Politics

Alongside the claim that Nancy Reagan ran the White House, we have new muscle in the assertion that the Reagans stole the election that put them there. The allegation has been around since 1987, but got fresh exposure earlier this week. The central premise, surely correct, is that back in the fall of 1980 an … Read more

A prestigious bipartisan group warned Monday that entitlement benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and civil service pensions are growing so rapidly that they will consume nearly all federal tax revenues by the year 2012, leaving the government with no money for anything else. Democratic and Republican legislators on the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement … Read more

Republicans have won the majority in both houses of Congress. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Republicans on Wednesday won enough seats to retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, with races in California and Arizona being the final two victories that gave the GOP a 218-member majority. With the House, conservatives have secured … Read more

San Diego is now the top border region for migrant arrivals For the first time in decades, San Diego has become the top region along the southern border for migrant arrivals. Migrant arrests in San Diego reached 8,989 for the week ending April 16, according to figures the agency posted on X. Meanwhile, Tucson — … Read more

President Bush’s only daughter, Dorothy, said “I do” on Saturday with former Democratic congressional aide Robert (Bobby) Koch in a 23-minute ceremony in the Maryland countryside, the White House said. The late-afternoon wedding attended by 130 people was held at the secluded presidential mountain retreat, Camp David, about two hours outside Washington. In a ceremony … Read more

Jesse Ceja, left, and his grandfather Paulo Torres, 69, stand on Emden Street in Wilmington near their home adjacent to the Phillips 66 refinery. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) With President Trump in the Oval Office, California officials are bracing for the possibility that the new administration will undermine the state’s landmark policies on … Read more

Capping eight years of contentious debate, the Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday to preserve 6.3 million more acres of the California desert, an action that virtually assures the sweeping environmental measure of becoming law this year. The California Desert Protection Act would create 74 wilderness areas and three new national parks, including the 1.2-million-acre Mojave … Read more

Somerston Estate Winery & Vineyards in St. Helena Calif., seen above on Sept. 30, 2020, was among the many wineries that did not produce a 2020 vintage due to the wildfire season. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Wine grapes damaged by smoke are among the crops covered under a $28.6-billion disaster assistance bill for … Read more

Soybeans are harvested near Wamego, Kan. The Biden administration said Wednesday it was banning the use on food crops of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been linked to potential brain damage in children. (Associated Press) The Biden administration said Wednesday it was banning the application of chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide long targeted by environmentalists, … Read more

Krissy Shields sits with her daughter after assembling a flower display in support of abortion rights Friday outside the Supreme Court. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) The Supreme Court on Friday ruled for the Biden administration to preserve legal access in most of the nation to an abortion pill that is part of the … Read more