Tag: sense

Project R.I.D.E. offers equine therapy in Elk Grove

Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs. “It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month. He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.“I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.”They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.”He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady. “It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.”Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

ELK GROVE, Calif. —

Project R.I.D.E in Elk Grove has been connecting riders and horses across the greater Sacramento area since 1979, offering equine therapy to people of all ages with special needs.

“It’s hard to put in words unless you experience it,” Danny Ford, director of operations at Project R.I.D.E., said of the program’s impact. “I think it’s the happiest place on Earth. It’s better than Disneyland, in my opinion.”

The nonprofit and therapeutic riding facility offers recreational riding to individuals with diagnosed physical, emotional and intellectual disabilities. The organization has a list of some of the diagnoses it accepts listed on its website.

Five-year-old Rahi Parekh uses a wheelchair. KCRA 3 joined him for his lesson at Project R.I.D.E. late last month.

He said he enjoys playing games while horseback riding and visiting with the barn cats, who also call the facility home.

“I feel happy. Yeah. Happy. I feel happy,” he said.

Ford noted horses have a special ability to connect with their riders.

“They know completely how you’re feeling when you’re sitting in the saddle. They can actually sense and feel your heartbeat as well,” he said. “They will kind of match your senses, the way you’re feeling.”

Ford began his work with the organization as a volunteer, but he first came through the barn doors as a dad. His son started riding at the facility as a toddler.

“He’s now 21, has Down syndrome,” Ford said. “The sense of independence and that sense of control in life, I think, completely changes his life for 30 minutes, at least, every week.”

For individuals who are unable to ride, Project R.I.D.E also has a fully interactive simulated horse, fondly named Buster Brady.

“It’s hard to put into words exactly everything that we can do here, but it’s easy to see on the faces of our participants, I think, what the outcome of it all is,” Ford said.

Project R.I.D.E. instructors are accredited through PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship.

“Come and sit in the stands, watch a lesson, and it’ll completely change your life to see the joy and the reward that some of these people get from the time that they spend with us,” Ford said.

The organization is currently preparing for its annual steak dinner fundraiser on April 18. It relies on donations and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the program active.

As part of our 70 Years of Service initiative, we’re highlighting organizations that are making a difference all year long. See more stories in the series here.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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February 4, 2026
With CIA strike, signs Trump is ‘shaping the battlespace’ in Venezuela

WASHINGTON — The day after Christmas is typically quiet in the nation’s capital. But President Trump’s decision to acknowledge a covert U.S. strike on Venezuelan territory, in an interview with an obscure local news outlet on Friday, set off a scramble in a drowsy Washington that has become a hallmark of the president.

Officials working on Latin America policy for the administration that had been closely tracking reports of refinery fires and other curious events throughout Venezuela couldn’t immediately figure out which target the president was talking about, three sources familiar with the matter told The Times.

Trump would later detail that the strike targeted a “dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.” But initial confusion from within his own government signaled just how tight a circle within the West Wing is determining whether to climb the escalation ladder toward war with Caracas.

Trump initially confirmed he had authorized CIA actions in Venezuela in an exchange with reporters on October. While the administration is obligated to report covert CIA operations to Congress, more robust congressional authorization is required for the use of military force.

“I authorized for two reasons, really. No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America,” Trump said at the time. “And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

The strike comes as Venezuelan authorities have increased the number of U.S. citizens detained in their custody, the New York Times first reported on Friday. Caracas had freed 17 Americans and permanent residents held in notorious Venezuelan prisons at the start of the Trump administration.

Evan Ellis, who served in Trump’s first term planning State Department policy on Latin America, the Caribbean and international narcotics, said it was “unclear whether the initial plan was for this operation to be publicly announced in an interview by the president.” Venezuela’s dictatorial president, Nicolás Maduro, “was certainly confused about it,” he said.

“It would make sense for them to do something like that, rather then a military strike, especially right now when there’s a delicate line between military operations and other things,” Ellis added. “My sense is — to the extent the president has acknowledged it — that this was them carrying out their mission to shape the battlespace in support of broader national objectives.”

But Trump has yet to articulate the full scope of those objectives, leaving observers to wonder whether regime change in Venezuela is his true, ultimate aim.

Trump has repeatedly told the media that Maduro’s days in power are numbered. The administration refers to him and his regime as an illegitimate narco-state terrorizing American communities. On a bipartisan basis, going back to Trump’s first term and throughout the Biden administration, the United States has recognized a democratic opposition in Venezuela as its rightful government.

But a military war on the drug trade would make little sense targeting Venezuela, where only a fraction of illicit narcotics smuggled into the United States originate. Trump has hinted in recent weeks at other motives driving his calculus.

Over the last four months, the Trump administration slowly ramped up its pressure campaign on Maduro, first by targeting boats allegedly carrying narcotics and drug smugglers in international waters before announcing a blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. Venezuela’s oil exports have consequently plummeted by half over the course of the last month.

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department also issued sanctions against four companies that it said were either operating in Venezuela’s oil sector or as accompanying oil tankers.

“Maduro’s regime increasingly depends on a shadow fleet of worldwide vessels to facilitate sanctionable activity, including sanctions evasion, and to generate revenue for its destabilizing operations,” the department said in a statement. “Today’s action further signals that those involved in the Venezuelan oil trade continue to face significant sanctions risks.”

The Pentagon, meanwhile, has stationed nearly a quarter of the U.S. naval fleet in the Caribbean since the summer, in what Trump has referred to as a “massive armada” without precedent in the region.

While Venezuela’s current oil output is modest, the nation sits on the world’s largest known oil reserves, offering significant potential access to any future strategic partners. China is currently the largest importer of Venezuelan oil, and at least one tanker subjected to the U.S. blockade has sought protection from Moscow, Maduro’s chief military ally.

Addressing the blockade in an exchange with reporters, Trump said he had spoken with top U.S. oil executives about what the Venezuelan market would look like with Maduro no longer in power. And he suggested the U.S. government would keep whatever barrels are seized, hearkening back to Trump’s campaign, throughout the 2010s, for the United States to control the oil fields of Iraq as the spoils of its war there.

“We’re going to keep it,” Trump said last week, of the 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan oil on the first tanker seized. “Maybe we’ll sell it. Maybe we’ll keep it. Maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserves. We’re keeping it.”

“We’re keeping the ships, also,” he added.

Michael Wilner

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December 31, 2025
Best of L.A. home design: The 14 most memorable rooms of 2025

As a design writer, I feel lucky to get to peek inside some of Los Angeles’ most iconic homes.

This year, I visited many places, from Midcentury Modern landmarks by Edward Fickett and Raphael Soriano to humble apartments filled with Facebook Marketplace finds.

