SAN DIEGO — 

More than 60% of methamphetamine seized by Customs and Border Protection across the country came through California ports, according to data from the federal agency.

During fiscal 2019, which ended Sept. 30, CBP agents in California seized more than 80,000 pounds of methamphetamine at the border.

That figure accounted for 63% of all methamphetamine seized by CBP agents nationwide this year and represented a 66% increase from the amount seized in California in the last fiscal year.

“Some of these numbers are staggering,” said Pete Flores, director of field operations for CBP in San Diego.

Flores noted that 10 years ago, CBP agents in California seized less than 4,000 pounds of methamphetamine.

“These impressive results should be credited to the men and women serving on the front lines at our ports of entry,” Flores said. “Their daily efforts secure our nation’s borders while facilitating the flow of legitimate travel and trade.”

CBP agents in California, which inspect ports of entry in San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, Calexico and Andrade, also noticed an uptick in the amount of fentanyl seized at the border.

Agents seized 1,472 pounds of the drug in fiscal 2019, a 32% increase from last year. That figure also accounted for 47% of all fentanyl seized by CBP along the border nationwide.

Although methamphetamine and fentanyl were the fastest-growing types of narcotic seized along the California portion of the U.S.-Mexico border, marijuana continues to be the single-largest type of drug seized, data shows.

CBP agents seized more than 112,000 pounds of marijuana in fiscal 2019. Last year, that number was 106,000 pounds.

While drug seizures increased, the number of people apprehended along the border decreased, data shows.

Agents apprehended 33,466 “inadmissible aliens,” or people without the proper documents to enter the United States, in fiscal 2019. That was a 6% decrease from last year.

CBP agents inspected more than 78 million people as they came from Mexico to California throughout fiscal 2019.

Solis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Since the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017, the voices of Latin American women have been amplified across politics, culture and society at large.

Now Latin women are making their presence felt in another arena where they’ve been historically underrepresented and underserved: international diplomacy.

That shift is highly visible in Los Angeles, where the consulates of seven of the 16 countries that make up the Group of Latin American Consuls (GRULAC, in its Spanish acronym) are being led by women — the first time that so many Latin women have served simultaneously in that capacity here. In the case of Ecuador, a woman’s appointment in 2018 ended 122 years of men dominating the post.

“It is a conquest. It reflects the position of women in our Latin American societies,” said Marcia Loureiro, consul general of Brazil for the last two years.

When Loureiro arrived in Los Angeles, she had only two Latin female counterparts — the consuls general of El Salvador and Costa Rica. In 2018, they were joined by the representatives of the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

In 2019, between June and October, more female diplomats were posted to Los Angeles. At the El Salvador consulate, one woman left and another took her place. At both the Mexican and Honduran consulates, women were appointed to replace men.

Celia Lacayo, professor of sociology at UCLA, said that these changes are a response to a quickening global push for gender equality.

“Now [that] the news is global, the women’s movement is also global,” Lacayo said. “We are seeing that [Latin American] societies are finally understanding the importance of representation.”

Los Angeles is a nerve center for international diplomacy, home to 103 consulates, only slightly fewer than New York City. The appointment of a consul general is made by the chancellor of each country with the approval of the president.

The city’s Diplomats Row is Wilshire Boulevard, where several Latin American consulates are clustered. Paraguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Ecuador are near the intersection with Normandie Avenue. El Salvador sits two blocks west of Vermont Avenue. Farther west along Wilshire lie the consulates of Costa Rica, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, in the Beverly Hills area.

The largest Latin consulate is Mexico’s, a five-story building next to MacArthur Park where 150 people work. The smallest is Costa Rica’s, with only three employees, including the consul general.

Several factors besides the #MeToo movement explain why so many Latin American female diplomats are landing in Los Angeles. One is better access to higher education for women in some parts of Latin America. Another is the changing face of immigration to the United States; rather than of predominantly single men, the faces of immigrants in recent years are those of mothers and their children.

Yet another significant factor is that, across the hemisphere, more women have been accruing power as heads of state. Laura Chinchilla became Costa Rica’s first female president in 2010. In Argentina, populist president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner held power from 2007 to 2015, and recently won election as her nation’s vice president.

Dilma Rousseff served as Brazil’s first female president from 2011 until she was impeached and removed from office in 2016. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet served nonconsecutive presidential terms, from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018.

L.A.’s female Latin American diplomats bring a wide variety of backgrounds and skill sets to their jobs. Before entering the diplomatic corps, Ivonne Guzmán was a renowned journalist who wrote about culture, art and history for the Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio, where she worked for a quarter-century as a reporter, editor and columnist.

But in September 2018, President Lenin Moreno appointed Guzmán, 45, to be the first woman in charge of the Los Angeles consulate — which has operated in the city since 1896 — after 122 years of male control. She doesn’t view her appointment as either fortuitous or as an isolated decision.

“I think it has to do with what I have done, with what I have contributed to society,” said the native of Guayaquil, who now conducts diplomatic relations, wields elaborate notarial powers, signs checks and visits immigrant detention centers, among other tasks. “I want to take advantage that I am a woman, I can play a good role and leave a precedent for more women to come here.”

The duties of consuls general vary, but adhere to certain core principles. The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, signed on April 24, 1963, by members of the United Nations, establishes that the main function of a consulate is to protect its nationals “whether they are natural or legal persons, within the limits allowed by international law.”

Consular offices encourage the development of commercial, economic, cultural and scientific relations between the sending nation and the receiving nation; consulates also are entitled to issue passports and travel documents, among other functions.

Some analysts believe that the presence of more women in diplomacy, and in particular in the office of consul general, is more symbolic than substantive.

Suyapa Portillo, professor of history and transnational studies at Pitzer College, said that having a group of female consuls has little bearing, because their job is simply to carry out the policies and procedures of their home governments, not conduct diplomacy.

“Being a woman [in that position] is only half the battle. In my opinion, they have no power; they are only mobilizing the policy of one country, they are not negotiating relations between one country and another,” Portillo said.

“The point of having a woman in a position of power is to make changes,” she added. “We want answers to the abuses that immigrants are experiencing, and on this topic very little is being heard. It’s good that they are women, but representation is not everything.”

Raúl Hinojosa, an authority on immigration who has taught political science in UCLA’s Department of Chicano Studies, takes a different view. He believes that having seven women in the offices of Latin American governments in Southern California “definitely indicates a very profound change.”

That change, he thinks, is being driven in part by shifting immigration patterns that are pressing Latin countries to recruit more women into public administration, including diplomacy.

