Politics

William B. Ellis, a Los Angeles resident who at 90 still introduces himself as Wild Bill, chuckled as he recalled being told that blacks like him couldn’t cut it as fighter pilots. “They said we didn’t have the muscle coordination to fly airplanes,” he said Thursday amid tales of dogfights and aerial derring-do. Were they … Read more

After three years of financial crisis, states across the nation report a turnaround: Tax revenue is coming in strong. Crippling budget deficits have largely been erased. With the new fiscal year two weeks away, 32 states are predicting surpluses. So why are parents and immigrants and senior citizens so worried? They’re fearful and frustrated because … Read more

Surge in remote working due to COVID fuels record employment for people with disabilities After generations of being overlooked and sidelined in the job market, Americans with disabilities are enjoying an unprecedented employment boom — thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread acceptance of remote working and an overall labor shortage have opened up historic opportunities … Read more

Toni Atkins is one of California’s most powerful lawmakers, ascending to leadership roles in the Assembly and Senate the last five years. As Atkins’ clout has soared, so too has the consulting businesses of her spouse, Jennifer LeSar. The clientele for LeSar’s two affordable housing and economic development firms has grown nearly fourfold since 2013, … Read more

President Obama has taken plenty of heat in conservative Christian circles for a remark he made in 2006 in which he said that that United States was no longer “just” a Christian nation, but was religiously diverse. Now, it turns out, he has allies for that view: evangelical Christian leaders. In a statement issued Tuesday, … Read more

President Reagan, in his strongest language on the subject to date, on Saturday denounced the nation’s welfare system as “misguided” and said that it has made the problem of poverty worse instead of better. “We’re in danger of creating a permanent culture of poverty as inescapable as any chain or bond; a second and separate … Read more

From South Carolina to Arizona, Democrats are brawling noisily over whom their presidential candidate will be. But back in the capital, Republican strategists are already focused on the finish line — and quietly working on a new “ground war” plan to secure another four years in the White House for President Bush. So far ahead … Read more

For Patrick J. Buchanan, the brawls began early. As a toddler, he showed a gift for public speaking, quickly learning the “Hail Mary” while his young brothers stumbled through the Roman Catholic prayer. Soon, little Paddy Joe started reciting it over and over at bedtime. One night, hearing a scuffle, Buchanan’s father charged into the … Read more

Striking Writers Guild of America workers picket outside the Sunset Bronson Studios in May. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Striking workers in California, potentially including writers and actors still picketing Hollywood studios, would be eligible for unemployment benefits under legislation state lawmakers passed on Thursday. Gov. Gavin Newsom now faces a critical decision on … Read more

Leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Assn. were thrilled when William Howard Taft agreed to address their convention in 1910, the first U.S. president to do so. They were less thrilled, though, when he proceeded to compare women to Hottentots, and not in a good way. “The theory that Hottentots or any other uneducated, … Read more