, will house a secretive space that Meow Wolf creatives refer to as a “reverse escape room,” in which guests will have to work together to find and break into. Creative director Elizabeth Jarrett, who worked on Scout Expedition’s long-running immersive L.A. show “The Nest,” is helping to devise a handful of quests and what Meow Wolf is calling “story moments,” which will take over an entire space. Lighting and visual cues, for instance, may direct audience members to collaborate or reposition themselves — a psychic motel room, perhaps, where a tree has grown into a couch. Sit in the right spot and cause the room to come alive with projections and cinematics.
It was important, says Jarrett, for the so-called story moments to be triggered by the audience. “The audience has a sense of agency in the story advancing,” Jarrett says. “We’re communicating when an opportunity is arising for you to choose to engage. The guests are a protagonist and a character as much as any other character in this world. There are characters who speak directly to the audience. We’re experimenting with breaking the fourth wall.”
Not all of the art, of course, will reference film. Meow Wolf is planning, for example, a two-player game in which tarot cards will be digitally constructed exquisite corpse-style. And art curator AJ Girard is working closely with dozens of L.A. artists to bring them into the space. Gabriela Ruiz is one such artist who will have a large presence in the exhibition, a part of Ruiz’s work being an adorably vibrant, multicolored insect that will serve as a periscope.
“I thought about a little bug because they have the ability to see infrared and visualize the world differently than we do,” Ruiz says.
Girard, too, views the space as something of a commentary on L.A. “Social media and social capital is so relevant in our city,” Girard says. “How do we make fun of it in an avant garde, punk, radical way? How do we poke holes at it?”
Meow Wolf Los Angeles will house a cafe that will feature neon art.
(Gabriela Campos/For The Times)
It won’t be easy, especially for a city that sometimes takes its main, exportable art a bit too self-serious. But if Los Angeles has long viewed the movie theater as a temple, perhaps it’s time someone turns one into a playground.
“It’s partly our job to be playful with it, to not let that weight crush us,” Di Ianni says. “Let’s poke fun at movies. Let’s celebrate them. Let’s have fun with the reputation of Los Angeles and its insane impact. We have to play. That’s what we’re inviting the audience to come in to do. They’ll hopefully have meaningful, emotionally resonant experiences that show them a different perspective on their own stories, but to get them there, they’re going to have to play.”
WASHINGTON — Maria Eugenia Torres Ramirez was having dinner with her family in Los Angeles on Friday night when the flood of messages began. Word had begun to circulate that the U.S. was invading Venezuela and would seize its president, Nicolás Maduro.
Torres Ramirez, 38, fled her native country in 2021, settled in L.A. and has a pending application for asylum. Her family is scattered throughout the world — Colombia, Chile and France. Since her parents died, none of her loved ones remain in Venezuela.
Still, news that the autocrat who separated them had been captured delivered a sense of long-awaited elation and united the siblings and cousins across continents for a rare four-hour phone call as the night unfolded.
“I waited for this moment for so long from within Venezuela, and now that I’m out, it’s like watching a movie,” said Torres Ramirez, a former political activist who opposed Maduro. “It’s like a jolt of relief.”
Many Venezuelans across the U.S. celebrated the military action that resulted in Maduro’s arrest. Economic collapse and political repression led roughly 8 million Venezuelans to emigrate since 2014, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
About 770,000 live in the U.S. as of 2023, concentrated mainly in the regions of Miami, Orlando, Houston and New York. Just over 9,500 live in L.A., according to a 2024 U.S. Census estimate.
In the South Florida city of Doral, home to the largest Venezuelan American community, residents poured into the streets Saturday morning, carrying the Venezuelan flag, singing together and praising the military action as an act of freedom.
In Los Angeles, a different picture emerged as groups opposed to Maduro’s arrest took to the streets, though none identified themselves as being of Venezuelan descent. At a rally of about 40 people south of downtown Los Angeles, John Parker, a representative of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, called the raid a “brutal assault and kidnapping” that amounted to a war crime.
The United States’ intervention in Venezuela had nothing to do with stopping the flow of drugs, he said, and everything to do with undermining a legitimate socialist government. Parker called for Maduro to be set free as a few dozen protesters behind him chanted, “Hands off Venezuela.”
Parker said when he visited Venezuela a few weeks ago as part of a U.S. peacemaking delegation, he saw “the love people had for Maduro.”
A later demonstration in Pershing Square drew hundreds out in the rain to protest the U.S intervention. But when a speaker led chants of “No war in Venezuela,” a woman draped in a Venezuelan flag attempted to approach him and speak into the microphone. A phalanx of demonstrators circled her and shuttled her away.
At Mi Venezuela, a restaurant in Vernon, 16-year-old Paola Moleiro and her family ordered empanadas Saturday morning.
A portion of one of the restaurant’s walls was covered in Venezuelan bank notes scrawled with messages. One read: “3 de enero del 2026. Venezuela quedo libre.”
Venezuela is free.
Around midnight the night before, Paola started getting messages on WhatsApp from her relatives in Venezuela. The power was out, they said, and they forwarded videos of what sounded like bomb blasts.
Paola was terrified. She’d left Venezuela at age 7 with her parents and siblings, first for Panama and later the U.S., in 2023. But the rest of her family remained in Venezuela, and she had no idea what was going on.
Paola and her family stayed up scanning television channels for some idea of what was happening. Around 1:30 a.m., President Trump announced that U.S. forces had captured Maduro.
“The first thing I did, I called my aunt and said, ‘We are going to see each other again,’” she said.
Because of the Venezuelan state’s control over media, her relatives had no idea their leader had been seized by U.S. forces. “Are you telling me the truth?” Paola said her aunt asked.
Paola hasn’t been home in nine years. She misses her grandmother and her grandmother’s cooking, especially her caraotas negras, or black beans. As a child, she said, certain foods were so scarce that she had an apple for the first time only after moving to Panama.
Paola said she was grateful to Trump for ending decades of authoritarian rule that had reduced her home country to a shell of what it once was.
“Venezuela has always prayed for this,” she said. “It’s been 30 years. I feel it was in God’s hands last night.”
For Torres Ramirez, it was difficult to square her appreciation for Trump’s accomplishment in Venezuela with the fear she has felt as an immigrant under his presidency.
“It’s like a double-edged sword,” she said. “Throughout the course of this whole year, I have felt persecuted. I had to face ICE — I had to go to my appointment with the fear that I could lose it all because the immigration policies had changed and there was complete uncertainty. For a moment, I felt as if I was in Venezuela. I felt persecuted right here.”
During a news conference Saturday morning, Trump said Maduro was responsible for trafficking illicit drugs into the U.S. and the deaths of thousands of Americans. He repeated a baseless claim that the Maduro government had emptied Venezuela’s prisons and mental institutions and “sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives.”
“They sent everybody bad into the United States, but no longer, and we have now a border where nobody gets through,” he said.
Trump also announced that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela and its vast oil reserves.
“We’ll run it professionally,” he said. “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world go in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take that money, use that money in Venezuela, and the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.”
Torres Ramirez said that while she’s happy about Maduro’s ouster, she’s unsure how to feel about Trump’s announcement saying the U.S. will take over Venezuela’s oil industry. Perhaps it won’t be favorable in the long term for Venezuela’s economy, she said, but the U.S. intervention is a win for the country’s political future if it means people can return home.
Patricia Andrade, 63, who runs Raíces Venezolanas, a volunteer program in Miami that distributes donations to Venezuelan immigrants, said she believes the Trump administration is making the right move by remaining involved until there is a transition of power.