“Interestingly, we do not see these changes in the United States,” said Hinojosa. According to the State Department, the U.S. diplomatic officials who run embassies and consular offices in Latin America are mostly men (75%). There are 20 ambassadors and chargés d’affaires who represent the interests of the United States in the region.

“In a way, the most abrupt changes are occurring in migrant-sending countries, which have mobilized a stronger transformation,” Hinojosa continued. “In general, it is a very positive signal, it is recognition of the ability of women, not only of their intellectuality, but also of their compassion, something that is very important in diplomacy.”

Whatever the reasons for it, the transition is changing the balance of gender power. Mexico and Brazil, like Ecuador, have reversed decades of history in which their L.A. consulates were dominated by men. The first Mexican woman to serve as consul general in Los Angles, Martha Lara Alatorre, held that position from 2001 to 2003 — after men had occupied that office ever since its inception on Aug. 2, 1886.

For Brazil, the wait was 66 years, until Thereza María Machado became the South American nation’s first female consul general in L.A. in 2005.

Brazil’s current consul general, Loureiro, is only the second woman to hold that position since the office was opened in 1939. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, she graduated in 1986 from the Rio Branco Institute in Brasília, and has held several different diplomatic positions. But she had to wait more than 30 years before being named consul general.

Now, other women are matching her example.

“Each advance is the result of a mobilization,” she said. “It is important that the perception of progress does not forget what is still to be conquered and that the momentum of this mobilization does not stop,” Loureiro said.

The Rio Branco Institute, founded in 1945, is the second oldest diplomatic academy in Latin America, where Brazilian ambassadors and consuls are trained and developed. In the last five years, on average, 29% of its student enrollment has been female, according to figures provided by the local consulate. In line with that pattern, only 23% of Brazil’s diplomats and 19% of its ambassadors are women.

Those percentages have persisted even as women’s academic access is increasing. A report of the International Labor Organization, presented in Peru in August, highlights that, among working women born in 1990 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 40% have a university education, while only 25% of men do.

Yet according to that report, titled “Women in the World of Work — Pending Challenges Towards Effective Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean,” women still earn 17% less than men.

Miguel Tinker Salas, professor of Latin American Studies at Pomona College, said that stubbornly patriarchal systems still keep women, including diplomats, at a workplace disadvantage.

“The value of women’s work is despised and the predominance of men’s work is established as the basis against which every person who is employed is judged,” Tinker Salas said. “The people who make the decisions are still men and, therefore, discrimination continues.”

But change is accelerating at consulates such as Costa Rica’s, where all three of the last consul generals have been female career diplomats: Sylvia Ugalde, Xinia Vargas and, currently, Mabel Segura.

Segura, 53, a lawyer by profession, said that women’s growing presence in diplomatic work reflects “a policy of openness and nondiscrimination.”

“It has helped a lot that the country has had a very solid democracy for years,” she continued. “The presidential changes, the political changes, have been calm.”

Mexico also is opening diplomatic doors to women under its leftist-populist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has placed women at the head of 50% of cabinet secretariats in the federal government.

Abroad, he appointed Martha Bárcena as Mexican ambassador to the United States. López Obrador also sent women to several of the most important consulates, in Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Sacramento, Denver and Philadelphia, among others.

After 25 years in the Mexican foreign service, Marcela Celorio, consul general in Los Angeles, became the second woman to occupy that position in an office that has been operating for 133 years.

“It means that [the president] recognizes the capacity, professionalism and commitment of career officials like me, but also of women,” said Celorio, 54, a lawyer who has taught international law at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

“This situation was much different 25 or 30 years ago, when I graduated from college and started looking for work,” the Mexican diplomat recalled. “[People] saw you and thought you were a secretary, an assistant. They didn’t think you could be a professional and sit at the table to negotiate.”

In the case of El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele appointed a woman, Alexandra Hill Tinoco, to be the head of his diplomatic corps. Twelve of El Salvador’s 21 consulates operating in the United States are run by women.

Opening these doors has not been easy, said Alicia Villamariona, consul general for El Salvador’s L.A. office, which is the Central American country’s largest.

“Women now have more prominence,” said Villamariona, 52. In her opinion, the Bukele government “is not giving preference to women, but it is inclusive.”

Salvador’s neighbor, Honduras, has a female ambassador in Washington, D.C., María Dolores Agüero, and nine of its 13 consulates in the United States are overseen by women.

According to María Fernanda Rivera, consul general of Honduras in Los Angeles, the increase in women in these positions began in 2014, shortly after a new foreign service law that was more favorable to women took effect.

“Sixty percent of employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are women,” Rivera said, who studied communications and advertising and took office Aug. 1.

Although Rivera, 33, is the youngest Latin American female consul general in Los Angeles, she has been working in diplomacy for a decade, beginning with a 2010 economic advisor posting in Atlanta. The next year she was promoted to vice consul, and in 2014 to consul general in that city.

In the beginning, when she was appointed consul general, Rivera said, she was surrounded by men, but now she feels part of a family with six female colleagues.

“I think we all deserve the same opportunities,” she said. In times past, she noted, women often had to relocate to accommodate their husbands’ careers. Now, more and more, the opposite is occurring.

Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women’s March Foundation in Los Angeles, believes that the presence of seven consuls general is something transcendental that motivates and inspires young women.

“We had to wait 100 years,” she said, adding that it’s important to push more women to participate in politics and public administration. “It helps the young women to see their self in those positions. They can reach equality and have a voice in political life.”

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 18, and I’m writing from Los Angeles.

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After much hand-wringing — and a successful bargaining session between a campus food-services contractor and a powerful service-workers union — Thursday’s Democratic debate in Los Angeles is back on at Loyola Marymount University.

As my colleague Matt Pearce wrote, it’s “not often that a small group of food-service workers can dream of exercising power over an American political party.” But that’s exactly what happened. 

Last week, the Democratic candidates announced that they wouldn’t cross Unite Here Local 11’s planned picket line at the school, meaning there wouldn’t be a televised debate at the university unless the labor dispute was resolved. This meant the workers had a powerful bargaining chip as they headed into Tuesday’s bargaining session.

A tentative deal was reached Tuesday morning between Sodexo, the food services contractor, and Unite Here Local 11, which represents about 150 campus employees. The union credited Democratic National Committee Chairman and former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez for helping end the dispute. (This was actually the second labor dispute to nearly derail the L.A. debate; it was originally scheduled to take place at UCLA but had to be moved to LMU in early November over another boycott.)

[Read the story: “December Democratic presidential debate in L.A. back on track as union reaches tentative deal” in the Los Angeles Times]

So, what else do you need to know before tomorrow’s debate? Here’s a look at where the Democratic debate candidates stand on healthcare, climate change, gun control, immigration and housing and homelessness.

