Can it happen again? In California and across the West, skiers and snowboarders certainly hope so. “It” would be a historic, snow-choked winter like last one, when:

Mammoth Mountain in the eastern Sierra remained open for daily skiing and snowboarding until July 28, concluding a nine-month “winter” season — tying with 1982-83 as its third longest on record. Its season ended with 492 inches — 41 feet — of snow at the main lodge and 718 inches — nearly 60 feet — at the summit. The resort’s annual average: 450 inches.

Mt. Rose, between Reno and Incline Village, is typically one of the first resorts in California and Nevada to open due to its high base elevation. Last season’s snow total: 493 inches.

At Sugar Bowl Resort, atop Donner Summit west of Truckee, Calif., 623 inches of snow accumulated last season, marked by a record-high of 281 inches in February.

Here’s what’s new and newsworthy in California and the West.

Southern California

At Big Bear Mountain Resort (Snow Summit and Bear Mountain), Bear debuts the first phase of a $5-million base area renovation, nearly doubling the size of its sun deck to 26,000 square feet and creating more outdoor seating for special events and concerts. Bear also adds new features to its terrain parks.

Snow Summit hosts its 55th torchlight parade and party on New Year’s Eve.

Mountain High adds 30 new Sno-Go bikes to its rental inventory and a new snowcat grooming vehicle. The resort also has remodeled its mountaintop Grand View Bistro.

Snow Valley’s nearly $1 million in improvements include better access (electronic upgrades to three chairlifts) to Slide Peak, with some of Southern California’s steepest descents. The new Mountaintop Terrace has picnic tables and interpretive maps describing the surrounding San Bernardino Mountains.

California/Nevada

Mammoth Mountain’s Canyon Lodge, in the second phase of its renovation, adds a new bar; the new Canyon BBQ restaurant is offering brisket, pulled pork and ribs; and more than 200 new seats. At the Eagle Lodge, the new Fowl Language restaurant serves Southern-style chicken sandwiches and tenders. Mammoth also invested $1.3 million to upgrade its snow-making infrastructure.

Boreal Mountain unveils a new on-mountain dining option, the Hub & Spoke. The resort also introduces radio frequency identification for hands-free ticketing and direct-to-lift access for season pass, daily lift ticket and Ski California Gold Pass holders. Woodward Tahoe debuts Woodward Mountain Parks at Boreal, an initiative to introduce freestyle terrain to more skiers and snowboarders.

Heavenly returns its Helly Hansen Après Tracks for a second season. The program allows guests staying on a Sunday evening at Gondola Vista, Lakeland Village or Zalanta to ski a run with the ski patrol after Heavenly closes for the day and attend an après party.

Homewood Mountain Resort doubles its snow-making capabilities and adds a new winch snowcat to improve grooming of its steepest terrain.

Kirkwood Mountain Resort offers fat-tire bikes for guests to explore 37 miles of groomed trails at its cross-country and snowshoe center.

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe’s $1.5-million investment includes a new RFID ticketing and lift-gate system; snow-making and trail improvements; and a new snowcat grooming vehicle.

Northstar California opens Bourbon Pub Northstar in the village. Restaurateur Michael Mina’s “reinvented” pub fare includes starters such as truffle tater tots and cheddar brats wrapped in puff pastry with jalapeño mustard. Entrees include al pastor pork ribs, mesquite-grilled steaks and fennel-stuffed salmon.

Sierra-at-Tahoe debuts RFID-enabled gates at all lifts and reloadable daily lift tickets and season passes, including Ski California Gold Passes.

At Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, the new Treeline Cirque high-speed quad chairlift at Alpine Meadows carries skiers and riders from the base area to Sherwood Ridge in five minutes; the new lift also provides a mid-station exit for access to some of Alpine’s best low-intermediate terrain. At Squaw, marking its 70th season, the new Tram Car Bar is a restored 1970s-era Squaw tram cabin that’s been placed on the Olympic House deck.

Sugar Bowl/Royal Gorge Resort’s upgrades include a new covered surface lift for beginners; remodeling of Sugar Bowl Hotel’s rooms; renovation of the Mid-Mountain Lodge; a 13-foot mini-pipe; and a top-to-bottom terrain park with all new features.

Tahoe Donner Cross-Country Ski Area marks its 20th anniversary. Among its scheduled events this season: a guided snowshoe hike on New Year’s Eve; a week of clinics during the Alpenglow Mountain Festival Feb. 15-23; and the Great Ski Race, the 30km fundraising event for Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, on March 1

Utah

Alta’s Alf Engen Ski School partners with the Snowpine Lodge and the Alta Peruvian Lodge to offer new performance ski camps.

Brian Head Resort’s nearly $6 million in capital improvements includes a new high-speed detachable quad chairlift, replacing a fixed-grip triple; new grooming equipment; snow-making enhancements; and new and upgraded rental ski and snowboard equipment.

Brighton adds additional snow-making on its Canyon run near the Milly base area.

Deer Valley’s $7.6 million in improvements includes new RFID ticket and gate technology; new digital signage at the resort’s three base lodges (Snow Park, Silver Lake and Canyon) providing real-time information on ticketing availability and pricing, lift operations and grooming status; and snow-making enhancements.