Andrade, a longtime U.S. citizen, said she hasn’t been to Venezuela in 25 years — even missing the deaths of both parents. She said she was accused of treason for denouncing the imprisonment of political opponents and the degradation of Venezuela’s democracy under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez. She said she worries that Venezuela’s remaining political prisoners could be killed as payback for Maduro’s arrest.
“We tried everything — elections, marches, more elections … and it couldn’t be done,” she said. “Maduro was getting worse and worse, there was more repression. If they hadn’t removed him, we were never going to recover Venezuela.”
While she doesn’t want the U.S. to fix the problems of other countries, she thanked Trump for U.S. involvement in Venezuela.
She said she can’t wait to visit her remaining family members there.
WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN is the author of numerous books, among them, “Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means,” and, most recently, “Poor People.”
CALIFORNIA HAS sometimes been referred to as “the Great Exception,” but for better and worse, this term applies quite well to all of our United States.
We commenced our independence as the nation that overthrew a government of men for a government of laws. William Blake wrote poems about us; the French Revolution was in part inspired by us. Like all institutions, we often fell short of our best possibilities, but bit by bit, falteringly and over decades and centuries, we improved ourselves. Belatedly and grudgingly, we abolished slavery; still more belatedly, we admitted that equality of representation included women as well as men. There are places on this Earth that have not yet achieved this much.
Nor did we rest there. I have visited any number of countries where free speech is not even a dream. In America, I can rail against my government to my heart’s content, knowing that there will be no midnight knock at my door. If some bully in uniform does pick on me, I have a decent chance of legally escaping his clutches.
Not only has America striven intermittently to be fair and even good, it remains an excellent place to make and keep money. It is, as they say, the locus of the easy life. And so, in spite of Native American genocide, Jim Crow, ruthless monopolism, etc., we became and for a very long time remained an ideal for ourselves and others.
I remember an old man from what used to be called Czechoslovakia; he escaped the communist regime by skiing over many mountains, and he finally found haven in California. I ate at his restaurant 40 years later. He told me that he had always dreamed of living in America. He still considered America the best place on Earth. In so many countries — from Kazakhstan to Colombia to Afghanistan — I have met people like him, people who long to be saved by going to America.
I remain grateful to have been born an American. As I get older, I admire our Constitution more and more. But what I love the most about my experience of American-ness is our famous individualism. Not everyone needs to like me, but I assume, with some correctness, that my eccentricities will be tolerated. I am my own person — and sometimes lonely for that, but that is the price that an American pays. I am, as you are, an exception in a crowd.
We are Americans, and so until recently, we knew that we were the best. Because so many people wanted to be us, we could act as we pleased — and we did, because we were the Great Exception; we were America the Blessed. Hence our complacent belief, so long borne out by the facts, that American movies and American brands would always sell. Hence also our comforting faith that the Kyoto Protocol did not apply to us, so that we could spew out all the greenhouse gases we liked, and use a pig’s share of the world’s resources. (Just this week, I learned of the U.S.’ new plan for energy independence: coal plants, subsidized for the next 25 years.)
Being America the Perfect, we invented the doctrine, even before 9/11, that we could seize war criminals in any part of the globe and whisk them off to The Hague. Of course, we insisted that should we ever commit war crimes, we would remain immune to prosecution in that court. Well, after all, how could Americans do any wrong?
Our current administration of torturers (this word sounds so shrill, so preposterous in relation to the America I believe in, that I have to remind myself over and over that it is literally accurate, that this president and his two attorneys general have quite literally legalized torture) has gone further in this direction than I ever could have imagined. President Bush’s modus operandi is this: Bull your way ahead. If you meet obstacles, overcome them with arrogant bluster. If this fails, proceed to vicious, mendacious brutality.
I wish I could blame him alone for the degradation of the America I loved. Unfortunately, Americans not only voted for this man, but after he proved himself to be a criminal, they reelected him. As one of my friends replied when I asked why we should attack Iraq when Iraq had done nothing to us: “Why not attack Iraq?”
We were Americans, you see. Why not do whatever suited our whims?
And now what? “They hate us,” we whisper to one another in amazement. In another decade, we might even begin to wonder about the degree of our exceptionality. What if we had to follow the rules that everyone else does?
Well, why not put off that pain as long as possible? It’s much more fun to remain the Great Exception.
Alas, while we hunker down behind the drawbridge, awaiting our next 9/11, we don’t even take the trouble to be united. Exceptionalism undermines us from within.
Alaskan towns are tilting in the melting permafrost, but who cares down in the Lower 48? Republicans and Democrats hate each other. Automobiles isolate us. Generations of advice-givers have made us believe that profit best defines the successful life, and so the white-collar crooks of Enron and the ghetto thugs who murder as they please celebrate their own exceptionalism against the rest of us.
Exceptionalism may be understandable and even excusable, but it should not be eternally acceptable. All-white juries have unjustly convicted black defendants in this country, and that makes me ashamed; but the notion that a 21st century criminal trial cannot be fair unless at least some jurors are the same race as the defendant is of a piece with the idea that men and women will never understand each other, that Muslim cab drivers can refuse to pick up passengers who carry liquor and that right-to-life pharmacists can refuse to fill a desperate woman’s prescription for the morning-after pill.
Let’s pander while Rome burns! I’m not worried; I’ll never catch fire. Like each and all of us, I’m my own favorite exception.
Clockwise from top middle: Tacos from Marvito, beef tartare from Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn, smoked bologna sandwich and fries from Mario’s Butcher Shop, spicy albacore with onigiri and seared scallops from OyBar, and a fish sandwich from Bopomofo cafe.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times, Ron de Angelis / For The Times, Philip Wang)
US president backs away from troop deployment to US cities amid legal setbacks, vows return when crime ‘begins to soar’.
United States President Donald Trump announced he is ceasing his efforts to deploy federal troops to several Democratic-led cities in a major policy pivot.
The announcement on Wednesday comes amid a series of legal setbacks to Trump’s efforts to deploy National Guard members to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon.
list of 3 itemsend of list
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he’s “removing” the National Guard from those cities, although their deployment was already mostly limited by lower courts.
“We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact,” he said.
Despite the claim, the National Guard has been barred from taking direct part in law enforcement, which remains illegal under US law. Trump had not invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows presidents to deploy troops domestically when “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” against the federal government make it “impracticable to enforce” US law “by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings”.
Because of that, troops deployed in or around Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago had been largely tasked with guarding federal buildings and offering support services to immigration enforcement.
About 300 National Guard members remained under federal control in both Los Angeles and Chicago at the time of Trump’s announcement, with 200 more in Portland.
Since first deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles to respond to protests against mass immigration enforcement sweeps, Trump has repeatedly claimed major cities across the US have been plagued by overlapping crime and immigration crises.
Critics have accused Trump of taking part in dangerous political theatre to target opponents.
Trump’s announcement did not reference the ongoing National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, a federal territory, or in New Orleans, Louisiana, which had been specifically requested by the state’s Republican governor.
The president’s move comes amid a series of legal setbacks, topped last week by a Supreme Court order keeping in place a lower court’s ruling barring the president from deploying the National Guard to Chicago.
While members of the federal military, National Guard troops are typically deployed at the request of state governors. Presidents can unilaterally deploy the National Guard, but only in instances when other federal agents can no longer execute the law.
The majority of Supreme Court justices ruled Trump has not yet met that threshold, dealing a major blow to the administration’s justification for similar deployments across the country.
