Today’s Headlines: In the L.A. mayoral contest, Karen Bass collected the most votes ever

Hello, it’s Friday, Nov. 25, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Bass notched a record in the race for mayor

A record number of Los Angeles voters cast ballots for mayor in this month’s election. The turnout reflects changes in the electoral calendar, the state’s easing of voter registration rules and the provocative contest between U.S. Rep. Karen Bass and businessman Rick Caruso, according to analysts and nearly complete returns from county officials.

Bass took advantage of the new political landscape to drub her rival, notching a nearly 10-percentage-point margin. Nearly 978,000 Angelenos cast votes for mayor, surpassing the previous high of 856,000 in the transformative, racially polarizing race in 1969, when the white incumbent, Sam Yorty, defeated his Black challenger, Councilman Tom Bradley.

More politics

• With hate crimes against vulnerable groups skyrocketing nationwide, including the recent shooting in Colorado targeting the LBGTQ community, California is taking the lead in fighting violence, writes Times columnist Anita Chabria.
• Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska has been elected to a full term in the U.S. House. Peltola defeated Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich and Libertarian Chris Bye in the Nov. 8 election.

For more news and analysis, sign up for our Essential Politics newsletter, sent to your inbox three days a week.

Kyiv has switched to survival mode amid power and water outages

Residents of Ukraine’s bombed but undaunted capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into cafes for power and warmth, switching defiantly into survival mode after new Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark.

In the city of 3 million, some Kyiv residents resorted to collecting rainwater from drainpipes as repair teams labored to reconnect supplies.

Friends and family members exchanged messages to find out who had electricity and water available again. Some had one but not the other. The previous day’s aerial onslaught on Ukraine’s power grid left many with neither.

COVID-19 is robbing the Latino community of its grandparents

Elder Latinos often provide an additional income to a shared household. And even when retired, grandparents supply much-needed child care, carpooling, cooking and other assistance to their families. But Latinos ages 55 and older have died from COVID-19 at a disproportionately higher rate than white, Black and Asian people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the deaths of seniors have been devastating to all population groups, the effect on Latinos of losing these beloved and vital contributors has caused outsize damage and could ripple through the community — emotionally and economically — for years to come.

More top coronavirus headlines

Stay up to date on variant developments, case counts and vaccine news with Coronavirus Today.

Ecosystems and rural communities are bearing the brunt of the drought

Drought, human-caused climate change, invasive species and a “legacy” of environmental issues are permanently altering California’s landscape and placing some communities and ecosystems at increasing risk, a panel of experts told water officials recently.

Invasive species and decades of disruptions from massive land and water developments are partly responsible for a continuous decline in native California species, experts told the California Water Commission on Nov. 16. Also, rural communities, many of whom are lower income and rely on privately owned wells, are disproportionately contending with water contamination and scarcity amid recurring cycles of drought, they said.

These are the workers who keep L.A.’s mansions on the market

In Southern California, a mansion is a micro-economy. To run the place typically requires a staff akin to a modern-day Downton Abbey.

And whenever these prized properties surface for sale, many more workers enter the fray — tasked with elevating the home to its most beautiful state, keeping it in pristine condition in hopes of luring a buyer. They include maids, gardeners, handymen, pool techs, interior designers, limestone specialists and aquarium cleaners.

In the end, the developer gets the profits, the agent gets the TV show, and the rich person gets the house. But these workers — critical cogs in Southern California’s rarefied lifestyles and its extraordinary real estate market — make it all happen.

CALIFORNIA

Poor housing conditions have continued at a Los Angeles apartment complex, despite 2,000 citations. Tenants at Chesapeake Apartments, one of L.A.’s largest apartment complexes, continue to live in unsafe conditions months after the city, county and landlord pledged action.

After he was stabbed at Target, a 9-year-old boy spent Thanksgiving in an L.A. hospital. A little more than a week ago, Brayden Medina was shopping with his mother at a Target store in downtown Los Angeles when — in an unprovoked attack — a man confronted Brayden and told him he was going to stab and kill him. The boy tried to flee but was stabbed in the back.

Some L.A. food banks handed out Thanksgiving chickens instead of turkeys. Some local food banks reported a fall-off in donations of food and funds. Others said they didn’t have enough volunteers. They all said they were feeling the pinch as winter approached. Despite the joy of giving and goodwill toward men, the economic crunch is expected to continue straight through Christmas and into the new year.

Unsheltered people took stock before giving thanks. Thanksgiving, the start of the year-end holidays, is a day of reflection and gratitude, but for those whose lives have been marked by loss — a home, a job, a loved one — the message is more complicated.

NATION-WORLD

Friends and family recalled the victims of the Virginia Walmart mass shooting. A custodian and father of two. A mother with wedding plans. A happy-go-lucky guy. That’s how loved ones described some of the six people killed at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., when a manager opened fire with a handgun right before an employee meeting Tuesday night.

The co-owner of Club Q said the shooting there came amid a new type of hate. Nic Grzecka said he believed the targeting of a drag queen event at the gay nightclub was connected to the art form being cast in a false light in recent months by right-wing activists and politicians who complain about the “sexualization” or “grooming” of children. Even though general acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, this new dynamic has fostered a dangerous climate.