And now, here’s what’s happening:

[If you haven’t already shared, we’d love to hear about your experiences for a year-end feature we’re working on. Use this form to tell us about how a news event or issue affected you, and we’ll share some of the responses next week.]

TOP STORIES

President Trump fired off a furious six-page letter Tuesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has spearheaded impeachment, denying any wrongdoing in vitriolic language that often appeared to echo his deluge of daily tweets. On Wednesday, the full House is expected to approve two articles of impeachment against the president. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

For Angelenos in search of a black Santa, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is your spot. Here’s my colleague Angel Jennings’ 2013 story about how the mall is one of the few in the country with a black Santa Claus, and what the tradition means to people. Los Angeles Times

Gov. Gavin Newsom approved fast-tracking the billion-dollar arena complex the Clippers want to build in Inglewood, as plans for the project continue to advance. Los Angeles Times

Awkwafina will star in and produce a movie about the role of Chinatowns in the nascent West Coast punk scene of the 1970s and ‘80s. The film will be based on “How Chinese Food Fueled the Rise of California Punk, “ a much-shared Topic article from earlier this year. Deadline

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

How two comedians at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles created that viral #MovesLikeBloomberg video during a live show, and how it then entered the news cycle. The video, which a tweet claimed was taken “at the Mike Bloomberg rally in Beverly Hills,” showed the UCB audience performing a semi-choreographed routine, which was actually intended to mock an earlier video of a Pete Buttigieg campaign dance. But the comedy bit was then widely shared online, igniting “a wildfire of confusion and assumptions about whether or not the people in the video were, or were not, real Bloomberg supporters.” New York Magazine

How California’s “woman quota” is already changing corporate boards: A bill signed into law in September 2018 required public companies with headquarters in California to name at least one female director by the end of 2019. “Researchers tracking the situation in California say the new law appears to be having the intended effect, with more than 90% of publicly traded companies based in the state now in compliance — and with women added to at least two dozen all-male boards just since July.” But it has also drawn legal challenges. CalMatters

Organizations representing freelance journalists are mounting a legal challenge to AB5, a new California law that aims to rein in companies’ use of independent contractors by placing certain restrictions on contract work. Los Angeles Times

Merced’s chief of police has announced his retirement after 23 years on the force. Merced Sun-Star

CRIME AND COURTS

Victims of the 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire and their families will be allowed to pursue their civil case against PG&E in state court, per a ruling from the judge overseeing the utility’s bankruptcy case. San Francisco Chronicle

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Non-native weeds are engulfing the ancient breeding grounds of Mono Lake’s California gulls. The number of gulls’ nests has been in gradual decline since 2004, and in steep decline since 2016, biologists say. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

An Oakland transit planner taking photos of bike racks was held at gunpoint by luxury condo security. The longtime Oaklander had helped design the transit infrastructure that he was photographing at the time. Curbed SF

Google has fired another worker-activist, in what is reportedly the fifth termination of an employee engaged in workplace organizing in less than a month. The 21-year-old security engineer filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that her firing was an unlawful response to workplace organizing activity. The Guardian

A Long Beach punk band threw a hardcore show at an Orange County Denny’s and did some serious damage during the impromptu mosh pit. Eater LA

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: partly cloudy, 66. San Diego: partly cloudy, 65. San Francisco: rain, 55. San Jose: rain, 55. Sacramento: rain, 53. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

-Judy Garland

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes.

SERIES

Survivor The unscripted series ends a season that developed its own scandal after accusations from contestant Kellee Kim and others that one of the contestants, Dan Spilo, was doing some “inappropriate touching” during the competition. The two-hour season finale will be followed by a one-hour reunion special. 8 and 10 p.m. CBS

The Masked Singer The two-hour season finale opens with a review of the best performances this round. Then the three finalists compete for the golden trophy and all contestants are unmasked. 8 p.m. Fox

Born This Way The cast of this Emmy-winning documentary series reunites to celebrate the holiday season with a heartwarming series finale. The principal cast members reflect on their personal growth over the show’s four-season run, and the impact the series had on how society views people with disabilities. 9 p.m. A&E

The Real Housewives of Dallas Brandi throws a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Bruin’s adoption in the season finale. 9 p.m. Bravo

Guy’s Grocery Games In the season premiere of this energetic cooking competition, contestants try to prove that dishes usually considered unhealthy can be made healthier and even more delicious. 9 p.m. Food Network

The Great Food Truck Race This seasonal edition of the unscripted competition series wraps things up with “Holiday Hustle: New Champ in Newport.” Host Tyler Florence meets up with the last two food truck teams at a busy farmers market in Newport, R.I., where the rivals go head to head, facing the challenges of rough winter weather even as they serve the biggest crowds yet. 10 p.m. Food Network

Vikings Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) leads her village’s response to the recent attacks, but despite the most valiant effort by her and her forces, the retaliation from their foe has a tragic result. Meanwhile, King Olaf (Steven Berkoff) has a new plan for the future of Norway. Alex Hogh Andersen and Danila Kozlovsky also star. 10 p.m. History

SPECIALS

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Good Times’ Last May, ABC assembled a cast of current stars to re-create one vintage episode each of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.” The success of that venture inspired this 90-minute follow-up, once again co-produced by veteran TV producer Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel. Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Ellie Kemper and Ike Barinholtz reprise their roles as Archie and Edith Bunker and Gloria and Michael Stivic, respectively. 8 p.m. ABC

Masters of Illusion: Christmas Magic 2019 Dean Cain hosts this new holiday special. 9 p.m. CW

Finding the Way Home Filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill shine a spotlight on Lumos Foundation, author J.K. Rowling’s charity devoted to ending the institutionalization of children in orphanages in favor of finding sustainable, stable and community-based alternatives that would allow the children to stay with other family members. 9 p.m. HBO

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today Dan White; Liam Payne performs. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Michael B. Jordan; John Lithgow. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

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Good Day L.A. Billy Bush (“Extra”); Bob Saget; social media influencer Diana Madison. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Live With Kelly and Ryan Michael B. Jordan (“Just Mercy”); Paula Patton (“Sacrifice”); guest cohost Andy Cohen. (N) 9 a.m. KABC

The View Rachel Brosnahan and Luke Kirby. (N) 10 a.m. KABC

The Wendy Williams Show Jason Derulo (live-action film adaptation of “Cats”); Wendy’s Holiday Gift Grab. (N) 11 a.m. KTTV

The Talk Susan Kelechi Watson; chef Duff Goldman. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS

Tamron Hall Roselyn Keo talks about how she scammed men out of thousands of dollars a night. (N) 1 p.m. KABC

The Dr. Oz Show How scammers bait people; how to avoid being duped; make-ahead holiday party recipes. (N) 1 p.m. KTTV

The Kelly Clarkson Show Annie Potts; Rick Ross. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC

Dr. Phil After a 32-year-old assaulted his parents, his mom kicked him out but still pays his rent. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Harry Styles (“Fine Line”); John Boyega. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC

The Real One of the show’s biggest fans has a chance to win prizes. (N) 3 p.m. KTTV

The Doctors DIY male enhancement may be dangerous; people going on dates for the free food; liver cancer. (N) 3 p.m. KCOP

The Wendy Williams Show Aldis Hodge (“Clemency”); Dave Koz and Jonathan Butler perform; Wendy’s Holiday Gift Grab. 4 p.m. KCOP

The Real The Game (“Born to Rap”). 5 p.m. KCOP

Amanpour and Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; midnight KVCR

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”). (N) 11 p.m. Comedy Central

Conan (N) 11 p.m. TBS

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Paul Reiser; Helen Hunt; Dua Lipa; James Blake performs. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Charlize Theron; Martha Stewart. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Brie Larson; Jamie Foxx; Bryan Stevenson; Molly Hopkins; Yola performs. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC

The Late Late Show With James Corden Melissa McCarthy guest hosts; Laura Dern; Mark Duplass. (N) 12:37 a.m. KCBS

Late Night With Seth Meyers John Mulaney; Rodrigo Santoro. (N) 12:37 a.m. KNBC

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

A Little Late With Lilly Singh Activist Malala Yousafzai. (N) 1:38 a.m. KNBC

SPORTS

Women’s College Basketball Arizona State visits New Mexico State, 10 a.m. FS Prime

NBA Basketball The Miami Heat visit the Philadelphia 76ers, 4 p.m. ESPN; the Boston Celtics visit the Dallas Mavericks, 6:30 p.m. ESPN.

NHL Hockey The Anaheim Ducks visit the New Jersey Devils, 4 p.m. FS Prime; the Colorado Avalanche visit the Chicago Blackhawks, 5 p.m. NBCSP

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.

The year-end lists are in; 2019, neatly wrapped up. Once upon a time, Beethoven’s birthday (the indestructible composer turned 249 on Monday) traditionally was an artistic no-news period. But not this year in classical music.

Not here, anyway, thanks to Wild Up, which is wildly up to its usual reinvention — innovation being too tame a word for this extraordinary collective — with a “darkness sounding” series. Wild Up’s message is that the shortening of days calls for special fanfares, and on Thursday night the group began by stunningly drumming down the sun and strategically bagpiping up the full moon in the Joshua Tree desert. This was the first of 11 concerts through Jan. 19 of “mindful music during the darkest days of the year.”

The sun, though, was still shining, the temperature mild before the desert chill set in, as a small audience milled around the back of a remote small house, munching on tortilla chips and dip, drinking home-brewed beer before darkness, indeed, sounded. “What would a December show be?” Christopher Rountree, Wild Up’s founder and music director, wondered. The ensemble has been getting increasingly more impressive gigs and just performed the previous week as the orchestra for a Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA presentation at the Ace Hotel.

But for Rountree, the calendar now called for the communal. “The sad time of year,” he said, seemed ripe for “making music in the dark about the dark, embracing ritual, nature, space, listening and simply being together.” Indoors or out, the concerts are all in small spaces and meant to be intimate, welcoming events and open to all.

The most elaborate will be “solstice sounding, dusk til dawn,” drones played by virtuoso musicians at Human Resources Los Angeles in Chinatown, from 4:30 p.m. Saturday until sunrise Sunday, the longest night of the year. Other events include recitals and four Satsangs, or spiritual discourses, that might be sound baths (more about that later), readings of parables and conversation. From the first three engrossing programs, like nothing else anywhere else, winter in L.A. is not a new-music oxymoron.

The “Desert Moon” opener began with percussionist Booker Stardrum in a spectacular improvisation on traps connected to some electronic equipment as the audience stood or sat watching the last embers of the sun and then the sky as it turned lascivious orange. After that, a remarkably resourceful bassoonist, Archie Carey, whimsically addressed the moment. The chairs we sat on, he had made. The small Creosote House behind us, accessible by a couple of miles of dirt road, he shares with his wife, vocalist and voice-bather Odeya Nini, and their young son. Carey had even brewed the flavorful beer. Mainly, though, he came up with an arresting bit of performance art.

As he took the mouthpiece out of his bassoon case, a computerized voice read him the riot act on his phone. “What are you going to do with that bassoon?” it asked. “You know it’s too cold to play outside, right?” Best to lip sync to a recording of the bassoon solo that begins “The Rite of Spring,” the phone recommended, which Carey did against an incredible red-orange solar backdrop.

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Enough was enough. Carey buried the phone in the sand, and then he attached the mouthpiece to what looked like piping left over from a plumbing job, honking at the dying radiant rays of setting sun. He handed out rattles made from screws and nuts, and we ritualized the last light, hoping the rattlesnakes weren’t listening.

For the moonrise, trombonist Matt Barbier stood on the roof playing a bagpipe drone. The moon, as though in a cosmic strip show, hid behind a cloud, a small red segment peeking through.

Inside, Nini gave a short demonstration of the sheer power of her vocal prowess, reaching notes deep as the earth and reaching twinkling harmonics meant for dog’s ears.

The next night, pianist Richard Valitutto gave the West Coast premiere of “SOVT,” an hourlong piano piece by Sarah Hennies, who describes her work as “concerned with a variety of musical, sociopolitical and psychological issues including queer and trans identity, love, intimacy, psychoacoustics and percussion.” “SOVT” only covers the last three. The setting was CalPercLA, a percussion warehouse in Frogtown.

A baby grand had been prepared by placing adhesive strips across some of the strings. It was lightly amplified, so as to give prominence to sympathetic resonances of the strings. SOVT stands for semi-occluded vocal tract, which is what happens to the voice when you suck on a straw, reinforcing the vocal cords.

In this case it is the piano chords that get reinforced through mesmeric repetitionm, which produces a host of sound effects that you would otherwise expect to come from an electronic arsenal. The piece is just that, one astonishing acoustical accomplishment after another, possibly in search of a composer, but capable of holding your attention by themselves. Valitutto’s intense, focused performance was spellbinding.