Park City Mountain Resort’s popular Tombstone barbecue food truck has built a permanent restaurant, with indoor seating for as many as 50 on the truck’s old site. Outdoor picnic tables remain. A new fixed-grip quad chairlift, Over and Out, carries guests from near the bottom of the Tombstone lift to near the top of the Sunrise lift on the mountain’s front side.

Snowbasin Resort’s Earl’s Lodge is adding grab-and-go food options and new food and beverage stations. The resort also adds snow-making to the area around Mt. Ogden Bowl Road, enabling the early-season opening of the John Paul lift.

Snowbird’s newest dining experience, SeventyOne at the Cliff Lodge, is a throwback to the mountain’s early roots in the 1970s. The new restaurant features American grill favorites and an open kitchen.

Solitude Mountain Resort’s new walk-up waffle window at the Moonbeam Center offers fresh waffles with a variety of toppings.

Woodward Park City, said to be the nation’s first all-in-one action sports and ski resort, featuring year-round indoor and outdoor action sports, opens this winter with lift-accessed snowboarding, skiing and tubing.

Colorado

Arapahoe Basin’s Il Rifugio, said to be the highest lift-served restaurant in North America at just over 12,500 feet, begins its first full winter season, serving charcuterie, wine, espresso and views of the Continental Divide.

Aspen Snowmass has a new modern Italian restaurant at Snowmass, a $2.5 million remodel of the old Sam’s Smokehouse at 10,620 feet atop Sam’s Knob. The new Sam’s, with an open kitchen and outdoor deck, serves antipasti platters and pasta made in-house daily. Snowmass’ 10-year, $600-million base village development continues with a new community center, the Collective, featuring a new restaurant, Mix6; the Moxibar; and a community lounge and game area.

Adjacent to Aspen Mountain, the Little Nell hotel unveils a remodeled Ajax Tavern and marks its 30th anniversary. In the spring, the hotel will close for its final phase of renovation, the living room and lobby.

Breckenridge’s Peak 8 base debuts a new 22,000-square-foot guest-services building adjacent to the Colorado SuperChair and Rocky Mountain SuperChair lifts. It features a children’s ski and snowboard school and child-care facilities.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort opens a new fixed-grip quad chairlift, replacing the Teocalli lift. The lift increases uphill capacity by 50%.

Copper Mountain’s new fixed-grip triple chairlift, Three Bears, serves 273 acres of the resort’s best expert terrain on 12,400-foot-high Tucker Mountain. The terrain previously was accessible only by snowcat or hiking.

Winter Park’s Mary Jane area has a new $6-million high-speed Sunnyside lift, replacing a fixed-grip triple. The six-seater, which loads at the bottom of Parsenn Bowl, reduces ride time from eight minutes to less than four minutes.

Steamboat debuts a $15-million, eight-person gondola, replacing an existing gondola and increasing uphill capacity from the base’s Gondola Square to the mid-mountain Thunderhead Lodge by nearly 40%.

Telluride’s 40 new acres of glade terrain around Lift 9, appropriate for advanced and expert skiers and riders, offers steep natural chutes and rock drops.

Elsewhere in the West

New Mexico’s Taos Regional Airport on Jan. 9 begins direct charter-flight service to and from Los Angeles’ Hawthorne Municipal Airport and Carlsbad’s McClellan-Palomar Airport. The charter service will offer a complimentary ground shuttle between the airport and Taos Ski Valley’s newest hotel, the Blake, and complimentary ski and snowboard rentals for four days.

Idaho’s Sun Valley unveils 56 acres of glade skiing and riding in the Frenchman’s area of Bald Mountain.

Montana’s Big Sky Resort debuts a new food hall offering sushi, ramen and crepe stations. New on-mountain: private guided headlamp night skiing.

Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort opens the new Eagle’s Rest quad chairlift, running from the base area to the Solitude Station learning complex and surrounding beginner terrain.

Dear Liz: Over the years, my husband and I have accumulated a number of credit cards. All have had a zero balance for years. I want to start canceling these cards, but I’m concerned that will hurt our great credit scores. How should I go about this, or should I?

Answer: As you probably know, closing credit accounts won’t help your scores and may hurt them. That doesn’t mean you can never close a credit card, but you shouldn’t close a bunch of them at once or close any if you’ll be in the market for a major loan, such as a mortgage or auto loan.

If you’re not planning to borrow money in the near future, then you can start closing accounts one at a time. You’ll probably want to keep the cards with the highest credit limits, and perhaps your oldest card as well. Monitor your scores to see how long they take to recover from each closure. You may need to wait a few months before shutting the next account.

Be sure to use your remaining cards occasionally by charging small amounts and paying the balance in full. That will keep the cards active and help prevent the issuer from canceling them.

Don’t rush to collect Social Security

Dear Liz: I would like you to explain to us retirees why we should delay taking Social Security.

I have two tax preparers — and other people — who say delaying is a terrible idea. I’m in my 20th year of collecting Social Security, and I can assure you that people who delay are making a dreadful mistake. Please check this out!

Answer: Your tax preparers may have had a point 20 years ago, but a lot has changed since then, including life expectancies and prevailing interest rates. It’s unfortunate if your advisors haven’t kept up with copious research showing that delaying Social Security makes sense for most recipients.

