creates

The strange political bedfellows created by efforts to save spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest just got even stranger.

Already Republican members of Congress were allied with animal rights activists.
They don’t want trained shooters to kill up to 450,000 barred owls, which are outcompeting northern spotted owls, under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan approved last year that would unfold over three decades.

Now, timber interests are aligning with environmentalists in favor of culling the owls.

Some logging advocates are afraid nixing the plan will slow down timber harvesting. Roughly 2.6 million acres of timberlands in western Oregon managed by the Bureau of Land Management are governed by resource management plans contingent on the barred owl cull going forward, according to Travis Joseph, president and chief executive of the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing mills, loggers, lumber buyers and other stakeholders in the region.

The area can produce at least 278 million board feet per year under current plans, “with the potential for significantly more,” Joseph said in a mid-October letter to Congress.

If the cull is scrapped, he said, the federal agency likely will need to restart Endangered Species Act consultation for the northern spotted owl, which is listed as threatened. It’s a process that could take years. According to the letter, it would create “unacceptable risks and delays to current and future timber sales.”

Timber production goals laid out by the Trump administration also could be jeopardized.

Momentum to stop the cull gained ground this summer when Sen. John Kennedy, a conservative from Louisiana, introduced a resolution to reverse the Biden-era plan.
That move reflected an unlikely alliance between some right-wing politicians and animal rights advocates who say it’s too expensive and inhumane. Some Democrats have also opposed the cull, and companion legislation in the House has bipartisan backers.

The stakes are high. Many environmentalists and scientists maintain that northern spotted owls will go extinct if their competitors aren’t kept in check. Barred owls — which originally hail from eastern North America — are larger, more aggressive and less picky when it comes to habitat and food, giving them an edge when vying for resources.

Last week, Politico’s E&E News reported that Kennedy said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum asked him to stand down from his effort to stop the owl-killing plan. The legislator told the outlet he would charge ahead anyway.

“I don’t think the federal government ought to be telling God, nature — whatever you believe in — this one can exist, this one can’t,” Kennedy told E&E. “The barred owl is not the first species that has ever moved its territory and it won’t be the last.”

Kennedy did not respond to The Times’ request for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said they could not respond to the inquiry because of the government shutdown.

“It’s strange that a Republican in the south is taking on the owl issue, specifically, when its consequences will impact western Oregon BLM timber sales,” Joseph said in an interview. “It will lead to lower revenues for counties, it will impact jobs and it will put the spotted owl on a trajectory towards extinction.”

The stance aligns in part with that of environmental groups like the Environmental Protection Information Center and Center for Biological Diversity, which have supported culling barred owls to help the beleaguered spotted owls in their native territory. It’s an unexpected overlap, given environmentalists’ long history of fighting to protect old-growth forests in the region the owls call home.

Tom Wheeler, chief executive of EPIC, said it’s possible that culling barred owls could lead to a bump in timber harvest on the BLM land in western Oregon but overall it would lead to more habitat being protected throughout the spotted owls’ expansive range. The presence of spotted owls triggers protections under the Endangered Species Act. If the cull boosts the spotted owl population as intended, it means more guardrails.

“It puts us in admittedly an awkward place,” Wheeler said. “But our advocacy for barred owl removal is predicated not on treating the northern spotted owl as a tool against the timber industry and against timber harvest. What we’re trying to do is provide for the continued existence of the species.”

Many Native American tribes support controlling barred owls in the region. In a letter to Congress last week, the nonprofit Intertribal Timber Council said barred owls threaten more than the spotted owl.

“As a generalist predator, it poses risks to a wide range of forest and aquatic species that hold varying degrees of social and ecological importance to tribes, including species integral to traditional food systems and watershed health,” wrote the council, which aims to improve the management of natural resources important to Native American communities.

Since 2013, the Hoopa Valley tribe in Northern California has been involved with sanctioned hunting of the owls and has observed the spotted owl population stabilizing over time, according to the letter.

However, groups like Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Human Economy argue that the plan to take out so many barred owls over a vast landscape won’t work, aside from the high owl death toll. More barred owls simply will fly into where others were removed, said Wayne Pacelle, president of both groups.

