Politics

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was met with chants of “Karen! Karen!” after she described Vice President Kamala Harris as a role model who would fight to protect children at Monday’s opening night of … Read more

Pushed by such celebrities as Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner, state lawmakers are considering yet another proposal aimed at taming aggressive packs of paparazzi. The new bill, by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), would take a state law that bars harassing the children of celebrities and other newsmakers one step further, banning such kids … Read more

How 9/11 stalled immigration reform — and inspired a new generation of activists Ali-Reza Torabi was a sixth-grader in San Diego when two planes slammed into the twin towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Torabi was living in the country illegally after moving to the United States from Iran with his mother and … Read more

After hinting earlier in the week about his likely exit from the presidential race, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson made it official Friday, telling a major gathering for political conservatives outside Washington that he is leaving the campaign trail. “There’s a lot of people who love me, but just won’t vote for me,” he said to … Read more

At a tense point in Barack Obama’s campaign, his closest friends got together and decided that, whatever it took, they would make him laugh. It was early May, and Obama was trying to stave off a comeback by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Chatting privately with the candidate before a late-night stop in Indiana, Marty Nesbitt, Valerie … Read more

In a partisan attack designed to fire up California conservatives, President Reagan and Republican presidential nominee George Bush joined Wednesday to blast Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis as a liberal and to challenge him on the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance. “What is it about the Pledge of Allegiance that upsets him so much?” … Read more

The Trump White House aims to hire only Trump loyalists and to root out those in the government who don’t align with President Trump’s agenda. (Mike Stewart / Associated Press) Job-seekers hoping to join the new Trump administration are facing a series of intense loyalty tests, with White House screening teams fanning out to government … Read more

Palestinians walk amid vast stretches of rubble and destroyed buildings in Gaza City on Friday. (Abed Hajjar / Associated Press) President Trump has ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, lifting a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during the U.S. ally’s war with the Hamas militant group … Read more

Rick Caruso closes in on Karen Bass as L.A. mayor’s race tightens, poll finds The race for mayor of Los Angeles was tightening rapidly as it entered its final week, with Rick Caruso cutting deeply into Rep. Karen Bass’ lead, putting him within striking distance in the contest to run the nation’s second-largest city. Bass … Read more

President Trump with national security advisor John Bolton in the Cabinet Room. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) He tweets about “fire and fury” and threatens “an event the likes of which nobody’s seen before.” But after 15 months in the White House, Donald Trump has shown that his use of military force may be the … Read more