One issue of particular interest to tax pros is the “tax torpedo.” That’s a sharp rise and then fall in the marginal tax rate caused by taxation of Social Security benefits. Researchers found the tax torpedo could nearly double the marginal tax rate for many middle-income families. People in the 22% federal tax bracket, for example, could see their marginal tax rate jump to 40% on a portion of their income.

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Two decades ago, this would have been an issue for fewer taxpayers because most did not owe income tax on their Social Security benefits. Now more than half pay taxes on their benefits because Congress hasn’t updated certain income limits to reflect inflation.

The researchers found that delaying the start of benefits until age 70 and tapping retirement funds instead could reduce the tax torpedo’s effect. This approach not only maximizes Social Security benefits but also reduces the minimum amounts that must be distributed starting at age 70½. For more details, you can point your tax advisors to the July 2018 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning.

The National Bureau of Economic Research also has numerous papers on Social Security-claiming strategies, including “Recent Changes in the Gains from Delaying Social Security,” “Leaving Big Money on the Table: Arbitrage Opportunities in Delaying Social Security,” “The Power of Working Longer” and “The Decision to Delay Social Security Benefits: Theory and Evidence.”

This generous gift has no tax effects

Dear Liz: If I give $15,000 to my grandson, do I report it on my tax return? Is it deductible? Does my grandson report the gift on his tax return and does he owe tax on it? What if three sets of grandparents (parents and stepparents of his parents) do the same?

Answer: No, no, no, no and it doesn’t matter for tax purposes (although obviously your grandson should be delighted he has such generous grandparents).

Gifts to individuals aren’t tax deductible, but neither are they taxable to the recipient.

People can give a certain amount each year to as many recipients as they like without having to report the gifts via a gift tax return. In 2019 and 2020, the limit is $15,000. Each grandparent could give up to that amount to your grandson; he wouldn’t have to report the income on his tax returns, and it wouldn’t cause any of you to have to file gift tax returns.

There’s no limit to the number of people who can give $15,000 to your grandson this way.

You wouldn’t owe gift taxes until the amount you’d given away above the annual exemption limit exceeded $11.4 million.

Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com.

California’s stem cell program, created by voters in 2004, has made great strides in advancing what’s known as regenerative medicine and placing California at the center of the developing science.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, which was established by Proposition 71, has spent its original endowment of $3 billion in state bond proceeds to build state-of-the-art laboratories and attract some of the field’s preeminent scientists. Its grants have brought scores of promising treatments for severe chronic diseases to the point of clinical trials.

Having effectively come to the end of its original state funding, CIRM is about to ask for more. An initiative aimed for the November 2020 ballot would renew the program with a new bond issue of $5.5 billion. The measure could have represented an opportunity not merely to extend the program for another 10 years, but to correct shortcomings created by Proposition 71, some of which persist to this day.

CIRM board member Jeff Sheehy

But as drafted by real estate developer Robert Klein II, the author of Proposition 71, the new proposal perpetuates many of the original measure’s flaws and makes some of them worse. That’s dangerous, because although the measure could fuel the stem cell program for years to come, it might also prompt a repudiation by voters sensitive to its many imperfections. Such an outcome would be tragic for California and the advanced science already supported by CIRM.

The initiative’s ambitious financial ask could remind voters that, for all its achievements, the program’s initial $3-billion expenditure has so far failed to yield a single marketable clinical product. That’s despite the sales pitch for Proposition 71 in 2004–that all that stood in the way of “cures” for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and other maladies was money.

The initiative’s promoters also projected that taxpayers would reap a financial windfall from their spending — indeed, that the program would pay for itself by generating at least $14 billion from royalties and reduced health costs for California. That hasn’t happened, and the bar will be much higher for the proposed new borrowing. Assuming an interest rate of 5%, a 30-year, $5.5-billion bond would cost taxpayers $275 million in interest every year for three decades.

Klein’s initiative fails to set forth a clear justification for nearly doubling CIRM’s funding for the next 10 years. It places new restrictions on how the money can be spent, depriving CIRM’s governing board of the flexibility it needs to serve a science that is evolving at a dizzying pace.

Moreover, the proposal perpetuates the cardinal error of Proposition 71 of rendering the program virtually immune to legislative oversight, despite its immense demand on taxpayer resources. Like Proposition 71, the new measure bars the Legislature from making amendments without a 70% vote in both houses, almost certainly an unattainable goal.

Klein says the funding increase is the product of inflation, but also is designed to fulfill the program’s aim “to empower scientists in California to move as far forward as we can to mitigate human suffering.” He says he considers keeping the program politically independent essential to inoculate it from the ebbs and flows of legislative fashion and ideological impulses. Targeting some of the spending, he says, provides the “predictability vital to attract and hold the best and the brightest here.”

What’s most troubling about the quest for new CIRM funding is that its leaders, including its 29-member board, didn’t take the reins themselves in mapping out the program’s future.

“Why isn’t there strong motivation on the board to actually take charge of setting the future of this agency?” asks Jeff Sheehy, a former San Francisco county supervisor who was one of the original appointees to the CIRM board, but will depart early next year because of term limits in Proposition 71. “We have a responsibility to provide leadership. Yet we’re missing in action.”

