Los Angeles Times - 21.09.2019

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2019 WST SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 latimes.com

F

or much of the spring, a con-

stant flow of people arrived at a

dirt pullout on a mountain road

a few miles above Azusa, each

craving a glimpse of 10-pound

celebrities with 7-foot wingspans and the

charisma that politicians can only dream

of.

These were bald eagles, after all, the

bird that spreads its wings on every

dollar bill and U.S. passport. And their

nest atop a pine tree overlooking a reser-

voir on one side and Highway 39 on the

other offered a full picture of home life for

these majestic raptors. It was the first

time bald eagles had nested in this part

of the San Gabriel Mountains in 70 years.

Voices oh-wowed. Cameras clicked.

Faces smiled, and photos and video

footage spread on Facebook and Insta-

gram of two energetic fledglings braving

their first flights out of the brown bundle

of sticks, and shrieking like high-pitched,

neighing horses when their parents

returned with fresh fish for dinner.

The fledglings and their watchful

parents are part of a new breed of “urban

eagles” moving into Southern California

and throughout the nation, displaying an

unusual tolerance for the clatter and

commotion of city life.

But with nature’s bounty come ago-

nizingly complex

TWO BALDeagle chicks sit with one of their parents atop a bigcone Doug-

las fir near San Gabriel Dam above Azusa in the Angeles National Forest.

Raul RoaLos Angeles times

COLUMN ONE

‘Urban eagles’ seem right

at home in the Southland

Majestic raptors that vanished in the ’70s are now

nesting close to humans, and no one is sure why

By Louis Sahagun

[SeeEagles,A8]

SEATTLE — From Paris
to Peshawar, Washington
state to Washington, D.C.,
hundreds of thousands of
young people led protests
Friday demanding action on
climate change as a United
Nations summit approaches
Monday.
In Bangkok, Thailand,
demonstrators staged a
“die-in,” sprawling on the
ground near national envi-
ronmental ministry offices.
In Australia, organizers esti-
mated that more than
300,000 people took to the
streets. In London, a girl
held a sign that read, “We are
skipping our lessons to
teach you one.”
The global climate strike
protests have been inspired
by Greta Thunberg, a 16-
year-old Swedish activist
who sailed across the At-
lantic Ocean in a zero-emis-
sion yacht rather than fly
and on Wednesday met with

members of Congress, urg-

ing them to heed scientists’

warnings. As protesters

gathered in New York on Fri-

day to hear Thunberg speak,

she tweeted that Battery

Park had overflowed with

more than 250,000 people.

In Berlin, more than

100,000 people gathered in

front of the Brandenburg

Gate near Chancellor An-

gela Merkel’s office, where

all-night talks produced a

$60-billion package of mea-

sures to curb greenhouse

gas emissions.

Acknowledging they

were inspired by the spread-

ing popularity of demon-

strations, Merkel and key

ministers in her grand coali-

tion government announced

the package of fees on car-

bon dioxide emissions and

incentives for clean energy

that they hope will put Eu-

rope’s biggest economy back

on track to meet its carbon

reduction targets.

In northern Pakistan,

STUDENT PROTESTERS in Cape Town, South Africa, take part in the global climate strike, inspired by a
16-year-old Swedish activist. They are demanding action on climate change, the focus of U.N. talks next week.

Nic BothmaEPA/Shutterstock

Their heated call to action

Youth-led global strike urges leaders to address climate change

IDA ALLEN-AUERBACH, 16, participates in a cli-

mate change rally held in L.A.’s Pershing Square.

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

By Richard Read

[SeeClimate, A4]

Thousands gather in downtown L.A.

Speakers including actress Jane Fonda call for action

toward a more sustainable world. CALIFORNIA, B

WASHINGTON — Presi-

dent Trump appeared on

the brink of a new scandal

Friday over a whistleblow-

er’s complaint that report-

edly involves Ukraine and

accuses Trump of making an

improper promise to a for-

eign leader over the summer.

The controversy has refo-

cused attention on Trump’s

attempts to undercut for-

mer Vice President Joe Bid-

en, who is leading polls for

next year’s Democratic pres-

idential nomination, by urg-

ing Ukrainian officials to in-

vestigate son Hunter Bid-

en’s business dealings there

for possible corruption.

Trump tried to dismiss

mounting concerns by call-

ing the complaint “just an-

other political hack job” and

describing the whistle-

blower as “a partisan per-

son” despite admitting he

doesn’t know who it is. He in-

sisted his conversations

with world leaders are “al-

ways appropriate.”