Sunday was Nini’s sound bath at Craft in America on West 3rd Street. Given blankets, we laid down on the hard, cold concrete floor in one of the two adjacent rooms, which were darkened. We were instructed to close our eyes and remain still and silent, while for 80 minutes Nini roamed, droned, bowed Tibetan bowls, rang gongs and otherwise attempted to transport us into our inner beings. If you fell asleep, no problem. If you snored, you could expect to be gently awakened.

This is very personal, and I was certain it didn’t work for me. The floor was freezing. It carried, like a wire, the sounds of traffic outside, which too often drowned out Nini. When she was loud and nearby, the experience was great. When she wasn’t, she seemed to take her magic with her. Only later did I realize that had I sat up, I would have been warm and the ambient noise much less.

But then the strangest think happened. Walking outside into frigid night air, I was no longer cold. After reaching my car, without thinking, I took surface streets rather the much faster freeway. It didn’t even occur to me to turn on the radio.

The night before I had heard Daniil Trifonov give an unforgettable performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The sensational young Russian pianist played the orchestra’s old Hamburg Steinway concert grand, which sat unused for years until it was restored last year. The absorbing sound Trifonov got from it seemed to enter a listener’s every pore as effectively as Nini’s sound bath.

As I drove past the Steinway showroom on Wilshire, I could swear I heard it again and kept hearing it for another mile or two. The sound bath must have worked after all.

No, it’s not over yet. WasteLAnd, the compelling new-music ensemble, will present its own “A Winter Wasteland” for the solstice Friday and Saturday nights at Art Share L.A. downtown.

Beyond that, the year’s two most notable new operas both have December premieres and reach us via webcasts this week and next. Olga Neuwirth’s attention-getting “Orlando,” a provocative study in androgyny by one of Europe’s most original composers and someone featured at this summer’s Ojai Music Festival, streams for two days beginning Wednesday on the Vienna State Opera’s website. On Dec. 28 Bavarian State Opera will stream (and archive for a month) on staatsoper.tv the English-language premiere of the discomfiting Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen’s wintery “The Snow Queen,” starring Barbara Hannigan, last summer’s sensational Ojai festival music director.

Few people remember Richard Jewell as the hero that he was. “Richard Jewell,” written by Billy Ray and directed by Clint Eastwood, aims to right that wrong.

In Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics, as a security guard at Centennial Olympic Park, Jewell saved countless lives by moving a crowd of people away from a suspicious backpack he’d spotted. It turned out to be a bomb.

But his moment in the sun was soon eclipsed when word got out that the FBI considered him a possible suspect. His every quality was turned against him, including his relationship with his mother, Bobi; “wanna-be cop who lives with his mother” fit a certain profile. For several months, Richard and Bobi were hounded, virtual prisoners in their apartment, until he was cleared. Richard died in 2007, four years after the real bomber was caught.

The true story was news even to the film’s stars. “I didn’t know a thing. I was 9½ when it happened,” says Paul Walter Hauser, who played Richard. Turning to Kathy Bates, who played Bobi, he asks, “What about you?”

“I was probably 50 by then, but I didn’t,” Bates replies. She only remembers that Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic torch that year.

The two sit together during a junket for the film, chatting easily, a few days before Bates was to receive a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal. They have forged their own bond separate from Richard and Bobi; they’re peers, if one peer still can’t believe he gets to hang out with Kathy Bates.

“Richard Jewell” is Hauser’s first star turn; he’s known primarily for comedic roles and supporting parts in “BlacKkKlansman” and “I, Tonya.” He calls Richard, who was devoted to law enforcement, “a simple-living man, but not simple-minded.” Bates plays Bobi with a fierce love mixed with frustration that her son won’t fight his treatment at the hands of the FBI, particularly agent Tom Shaw (played by Jon Hamm). Sam Rockwell plays Richard’s friend and lawyer, Watson Bryant.

The real Bryant was one of many resources the actors turned to for information about their characters. Bobi also made herself available. “You see some of these photos of Bobi and Richard, and you really get a feel for who he was,” Hauser says. “He had this insane thing thrust upon him. The closer we got to it, it was just nauseating how bad it was.”

“The very thing that was his unique quality, his vigilance, that saved hundreds, was turned against him as a weapon,” Bates replies.

After the bombing, Bobi got to bask briefly in her son’s heroism before it was all ripped away. “I think that weighed heavily on Paul,” says Bates.

Recalls Hauser, “Watson and Bobi saw the film, and they had the reaction that a lot of people had — you laugh a little, you feel outraged, and you cry, and that’s what we wanted to elicit. But what was really tough was hearing that they felt like for two hours they had Richard back.”

“Really? Oh, my God,” Bates says.

Hauser nods. “It’s like a compliment by way of gut-punch. I had nothing to say in response, I was just so sad. I can’t imagine what that feels like.”

Bates met with Bobi before filming. “I went through the script with her, and a few times she teared up. It’s still very raw, after 23 years. In some ways she reminded me of my own mom. At one point I said, ‘I just hope I do well by you,’ and she just went —” here Bates wriggles herself up straight, and beams: “‘Just be me!’ And I looked at her, and I thought, ‘Oh, lady, if I could do that, I’d have 18 Academy Awards by now!’ I felt a tremendous responsibility. The greatest gift was finding out that she loved the movie.”

Discussing Eastwood’s methods, they refute his reputation for shooting only one or two takes per scene. “Clint leaves it open, and he lets it breathe, and he gets it, and he knows he’s got it, and then he can move on,” Bates says. “It’s economical, it’s real, and it’s not theatrical. One of the first nights, I was so nervous with him, and he said, ‘Trust me. You know, I’ve been doing this for a while.’ He’s not this taciturn, removed kind of dude.”

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Hauser adds, “The directors I like working with the most are the ones that kind of let you play until you get a boo-boo, and then they tell you how to recalibrate.”

The two had scant rehearsal time to create their relationship, “but I kinda knew we were going to be good dance partners,” Hauser says of Bates and Rockwell.

“Yeah, me too,” Bates responds, adding that at first she was thrown off by all the improv they did. “I’m not very confident about comedy, so you guys taught me a lot.”

Some of the most powerful moments between them were when the two characters would embrace. “The times that you comforted me as your mom, that always dropped me in,” she tells him.

During those hugs, “I would kind of drag my thumb across her knuckles, like I was petting her with my thumb,” Hauser notes. “That’s something I do with my own mom. So doing it to her was — “ he pauses, choked up for a moment. “That was helpful.”

Bates reaches out to him. “Oh, darlin’.”

Hauser says to Bates, “She’s like you. She’s fun, but she’s strong, and she’s got a big heart.”

