Coach found him in a slaughterhouse; residents reject $55,000

By Silvia RázgováNews Photo Editor

Photography by

May 6, 2023 5 AM PT

Hello, and welcome to this week’s selection of top stories in pictures by Los Angeles Times photographers.

His future coach found Dennis Kasumba working in a slaughterhouse. The teen was orphaned at a young age and living in poverty and despair. Now, a young man, he has now found purpose in pursuing his dream to become Uganda’s first Major League Baseball player. His coach and family are using TikTok to get him there.

A diptych of barefoot person holding a broken shovel, left, and a baseball player running the bases barefoot

A young man is framed behind silhouetted netting.

Is a $55,000 payment enough to leave a rent-controlled apartment? A community of low cost-housing tenants says no to such a cash-for-keys offer. As the Los Angeles rental market soars, such sums still put affordable housing out of reach for many working families.

A man is framed in the window of an apartment, with a downtown L.A. in the distance.

A boy hangs upside down from a bunk bed, while a man sits at the computer on the right

A woman sits at a kitchen table with plates of food in front of her. A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs on the wall.

After a 15 years of calm, talks between leaders of the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached an impasse, triggering a strike by the WGA. On Tuesday, the writers picked up picket signs and took to the pavement in front of all major movie and TV studios in L.A. and New York to demand better pay from streaming and improved working conditions. Take a look at scenes from the strike and find out how it could disrupt Hollywood. The current writers’ strike is just the latest in Hollywood. Since the 1950s, writers have gone on strike eight times.

Left, a group of protesters with picket signs, and, at right, a man with raised fist and chants holding a sign

A billboard for a Netflix show hangs on a building across the street where protesters walk a picket line along a building

WGA members walk the picket line on the first day of their strike in front of Paramount Studios in Hollywood

Most California colleges don’t offer rape kits on campus and students are demanding better access to care, lobbying politicians and putting pressure on university administrators to create more on-campus treatment for sexual violence. A new sexual assault forensic exam site at UC Irvine is a potential model for better systemic access.

Two students stand side by side, leaning against a stone wall behind them, looking at the camera.

Purple light reflects off a person holding a flashlight-like device in a darkened room.

Last Saturday marked the beginning of a new trout fishing season. Despite record snowfall that left some favorite areas inaccessible, anglers turned out before sunrise in the Eastern Sierra to stake out their spots.

Frame in a low-angle a man bends over two hooked fish standing near trees, as sun rises on the horizon.

A woman casts a line in a lake surrounded by snowy mountains

Family, friends and fellow Los Angeles police officers gathered at the LAPD’s Wall of Honor downtown on Wednesday for a commemorative ceremony honoring the 239 officers who have died in the line of duty.

Police officers, families and friends of fallen officers assemble near LAPD headquarters. City Hall is behind.

A woman cries while seated in a row of people; all wearing black.

Coachella who? While the last notes of the popular music festival were still echoing in the ears of concertgoers, the festival grounds — Indio’s Empire Polo Club — were again full of music. Last weekend, thousands of fans attended the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which is billed as “country music’s biggest party.”

A man stands atop an RV raising an American flag as friends cool off in a portable pool with a Ferris wheel in the distance

Lighted by blue and magenta color a couple dances, holding hands, among other people.

At left, palms trees and two figure silhouettes are framed against sunset sky; at right, a young woman smiles

Three women in cowboy boots, hats and shorts ride an electric bike on the Stagecoach campground.

And finally, an opportunity to enjoy a moment of peace, joining this couple enjoying fragrant warm breezes on a hike along a winding path through the lush hills of Chino Hills State Park.