The rooms that stayed with me long after I left were not always the most luxurious or expensively furnished. Instead, they were the ones that made me smile and left a lasting impression of the person who lives there.

Here are the 14 rooms that resonated with me this year and the people who live in them who inspired me even more.

A colorful, sun-drenched kitchen in Mount Washington that connects to nature

(Mariah Tauger / For The Times)

Priced out of much of Los Angeles, architect Lindsay Sheron and her husband Daniel bought a vacant hillside lot in Mount Washington and proceeded to design and build their own home. Working over a three-year period, the couple served as general contractors and did much of the work themselves. The kitchen is a standout, featuring bright green custom kitchen cabinets painted Raw Tomatillo by Farrow & Ball, which add vitality to the single-wall layout. A custom metal hood by Practice Fabrication, powder-coated the color of a Pixie tangerine, adds a sense of fun.

“I wanted our house to feel really warm and bring nature inside,” says Lindsay, referring to the Western hemlock tongue and groove planks that she and Daniel installed on the walls and ceilings. “Wood does the heavy lifting in accomplishing that.”

Tour the custom built home here.

In Hollywood, a stunning living room that’s filled with second-hand furnishings

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Caitlin Villarreal felt giddy the first time she stepped inside the Whitley Heights rental, a storied 1926 Mediterranean-style penthouse with towering ceilings, hand-carved wooden beams and a pair of arched bookcases alongside an oversize fireplace.

“It had good energy,” Villarreal said of the 1,500-square-foot apartment she rents in a historic neighborhood where Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin and Bette Davis once lived. “It’s iconic just by standing tall year after year. It has floor-to-ceiling Old Hollywood windows that blow open unexpectedly just like in the movies. It doesn’t feel like a rental. It feels like a forever home.”

Tour the Hollywood penthouse here.

A Midcentury Modern dining room in Studio City that Raphael Soriano would approve of

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Architect Linda Brettler’s list of things she loves about her Raphael Soriano-designed home is long, even though the all-aluminum structure, which was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1997, was in desperate need of updating when she purchased it in 2021. “I like doing projects like this where I get to have my own hand and feel, but I’m still honoring what was here,” Brettler says. “I’m trying to create an idealized version of what the house would look like now.” In the dining room, a reproduction of a Millard Sheets painting, rendered by Cal Poly Pomona students on Tyvek, is mounted on a cork-lined wall. Above the painting, she has mounted a projector screen for movie nights and video games.

Tour the historic all-aluminum home here.

A modern West Hollywood living room decorated with pets in mind

(Kit Karzen / For The Times)

“My original inspiration was to match the furniture to the kitties so I don’t see their cat hair,” anesthesiologist Jeffrey Hamilton says of the West Hollywood condo he shares with his boyfriend David Poli, his cats Romulus and Remus and Poli’s Husky mix, Janeway. “The cats very much informed the color scheme. I find them so handsome; it felt like having matching furniture was practical.”

In the living room, Hamilton chose a camel-colored Curvo sofa in velvet by Goop for CB2, which he found on Facebook Marketplace. Similarly, the accompanying swivel chairs from HD Buttercup and the barstool seats in the kitchen are upholstered in Bengal and Husky-durable textiles that camouflage their rescues pet hair.

“Jeffrey likes to say that everything in his apartment is a rescue, including me,” says Poli jokingly.

Tour the West Hollywood condo here.

A surprising Silver Lake kitchen that doubles as a retro video store

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Chris Rose fondly remembers the days when he worked at the independent video store I Luv Video in Austin, Texas.

Now an L.A.-based writer, director and producer, Rose, 41, recalls the Austin store’s eclectic assortment of cult oddities and world cinema.

Although he can no longer visit the video store, Rose doesn’t have to go far to rent these days, as he has brought a similar yet distinctive collection to the kitchen of his one-bedroom bungalow in Silver Lake.

Tour the Silver Lake apartment here.

Two college friends transform a Glassell Park living room (and garage) into an art-filled escape

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Antonio Adriano Puleo didn’t intend to renovate his traditional 1946 bungalow, but after consulting with architectural designer Ben Warwas, who told him he could transform the house into a “forever home,” the artist changed his plans.

“The living room wasn’t big enough, and it featured a huge red brick fireplace that had doors on either side of it, leading to the backyard,” said Warwas.

The living room of the main house is now open and airy, with custom cabinets and millwork by James Melinat that showcase the artwork Puleo made himself and the pieces he has collected for more than 30 years. The living room’s fireplace is gone, but the wooden mantle remains atop a console behind the sofa, graced with a series of colorful ceramic planters by Ashley Campbell and Brian Porray of Happy Hour Ceramics.

“Little tweaks totally transformed the house,” Warwas said.

Tour the house and ADU here.

A fabulous wet bar in a West Hollywood apartment that’s perfect for parties

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Growing up in a small town outside of Cleveland, Tyler Piña was fascinated by Los Angeles and the glamour of Hollywood.

“My dad grew up out here, and it’s where my parents met,” says the 33-year-old screenwriter. “I remember looking at old Polaroids of them in the ‘80s and seeing how much fun they had.”

His attraction to Los Angeles, however, was more than just nostalgia. “I was mesmerized by the landscapes and architecture,” he says.

Looking back, he can’t believe he realized his dream of moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco in 2018 and eventually renting a Midcentury Modern penthouse by Edward Fickett steps from the Sunset Strip.

“A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here,” says Piña.

Tour the Midcentury apartment here.

A bedroom in Beachwood Canyon is transformed into an art-filled office (and occasional guest room)

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

When Natalie Babcock and Samuel Gibson found a listing for a sunny apartment in Beachwood Canyon five years ago, they immediately fell for the two bedroom’s charming built-in bookshelves, faux fireplace, hardwood floors and formal dining room. Practical amenities such as an in-unit laundry and a garage, which are often elusive in Los Angeles rentals, didn’t hurt.

Today, however, the couple says they are most impressed by the sense of belonging they have found in the community just outside their 1928 Spanish fourplex. Here, where tourists and brides in wedding gowns often pose for photographs in the middle of the street in an effort to capture the Hollywood sign in the background, Babcock and Gibson have become part of a larger family. “Everyone knows our dogs’ names,” says Babcock.

The couple’s taste is vibrant, and the colorful interiors reflect their sense of fun and love of design. They painted one wall in Gibson’s office a dramatic Kelly green, which makes the white-trimmed windows and his extensive art collection pop.

“Art is one thing that I am always happy to spend money on,” Gibson says.

Tour the Beachwood Canyon apartment here.

