Newsletter: Mexico’s Search for the Disappeared; Colombia Voters Say No to Peace Agreement

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Dias de la Muerte

Mexicans have often complained that local police departments are allied with criminal gangs and have little incentive to recover the bodies of citizens – the desaparecidos – kidnapped for ransom, robbery or revenge and never found again. But a new movement is sweeping the country in which volunteers, mostly mothers and wives, are undertaking the gruesome task of recovering human remains from unmarked graves. On the northern fringes of Veracruz, searchers have uncovered at least 80 clandestine graves in the last eight weeks.

A Narrow Defeat in Colombia

Every national poll conducted in Colombia over the last few weeks predicted that voters would endorse the peace agreement between the government and the country’s largest rebel group. But on Sunday, with 99.7% of the ballots counted, the nationwide referendum had been narrowly rejected, raising the prospect that the longest armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere might resume.

‘His Spanish wasn’t very good’

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine took a year off from Harvard Law School and went to Honduras in 1980 to work at a vocational center serving a collection of villages and banana camps near the city of El Progreso. “Not everyone comes to Progreso,” said a Jesuit priest who worked with Kaine. The experience, which allowed him to see firsthand a society living under a dictatorship and in extreme poverty, guided him into public service. “His Spanish wasn’t very good,” said one of his former students, but his efforts were appreciated at a time that the U.S. government was mostly known for supporting oppressive regimes in El Salvador and Nicaragua. “We were not used to interacting with Americans, so it had an impression on us to see someone like him educating us.”

More Politics

– Surrogates for Donald Trump argued on Sunday against a New York Times story that said he probably did not pay federal income tax for 18 years. They cast their candidate as a “genius” who paid taxes according to his fiduciary duties. Beyond the question over the legality of his tax posture is whether it will affect his standing to be a vehicle for American disdain for the political system.

– Once a stand-in position, the vice presidency is now viewed as an integral part of the government, which makes Tuesday’s debate between Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine all the more crucial.

Are Health Officials Doing Enough to Stop the Spread of Superbugs?

Between 7,500 and 9,000 Californians are believed to die each year from infections acquired during a hospital stay, but some experts are now arguing that this number is grossly underestimated. Unlike two dozen other states, California does not require doctors or hospitals to state on death certificates when patients are sickened by rare and lethal superbugs. Without accurate data, health officials are unable to assess the prevalence of these infections and take measures to stop their spread.

The California Connection

With last week’s passage in Congress of a bill allowing Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, families are turning to U.S. government investigations into two Al Qaeda affiliates who spent time in Los Angeles and San Diego before joining other hijackers for the deadly assault on the Pentagon. Saudi Arabia has denied any direct or indirect support for the terrorists, but the 9/11 Commission report and newly declassified material show that Nawaf Hazmi and Khalid Mihdhar met with a suspected Saudi intelligence operative who was backed by a consular official. The nature of that meeting is a key to the families’ claim against the kingdom.

Measure M’s Achilles Heel

By creating a new half-cent sales tax – with no end date – Measure M will provide a new and permanent source of revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, raising an estimated $860 million a year. Yet the measure has generated opposition from municipalities in the southern half of the county who criticize Metro for not allocating more funds for transportation needs in their area. Four years ago a similar ballot measure was narrowly defeated by voters in these cities, leading observers to wonder if Measure M will face the same fate.

Siege of Mosul

In the coming weeks, the long-awaited offensive in Iraq to capture the city of Mosul, which for two years has been held by Islamic State, will begin, leading the head of the United Nations refugee agency in Iraq to warn that the operation could trigger “one of the largest man-made disasters” in years for the city’s 1 million residents.

OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

– As the European Space Agency deliberately crashed the Rosetta orbiter into the comet known as 67P, its cameras were firing away. One of the final images is taken half a mile away from this dirty snowball.

– After spiking earlier this year, homicides in South Los Angeles have steadily declined, and the Los Angeles Police Department has decided to redeploy its Metro officers to other trouble spots in the city: Hollenbeck, Rampart and the Valley.

– China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, is on a Hollywood buying spree. His company is investing in Sony Pictures and is in talks to spend about $1 billion for the iconic Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globes.

– Gov. Jerry Brown signs two bills that broadened the power of judges to treat sex crimes as rape at sentencing and would require time in state prison as punishment. Supporters praise the measures for strengthening a criminal justice system that often places blame on victims.

– Steve Lopez: Los Angeles’ poet laureate, Luis Rodriguez, steps down after two years. With more than 200 public readings and conversations, the author of the memoir “Always Running” never slowed down.

– The rumbling started last Monday, and not before long, seismologists had recorded more than 200 earthquakes under the Salton Sea. Such a swarm, they warn, increases the chances of the Big One on the San Andreas Fault.