Earlier on Wednesday, Department of Justice lawyers in California withdrew a request to keep troops in the state under federal control as they appealed a lower court’s ruling. That ruling by US District Judge Charles Breyer said the troops must be returned to state control.
In a post on X, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and top Trump critic, said the “admission by Trump and his occult cabinet members means this illegal intimidation tactic will finally come to an end”.
Newsom and his staff “look forward” to a more lasting court ruling on the issue.
For his part, Trump, in his Truth Social post, said he would not hesitate to redeploy troops.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!” he said.
2025 was challenging for Angelenos. The year began with the double firestorms, and chaos and uncertainty continued into June when immigration agents and protesters clashed, as the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard troops to the city. Unquestionably, these news events were among the most-read articles published by the Los Angeles Times this year.
However, several other stories made the list, including two notable faith-focused stories, how Cesar Galan joined the priesthood after belonging to a violent L.A. street gang and how the hosts of a popular evangelical podcast known as “Girls Gone Bible” have become unlikely religious authorities.
To look back on the diverse stories that defined this year, we compiled our most-visited coverage into three categories: The articles that attracted the highest number of readers, the stories our audience spent the longest time reading (most of them are accompanied by audio) and the most popular stories that only our subscribers get to read.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
(ranked by overall number of visits)
The Times published countless live blogs, stories, investigations and feature pieces related to the catastrophic January fires that blazed through thousands of acres, killed 31, forced the evacuation of roughly 100,000 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
These stories, undoubtedly, received the highest number of visits, as the Eaton and Palisades fires brought disruption, displacement and uncertainty across the city.
Residents received faulty emergency alerts, exposing early on the systemic failures in preparedness, evacuation protocols and emergency response. The Times reviewed the aftermath of L.A.’s double disaster to call city and county officials to account, reveal critical gaps and make the case for ensuring that we’ll be better prepared next time.
The news of the killings of “When Harry Met Sally” director Rob Reiner and his photographer wife, Michele Singer Reiner, sent shock waves across Hollywood and the country’s political establishment — Reiner championed progressive causes and was involved in efforts to challenge the proposition that had banned same-sex marriage in California in 2008. Reiner’s son Nick, who struggled with addiction for years, was arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents.
What we know about Nick’s addiction struggle and the hours before the director and his wife were killed.
A massive earthquake of magnitude 8.8 in Russia brought tsunami alerts to a wide swath of the Pacific. After the tsunami waves arrived in California, advisories were downgraded and canceled for much of the state. Southern California saw only modest waves and the highest tsunami waves reported on state shores peaked around 4 feet in Crescent City, about 20 miles from the Oregon border, where a dock was damaged. For how monstrous the earthquake was, why was there so little damage?
In September, detectives discovered a girl’s badly decomposed remains in an abandoned Tesla registered to rising singer D4vd at a Hollywood tow yard. Authorities identified the remains as those of 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, an Inland Empire resident who was reported missing in April 2024. According to court documents reviewed by The Times, the LAPD is now investigating Rivas’ death as a homicide.
The fifth-most read story of the year was those pertaining to the June immigration raids and protests in L.A. On June 6, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out a series of immigration sweeps, including two downtown that sparked a tense standoff. In the following days, immigration agents and protesters clashed across L.A. In a show of force, President Trump sent 2,000 California National Guard troops to the city, marking the first time in 60 years that a president had deployed a state’s National Guard without a request from that state’s governor.
Read more about what happened in the days following the National Guard’s arrival in L.A. and find more immigration stories here.
As the wildfires raged into Wednesday, Jan. 8, scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out and all water storage tanks in the area quickly “went dry.” Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered an investigation into the causes behind the dry fire hydrants that hampered firefighting efforts and L.A. City Council called on the city’s water utility to explain why firefighters ran out of water and why a key reservoir was offline.
Nearly a year later, residents and experts are examining the weaknesses of L.A.’s water systems and are calling to redesign Southern California’s water infrastructure.
Also widely read: State to probe why Pacific Palisades reservoir was offline, empty when firestorm exploded
Seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro disappeared on Aug. 14 after his mother, Rebecca Haro, said she was assaulted by an unknown man in a sporting goods store’s parking lot and was rendered unconscious. The missing baby’s mom told investigators that when she awoke, her son was gone. More than a week later, baby Emmanuel’s parents were arrested on suspicion of murder.
According to a news release from the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department, the couple faked the story about their son being kidnapped. In November, Jake Haro, Emmanuel’s father, was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of his son.
In late January, after President Trump said on social media that the U.S. military had “entered” California and “TURNED ON THE WATER,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dramatically increased the amount of water flowing from two dams in Tulare County. In a visit to L.A. the previous week, Trump had also vowed to “open up the valves and pumps” in California to deliver more water. Local water managers were caught off-guard by the decision, but they said they convinced Army Corps officials to release less water than originally planned.
A week after the Palisades fire began, several areas reopened to residents as officials continued to investigate the cause of the wildfire. Officials focused their efforts on a popular hiking trail that reveals the famous Skull Rock and views of the Pacific Ocean. The general area was the site of a small fire on New Year’s Eve that burned for a few hours before fire officials said they extinguished it.
In October, authorities offered a detailed timeline about what they allege caused the fire: The Jan. 1 blaze, now known as the Lachman fire, rekindled to become the Palisades fire days later. They also simultaneously announced the arrest of a 29-year-old man whom they suspected of setting the initial fire on New Year’s Eve. He has now been charged with deliberately setting the Lachman fire.
A Times investigation later found that firefighters were ordered to leave the smoldering burn site, instead of monitoring the burn area for reignitions.
Over the first weekend of the January fires, firefighters were able make progress with the help of calmer winds and higher humidity. As a fleet of aircraft worked to prevent the Palisades fire from scorching homes in Brentwood and Encino, officials warned that Santa Ana gusts were expected to pick up again the following week and cautioned the public to stay on alert.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
(ranked by average time spent on the page)
This is the story of Father Cesar Galan, a chaplain at St. Francis Medical Center, who experienced the lowest moment of his life and found the grace to change in the very hospital in which he now listens to patients’ fears, prays with them and offers to hear their confessions if they are Catholic. Galan grew up in the heart of Chivas and belonged to its street gang until a bullet spun him down to the ground on his stomach.
For Alejandro Sánchez, reclaiming a gold mine in Mexico, which was taken over by the sons of the drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was more than a business proposition. It was a reckoning with his past.
For years, Sánchez had worked to revive the mine, encountering corrupt officials and cartel operatives who demanded hefty bribes. He once had to dive for cover during a firefight. But now he was close to resuming operations at the mine with deposits worth billions.
Why did the billion-dollar mine matter so much to Sánchez and was he able to reckon with his past and reclaim the billion-dollar mine?
Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma are best friends who both have a background in modeling and acting. Nearly every week for the last two years, the two have shared heart-to-hearts that are at the core of “Girls Gone Bible,” their faith-based podcast they launched in 2023. The evangelical podcast now has millions of listeners and as a result, Halili and Reitsma have built a two-microphone megachurch. They have gone on a national live tour and prayed at President Trump’s pre-inauguration rally.
The co-hosts of this podcast that tops religious charts on Spotify predict that a Southern Californian Christian revival is coming.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard revists old crimes in L.A. and beyond, from the famous to the forgotten, in his series “Crimes of The Times.” In this installment of the series, Goffard examined the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in California, after the Trump administration released a cache of classified files.
