I’ve been a professional journalist for nearly 30 years, covering cops, courts, city halls, legislatures, natural disasters and war. If there’s an underlying theme to my decades of work it’s a deep, unshakable skepticism of those in charge.
I genuinely don’t care if they’re traditional tax-and-spend Democrats, tight-fisted Republicans, stargazing entrepreneurs or whatever-the-hell MAGA is.
They all have to be held at arm’s length and examined carefully. How else are we supposed to make sense of the people and policies shaping life in the best state in the union?
That’s how I’ve approached my career, and that’s how I’ll approach Essential California. Of course, I’ll also be bringing you stories that delight and surprise about the things that make California special, too. Have tips or suggestions? You can reach me at [email protected]
A surprising path
Unlike so many of my colleagues, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a journalist. My journey to this chair started in the early 1990s, after I had graduated into the worst recession in years with a degree in poetry.
Demand for poets was weak, so I answered a help-wanted ad for an English teacher in Czechoslovakia.
The Berlin Wall had just come down and the school was the brainchild of a very large, very loud private university entrepreneur from Seattle. He dreamed of building a vast and lucrative chain of business schools on the scorched earth of the former Soviet empire.
Like so many grand schemers, however, he struggled with details. At the school in the Slovak countryside, he only provided about 10 textbooks for 50 students. There was a photocopier, but it never worked. None of the four teachers, including me, had ever taught before. And I was 23, about the same age as the students.
I loved it anyway. The students were smart, curious and desperate to escape a communist system that had smothered their families’ ambitions for decades. They seemed willing to put up with anything that might help — even me.
During a town hall the Seattle showman hosted at the school, I stood up, described the appalling lack of resources, and asked if he could at least spring for a few more books.
His eyes sparkled and a smile spread across his jowly face. “Your English is amazing!” he shouted. My “nearly perfect” American accent, he said, proved his school was a raging success.
The moment was deliciously awkward. The students stared at their feet and struggled to keep straight faces.
I discovered how much I love putting delusional blowhards on the spot.
By the time I made it home and started a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri, I had found my calling.
A focus on accountability
In the years since, at papers across the country, my colleagues and I have broken stories about prison gangs run by guards, hospitals covering up patient deaths caused by medical errors and state contractors bribing a sitting governor — who wound up in prison.
I have fought the federal government for hidden disciplinary records on dangerous doctors, exposed state officials for issuing mortgage broker’s licenses to convicted felons (including a mob boss who renewed his license from inside a federal prison) and showed how failures in Los Angeles County’s safety-net healthcare system resulted in agonizing, deadly delays to see specialists.
Nearly all of those stories began with the people in charge insisting we were peddling “fake news.” Most of them ended with someone getting fired. Or laws and regulations being changed. Or someone going to jail.
Essential California will always cover the biggest stories with the most sweeping impact on our daily lives. We’ll keep looking at the delightful and quirky stories we all can’t get enough of, too. But we’ll also keep a sharp eye out for the stories I love, those indispensable and precious gems that make the self-serving hucksters squirm.
Top stories
Feral cats gather around cyclist Julie Gress, of Costa Mesa, who rides more than 50 miles daily to feed and care for about 40 felines living along the Los Angeles River.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A billion-dollar problem along the L.A. River bike path downtown
- For decades, advocates of the path have tried to complete the longest unfinished stretch, which is eight miles from Elysian Park through downtown to Maywood.
- But the ambitious project remains mired in planning and bureaucratic complications, with groundbreaking still two years off and the cost nearly tripling to more than $1 billion, documents reviewed by The Times show.
Big Sur destinations are under evacuation orders
- A fast-growing wildfire ignited in Big Sur, burning more than 1,700 acres and spurring evacuation orders that encompass some of the area’s iconic destinations.
- The fire began Sunday morning in the Los Padres National Forest southeast of the neighborhood of Loma Vista, and was 5% contained Monday evening.
Big Bear’s beloved bald eagle dies
- Jackie, arguably the world’s most famous bald eagle, died Monday morning at an Ojai rehabilitation center. She was 14.
- Jackie and her mate, Shadow, delighted millions of viewers who watched an ongoing live stream of their nest in Big Bear.
- Are you a Jackie superfan? We want to hear how Jackie and her eagle family have touched you.
More news
Commentary and opinion
Editor’s pick
Things to do
Senior Librarian Christina Rice poses for a portrait next to Mold-A-Central, modeled after a retro vending machine once popular at tourist sites across Los Angeles, including the zoo and Chinese Theater.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s recipe
A ribeye cachetada taco.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Cachetada translates literally to “slap.” And while rib eye cachetada tacos’ etymological origins are somewhat contested, one bite irrefutably confirms that this dish does slap, indeed.
Question for you
What’s the best spot for people watching in L.A.? Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
Photo of the day
Men have a chat on San Fernando Boulevard in downtown Burbank on a Saturday evening. The city has been working to encourage pedestrian traffic and a vibrant downtown.
(David Butow/For the Times)
Games
Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
Shi Bradley, audience intern
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
