Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday, March 3. I’m Andrew J. Campa, your host. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:
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As election season wraps up, here are the L.A. Times endorsements
Many issues, measures and candidates are on the 2024 presidential primary election ballot, which also includes races for California’s U.S. Senate and congressional seats, numerous local races and ballot measures.
The Times editorial board offers recommendations to help voters deliberate. These choices are based on candidate interviews and independent reporting. Tuesday is the last day to vote.
At least 330 people were killed in vehicle collisions in 2023. That’s the highest number in 20 years and outnumbers homicides. The initiative’s passing forces L.A. leaders to enact their own visionary Mobility Plan from 2015, which attempts to make the city streets safer for all.
Adrin Nazarian for City Council District 2
In a field of first-timers, Nazarian brings experience, having served as chief of staff of the man he’s trying to replace, Paul Krekorian, for years. He is a thoughtful, collaborative leader who is willing to take on difficult, weedy issues, including when he served in the California Assembly.
Nithya Raman for City Council District 4
Raman helped homeless people and those most at risk of homelessness by offering additional housing and services, while protecting against rising rents and evictions. She’s also transferred duties such as traffic enforcement and nonviolent mental health crises from police to unarmed responders.
Imelda Padilla for City Council District 6
She has served only six months. However, Padilla joined the City Council after establishing strong ties with Pacoima Beautiful, the Los Angeles County Women and Girls Initiative, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and she served on the Sun Valley Area Neighborhood Council.
Marqueece Harris-Dawson for City Council District 8
He has attacked homelessness with temporary and permanent housing, including the development of 1,040 units of housing for people who are homeless. He has also moved people from large tent encampments in his district into hotels and motels through Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program.
Eddie Anderson for City Council District 10
The ordained minister and activist has the vision for a safer, healthier, more equitable district and organizing skills to help make change happen. Anderson has a chance to bring stability to a district that has rotated through three representatives since 2020.
Serena Oberstein for City Council District 12
There are only two candidates in this race and Oberstein, the nonprofit executive and former president of the L.A. City Ethics Commission, stands out. She represents a new vision of the northwest San Fernando Valley, ready for a sustainable and vibrant future.
Miguel Santiago for City Council District 14
In nearly a decade representing the area in the state Legislature, Santiago has shown leadership and persistence in tackling some issues that matter most to his constituents, including housing, homelessness and environmental justice. He will provide attention to an area whose political leaders have often fallen short.
George Gascón for district attorney
Gascón’s policies seek fitting rather than longer sentences. This smart approach was such a departure from failed strategies that the MAGA right promptly distorted it into the false narrative that Gascón refuses to prosecute misdemeanors at all, and generally avoids prosecuting felonies.
Holly Mitchell for the Board of Supervisors, District 2
Elected in 2020, Mitchell and her colleagues instituted thoughtful spending of federal emergency aid to keep the most at-risk county residents housed and fed, and small landlords and businesses afloat, despite the disruption to the economy brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Janice Hahn for the Board of Supervisors, District 4
Hahn and the board moved away from building new costly jails in favor of allowing mental health care and other treatments. Her last eight years in L.A. County have been a race to get more treatment beds, more housing and more reentry services for people returning from prison or juvenile hall or aging out of foster care without a place to live or sufficient work skills.
Kathryn Barger for the Board of Supervisors, District 5
The county may be facing a fiscal bump in the road because of budget shortfalls, making Barger’s decades of experience under former Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich key. She can walk the line between overspending and panic cutting of services for the most vulnerable county residents.
When compared with the cost of doing nothing, Proposition 1 is an important step forward in meeting California’s responsibility to the most vulnerable homeless people and those housed Californians with behavioral health problems most at risk of ending up on the street.
Adam B. Schiff for the U.S. Senate
There are three solid candidates in Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Schiff. He, however, stands out for his extraordinary leadership over the last several years in helping to protect the nation’s institutions, the rule of law and American democracy itself from former President Trump.
We have more on superior court races and Los Angeles Unified board elections here.
The week’s biggest stories
(Kent Nishimura, Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Politics and elections
Civil and criminal courts
Rain, snow and water
More big stories
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Column One
Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:
(Illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; Photos via Getty Images)
Running along the trails that whipsaw through the oak forests of the Palo Alto hills, a reporter was hit with a musky, skunky smell that made the hair on her neck stand up. She don’t know if it was a mountain lion, but something in her brain told her to stop running, move slowly and keep her wits. She wondered if vegetarians, like her herself and deer, smell differently than meat-eaters, such as mountain lions and friends.
More great reads
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For your weekend
(Courtesy of Judithe Hernández)
Going out
Staying in
- 👑 Venture with Napoleon on his conquering of Europe as the blockbuster film by the same name was released on Apple TV on Friday.
- 🐟 Lucky season No. 13 debuts for the cast of fishermen from Gloucester, Mass., looking for their next big catch on “Wicked Tuna.”
- 🧑🍳 Los Angeles-area chef Christina Conte serves the history and recipe behind election cake.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and arcade games.
L.A. Affairs
Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
(Carson McNamara / For The Times)
When he opened the door of his apartment, something felt off. The way the click of the lock echoed in the room was wrong. It was too resonant. The furniture usually absorbed the sound. That’s when he realized his boyfriend had moved out without telling him.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carols Lozano, news editor
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