Politics

Rex Tillerson's four decades at Exxon Mobil could hamper his role as America's top diplomat

Silicon Valley CEOs didn't hide their distaste for Donald Trump. Now comes the reckoning

Rick Perry wanted to eliminate the Department of Energy — now he is said to be Trump's pick to run it

Trump chooses oil tycoon and Russia friend Rex Tillerson to head State Department

Guess who dropped by Trump Tower this morning? Kanye West, of course

Trump and the GOP are charging forward with Obamacare repeal, but few are eager to follow

Trump faces first significant postelection pushback from Republicans over CIA report on Russia

Final Wisconsin recount tally strengthens Trump's victory

Rick Perry has never seen eye to eye with California. As Trump's pick for Energy secretary, that's unlikely to change

Who's in and who's out in the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra in Congress

Deadly fire is only the latest crisis to test Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's administration

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti talks to Chelsea Handler about his conversation with Trump

Kamala Harris says California will 'provide national leadership' on immigration under a Trump administration

A problem 'too big to ignore' — how years of congressional wrangling led to a water compromise

Political Road Map: Get ready for hundreds of extra bills in 2017

Former Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez decides against running for Rep. Xavier Becerra's congressional seat

Essential Politics: Russia, the elections and Trump make for a complicated mix

Voters chose transparency. But for the Legislature, interpretation is the issue

California's climate fight could be painful — especially on job and income growth

Congress sends major California water policy to President Obama, despite Sen. Barbara Boxer's objections

Fighting for the progressive cause got a little easier thanks to this Bernie Sanders-affiliated group

California's ballots have all been counted — more than 14.6 million and most of them for Hillary Clinton

Essential Politics: Donald Trump's picks, Jerry Brown's plea

It's time for legislators to act, not yak, and fix California's roads and highways

When a door opened unexpectedly for Rep. Xavier Becerra, he walked in and impressed

At Pearl Harbor's 75th anniversary, a reminder of how America proved its greatness — and why it is still great

Lynwood moves closer to legalizing commercial cannabis manufacturing

Marijuana is now legal in California, but it can still keep you from getting a job

Proposal to allow roadside testing for marijuana use is revived

Taxes get higher on newly legalized pot as California cities and counties move to take their own cut

As the marijuana industry celebrates the passage of an initiative legalizing recreational marijuana in California, more sobering news came from local elections, where voters in 37 counties and cities — including Long Beach, San Diego and San Bernardino — approved ballot measures imposing separate...

Weed's legal in California, but activists fear a battle ahead with Jeff Sessions, Trump's pick for attorney general

Voters legalize pot in California. Here's what will happen next

10 things you need to know about legalized pot in California

California scrambles to implement new recreational pot law

Clinton won as many votes as Obama in 2012 — just not in the states where she needed them most

Stephen Bannon found inspiration in ancient thinkers, Ronald Reagan and Nazi propaganda

The Trumpification of Washington has already begun, and residents wonder how he will change the city

The obscure constitutional provision that could be trouble for Trump

Did Al Gore get played? Engaging with Trump brings risk for the left

The great California tree die-off turns into a Gold Rush

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 14, and here’s what’s going on around California: TOP STORIES Tree die-off The surreal scene in California’s forest, where 102 million trees have died: The die-off has hit the southern half of the Sierra Nevada — Fresno and Tulare counties — especially hard. The...

On Trump’s short list to run the SEC: an ex-U.S. attorney who's an L.A. native

For half a decade, U.S. Atty. Debra Wong Yang was the last person corporations would want to hear from if they were operating at the edge of the law. Now, she’s the first person they might call to defend that kind of accusation, as top crisis manager for one of the premiere corporate litigation...

Vladimir Putin’s modest investment in cyberspying? It’s paying off, big league

Vladimir Putin must feel as if he’s won the lottery. His government made a modest investment in cyberespionage against Hillary Clinton, a candidate he roundly disliked, and it paid off, big league. Never mind the flap over whether the Russian president aimed to put Donald Trump in the White House;...

Trump’s team: Outsiders, maybe; populists, no

With the official announcement that he will nominate Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as secretary of State — and reports that he will soon tap former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas as Energy secretary —  Donald Trump has all but completed the assembly of his proposed Cabinet. “Proposed" is...

Lakers won't stay at Trump SoHo due to security concerns

Citing security concerns, the Lakers changed plans and decided not to stay at a Donald Trump-branded hotel in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for their game Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets, a team spokesperson said.  A source with knowledge of the team's decision, who spoke on...

Governors of Western states look to the future under a Trump administration

Trump's attack on CIA analysis of Russian hacking raises national security concerns Dec. 13, 2016, 7:26 p.m. This is our look at President-elect Donald Trump's transition and the outgoing Obama administration: Tensions erupt between Trump and the CIA over Russia's hacking during the 2016 campaign.Trump...

Former Bernie Sanders campaign aide Arturo Carmona enters race to replace Becerra

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Feds slap restrictions on Wells Fargo after finding bank unprepared for any future bankruptcy

Wells Fargo & Co. was sanctioned Tuesday by federal regulators who determined the bank has not done enough to ensure it could continue operating smoothly and without a taxpayer bailout after a bankruptcy. In the wake of the financial crisis, regulators required the nation's largest banks to come...

Montana congressman is now the favorite to be Interior secretary

Trump's attack on CIA analysis of Russian hacking raises national security concerns Dec. 13, 2016, 7:26 p.m. This is our look at President-elect Donald Trump's transition and the outgoing Obama administration: Tensions erupt between Trump and the CIA over Russia's hacking during the 2016 campaign.Trump...