That makes habitat key — and the prospect of losing more to logging in western Oregon devastating, according to Pacelle.

To stop the owl-culling plan, both chambers of Congress would need to pass a joint resolution and President Trump would need to sign it. If successful, the resolution would preclude the agency from pursuing a similar rule, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

The plan already faced setbacks. In May, federal officials canceled three related grants totaling more than $1.1 million, including one study that would have removed barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties

Sept. 16 (UPI) — A group of Scouts from underserved communities will get a chance to earn up to 40 merit badges in one day at Morehouse University in Atlanta.

The event, Alpha Merit Badge University, was created and is managed by members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The event will host 300-350 youth from Scouting America and local councils on Sept. 27.

While earning their badges, including some Eagle-required badges, Scouts can engage with accomplished Alpha brothers, college students and community professionals who serve as merit-badge counselors, mentors and role models.

AMBU Chair Derek Smith said the event has been happening since 2023, and the fraternity’s affiliation with Scouting America, formerly Boy Scouts of America, has been in place since 2015.

Smith said that, as the father of a son who is working to become an Eagle Scout, he noticed some inequities.

“I just saw that Black Eagle Scouts are a unicorn,” Smith said in an interview. “[They’re] very hard to find. A half of 1% of all Eagle Scouts are Black Eagle Scouts.”

Smith spoke to former Scouts of different ages, and “they all said the same thing — that they were not given the same access or the same resources as the other Scouts. If they were told about merit badge clinics, it would be at the end and they were all filled up, or they would be so far out. So, I wanted to establish and create a merit badge clinic in metro Atlanta, where Scouts on the south side of Atlanta can get to because there was nothing for them.”

This year, the event has something new. Scouts who have partial badges completed but need someone to sign off on them can get that accomplished. The event also has combined several badges so that Scouts can use classes to apply for more than one badge.

The Scouts can’t just attend and load up on badges, though. They must take what they’ve learned at the AMBU and then do the work back home. Or, in some cases, they can do the work in advance and come in and take the class at AMBU. For example, a Scout working on an aviation merit badge would have to visit an airport or aviation museum to complete their learning for the badge, Smith said.

Smith said the event is going national and even international. Other cities are planning to host their own AMBU events. Some cities Smith mentioned include Charlotte, N.C.; Houston; central New Jersey; Oakland, Calif.; and Birmingham, Ala.

Next year, Smith said the organization hopes to have Alpha Merit Badge University Day the first Saturday in October, on which there will be AMBU events in each of the fraternity’s five regions.

Some classes available to participants include: environmental science and energy; safety and fire safety; crime prevention and fingerprinting; citizenship in the nation and world; engineering and inventing; entrepreneurship and sales; disability awareness and more.

The day includes an opening ceremony, Alpha Merit Badge classes, collaborative Alpha chapter strolling performances, a Real Talk panel and closing ceremony.

Alpha Phi Alpha partners with Scouting America because of the fraternity’s goal of encouraging leadership, Smith said.

“At Alpha, we develop leaders at college and professionally, but also, Boy Scouts develops leaders at a younger age,” he said. “So it just makes sense that we have similar missions that we would help out to start developing leaders at a younger age. And it’s a win-win for everyone. It’s a win-win for the youth. It’s a win-win for the community. It’s a win-win for us. It’s all about creating and developing future leaders.”

NewsFeed

A former Israeli soldier has created a video game based on the Gaza war, which he says aims to ‘humanise’ Israeli troops. Scenes from the game’s promo video depict the destruction in Gaza, which rights groups say Israeli soldiers already treat as if it were a video game.

In the standings, all is right again in the Dodgers’ world. Clayton Kershaw was, well, Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers won.

In the box score, all was not well. As you already have guessed, the bullpen: Five relievers were needed to cover the final three innings, in which the San Diego Padres put potential tying and/or go-ahead runs on base in each of those innings.

And, on Day 1 of Life Without Muncy 2.0, the Dodgers managed four hits.

With 40 games to play, the Dodgers and Padres are tied atop the National League West. If Max Muncy can play in even a handful of those games, the Dodgers will be grateful.

