Newsletter: Today: Four (No More?) Years

March 8, 2019 5 AM PT

A federal judge has sentenced Paul Manafort to nearly four years in prison, far less than prosecutors had urged.

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Four (No More?) Years

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was facing a sentence of 19 to 24 years for financial crimes prosecuted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Instead, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rejected the federal guidelines as excessive and gave him 47 months — a sentence that critics decried as too lenient. The judge, who’s been known for his cantankerousness, called the crimes “very serious” but said Manafort “has lived an otherwise blameless life.” He also ordered Manafort to pay a $50,000 fine and restitution that could range from $6 million to $25 million. Manafort will go before another judge next week for sentencing on two related charges of conspiracy.

More Politics

-- The House voted to condemn anti-Semitism and other forms of hate after a protracted dispute within the Democratic Party over its handling of racially charged comments about Israel by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar.

-- Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has filed a lawsuit claiming the Trump Organization failed to pay nearly $2 million toward his legal defense after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors.

-- Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo has been on a diplomatic tour of Iowa talking about trade and reassuring farmers that everything will, eventually, be OK.

Islamic State Rises Again

Islamic State has been stripped of its territory in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean the war against the extremist group is over. Instead, the group sometimes referred to as ISIS has gone back to its roots as an insurgency and is still carrying out deadly attacks. Iraqi military officials, security experts and the U.S. government say that Iraq has failed to develop an extensive intelligence network that would offer the best chance of rooting out the militants in rural areas. Instead, forces have rounded up large numbers of Sunni Muslims and put those suspected of being in Islamic State on trial. It’s a strategy that’s backfired before.

A ‘Gang’ of Deputies in East L.A.?

For decades, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has struggled to address secretive, gang-like deputy societies accused of committing abuses against inmates, fellow deputies and while on patrol. Now, seven new deputies in East L.A. have filed legal claims accusing the county of failing to address a hostile work environment allegedly created by a group of older, tattoo-wearing deputies called the Banditos. The claims say a party ended in violence when the Banditos attacked several of the new deputies.

Warner Bros.’ Unwanted Drama

A powerful Hollywood executive. A young actress. Allegations of an extramarital affair. WarnerMedia’s handling of a sex scandal involving the head of its Warner Bros. studio, Kevin Tsujihara, is raising fresh questions about how much the company knew of his alleged extramarital affair with an aspiring actress — and whether she was given small movie roles to keep quiet.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this date in 1966, The Times reported on a hairy situation at Palisades High School. After about 50 boys had been sent home for not cutting their long hair, protests began on campus. Members of the school’s football team broke up a demonstration, with one player ripping up the signs of the “longhairs.”

CALIFORNIA

-- A week after San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon moved to wipe out thousands of marijuana convictions dating back decades, he’s announced his support for a bill that would clear old arrest and conviction records for defendants statewide.

-- Reports that the U.S. government kept a database on journalists, activists and immigration attorneys during an investigation into last year’s migrant caravan has stirred outrage among civil rights groups.

-- A study by the Hope Center, a research and policy institute, found that 19% of California’s 2.1 million community college students have been homeless during the past year.

-- Downtown L.A. has gotten more rain in four months than it normally gets for the whole year.

YOUR WEEKEND

-- Restaurant reviews: Tesse is a Sunset Strip charmer that deserves more attention, while Chaak Kitchen is a culinary trip to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula via Tustin.

-- With these recipes involving five or fewer ingredients, you can throw together a quick meal from a well-stocked pantry.

-- If you’re thinking this may be the year to replace your turf with a new water-saving landscape, the Metropolitan Water District has just sweetened the deal.

-- Little Lake Elsinore southeast of L.A. has shifted into superbloom mode, with blankets of orange poppies covering the hills in Walker Canyon.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Actress Julianne Moore worked to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary in the film “Gloria Bell.”

-- The South by Southwest Film Festival opens tonight with the latest from Jordan Peele: “Us,” a movie that has been shrouded in secrecy.

-- With the acquisition of Fox expected to close soon, Disney will have an even bigger footprint in Hollywood. Other studios have only just begun to grapple with the consequences of the company’s increasing power.

NATION-WORLD

-- A federal appeals court has decided that immigrants who cross the border without authorization may go to court to appeal decisions by U.S. immigration authorities to deny them asylum.

-- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says an “erosion of trust” and “lack of communication” with his former justice minister led her to resign and accuse him of applying inappropriate pressure in a corruption prosecution.

-- Huawei is suing the U.S. government over a law banning federal agencies from using its equipment. It’s the latest maneuver in the Chinese tech giant’s global offensive against against American pressure and criticism.

-- Thailand’s Constitutional Court has banned the political party that nominated a former princess to run for prime minister.

BUSINESS

-- A U.S. official says SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk’s Pentagon security clearance is under review after he infamously smoked marijuana live on YouTube in September.

-- Rep. Maxine Waters and other Democrats clashed with Kathy Kraninger, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, over the agency’s industry-friendly shift.

SPORTS

-- Dodgers pitching ace Clayton Kershaw spent part of the offseason in the Dominican Republic, helping to increase awareness against child sex trafficking.

-- As it turns out, Bryce Harper will save tens of millions of dollars in taxes by spurning the Dodgers and Giants.

OPINION

-- Former L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky writes that jail abuse reforms are under assault by new Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

-- Drugmaker Eli Lilly has released an “authorized generic” version of its Humalog insulin for about half the current list price, but consumer columnist David Lazarus says the move shows how broken our healthcare system really is.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- “The only thing my sister is guilty of is trying to protect other women.” Today is International Women’s Day, and to mark it, the brother of a woman imprisoned in Saudi Arabia speaks out for her release. (The Guardian)

-- The State Department has rescinded the offer of its International Women of Courage Award to a Finnish journalist allegedly after officials went through her social media posts and found criticism of President Trump. (Foreign Policy)

-- Performance artist Laurie Anderson speaks on the nature of the mind: “The world is full of sad things, if you don’t see them you are an idiot. It is not fine. But especially in our times it’s important to not become that. Do not become sad.” (Van)

ONLY IN L.A.

“Rick Walters Hates You.” If you’ve been inside a tattoo parlor, chances are you’ve seen a sticker with this phrase and a portrait of this tattoo artist as a young man. In recent years, Walters reveled in his role as “the Gandalf of the Southern California tattoo world” in his fedora, long hair and beard. This week, the grandfather-like figure of the scene died at 73. But his ink lives on.

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