Speaking to reporters in

the Oval Office, where he

was meeting with Australian

Prime Minister Scott Morri-

son, Trump refused to say

whether he mentioned Bid-

en in a July 25 phone call

with Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky, saying

“it doesn’t matter” what

they discussed.

But Trump, who is

scheduled to meet with Ze-

lensky on the sidelines of the

United Nations General As-

sembly in New York next

week, said that “somebody

ought to look into Joe Bid-

en,” though he complained

no one would “because he’s a

Democrat.”

The Wall Street Journal

reported that during their

phone call, Trump had re-

peatedly urged Zelensky to

help investigate Biden’s son

Hunter. The Washington

Post and the New York

Times had previously re-

ported that the whistle-

blower complaint involves

Ukraine and Trump’s com-

munications with a foreign

leader, but much of the situ-

ation remains murky be-

Trump on the

defensive over

whistleblower

Democrats demand

details amid word of

improper discussions

with a foreign leader

and targeting of Biden.

By Chris Megerian

[SeeWhistleblower,A6]

Carol L. Folt was inaugu-
rated Friday morning as the
University of Southern Cali-
fornia’s 12th president, for-
mally assuming one of the
most daunting assignments
in American higher educa-
tion — fixing USC.
An outsider who previ-
ously ran the University of
North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Folt is the first woman
to hold the post. She takes
the helm as the private uni-
versity is trying to recover
from years of scandal that
scarred its national
reputation, cost hundreds of

millions of dollars in court

settlements and lost con-

tributions and felled a seem-

ingly invincible president.

“Today we are turning a

page at USC,” Folt told hun-

dreds of students, faculty,

and alumni after a colorful

procession across campus in

academic regalia. “We are

starting a new journey of ex-

ploration.”

USC’s governing board is

betting that Folt, who

weathered high-profile con-

troversies in North Carolina,

can change an institutional

culture many have said be-

came corrupt and money-

centric as the university pur-

sued ambitious growth.

Folt begins to write

USC’s next chapter

By Matt Hamilton
and Harriet Ryan

[SeeFolt,A6]

Barron Hilton,

hotelier, dies at 91

Executive built the hotel

brand into an industry

stalwart and founded

the L.A. Chargers.

CALIFORNIA, B

Weather

Sunny, warm.

L.A. Basin: 88/58. B

AT THE GATES OF AREA 51

Brian van der BrugLos Angeles Times

Hundreds of people from around the world

traveled to the military base in the Nevada

desert, driven by a viral Facebook gag. NATION, A

WASHINGTON — The

Pentagon said Friday it will

boost U.S. air and missile de-

fenses in Saudi Arabia after

last weekend’s surprise at-

tack, allegedly from Iran, on

critical oil facilities exposed

the kingdom’s vulnerability.

The modest response,

announced shortly after the

Treasury Department add-

ed new sanctions to Iran’s fi-

nancial sector, reflects a

White House attempt to

keep mounting tensions in

the Persian Gulf from esca-

lating into war.

Pentagon officials de-

clined to provide specifics,

but the latest deployment is

expected to add hundreds,

not thousands, of U.S.

troops to a region already

peppered with multiple

American military bases.

Defense Secretary Mark

Esper described the de-

ployment as a “first step”

that would be “defensive in

nature.”

U.S. and Saudi officials

have blamed Iran for the

predawn attack by 18 explo-

sive-laden drones and seven

cruise missiles on the

world’s largest oil processing

facility and a nearby oil field.

Secretary of State Michael

R. Pompeo on Thursday

condemned what he called

an “act of war” but stopped

short of calling for direct

retaliation.

Earlier Friday, the

Trump administration said

it had added sanctions on

Iran’s Central Bank, its na-

tional development fund

and a third financial institu-

tion. More than 450 Iranian

individuals, institutions and

entities already are under

U.S. sanctions, most im-

posed under Trump’s “max-

imum pressure” campaign

since he pulled out of the

2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

“Attacking other nations

and disrupting the global

economy has a price,” Pom-

peo said Friday.

Trump is expected to use

his speech Tuesday at the

United Nations General As-

sembly in New York to seek

international support for

confronting Tehran. His pre-

vious ability to build coali-

tions has been hamstrung

by his open disdain for inter-

national alliances.

Although Trump is try-

ing to increase pressure on

Iran, his measured steps so

far reflect a reluctance to use

[SeeDefense,A7]

SAUDIS

TO GET

U.S. HELP

ON AIR

DEFENSE

Deployment follows

last weekend’s drone

attack on oil facilities,

blamed on Iran.

By Chris Megerian

States sue Trump

over emissions

California leads a coali-

tion in opposing a move

to strip its authority to

set tougher tailpipe pol-

lution rules. NATION, A