The Dodgers put their third baseman on the injured list Friday afternoon because of a strained oblique muscle. When Muncy went on the injured list last month because of a knee injury, the Dodgers led the majors in runs. He missed 25 games, in which the Dodgers ranked last in runs.

Of the Dodgers’ four hits on Friday evening, three were delivered by the bottom three batters in the lineup. That means Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages went a combined 1 for 17.

“Max just has that balance in the lineup, as far as another left-handed (hitter),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but also handles left-handed pitching and has the ability to get on base.

“He’s a threat. Now, without him, other guys have got to step up.”

The Dodgers’ left-handed bats, as of Friday: Ohtani, Freeman, outfielder Michael Conforto (.189) and backup catcher Dalton Rushing (.202).

It should go without saying that Ohtani and Freeman remain imposing. It should also go without saying that opponents might well line up right-handers against the Dodgers, including the Padres throwing Dylan Cease against them Saturday and Yu Darvish on Sunday.

“We’re going to see a slew of right-handed pitching,” Roberts said. “There are going to be right-handers coming out of the pen.

“Our right-handers have got to be better.”

On that score, the most encouraging development for the Dodgers on Friday was Hernández hitting what turned out to be the decisive home run.

“Teo came to life with a big homer,” Roberts said.

Hernández hit 33 home runs last season, when his OPS was at least .762 in each month of the season. His OPS has been below .762 in each month this season except the first one.

In the Dodgers’ first 29 games, he hit nine home runs. In the 93 games since then, he has hit 10.

“Some days, it’s good. Some days, it’s bad,” Hernández said. “Some days, it’s in between. Hitting is not easy. But I’m going to continue to keep working and try to be consistent for the month and a half, and hopefully in the playoffs.”

The pennant stretch comes first, and Roberts has faith in Hernández.

Said Roberts: “It’s an easy bet that, when the stakes get higher, Teo is going to really show up for us.”

Muncy does that, in getting on base and in circling the bases. In October, when the pitching can rise to the occasion, so can Muncy.

His OPS is higher in the playoffs than in the regular season. He walks way more often. He can elevate the Dodgers’ lineup in October, if the rest of the lineup can step up and help get him there.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — National Purple Heart Day will be celebrated on the seventh day of August after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation making it so on Thursday.

The president was joined by many Purple Heart recipients and their families during a signing ceremony honoring the nation’s military personnel at the White House.

“We’re here to honor and celebrate the unyielding patriotism and grit and devotion to America’s Purple Heart veterans with emotion and great love,” Trump told the audience.

He said Gen. George Washington created the Purple Heart on Aug. 7, 1782, when he presented a purple ribbon shaped like a heart to each of three soldiers for their gallantry in battle.

“Just as George Washington did 243 years ago, today we give our everlasting thanks to you and your unbelievable families,” Trump said while referencing the dozens of Purple Heart recipients in the audience.

While Washington was the first to bestow a Purple Heart to soldiers, it remained a footnote in U.S. military history until Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the War Department officially created the Purple Heart as a badge for military merit in 1932.

The award was narrowed to one solely for those wounded or killed in combat in 1944, and nearly 1.9 million service members have received the honor.

Three of the nearly 100 wounded warriors who attended Thursday’s signing ceremony last year gave their Purple Heart medals to Trump after he survived being shot in his right ear by a would-be assassin during a campaign rally in Butler, Penn., on July 13, 2024.

Those veterans are Thomas Matteo, Gerald Enter Jr., and John Ford.

“What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” Trump said while thanking the three men.

“In a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me, either,” he added,” but you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it all very much.”

The president also honored his 2024 campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who is a Marine Corps veteran and received a Purple Heart in 1991 while serving in the Gulf War.

Others mentioned during the signing ceremony include Kevin Willette and his son Brian Willette. Both he and his son received Purple Hearts while serving in Afghanistan.

Military specialist Kevin Brown also was honored for pulling Capt. Sam Brown from a Humvee that an explosive device had damaged.

Both men earned their Purple Hearts on that day, and the Senate last week confirmed Brown as the Military Affairs Department’s under-secretary for memorial affairs.