Convicted gunman Sirhan Sirhan’s current attorney, Angela Berry, said a team of researchers is combing the files for new evidence. Have they been able to find anything of use?
As the Eaton fire devastated parts of the San Gabriel Valley, Santa Anita Park stepped up and fulfilled its role as a community citizen. Even though the 80-year-old track was unaffected by the fires and the air quality was well within the range for safe racing, the park canceled racing the first week after the fires and opened up its expansive space to be used as a center for donation collection and distribution among other charitable gestures.
But horse racing is decades past the days when spectators lined up to watch the sport. As attendance continues to decline from what it was years ago, many battle with the unfathomable idea that the track may soon close or be sold.
This is the story of Jerardyn, a 40-year-old refugee from Venezuela, who at the height of the immigration raids and protests in Southern California, confronted a painful decision: After entering the United States last year with her family in hopes of obtaining asylum, Jerardyn would migrate again, this time, voluntarily.
Authorities initially ruled the 2023 death of 18-year-old Amelia Salehpour an open-and-shut case of accidental overdose. The medical examiner’s office agreed, deciding against a more thorough autopsy. But Salehpour’s family was unconvinced. They hired a high-end investigative firm that uncovered evidence that Amelia was being groomed for sex work, that she was strangled to death and that her death had been made to look like an overdose.
The contradictory findings have since triggered internal conflict among L.A. County prosecutors and detectives from the LAPD’s homicide and narcotics units.
From Andrew Garfield to Zendaya, Daniel Craig and Demi Moore, Hollywood’s biggest stars dressed to impress at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.
Also widely read: Oscars red carpet 2025: Ariana Grande, Mikey Madison and all the best looks
Since L.A. experienced its first wide-scale homelessness during the Great Depression and the housing crunch after World War II, it has suffered chronic homelessness. Former Times staff writers Mitchell Landsberg and Gale Holland explored the key events and policies that shaped L.A. to become the homeless capital of the U.S.
In April 2024, USC hired a new coach for its men’s basketball program. USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen declared the day Eric Musselman was introduced as a “transformational day for USC men’s basketball.” Almost a year later, in March, Times USC beat writer Ryan Kartje joined Musselman toward the end of a hard first season.
Most-read stories | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
(subscriber-exclusive stories ranked by number of visits)
A new California housing bill, which took effect July 1, has changed the way homeowners associations are allowed to discipline homeowners. The changes came just in time for Jinah Kim, who was set to be fined up to $500 per day for fixing a doorway inside her condo even though her homeowners association said she couldn’t. Under the new rules, she now owes only $100.
Will the new rules allow homeowners to get away with things they shouldn’t and abuse community rules?
In July, talk show host Phil McGraw’s TV network, Merit Street Media, which launched last year, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors and sued its distribution partner, Trinity Broadcasting Network. During a nearly three-hour hearing in Dallas in October, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott Everett said that he’d “never seen a case” like the Chapter 11 filing Dr. Phil’s company was attempting.
How did the genial celebrity psychologist’s media network crash?
Entering the job market can be a stressful endeavor for new graduates and for a fresh generation of students behind them who are preparing to start their college journeys. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates is at its highest nationwide since 2021. What are the lowest- and highest-paying majors according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report?
This investigation was so popular, it also landed on our list of deep reads.
Every year for the last 13 years, The Times has published its essential guide to L.A.’s dining scene. This year, Times restaurant critic Bill Addison took the challenge further and spent months journeying California to find the best restaurants that depict the state’s eclectic food scene accurately. Instead of ranking the restaurants that make the Golden State, in Addison’s words, a “culinary juggernaut,” the list, which is only a beginning, offers a glimpse into the cultures and diversities that make up California. Start eating!
Also widely read: These are the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
This is the grisly story of Patrice Miller, 71, who was found dead with her right leg and left arm partially gnawed off in her kitchen and whose autopsy determined, officials said, that she had probably been killed by an animal after it broke into her home. Miller’s death marked the first known instance in California history of a fatal bear attack on a human and has sparked increasingly heated battles around predators in the state.
What solutions are lawmakers representing conservative rural districts in the state’s rugged northern reaches pushing forward? Would measures to ward off California’s predators increase safety?
Tulsa Remote is a program that pays remote workers to relocate to Oklahoma’s second-largest city for at least a year. Since its inception in 2019, the program has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers. More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move.
Why are Californians moving to Tulsa through the program, cementing California as the second-most popular origin state behind Texas?
In a more recent edition of the “Crimes of the Times” series, Goffard writes about a 50-year-old West Virginia man, Alex Baber, who dropped out of high school and taught himself codebreaking. Baber now says he has cracked the Zodiac killer’s identity, and in the process solved the Black Dahlia case as well.
This series attracted a high number of readers and also landed on our list of deep reads.
Artificial intelligence’s coding capabilities and tools are rapidly advancing, making experienced engineers more productive. But these improvements now outpace entry-level programmers, making job prospects for early-career software engineers more difficult to find.”We don’t need the junior developers anymore,” said Amr Awadallah, chief executive of Vectara, a Palo Alto-based AI startup. “The AI now can code better than the average junior developer that comes out of the best schools out there.”
Los Angeles is a place where essentially anyone can find themselves, especially outdoors lovers.
The hiking trails of Griffith Park offer tremendous views of the city and landscape. Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area near Culver City features lush spaces to spend a Saturday with family and friends. But for Angelenos seeking adventure — and even solitude — a vast forested expanse awaits.
Angeles National Forest is a 700,000-plus acre wonderland that has long billed itself as L.A.’s “backyard playground.” But it’s so much more than that.
For almost a decade, I’ve hiked much of its 557 miles of trails, and so rarely was it just for exercise. I’ve sought refuge in our San Gabriel Mountains when life got overwhelming, whether it was after my brother died and my soul ached more than I could communicate, or it was just to briefly escape news headlines that kept breaking my heart. But it was also for joy.
Every hike in Angeles National Forest offers us a chance to be awestruck by our natural environment. I’ll never forget the first time I saw a California newt waddling through Millard Canyon falls. I’ve spotted hopping deer, hooting owls and exactly one haughty rattlesnake (as all other rattlers were much calmer — even the one my dog booped).
I’ve felt the temperature shift from cool to crisp on a winter’s day hike in Icehouse Canyon as a cold mist wafted through the trees, and I’ve sweated through my clothes on the exposed hillsides of the Strawberry Peak trail. I’ve made snow angels with my dog near Mt. Waterman and swam in my skivvies in the San Gabriel River.
Years ago, Angeles National Forest supervisor Michael J. Rogers pointed out what anyone who has spent time there knows too well.
“This is a national forest that could very easily be enjoyed and loved to death,” Rogers wrote for The Times on the forest’s 100th anniversary in 1992. “All of the unique values that visitors seek such as cool trees, shaded streams, solitude, beautiful vistas, watchable wildlife, fresh pine-scented air could all be lost through overuse and abuse.”
My intention with this guide falls in line with Rogers’ message: I hope you not only appreciate what the forest has to offer but also understand your responsibility to practice the “leave no trace” principles, leaving only footprints and taking only memories (and selfies).
Adventure awaits in Angeles National Forest. May you find the start and continuation of it in this guide.