A treasures-filled living room in Eagle Rock that’s a colorful showstopper

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Isa Beniston and Scotty Zaletel are romantics. Not just in their love for each other, which they are as vocal about three years in as budding high school crushes, but also in the way they describe the contents of their 412-square-foot one-bedroom apartment. They can recall the season they discovered each treasure — from fruit-shaped throw pillows to more than 30 animal portraits — and the cross streets of the flea markets from which they bought them. They gush about the time they’ve spent together in fabric stores and flooring supply shops as if they were dimly lighted restaurants primed for date night.

“We both just love stuff,” the two said in near-unison.

— Lina Abascal

Tour the 412-square foot apartment here.

A tricked-out garage/ADU in Venice that serves as an office, gym and family hub

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

“They’re fun,” architect Aejie Rhyu says of the creative couple Will Burroughs and Frith Dabkowski, as she walked by the undulating two-story ADU she helped them realize.

Rhyu’s assessment helps to explain the joy that permeates the family compound, from the pink Los Angeles Toile wallpaper in the bedroom (humorously adorned with illustrations of L.A.’s beloved mountain lion P-22, the La Brea Tar Pits and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre) to the tricked-out garage on the first floor, which includes overhead bike storage, an espresso maker, a mini-fridge and a large flat-screen TV that allows Sydney-born Burroughs to watch Formula One car races and cricket games at 4 a.m. when his family is asleep.

Burroughs even installed a subwoofer speaker beneath the sofa to give the garage the feel of a movie theater during family movie nights. “Jack went flying off the couch when we watched ‘Top Gun,’ ” he said of their son, laughing.

Tour the two-story ADU with a rooftop deck here.

A serene guest room in Mid-Wilshire that’s a light-filled studio for a textile artist

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

After living in her two-bedroom apartment in Los Feliz for more than a decade, Debra Weiss encountered a problem experienced by many renters in Los Angeles: She was evicted.

When her son-in-law spotted a charming two-bedroom apartment near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Zillow, her initial reaction was, “I want this,” Weiss said of the fourplex.

The rental had high ceilings, oak floors, ample sunlight, an appealing fireplace, a garage and a washer and dryer.

In the guest room, a wall hanging composed of three separate weavings in a gingham check pattern is embroidered with a series of characters she based on her 5-year-old granddaughter’s drawings. “It’s about people coming together in chaos and supporting each other,” Weiss said.

Even though the process of having to move was stressful, Weiss is happy with her new home and neighborhood. “I take the Metro bus everywhere and hardly ever drive,” she said. “Everything worked out perfectly.”

Tour the sunny Mid-Wilshire fourplex here.

A ’70s-inspired speakeasy/lounge in Highland Park that’s hidden behind a bookcase

(Carianne Older / For The Times)

Standing beneath a glittering tiered chandelier in her pink “cloffice,” designer Dani Dazey shares the essence of her colorful style: “From the wallpaper to the artwork, my home is a reflection of me right now,” she explains. “It’s a personal and hip twist on traditional design.”

Rather than embrace rustic farmhouse style or minimalist Midcentury Modern design as is often the case in Los Angeles, Dazey has taken the Highland Park home she shares with husband Phillip Butler and given it an over-the-top maximalist spin.

The speakeasy lounge, accessible through a hidden door sliding bookcase, is a ‘70s-inspired sanctuary with a modular sofa, curtains and wallpaper in the same floral pattern.

Their home is proof, that our homes should make us happy by reflecting who we are. In Dazey’s case, that translates to bold color, lush textures and retro vibes.

Tour the Highland Park home here.

A memento-filled living room in Long Beach is an ode to ‘the people we love’

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A sense of fun permeates the rooms of Cecilia and Abraham Beltran’s colorful one-bedroom Midcentury apartment in Long Beach.

“We both have a deep passion for Midcentury design and color,” Cecilia shares.

The Beltrans’ apartment encapsulates their design sensibility and “above all, the people we love,” Cecilia says. There’s bold, Midcentury Modern-inspired furniture the couple found on Craigslist, tongue-in-cheek smiling pillows and the “Hole to Another Universe” wall decal by Blik, which can be removed when they move. Peppered throughout the space are mementos from their travels, such as the limited-edition art print “La Famille” purchased on a trip to London in 2023.

Ultimately, Cecilia says, she wants the apartment “to feel like us. I think we pulled it off.”

Tour the Long Beach apartment here.

In Reseda, an apartment where every antique tells a story

(Stephen Ross Goldstein / For The Times)

When Evelyn Bauer, 97, downsized from her four-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks to an apartment in Reseda in 2014, the longtime collector and antiques dealer was forced to relinquish many of her personal belongings.

“Collecting is my passion, my addiction, and I’m so happy to be afflicted with it,” says Bauer, whose two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at an independent living facility for seniors is filled with furnishings and decorative arts from her 65 years as a collector.

Step inside her living room, and the vast collection of antiques feels like entering the former Encino Antique Center, where she was once the proprietor during the 1990s. Each item has a story, a memory and a unique charm that she cherishes.

“There’s always room for one more gem,” she says.

Tour the Reseda apartment here.

Lisa Boone

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December 22, 2025
Scammers make threatening calls impersonating Volusia County law enforcement

In Volusia County, scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, threatening residents with jail time if they do not pay money, prompting a warning from Sheriff Mike Chitwood.”The scammers are good, they catch you on your heels,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, expressing his frustration over the situation. He emphasized that the sheriff’s office does not operate in the manner the scammers suggest. “We do not come to your house and arrest you if you miss jury duty; we do not come to your house and tell you we can reduce your charges if you can give us x number of dollars. That is not how it works,” Chitwood said.Currently, one scammer is impersonating Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, the sheriff’s second in command. A recorded message falsely claims to be from Henderson, saying, “Yes, ugh, this is Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, Volusia County Sheriff’s Department. I need you to give me a call back.”Chitwood explained that using real names gives the scammers a sense of legitimacy. “It gives them validity because they check, do a cursory search, Google, and those names are going to come up. Think about this logically, why would the Chief of an organization call you up and ask for $5,000 and $10,000. Why?” he said.To protect themselves, Chitwood advised residents to simply hang up the phone. “Take ten seconds to hang up the phone, even if they are telling you not to, that’s all you got to do to protect yourself,” he said.Chitwood also had a message for the scammers: “Do you have a message for these guys? Yeah, if we track you down, we’re going to get your “Ironically, the very place scammers threaten to send their victims—jail—could be where the scammers themselves end up. Sheriff Chitwood noted that many of these scam calls originate from a prison in Georgia, where inmates use the money to buy snacks and clothes. Despite his pleas to government officials in Georgia to stop the calls, they continue.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —

In Volusia County, scammers are impersonating law enforcement officers, threatening residents with jail time if they do not pay money, prompting a warning from Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

“The scammers are good, they catch you on your heels,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, expressing his frustration over the situation.

