Headlines From The Times

The showdown for LA mayor is tighter than ever. New polling from UC Berkeley co-sponsored by the L.A. Times shows Karen Bass at 26%, City Council Member Nithya Raman at 25%, and former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt at 22%, meaning Bass has a statistically insignificant lead. Governor Gavin Newsom endorsed Bass, and she's secured support from major political groups. But Pratt's anti-establishment campaign is gaining traction. Voters will also decide seven City Council seats, the City Attorney, Controller, three School Board spots, and ballot measures on hotel and cannabis taxes. On the county level, races include Sheriff, Board of Supervisors, a healthcare sales tax, and Superior Court judge positions. If you plan to vote by mail in the California primary, it's not too late. You can drop your ballot at an official drop box, take it to a polling center by 8 p.m. on election day Tuesday, June 2, or mail it. But if you send it by mail, your ballot must be postmarked on or before June 2. If you missed the voter registration deadline in May, you can still cast a ballot through the same-day conditional voter registration process by heading to a vote center or county election office. Read more at https://www.latimes.com

Down in Texas, a stunning Republican runoff election could give Democrats an edge in the upcoming U.S. Senate race after Trump-backed Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated longtime incumbent John Cornyn. Meanwhile, Leo is speaking about the risks of artificial intelligence, pushing for more significant regulations around AI. In his first encyclical, Pope Leo says artificial intelligence needs to be “disarmed." Read more at https://www.latimes.com

The fragile ceasefire between the UniteThe fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is under new pressure after the U.S. launched what they called ‘defensive’ strikes on southern Iran on Monday, with Tehran condemning the strikes as a sign of "bad faith and unreliability" as the two sides go back and forth on the terms of a long-term peace deal.

Meanwhile, a chemical crisis in Southern California is cooling off. Orange County officials raised concerns late last week that a damaged chemical tank in Garden Grove could explode, forcing nearly 50,000 local residents to evacuate. But some of those evacuation orders were lifted after officials deemed the area safe, saying there was no risk of a catastrophic explosion from Garden Grove's GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant.

And we remember jazz great Sonny Rollins, who passed away at 95 at his home in Woodstock, New York. He was born in Harlem in the 1930s, and became one of the most famous improvisers in jazz and helped transform the genre into its more expressive and free form, recording more than 60 albums as bandleader and playing with legends like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.

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SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and space company is preparing to go public next month in what could become the biggest IPO to hit Wall Street. New filings reveal a sky-high projection that values the company at just over $1 trillion and estimates the offering could raise between $50 and $75 billion when shares hit the market in June. If it does, the SpaceX IPO would shatter the current record held by Saudi Aramco or the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which raised about $26 billion in 2019. Meanwhile, James Murdoch is buying half of Vox Media for more than $300 million, with the deal including their podcast network, Vox.com, and New York Magazine. And tonight will be the final night of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” In 2015, Colbert took over from David Letterman, the first and only host of CBS's “The Late Show,” and for most of Colbert’s time with the show, he was the highest-rated late-night host.

Thousands of families in Southern California's Simi Valley fled their homes on Monday, as crews raced to contain the fast-burning Sandy Fire, which has already scorched more than 1,300 acres, with strong Santa Ana winds threatening to make the fires worse Also, the World Health Organization says it is deeply concerned about a rapidly spreading Ebola virus outbreak, with over 500 suspected cases and more than 130 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. And in the first game of the NBA Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a double-overtime battle. Meanwhile, another battle is taking shape as the New York Knicks gear up to host the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. Read more at https://www.latimes.com/