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A quick geography lesson| What to bring | Getting there | Things you should know | Beginner adventures| Intermediate adventures| Advanced adventures
A sweeping view of Angeles Crest Highway and the San Gabriel Mountains from the Hoyt Mountain trail.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
Angeles National Forest is about 700,000 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Its northern boundary extends through mountain ranges near the 5 Freeway near Gorman, eastward to the L.A. County and San Bernardino County line near Wrightwood. Its southern boundary runs near Castaic Lake southeast and eastward, ending north of Claremont, where the San Bernardino National Forest’s boundary begins.
It is located within a portion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains in the west, and the San Gabriel Mountains, which span about 60 miles from near Newhall to Cajon Canyon northeast of San Bernardino, according to state geology research. Angeles National Forest’s elevation ranges from 1,200 feet to 10,064 feet, its highest point being Mt. San Antonio, or Mt. Baldy as it’s more commonly known.
The original home of several Indigenous communities for thousands of years, the forest grows several species of trees, plants and animals endemic only to the San Gabriel Mountains or California, including the San Gabriel manzanita, the big cone Douglas fir and the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog. An estimated 14%, or about 29,000 acres, of Angeles National Forest is considered “old-growth” forest — white fir, lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine (which has a bark that smells like butterscotch or vanilla), ponderosa pine and others that have grown for more than a century into hulking giants.
It is home to five wilderness areas: Cucamonga Wilderness; Magic Mountain Wilderness; Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness; San Gabriel Wilderness; and Sheep Mountain Wilderness. Wilderness areas are the “most protected” federal land in the country. Each of these wilderness areas offers something different. For example, when hiking in Cucamonga, you might spot bighorn sheep, while Magic Mountain is occasionally host to a California condor passing through.
The view of the San Gabriel Mountains as seen from the Mt. Waterman area in the Angeles National Forest.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A full tank or battery. Consider entering the forest with either a full tank of gas or full charge on your vehicle’s battery. There are no gas or electric charging stations (outside of a plug-in you might find on a forest service building).
Sustenance. If hiking, you will likely want to pack all of the water you need for the day unless you plan to filter it from somewhere along the trail. If camping, check the Angeles National Forest website to see whether your campground offers drinking water. You will also want to bring all of your food, unless you plan to visit one of the few places — including Camp Williams Cafe, Cosmic Cafe, the Adams Pack Station or Top of the Notch restaurant — in the forest to buy food and you know the establishment will be open.
A thoughtfully packed bag. When preparing for a hike, some pack the “10 essentials,” which includes navigation tools, a light source and emergency shelter, while others preach a different method of considering specifically what’s needed for the day. Search and rescue team members generally recommend that folks have in their pack whatever they’d need to spend a night in the woods, just in case things go awry.
Parking pass. To park in most places in the forest, you will need a $5 single-day Adventure Pass, a $30 annual Adventure Pass or an America the Beautiful pass. You can be ticketed without properly displaying your pass. If visiting trails near Wrightwood, you might need a Big Pines parking pass, as many of those locations are managed by a concessionaire, Mountain High.
Driving up Angeles Crest Highway to Mountain High.
(Ryan Fonseca / Los Angeles Times)
Much of Angeles National Forest’s hiking trails and day-use areas through the San Gabriel Mountains can be accessed via the 66-mile, winding Angeles Crest Highway, or State Route 2. The speed limit is 55 mph, unless otherwise posted. It’s advisable to take it easy, though, both to enjoy the view and avoid an accident.
State Route 39, another winding mountain road, takes visitors north to popular trails along the San Gabriel River and into the Crystal Lake area. The road features jaw-dropping views of the San Gabriel Valley, occasional wildflower blooms and steep drop-offs. Best to let whoever in your party isn’t scared of heights drive.
Lupine is sometimes spotted on the hillsides around San Gabriel Canyon Road (Highway 39) in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa.
(Raul Roa/Los Angeles Times)
In 1978, a landslide destroyed the segment of Highway 39 that connected it to Highway 2, turning it into what one public official called “a 27-mile-long cul-de-sac.” Officials have said it is too costly — and dangerous to bighorn sheep — to repair, although there have been recent discussions about its reopening.
Regardless of where you’re traveling in Angeles National Forest, you should check road conditions before heading out, especially in the winter, as officials will close forest roads to protect the public, including because of snow, or require that drivers carry tire chains.
You should keep in mind while traveling to trailheads that it is considered rude in mountain driving culture not to let faster vehicles pass you. Angeles Crest Highway has several paved turnouts for this reason. Additionally, please take good care to notice signage regarding segments of the highway where daytime headlight use is required.
Lastly, be aware that there are dirt fire roads and several off-road vehicle routes through the forest. Your phone or car’s mapping app might try to send you down one to reach a trail. Please do not assume a road will be passable just because it’s open. When in doubt, call the ranger station before heading out.
Communicating while away. You should assume you won’t have cellphone reception anywhere in Angeles National Forest. For safety while you’re out of your mobile service area, you should share this form with a family member or friend to ensure someone knows where you’re headed. You should also print the form and place it on your dashboard so, in the event of emergency, rescuers can find you more quickly than having to track down details of your whereabouts from your family. If you forget to bring the form, simply write down the details of your day or overnight trip, including when you expect to return, and leave them on your car dash.
Emergencies. Emergency services in Angeles National Forest include 23 fire stations such as the Clear Creek Fire Station and the Monte Cristo Fire Station off Highway 2. Volunteer search-and-rescue crews respond in most hiking emergencies. If you are ever rescued by helicopter, you will not be charged by these groups. That said, they’re always in need of donations to stay afloat.
Fire restrictions. Forest officials will, at times, limit campfires and stove usage because of elevated wildfire risk. Before heading out, check the Angeles National Forest alerts webpage to discern what’s allowed on your trip. If campfires are allowed, you must still secure a free campfire permit and have a copy with you.
A vehicle heads north on Highway 39 into a winter wonderland with a good accumulation of snow at the 5,000-feet level in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa in January.
(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
Weather. Checking the forecast is not always top of mind for your average Angeleno, but hikers and campers must assess the weather before leaving for the forest. Temperatures in Angeles National Forest can range from below freezing overnight in winter, especially above 6,000 feet, to above 100 degrees in summer. Even after checking the forest, remember that elevation will play a role in temperature. Generally, for every 1,000 feet you gain, the temperature can drop from around 3½ to 5 degrees, something meteorologists call “environmental lapse rate.”
Eaton fire closures. Please note that the following guide does not include any of the trails burned in the Eaton fire, as they remain closed. Once they’re open, this guide will be updated.
Leave no trace. Whenever you hike, camp or otherwise visit Angeles National Forest, please practice the “leave no trace” principles, which include packing out everything you pack in, respecting the animals (which means not taking selfies with them), and overall ensuring these lands are protected for generations to come.
With that said, take a deep breath, and imagine being surrounded by the fresh scent of pine as mountain chickadees chirp all around you. Yes, friend, that’s possible — and all within a short drive of L.A. Let’s go on an adventure!
(Ruby Fresson / For The Times)
It might seem daunting to drive into the hulking mountains surrounding L.A., but there are many easy-going and family-friendly adventures to be had in Angeles National Forest. Many families and friend groups spend time visiting vista lookouts and at one of several day-use picnic areas, which often feature picnic tables and grills (when allowed).
Here you’ll find some kid-friendly and wheelchair accessible trails and other opportunities, including campgrounds where you can easily drive up and spend a weekend.
Large boulders at the Mt. Hillyer summit.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
🌇For great views: the Mt. Wilson Observatory paved walking paths; Crystal Lake walking path.
🌳To be among tall trees: Joatngna Trail (the Elfin Forest Trail); the paved Buckhorn Campground paths.
