A small group of President Trump’s supporters and rival demonstrators clashed with one another Saturday in Long Beach, where the state Democratic Party is holding its annual convention.
Chanting “four more years,” supporters of Trump had taken to the streets with bullhorns and placards, said Arantxa Chavarria, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department, and a fight among three men ensued. Officers intervened and “separated the combatants.”
Speaking to witnesses, the Long Beach Post reported that two men approached the Trump supporters and started arguing. While it was unclear who started the fight, an anti-Trump protester hit a Trump supporter “in the face with a manual scooter.”
The three individuals will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm, Chavarria said. Two of the suspects were taken to a local hospital for lacerations.
The incident occurred at Pine Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, near the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.
Nearly 5,000 California Democrats have gathered in Long Beach this weekend to strategize their approach to the 2020 election. The main event, billed as the Presidential Forum, will feature eight presidential candidates addressing a series of questions focusing on Latino issues.
In anticipation of possible protests, the city of Long Beach mobilized a combined command post with the police, fire and health departments.
Not long after the individuals who were involved in Saturday’s scuffle were taken away, the Trump supporters dispersed, Chavarria said.
In a tweet, the Long Beach Police Department wrote that its officers are “committed to ensuring everyone’s 1st Amendment rights” but that “any violence of any kind will not be tolerated in our community.”
For anyone hoping to see a turnaround in the battle to rein in homelessness in Los Angeles County, 2019 has been a disappointing year.
We learned in June that the county’s homeless count was up 16%, to nearly 60,000, but we didn’t need the statistics to tell us what we could plainly see. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on services and housing, we’re losing ground, and the evidence is everywhere — in parks, along rivers, in the hills and in the valleys, in underpasses and on street corners.
One day last summer I was talking about this with my editor, Sue Horton, and told her about some Hollywood residents who were exhausted by worsening conditions in homeless encampments on their doorstep.
I had talked to a young homeless woman on that street who said she and her crew couldn’t afford the going rents in Los Angeles even when they had jobs, and they had nowhere to go. And I had spoken to an LAPD detective who was caught in the middle and felt frustrated by how little she could accomplish without more support from City Hall.
Horton suggested I spend more time in the neighborhood and write three columns, one about the residents, one about the homeless people and one about the detective.
It seemed like a good plan, and I had a running start.
I’d followed the effort to identify Hollywood’s 14 most vulnerable homeless residents, and the tireless efforts of a dedicated social worker — Anthony Ruffin — to get to them before they were dead. I’d written about Kerry Morrison’s leadership role in that effort as a member of the Hollywood business community, and I’d traveled to Italy with her and a local delegation studying a mental health system that will serve as the model for a Hollywood pilot.
Several years ago, my buddy Nathaniel Ayers moved out of skid row and into supportive housing in Hollywood, managed by a nonprofit called Housing Works. So I got to know Hollywood a little better on my frequent visits.
Hollywood has never been as dominated by homelessness as skid row, but in both places you can find the stark juxtaposition of thriving commerce and intractable collapse. Hollywood trends younger, at least in some quarters, and for this series I focused mostly on that demographic.
To begin my reporting, I checked in with Rudy Salinas, who works as programs officer at the Center at Blessed Sacrament. Among other things, Salinas and I talked about the drug epidemic in Hollywood, where overdoses have become common. In one week not long ago, there were three overdoses, two of them fatal.
For the next three weeks, as I made the rounds in Hollywood, a couple of things stood out.
First of all, drugs are indeed a scourge. Methamphetamine, in particular, is ravaging users’ physical and mental health and driving the disorder and neighborhood tension.
Second, plenty of good work is done daily by outreach workers on the front lines, and by many other service providers, including the LAPD detective you’ll read about in Part 3 of this series. But it’s as if they’re doing triage on a beachhead as more tsunamis barrel toward them.
Even if, miraculously, we could get 10,000 people off the streets in the next year or so, we’d have another 50,000 still out there and more on the way. On Friday, the L.A. City Council floated proposals to give Mayor Eric Garcetti more authority to rezone property and suspend rules that make it difficult to site new housing, bathrooms and safe overnight parking. Another proposal would create managed homeless encampments, with services.