Believers in an ancient Indigenous faith are seeking formal recognition. In Guduta, a remote tribal village in India’s eastern Odisha state that rests in a seemingly endless forest landscape, Adivasis — or Indigenous tribespeople — adhere to Sarna Dharma. The belief system shares common threads with the world’s many ancient nature-worshipping religions.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

A critic took a second look at Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Bardo” — and is thankful he did. Trimmed by about 24 minutes, the Oscar-winning director’s surreal semi-autobiographical fantasia, starring Daniel Giménez Cacho, is worth wrestling with anew.

“It’s the most colorful kind of drama out there.” Increasingly, streamers are doubling down on true crime, tapping into the huge appetite for the genre by developing scripted limited series based on actual stories and with notable actors, many of whom are drawn to the format.

Disney California Adventure plans to bring back festivals and the Soarin’ Over California ride in 2023. In the new year, parkgoers will enjoy a stacked first four months, with the Lunar New Year Celebration returning to California Adventure from Jan. 20 to Feb. 15 and the Food & Wine Festival operating from March 3 to April 25, Disney said in a news release. During the Food & Wine Festival, the park will also run the Soarin’ Over California ride.

BUSINESS

As shoppers hunt for Black Friday deals, inflation means bogus bargains are everywhere. Although retailers are advertising sales of up to 70% off clothing, TVs and other products, many items will still cost more than they did last year because of inflation, meaning that finding a true bargain may prove to be a challenge.

OPINION

A dismissal at Customs and Border Protection shows how hard law enforcement reform can be. The Border Patrol needs reform. Too bad the man with the experience to do it got pushed out by the Biden administration.

Water and power are essential. Disconnecting services when people can’t afford to pay is cruel. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will no longer shut off water and power for low-income customers who have utility debt. That’s the right decision.

SPORTS

Attorneys for Yasiel Puig said the ex-Dodger might have been entrapped in a sports gambling probe. Attorneys for Puig, who had been expected to plead guilty to lying to federal authorities investigating an illegal sports-gambling ring, said they were exploring a possible defense.

“We were the greatest team ever.” Anthony Davis and the 1972 USC Trojans savor their legacy. This week, as USC prepares to face Notre Dame, the former Trojan running back recalls the long-ago title run through a slightly different lens. He can’t help but wonder about the direction it led his life — and how easily it all might have been different.

YOUR WEEKEND

A trailer at the Holidays in San Clemente.

(The Holidays)

Plan a camping — or glamping — trip. We rounded up nine options for those who want to camp but can’t get past the thought of having to deal with buying a tent, trailer or other gear (and the hassle of figuring out how to use all of it). Among them: four vintage trailers situated 350 steps from the sand at San Clemente State Beach. The Holidays has beds, linens, towels, toiletries, a coffee maker with local coffee, a refrigerator, stove, pots and utensils, USB chargers and heaters for the winter. Read more.

Get off the couch. Peruse the offerings in our new L.A. Goes Out newsletter and get busy on the holiday weekend. One pick: Winter Fest OC kicks off today at the O.C. Fair and Event Center. The price of a ticket ($26 to $39.95) includes ice skating, a 150-foot-long ice tubing slide and snowboard simulators. Lots of other ideas in L.A. Goes Out.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

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“I need to learn this culture and do it.” It’s a holiday that Afghan refugees admit they don’t get: “And yet Thanksgiving is part of becoming an American, and one of the better parts, especially compared to what can be a desperate hunt for work or a frustrating quest to learn the language. They don’t know what Thanksgiving is but, all in all, it seems like a good idea.” A group who gathered in the D.C. area dined on turkey and sweet potatoes, stuffing and gravy, pie and Reddi-wip — plus lentils and yucca fries and injera, a traditional Ethiopian bread. It was a potluck, with offerings from the American-born and the newly arrived side by side. Washington Post

The demon river. This deep dive looks at the devastation caused when British Columbia’s Nicola River burst its banks as the result of an atmospheric river. It took out everything in its path: “The Nicola wasn’t only flooding, it was moving.” Double the size of a once-in-a-century flood, it swept away barns, homes, animals, people. One law enforcement officer who tried to walk out of the disaster area saw, at one point, that “animals were gathering on the road: bighorn sheep and deer, as stunned by the day’s events as he was. Glancing down, he saw two creatures plodding beside him, keeping pace like a couple of dogs walking to heel. Except that they weren’t dogs. They were beavers. He wondered if the light of his phone was acting as some kind of beacon, the electronic halo of a patron saint of animals.” A gripping read. Hakai

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Jan. 29, 1954: Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe at San Francisco International Airport a couple of weeks after they married. She would seek a divorce later that year.

(Associated Press)

One hundred and eight years ago today, on Nov. 25, 1914, Joe DiMaggio was born in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Martinez.

Joltin’ Joe, as he later became known, was the eighth of nine children of Giuseppe and Rosalie DiMaggio, who had come to the U.S. from the Palermo region of Sicily, The Times wrote in his 1999 obituary. Joe grew up around the San Francisco wharves. The family had a fishing boat, but DiMaggio didn’t like working on it, and he didn’t like school much better.

But he and brothers Vince and Dominic loved sports. They all became major league baseball outfielders. Joe became a legend with the Yankees — “he possessed a sprinter’s speed, a strong, accurate arm, a long, fluid swing and an uncanny ability as a fielder to take off at the crack of the bat and glide to the ball.”

Times staff writer Amy Hubbard contributed to this report.

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