He emphasized that the sheriff’s office does not operate in the manner the scammers suggest.

“We do not come to your house and arrest you if you miss jury duty; we do not come to your house and tell you we can reduce your charges if you can give us x number of dollars. That is not how it works,” Chitwood said.

Currently, one scammer is impersonating Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, the sheriff’s second in command.

A recorded message falsely claims to be from Henderson, saying, “Yes, ugh, this is Chief Deputy Brian Henderson, Volusia County Sheriff’s Department. I need you to give me a call back.”

Chitwood explained that using real names gives the scammers a sense of legitimacy.

“It gives them validity because they check, do a cursory search, Google, and those names are going to come up. Think about this logically, why would the Chief of an organization call you up and ask for $5,000 and $10,000. Why?” he said.

To protect themselves, Chitwood advised residents to simply hang up the phone.

“Take ten seconds to hang up the phone, even if they are telling you not to, that’s all you got to do to protect yourself,” he said.

Chitwood also had a message for the scammers: “Do you have a message for these guys? Yeah, if we track you down, we’re going to get your [expletive.]”

Ironically, the very place scammers threaten to send their victims—jail—could be where the scammers themselves end up.

Sheriff Chitwood noted that many of these scam calls originate from a prison in Georgia, where inmates use the money to buy snacks and clothes.

Despite his pleas to government officials in Georgia to stop the calls, they continue.

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December 16, 2025
Tijuana assassination mystery deepens as Mexico arrests suspect in 1994 Colosio case

MEXICO CITY — A breakthrough in the decades-long investigation of a political assassination that convulsed the nation?

Or a political stunt meant to distract from more pressing issues?

Those are the questions that emerged in Mexico after the arrest last weekend of an alleged “second shooter” in the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was gunned down at a rally in the border city of Tijuana.

His slaying is widely regarded as one of the most consequential — and contentious— events of recent Mexican history.

Doubts and conspiracy theories have long swirled over Colosio’s killing, long blamed on a “lone gunman” who was captured at the scene. Many have compared the lingering uncertainty about Colosio’s demise to the never-ending debate in the United States surrounding the 1963 killing of President John F. Kennedy, an assassination also blamed on a lone gunman with ill-defined motives.

Many in Mexico have disputed the prevalent theory: That an apparently nonpolitical factory worker, Mario Aburto, shot the candidate twice at point-blank range as Colosio mingled with citizens during the campaign event.

“I looked up and saw the gun right in front of me,” Maria Vidal, who was walking with Colosio at the scene, told the Times in 1994. “Then I saw him fall to the ground. Blood was coming out of his head.”

Colosio was shot once in the head and once in the abdomen, feeding speculation that a second gunman was involved.

People place flowers on March 23, 2004, in tribute to Luis Donaldo Colosio during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of his assasination in Tijuana.

(David Maung / Associated Press)

Aburto, who says he was tortured into confessing, continues to serve a 45-year prison sentence.

The Colosio case generated tens of thousands of pages of testimony from hundreds of witnesses, along with books, documentaries, and a TV miniseries on Netflix, all examining the question: What actually happened in Tijuana on March 23, 1994?

Speculation has fingered everyone from political insiders to drug traffickers as the ones behind Colosio’s assassination, which contributed to a sense of upheaval in Mexico. The year 1994 opened with a Zapatista rebellion in the south, soon followed by Colosio’s stunning murder, and culminated with a December collapse of the peso, triggering an economic crisis.

More than a quarter-century after the killing, Mexican writer Cuauhtémoc Ruiz captured the ubiquitous sense of ambiguity in his 2020 book, “Colosio: Sospechosos y Encubridores” — roughly, “Colosio: Suspects and Cover-ups,”

The Colosio case even spawned its own version of the Zapruder film, the storied home-movie sequence of JFK’s assassination in Dallas. Video clips from the fateful 1994 rally show Colosio, his curly black hair flecked with confetti, shaking hands and signing autographs as he winds his way through a gleeful political crowd.

Suddenly, the image of a hand grasping a pistol emerges from the scrum. The gun fires directly into the right side of the candidate’s head. Chaos ensues.

On Saturday ,according to reports here, federal prosecutors in Tijuana arrested a former intelligence agent, Jorge Antonio Sánchez Ortega, who had been wanted since last year in connection with Colosio’s killing.

Sánchez Ortega, authorities say, was part of federal protection team assigned to Colosio’s rally in Tijuana’s Lomas Taurinas neighborhood, near the city airport. The agent was arrested shortly after the killing, but prosecutors now say he was freed and whisked away as part of a cover-up. The agent’s clothing was stained with the victim’s blood, and ballistic evidence indicated he had fired a weapon, authorities say.

His new arrest stems from a bombshell about-face last year by the office of Mexico’s attorney general, which abruptly retreated from the lone-gunman allegation. Instead, prosecutors endorsed the hypothesis of a second shooter and named as a suspect “Jorge Antonio S.,” now identified as Sánchez Ortega.

But the former agent’s arrest has left more questions than answers. Prosecutors have provided no overarching theory on why Colosio was targeted, and who was behind his slaying.

Neither the ex-agent or his lawyer have commented since his arrest.

Jesús González Schmal, attorney for Aburto, the convicted assassin, hailed the arrest as a step toward clarifying what really happened to Colosio.

“This will open a horizon of knowledge about what occurred 31 years ago,” the lawyer said in a television interview.

But some labeled the arrest a thinly disguised attempt to distract people from more pressing current issues of crime and corruption.

The government of President Claudia Sheinbaum is using the memory of Colosio “to cover up its ineptitude,” Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, president of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, declared on X. The president, he said, “has no shame and no idea of how to govern.”

At the time of his slaying, Colosio was the presidential candidate of the PRI, which governed Mexico in authoritarian fashion for most of the 20th century. He was on track to be elected Mexico’s next president a few months later.

Colosio, 44, was seen widely viewed as a charismatic and progressive voice inside the rigid hierarchy of the PRI. He vowed to institute reforms and clean up deeply entrenched corruption and cronyism. Some have speculated that hard-liners within the ruling party were behind his killing — a theory long rejected by the PRI leadership.

After Colosio’s slaying, the PRI named Ernesto Zedillo, who had been Colosio’s campaign manager, as its candidate. Zedillo, a party loyalist and lackluster technocrat, won in a landslide and served a six-year term.

But, these days, the PRI is a weakened minority player in opposition to the government of Sheinbaum, elected under the banner of the now-dominant Morena party.

The arrest of an alleged accomplice in the Colosio killing comes days after another high-profile political assassination, this time of Mayor Carlos Manzo of the western city of Uruapan. He was gunned down at a Day of the Dead festival this month in what some call Mexico’s most sensational political assassination since Colosio’s slaying.

