If most beaches in Southern California are closed, so should those in Orange County, which attracted thousands of people on a hot weekend.

The Los Angeles County district attorney says work was already underway on reducing L.A.'s jail population before a zero-bail order was issued.

It's too dangerous to have Trump remain president for another eight months during a pandemic. Let Mike Pence take over.

An Inglewood teacher distributes food to families before doing hours of instruction work online. She deserves praise and help.

Not everything has to go back to normal after the pandemic, including L.A. traffic. More businesses need to make working from home permanent.

A resident of Sedona, Ariz., did not appreciate an L.A. Times story on wealthy out-of-towners fleeing to their second homes.

Tech companies make money from our information. Why would their development of COVID tracking apps be any different?

If there are still crowded flights and TSA agents are not required to wear masks, how will we ever be able to return to normal?

A patient who had server abdominal pain has a warning: If you think you need to do so, go to the ER, even with a pandemic raging.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a full-blown disaster, but if shortages mean Americans eat less meat as a result, then so be it.

The author of the Americans With Disabilities Act warns that coronavirus treatment that takes disability and age into account is immoral and illegal.

Someone wearing gloves and an N95 mask likely had a stockpile at home before the pandemic hit.

Calls to open all beaches because Californians have a right to them are silly and dangerous. Gov. Newsom is making the right call.

We don't know enough about the coronavirus to experiment with deliberately infecting volunteers with COVID-19.

Just like in Sedona, people have been fleeing to Palm Springs to ride out the pandemic. It happens in every small resort town favored by rich people.

There's no evidence that the use of plastic bags prevents exposure to the coronavirus, so why use them instead of reusable bags?

Coronavirus: Los Angeles is doing better than New York, but much worse than San Francisco. Our experience with COVID-19 is not an argument for sprawl.

Republicans didn't seem to care that Trump had multiple credible allegations against him; why should one accusation against Biden derail his candidacy?

A professor's suggestion for college student to take time off and turn out the vote is nice, but why not help them with the loan debt first?

"right to literacy": children learn to read mostly at home

Democrats who expect all voters sick of President Trump to vote for Joe Biden are insulting people who care more about the issues than the party.

It's simply wrong when a much younger person dies. Let younger patients take the ventilator if there's a scarcity -- and let doctors make the decision.

Californians feel hopeless, so some are protesting. The solution is to limit access to public spaces without completely closing them.

Professors don't want us living in single-family homes, the only option for average people to own something all their own.

The people waving the American flag at lockdown protests are using it as a symbol of selfishness.

COVID-19 lockdowns are inflicting too much economic pain and misery. We need to do more cost-benefit analyses.

The Brown Act doesn't give officials any excuse they want to shut out the public from their meetings.

We're comparing the number of Americans to have died from COVID-19 to war casualties. Why not consider AIDS?

The fact that Trump refuses to wear a mask, a precaution meant to protect other people, is evidence of his lack of empathy.

You can't explain away your support for Joe Biden despite a sexual assault allegation without talking about Brett Kavanaugh.

A second-generation surivivor whose grandparents died in the Holocaust blasts a newspaper publisher for comparing coronavirus restrictions to Nazi Germany.

Sweden's death rate is high compared with those of its neighbors, who took much more drastic and appropriate action against the pandemic.

An anti-war student in Ohio at the time of the Kent State massacre explains why the protests were led largely by well-off whites.

Why the argument that we should reopen the economy because we don't shut it down over the thousands of car deaths every year is wrong.

The president brooks no criticism and disregards inconvenient facts, much like the Chinese government he opposes.

In one article, wealthy private schools get government aid. In another, desperate citizens beg for funds online.

The language of the 2nd Amendment suggests that the Constitution's framers did not want to empower rifle-wielding protesters to invade statehouses.

Letter writers who criticize the president are brushing off accusations from Trump's defenders that they suffer from some kind of insanity.

As a divorce lawyer in 'Marriage Story,' Laura Dern calls out societal bias against mothers. She helped craft the speech with writer-director Noah Baumbach.

Makeup designer Nicki Ledermann took the concept of the Joker's look from Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips and then made it say everything.

If an international film, like 'Parasite,' wins best picture, it only seems fair that a different film, like 'Pain and Glory,' gets the international Oscar.

Taika Waititi's irreverent but humanist look at a boy in the Hitler Youth has been a major presence this awards season — for good and bad.

The Envelope likes to judge a film's chances of winning the best picture Oscar by seeing whether it echoes any previous winners, and these do. Sort of.

Find out if your favorite film, TV show or commercial won at the 22nd CDGAs, which were hosted by Mindy Kaling. Also honored were Charlize Theron, Adam McKay, Michael Kaplan and Mary Ellen Fields.

Brad Pitt has made many speeches this awards season. Without notes or a list of names to thank, his speeches have been sweet, sincere and funny.

'Jojo Rabbit' costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo made her mark with Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto.' For Taika Waititi, she turned to history and art for inspiration.

Bong Joon Ho's mesmerizing movie deserves to win best picture. But can it?

Thelma Schoonmaker began working with Martin Scorsese in 1967. Over the years, she says, it has become more of a collaboration.

The motion picture academy's new museum should include an exhibit of the painful racist images created to maintain a system of dehumanization.

The Academy Awards are fast approaching and Oscar pools are being organized. Let our film critics Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang help you analyze the major categories with their predictions.