Politics

Gay activist Melvin Boozer, who led national groups seeking rights for homosexuals and who was a token nominee for vice president of the United States in 1980, has died at age 41 of undisclosed causes. Boozer had served as president of the District of Columbia Gay Activists Alliance from 1979 to 1981 and later became … Read more

Antonetta Ferraro, 84, mother of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. “I always said I had two role models in life,” said Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984. “One was Eleanor Roosevelt and one was Antonetta Ferraro. She worked all her life. She worked in sweatshops when they were really sweatshops. … Read more

Jim Graves at a news conference. (Glen Stubbe / Associated Press) WASHINGTON — With Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann opting against a reelection bid, the Democrat who nearly unseated her last November and was gunning for her again is now out of the race too. Jim Graves, a St. Cloud businessman, told the local website MinnPost … Read more

The sun beats down on Main Street with a ferocity that sends Ricky Wilburn and his mother to the Sonic Drive-In for a hot fudge sundae and a Route 44-size Diet Coke big enough to fill his gas tank. It is Saturday afternoon, his day off from the local boot factory where he makes buckles. … Read more

A waterway along Route 4 in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, just outside Stockton. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) What Gov. Jerry Brown has been pitching as his California WaterFix is seen by many San Joaquin Valley farmers as a checkbook buster. History may be repeating itself. Hang around long enough and comets return. Brown … Read more

William Burns testifies during his Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 24. (Tom Williams / Pool Photo) Without opposition, the Senate confirmed veteran diplomat William Burns as CIA director on Thursday, giving him control of the nation’s premier spy agency as the U.S. government confronts threats from China, Russia, Iran and elsewhere. The approval, … Read more

A residential development in San Jose. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press) Powerful opponents have emerged to fight Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to streamline affordable housing development — and their main reason isn’t about building homes. A coalition of labor and environmental organizations has come out against the proposal, arguing that the governor’s plan would … Read more

U S. trade officials on Friday empowered President Trump to impose tariffs that could cut off the solar energy industry from the cheap foreign-made panels that have driven its explosive growth and helped create tens of thousands of jobs in California. The tariffs under consideration are meant to protect a small number of American solar-panel … Read more

What is perhaps most remarkable about the changed America to which we woke this morning is how the president-elect’s race seems, in most ways, the least remarkable thing about him. In large part, that’s a tribute to the fact that Barack Obama declined every opportunity to make his race a campaign centerpiece. It’s also a … Read more

Protesters outside City Hall demand the resignations of Councilmembers Gil Cedillo, whose City Council term ends this year, and Kevin De León, who is set to serve through 2024, and major California political figures, including L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Sen. Alex Padilla, have joined the protesters’ cause. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) Nury Martinez, the … Read more