The killing of Manzo — who assailed Sheinbaum’s government for not doing more to combat cartels — sparked massive protests in his home state of Michoacán, a cartel battleground. Many criticized Sheinbaum’s government for what they called its lax attitude toward organized crime, an allegation denied by the president.

A generation after his assassination, Colosio’s slaying remains an epochal event that continues to cast a shadow over Mexican politics.

Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Patrick J. McDonnell

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November 13, 2025
Harris seemed to touch a nerve with Newsom, but says he has ‘a great sense of humor’

Kamala Harris picked her way through several sticky subjects in a Tuesday night TV interview, including her account of being ghosted by Gov. Gavin Newsom when she called for his support during her brief, unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.

On the eve of the public release of her book detailing that campaign, Harris spoke with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on her relationship with Newsom as well as the redistricting ballot measure Californians will vote on in November — and she also hailed “the power of the people” in getting Jimmy Kimmel back on ABC.

Kimmel was indefinitely suspended last week by the Walt Disney Co. over remarks he made about the suspect in the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. After fierce protests, consumers announcing subscription cancellations, and hundreds of celebrities speaking out against government censorship, Disney announced Monday that Kimmel would return on ABC the following day.

“Talk about the power being with the people and the people making that clear with their checkbooks,” Harris said of Kimmel’s return. “It spoke volumes, and it moved a decision in the right direction.”

Harris was speaking with Maddow about her new book, “107 Days,” which details her short sprint of a presidential campaign in 2024 after then-President Biden decided not to seek reelection.

The book discloses which Democrats immediately supported her to become the Democratic nominee, and which didn’t, notably Newsom. She wrote that, when she called, he texted her that he was hiking and would call her back but never did.

After Maddow raised the anecdote in the opening of the show, Harris said she had known Newsom “forever.”

“Gavin has a great sense of humor so, you know, he’s gonna be fine,” Harris said.

Newsom was icier when asked by a reporter about the interaction — or lack thereof — on Friday.

“You want to waste your time with this, we’ll do it,” Newsom said, adding that he was hiking when he received a call from an unknown number, even as he was trying to learn more about Biden’s decision not to run for reelection while also asking his team to craft a statement supporting Harris to be the Democratic nominee. “I assume that’s in the book as well — that, hours later, the endorsement came out.”

Harris brought up Newsom when asked about Proposition 50, the redistricting ballot measure championed by the governor and other California Democrats that voters will decide in November. If approved, the state’s congressional districts will be redrawn in an effort to boost Democratic seats in the house to counter efforts by President Trump to increase the number of Republicans elected in GOP-led states.

“Let me say about what [Newsom] is doing, redistricting, it is absolutely the right way to go. Part of what we’ve got to, I think, challenge ourselves to accept, is that we tend to play by the rules,” Harris said. “But I think this is a moment where you gotta fight fire with fire. And so what Gavin is doing, what the California Legislature is doing, what those who are supporting it are doing is to say, ‘You know what, you want to play, then let’s get in the field. Let’s get in the arena, and let’s do this.’ And I support that.”

But Harris was more cautious when asked about other electoral contests, notably the New York City mayoral race. Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee and has large leads in the polls over other candidates in the race, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.

Asked whether she backed Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, Harris was measured.

“Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported,” Harris said, prompting Maddow to ask whether she endorsed him.

“I support the Democrat in the race, sure,” she replied. “But let me just say this, he’s not the only star. … I hope that we don’t so over-index on New York City that we lose sight of the stars throughout our country.”

Harris, who announced this summer that she would not run for California governor next year, demurred when asked about whether she would run for president for a third time in 2028.

“That’s not my focus right now,” she said.

Seema Mehta

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September 23, 2025
Long Beach cancels annual Día de los Muertos parade over fears of immigration raids

The city of Long Beach has canceled its annual Día de los Muertos parade, citing concerns raised by community members about federal immigration operations.

The city-sponsored parade is usually held in early November and draws large crowds to Long Beach.

Even though the city is not aware of federal enforcement activity targeting the parade, the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” because it’s “a large and very public outdoor event,” said Long Beach spokesperson Kevin Lee.

Long Beach City Councilmember Mary Zendejas had requested the cancellation, Lee said.

“This decision did not come lightly,” both Zendejas and the city said in statements. The decision addresses “genuine fears raised by community members, especially those who may face the possibility of sudden and indiscriminate federal enforcement actions that undermine the sense of security necessary to participate fully in public life.”

The Arte y Ofrendas Festival, a separate ticketed event organized by an outside vendor and held at Rainbow Lagoon Park, also has been canceled this year. The festival typically coincides with the city-sponsored parade and is held where the parade ends its route, thus drawing parade attendees.

Roberto Carlos Lemus, a marketer who brought food trucks and other vendors to the festival last year, called the cancellation “very sad.”

“Everyone’s very sad about the situation. Día de los Muertos has been one of the largest celebrations for a very long time, and the city has done a great job putting it on,” Lemus told The Times on Sunday. “Unfortunately with Latinos being kidnapped and attacked by ICE and the current administration, I do understand why they made the decision that they made.”

Lemus said some local businesses were worried about economic fallout of the festival and parade cancellation as well as the potential effects of raids on Latino Restaurant Week in Long Beach, an event he co-founded that is set to begin Sept. 22.

“They are afraid,” he said. “Overall, it affects everybody.”

Immigration raids have swept Southern California in recent months, with thousands of people detained by federal agents. A new Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for U.S. immigration agents to stop and detain people in Southern California whom they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally, even if their suspicion is solely based on the type of job they hold, the language they speak or their appearance.

The ruling has bolstered fears that people with brown skin and Spanish speakers will be targeted — especially going into national Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins Monday — and was met with outrage by immigration rights attorneys and local leaders.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council approved a motion to push unspent funds allocated for this year’s parade to next year’s budget, ensuring $100,000 will be available for the 2026 parade.

The council also added $600,000 to the Long Beach Justice Fund, which provides legal representation to residents who face immigration actions, bringing the budget available for the fund to $1.85 million. The fund ensures residents have access to “resources necessary to safeguard their constitutional rights, uphold due process protections, and preserve family unity,” according to the motion.

Some Southern California events have proceeded as scheduled despite similar fears.

East L.A.’s 79th annual Mexican Independence Day parade held on Sunday seemed to draw smaller crowds than usual, but many said they felt a sense of pride and duty to attend in spite of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

“We’re here and we’re going to continue fighting for our rights and for others who cannot fight for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, told The Times as she watched the parade roll by.

Suhauna Hussain

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September 14, 2025
‘I’m not going anywhere’: For one Altadena fire survivor, the math makes sense to rebuild

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini has a big decision on her hands.