Hard as it is to overstate how perilous the new proposal could be for the stem cell program’s future, it’s easy to pinpoint how it came about: CIRM’s leadership outsourced the drafting of the initiative to Klein. Despite his role in the Proposition 71 campaign and his service as the first CIRM chairman for more than seven years, today he has no official role in the program. So it’s proper to ask why he should be entrusted with its destiny.

CIRM Chairman Jonathan Thomas told me that the program had little choice but to work through Klein, in part because state agencies are forbidden to campaign for or against ballot measures.

The board had a “general sense that were there to be a measure to re-up [its funding], Bob was very well-equipped to put this together again…. Nobody on the board was similarly situated to not just draft a measure but to orchestrate a campaign, get signatures, or, raise money for it, which we can’t do. So, the best way to go was to fully inform Bob of what we needed to be dealt with and give input on the draft as submitted.”

But nothing in state law would have prevented the board from drafting its own renewal plan or working directly with the Legislature to design a funding initiative. The latter option, however, “never gained any traction with the board,” Thomas says.

Klein stepped into the vacuum, drafting his proposal largely behind closed doors. Board members had almost no direct input in the drafting process, certainly not in public. Nor did CIRM sponsor hearings for members of the public to contribute thoughts or concerns about the program’s record or its proper role as steward of billions of taxpayer dollars.

No one should doubt the sincerity of Klein’s devotion to stem cell science or his stature as a supporter of the field. He has said he was inspired to adopt the cause after his youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a condition that theoretically could be treated with stem cells.

His role in creating CIRM virtually out of thin air through Proposition 71 deserves respect. But now that the program has been operating for 16 years, it’s inappropriate for its own leadeship to place its fate in the hands of a private individual on a personal crusade, no matter how heartfelt his calling.

That brings us to the initiative proposal itself.

Klein’s measure includes some provisions that would fill known gaps in CIRM’s program. It would establish training and fellowship programs to prepare California undergraduates and grad students for careers in regenerative sciences, with a focus on community colleges and California State University.

It would also create a task force to work on the access and affordability of CIRM-funded treatments for Californians. Although the measure is vague on how those goals could be achieved, at least it recognizes that the six- or seven-figure costs of such treatments will be an obstacle for patients.

But the measure misfires in other ways, including through specific directives for how CIRM must spend much of its new funding. For example, the measure specifies that a minimum of $1.5 billion must be spent on research on brain and central nervous system conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and autism.

At a Nov. 15 board meeting, Keith Yamamoto, vice chancellor for research at UC San Francisco, complained that fencing off such a large portion of resources deprives the board of “discretion … to choose the best proposals that come forward” and shows a “lack of confidence in our scientific reviewers.”

The initiative perpetuates CIRM’s embedded conflicts of interest, a persistent issue that was cited by, among others, the National Academy of Sciences in a 2012 review of the program. The program’s leadership has always maintained that these conflicts are more imagined than real. “There never has been an actual conflict of interest in all the years that CIRM has been operating,” Thomas said at a board committee meeting May 15.

But CIRM’s history bristles with documented conflicts, starting with the 2007 effort by then-board member John C. Reed to persuade CIRM staff to reverse the rejection of a grant for the La Jolla-based Burnham Institute for Medical Research, where he was CEO. In 2012, the board approved $40 million in funding for StemCells Inc., including $20 million for an Alzheimer’s research project that CIRM’s scientific review panel had rejected twice. The firm’s co-founder, Irving Weissman of Stanford, had been a major backer of Proposition 71, and Klein (who was no longer chairman but still influential) lent the rejected application his outsopoken support. (StemCells Inc. went out of business in 2016.)

CIRM’s grantmaking record also fosters the impression of institutional logrolling. Proposition 71 mandated that as many as 23 of the governing board’s 29 members, who are appointed by the governor, other statewide officials, and legislative leaders, be drawn from academic institutions or disease advocacy groups that happen to be eligible to receive CIRM grants or could be associated with grantees. Indeed, the vast majority of CIRM’s grants have gone to California institutions with current of former representatives on the governing board. Klein’s initiative would expand the board to 35 members, which could bring even more players into what appears to be an elite club.

The proposal’s biggest flaw is its exemption of CIRM from legislative oversight, which is carried over from Proposition 71. Klein says this approach is based on his experience as a legislative aide years ago, when he became disaffected with “the incredible amount of time and energy” it took to get anything done in Sacramento, as well on his perception of the need to immunize CIRM against the religious and ideological currents that often swirl around government policies on advanced biology.

Politics can be messy, but public oversight of billions of dollars in spending by a public agency is imperative. CIRM’s performance as an independent fiefdom hasn’t been entirely auspicious. Had the program been accountable to the Legislature, for instance, would Thomas be pulling down his salary of more than $400,000 or CIRM President and CEO Maria Millan her compensation of about $550,000, all to run a program that has issued an average of about $200 million in grants per year?

For comparison, Francis Collins earns about $200,000 as director of the National Institutes of Health, which have a combined budget of more than $30 billion. Gov. Gavin Newsom this month received a raise–to $209,747.