So many wineries, so little time. Napa Valley’s vine-covered hillsides stretched before us as photographer Jim Edwards and I drove along the region’s central artery, California 29, a two-lane ribbon of asphalt that borders vineyards of some of the best-known wineries in America — Mondavi, Inglenook, Beringer, Beaulieu.

I’d been in San Francisco and decided to add a few wine-tasting days to my itinerary. I wanted to visit Napa and Sonoma’s valleys to sample wine, of course, but also to reassure myself that one of my favorite California destinations had escaped damage from October’s Kincade wildfire and power shutdown.

I relaxed about 90 minutes into the drive. Everything in Napa seemed pleasantly normal. The Wine Train rumbled down the tracks, cars buzzed in and out of parking lots, visitors walked the grounds of various wineries while carrying full glasses.

The same was true in Sonoma, where the city’s historic plaza was decorated for the holidays. More than 100,000 lights twinkled in the 8-acre park, framing City Hall and the visitors center.

The Kincade blaze occurred more than an hour northwest. Although it caused smoky air and drifting ash here, none of the vineyards or facilities burned.

One vineyard was destroyed — Healdsburg’s Soda Rock Winery — about 50 miles north of the cities of Napa and Sonoma. But the Kincade fire mainly impacted unoccupied rural areas — beyond where most visitors go — in the mountains of Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties.

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The PG&E power shutoffs, officially known as PSPS (Public Service Power Shutdown events) frustrated residents, workers and business owners. But by the time I arrived last month, they had become the butt of jokes (one police department released a map showing possible shutdown areas that had the entire state marked in red) and had become an accepted, albeit troublesome, way of life.

Natural light, candles and a generator

Recent rains may lessen the need for shutdowns, but even when the power is off, wineries are coping.

I visited three tasting rooms Nov. 19 during a one-day shutdown. No one missed a beat — or a pour. One winery with large vineyard-view windows operated with the lights off, one used candles — a romantic touch — and another turned on its generator.

I chatted with servers at Jessup Cellars in Yountville, which calls itself “the friendliest tasting room in wine country.” On weekends, “it’s like a party in here,” one said of the facility, which combines an art gallery and tasting room.

The goal at Jessup during a power shutdown? “We want to make people happy and give them the service and experience they expect,” said Frederick Boelen,tasting room manager. “We closed a little early once during a shutdown, but that’s all.”

At Sonoma County’s Chateau St. Jean, a picturesque wine castle, tasting takes place on a patio if a power shutdown threatens and safety isn’t a concern. I wished I’d had time for a picnic on the estate’s verdant grounds, but I was satisfied with a few splashes, a walk through the gardens and a little time to shop for holiday gifts in the tasting room.

A local radio station erroneously reported that Chateau St. Jean was seriously damaged during the Northern California wildfires of 2017. And indeed, it was surrounded by flames that year, suffered minor damage and was closed for eight weeks.

Ledson Winery & Vineyards, in the heart of Sonoma County, was in the line of fire in 2017; flames came close but stopped short of the winery’s 16,000-square-foot French Normandy-style mansion. It’s an interesting place to tour, with sweeping staircases, several tasting bars and more than five miles of ornate wood inlays and mosaics. For wine lovers, there’s a large premium portfolio.

We took a break from tasting at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, east of Santa Rosa, one of the few wineries in the region that allow guests among the vines. A 1.5-mile self-guided tour (free) led us through rows of Chardonnay and Syrah grapes to an organic garden. Back at the visitors center, we paid $20 for a flight of red wines, including Merlots and old-vines Zinfandels. (We could have avoided the tasting fee if we purchased two bottles.)

On the way to Sonoma, we stopped at Kunde Family Winery, which has moved beyond PSPS tribulations: “Power doesn’t affect us anymore,” said Naomi Doherty, director of guest experience. “We have a generator. It’s our new thing.”

The winery, which dates to 1904, offers impressive experiences, including a mountaintop tasting ($60) on an oak-shaded peak overlooking 700 acres of estate vineyards. Or you can cool off inside the mountain with a cave tasting experience ($60).

We poked around in Sonoma, visiting the town’s leafy centerpiece, the plaza pedestrian square. It’s a fun stop if you’re visiting with children, need a break from tasting rooms or are touring with someone who enjoys the region’s culture and heritage. Edwards, more history buff than wine lover, enjoyed a chance to focus on something other than barrels and glasses.

The plaza, anchored by the northernmost Franciscan mission in California, is also the birthplace of the state bear flag, created by Americans rebelling against Mexican rule. Visitors can take historic tours ($3 for adults, $2 for kids 6-17 of the parish-turned-museum Mission San Francisco Solano and the Sonoma Barracks military post and cannon arsenal, a hit with kids.

I wandered away from the park, visiting some of my favorite downtown Sonoma haunts: Readers’ Books, where I always find something new to ponder; Bossa Nova and Saint James, two clothing shops I like; and Pangloss Cellars, an elegant tasting room across the street from the plaza.

The next day we returned to Napa, stopping for lunch at Oxbow Public Market, which combines restaurants, a coffee bar, a local chocolatier and a produce market under one roof. Then we headed north again on California 29.

I was reveling in the offseason perks: We could drive on 29 without being stuck in traffic, meaning we had time to explore several hip-and-cool Napa County cities, including Yountville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga.

Although some of Napa’s great wineries are tucked away in the mountains, California 29 offers plenty of opportunities for tasting, a boon for travelers. Most wineries along the highway don’t require reservations, especially for simple tastings during the offseason.

Cakebread Cellars, one of my favorites, does require them. But tasting Cakebread wines is well worth the inconvenience.

The Rutherford winery is a perennial winner in Food & Spirits’ annual restaurant poll naming the most requested wines in America. Cakebread also has opened a striking new visitor center, a 10,000-square-foot renovation and 36,000-square-foot addition, with nine new private tasting rooms.

Shopping at the winery makes me happy. A bottle of Chardonnay I would pay $38.50 for here could set me back $110 in a restaurant. Or I could pay $25 for a tasting flight and try five of the winery’s current releases. I hate to speculate what that might cost in a restaurant.

Although the new visitor center is remarkable, “the timing wasn’t perfect,” said Katie Griesbeck, national sales and marketing director. It opened just a couple of days before PG&E turned off the power and the Kincade fire started.

“It reminds us to expect the unexpected,” she said.

Visiting in the off-season

When I visited Napa and Sonoma valleys in November with photographer Jim Edwards, temperatures were mild, the lines had disappeared and lodging prices were less than half the amount charged during the summer.