No certainty any of that will happen, but it’s nice to see a few elected officials wake up from their naps. The question is, what took them so long?
Homelessness is a complicated problem triggered by broken social institutions, a rags-or-riches economy, troubled schools, too little housing and a thousand other forces. There are no easy, practical solutions. More housing, yes. Better-paying jobs, sure. More drug intervention, absolutely.
But taxpayers, who have been generous in L.A. County when it comes to funding homeless services, want to see a better return on their investment before ponying up more money. And they want more honesty from local leaders.
Is the problem money and resources, or management and leadership? For Hollywood and the rest of the county, if we can’t get better results, is there a Plan B?
When gunfire erupted in the Saugus High School quad Thursday morning, students had mere seconds to react. They sprinted and threw themselves in a ditch for cover. They hid in closets, locked and barricaded doors with desks. And some readied for a possible fight, arming themselves with scissors or a fire extinguisher.
The range of quick actions by some 2,000 students and staff reveals not only how detailed active shooter training has become at schools across the country, but highlights a growing debate among school safety experts, some who are alarmed that increasingly aggressive drills have gone too far and risk becoming trauma-inducing events of their own.
The trainings sometimes contain graphic and realistic enactments — one in Indiana recently involved shooting teachers “execution-style” with a pellet gun — and may cause distress or even injuries for those involved, critics said.
“Going through these drills can be itself a traumatic event,” said Deborah Temkin, senior director of education research at Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization. “We really have to weigh that potential trauma with the benefit that could be gained.”
But lockdowns and sheltering in place are no longer enough, some school safety experts said.
Students are increasingly being taught a “run, hide, fight” strategy that focuses on how to decide whether to flee, hole up or go on the attack themselves — and how to make split-second decisions on what option could offer the best chance of survival.
The Saugus High shooting lasted only 16 seconds, killing two students and wounding three others. The 16-year-old student shooter died Friday of a self-inflicted gunshot.
The swift outburst of violence at Saugus reflected the time duration of school shootings nationwide. An analysis of 41 school shootings between 2008 and 2017 by the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center found two-thirds of attacks lasted less than two minutes and nearly half were over in under 60 seconds.
“What is so important is to really empower every individual to make a quick 15-second or shorter decision, ‘What am I going to do now?’,” said Joe Deedon, a former SWAT officer who runs an active shooter training company in Denver that teaches kids as young as sixth grade how to go on the offensive.
“We don’t want you to be a hero … and die,” Deedon said, “but yet, here are the options you have.”
But it’s this choice-based approach that deeply concerns some safety consultants and educators who say it creates physical and psychological dangers with no evidence that it saves lives.
Sixteen states, including California, now require or encourage schools to carry out active shooter drills, according to one analysis, and 95% of schools nationwide conducted a drill in the 2014-2015 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
At many Santa Clarita Valley schools, including Saugus High, law enforcement coordinates training, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Lewis. The local sheriff’s station runs two impromptu drills at elementary schools every year. High school and middle school administrators practice at least once a month — Saugus drilled just three weeks ago.
As school districts seek new ways to protect their charges, an industry of crisis experts has sprung up with courses largely based on law enforcement and security protocols — many with methods that have not been rigorously evaluated for a school environment.
“There is not a lot of consistency,” said Ken Trump, an Ohio-based school safety consultant who opposes choice-based training in schools. “The devil is in the details of implementation.”
After the Columbine shooting in 1999, in which 13 people were killed and more than 20 wounded by two shooters, schools began practicing lockdowns to handle a crisis on campus. Yet recent attacks suggest shooters may have learned to circumvent them, safety experts said.
Last year, when a former student opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 17, he first set off the fire alarms to draw people out of classrooms. Thursday, at Saugus, the shooter opened fire in an outdoor quad early in the morning, before many classes had started. Friday night, a gunman attacked during a high school football game in New Jersey.
Deedon said more aggressive training is needed because students, faced with situations where lockdowns don’t work, are already taking matters into their own hands regardless of what is being taught.