CIRM’s board members seem to beleive they’re now boxed into full-throated support of Klein’s initiative proposal. At the Nov. 15 meeting, some members cautioned their colleagues that criticizing Klein’s draft would only lend fodder to CIRM’s opponents and ruin the chances for passage. “We don’t want to make the perfect be the enemy of the good,” board member George Blumenthal, the chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, said at the session.

Klein told me he “successfully reached and talked with 19 of the 26 current board members,” but the gist of these encounters isn’t public. Thomas stated at a recent board meeting that “less than a handful” of CIRM board members “had the opportunity to talk to Bob … and that’s not good.”

Board members didn’t see a draft of Klein’s proposal until early October. They held a limited discussion about it as a nonagenda item at their next regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 31. Then, partially at Sheehy’s insistence, Thomas scheduled a board meeting with Klein, but that wasn’t held until Nov. 15 — a mere three days before the deadline to make changes in the initiative, which had already been submitted to the attorney general for review. (Once the review is completed, Klein will be permitted to gather the 623,000 signatures needed to place the initiative on the 2020 ballot.)

Klein made only a few modest changes in the measure in response to the feedback. That‘s not sufficient. He should withdraw his measure, and CIRM’s leadership should write a new one or work with Gov. Newsom and the Legislature to map out the program’s next act.

CIRM’s leadership needs to show the public that it’s capable of taking charge of the program’s destiny. If it’s not willing to make its own case for CIRM’s continued existence, how can it persuade voters to give it one cent more?

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I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, with a look today at kids’ privacy.

A coalition of nearly three dozen consumer and medical groups submitted a letter to the Federal Trade Commission last week calling for a review of how companies are marketing to children and tracking them online. They also want more transparency about what information is being collected and how it’s being stored.

“Advertising to children is a lucrative, booming business, and not enough is understood about these new methods of surveilling and monetizing children, or the impact that it has on their privacy and well-being,” the letter says.

Among other practices cited by the groups is the growing trend of “playable” ads — that is, ads that are presented as video games, blurring the line between marketing and entertainment.

“What is the likely impact of these new methods on children’s psycho-social development, and what is the impact on the family and social interactions?” the letter asks. “What kinds of data are collected via these new applications, especially with regard to being able to make inferences about behavioral and psychological traits?”

In other words, what are the ramifications of businesses using increasingly sophisticated methods to spy on our kids?

This isn’t a new concern. Tech companies learned decades ago there was money to be made from targeting children. In September, Google’s YouTube was hit with a record $170-million fine for collecting personal information from kids without their parents’ consent.

The FTC is currently reviewing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires parental consent before companies can collect data from children younger than 13. The agency has received more than 160,000 comments to date, many from companies that worry about their ability to produce kid-friendly content.

The coalition — including the Center for Digital Democracy, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the American Academy of Pediatrics — says the FTC should demand more information from tech companies about their practices before moving forward with any revision of the privacy law.

“The FTC cannot base substantive policy decisions on the current dearth of details about how the information ecosystem functions,” the letter says. “Rather, the FTC must conduct and complete a series of long-overdue studies to shed light on these opaque industries before it adopts any privacy-related rulemaking or major policy change.”

Indeed, if the tech industry has nothing to hide, it should welcome added sunlight cast upon its dealings with young ones. Americans might not be able to agree on how much privacy adults are entitled to. But I suspect we’re all of one mind when it comes to our kids.

Now then, here are a couple of recent stories from our pages worth highlighting:

UC outsourcing: The University of California is at war with its largest union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), over outsourcing of jobs. Specifically, the two sides are at odds over the university’s use of workers from temporary help agencies and staffing firms to fill low- and middle-wage service and healthcare jobs.

The taxman cometh: Homeowners in L.A. County have until Tuesday to pay their property taxes without a penalty. While Proposition 13 keeps taxes low for many longtime homeowners, more recently acquired properties will receive larger bills. Here are 12 L.A. homeowners expected to cough up more than $1 million.

Recalls

Tainted romaine lettuce from California’s Salinas Valley has been linked to 102 illnesses in 23 states. The tally more than doubles the magnitude of an ongoing outbreak linked to E. coli bacteria generally found in animals. Consumers should check whether their lettuce is labeled with a place of origin, and throw it out if it came from the Salinas Valley, the Food and Drug Administration advised.

Airbags are once again in the crosshairs. A new malfunction involving 1990s-vintage cars with airbags made by now-bankrupt Takata adds 1.4 million front driver inflators to recalls in the United States. The problem is so severe that BMW is warning owners of some older 3-series cars to stop driving them.

Spare change

With worries about kids’ privacy fresh in our heads, several songs about surveillance. The Police served up a biggie. So did Rockwell (who you might not know is Motown founder Berry Gordy’s son, Kennedy William Gordy). But my fave is this one from Elvis (Costello, not Presley).

Let me know what you think of the newsletter. My email is [email protected], or you can find me on Twitter @Davidlaz. Also, tell all your social media pals to join the party.

Until next time, see you in the Business section.

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Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad, is having a pop-culture moment — 106 years after her death.