💧For cool rivers, lakes and cascading falls: the West Fork National Scenic Bikeway (paved for the most part); San Antonio Falls trail (paved, but uphill); Gould Mesa Campground via the Gabrielino Trail (including about one mile of paved trail to start).
🪨To see massive rock formations: Mt. Hillyer via Silver Moccasin Trail (great for older kids); Mt. Hillyer Trail from Horse Flats Campground (easier, flatter option!).
These campgrounds are in the “easy” category because they’re straightforward to reach. Additionally, they all usually offer piped (i.e. drinking) water, but you should check on the campground sites linked here to ensure it is available before heading out.
Crystal Lake Campground is a 120-site campground north of Azusa.
(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
The campgrounds below range from $12 to $30 per night for single sites ($5 per additional vehicle), with some requiring payment by cash or check. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis unless otherwise noted; feature picnic tables and fire rings; have vault toilets; and allow dogs.
Chilao Campground: Chilao has 84 campsites spread over two loops, Little Pines and Manzanita. Its landscape features large boulders, sweeping views and pine trees (especially the eponymous loop). Piped water is available, although it is at times turned off, so please check the campground website before heading out. The Chilao Visitor Center, open on the weekends, is nearby.
The forest and the surrounding area have far more to explore than hiking trails and campgrounds. Some of the spots listed here are outside the forest but are included because they’re worth visiting when nearby.
Visitors walks on a path through fields of California poppies in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve: Although not in Angeles National Forest, this state natural reserve is over 1,700 acres of open space that bursts, when conditions are right, with bright orange poppies from sometime between mid-February to May. Note: Do not leave the trail and trample the poppies to nab selfies or other images, regardless of whether you see others doing it.
A ruby-crowned kinglet after it was measured and banded at the Bear Divide banding station near Santa Clarita.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
Cali Splash Park at Castaic Lake: If hiking near Castaic Lake, the Cali Splash Park offers what’s essentially a massive bounce house and obstacle course in the middle of a lake, a memorable experience and fun surprise after an early morning hike.
Jackson Lake in Angeles National Forest near Wrightwood.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
(Ruby Fresson / For The Times)
Are you ready to expand your hiking excursions beyond your favorite L.A. trails? Have you been hiking up to Mt. Hollywood, wondering what those peaks are beyond the city? Well, buckle up, buttercup, because here you’ll find an assortment of day hikes and weekend camping ideas that will have you filing for vacation before you realize you’re typing an email to your boss.
These trails are varying levels of difficulty, but are listed as moderate because none of them should require you to have significant technical outdoors knowledge. Enjoy!
Hikers on the trail to Switzer Falls.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
🌇For great views: Josephine Peak, Stoddard Peak, Tee Pee Trail, Three Points to Sulfur Springs via Pacific Crest Trail, Throop Peak, Vetter Mountain, Warm Springs Mountain.
🌳To be among tall trees: Boy Scout Trail Loop, Mt. Baldy Notch via Manker Flat, Mt. Waterman Loop, Rim Trail to Newcomb Pass, Valley Forge Trail Camp via Gabrielino National Recreation Trail, Winter Creek to Hoegees Trail Camp loop.
💧For cool rivers and cascading falls: Bridge to Nowhere, Brown Mountain Dam Waterfall, Cooper Canyon Falls via the Burkhart Trail, Fish Canyon Narrows, Sturtevant Falls Trail, Switzer Falls trail, Trail Canyon Falls.
🪨To see massive rock formations: Castaic Rock Trail near Castaic Lake, Devil’s Chair Trail, Mt. Hillyer via the Silver Moccasin Trail.
These campgrounds are considered “moderate” because they either do not offer water but still offer car camping or they require a short backpacking trip. They offer opportunity for memorable outdoor experiences in remote places without making you feel like you’re secretly being filmed for “Naked and Afraid.”
The campgrounds here range from free to $12 per night ($5 per additional vehicle); available on a first-come, first-served basis; feature picnic tables and fire rings; have vault toilets; and allow dogs.
Pyramid Lake near Castaic.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Cora and Kenny, two donkeys at Adams Pack Station in Big Santa Anita Canyon.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
(Ruby Fresson / For The Times)
The trails here are challenging but worthy adventures for experienced hikers to consider. What does “experienced” mean exactly? Unlike the trails categorized above as “easy” or “moderate,” the trails here require you to plan ahead, bringing plenty of water and other supplies, looking over topography maps and reading trail reports. With proper planning, though, you will find yourself on a great adventure that’s also close to home. Please note: Some of the trails below may be covered in snow in winter and require technical experience.
🌇For great views: Crystal Lake to Mt. Islip; Crystal Lake to South Mt. Hawkins; Fox Mountain via the Condor Peak Trail; Hoyt Mountain via Grizzly Flat; Jupiter Mountain Loop; Liebre Mountain via PCT; Magic Mountain; Mt. Baldy via Devil’s Backbone Trail; Mt. Lukens via Haines Canyon; Slide Mountain; the Three T’s via Icehouse Canyon; Townsend Peak; Whitaker Peak.
🌳To be among tall trees: Mt. Waterman to Twin Peaks; Mt. Baden Powell; Ontario Peak; Cucamonga Peak (with permit); Mt. Hawkins; Pacifico Mountain.
💧For cool rivers and cascading falls: Icehouse Canyon to Icehouse Saddle Trail, Oak Springs Trail
🪨To see massive rock formations: Strawberry Peak; Islip Saddle to Mt. Williamson Ridge.
Backpacking opportunities near L.A.
The campgrounds here are considered “advanced” because they require a level of planning and preparation that falls beyond your average car-camping trip. Several are backpacking sites and do not offer potable water. Some do not have streams to filter water. Despite the challenge to reach them, they are worth it for the sweeping views and solitude, the ability to nap under a hulking pine tree without interruption, outside of maybe a Steller’s jay curious about whether the weird animal (i.e. you) in its yard has any food to steal.
Unless otherwise noted, the campgrounds here range from free to $12 per night ($5 per additional vehicle); are available on a first-come, first-served basis; and allow dogs.
The landmark Mt. Baldy Lodge, with quaint and cozy cabins in the village just as you enter town.
(Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times)
A contemplative sign in Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
L.A. is the second largest city in the U.S. and is often called the “entertainment capital of the world.”
But it offers residents and visitors alike the rare opportunity to spend the morning along bustling Hollywood Boulevard before finding total solitude in Angeles National Forest. With that opportunity comes a great responsibility to protect it so that Angeles National Forest is not loved to death but rather cherished for generations to come.
Re “Bush Order Lets Him Control Roberts’ Memos,” Aug. 11
I’m not being facetious: I really don’t understand. Please write an editorial and explain to me why, unless it’s truly a matter of national security, should any president be allowed to control access to a former president’s documents that were discharged as part of his official duties? Even the claim of lawyerclient privilege is specious unless it is from consultations with the president’s private, non-taxpayer-paid attorney. Otherwise, the public has retained the legal representatives, so any citizen should be allowed — in fact, have a right — to see the lawyers’ notes.
TOM OGDEN
Hollywood
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Re “Roberts, misjudged,” Opinion, Aug. 11
Defending John Roberts’ 1980s position on the Voting Rights Act, Abigail Thernstrom argues that race should not be an issue in political districting. She quotes Roberts’ claim that we stand before the law “only as Americans” and Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch’s claim that officials should “represent individual citizens” and not blocs. The sentiments are sure uplifting but ingenuous.
