LOS ANGELES TIMES: Today’s Headlines: Newsom recall effort moves ahead

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Newsom Recall Effort Moves Ahead

For only the second time in California history, a campaign to decide whether to oust a sitting governor will get underway — once a few more formalities are decided. On Monday, state officials announced that a Republican-led drive to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office had collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. The recall drive was propelled by voter frustration over California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recall backers submitted more than 1,495,709 verified voter signatures — equal to 12% of all ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election — meeting the minimum threshold to force a special recall election, according to a tally released by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Barring intervention by the courts, Newsom will face a statewide vote of confidence by year’s end.

But exactly when that happens remains to be determined. Most likely, the election would take place in November, but October is a possibility. Local officials from across California believe the cost of conducting the recall election could run as high as $400 million.

Though recent opinion polls showed that only 40% of California voters support recalling Newsom, an indication that the effort might fail, the success of the recall campaign in gathering enough valid signatures for a special election delivers a blow to one of the nation’s most prominent and politically ambitious Democrats.

Already, four prominent Republicans have announced they are running, along with a number of others.

More Politics

— California will lose one seat in Congress for the first time in state history, while Texas and Florida are among the states that will see their representation increase, according to population data released by the U.S. Census Bureau that give the first glimpse of the coming decade’s congressional landscape.

— The Biden administration moved toward allowing California to once again set its own car pollution standards, a right revoked under former President Trump. The Environmental Protection Agency’s planned action has national significance.

— President Biden’s success at battling the coronavirus is being threatened by political divisions he pledged to heal.

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Lowest in the Nation

Months after a coronavirus surge sickened hundreds of thousands of people, left thousands dead and pushed hospitals to their breaking point, California’s virus case rate is now the lowest of any state, federal figures show.

Although the distinction doesn’t lessen the heavy toll exacted by the fall-and-winter wave, it does demonstrate the tremendous strides the state has made in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic — progress that, to this point, has not been interrupted even as the state more widely reopens its economy.

California’s latest seven-day rate of new cases was 32.5 per 100,000 people, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More Top Coronavirus Headlines

— “Long haul” COVID-19 sufferers are dealing with months of symptoms and finding little medical support. They’re taking a page from AIDS/HIV activists to be heard.

— The U.S. will begin sharing its entire stock of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with the world once it clears federal safety reviews, the White House said, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export.

A Huge Dumping Ground

How big is an underwater graveyard of DDT waste barrels off the coast of Santa Catalina Island? After spending two weeks surveying a swath of seafloor larger than the city of San Francisco, scientists could find no end to the dumping ground.

They shared their findings in a U.S. congressional briefing led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has been pushing for action since The Times reported in the fall that the nation’s largest DDT manufacturer once dumped its waste into the deep ocean.

As many as half a million barrels could still be underwater today, according to old records and a recent UC Santa Barbara study that provided the first photos of this pollution bubbling 3,000 feet under the sea.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

In 1928, the new Los Angeles City Hall opened with three days of festivities. On April 26, officials held a major parade to celebrate the “sheer tower of white symbolizing a new era of progress and accomplishment for the Pacific Southwest.” More than 1.5 million people attended, The Times reported.

The building required two years of construction and cost $9 million. Builders used concrete made from sand sourced from each of California’s 58 counties and water from the 21 historical missions.

April 26, 1928: A parade on Spring Street during the dedication of Los Angeles City Hall. (Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit over homelessness in Los Angeles says in a new court order that he will give the city 60 days to detail how its planned $1 billion in funding will be spent.

— As yet another season of drought returns to California, the mood has grown increasingly grim across the vast and fertile San Joaquin Valley.

— Fewer than half of elementary school students who were expected to return for in-person classes showed up the first week that campuses reopened in L.A. Unified, but numbers improved significantly the second week, Supt. Austin Beutner said.

— A man wearing body armor who was fatally shot by police during an altercation Saturday in Hollywood had previously been wounded in a shooting by law enforcement in 2018, police confirm.

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NATION-WORLD

— The Supreme Court agreed to hear a major case on whether the 2nd Amendment gives gun owners the right to carry a loaded handgun in public.

— The Justice Department is launching a broad inquiry of the police department in Louisville, Ky., after the death of Breonna Taylor. It’s the second such investigation into a local law enforcement agency announced in the last week.

— A Black man killed by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina was shot in the back of the head and had his hands on his car’s steering wheel when they opened fire, attorneys for his family said after relatives viewed body-camera video.

— Beijing is responding to U.S. alliances with “wolf warrior” defiance, refusing to tolerate any criticism of China. Will it backfire?

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— The numbers are in: The Oscars telecast drew just 9.85 million viewers for ABC, an expected record low.

— Yuh-Jung Youn was already a household name in South Korea, and excited fans say her Academy Award for “Minari” marked the rest of the world catching up.

— John Lennon’s solo debut album, “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” came out of intense psychotherapy and a Bel-Air love nest. It’s now getting an exhaustively documented box set.

— The smaller page counts of short stories don’t make the worlds the authors build within them any less rich. A group of writers discuss the vast spaces contained in their work.

BUSINESS

— California lawmakers approved the last part of a COVID-19 economic recovery package, sending Newsom a bill he supports that provides up to $6.8 billion in state tax breaks for businesses.

— Elon Musk has reportedly given $150 million to charity this year. That sounds like a lot, columnist Michael Hiltzik writes, until you consider his total net worth.

SPORTS

— Are we heading for a historic NFL draft? Maybe. In The Times’ annual mock draft, writers who cover teams on a day-to-day basis offer their picks and predictions.

— Shohei Ohtani went from disaster to a magnificent performance in the Angels’ win over the Rangers.

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OPINION

— A hate crime law is a start, but it will take much more to make Asian Americans feel safer, write Stewart Kwoh, Connie Chung Joe and Connie Rice.

— The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could mean more guns in public. How it decides could have a big impact on public safety, The Times’ editorial board writes.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— There are sites that make money off destroying reputations, and there are sites that clean them up. It’s a shadowy online economy that can cost victims thousands of dollars. (New York Times)

— Justin Fields and the double standards for Black quarterback prospects. (The Undefeated)

ONLY IN L.A.

The Dodger Dog and Farmer John have been synonymous for decades. But now, Farmer John is no longer making the extra-long hot dogs, which have been celebrated in pop culture and art. Dodgers President Stan Kasten said the team soon would announce its hot dog supplier. The team’s first priority, he said, had been “an elaborate process” in which taste testers could ensure that a new recipe would result in a hot dog tasting pretty much like the old, familiar one.

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