“Harriet,” the film based on the freedom fighter’s courageous life, has awards buzz and, according to Box Office Mojo, has made more than $40 million worldwide. The Critics Choice Assn. announced Sunday that “Harriet” was nominated for Critics’ Choice Awards in the actress and song categories.

In addition to the big-screen story, there’s an ongoing push to get Tubman, who risked her life to lead slaves to freedom, on the $20 bill, which would make her the first African American depicted on U.S. currency.

As the film continues its box-office build, it hasn’t been without controversy, starting with comments on Twitter that the lead role in the film was given to British actress Cynthia Erivo, star of “The Color Purple” revival on Broadway, and not to an African American actress. (For the record, an African American female director, two African American producers and 13 African American department heads were among the crew to work on “Harriet.”)

Also last month, in an interview on Focus Features’ website, “Harriet” screenwriter and producer Gregory Allen Howard, who began working to bring Tubman’s story to film 26 years ago, referenced that another studio he had been in discussions with in 1994 had suggested Julia Roberts play Tubman.

“I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, ‘This script is fantastic. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman,’” Howard said. “When someone pointed out that Roberts couldn’t be Harriet, the executive responded, ‘It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference.’”

Beyond any controversy, here are four things to know about Tubman’s story and the 2019 film about her life.

1. Getting Tubman on the $20 bill

In April 2016, during President Obama’s administration, former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the tireless activist would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Tubman would be the first African American to be represented on any of the nation’s currency.

“The decision to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 was driven by thousands of responses we received from Americans young and old,” Lew said then. “I have been particularly struck by the many comments and reactions from children for whom Harriet Tubman is not just a historical figure but a role model for leadership and participation in our democracy.”

The unveiling had been timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. However, it was announced in May by current Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin that a $20 bill featuring Tubman would be pushed back to 2028.

Last month, Focus Features, which distributed the film, had a screening of “Harriet” in Washington for members of Congress. It was a bipartisan affair with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) as co-hosts of the event, along with the Congressional Black Caucus.

At the event, lawmakers had a panel discussion with Karen Hill, president and chief executive officer of the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, N.Y., and Tubman scholar Kate Clifford Larson, author of “Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero,” about the House bill to get Tubman on the $20 bill and her legacy.

“I was glad to organize a panel discussion last night on the ‘Harriet’ movie,” Hoyer tweeted. “I thank each of the panelists for joining our conversation on the lasting influence that Harriet Tubman has had in this country and in her home state of Maryland.”

In another tweet, he said: “Harriet Tubman ought to be recognized by all Americans for her leadership, advocacy, and determination. That is why I will continue to call on the Administration to put #TubmanOntheTwenty and honor her legacy with the distinction it deserves.”

2. Drawing a line on violence

“Harriet” producer Debra Martin Chase says she has been thrilled by the success of the biographical film since its Nov. 1 release.

“This has been a 5½-year journey for me,” Chase told The Times at the Hollywood Film Awards last month. “The response has been heartwarming. I have been tearing up with joy. … When I saw we had an A+ Cinemascore, I went crazy.”

Chase first set out to make a movie that wasn’t about slavery. “It’s about freedom and empowerment,” she said. “Some of the early critics said, ‘Well, it wasn’t brutal enough.’ But that’s not the film we wanted to make. We wanted to make a movie that did pay homage to [Tubman], that talked about the emotional scars, the emotional brutality that slavery was.”

Although the film takes place more than 150 years ago, Chase said she saw how closely connected the storyline was to the plight of migrants in the U.S.

“When your children are being torn away from you and you never see them again, that never heals,” Chase said. “Unfortunately, we are still going through that in this country right now. Ironically, this story about the 1800s is in many ways just as relevant now as it was then. And that is sad.”

Although Tubman’s contributions to society are often taught in school, Chase said she felt that the fascinating details of Tubman’s story should be illustrated on screen.

“It was really important for us to tell the story of a woman,” Chase said. “All we know is the grim picture of her much older in her life. She was married twice; her second husband was 22 years her junior. After the Civil War, she went on to be a fierce advocate for women’s suffrage and the rights for the elderly.”

Tubman’s husband was with her until she died at about 91 years old.

“She led this truly amazing life,” Chase said. “For me, one of the lessons of this movie is that we can’t control the circumstances into which we are born. She couldn’t read or write. She was born a slave and was destined to be a slave. And yet she decided, ‘No, we all have the power to determine who we become and what we want to do with our lives.’”

3. Using costumes to tell the tale

Chase said she and her team knew period costumes were going to play an important role in the film, which also stars Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn and Janelle Monáe. “We knew the clothing would be huge in this because we wanted to have a style, to be true to the period and be true to the characters,” Chase said. “So, I asked my friend [Oscar-winning costume designer] Ruth Carter who did I want. She was working on ‘Dolemite’ at the time and she said, ‘You have to get Paul Tazewell [‘Hamilton’s costume designer]. There’s nobody else.’”

Chase asked Carter to set up an appointment with Tazewell. “We reached out to him, and thankfully, he came on board,” Chase said. “I mean the research that went into the clothes; he scoured all over North America for the outfits and obviously he made several things himself. As [director-writer] Kasi Lemmons talks about her approach to the movie, there was Minty, Harriet and Moses. You can see the progression of her character in her clothes.”