Citizens should stand before laws they have had some effect in creating and be represented by officials they have had some effect in electing. To prevent tyranny by the majority, minority interests should be represented in office, and not only racial interests, but also economic and demographic ones.
A wag in The Times’ Opinion section recently proposed that all political districting be based entirely on income levels, not geography. The proposal is amusing, but not entirely wrong.
DAVID EGGENSCHWILER
Los Angeles
In the late game, Henry set an NFL record with his seventh career 200-yard game as the Ravens beat the Packers 41-24 at Lambeau Field.
The Ravens (8-8) play at the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-6) in week 18 and the contest will be for the AFC North title if the Steelers lose to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Henry set the tone on Baltimore’s opening drive, rushing in from three yards before the Packers responded with a 39-yard Malik Willis touchdown pass to Christian Watson.
The running back was in the endzone again early in the second quarter before field goals from Tyler Loop put the visitors in a strong position.
Willis scored for the Packers on a 22-yard run but Henry completed his hat-trick to put the Ravens 27-14 in front at half-time.
Green Bay responded after the break and pulled within three after Willis’ second touchdown run of the day was followed by a Brandon McManus field goal.
But the Ravens were able to pull out of sight in the fourth quarter as Tyler Huntley threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers and Henry added a 25-yard touchdown run for his fourth score of the night.
The Packers’ third straight loss ensures they will be the NFC’s seventh seed in the play-offs and that the Chicago Bears will win the NFC North.
I have been reading in The Times for over a year that California’s economy is doing great and that we have a state budget surplus. Isn’t this surplus in cash? Then why is the voter being asked to approve bonds for schools, libraries, parks and clean water?
I’ve also been reading that one should apply any extra cash to pay down high-interest debts and that, to ensure financial security, one should be careful about spending and to try to save a little for the future. Does this only apply to individuals and not to governments?
KATHRYN FONG ROUSH
Granada Hills
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Not much is said about Prop. 16, the veterans bond. If passed, bonds will be sold to pay for retirement homes for American veterans. I will be voting yes on Prop. 16, and I urge you to do the same. These veterans served our country with honor. They were ready to sacrifice their lives for us, and I’m sure we can sacrifice a few bucks for them now, when they need our help.
AMUL PANDYA
Moorpark
Karl Rove, the canny and controversial presidential advisor who will be leaving the White House at the end of the week, may have more enemies than anybody in Washington. He also may have more nicknames. George Bush calls him “boy genius.” Critics of the administration have often described him as “Bush’s brain.”
But the name that has really stuck with Rove over the years is “the architect.” In January 2000, before Bush had competed in a presidential primary, he was asked about Rove’s role in shaping his campaign strategy.
“Karl gets credit for being the architect of it,” he said, “and he should.” He famously repeated the term at a news conference after his 2004 victory over John Kerry. Wayne Slater and James Moore titled their second book on Rove, published last year, “The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power.”
What is it about architecture that makes it so attractive as a metaphorical job description? There’s Bill Walsh, the NFL coach who after he died last month was widely remembered as “the architect of the West Coast offense.” And Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden’s Rove, often is called the architect of 9/11. Don’t forget James Madison, architect of the Constitution, or Alfred Hitchcock, labeled by one of his biographers “the architect of anxiety.” The computer industry is full of information and software “architects” who do their building with zeros and ones.
And, of course, there’s God: architect of the universe.
The architect label suggests precision, strategic savvy and the ability to consider a project from a certain analytical remove — to see the whole chessboard at a glance. It describes the person who sketches out a complex plan but never the one who executes it.
As a metaphor, it’s a step up from “engineer,” which used to be as common a rhetorical title as architect is now. Somebody in Rove’s position a few decades ago would have been said to have “engineered” an electoral victory; those architects at Intel and Microsoft were once called software engineers.
But engineering, a profession that tends to be more esteemed in quickly growing industrial societies than in postindustrial ones like ours, has none of the Machiavellian undertones required to capture the scope of Rove’s role. It implies pure expertise — all science and no art.
In his canonical “Ten Books on Architecture,” written in the 1st century BC, Roman architect Vitruvius argued that successful buildings had three qualities in common: firmness, commodity and delight. In other words, to qualify as a piece of architecture, a structure had to be not only stable and useful but beautiful.
That distinction helps explain why certain public figures become candidates for architect status. There usually has to be a sense, even among rivals, that what you are producing is the result of creativity along with hard work or brute force. It has to be impressive in form as well as function, in operation as well as plan. Like architecture, it has to have one foot in the practical world and one foot in the aesthetic.
And it helps if there is a noticeable gap between a typical approach to your job and the way you perform it. Walsh’s reserved, professorial style on the sidelines and the quick grace of his best San Francisco 49ers offered a sharp contrast to football’s inherent violence and plodding, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust conservatism. Hitchcock too seemed all the more urbane because he was creating artworks for a mass audience, cinematic choreography to be enjoyed with popcorn.
A similar dynamic was at work from the start between Bush and Rove. As a presidential candidate, Bush had the popcorn part down from the beginning: Despite his gilded political pedigree as the son of a president and the grandson of a senator, and his years at Andover, Yale and Harvard, he has always been comfortable cloaking himself in down-home rhetoric. He needed a way to turn that raw material — of connections and a certain kind of charm — into votes on a national level.
And we, the public, needed a way to reconcile the seeming contradiction between the aw-shucks, tongue-tied Bush persona and the nimble strategic thinking that got him elected president — twice — by outfoxing the Democrats in nearly every battleground state. (Bush might have won Georgia or Texas by himself, but it took an architect to win Ohio.) Self-taught and widely curious, Rove is a true mirror image of Bush — and the perfect vehicle for that reconciliation. If he hadn’t existed, the pundits would have had to invent him.
The odd twist to this story is that architects are increasingly chafing at what they see as the political limitations of their profession. At ground zero in New York, in post-Katrina New Orleans and in traffic-choked Los Angeles, they are realizing that however much celebrity they may enjoy, it hasn’t helped them become real players in shaping the future of cities.
Leading architects, including Thom Mayne and Rem Koolhaas, have been outspoken in recent months about trying to change that. They want to leverage their fame into clout and, by operating more strategically, move closer to the centers of power. They want to be metaphorical architects — of disaster recovery, of urban rebirth — and not just the real thing.
In short, they’d like to be more Rovian.
—
Why this column stuck with me: I chose “I’m Fighting Parkinson’s One Punch At A Time” because it was a story that took four years to write but one that has resonated immediately and endlessly.
When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the winter of 2021, I decided to keep the diagnosis a secret. Initially I didn’t even tell my own three children. I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me, or looking at me differently or, worse, treating me differently. I wanted to continue with my normal life while fighting the disease in private.
As part of this fight, I attended a boxing class for Parkinson’s patients. The class was filled with 80-year-old women pounding on a heavy bag, 75-year-old men dancing across the floor, elderly and trembling people working hard to stave off the effects of PD. They quickly became my heroes, and deserved to be illuminated as inspirations to others. I finally realized that I could tell their story and maybe push others to come out of the PD shadows and seek the same therapy.
And, well, if I was going to write about others with Parkinson’s disease, I would have to come clean about myself. So, with help from boxing instructor Jody Hould and sports editor Iliana Limón Romero, I did. And I’m glad I did. I’ve since heard from countless people that the story moved them to admit their illness and begin boxing therapy or other types of PD workouts. My diagnosis was a punch in the gut. But thanks in part to the encouragement that came from this story, I’m fighting back.
