Fossil fuel production on public lands is incompatible with stopping runaway climate change. I urge you to issue an executive order that instructs federal agencies to stop granting new and expanded leases to extract coal, oil and gas from public lands and coastal waters.
jayinslee.com
I said we would get big things done this legislative session, and we did!
After six months — over two months longer than originally planned — we addressed some of the biggest issues facing our state and won:
The Governor’s office was essential to producing this equitable budget and now more than ever, with a divided legislature, the Republicans understand the importance of who is Governor of our state.
Now our campaign has to make up for lost time. We just got out of a seven-month fundraising freeze. We have six months to go before the legislature resumes again. And we have one declared opponent with others looking to get into the race.
We need to make up for lost time. That’s why I’m kicking off our first week-long fundraising drive TODAY with a goal of $50,000 by July 17. Will you contribute today?
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I’m Davan Maharaj, editor of the Los Angeles Times. A drug kingpin’s prison break is a huge embarrassment for Mexico; and a look at where it’s riskiest to step off a curb in L.A. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.
To Live and Walk in L.A.
Walking is often risky business in car-crazy Los Angeles. Now, a Times analysis puts some startling data behind the conventional wisdom. From 2002 through 2012, more than 58,000 accidents involving pedestrians happened on L.A. County streets. Downtown, Hollywood and Koreatown are especially perilous. Here’s the story, with a detailed map and tips on how to avoid being hit.
‘Seeing’ with Clicks
It’s not like seeing, but for blind people it could be the next best thing — a few clicks away. Not computer clicks. Tongue clicks are at the heart of an unorthodox program run by Daniel Kish in Long Beach. He teaches blind people to send them out as sonar, like dolphins or bats, to get a read on their surroundings. Some of the results have been remarkable. It’s today’s Great Read.
— A bill making progress in the Legislature would allow work permits for farmworkers here illegally.
— More jail trouble: New reports of abuse of inmates and staff suspensions or reassignments underscore a tough problem for new L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.
— Malibu takes steps to bring traffic mayhem under control on the Pacific Coast Highway.
— Facing another court showdown over solitary confinement, state prisons begin to ease up on the practice.
— The close divide between Supreme Court justices on same-sex marriage portends more tough legal disputes.
— Stay home when you’re sick? A study finds that many doctors don’t.
— A suicide bombing kills dozens of civilians near a U.S. base in Afghanistan.
— In a Paraguay slum, Pope Francis speaks of equality and solidarity for the poor.
— Families are dropping euphemisms in obituaries to help expose heroin’s deadly toll (N.Y. Times).
— Crosscut: “The racist roots of a Northwest secession movement.”
— For Disneyland’s 60th, Smithsonian looks at hidden stories behind some of the park’s wonders.
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Wh
en Gillian Laub started photographing the racially divided town of Mount Vernon, Ga. — with its segregated homecomings and proms — she stumbled onto the story of Justin Patterson, a 22-year-old black man who was killed, on Jan. 29, 2011, by Norman Neesmith, a 62-year-old white man.
posted in Time
Patterson’s story, which further divided Mount Vernon, is the subject of Southern Rites, a HBO documentary premiering on May 18.
Dedee Clarke, Justin’s mother, spoke to TIME.
In HBO’s Southern Rites, photographer Gillian Laub goes to Mount Vernon, Ga., a racially divided town
Gillian Laub:Sha’von, Justin and Santa, 2012
“When I got the call, it was around 3.45 in the morning and my youngest son, Sha’von, said that Justin had been shot and he was dead… For a long time, Sha’von wouldn’t talk about it, he would only tell me things in bits and pieces. It wasn’t until 2013 that he told me the whole story. I think that the thing that bothered him the most was that the gun was actually aimed at him. Justin looked back, saw that and pushed Sha’von out of the way and took the shot himself. It’s something I don’t think he’ll really recover from. He just has to learn to live with it. It’s a day-by-day process, but I don’t think anybody can ever be the same.
The first time I met Gillian was in 2010. My youngest son, Sha’von, was attending the prom that year, and she was photographing it. I thought the work she was doing was great. But I didn’t know that much about her, I just knew that the pictures that she was taking were important. I didn’t get to know her on a deeper level until my son, Justin, died.
[When Gillian shifted her focus to what had happened to Justin], I was, at first, a little reluctant. But I could just see her passion and drive as she talked to me and I knew at that point that she really cared. I was more relaxed around her and I began to open up. But I just remember saying that it wasn’t going to be pretty sight because I was just not in the right state of mind, and she understood that.
You have to feel some kind of compassion when you do this. And Gillian had that; she felt it. And because she felt it, I believed that shows in her work.
Of course, it was very difficult to see Norman Neesmith in Gillian’s film. I had always made it a point not to really look directly at him. And to see him up close and personal in the film, it was very hard. It was hard to watch some of the things that he said. It’s just hard to hear that he never really acknowledged that his daughter invited them into his home. I felt that he thought he was a victim. I don’t think he understands that Justin had a life. He had a daughter. And she will never have her father.
Gillian’s work makes me feel that my son’s death was not in vain. That’s the one thing that I can hope for. I’m hoping that it will help someone. It’s too late for my son, but maybe it can help somebody else.
I’m hoping it will help other mothers to see that you can still survive that kind of pain and. I’m a survivor because God says I am. Everything that I believe in is because of God. He’s the reason that I’m here because there’s no way I could have done any of this by myself. I felt like nobody really cared because the story wasn’t out. It was a while before it was even in a paper. To see it now and to know that people really care, it does make me feel supported. It definitely does. I’m thinking that everyone will have an idea of what happened. This is real life. These people are real people; they feel that pain continuously every day.
My goal here is for people to know and understand that there’s still, very much so, a lot of injustice in this world and something has to be done about it.”
Be a Seed for Change 
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