In October, a 14-year-old freshman at La Habra High School in Orange County was wrestled to the ground and disarmed by classmates after brandishing an unloaded gun in a shop class. In May, four Colorado teens charged a classmate after he pulled a gun in a British literature class. The first student to reach him, Kendrick Castillo, was killed, but the gunman was disarmed before there were more fatalities.
Deedon said Castillo’s death represented a “huge turning point” for how some safety experts view what kids and educators should be taught about active shooters.
“You are starting to see young people, young adults, start to jump into action at their own doing, without any coaching and without any training,” Deedon said. “The last six months to a year has really shown us that really the whole shelter-in-place, lockdown mentality is way behind the curve.”
Teaching kids to fight or self-evacuate in a shooting is a fear-based response to a rare danger, said those who favor a more cautious approach.
“We have to make sure we are not doing more harm than good,” said Trump, the school safety consultant. He believes lockdowns are the “gold standard” for a reason.
“We know that lockdowns work,” he said.
The tactic provides the most benefit with the least risk, Trump said. He added there is little empirical evidence that fighting or running saves more lives — and few kids have the mental maturity to make accurate assessments of their best options.
Trump pointed to instances in which one Alabama school considered having students keep canned goods nearby to throw at assailants if needed, and a Pennsylvania school that put buckets of rocks in each classroom last year as examples of how the trend toward fighting back might scare kids without providing a documented benefit.
With choice-based models, Trump said, “We are asking kids in these programs to make adult decisions when their brains have not reached that capacity.”
School safety consultant Chris Dorn said that many of the current run, hide, fight models used in schools aren’t appropriate because they were never intended for educational settings. The model was developed by the city of Houston for settings such as airports and malls, he said.
Trump also pointed out that moving away from lockdowns may leave students with disabilities or special needs behind.
The issue of disabled kids is bubbling up in crisis planning in many schools, including those in Southern California. Los Angeles Unified school board members voted in September to require schools to conduct a lockdown drill within the first month of each semester, and that each school’s safety plan should include provisions for students with disabilities.
The new policy will take effect next school year; currently schools are supposed to conduct two lockdown drills a year.
“LAUSD is currently reviewing several age-appropriate and trauma-informed active shooter drills and training programs,” Los Angeles School Police Department Lt. Aaron Pisarzewicz.
Melissa Brymer, director of terrorism and disaster programs at the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, says active shooter drills are necessary and whether they are traumatic depends on how they are implemented.
Like Trump, she thinks surprise drills or simulations that include shooting blanks or using fake blood, can be unnecessarily anxiety provoking for students and staff.
“We need to make sure we’re doing it in an environment that is conducive to learning,” Brymer said. “In fire drills, we don’t actually cause a fire in the building for kids and staff to take that drill seriously.”
But Pete Blair, a criminal justice professor at Texas State University who helped develop the choice-based strategy, said that additional tactics and training could also have the opposite effect and make students feel more secure.
“Kids are aware these things are happening and the fact that you address it and give them a set of strategies to deal with these situations, they actually like that because it allows them to feel empowered,” he said.
Ideally, Blair and others said, instinct and training blend in a moment of crisis and students and teachers simply implement what they have learned.
Blair called out the actions of Saugus High’s 26-year-old choir teacher Kaitlin Holt as an example of exemplary preparation.
Thursday morning, Holt’s pupils were listening to a recording of themselves singing at a jazz festival when some students fled into her room. She locked and barricaded the door, moving students into an office within the classroom.
There, a female freshman realized she had been struck by gunfire.
“Her adrenaline was so high she didn’t know she had been shot,” Holt said.
Holt recalled a training video on gunshot wounds she had watched at a staff meeting, and reached for the “gunshot wound kit” kept in each classroom to stanch the bleeding while a senior guarded the office door with a fire extinguisher, ready to attack. The were eventually escorted to safety by police, and the girl is expected to fully recover.
Blair said Holt’s fast and effective response was “a fantastic thing that absolutely should be recognized.”
But the young teacher doesn’t see it that way.
“It was just fight or flight,” Holt said. “I didn’t have time to think of anything except survival for my students.”
