Today: In the Heart of Texas, Black Mothers Are Dying

Journii Perkins yawns as her grandmother Cheryl Givens-Perkins brushes sister Camille's hair as they get ready for church.

Oct. 27, 2017 5 AM PT

Pregnancy and childbirth are killing women at inexplicable rates in the United States, especially African American women in Texas. Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

In the Heart of Texas, Black Mothers Are Dying

With all of today’s medical advances, the process by which we all arrive in this world — childbearing — can be deadly for women in America. Every year, about 700 die as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications, giving the U.S. one of the highest maternal death rates in the developed world. African American women in Texas are dying at the highest rates of all. Among the theories about why: poverty, lack of health insurance, stress and discrimination. “There isn’t a single thing that explains it,” says the head of Texas’ Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force. “There are so many different factors.”

The Red Flags for Tax Reform

With the approval of a 2018 budget plan, House Republicans have set the stage for President Trump’s tax overhaul package, but the final act could be just as dramatic as the effort to repeal Obamacare. “Do not underestimate the UNITY within the Republican Party,” Trump tweeted. The numbers tell a different story: Twenty Republicans didn’t vote for the budget resolution, a hint at how much friction lies ahead over taxes. Some key areas to watch: state and local deductions, 401(k) plans, tax brackets and how much gets added to the deficit.

What Does Declaring an Opioid ‘Emergency’ Really Mean?

On Thursday, Trump made some sweeping new promises to mobilize the federal government against the nation’s opioid epidemic, which killed more than 64,000 Americans last year. But in his declaration of a limited 90-day “public health emergency,” rather than a “national emergency,” the president offered few new resources to combat it. Senior administration officials say they hope Congress will provide more money later this year, but officials would not say how much the White House will seek.

When Fossils Fuel a Monumental Debate

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah offers stunning views and is one of the world’s richest fossil sites for studying the age of dinosaurs. It also holds an estimated 62 billion tons of coal. No wonder, then, that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed shrinking the monument to open the land to mining and oil drilling. Paleontologists fear untold secrets in the rocks could be lost.

Light from a fading sunset bathes 10,188-foot Powell Point in a view from state Highway 12 near Tropic, Utah, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A Mysterious Absence From School

School has been in session at the Los Angeles Unified School District since mid-August, but for the last six weeks, Supt. Michelle King has been absent — and she will be at least until January. The reason isn’t exactly clear: It’s to recover from an unspecified medical procedure. King’s long medical leave adds another layer of uncertainty at the LAUSD, which has seen its school board get a new majority backed by charter school advocates and one of its members, Ref Rodriguez, charged with campaign money laundering.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

The federal government on Thursday released nearly 3,000 secret documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with some temporarily withheld because of sensitive national security and law enforcement information. You can join the scholars and conspiracy theorists digging through them online in the National Archives, or take a look at that fateful day in Dallas in pictures.

MUST-WATCH VIDEO

-- A vehicle drove into a group of protesters outside GOP Rep. Ed Royce’s office in Brea, but no injuries were initially reported to police.

-- Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitcher Kenley Jansen talk about the Game 2 loss to the Astros. The World Series resumes tonight in Houston.

-- Paris Hilton takes us inside the screening room at her Beverly Hills mansion.

CALIFORNIA

-- After the Tubbs fire, some Santa Rosa residents are eager to rebuild. But cleaning up toxic waste and handling government paperwork are expected to slow their efforts.

-- Federal prosecutors have charged three Pomona police officers in the beating of an unarmed teenager, accusing a 20-year department veteran of attacking the boy and all three of lying.

-- Officials say a fast-moving wildfire at a remote off-road vehicle park in the Cleveland National Forest near Lake Elsinore ignited after a motorcyclist crashed into a tree.

-- Pasadena police say they responded to a disturbance at the bar of the Langham Hotel involving Houston Astros management and other hotel patrons after Game 1 of the World Series.

YOUR WEEKEND

-- The top 10 picks on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. list.

-- Two words: vegan sushi. Is it any good?

-- Thirteen new Halloween reads to chill, amuse, inform and terrify.

-- How to enjoy the rebirth of Palm Springs.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Harvey Weinstein sued his namesake company for documents, including emails and his personnel file, that he says can be used to defend himself and the studio he co-founded. Meanwhile, Ashley Judd described the deal she made with Weinstein to escape sexual harassment.

-- Times film critic Justin Chang says George Clooney’s racially charged “Suburbicon” is a dreadful movie for dreadful times.

-- On the other hand, “The Square,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is a virtuoso satire of the modern art world.

NATION/WORLD

-- Las Vegas is trying to walk the delicate line of enticing tourists back after the shooting while at the same time acknowledging the hurt, worries and fears that came with it.

-- Catalonia is bracing for Spain’s central government to vote on a takeover today, as both sides remain deadlocked.

-- After a display of anti-Semitism by soccer fans in Rome, parts of “The Diary of Anne Frank” are being read at Italian soccer games.

-- Many Kenyans stayed away from a repeat presidential election because of an opposition boycott, protests and security fears, further casting doubt on the process’ credibility.

BUSINESS

-- The multimedia career of political journalist and author Mark Halperin is on shaky ground after a report that he sexually harassed five women during his tenure at ABC News.

-- Three Latina engineers sued Uber this week alleging unfair labor practices, saying the ride-hailing company systematically underpays women and other underrepresented groups.

SPORTS

-- Why so many home runs in the first two games of the World Series? The theories are many, including all the hot air at Dodger Stadium.

-- Columnist Bill Plaschke says it’s now all about how the Dodgers players respond to their first bit of October adversity.

OPINION

-- It’s not just Trump, it’s the whole GOP that calls “fake things true and true things fake.”

-- “Who paid for the dossier” doesn’t matter; Russian meddling in our elections is what’s important.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A look at how much money White House officials could save the public by flying commercial. (New York Times)

-- Is baseball the most philosophical of games? (Public Books)

-- Why Sichuan peppercorns were banned from the U.S. for decades and can still be hard to import. (Roads and Kingdoms)

ONLY IN L.A.

Norman Lloyd remembers very well the World Series game he saw at Yankee Stadium, when Babe Ruth slid into second base and tore his pants. The year was 1926, and the young fan was 12 years old. Ninety-one years later, Lloyd talked about his old Giants-hating days while taking in this year’s World Series at Dodger Stadium, just a few days shy of his 103rd birthday. Name sound familiar? That’s because he played Robin Willliams’ nemesis in “Dead Poets Society” and Dr. Daniel Auschlander on “St. Elsewhere.”

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