For Petrini, the night of Jan. 7 brought total loss. The Eaton fire decimated her quaint home in the northwest corner of Altadena near Jane’s Village, reducing her sanctuary to a pile of rubble.

“I have a spiritual connection to that house,” she said. “It was the only place I felt safe.”

Now, like thousands of others, she’s crunching the numbers on whether to sell her burned lot and move on, or stay and rebuild.

For many, it makes more sense to sell. Experts estimate a rebuild could take years, and navigating contractors, inspectors and governmental red tape, all while recovering from a traumatic incident, just isn’t worth the effort. It’s the reason why lots are hitting the market daily.

But for Petrini — for reasons both emotional and financial, a melding of head and heart — staying is the only realistic option.

Breaking down the math

Petrini, 47, bought her Altadena home, where she lived with her partner and two daughters, for $705,000 in 2019. Built in 1925, it’s 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on a thin lot of just over 5,300 square feet.

She was able to refinance her loan during the pandemic, lowering the interest rate to 2.75% on a $450,000 mortgage. The move brought her mortgage payments from $3,600 down to $3,000 — a relative steal, and only slightly more than the $2,800 rent she has been paying for a Tujunga apartment since the fire.

The property was insured by Farmers, which sprang into action following the fire, sending the first of her payouts on Jan. 8.

Petrini received $380,000 for the dwelling, an extra 20% for extended damage equating to roughly $70,000, and $200,000 for personal property. She used the $200,000 payout to cover living expenses such as a second car, medical bills and a bit of savings, and also tucked away $50,000 to use toward rebuilding.

She estimates that even the thriftiest rebuild will cost around $700,000, and right now, she can cover around $500,000: the $380,000 and $70,000 insurance payouts, plus $50,000 of the personal property payout she stashed for a rebuild.

To cover the extra $200,000, she received a Small Business Administration loan up to $500,000 with an interest rate of 2.65%, which can be used for property renovations. Once she starts pulling from that loan, she estimates she’ll pay around $1,000 per month, which, combined with her $3,000 mortgage, totals roughly $4,000.

It’s a hefty number, but still far cheaper than selling and starting over.

“I could sell the lot for $500,000, take my insurance payout and buy something new, but my house was valued at $1.2 million,” she said. “So even if I put $500,000 down on a new house, to get something similar, I’d have a $700,000 mortgage with a much higher interest rate.”

As it stands, if she cashed out, she’d be renting for the foreseeable future in the midst of a housing crisis where rents rise and some landlords take advantage of tenants, especially in times of crisis. Price gouging skyrocketed as thousands flooded the rental market in January, leading to bidding wars for subaverage homes. To secure her Tujunga rental, Petrini, through her insurance, had to pay 18 months of rent up front — a total of more than $50,000.

“It sounds so lucrative: sell the land, pay off my mortgage and be debt-free. But then my children wouldn’t have a home,” she said.

Bigger than money

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini, from left, and her daughters, Marli Petrini, 19, and Camille Petrini, 12, look over the lot where their home stood before the Altadena fire. It was the first time the daughters had looked through the lot.

(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)

While the math makes sense, Petrini has bigger reasons for staying: she’s emotionally tied to the lot, the community and the people within it.

Altadena is a safe haven for her. She bought her home after escaping a domestic violence situation in 2017. The seller had higher offers, but ended up selling to Petrini after she wrote a letter explaining her circumstances.

It’s also the place where she got sober after abusing stimulants to stay awake and keep things running as a single mom.

“When I was getting sober, I’d go for walks five times a day through the neighborhood,” she said. The trees, the animals, the flowers, the variety of houses. It was — is — a special place.”

Petrini once worked as the executive director of operations at Occidental College, but took a break in 2023 to focus on her children and her health. She and a daughter both have Type 1 diabetes.

Petrini hasn’t been employed since, and her parents helped her pay the mortgage before the fire. She acknowledges that she’s operating from a place of privilege, but said accepting help is crucial when recovering from something.

“Even being unemployed, I just knew I’d be okay here,” she said. “I would trade potting soil to a man who owned a vegan restaurant in exchange for food. You always get what you need here.”

Getting crafty

For Petrini, speed is the name of the game. Experts estimate rebuilding could take somewhere between three and five years or even longer, but she’s hoping to break ground in August and finish by next summer.

In addition to nonprofits, she’s also reaching out to appliances manufacturers and construction companies. The goal is to stitch together a house with whatever’s cheap — or even better, free. She recently received 2,500 square feet of siding from Modern Mill.

“I’m not looking for a custom-built mansion, but I also don’t want an IKEA showroom box house,” she said. “My house was 100 years old, and I want to rebuild something with character.”

To help with costs, she’s also hoping to use Senate Bill 9 to split her lot in half. She’d then sell the other half of the property to her contractor, a friend, for a friendly price of $250,000.

$Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini is diving into the complicated process of staying in Altadena and rebuilding her property.$

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini is diving into the complicated process of staying in Altadena and rebuilding her property.

(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)

To speed up the process, she’s opting for a “like-for-like” rebuild — structures that mirror whatever they’re replacing. For such projects, L.A. County is expediting permitting timelines to speed up fire recovery.

So Petrini’s new house will be the exact same size as the old one: 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She submitted plans in early June and expects to get approval by the end of the month.

For the design, she turned to Altadena Collective, an organization collaborating with the Foothill Catalog Foundation that’s helping fire victims in Jane’s Village rebuild the English Cottage-style homes for which the neighborhood is known. For customized architectural plans, project management and structural engineering, Petrini paid them $33,000 — roughly half of what she would’ve paid someone else, she said.

“I’m going with whatever’s quickest and most efficient. If we run out of money, who needs drywall,” she said. “I want my house to be the first one rebuilt.”

It doesn’t have to be perfect. Petrini and her daughters have been compiling vision boards of their dream kitchen and bathrooms, but she knows sacrifices will be made.

“It’s gonna be a scavenger hunt to get this done. We’re gonna use any material we can find,” she said. “But it’ll have a story. Just like Altadena.”

Jack Flemming

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June 23, 2025
Opinion: Southern Californians shaped the nation’s biggest political problems. We can solve them too

Voters rank the economy and inflation as the most important issues facing the country, and in spite of good news on both fronts, discontent over pocketbook issues remains steady. There’s one stretch of Southern California where, one could say, that all began: Los Angeles’ harbor and coast.

As the center for U.S. Pacific trade and an archetype for exuberant housing markets everywhere, the region’s waterfront clarifies why so many Americans feel frustrated and under pressure — and just how challenging it may be to fix this, no matter who becomes the next president.

Stretching back to the mid-19th century, when the United States annexed Southern California from the Mexican Republic, Americans looked to Pacific trade and westward settlement to stabilize their nation. That’s why our local ports were developed.

