Headlines From The Times

Menthol-flavored cigarettes have been controversial for decades, and the Food and Drug Administration is weighing a national ban on them. But tobacco companies are not a fan of losing out on millions of dollars with that possible move. So they’ve enlisted leaders in a community that has long been the biggest consumer of menthols: Black people. Read the show transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano...

As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third month, ordinary Ukrainians continue to upend their lives to protect their homeland. Today, we’ll hear the stories of three Ukrainians who came to the aid of their country in its hour of greatest need. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times foreign correspondent Kate Linthicum More reading: Full coverage of the war i...

The strict lockdowns and zero-tolerance COVID policies that were once praised for keeping China largely infection-free; they’re back. And they’re now pushing people to their limits. Today, how the recent lockdown in Shanghai is testing China’s zero tolerance strategy, and what it means for the country’s communist government. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times...

Earlier this month, Mexico had an election. But it wasn’t business as usual. The vote was a first in Mexico — a recall referendum on the country’s president. The person pushing to recall the president … was the president himself. Today we get into the curious history of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times foreign correspondents Lei...

Since AriZona iced tea launched in 1994, a can of the stuff has cost 99 cents. It’s a business anomaly, yet one that has turned the company into a multibillion-dollar outfit. And the owner vows to keep his iced tea at that price even during the worst inflation the United States has seen in 40 years, which is eating into the company’s revenue. Today, we get into this odd business ideology. Host: Gu...

In Chapter 3 of “Border City,” a podcast from the San Diego Union Tribune and L.A. Times, Sandra Dibble continues her story about living and working as a journalist in Tijuana. It’s both sides of Tijuana that eventually make Sandra feel like she’s not just passing through anymore, but like she’s finally found her place and purpose. From drug cartels, a kidnapping and an attempted murder of a journ...

Some of the biggest names in the music industry have played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival since it debuted in 1999 on large grass fields out in the California desert. It turned into a global phenomenon and tastemaker in the process. But for the past two years, along with the rest of the live-music industry, Coachella went on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic...but it’s BACK. Today,...

In anticipation of the Supreme Court making its landmark abortion decision this summer and very likely undoing Roe v Wade, The Times is looking at the issue from a number of perspectives. Today, we’ll tell the complicated story of how evangelicals mobilized around restricting abortion — and one women’s place in it all. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times national correspondent Jaweed Kaleem...

In 1945, five families sued school districts in Orange County to challenge the practice of so-called Mexican schools, which kept Latino students from attending white schools with better resources. The daughter of one of the plaintiffs, Sylvia Mendez, has spent her retirement telling the story of the landmark desegregation case, which was decided 75 years ago on April 14, 1947. But she goes from sc...

When reporter Sandra Dibble started covering Tijuana in the 1990s, many of her stories dealt with violence and corruption in the city. But like most Tijuanenses , Sandra actually felt pretty. She didn’t let the terrifying headlines she was writing stop her from settling into her new life and exploring her adopted home of Tijuana. Today, in the second episode of “Border City,” Sandra talks about th...

In 1969, off California’s coast, an ecological disaster gained worldwide attention. The state’s largest oil disaster shocked a nation into action: It led to the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the passing of California’s Environmental Quality Act and the federal Environmental Protection Act. The catastrophe also inspired a day to reflect and learn about environmentalis...

An L.A. Times investigation found that jet engine oil can leak into the air supply of passenger planes, creating a toxic cocktail that can lead to health problems. It happens with an alarming frequency across all airlines — and that’s despite the airline industry and its regulators saying otherwise. The Times investigation just might result in real-world change. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A....

Black people are two and a half times more likely to be hospitalized, and 1.7 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites. That stat from the CDC is shocking. But it’s not exactly surprising. Not to people like L.A. Times reporter Marissa Evans. Her father, Gary Evans, is now one of nearly 97,000 Black people in America who’ve died from COVID-19 complications. And while Marissa is willing t...