It’s one of the reasons I enjoy offseason visits to the valleys. During the summer and at harvest time, California 29 and most tasting rooms are gridlocked. Hotel room prices are in the stratosphere, and restaurant lines stretch down the block. It’s like visiting Disneyland in July.

Local officials say the lack of tourists this year can be traced partly to the October fire; many people, like me, didn’t realize Napa and Sonoma valleys weren’t affected. But the offseason is always a good time to visit.

“I always tell everyone to come in January or February,” said John Peterson, sales manager for Ledson Winery & Vineyards. “You’re going to get plenty of attention. We’ve had people stay a couple of hours because they’re learning so much from our consultants.”

THE BEST WAY TO NAPA AND SONOMA COUNTIES

From LAX: Four airports are within a two-hour drive of Napa and Sonoma counties, including the closest, Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, which offers service to and from LAX and Orange County. Or fly into San Francisco, Oakland or Sacramento.

WHERE TO STAY

MacArthur Place, 29 E. MacArthur St., Sonoma; (800) 722-1866, macarthurplace.com. Recently renovated 7-acre property offers plush accommodations, landscaped gardens and ritzy seclusion near Sonoma Plaza. Among the amenities: indoor-outdoor showers, fireplaces and enclosed patios. There’s also a popular new chef-driven Mediterranean-style restaurant, Layla. Doubles from $252 per night, plus 10% resort fee.

Calistoga Motel Lodge & Spa, 1880 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga; (707) 942-0991, calistogamotorlodgeandspa.com. This 50-room roadside motel, circa 1940s, has been reborn as an oh-so-cool ode to the cross-country road trip, complete with a modern spa that has three mineral pools fed by geothermal hot springs. Doubles from $229 per night.

Westin Verasa Napa, 1314 McKinstry St., Napa; (707) 257-1800, bit.ly/westinverasanapa. Large downtown Napa resort is on the Napa River and close to the Napa Wine Train and Oxbow Public Market. Features include 24-hour room service, fire pits and a large pool. Doubles from $175 per night, plus daily $25 resort fee.

WHERE TO EAT

The Girl & the Fig, 110 West Spain St., Sonoma; (707) 938-3634, Ext. 10, thegirlandthefig.com. Owner Sondra Bernstein loves figs, and there are plenty on this inventive French menu. Popular items include fig-and-arugula salad, duck confit and wild flounder meunière. Entrees from $15.

C Casa, Oxbow Public Market, 610 First St., Napa; (707) 226-7700, myccasa.com. The line begins in the morning and lasts all day at this popular taqueria that adds twists to its menu with lamb, buffalo, prawns, crab, goat cheese and other unusual ingredients. Entrees from $12.75.

Napa General Store, 540 Main St., Napa; (707) 259-0762, napageneralstore.com. Dine on the river or inside this lively mercantile and cafe in downtown Napa. Breakfasts start at $10 for a waffle or French toast. Choose from pizza, salads or sandwiches at lunch, from $12.

TO LEARN MORE

Visit Napa Valley, 600 Main St. Napa; (707) 251-5895 or (855) 847-6272, visitnapavalley.com
Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau,453 1st St. E., Sonoma; (866) 996-1090, sonomavalley.com
Sonoma County Tourism, sonomacounty.com

Save Santa from pirates, go kayaking with him and join together in song before Christmas.

Oxnard

Heritage Square in Oxnard transforms into a world of cookies, candy canes and colorful gumdrops for the 11th Gingerbread Fest. Go on Saturday or Sunday for a guided tour of gingerbread structures and the square’s Victorian-era homes decorated for Christmas. On your way out, drive down Christmas Tree Lane to see neighborhood homes bedecked with lights through Dec. 26.

When: Gingerbread Fest at 1 p.m. Fridays and Sundays, 10 a.m. Saturdays through Dec. 29

Cost, info: Free for Gingerbread Fest admission, $5 for guided historical home tours. Family friendly. Dogs OK. (805) 483-7960, bit.ly/gingerbreadfestoxnard

Buena Park

Scoundrel pirates have taken Santa, Mrs. Claus and the world’s Christmas gifts hostage aboard their ship. Help the Clauses return to the North Pole in time for the holiday during “Pirates Take Christmas,” an interactive performance complete with singing, stunts and cannon blasts presented by the Pirates Dinner Adventure theater company. Tickets include a four-course meal. Reservations required.

When: Check website for daily show times through Dec. 25

Cost, info: $62.95 for adults, $36.95 for children 3-11 and free for children 2 and younger. Family friendly. No dogs. (866) 439-2469; bit.ly/piratestakechristmas

Ventura

A festive Saturday awaits at Ventura Harbor Village. Exercise with Santa on a morning trip by kayak, paddleboard or pedal boat at Santa Paddle. Next, join him, Mrs. Claus, their reindeer crew and a toy soldier band at the Winter Wonderland & Holiday Marketplace. A stroll around the village reveals faux snowfall, scavenger hunts and roaming holiday characters.

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When: Santa Paddle at 11 a.m., Winter Wonderland at noon Dec. 21

Cost, info: Free. Family friendly. Dogs OK. (805) 477-0470, bit.ly/santapaddle, bit.ly/wonderlandmarketplace

Fullerton

Santa Claus, the South Coast Storytellers Guild and Grammy-winning jazz pianist Bill Cunliffe are among the special guests at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center’s Holiday Festival. Between workshops and performances, chow on chili and shop for arts and crafts.

When: Noon Dec. 22

Cost, info: Free. Family friendly. No dogs. (714) 738-6595, bit.ly/muckenthalerfestival

Los Angeles

Spend Christmas Eve at the 60th L.A. County Holiday Celebration, a free three-hour performance by 25 multicultural music, choral and dance groups at the Music Center. Organizers suggest lining up around noon for first-come, first-serve seats. Plaza Wonderland, which has kids games and crafts, tamale stations and screenings of holiday movies, should make the wait fun.

When: Noon for Plaza Wonderland, 3 p.m. for the Holiday Celebration Dec. 24

Cost, info: Free. Family friendly. Only service dogs permitted at the performance. (213) 972-3099, bit.ly/lacountyholidaycelebration

Organizations representing freelance journalists are mounting a legal challenge to a new California law that aims to rein in companies’ use of independent contractors by placing certain restrictions on contract work.

Under the state’s landmark labor law AB5, which goes into effect Jan. 1, news outlets can publish no more than 35 pieces per year from an individual freelance writer before that journalist must be classified as a part- or full-time employee. Some freelancers worry publishers will let them go rather than convert them to employees — a designation that guarantees some benefits and protections.