Times staff writers Sonali Kohli and Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
Here is a list of theater openings, Critics’ Choices, etc., for Nov. 17-24. Capsule reviews are by Charles McNulty (C.M.), Philip Brandes (P.B.), F. Kathleen Foley (F.K.F.), Margaret Gray (M.G.) and Daryl H. Miller (D.H.M.).
Cambodian Rock Band A young woman whose immigrant father survived the brutal reign of the Khmer Rogue in the 1970s seeks the truth about his past in Lauren Yee’s drama featuring songs by local rock band Dengue Fever. La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla. Sun., 7 p.m.; Tue.-Wed., 7:30 p.m.; Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 and 7 p.m.; ends Dec. 15. $25-$81. (858) 550-1010. LaJollaPlayhouse.org
Harlem 100 Variety show featuring the music of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, etc., celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos. Sun., 7 p.m. $50-$70. (562) 916-8500. cerritoscenter.com
A Sad Tale’s Best For Winter Staged reading by Anna Miles’ feminist adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.” A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Sun., 6:30 p.m. Sold out; standby list available. (626) 356-3121. anoisewithin.org
StoryTime Storytellers share personal tales; for ages 18 and up. The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. Sun., 7 p.m. $12. (818) 763-5990. thegrouprep.com
Celebrity Autobiography Will Forte, Laraine Newman, Rob Reiner, Jennifer Tilly and others give comedic readings read from the memoirs of Oprah, David Hasselhoff, Beyonce, et al. The Groundlings Theater, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A. Mon., 8 p.m. $25. (323) 934-4747. groundlings.com
#Hash(tag) America Anthony Fedorov, Isa Briones and Eden Espinosa are featured in this new rock musical that explores social justice issues. Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Mon., 8:30 p.m. $25–$35; food and drink minimums apply. (866) 466-2210. catalinajazzclub.com
The Living Room Series Staged reading of Mousa Kraish’s “The Troubled.” The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Mon., 8 p.m. $15 suggested donation. (323) 661-9827. theblank.com
Mermaid Palace Launch Party Podcast production company dedicated to exploring queerness, feminism and diversity presents an evening of theater and performance art; for ages 18 and up. Dynasty Typewriter at The Hayworth Theater, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Wed., 8 p.m. $15. dynastytypewriter.com
Anka Sings Sinatra: His Songs, My Songs, My Way Singer and songwriter Paul Anka salutes Ol’ Blue Eyes. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos. Thu., 8 p.m. $100-$135. (562) 916-8500. cerritoscenter.com
Frankie Avalon The showbiz veteran and former teen idol shares songs and stories. Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Thu., 8 p.m. $39-$86. (818) 677-3000. TheSoraya.org
Bandstand G.I.s form a band and enter a nationwide talent search after returning home from WWII in this Tony-winning musical. Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Fred Kavli Theatre, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Thu., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m., next Sun., 1 and 6:30 p.m. $45-$100. (805) 449-2787. civicartsplaza.com
Broadway Princess Party Laura Osnes, Susan Egan and other musical-theater veterans share the stage in this revue. Rockwell Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Thu., 7 and 9:30 p.m. $35-$55. (323) 669-1550. rockwell-la.com. Also at Lewis Family Playhouse, 12505 Cultural Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga. Fri., 8 p.m. $42-$50. (909) 477-2752. lewisfamilyplayhouse.com
Chicas in Space Drag trio Chico’s Angels stars in this comedic sci-fi adventure. The Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m. $40. (866) 811-4111. colonytheatre.org
Embridge A dashing suitor changes a cynical woman’s ideas about romantic love in Kathryn Farren’s comedy set in Victorian-era England. Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 15. $15-$28. (310) 512-6030. littlefishtheatre.org
For the Loyal Sixty-Six Theater Co. stages the West Coast premiere of Lee Blessing’s drama about a secret that threatens the futures of two grad students and parents-to-be. Marilyn Monroe Theatre, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 14. $20, $40. (213) 926 3150. sixtysixtheater.com
Annie Center Stage Players and Arts Repertory presents the classic musical based on the Depression-era comic strip about a plucky red-headed orphan. Studio Channel Islands, 2222 Ventura Blvd., Camarillo. Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 7 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Dec. 1. $20, $25. csparepertory.net