– After two months and nearly $229 million, the Soberanes fire, burning in the mountains and ranch land east of Big Sur, is the most expensive wildfire in U.S. history, and it is still burning.

CALIFORNIA

– Joseph Mann, a Sacramento homeless man, was fatally shot by police officers who may have used their cruiser to intentionally run him down, according to a video released last month. The recording, as graphic as it is, makes it difficult for the officers to argue that the shooting was a justified response to an immediate threat.

– Family and friends are in mourning for Carnell Snell Jr., the 18-year-old who was shot outside his home after a pursuit by Los Angeles police officers. Protesters shut down an intersection near Snell’s residence and marched to Mayor Eric Garcetti’s home in Hancock Park.

– In August, a fire destroyed a home for severely disabled adults in Temecula, killing four people, and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies began looking into the deaths as homicides. Nothing has come from that investigation, leaving family members of the victims desperate for information.

– A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles recently ruled that should the rape case against NBA point guard Derrick Rose go to trial – as it seems likely – then the identity of his accuser will no longer remain anonymous.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

– By featuring an African American superhero with bulletproof skin, the writers for the Netflix series “Luke Cage” are able to put a provocative twist on complicated social issues like Black Lives Matter, racial inequity and black-on-black violence.

– Christopher Hawthorne: Los Angeles has inspired, given cover and “marked the shifting epicenter” of artist Ed Ruscha’s output since 1956, which might explain the lack of a sharp focus in the current exhibition of his work in San Francisco.

– Battles once fought in the so-called culture wars have become more complicated as Americans of one race or background borrow without reservation the art, culture, stylings and language of another, says critic at large Viet Thanh Nguyen.

– The Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted a “Noon to Midnight” celebration of new music in Los Angeles on Saturday, featuring a number of performances ranging from an amplified box of crickets to a triangle solo.

NATION-WORLD

– The Supreme Court opens a new term this week with a few dozen low-profile cases, but the biggest judicial decision of the session will be made by voters in November when they decide the court’s ideological bias for the next four years and possibly much longer.

– Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is committed to the bloody tactics of his anti-drug war, but he did apologize to the Jewish community for comparing his policy to the Holocaust and saying that he would be “happy to slaughter” the estimated 3 million addicts in his country.

– Conservative judge Roy Moore – the so-called Ayatollah of Alabama – was removed from the state’s Supreme Court for violating the canons of judicial ethics when he ordered probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

– When the 60-year-old company Taiwan Salt realized 20 years ago that sales of salt could stagnate, executives began to develop hygiene products – like shampoo and toothpaste – that could take advantage of the briny commodity.

BUSINESS

– Comfort is the key to creativity, says the chief executive of a Northern California company that has developed a workstation that tilts back like a dentist chair for computer work. Price tag? $5,900. Move over Herman Miller.

– In an effort to offset revenue lost from consumers who dropped cable TV and switched to video streaming, Pasadena and other California cities are considering whether to tax subscribers of Netflix, Hulu and other services.

SPORTS

– The most popular Dodger in the Bay Area, Vin Scully, broadcast his final game in San Francisco, and he brought to the game the brilliant story-telling, professionalism and dignity that has endeared him to thousands of fans, writes Bill Plaschke. The Dodgers lost, but no matter. “Don’t be sad that it’s over,” Scully said in farewell. “Smile because it happened.”

– A 47-yard punt return in the fourth quarter set up a touchdown pass to give the Rams a 17-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, solidifying the team’s place at the top of the NFC West.

OPINION

– Seventy years ago this weekend, an international military tribunal in Nuremberg put the world on notice that aggression and atrocities against civilians were not just immoral, they were illegal.

– Even as cyclists are being encouraged to take back the road, motorists often begrudge them for flaunting the rules of the road, but if streets are to become more welcoming for bicycles, then those rules need to change.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

– Donald Trump’s rhetorical styling is giving grammarians a headache as they try in vain to diagram one of his sentences. Linguists explain why his supporters have an easier time of it. (Vox)

– Every era gets the pornography it deserves. From Linda Lovelace to YouPorn, a cultural-historical perspective. (The New Yorker)

– When the video game BioShock debuted in 2007, players thought they had an opportunity to exercise their moral judgment. Nine years and a few sequels later, it’s easy to see how they were being manipulated. (The Atlantic)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Customers of the more than 41,000 beauty salons and barbershops in California are often asked if they would like a glass of wine or a beer while getting their hair cut or styled. These businesses, however, are violating state liquor laws for serving alcohol without a license. All that will change in the new year when a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown permitting complimentary spirits to be served in these tonsorial establishments takes effect. What goes best with a perm? A mimosa or an IPA?

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.