Today’s Headlines: Disney sues Ron DeSantis over Florida district

Hello, it’s Thursday, April 27, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Disney sues Ron DeSantis

Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the latest salvo in a long-running fight over the company’s self-governing powers in the area of the state that encompasses Walt Disney World Resort.

The Republican governor — who is widely expected to run for president in 2024 — has made his battle against Disney a cornerstone of his culture wars campaign, at times referring to the legendary California company as a “woke Burbank corporation.” The feud began last year after Disney spoke out against Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation, which banned education on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. DeSantis has since pushed to expand the prohibition to all grades.

More coverage

• Everything to know about the Disney and DeSantis feud.
• Disney sues DeSantis, pegging the would-be Florida dictator as a petulant child trampling over constitutional rights, writes business columnist Michael Hiltzik.
  

Santa Monica ignored warnings of abuse by a police employee

In nearly three decades as a civilian employee with the Santa Monica Police Department and the city, Eric Uller was considered a standout public servant.

It took decades to uncover that Uller was a sexual predator. Now, more than 200 people have come forward to say they were abused by Uller, most of whom were underprivileged children looking for guidance and activities and city programs.

This week, Santa Monica settled more lawsuits, bringing its total payout to $229.285 million. But more than the money, the case has sparked intense criticism over why the city could not protect its children.

As temps rise, anxiety grows along Los Angeles Aqueduct

More than a month after heavy storms eroded a section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, work crews are still scrambling to complete repairs and shore up flood defenses in the face of a weeklong heat wave that threatens to trigger widespread snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada.

Historic snowpack levels in the Eastern Sierra are expected to melt into runoff that is 225% of normal, which translates to about 326 billion gallons of water that will need to be managed, DWP officials said.

Tucker Carlson breaks his silence

Tucker Carlson, the polarizing conservative prime-time host ousted by Fox News on Monday, has broken his silence. Carlson posted a two-minute video to Twitter on Wednesday evening, speaking out for the first time since being let go.

Carlson did not address a discrimination lawsuit filed by his show’s former head of booking, Abby Grossberg, which sources told The Times was related to his exit, nor did he mention his role in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News, recently settled for $787.5 million.

Istanbul’s dilemma: earthquake risk, plus a housing crisis

Ismail Ciftsuren’s building — his family’s home for three decades — was slated to be knocked down in late March, leaving just over a month to find somewhere else to live. But his family was caught in a double crisis: Istanbul, much like Los Angeles, is facing a severe housing shortage and extreme earthquake risk.

The family worried about living in a building deemed unsafe in temblors. But the more immediate fear was of being forced to find a new home in a city where population growth and lack of land for building have sent real estate prices and rents soaring.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Maeve Secor, a USC doctoral student, examines a Nashville warbler caught in a net on a ridge known as Bear Divide as part of a study of migratory birds in the San Gabriel Mountains. Read more: “This dirt parking lot in the San Gabriel Mountains is a magnet for migrating birds”

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

Ex-UCLA campus gynecologist James Heaps was sentenced to 11 years for sexually abusing patients. The ex-gynecologist was a renowned cancer specialist who prosecutors claimed preyed on his patients.

L.A. rapper MoneySign Suede stabbed to death in a shower at California prison, attorney says. In a statement, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said the rapper was found unresponsive just before 10 p.m. Tuesday after correctional officers found that he was not in his cell during a regular count.

California’s first wildfire of the season burns 160 acres and heads toward snowpack. The blaze is the first major wildfire in California this year after an exceptionally wet winter that left state officials more concerned about flooding than fires — a reversal from recent years.

The heat wave hitting California is likely to bring the hottest weather so far this year. Highs are forecast to reach into the 90s and 100s by Saturday, which is expected to trigger increased snowmelt and flooding, primarily in the Central Valley.

NATION-WORLD

Pope allows women to vote at an upcoming bishops’ meeting. The historic reform reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making responsibilities and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church.

Their leader is Putin’s friend. But Belarusians are wary of being drawn into the Ukraine war. Belarusian military analyst Aliaksandr Alesin said that if the country’s 45,000-member army is sent into Ukraine, there might be “mass refusals to follow orders.”

China to scrap PCR test requirement for inbound travelers starting Saturday. Travelers entering China will no longer need to provide a negative PCR test result in another easing of the country’s “zero-COVID” policies.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

Ed Sheeran denies at trial that he ripped off a Marvin Gaye song. Sheeran has some bad habits, but ripping off other people’s songs isn’t one of them, he insisted this week on the witness stand.

Harry Belafonte’s music made 1988’s ‘Beetlejuice.’ Here’s how it happened. The music from the entertainer, who died Tuesday at 96, is forever intertwined with Tim Burton’s 1988 comedy about a couple of ghosts who hire a deranged bio-exorcist to rid their home of its new tenants.

Where do the red carpet looks go at the end of the night? This fashion archivist has a growing solution. While the pieces that shape pop culture and the art of fashion may no longer be put to use, they are often put into storage. It sounds simple, but it involves more than just a plastic tub shoved in the back of your closet.

BUSINESS

CinemaCon 2023: Hollywood disses streaming. As studios including Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures previewed their upcoming films for 2023 at CinemaCon, it seemed as if any previous focus on shifting more movies to streaming was an aberration.

Anti-trans backlash against Bud Light has executives on the hot seat. What’s going on? Last week, Bud Light placed two of its marketing executives on leave after public outcry from conservative corners over the beer brand’s partnership with a transgender influencer.

SPORTS

Dodgers prospect Michael Busch approaching first MLB stint with nothing to prove. In the Dodgers’ 8-7 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Busch made his debut as the club’s designated hitter, collecting his first career hit, walk and RBI less than four years after being drafted by the organization as a first-round pick from the University of North Carolina.

Clippers enter the off-season with questions concerning Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and more. In four seasons together Leonard and George have proven they can win at a high rate when on the floor, and their individual play this season encouragingly returned to all-NBA production — but how dependable they are to actually play together is a question on which hinges hundreds of millions of dollars.

OPINION

Column: He’s 80, eternally underestimated and he’ll probably win again. At 80, Biden is already the oldest president in American history. If he wins a second term, he could become damn near the oldest head of state in the world. To which I say, so what?

Opinion: Tucker Carlson joked about deporting me on air for ‘good TV.’ That’s the kind of host he was. For someone like me, who came to this country as a child, unwittingly undocumented, and who, like millions of others, has been waiting decades for a path to citizenship, Carlson represents the scariest of boogeymen. He hates me and other human beings he calls “illegal.”

ONLY IN L.A.

The charred octopus from Rouge, an Armenian, upscale dining destination in Studio City.

(Kimberly Motos)

As the Armenian community in Los Angeles grew to become one of the largest outside of Armenia, it became more and more difficult to distinguish Armenian food as a whole.

Over the last decade, a new generation of Armenian chefs and restaurateurs has emerged, eager to break boundaries and expand the cuisine narrative by bringing in new flavors and spices.

Here, we highlight seven rising Armenian chefs who are making a mark on L.A.’s food scene.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On April 27, 1994, after more than 40 years of apartheid, the overwhelming Black majority in South Africa cast ballots for the first time.

Black South Africans living in Los Angeles, like Samuel Paul, waited in line in front of the South African Consulate in Beverly Hills to cast absentee ballots. After being jailed six times, interrogated and repeatedly beaten by police in his native country, voting for the first time was bittersweet for Paul.

In an interview with The Times, he admitted feeling lonely rather than jubilant.

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