In the 1850s, a federal agency, then called the U.S. Coast Survey, identified San Pedro Bay as a focal point for shipping efforts. Since the 1910s, this has been home to the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, collectively the busiest shipping hub in the Western Hemisphere, making the region prominent in global supply chains and transpacific trade.

Officials believed Pacific trade and settlement to be a safety valve for turmoil back East, that over slavery most of all. The results proved them wrong. Commerce and settlers intensified political conflict, both in Washington and in California, by increasing the stakes. Land speculators — in most places pushing out Indigenous people and Mexicans — looked to grab former rancho claims near California’s prospective harbors, in Southern California’s enviable climate. It was a rush for beachfront property like the region had never seen. Their actions set Los Angeles’ property lines and the basis for today’s real estate markets from Malibu to Newport Bay.

This history was invisible to me as I grew up around L.A., but its effects were and are all around, continuing to reshape Southern California during my lifetime. By the early 2000s, container ships, larger than before, accumulated in the outer waters as the ports were sometimes overwhelmed. Semitrucks crowded the 110 and 710 freeways. At the same time, the coastal real estate market boomed yet again. My parents — new arrivals to the region — found it full of opportunity. They purchased their first and only home, in a subdivision on former rancho lands, and they paid it off as valuations exploded around them and their nest egg grew. The region’s economy was a dynamo, a safe harbor in more ways than one.

Shipping and competitive real estate — two legacies of 1850s Southern California — remain with us. Moreover, they are part of an ongoing story of Los Angeles and its place in American life. Today’s voters’ sense of their economic well-being is based on the prices of household necessities, mostly imported goods, and about one-third enter the U.S. through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Historically, the ships and containers that crowd San Pedro Bay have expanded affordability, but the COVID-19 pandemic and international crises disrupted their flow. Suddenly transpacific trade was blamed for soaring costs, not credited with making household items affordable. Even after the disruption abated, high prices and memories of scarcity have lingered. Nationally, politicians and the public have come to doubt the virtues of globalization. The clash between high hopes for Los Angeles’ harbors and the realities of global trade contribute once more to Americans’ sense of an uncertain world, and once again the high stakes linked to Southern California’s economy feed into tensions nationwide.

Sure investments, meanwhile, no longer offset troubled times. Americans’ primary investment — triumphant in the post-World War II era — is the single-family home. However, the nation’s high-priced real estate has unsettled this convention. Rather than absorbing newcomers and providing a path to financial security, it has multiplied voters’ sense of distress by locking many out of homeownership. The exhilarating prices and low interest rates of recent decades — profit and security to prior home purchasers — now put inflationary pressure on renters and prospective buyers, and on middle-income, low-income or young voters especially. This is most true around coastal Los Angeles, west and south of the 405 Freeway. It is true as well in markets farther afield, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, long shaped by Southern California migrants and money.

The Southland’s residents and visitors were drawn to the promise of Pacific waters, just as generations before have been. And while many in all eras have benefited from the region’s industries and real estate appreciation, many others have always been left behind. Remembering such connections with history can clarify uncertain times. Recent polarization in U.S. politics has been compared to the Civil War era, but there is perhaps a more apt parallel between today and the 1860s: the economic ideas of trade and land investment, intended to calm political passions and to distribute prosperity, fell short in both moments.

The consequences will play out in the months ahead as pocketbook issues quite likely decide the presidential election. But regardless of the election’s outcome, we should understand that Southern California is never a place apart from U.S. politics and its dilemmas. Instead, these have deep roots in the region. And today, the region continues to invest in imports and real estate as vehicles for prosperity — even as the adverse costs accumulate in national politics.

That makes Southern California the opportune place to resolve these dilemmas of history and to lead the U.S. forward, whether by policy experimentation or new principles for how wealth might be built, sustained and shared. Shaping the nation’s better future will involve tough choices. It certainly will take visionaries and daring. Yet that, too, is a legacy of Southern California’s past, one ready to be reclaimed.

James Tejani, an associate professor of history at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is the author of “A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles and America.”

James Tejani

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July 26, 2024
L.A. firefighters critically injured in truck explosion are ‘making progress’

Two members of the Los Angeles Fire Department are “making progress” after sustaining critical injuries while fighting a semi-truck fire that led to an explosion on Thursday, according to a department spokesperson.

Nine firefighters were injured in Wilmington by the catastrophic explosion of a tank of compressed natural gas used to power the truck, including two who were hospitalized, fire officials said.

One of those firefighters was discharged Friday night, and another is “critical but stable” and remains in the intensive care unit at Los Angeles General Medical Center, which operates a burn unit, Los Angeles Fire Department Public Information Officer Erik Scott said in a statement Saturday.

The latter firefighter has been taken off a ventilator, Scott said.

“With a happy heart and a sense of relief, we are pleased to report that our most injured #LAFD #Firefighter was successfully extubated this morning. He is awake, alert and talking. Next steps will be to introduce food as tolerated,” Scott posted to X.

The other seven firefighters “have various medical appointments and remain off duty due to their injuries,” Scott said. Some of the firefighters sustained burns, blunt-force trauma, injuries from shrapnel and hearing problems from the explosion, he said.

The cause of the explosion, which shot 30-foot flames into the air early Thursday morning at 1120 Alameda St., is still under investigation.

Firefighters responded after receiving a call that the truck had caught fire. The driver was unharmed and told officials she stopped driving after noticing “abnormalities” with the vehicle.

Mackenzie Mays

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February 17, 2024
Opinion: Is Steve Garvey, or his California campaign, for real?

Many years ago, I interviewed Steve Garvey’s ex-wife, Cyndy, whose memoir had just been published. She’d spent years as a lonely, resentful baseball wife wrongly blamed by fans for the breakup of her marriage to a man whose squeaky clean image belied his philandering and emotional bankruptcy. Shortly before I sat down with her, news had broken that Steve Garvey had fathered two children with two women, while engaged to a third.

Yep, turns out he was a player in every sense of the word.

Opinion Columnist

Robin Abcarian

There were times after the divorce, Cyndy told me, that she’d even contemplated suicide. But the thought of Steve Garvey raising their two girls stopped her cold.

“If I had died,” she said, “my kids would have been left with a right-wing, pro-life, born-again Christian media prostitute for a father.”

Well then. Even all these years later, what a tidy little description of the man who stood on stage at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on Monday evening, uttering platitudes and nonsense during a very serious debate among candidates for the California U.S. Senate seat that, until her death, was held by Dianne Feinstein.