Trump said the Purple Heart “tells a story of courage, sacrifice and purpose” and “speaks of a price paid for the soldier beside you, the country behind you and the generations of Americans yet to come.”

He then signed the proclamation designating Aug. 7 as National Purple Heart Day.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday raised tariffs on goods imported from India to 50% in response to the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil.

“I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” President Donald Trump said in an executive order.

“Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25%,” the executive order said.

This adds to the previous 25% tariffs set to take effect Thursday. The new tax will begin in 21 days.

The India tariff is now one of the highest on all of the United States’ trading partners, and it’s the latest sign that Trump is honoring his threat on countries that buy oil from Russia. The tariff is meant to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to encourage him to work toward a peace agreement with Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would raise the tariff on India “very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil, they’re fueling the war machine.”

“And if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy,” Trump said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

In response to Trump’s Monday threat, India accused the United States, and the European Union, of hypocrisy, saying they began importing from Russia “because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict.”

“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by global market situation,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion.”

It said the targeting of India was “unjustified and unreasonable.”

“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”

Trump has long seen tariffs as a tool to right trade deficits and as a bargaining tool. He has also started to use it as a punitive measure to retaliate against countries for taking actions he disagrees with.

Through the glassed-in entrance of Citizen Public Market in Culver City, up its short flight of stairs, past scents of barbecue coming from the Smokey Chance stand and chefs wrapping dry-aged fish into handrolls at Uoichiba, I turn a sharp right and reach the back of the food hall. Kiano Moju stands at an island behind an L-shaped counter. She’s calling out orders: “Two chicken and a beef, please. And I’m still waiting on a shrimp?”

Moju is the author of “AfriCali,” one of the Food team’s favorite cookbooks of 2024, in which she grafts the East African and West African flavors of her heritage with an approach to cooking she learned growing up in the Bay Area. In her hands, bacon, avocado and tomato jam fill an omelet rolled into a chapati in the Ugandan street food called rolex, and dirty chai (jolted with a shot of espresso) complicates the classic charms of tiramisu.

Now Moju has given herself a new job title: restaurateur.

Jikoni, which means “kitchen” in Swahili, is the name of her pop-up operating inside the market from Wednesday to Sunday throughout summer. Dishes derive from recipes in “AfriCali.” She’s structured the menu around riffs on street-food kebabs she remembers from coastal Kenya, where she spent summers growing up.

In the book she writes, “My first time eating mishkaki was in the northern part of Mombasa, in a local eatery where the meat hits your table within seconds of it being pulled off the charcoal grill. The accompaniments are simple because the meat is the star.”

As one example of her adaptive process: In “AfriCali,” she considers how to rework chicken and chips, a fast food popular in Nairobi that pairs flash-fried chicken and fries with poussin sauce made of chile-spiced butter and lemon juice. For the cookbook version, she rubs chicken with garlic and dried oregano before roasting it and then brushing the bird with poussin sauce right before serving.

At Jikoni, she grills chicken thighs threaded on skewers. The buttery sauce brings the character, with smoked paprika and Kashmiri chile powder (which has its own berry-like smokiness), a base of ginger and garlic and lemon juice’s lifting tartness. Similarly, garlicky butterflied shrimp soak in peri-peri butter, fragrant with basil, parsley and cilantro and punched with sweet paprika and cayenne pepper.

“Suya” is a Nigerian word for skewers typically coated with yaji, a peppery spice blend that includes crushed peanuts and burns with cayenne and cardamom. Moju thoroughly coats lamb chops with yaji and rosemary; the meat can stand up to the barrage.

Each mishkaki variation comes with two sides. Among them: Moju’s simplified variation on egusi, the Nigerian stew thickened with ground melon seeds, which she renders far less soupy paired with kale. She seasons the dish with curry powder and, crucially, ground crayfish for its specific umami. A soothing recipe in “AfriCali” for chickpeas simmered in coconut sauce here becomes a foil for butter beans: They half-melt into coconut milk curried with garam masala and cumin seeds and tinted with turmeric.

Those are my two favorites, though I’d also encourage an extra side of basmati rice to sop up a meal’s mingled sauces. And then dessert: a riff on Key lime pie with the addition of fresh passion fruit and gingersnaps for the crust.

