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Public health: Not vaccinated? Not acceptable

Public health: Not vaccinated? Not acceptable

What does society do when one person's behavior puts the greater community at risk? We make them stop. We pass laws, or impose economic...

 

Science and religion: God didn't make man; man made gods

Before John Lennon imagined "living life in peace," he conjured "no heaven … / no hell below us …/ and no religion too."

 

Newton: A new voice atop L.A.'s teachers union

Warren Fletcher wrapped up his work three weeks ago as an English teacher at City of Angels and moved over to the headquarters of United...

Downtown L.A.: A nightmare on Every Street

Downtown L.A.: A nightmare on Every Street

"Look, Daddy, that man's going to the bathroom!"

The upside of living downtown

The upside of living downtown

Eight years ago, as I watched a building near my work be converted from vacant offices into lofts, I couldn't stop thinking about it. If I...

Rutten: America's Murdoch problem

Rutten: America's Murdoch problem

The Anglo-American democracies owe their durability to many attributes, but two of the most crucial involve restraint: No exercise of...

Grandparents can be a lifeline for kids caught in upheaval

Grandparents can be a lifeline for kids caught in upheaval

My mother married my father, a violent and abusive man, when she was 17 — a week after she graduated from high school. We fled from...

Keeping L.A.'s taps flowing

Keeping L.A.'s taps flowing

What's the most reliable source of water in Los Angeles? Your kitchen tap, your bathroom shower, even your toilet.

Can Britain survive tabloid fever?

Can Britain survive tabloid fever?

Britain's drama has penetrated even the carapace of American self-preoccupation.

McManus: One good debt debate deserves another

McManus: One good debt debate deserves another

Republican leaders blinked this week in their standoff with President Obama over raising the nation's debt ceiling. That means we're...

Daum: Jaycee Dugard and the feel-good imperative

Daum: Jaycee Dugard and the feel-good imperative

To watch Diane Sawyer's interview Sunday night with Jaycee Dugard was to wonder at times if that was Dugard herself on screen or an...

Immigration policy: U.S. should abolish its 'diversity visa' program

Immigration policy: U.S. should abolish its 'diversity visa' program

The U.S. "diversity visa" program — 50,000 green cards allocated by lottery each year to applicants who only need a high school...

For sale: U.S. infrastructure?

For sale: U.S. infrastructure?

Greece is having a fire sale of its publicly-owned transportation system, with planes, trains and roads all being sold off as the country...

Rutten: News Corp.'s widening scandal

Rutten: News Corp.'s widening scandal

The only sort of power a news organization can wield safely is the power to persuade.

Haiti: Why an accurate count of civilian deaths matters

Haiti: Why an accurate count of civilian deaths matters

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been at least 60,000 civilian deaths that wouldn't otherwise have occurred. Or maybe...

Immigration detainees: Lost in America

Immigration detainees: Lost in America

Trinity Park, south of downtown Los Angeles, is bustling on a late Friday afternoon. I scan the crowd: teenagers on skateboards, a heated...

Goldberg: The presidency matters, but how much does Obama?

Goldberg: The presidency matters, but how much does Obama?

In 1994, the Republicans took back the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. The significance of that victory is hard for...

Newton: Mean streets — for police

Newton: Mean streets — for police

By almost every measure, Los Angeles police are succeeding: Crime is down, public confidence up, and police who were once reviled in many...

McManus: A measured U.S. response in Syria

McManus: A measured U.S. response in Syria

When pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in Syria this spring, President Obama offered Syrian President Bashar Assad one more chance to...

405 Freeway shutdown: Two words of advice — surface streets

405 Freeway shutdown: Two words of advice — surface streets

About the first thing I heard 20 years ago, when I moved to Los Angeles, was this: "Take surface streets."

Assessing the space shuttle program

Assessing the space shuttle program

I began covering the space shuttle project in 1972, soon after President Nixon authorized it. I had recently joined this newspaper as a...

L.A. teachers union needs to get on board

L.A. teachers union needs to get on board

In Pittsburgh, according to an Aspen Institute report, the local teachers union and the school district have gone from "sitting across the...

Human behavior: To resist temptation, forget guilt or shame and think positive

Human behavior: To resist temptation, forget guilt or shame and think positive

Anytime a VIP gets caught with his (or her) pants down — Arnold Schwarzenegger or Anthony Weiner, for example — you can almost...

In Casey Anthony's case, the law worked

In Casey Anthony's case, the law worked

After Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her daughter Caylee this week, a disturbing spectacle unfolded outside the Florida...

Rodriguez: L.A.'s way is the freeway

Rodriguez: L.A.'s way is the freeway

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's office released a mildly amusing list of 53 suggestions for surviving "Carmageddon," one for...

How President Obama can reclaim his green cred

How President Obama can reclaim his green cred

Environmentalists worked hard to help Barack Obama win the presidency. Three years later, many of us are disappointed with the...

America's judiciary: Courting disaster

America's judiciary: Courting disaster

Denouncing a proposal to cut $150 million out of a courts budget that has already absorbed a $200-million reduction, California's chief...

Charities can be the nation's conscience

Charities can be the nation's conscience

Among the many proposals to raise taxes and cut and reallocate government spending to regain our country's economic health, one of the...

McManus: Team Obama's victory plan

McManus: Team Obama's victory plan

President Obama faces an uphill struggle in his campaign for reelection next year. His job approval rating is stuck just below 50%. The...

Climate change and disaster in Montana

Climate change and disaster in Montana

"We're a disaster area," Alexis Bonogofsky told me, "and it's going to take a long time to get over it."

Daum: You pays your money …

Daum: You pays your money …

There's something exhilarating about walking out of a movie. Not only does it reacquaint you with the notion of your own free will ("Wait...

The Supreme Court closes the door to justice

The Supreme Court closes the door to justice

Has the Supreme Court lost faith in the American court system? That is a strange question to ask about the justices who sit at the top of...

Rutten: The end of American optimism

Rutten: The end of American optimism

It's sometimes useful to see ourselves as others do, and reports this Independence Day weekend in a couple of English-speaking newspapers...