One day after Vox Media announced that it will cut hundreds of freelance writers living in California or covering California sports teams, two freelancer groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles alleging that AB5 unconstitutionally restricts free speech and the media. The groups — the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Photographers Association — are represented pro bono by the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation.

“When AB5 was signed into law, our members in California were understandably upset,” said Milton C. Toby, president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, which represents 1,100 freelance writers nationwide, including about 120 in California. “Some companies are beginning to not hire or let go of California freelancers in anticipation of the law.”

Proponents of AB5 say the law will reduce the number of workers wrongly labeled as independent contractors and thus denied benefits and protections. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), who authored the law, tweeted that it’s “certainly not all bad” that Vox Media will create 20 part- or full-time positions to replace the freelancers it will cut. She also pointed out that Vox Media faces a class action lawsuit from SB Nation writers and editors who allege they were misclassified as contractors, and underpaid as a result—the type of situation AB5 aims to protect workers from.

The Los Angeles Times shifted about 30 contract workers to staff positions last year, following a far-reaching California Supreme Court decision that set a standard assuming workers are employees if their jobs are central to a company’s core business or management directs the way their work is done. AB5 codified that court decision.

Freelance writers and photographers are not the only critics of the law.

Gig-economy companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash launched a campaign against the legislation, arguing that treating workers as employees would hobble them in California, one of their biggest U.S. markets, and set a precedent for other states to enact similar legislation. The companies have said they will spend tens of millions of dollars on a ballot measure opposing the law if they are not able to carve out alternative rules for drivers.

The California Trucking Association filed a lawsuit last month, arguing the new rules hurt their ability to provide trucking services, marking the first challenge to the law.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the writers and photographers, has a history of defending employer interests, among other libertarian causes such as property rights, and has received funding from prominent conservative donors including the Scaife family.

The Pacific Legal Foundation argues that putting a cap on the number of stories a journalist can write for a single publication is unfair since similar restrictions aren’t placed on other industries, such as graphic design. “Such selective and unequal treatment among members of speaking professions violates the right to earn an honest living free from both irrational government interference and regulation based solely on the content of their speech,” a statement on the Pacific Legal Foundation website reads.

“The government cannot single out journalists,” said Jim Manley, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, in a statement.

Assemblywoman Gonzalez noted the group’s track record in a statement: “First, it was the Endangered Species Act, then women on corporate boards, and now the Pacific Legal Foundation is attacking California’s landmark workplace rights law. That should come as no surprise to anyone.”

Steve Smith, spokesperson for the California Labor Federation, which sponsored AB5, said he hopes efforts to tweak the law will result in industry-specific fixes over the next year.

“We don’t know how companies react, and what actions they take. So we want to see companies do the right thing, and hire more journalists as employees, but we also recognize some companies are not going to do that,” Smith said. “Given the situation, we want to continue the discussion.”

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MILAN, Italy — 

The boards of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot on Wednesday signed a binding merger deal creating the world’s fourth-largest auto company with the scale to confront the challenges of stricter emissions regulations and the transition to new driving technologies.

The companies said in a joint statement the new group will be led by PSA’s cost-cutting Chief Executive Carlo Tavares, with Fiat Chrysler’s chairman John Elkann as chairman of the merged company. Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Mike Manley will stay on, but it was not announced in what capacity.

No name for the new company has been decided, executives said in a conference call, but both Tavares and Manley insisted that it was not a “touchy subject.”

The deal, which was unveiled in October, was announced as a 50-50 merger, but PSA has one extra seat at the board and Tavares at the helm, giving the French carmaker the upper hand in daily management.

The executives said they expect the deal to take 12-15 months to close. It will give birth to a group with revenues of nearly 170 billion euros and producing 8.7 million cars a year — just behind Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

The merger is expected to create 3.7 billion euros in annual savings, which will be invested in “the new era of sustainable mobility” and to meet strict new emissions regulations, particularly in Europe.

“The merged entity will maneuver with speed and efficiency in an automotive industry undergoing rapid and fundamental changes,” the carmakers said in the joint statement.

New technologies includes electrified engines, autonomous driving and connectivity, part of what Tavares described as “the transition to a world of clean, safe and sustainable mobility.”

No plants will be closed under the deal, the companies said. Savings will be achieved by sharing investments in vehicle platforms, engines and new technology, while leveraging scale on purchasing.

But the executives also said there would be cuts. Decisions on where those will come will be made after the deal closes.

“There is room for sharing [a] significant amount of existing platforms and avoiding excess investments for the future,” Tavares said.

Both the Peugeot and Fiat brands are strong on small-car technology, with significant overlap in Europe. Manley said the convergence of platforms would be “an early target” that will likely take two years to achieve.

The company will be legally based in the Netherlands, and traded in Paris, Milan and New York.

The executives played down the significance of the new entity’s name and headquarters location, but both are symbolic choices that go a long way to signaling who is in the driver’s seat, where engineering and management brains will be based, and the relative importance of each entity in the new company.

The French and Italian governments as well as unions will be on the lookout for the responses, given the national significance of the auto industries to both economies. The French government helped bail out PSA Peugeot in 2014 and owns a 12% stake in the French company through the state investment bank.

While the merger of Fiat and Chrysler has been a success, with the Italian American automaker thriving on the strength of the U.S. market and the executive prowess of longtime Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, the history of car mergers is littered with failed tie-ups. Most famous among those is the Daimler-Chrysler merger, which foundered on cultural differences between the German and U.S. entities.

Manley said the new name “is an exercise we’re embarking on now. We have two very historied companies coming together. … I don’t think it will be a touchy subject, just an interesting process.”

The new company will start with a strong base in Europe, where PSA is the second-largest carmaker, while Fiat makes most of its profits in North America and has a strong presence in Latin America. It will be looking to strengthen its position in China, where both PSA and FCA lag.

“That is part of the opportunities,” Tavares said. “We are not happy with our performance there. We think we should be doing better in China.”

Tavares said the deal has the support of its Chinese partner and investor Dongfeng, which “understood what needed to be done.”

As part of the deal, Dongfeng’s stake in the new company will be diluted from 6.2% to 4.5%, through the sale of 30.7 million shares.

FCA will pay its shareholders a $6.1-billion premium, raising questions about whether the new company will be saddled with too much debt. Analysts estimate that Peugeot is paying a hefty 32% premium to take control of Fiat Chrysler.

Fiat Chrysler has long been looking for an industrial partner to shoulder investment costs as the industry faces a transition to electrified power trains and autonomous driving. A previous deal with French rival Renault last spring fell apart over French government concerns about the role of Renault’s Japanese partner, Nissan.

Tavares said both the French government and unions backed the new deal from the beginning.