TODAY’S ESSENTIAL NEWS
» Thousands Left Without Power As Massive Winter Storm Sweeps Through Southland On top of the mandatory evacuations, flash flood warnings and road closures, tens of thousands of people were affected by power outages due to the storm. Residents serviced by SoCal Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power felt the impact the most, with thousands experiencing outages Tuesday afternoon. [CBS]
» Tesla Issues Recall For 40,000 Vehicles To Fix Problem With Power Steering The electric-car manufacturer says the vehicles may experience a loss of power steering assist when driving on rough roads or after hitting a pothole. The vehicles affected include Model S and Model X, issued from 2017 to 2021. The fix is an over-the-air software update to recalibrate the system. According to the company, most recalled vehicles have already undergone the process. Tesla says it’s unaware of any injuries or deaths related to the loss in power steering. [ABC7]
» Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Expects $365M Opening Despite the presence of New Line’s Black Adam and Universal’s franchise title Halloween Ends at the October box office, U.S. and Canada weekend ticket sales have averaged a measly $58M since August. But Disney Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is here to relieve the box office drought. The blockbuster is expected to rake in $175M-$185M stateside and another $180M+ abroad for a worldwide start between $355M to $365M, which would make it the third-biggest debut of the pandemic after Spider-Man: No Way Home ($568M) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($429M). [Deadline]
» California Settles With Firm In Volkswagen Emissions Scandal On Monday the Golden State settled a lawsuit against German auto supplier Bosch stemming from an emissions scandal that tarred Volkswagen in 2015 and Fiat Chrysler in 2017. Bosch will pay $25M to settle the allegations by the state under a court complaint and settlement agreement, both filed Monday. Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler had installed “defeat devices” in nearly 100,000 diesel passenger vehicles sold in California. These devices made it seem like the vehicles were meeting emissions requirements as they were undergoing testing, while on the road they polluted many times higher than the legal limit. [ABC]
» California Woman Describes Harrowing Shark Attack Lyn Jutronich, 50, said she was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water. Jutronich said she immediately knew it was a shark. She gave her first interviews over the weekend from her hospital bed where she is recovering after a shark bit her leg while she was swimming off the Pacific coast of Del Mar, north of San Diego. “I felt a huge, like a really hard hit right, I don’t know how else to say this, like right between my legs and it pushed me, it hurt and it pushed me up and out of the water,” Jutronich said. [Gaurdian]
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ONE MORE THING
Two Decades of Libertine, the Fashion Favorite of L.A.’s A-List
It comes as no surprise that Johnson Hartig, the eccentric visionary behind the very extra L.A.-bred fashion line Libertine, made scrapbooks of socialite Pat Buckley as a child in the 1980s. “I was always attracted to people who were really committed,” says Hartig, himself born and bred in Whittier. Between the socials and the swans, the punks and the royals, the icons of the ’80s provided ample inspiration for Hartig, whose cult of extroverted couture is celebrating its 21st birthday this year.
The brand began in the early aughts when Hartig, a model, upcycled his thrift shop finds by silk-screening them with quirky art and historical motifs like a surrealist eye or a portrait of Queen Victoria. After a buyer from Maxfield spotted Hartig wearing one of his designs and placed an order, retailer Ron Herman followed, as did Colette in Paris. The rest is history.
The label’s appealing mixed-bouquet aesthetic—subversive in theme yet classically derived in application—has made Libertine the fashion darling of the eternally cool: Mick Jagger, Cher, Catherine Deneuve, Beyoncé, Brad Pitt, Jane Fonda.
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