In “Harriet,” Chase said to look for the visually compelling moment with Erivo on a white horse. “The outfit she has at the end is this gorgeous burgundy velvet color,” Chase said. “It’s very elegant, very powerful. It’s funny: When we were getting ready to shoot the scene, she had on another outfit. Kasi said, ‘No, no, we can’t do this. It has to be she’s going to be on a white horse riding away. Embodying the power of her people and womanhood. She’s got to look regal.’ So that was the idea behind that jacket.”

4. Playing Tubman

Last month, Chase attended the Hollywood Film Awards to support Erivo, who received the Hollywood Breakout Actress Award. (Erivo’s next project will be playing Aretha Franklin in an upcoming National Geographic series. She will also receive the Rising Star Award at the 2020 American Black Film Festival Honors in February.)

“I hope that I played this role fully and truthfully,” said Erivo. “It took a lot physically, mentally and spiritually, but all was necessary because she deserves her story to be told.”

Erivo, wearing a Versace gown, said she felt the costumes she wore as Tubman helped her seamlessly disappear into the character.

“When you put a piece of clothing on that isn’t yours,” said the Tony-winning actress, who’s of Nigerian heritage, “it feels like it belongs to the character. It makes you walk differently, makes you carry yourself differently. Because she is so physical, part of that is the costume. The way in which you wear a costume is part physicality. For me, it just added to the story, added to the way I could tell a story. And I am just really grateful.”

HONG KONG — 

Hong Kong police say they have made 6,022 arrests and fired nearly 16,000 tear gas rounds during six months of antigovernment protests that have shaken the city.

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Police say the arrests included 11 people detained in raids over the weekend that netted a pistol and other weapons. Police suspect the weapons were intended for use during a demonstration attended by hundreds of thousands of peaceful marchers on Sunday.

Police also arrested 12 people Monday suspected of preparing gasoline bombs.

Police said they have also fired 10,000 rubber baton rounds during the six months of protests and that 493 officers have been injured.

Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:

TOP STORIES

Articles of Impeachment Looming

Only four months ago, the debate over whether to impeach President Trump deeply divided Democrats in Congress, pitting moderates in pro-Trump districts against progressives in liberal strongholds. Now, with a vote on articles of impeachment expected within two weeks, the party is unified on whether Trump should be impeached. The only significant point of contention: how expansive of a case to make.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says his committee is moving swiftly to draft articles of impeachment, possibly by the end of this week. Today, the committee plans to hear evidence gathered by the Intelligence Committee during its investigation. The White House says it won’t participate in House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings and will instead focus on a potential Senate trial.

Meanwhile, Trump’s congressional supporters are finding themselves on the defensive over the disclosure that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, traveled last week to Ukraine and met with political figures associated with efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Impeccable Timing

Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential campaign last week, but along with the pain of doing so may come some gain. “By quitting when she did,” Times politics writer Mark Z. Barabak reports, “Harris avoided embarrassing losses in several early contests and, most important, her home state of California, preserving her status as a leading vice presidential prospect and positioning her as a strong candidate for a place in the Cabinet, such as attorney general, in a Democratic administration.” It could also help in defending her Senate seat in 2022.

More Politics

— Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will release his long-anticipated report today. People familiar with the matter said the internal watchdog has determined that political bias did not influence the federal investigation of potential links between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016.

— Mixing politics and parsley: Why this spice seller spent $700,000-plus on Facebook ads for Trump’s impeachment.

A Deepening Investigation

The FBI is investigating the Friday attack by a Saudi gunman who killed three U.S. sailors at the Pensacola, Fla., naval base on the assumption it was an act of terrorism. A U.S. official said the killer, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, had apparently gone on Twitter shortly before the shooting to blast U.S. support of Israel and accuse America of being anti-Muslim. Investigators are trying to establish whether he acted alone or was part of a larger plot.

Accusations at CBS-Owned Stations

It’s been a year since former CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves was ousted over allegations of misconduct. Since then, independent law firms hired by CBS concluded that “harassment and retaliation are not pervasive at CBS.” But a Times investigation has uncovered claims of discrimination, retaliation and other forms of mistreatment at CBS-owned TV stations, including L.A. outlets. More than two dozen current and former employees of KCBS and KCAL described a toxic environment. Discrimination complaints have also surfaced at CBS-owned stations in Chicago, Dallas and Miami. CBS denied that it engaged in discrimination.

Check This Out (or Not)

More and more public library patrons are turning to borrowing e-books — and not just from one library system, as readers collect cards from districts near and far. The evolution of digital lending has also shaped the way libraries build their collections. But Macmillan Publishers says it’s been concerned that “library lending was cannibalizing sales” and is now limiting systems to a single digital copy of its books for the first eight weeks after publication, with all subsequent copies to be metered.

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OUR MUST-READS FROM THE WEEKEND

— End of an era: The 44th and final crew member of the battleship Arizona was interred at the memorial in Pearl Harbor.

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— Should psychotherapists be required to report patients who look at child porn? A California law says they must, the state Supreme Court will soon decide whether to revive a challenge to that law.

— Orange County was once a battleground for an epic newspaper war. Now, journalism is fading fast there.