Bad Habits Nuns go to great lengths to keep their convent and school from closing in Steve Mazur’s comedy; with Orson Bean and Alley Mills. Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Jan. 26. $20-$35. (310) 397-3244. ruskingrouptheatre.com
Bianca Del Rio: It’s Jester Joke Tour The drag artist/comedian (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) performs. The Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 S. Broadway, downtown L.A. Fri., 8 p.m. $39, $40. axs.com
Dirty Disney Drag artists perform off-color musical parodies. Cavern Club Celebrity Theater, Casita del Campo, 1920 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. $20. (800) 838-3006. brownpapertickets.com
Dorian Wood: Xavela Lux Astern L.A.-based artist Wood pays tribute to legendary Latin American music pioneer Chavela Vargas in this U.S. premiere. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. Fri.-Sat., 8:30 p.m. $18, $22. (213) 237-2800. redcat.org
Millennium Magic XX Fundraiser features magicians from the Magic Castle. Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. W., L.A. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m. $15 and up. (866) 811-4111. theatrewest.org
Niki Haris and Donna De Lory: Songs and Stories The veteran backup singers share the stage in this cabaret show. Mmhmmm at The Standard Hotel, 8300 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Fri., 7:30 p.m. $35–$75. (866) 468-3399. ticketweb.com
The Plot to Overthrow Christmas Historical villains try to put a stop to the holiday in a fully staged, family-friendly version of Norman Corwin’s 1930s-era radio play. Long Beach Shakespeare Company, Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Blvd., Long Beach. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Dec. 15. $12.50, $22.50. (562) 997-1494. LBShakespeare.org
Champions of Magic Five world-class illusionists perform in this theatrical show. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Sat., 4 and 8 p.m. $39 and up. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org
Things to do
Seven Elan Ensemble presents a new adaptation of this documentary play that interweaves the stories of seven female activists who overcame obstacles and opposition to improve the lives of women and girls in their home countries. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave, L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Dec. 16. $25, $35. (310) 990-2023. brownpapertickets.com
Todrick: House Party Broadway and YouTube star Todrick Hall performs. The Saban Theater, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Sat., 8 p.m. $29-$59. wheremusicmeetsthesoul.com
A Very Merry MagicMania Albie Selznick (“Smoke and Mirrors”) hosts this showcase featuring different magic and variety acts each weekend. Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Dec. 29. $40. (310) 586-1166. MagicMondayLA.com
Hot Off the Press Staged readings of excerpts from new solo works by female writer-performers; presented by Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival. Secret Rose Theatre, 11246 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Next Sun., 7 p.m. $10. (818) 760-0408. lawtf.org
Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries The film, TV and Broadway star sings show tunes, standards and more. Musco Center for the Arts, Chapman University, 415 N. Glassell, Orange. Next Sun., 4 p.m. $63-$113. (844) 626-8726. muscocenter.org
Jitney Assorted characters try to get by while driving unlicensed taxicabs in 1970s Pittsburgh in the Tony-winning revival of August Wilson’s drama. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Next Sun., 6:30 p.m.; ends Dec. 29. $25-$110. (213) 628-2772. centertheatregroup.org
The Legend of Georgia McBride Crown City Theatre Company stages the Matthew Lopez comedy about a struggling Elvis impersonator who loses his spot to a drag show. Secret Rose Theatre, 11246 W. Magnolia St., North Hollywood. Next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Feb. 9. (818) 605-5685. crowncitytheatre.com
Critics’ Choices
Andy Warhol’s Tomato In this deftly staged debut, Vince Melocchi’s two-hander imagines an encounter in 1946 Pittsburgh between 18-year old Warhol (only an aspiring commercial artist at that point) and a blue-collar barkeep harboring secret dreams of becoming a writer. Carefully researched factual accuracy notwithstanding, the play isn’t so much a biographical portrait as a touching exploration of cultural division bridged by a fundamental human need to create. (P.B.) Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. Sun., next Sun., 3 p.m.; Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Nov. 24. $25-$34. (310) 822-8392. pacificresidenttheatre.com