He faced a trio of accomplished Democratic representatives — Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, who led the first impeachment against then-President Trump; Barbara Lee of Oakland, who was the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing the war in Afghanistan three days after 9/11; and Katie Porter of Irvine, a protege of consumer champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren. As they discussed their solid legislative records, their fears about a second Trump presidency, their ideas for solving the housing crisis in California, their support for universal healthcare and a humane approach to immigration, Garvey, a Republican who voted twice for Trump, nattered on like a Little League first base coach.

“Let’s get back to the economy,” he said. “Let’s get back to the foundations, a free-market economy. … Let’s stop that rising inflation; let’s get to the point where we cut this excessive spending in Washington.”

What’s so damning about Garvey’s bromides is that the man has been talking about running for the Senate for decades. Literally decades. He had a stellar 14-year run with the Dodgers, then retired in 1987 after five years with the San Diego Padres when he was only 38. He is now 75 years old. That means he’s had 37 years — half his life — to bone up on the issues.

Honestly, I could not help but imagine that the late “Saturday Night Live” comedian Phil Hartman had wandered into the room and was posing as a blowhard politician with a Jesus complex and good hair.

“When was the last time any of you went to the inner city, actually walked up to the homeless as I have these last three weeks?” Garvey asked the Democrats. “I needed to talk to the people. I needed to talk to the homeless, went up to them and touched them and listened to them. And you know what? They said, ‘You’re the first time anybody’s come up and asked us about our life.’ ”

Lee, who is African American and once became homeless with her kids after escaping an abusive marriage, practically sputtered: “I cannot believe how he described his walk and touching and being there with the homeless,” she said as the audience chuckled heartily at Garvey’s nerve. “Come on, there. Please, please.”

Schiff was politely acerbic: “This will be my one and only baseball analogy for the evening. Mr. Garvey, I am sorry, that was a swing and a miss, that was a total whiff.”

It’s a mark of the desperation that California Republicans, who have faded into powerlessness, would consider a candidate so ill-suited to the job of United States senator. And it is downright pathetic that Garvey may sail to the runoff on the strength of his name and baseball career.

“Policy for me is a position,” said Garvey at one point. “I’ve taken strong positions.”

Please help me understand how the man is different from an artificial intelligence bot programmed to utter the most anodyne phrases he thinks voters want to hear: “I’m common sense. I’m compassionate. I’m consensus building.”

I think California can do better than to replace the legendary Sen. Feinstein with an algorithm masquerading as a public servant.

@robinkabcarian

Robin Abcarian

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January 24, 2024
Why is Cyberpunk 2077’s metro so slow? An investigation

CD Projekt Red fulfilled a five-year promise last week when it added a fully functional metro system to Cyberpunk 2077. While the feature does wonders to make Night City feel more alive, I was surprised to learn just how little California’s public transportation infrastructure has improved in the game’s alternate-reality future.

Cyberpunk 2077 now includes five Night City Area Rapid Transit (NCART) rail lines servicing 19 stations. Every stop still functions as a fast travel point, but players can also use them to hop onto the subway and relocate, in real time, to other parts of the city. As movement is restricted while on the train, this is a mostly visual experience, providing folks with a new perspective on the sprawling mega-city as well as limited opportunities to chat with their fellow riders.

During one trip, I noticed a screen indicating the train’s speed was consistently hovering around 43 mph, which felt awfully slow for futuristic transportation. The average speeds of modern-day heavy-rail systems in the United States range from the high teens to the mid-30s, but they’re capable of reaching much higher maximums. And that’s not even accounting for more developed public transportation in Japan and China, whose magnetic levitation (maglev) bullet trains zoom through major cities at hundreds of miles per hour.

What the heck.
Image: CD Projekt Red

This fits with what the first Cyberpunk rulebook had to say about then-future transportation in 1988:

Surprise, surprise. Contrary to expectations, the year 2000 has not yielded any staggering new developments in transportation. Years of economic strife and civil unrest have discouraged research into new ways to travel—in fact, the very act of travel has become very restricted. Expect the world of 2013 to be much like the 20th century—a network of crowded freeways, packed trains, and swarming airports.

A subsequent expansion, Welcome to Night City, indicates light-rail maglev trains with ground speeds of 200 mph existed in the eponymous metropolis as far back as 2013, the year the first Cyberpunk adventures were set. Every book since makes some mention maglev trains as a staple of Night City travel, and 2005’s Cyberpunk V3.0 even noted an improvement in their top speed to 300 mph despite the apparent destruction of the intercontinental maglev line during the Fourth Corporate War (which took place from 2021 to 2025 in-universe) between the world’s ruling megacorps.

(And just to cover my ass, 1990’s updated Cyberpunk 2020 rulebook makes it clear that NCART and the light-rail maglev trains are one and the same.)

It’s here that Cyberpunk 2077 does something clever by expanding the consequences of this conflict. Rather than only putting rail travel between continents in flux, the game describes the Fourth Corporate War as debilitating the entire maglev system, as explained by the following database entry:

Maglev trains cruised at high speeds via tunnels and on the surface thanks to the advent of electrodynamic suspension technology, allowing fast and comfortable travel from Night City to other cities, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Unfortunately, this new era of transportation didn’t last long. The social unrest and armed conflict of the 4th Corporate War brought with it an economic crisis that soon crippled the entire system. Currently inoperational, the abandoned Maglev tunnels are used by the homeless and various gangs.

The destruction of the maglev system and the slow NCART speeds exhibited in-game lead me to assume the local government was forced to revert to pre-2013 tech to ensure NCART remained operational, a massive downgrade from the bullet trains that once transported residents through Night City and beyond.

Hurry up and wait.
Image: CD Projekt Red

While researching this situation, I couldn’t help but see darkly hilarious parallels between the difficulties facing the fictional California depicted in Cyberpunk 2077 and the actual state in which I live.

Despite being one of the largest (both in terms of land and population) and richest states in the union, California has long struggled with plans to build public transportation on par with the bullet trains of eastern Asia. A lot of that is due to politics, as even ostensibly supportive legislators are wary of spending the billions of dollars necessary to complete the project. And let’s face it: Americans are just way too devoted to their cars.

All that said, there’s one very simple explanation for Night City metro’s relatively low speed: The developers didn’t want NCART rides to happen in the blink of an eye. What good would the long-awaited subway experience be if players didn’t actually, you know, experience it?

A trip taken at 300 mph wouldn’t provide any time to people watch Night City’s eccentric residents or take in the view of skyscrapers surrounding the bay outside the train’s windows. The entire point of the subway system — and a big part of why folks clamored for its inclusion all these years — is to give players new opportunities to role-play and experience the visual splendor of Cyberpunk 2077’s setting and its over-the-top aesthetics.

I find it hard to fault CD Projekt Red for playing a little loose with established Cyberpunk history if it makes for a better game in the end.

Ian Walker

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December 12, 2023