Dow approaches 20,000 as energy and tech stocks climb

Major U.S. stock indexes set records again Tuesday as energy companies continued to climb following international deals that will cut oil production. Big-name technology companies such as Apple and IBM also traded higher as the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 19,900 for the first time....

Ohio governor signs 20-week abortion ban but vetoes 'heartbeat' bill

Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Tuesday imposing a 20-week abortion ban while vetoing stricter provisions in a separate measure that would have barred the procedure at the first detectable fetal heartbeat. Kasich acted on both proposals the same day they landed on his desk. The so-called...

Criticism is fierce over an effort to cancel California pension fund investments in tobacco

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Gov. Brown asks President Obama to permanently ban new drilling off California's coast

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Donald Trump's market-moving tweets are a huge scandal waiting to happen

An undercurrent of amusement has been detectable in some of the news coverage of Donald Trump’s recent market-moving tweets, as though it serves big companies right to have a few billions stripped off their market values because the president-elect is holding them to account. But it’s no laughing...

Oakland mayor searches for path forward in wake of deadly fire

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Taxpayers' group sues Gov. Brown to overturn law allowing public financing of campaigns

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Stymied vote recount exposed flaws in ballot integrity, Jill Stein says

Trump's attack on CIA analysis of Russian hacking raises national security concerns Dec. 13, 2016, 7:26 p.m. This is our look at President-elect Donald Trump's transition and the outgoing Obama administration: Tensions erupt between Trump and the CIA over Russia's hacking during the 2016 campaign.Trump...

California representatives want more information on government animal testing

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Hey, Obama critics, how would saying 'Islamic terrorism' help exactly?

To the editor: I read former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright’s piece thinking that someone with his credentials could adequately explain what was wrong with President Obama’s position on terrorism. Unfortunately, he failed in that endeavor. Obama has explained in great detail why he does not use...

How much is Donald Trump indebted to Vladimir Putin?

To the editor: President-elect Donald Trump’s dissembling, blustery reply to the CIA’s definitive findings of prolonged hacking by Russia is blatantly self-serving and irrational. (“Trump digs in on Russia, setting up conflict with his own party's Washington leaders,” Dec. 12) Trump’s crude sleight...

How years of congressional wrangling led to a California water compromise

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Former Huizar aide Sara Hernandez announces she's running for Rep. Xavier Becerra's seat

Essential Politics: The backstory to California's new water deal in Congress, another candidate joins the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra Dec. 13, 2016, 7:14 p.m. This is Essential Politics, our daily look at California political and government news. Here's what we're watching right now: It...

Rick Perry wanted to eliminate the Energy Department — now he's said to be Trump's pick to run it

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry holds the Department of Energy in such low regard that he famously couldn’t even remember it was on his list of federal agencies to eliminate altogether. Now Donald Trump has chosen Perry to run it, according to multiple news reports. In Perry, Trump would have another...

Trump's attacks on free speech and the open Internet send a huge web archive fleeing to Canada

Popular interest in fleeing to Canada after the election of Donald Trump may have ebbed since a surge of inquiries crashed Canada’s immigration website on election night. But one Internet advocate and entrepreneur is still treating the idea seriously, and taking serious steps to follow through....

Today: Trump Takes on the GOP, CIA and PRC. A Costly, Flawed Missile Defense System.

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today. TOP STORIES Trump Takes on the GOP, CIA and PRC Donald Trump campaigned on a vow of “America First,” but international affairs have taken the spotlight as Inauguration Day is just...

Trump’s shameful incuriosity about Russian meddling

Both the outgoing Obama administration and the leaders of the incoming Congress recognize that there must be a full accounting of whether the Russian government engaged in cyberwarfare designed to influence the recent presidential election. The odd man out is President-elect Donald Trump, who continues...

Post election, progressives are embracing conservative traditions

The volte-face began on election night. Donald Trump had already tucked both Ohio and Florida under his belt, and Pennsylvania was looking promising. As the pundits realized that it was Hillary Clinton, not Trump, who had a “difficult path” to an electoral majority, there was first disbelief; then,...

The nation’s missile-defense system has serious flaws. So why is the Pentagon moving to expand it?

Mayor Scott Burto recalls the days of good-paying jobs, plenty of them, at the paper mills along the Black River. Today, the mills and the jobs are nearly all gone, casualties of foreign competition. But hope for a new boom is teasing the locals, and it has nothing to do with paper. The nation’s...

Trump says his sons will do 'no new deals' once they take over his business

Trump's attack on CIA analysis of Russian hacking raises national security concerns Dec. 13, 2016, 7:26 p.m. This is our look at President-elect Donald Trump's transition and the outgoing Obama administration: Tensions erupt between Trump and the CIA over Russia's hacking during the 2016 campaign.Trump...

$4-million settlement will fund stormwater projects and a 'green street' for Watts

A South Los Angeles street will get an environmentally friendly face-lift, and new rain gardens and cisterns soon will appear at homes across Los Angeles County thanks to a $4-million settlement reached late last month.  The agreement comes more than eight years after a pair of environmental advocacy...

Trump's election gives annual Posada Without Borders event 'a special poignancy,' bishop says

San Diego County’s Roman Catholic bishop and Tijuana’s archbishop were among hundreds who gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday to pray for relief from war and safety for those fleeing persecution worldwide. With a fence separating them, Bishop Robert McElroy,  Archbishop Francisco Moreno...

China condemns Trump over 'one China' policy; state news agency calls him 'as ignorant as a child'

China issued its strongest condemnation yet of President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, after he hinted his administration might toss aside four decades of U.S. policy recognizing Taiwan as part of China. The country’s Foreign Ministry warned that any damage to that principle could rupture diplomatic...