Newsletter: Today: The CB-Uh-Oh: 22 Million More Without Insurance
The Senate healthcare overhaul bill has run into trouble. Meanwhile, President Trump’s travel ban is partially back in business. 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
The CB-Uh-Oh: 22 Million More Without Insurance
In its 49-page report, the Congressional Budget Office doesn’t have a metric for “heart,” the X-factor President Trump says he wants in a new healthcare bill. Instead, we have this analysis for the Republican plan in the Senate: 22 million more Americans without coverage, higher medical costs for millions of other poor and sick people, lower average insurance premiums in 2020 (albeit for less medical care), and a $321-billion deficit reduction. The top-line numbers aren’t helping Sen. Mitch McConnell’s push for a vote this week on the bill, which has been decried by physician groups and hospitals.
More From Washington
-- The White House issued a stern warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad as it claimed “potential” evidence that Syria was preparing for another chemical weapons attack. Syria has denied the allegations.
-- Sergey Kislyak, D.C.’s most famous (or infamous) ambassador, is on his way out. Where’s he headed? Kislyak says he thinks he will just go back to Russia. “My wife wants to go home.”
-- Three journalists from CNN’s investigative unit are leaving the network after the retraction of their June 22 story connecting an ally of President Trump to a Russian investment fund.
The Travel Ban Is Partially Back
After lower courts had blocked Trump’s efforts to ban foreign arrivals from six Muslim-majority countries, the Supreme Court took a pragmatic approach: It allowed much of the travel ban to take effect but set aside the bigger questions about religious discrimination and presidential authority until the fall. By that first Monday in October, the ban theoretically will have expired. In the meantime, immigration attorneys are strategizing. Here’s a quick breakdown of how the court is allowing those with “bona fide relationships” into the U.S. and what to expect down the road.
This Case Is No Piece of Cake
Amid its flurry of decisions (Travel ban! Guns! Religious liberties!) before summer recess, the Supreme Court said it will hear the case of a Colorado “cake artist” who, according to his lawyers, will “not create cakes celebrating any marriage that is contrary to his understanding of biblical teaching.” Jack Phillips says he politely declined to make a wedding cake for two men; they, in turn, filed a complaint. When the high court reconvenes, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will be the one to watch. He’s been a strong supporter of gay rights and a defender of religious liberty.
Which Wage Is Up?
The debate over the minimum wage got some fresh fodder this week when a University of Washington study found that jobs and work hours fell for Seattle’s lowest-paid employees after the city raised the minimum wage to $13 last year. That finding differs from past studies in Seattle and elsewhere, which have found relatively little effect on employment. So what does it mean for L.A., which goes from $10.50 an hour to $12 an hour next week? These economists try to explain.
A Sweet Deal at the DWP
Politicians working behind closed doors. A fast track to vote. It’s not just for congressional healthcare bills, apparently, as Los Angeles city officials are looking to approve a new deal giving 9,000 union workers at the Department of Water and Power six raises in five years. The union also will continue to contribute nothing toward healthcare costs from workers’ paychecks. Though some activists are concerned, there appears to be little opposition on the City Council.
MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- Inside the grand opening of the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace, an animal adoption center in Playa Vista.
-- Rep. Brad Sherman stands alone in Congress on impeaching Trump, but protesters outside his office made him feel a little less lonely.
-- Lakers GM Rob Pelinka explains his decision to select Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick at the NBA draft.
CALIFORNIA
-- Officials arrested a South Pasadena man on suspicion of murdering his missing 5-year-old son; they said he had been preparing to flee the country.
-- Two federal fishery agencies gave the green light for a water project that would change the way Northern California supplies are sent to the Southland.
-- The city of San Juan Capistrano is suing state regulators over a proposed $350-million transmission line that critics argue is just the latest unnecessary and costly utility project.
-- Police say a 46-year-old Uber driver with a felony record has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and kidnapping after an intoxicated passenger was taken to a hotel.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- How Harry Potter and his blockbuster films came of age on screen: Our reviews of the films weren’t always kind.
-- People have been asking filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour to explain herself a lot lately with the release of “The Bad Batch.” It is a psychedelic cannibal Western, after all.
-- Chance the Rapper, Solange Knowles and five must-see BET Awards moments.
-- Jackie Chan sets aside his lovable on-screen persona to play to the dark side in “The Foreigner.”
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
Fifty years ago this week, the Beatles introduced the song “All You Need Is Love” on a worldwide TV special. But when the Fab Four first heard the pitch for the show, they were less than enthusiastic. Eventually, John Lennon said, “Oh, OK, I’ll do something for that,” and produced one of the group’s defining songs.
NATION-WORLD
-- A federal judge in Detroit put a temporary hold on the deportations of scores of Iraqi nationals swept up in immigration enforcement raids around the country in recent months.
-- Across the pond, British Prime Minister Theresa May says European nationals would not be forced to pack their bags once the country exits the European Union.
-- Local officials from across Texas squared off for a legal showdown in San Antonio with the state and federal governments over the state’s new anti-”sanctuary city” law.
-- Virginia regulators say Richard Spencer’s white nationalist think tank broke state nonprofit laws.
BUSINESS
-- Another sexual harassment scandal in the tech world shows how the alleged victims risked their careers to expose it.
-- Inside the deal that brought Sony’s “Spider-Man” back to Marvel’s cinematic universe.
SPORTS
-- The Rams say that to improve fans’ experience, they are planning to make available about 70,000 tickets for home games, about 10,000 fewer than last season.
-- Fighting words? John McEnroe said if Serena Williams “played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.”
OPINION
-- The U.S. Senate bill to “repeal and replace” Obamacare would slash Medicaid and, in so doing, would devastate Los Angeles in ways that may not yet be fully appreciated.
-- A UC Irvine law professor who’s working on an Antonin Scalia book says the early signs from Justice Neil Gorsuch are that he’s indeed the new Scalia, just as Trump promised.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Don’t have a law degree? Never been an attorney? You can still be a judge in New York. (ProPublica)
-- Trump and “Fox and Friends” are mighty friendly, but with the “liberal media,” not so much. (CNN)
-- “I love vertical-grain Douglas-fir plywood. I love that world and all the characters from the original series,” David Lynch says of “Twin Peaks.” (Vulture)
ONLY IN CALIFORNIA
Teemu Selanne is from Finland and Paul Kariya from Canada, but some of the best moments in their hockey careers came in Anaheim when they played for the Ducks in the late 1990s and early 2000s. When both were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame this week, it was expected for Selanne but a surprise for Kariya, who was out surfing near his Southern California home when the call came. “I didn’t get eaten by any sharks,” Kariya said, “so it was a positive day.”
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