Welcome flavors, smart approach

Jikoni is a thoroughly heartening endeavor. Minus our wealth of Ethiopian restaurants, Los Angeles has too few showcases for the cuisines of Africa; how rich to have a glimpse into contrasting tastes of two of the continent’s coastal cultures on one succinct menu. And given the far more common path of chef to cookbook author, it’s fun to see how Moju and her crew (which frequently includes her mother, Katano Kasaine) acclimate her recipes to the rhythms of restaurant-style service. Interior design is also among her talents: Notice the beautifully curated shelves behind the ordering counter, arranged with African pottery and art and cookbooks written on a breadth of cuisines across Africa and its diasporas, that brings to mind the dining room of Two Hommés in Inglewood that she helped reenvision.

Return for Swahili-style biriyani

In June, as a practice run for Jikoni, Moju settled into the market stand by serving Swahili-style biriyani, a Kenyan variation in which rice and saucy spiced meat (short ribs, in this case) are cooked separately and combined on the plate with fried onions and rounds of green chile. I heard glowing reports about the biriyani but missed its early run.

Good news: Many people have asked for it, so Moju has said she’ll be re-creating the dish as a recurring Sunday night special. See you there.

Jikoni at Citizen Public Market, 9355 Culver Blvd., Culver City, jikoni.co

Also …

• Want to know where to eat right now in Los Angeles? Danielle Dorsey recaps the Food team’s month of reporting and restaurant recommendations.
• Cole’s French Dip announced in early July that it would be closing on Aug. 2. Karla Marie Sanford reports that, after a surge in business after the announcement, the restaurant will delay its closure by 45 days.
• Jenn Harris reflects on her grandmother, Phyllis Harris, who died on July 17 at 91, and the profound ways she inspired Jenn’s career path.

  

  Phyllis Harris with two granddaughters at a dim sum restaurant in Los Angeles.

  (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )

• Stephanie Breijo writes about the legacy of Bill Elwell, the colorful owner-operator of Van Nuys burger stand Bill’s Burgers, who died on July 21 at age 98.
• Gustavo Arellano has the scoop on a new iteration of Carlos Salgado’s Taco María, the lauded Costa Mesa restaurant that closed in June 2023. The location of his new place, named La Sirena? Wisconsin.

Rescuers working at a site of a strike following a mass Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on July 4, 2025. The European Commission announced a $2.7 billion fund to help Ukraine recover from war. Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/UPI | License Photo

July 10 (UPI) — The European Commission on Wednesday announced a $2.7 billion package of agreements with financial institutions to support Ukraine‘s recovery and reconstruction efforts.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.

“Today, the EU reaffirms its role as Ukraine’s strongest partner. Not just its top donor, but a key investor in its future,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said. “With $2.7 billion in agreements signed, we aim to unlock up to $11.7 billion in investments to rebuild homes, reopen hospitals, revive businesses, and secure energy. This is solidarity in action. Ukraine is moving closer to the EU every day — in energy, education, roaming, and culture. Europe stands with Ukraine — today and tomorrow.”

The package includes $2.1 billion in loan guarantees and $677 million in grants. It is expected to mobilize up to $11.7 billion in investments in Ukraine.

“(It will be) the largest equity fund globally to support reconstruction,” she said. “It will, together with the private sector, kickstart investment in energy, transport, critical raw materials, dual-use industries. We are taking a stake in Ukraine’s future by leveraging public money to bring large-scale private sector investments and help the rebuilding of the country.”

Von der Leyen named as contributors Italy, Germany, France, Poland and the European Investment Bank. She said, “I trust others will be eager to join. The people of Ukraine are ready to drive their country’s economy into the future. The time to invest is now.”

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said on Wednesday that the country will need at least $40 billion in external financing in 2026 because it now allocates most of its budget to defense.

With an initial capital of $257 million, the fund plans to mobilize $584 million by 2026 – with further fundraising planned as security conditions improve, a press release said. The Flagship Fund will foster the developmzent of a private equity ecosystem in Ukraine to attract new capital and “maximize synergies with existing market players.”