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn An intimate environmental staging and stellar performances draw urgent lessons from this 1985 musical adaptation of the Mark Twain slavery-era classic about Huck Finn’s hard-won conquest of his own racial prejudice. (P.B.) Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Ends Sun., 2 p.m. $31-$71. (804) 667-2900. rubicontheatre.org
Buried Child You can’t go home again, and you can never escape it. With an uncompromising mix of dark humor, menace, and mystery, Sam Shepard’s 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winner shows the remarkable staying power in its deconstructed American dream. (P.B.) A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Sun., 2 and 7 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; ends Nov. 23. $25 and up; student rush, $20; group discounts available. (626) 356-3121. anoisewithin.org
Department of Dreams Preeminent Kosovar playwright Jeton Neziraj’s dystopian fable concerns a repressive system in which citizens are forced to “deposit” their dreams at a monolithic government agency in an ongoing campaign of intimidation and terror. The fact that the play is a world premiere represents a real coup for director Frédérique Michel and designer Charles A. Duncombe, the movers and shakers behind City Garage for almost 35 years now. They do full service to Neziraj’s surreal vision, an Orwellian portrait of a mad world in which all individuality is suppressed by a totalitarian state. Sometimes abstruse to the point of the incomprehensible, this is not an easy play. But is in an important play by a world-class playwright who challenges our complacency at every twist and turn. (F.K.F.) City Garage, Bergamot Station, building T1, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. Sun., next Sun., 3 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 8. $20, $25; Sundays: pay what you want, at the door only. (310) 453-9939. citygarage.org
Elijah Set in a Texas TGI Fridays during raging hurricane Elijah, Judith Leora’s play commences on a deceptively polemical note, as the pro-and-anti death penalty activists who had gathered at a nearby prison for the execution of a notorious serial slayer are forced to shelter in place for the duration. In this case, patience is a virtue. Leora’s initial didacticism deepens into a beautifully realized, classically structured drama that subtly illustrates what can occur when individuals are forced out of their ideologically ossified “tribes” to seek a common humanity. Never striking a false note, director Maria Gobetti takes us on a journey that accelerates to a shattering emotional whirlwind. Among the superlative performers, Molly Gray particularly stands out in her raw portrayal of a woman coping with a sad and shocking legacy that will forever define her. (F.K.F.) The Big Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. Sun., next Sun., 4 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 15. $28-$40. (818) 841-5421. thevictorytheatrecenter.org
The Great Leap BD Wong, who starred in two previous productions of Lauren Yee’s exhilarating, witty, heartbreaking play about Chinese-American relations seen through the lens of basketball, directs its L.A. premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse. Unbeknownst to many Americans, basketball is huge in China, and Yee uses this shared affinity between our otherwise clashing cultures as a mutual way in. This lavish coproduction with East West Players features four dazzling performers, including James Eckhouse (of “Beverly Hills 90210”) as you’ve never seen him before. (M.G.) Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Sun., next Sun., 2 p.m.; Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; ends Dec. 1. $25 and up. (626) 356-7529. PasadenaPlayhouse.org
Here is a list of classical music performances in L.A. for Nov. 17-24:
Colburn Rising Stars: Rodolfo Leone The young pianist plays pieces by Schubert and Chopin. The Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. Sun., 2 p.m. $15 and up. (310) 434-3200. thebroadstage.org
Grace/Landing Rachael Worby’s Muse/Ique Orchestra is joined by Acabella, DC6 Singers, First New Christian Fellowship Band, RAISE and Pasadena Master Chorale for a celebration of Elvis Presley’s Southern gospel roots. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1757 N. Lake Ave., Pasadena. Sun., 7 p.m. Members only. (626) 539-7085. muse-ique.com