Reporter Sandra Dibble spent more than 25 years covering the U.S.-Mexico border for the San Diego Union-Tribune. And what she found out after her first day on the job is that Tijuana is ... complicated. The impact of being home to the Western Hemisphere’s busiest border crossing — how the border has shaped Tijuana — is a big part of what Sandra spent her career digging into. And she pulls all that...

Before Jan. 6, 2021, John Eastman was known as a fringe figure in conservative circles. But now, Eastman’s not so fringe anymore. A California-based federal judge said Trump probably committed felonies in connection with the events of that day. And he says that Eastman was the person Trump chose to find “a coup in search of a legal theory.” Today, in the second part of a miniseries on the Jan. 6 i...

Hundreds of people have been charged with federal crimes in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. The amount of evidence against many of the insurrectionists is growing. But sorting through it all has ground many of these criminal cases to a halt. Today, in the first of a two-part series on the Jan. 6 investigations, why it might take years to prosecute all the rioters who invaded the Ca...

Title 42 has plugged up the asylum system since it was put in place at the start of the coronavirus crisis. Since March 2020, U.S. border officials have used the policy to quickly remove migrants by sending them back to Mexico or to their home countries. But now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says migrants are not a public health threat, so Title 42 will come to an end on May 23....

Beverly Hills resident Ray Mascolo died of a drug overdose in 2020. His passing led investigators to a sprawling, Hollywood-based drug-dealing network with a business model resembling a food-delivery app. We tell this saga today. Host: L.A. Times courts reporter Michael Finnegan More reading: How a man’s death in Beverly Hills exposed a sprawling Hollywood drug delivery business California lawmake...

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during the Oscars for a joke the latter made about the hairstyle of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, it brought forth the politics of Black hair, especially the hair of Black women. Long maligned, it’s getting more attention than ever, from the sisterlocks of prospective Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to anti-discrimination bills passed on the state...

L.A. Times foreign correspondent Patrick J. McDonnell has covered Ukrainian refugees flooding into Poland and the funerals for Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv. He’s heard from mayors urging Americans to approve a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and men returning to their country to fight on the front lines. Today, we hear some of Patrick’s stories. Guests: L.A. Times Mexico City bureau chief Patrick J. McDon...

Two brothers near Sacramento are fighting for compensation for the land they say was taken from their formerly enslaved ancestors during the Gold Rush. Their story got pulled into an even bigger debate happening right now in California. A first-of-its-kind task force is trying to decide: Will the state pay reparations to Black people? And if so, who should get it? Guests: L.A. Times columnist Erik...

“ Binge Sesh ” is a new L.A. Times podcast taking a deep dive into the television shows everyone is talking about. For its inaugural season, the series gets into the HBO show “Winning Time,” which talks about the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s who dominated the NBA with its Showtime approach to basketball. Host: Matt Brennan and Kareem Maddox Guests: Author Jeff Pearlman More reading: ‘Winning Ti...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has added and subtracted elements to this year’s Oscars. A roundtable of L.A. Times film and television experts discuss those changes, plus offer up other commentary and criticism about this Sunday’s Academy Awards. Today, we’ve got a special episode from our sister podcast, “The Envelope.” Host: Mark Olsen Guests: Justin Chang, Glenn Whip, Mary McNa...

What lengths would you go to find someone you love? Even as their disappearance edges closer and closer to becoming a cold case? Today, we have the story of a family working to find their missing loved one. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times reporter Lila Seidman More reading: Was Jack here? A sister asks the beach community whether they’ve seen her missing brother Help Find Jack Stein Face...

In the war for Ukraine, it’s Zelensky versus Putin. Two men with essentially the same first name fighting for their place in history — not just for their respective countries but for the ancestral roots that Russia and Ukraine share, and that both rulers claim to be the true defender of. And a prince, who ruled more than 1,000 years ago — known in Russia as Vladimir the Great and in Ukraine as Vol...