WASHINGTON — There is an unmistakable aura of sadness when William P. Rogers talks about the man who was once his close friend and how that friend deceived him.
“I never before had a friend who turned out to be not quite a friend,” says the former attorney general and secretary of State.
The friend was Richard Nixon.
Oblivious to the clatter of dishes and the hum of lunch conversation in a crowded restaurant, Rogers sat at a corner table recently and looked back on years at the center of history.
He was President Eisenhower’s attorney general and Nixon’s secretary of State. In private law practice, he represented Martin Luther King Jr. before the Supreme Court.
But he is quick to point out that he had no role in one landmark event of the Nixon years–Watergate.
Nixon “never asked me about any of that nonsense until much too late,” Rogers said.
Rogers left the Nixon administration in August 1973 and resumed private law practice, a low-profile life he clearly enjoyed. He rarely gave interviews and never talked in detail about his relationship with Nixon.
Now 84, he put aside that reluctance and recalled his years as a valued advisor and close friend to Nixon as well as the discomforting knowledge of how much Nixon never told him.
“He didn’t lie; he just didn’t tell me the truth,” Rogers said.
It wasn’t only the truth about Watergate.
When Nixon sent Henry Kissinger, his White House national security advisor, on a secret trip to China, his secretary of State was left out in the cold.
Neither did Rogers know about Kissinger’s secret negotiations with North Vietnam.
Their bureaucratic struggle was no contest. After the 1972 election, Nixon decided it was time to replace Rogers with Kissinger.
White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman wrote in his diary: “Had a meeting with Rogers this afternoon and got into the separation. It didn’t work out very well in that Rogers obviously was shocked to be told that he was to leave.”
Kissinger wrote that he believed Nixon “wished to establish, for once, a relationship of primacy over his old friend and mentor Bill Rogers to whom he had so often turned during the periods of his own weakness.”
Rogers was a young lawyer on the staff of a Senate committee and Nixon was a freshman congressman from California when they met in 1948. Nixon was agonizing over whether to believe Whittaker Chambers’ allegation that Alger Hiss, a high State Department official, was a member of an underground communist group.
Nixon asked Rogers to review their sworn testimony. He wanted to know if he could prove one of them was lying. “I said, ‘I’m sure you can.’ I based it on the fact that Chambers had given a lot of particulars that you can’t make up,” Rogers said.
Hiss was convicted of lying and Nixon’s political career was on the rise.
Two years later, Nixon was elected to the Senate and in 1952 Eisenhower offered him the vice presidential nomination.
Rogers was on a campaign trip with his friend when the news broke that a group of California supporters of Nixon had established an $18,000 fund to help cover expenses. His position on the Republican ticket in jeopardy, Nixon made his case to the voters in a televised appearance that came to be known as the Checkers speech.
In his book “Six Crises,” Nixon wrote that the night before the speech, “I took a long walk with Rogers up and down the side streets near the hotel to get some fresh air and exercise and to test out the first outline of my speech on him. He encouraged me to go forward with the plan I had adopted.”
Nixon saved his career with a brilliant speech that referred to his wife’s “respectable Republican cloth coat” and the Texan who gave the Nixons their cocker spaniel, Checkers.
Rogers and Nixon remained fast friends through the Eisenhower administration. But losses in the 1960 presidential race and the 1962 race for governor of California left Nixon embittered, said his former friend.
“He was a changed man,” Rogers said.
From there, the two men took different paths. Rogers spent the Kennedy-Johnson years in private law practice, arguing Martin Luther King Jr.’s case in 1964 before the Supreme Court, which said for the first time that the news media had special protection against libel suits by public officials.
When Nixon finally became president in January 1969, Rogers returned to government as secretary of State, despite having little experience in diplomacy.
“I recognized when I took the job that President Nixon wanted to run things himself and that’s what he did,” Rogers said. “He always sort of resented the State Department.”
At the start of the second term, Watergate began to dominate Nixon’s presidency.
What was it like, watching the scandal unfold?
“What do you do?” said Rogers, his expression betraying the uncountable hours he has spent looking back on that period.
When Nixon realized he would have to fire Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, he asked Rogers to do it for him. Rogers refused.
“He said, ‘Will you be with me when I do it?’ I said, ‘No, Mr. President. . . . They’re your people.’ ”
In August of that year, Nixon became the first president to resign the office.
After that, Rogers and his wife saw the former president and his wife, Pat, a couple of times.
“We saw them once for lunch,” Rogers recalled. “Remarkably, we had conversations just as if nothing had happened.
“I couldn’t understand that.”
Dozens of California National Guard troops under President Trump’s command apparently slipped out of Los Angeles under cover of darkness early Sunday morning, ahead of an appellate court’s order to be gone by noon Monday.
Administration officials would not immediately confirm whether the troops had decamped. But video taken outside the Roybal Federal Building downtown just after midnight on Sunday and reviewed by The Times shows a large tactical truck and four white passenger vans leaving the facility, which has been patrolled by armed soldiers since June.
About 300 California troops remain under federal control, some 100 of whom were still active in Los Angeles as of last week, court records show.
“There were more than usual, and all of them left — there was not a single one that stayed,” said protester Rosa Martinez, who has demonstrated outside the federal building for months and was there Sunday.
Troops were spotted briefly later that day, but had not been seen again as of Monday afternoon, Martinez said.
The development that forced the troops to leave was part of a sprawling legal fight for control of federalized soldiers nationwide that remains ongoing.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order late Friday but softened an even more stringent edict from a lower court judge last week that would have forced the president to relinquish command of the state’s forces. Trump federalized thousands of California National Guard troops in June troops to quell unrest over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.
“For the first time in six months, there will be no military deployed on the streets of Los Angeles,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a statement. “While this decision is not final, it is a gratifying and hard-fought step in the right direction.”
The ruling Friday came from the same three-judge panel that handed the president one of his most sweeping second-term victories this summer, after it found that the California deployment could go forward under an obscure and virtually untested subsection of the law.
That precedent set a “great level of deference” as the standard of review for deployments that have since mushroomed across the country, circumscribing debate even in courts where it is not legally binding.
But the so-called Newsom standard — California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit — has drawn intense scrutiny and increasingly public rebuke in recent weeks, even as the Trump administration argues it affords the administration new and greater powers.
In October, the 7th Circuit — the appellate court that covers Illinois — found the president’s claims had “insufficient evidence,” upholding a block on a troop deployment in and around Chicago.
“Even applying great deference to the administration’s view of the facts … there is insufficient evidence that protest activity in Illinois has significantly impeded the ability of federal officers to execute federal immigration laws,” the panel wrote.
That ruling is now under review at the Supreme Court.
In November, the 9th Circuit vacated its earlier decision allowing Trump’s Oregon federalization to go forward amid claims the Justice Department misrepresented important facts in its filings. That case is under review by a larger panel of the appellate division, with a decision expected early next year.
Despite mounting pressure, Justice Department lawyers have doubled down on their claims of near-total power, arguing that federalized troops remain under the president’s command in perpetuity, and that courts have no role in reviewing their deployment.
When Judge Mark J. Bennett asked the Department of Justice whether federalized troops could “stay called up forever” under the government’s reading of the statute at a hearing in October, the answer was an unequivocal yes.
“There’s not a word in the statute that talks about how long they can remain in federal service,” Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Eric McArthur said.
For now, the fate of 300 federalized California soldiers remains in limbo, though troops are currently barred by court orders from deployment in California and Oregon.
Times staff writers David Zahniser and Kevin Rector contributed to this report.