— After last year’s devastating Camp fire, the Paradise High School Bobcats football team became a powerful symbol of a community coming together. Now, their season has ended with a loss that was really a victory.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this date in 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired for the first time. Though the TV special would become a holiday tradition, the producers who made it were not brimming with confidence ahead of time.

“We just thought it was a little slow, and it was certainly not a traditional Christmas show,” said Lee Mendelson, the producer who persuaded “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles M. Schulz to adapt his strip into an animated holiday offering. When they showed it in New York for CBS, two executives watched in silence. When the lights came up, one of the bosses told Mendelson, “Well, you gave it a good try.”

CALIFORNIA

— Overtime costs for firefighters in California have surged by 65% in the last decade amid a string of wildfires. Annual wages have risen to nearly $5 billion, according to a Times analysis of state payroll records.

— Patty Perry, the founder of Moorpark animal sanctuary, was injured by tigers during an event put on to thank donors and supporters of her conservation group.

— Dryland, a literary journal based in South-Central L.A., tells stories that are often left out, as columnist Frank Shyong explains.

— The Free Cafe in Leimert Park wants to talk about gentrification, but some say it’s part of the problem.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

— The Golden Globe nominations are coming out this morning. Follow all the action (and reaction) with us.

— Inside the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards: How “Parasite” won best picture this year.

— Hip-hop star Juice Wrld, who broke through in 2018 with the smash hit “Lucid Dreams,” died after reportedly having a seizure in Chicago’s Midway Airport. The 21-year-old was part of a wave of young singer-rappers to emerge in recent years from the do-it-yourself streaming platform SoundCloud.

— Two longtime actors also died Sunday: Caroll Spinney, who gave Big Bird his warmth and Oscar the Grouch his growl for nearly 50 years on “Sesame Street,” and René Auberjonois, best known for his roles on the TV shows “Benson” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and his portrayal of Father Mulcahy in the 1970 film “MASH.”

NATION-WORLD

— The number of African migrants heading to the U.S. through Mexico has more than doubled this year, from roughly 2,700 in 2018 to 5,800 today, according to data from the federal government.

— Historic cities and towns along the Southeast U.S. coast have survived wars, hurricanes, disease outbreaks and other calamities, but now that sea levels are creeping up with no sign of stopping, they face a more existential crisis.

— Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators crammed into Hong Kong’s streets again in a massive show of support for a protest movement that shows no signs of flagging as it enters a seventh month.

— A volcano erupted on a small New Zealand island frequented by tourists. At least five people are dead and many others are missing after the eruption.

BUSINESS

— Tech recruiters were once welcomed on campus. Now they face protests.

— Too many credit cards? Protect your credit scores while closing accounts.

SPORTS

— The Rams stayed in the playoff hunt by defeating the Seattle Seahawks at the Coliseum, while the Chargers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars but were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.

— After spending the postseason at home a year ago, the USC football team is headed just down the freeway to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl against Iowa on Dec. 27.

— The NBA’s scary secret: Job stress is destroying the health of some of the best coaches.

OPINION

— Trump should be impeached, The Times’ editorial board writes. The evidence produced over the last two months is more than sufficient.

— Failing to address millennial concerns could cost Democrats the election.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

— Critics accused Trump of playing to anti-Semitic tropes during a speech at a conference sponsored by the Israeli-American Council, where he said many Jewish Americans do not “love Israel enough.” (USA Today)

— A former career diplomat writes that it’s time for the U.S. to reconsider Middle East policy and end “the magical thinking.” (The Atlantic)

ONLY IN L.A.

A Methodist church in Claremont has unveiled a Nativity scene depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees in cages, likening one of the most well-known images of the Christmas season to photos that have become synonymous with criticism of the Trump administration’s border separation policies. “We see this as, in some ways, the Holy Family standing in for the nameless families,” said the Rev. Karen Clark Ristine, the lead pastor at Claremont United Methodist Church. “We don’t see it as political; we see it as theological.”

If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. Comments or ideas? Email us at [email protected].

Alex Albon says his mid-season promotion to Aston Martin Red Bull during his maiden year in F1 erased his feeling of being a rookie in the sport.

Albon’s motorsport career was turned on its head over twelve months ago when Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko unexpectedly lured the British-Thai racer away from a drive with Nissan in Formula E by offering him something much better: a race seat in F1 with Toro Rosso!

The 23-year-old’s performance was so impressive during the first half of his rookie year that Marko swapped Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly with Albon during F1’s summer break.

And Albon continued to sustain his momentum and add to his remarkable track record, earning himself a full season with the Milton Keynes-based outfit for 2020.

Albon reveals private exchanges with Hamilton after Brazil run-in

“I sometimes have to tell myself that I’m still a rookie because being in Red Bull the feeling kind of goes away a bit with the expectation and everything,” Albon said.

“On reflection I am happy with [my year]. I do notice the good moments but It’s just human nature and the way I am, I am hard on myself and I do want to improve all the time.

“I don’t want it to be an excuse that I’m a rookie. I just want to be quick on that weekend for being quick.

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“It’s just part of me and part of my drive to just improve as a driver. I know there’s still scope for me to improve on.

“I realise that I’m still learning and for a first year I’m happy with how it’s gone.”

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