LOS ANGELES TIMES: Today’s Headlines 6.8.2021: VP Harris’ Message to Migrant Hopefuls

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VP Harris’ Message to Migrant Hopefuls

During her trip to Guatemala’s capital, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a stark message to would-be migrants from Central America, saying they “will be turned back” if they attempt to cross the U.S. border illegally.

On her first foreign trip as vice president, Harris also gently criticized her host, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. He and other regional leaders, she said, must work to reduce poverty, violence and corruption and give their citizens reasons to stay in their home countries — to create “hope” for citizens about their futures there.

President Biden asked Harris in March to tackle what the administration called the root causes that had led an increased number of people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, including many families and unaccompanied children, to head toward the United States.

Harris is under political pressure to show results. Republicans have tried to tie her to the administration’s struggles to manage the border and have attacked her for not acting more aggressively in her assignment.

A Big Battle Over Tiny Shelters

Over the last decade, Los Angeles County’s homeless problem has spread from urban hot spots to the suburbs. While Arcadia has relatively few homeless people, the idea of providing them a place to live is stoking anger and fear in some quarters, compassion in others.

The battle is notable for another reason. Many who have taken up the cause to stop homeless housing are Asian American — the latest demonstration, after similar controversies in Irvine and Koreatown, of how Asian people have mobilized around the issue.

Yet in this San Gabriel Valley city, some of the staunchest supporters of the tiny home plan are Asian American students from Arcadia High School.

A New, Much-Debated Alzheimer’s Drug

Government health officials have approved the first new drug for Alzheimer’s disease in nearly 20 years, disregarding warnings from independent advisors that the much-debated treatment hasn’t been shown to help.

The lack of a clear clinical benefit after two late-stage clinical trials prompted a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to urge that the drug, called aducanumab, be rejected. The agency acknowledged the uncertainties about the medication but said its approval was justified by the seriousness of the disease and the dearth of options for treating it.

The drug, which is given as an infusion every four weeks, was developed by Biogen with the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai Co. The FDA requires the drugmaker to conduct a follow-up study to confirm the drug’s benefits for patients.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

In the summer of 1940, thousands gathered at a peace rally at Los Angeles City Hall to urge the United States to stay out of World War II. Many were armed with posters — some stating, “The Yanks Are Not Coming.”

On Sept. 4, 1940, the non-interventionist movement organized into the America First Committee. At its peak, the AFC had 800,000 dues-paying members. The organization folded days after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

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June 8, 1940: Crowds gather at City Hall to urge the United States to stay out of World War II. (Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— Los Angeles County is eagerly preparing for a full reopening on June 15. But despite the excitement, it won’t be a complete return to a pre-pandemic normal. Here are five things to expect.

— One of the first in-person events in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election centered on the issue likely to animate the entire race: homelessness. It ended with a homeless woman being arrested after she pulled out a knife a few feet from City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

— A dozen female water polo players who accused their coach of sexual abuse will split nearly $14 million after settling a lawsuit against USA Water Polo and a California club.

— A kayaker hoping to paddle solo from California to Hawaii was rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter six days after he set out, amid rough seas and high winds.

— Eggs littered the sand, but there was no sign of life around or in them. Scientists say a drone scared off nesting seabirds at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, wiping out a generation of birds.

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NATION-WORLD

— The Justice Department announced it will require federal agents to wear body cameras when serving arrest warrants or conducting raids. This shift aligns federal law enforcement more closely with the growing legion of local police officers who wear such devices.

— The Justice Department recovered $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom that Colonial Pipeline paid to hackers whose cyberattack last month shut down its major East Coast pipeline, leading to gas shortages up and down the East Coast, authorities said.

— Nicaraguan judicial authorities ordered that a potential opposition presidential candidate be held for three months while his case is investigated.

— Raymond Donovan, a construction company executive who resigned as secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor after grand larceny and other charges of which a jury later acquitted him, has died at his home in New Vernon, N.J.

— Over his three-plus decades running police departments in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles, Bill Bratton branded himself as America’s top cop. His new memoir reflects on law enforcement and the police murder of George Floyd.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— An L.A. Times profile launched Judith Sheindlin, a.k.a. Judge Judy, to daytime TV dominance. To mark her final episode, reporter and subject look back on an unlikely journey.

— A week after resurfaced photos resulted in an online uproar accusing “The Office” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” star Ellie Kemper of being a “KKK princess,” the actor has issued a detailed apology.

— Elton John and husband David Furnish joined FX’s “Pose” stars Billy Porter and MJ Rodriguez and series co-creators Steven Canals and Ryan Murphy for a discussion at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The duo, who rescheduled their vacation to attend the For Your Consideration panel, spoke onstage about their love for the show.

— After 10 years of early mornings, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie still lives for “Today.”

BUSINESS

— France’s competition watchdog decided to fine Google 220 million euros ($268 million) for abusing its “dominant position” in the online advertising business — an unprecedented move.

— Jeff Bezos and his brother will go to space next month when Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, launches its first passenger-carrying mission.

SPORTS

— On June 7, 1996, a boxing god met an up-and-comer. This is the oral history of how the fight between Julio César Chávez and Oscar De La Hoya became a proxy for all the complexities that come from being of Mexican ethnicity. (This story is a subscriber exclusive.)

— Tom Thibodeau got the New York Knicks back to the playoffs, guiding the team to its second-best record in 20 years. And in the eyes of the voters, that coaching job was the best in the NBA.

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OPINION

— Columnist Michael Hiltzik: The right’s attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci shows it has nothing in its policy tank but slogans.

— An AR-15 is like a pocket knife? Maybe federal judges shouldn’t get lifetime appointments, columnist George Skelton writes.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— At some top companies, Asian Americans are overrepresented in midlevel roles and underrepresented in leadership. The root of this workplace inequality could stem from the all-too-common experience of being confused for someone else. (New York Times)

— Sophia Kianni is a 19-year-old climate advisor who started her own nonprofit and worked on Greta Thunberg’s youth strikes. She spends her days meeting U.N. officials and grabbing pizza with friends. (Business Insider)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

For decades, the primary LGBTQ symbol was a small, pink triangle — first displayed on uniforms of Nazi concentration camp prisoners who had been labeled as homosexual. In 1978, San Francisco resident Gilbert Baker stitched a new symbol: a striped rainbow flag of pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue and purple. After a four-decade-long journey from a leaky storage unit to a dusty closet, a piece of the original fabric returns to San Francisco.

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