LACMA’s Sundays Live Spanish Brass performs. St. James’ in the City, 3903 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Sun., 6 p.m. Free. (323) 857-6234. lacma.org
Les Maîtres du violon: The Rise of the French Violin Sonata Guts Baroque Duo performs works by Rebel, Francoeur, Bouvard, Leclair, et al. St Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1020 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Sun., 4 p.m. $15 suggested donation. (800) 838-3006. gutsbaroque.com
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Jaime Martín leads the orchestra in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, “Classical,” plus Ravel’s “Le tombeau de Couperin,” Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” Suite and the West Coast premiere of Missy Mazola’s “Dark with Excessive Bright” for Double Bass and Strings. Royce Hall, UCLA, 10745 Dickson Court, Westwood. Sun., 7 p.m. $28 and up. (213) 622-7001. laco.org
Mt. Lowe Chamber Players The ensemble performs works by Beethoven and Debussy in this benefit. Private residence, address provided to ticket holders, Altadena. Sun., 3 p.m. $100. RSVP to [email protected]
Pacific Symphony Plays Mozart & Brahms with Simone Porter The young violinist joins the orchestra for Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D; program also include the overture to Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” Soka Performing Arts Center, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo. Sun., 3 p.m. $40-$85. (949) 480-4278. soka.edu
A Portrait of Fall Benefit for the Caesura Youth Orchestra features the Donald Brinegar Singers, the JPL Singers and cellist David Lockington. Glendale City Church as a benefit for the Caesura Youth Orchestra. Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave., Glendale. Sun., 4 p.m. By donation. (818) 244-7241. glendalecitychurch.org
Restoration Concerts The Girsky String Quartet is joined by guitarist Almer Imamovic for a program of works by Boccherini, Dvorak and Shostakovich. South Pasadena Public Library, Community Room, 1115 El Centro St., South Pasadena. Sun., 4 p.m. $20. (626) 799-6333. friendsofsopaslibrary.org
Rigoletto Vineyard Touring Opera puts a 1980s-style spin on Verdi’s tragic tale of a hunchbacked court jester, his beautiful daughter and a lecherous duke. Woman’s Club of Claremont, 343 W. Twelfth St., Claremont. Sun., 2:30 p.m. $20-$30. (909) 229-4410. vtopera.org
Sound and Fury The Verdi Chorus and guest vocalists sing works by Verdi, Puccini and Lehár. First United Methodist Church, 1008 11th St., Santa Monica. Sun., 2 p.m. $10-$40. (800) 838-3006. verdichorus.org
Sunday Musicale Vieness, the duo consisting of pianists Eva Schaumkell and Vijay Venkatesh, performs. Newport Beach Public Library, Central Library Friends Room, 1000 Avocado Ave., Newport Beach. Sun., 3 p.m. Free. (949) 717-3800. newportbeachlibrary.org
Topanga Symphony Schubert’s Symphony No. 3, Rossini’s Overture to “An Italian Girl in Algiers,” and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D with violinist Aubree Oliverson. Topanga Community House, 1440 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. Sun., 3 p.m. Free. topangasymphony.com
Trip the Light Fantastic New West Symphony perform works by Bartók, Piazzolla, Copland and Gabriela Lena Frank, plus the world premiere of Julien Labro’s “Canvas” Double Concerto featuring guitarist Jason Vieaux and Labro on bandoneon. Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center, 4235 Mar Vista Drive, Camarillo. Sun., 3 p.m. $30-$120. (866) 776-8400. newwestsymphony.org
Danish String Quartet Works by Bach, Beethoven and Bartok. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Samueli Theater, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tue., 8 p.m. $38 and up. (949) 553-2422. PhilharmonicSociety.org
Vicki Ray — Spectral The pianist performs works by Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey plus “Hybrid Vowels,” her new collaboration with Stephen Lehman. Zipper Hall, the Coburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Tue., 8 p.m. $20, $40; series passes, $130. pianospheres.org
Glendale Noon Concerts Aviara Trio plays pieces by Brahms and Piazzolla. Glendale City Church, 610 E. California Ave., Glendale. Wed., 12:10 p.m. Free. (818) 244-7241. glendalenoonconcerts.blogspot.com
Tenebrae Choir of London The vocal ensemble makes its West Coast debut, joined by the Chamber Choir of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. Christ Cathedral (formerly the Crystal Cathedral), 13280 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $10-$40. occatholic.com
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Zurich Chamber Orchestra is joined by violinists Daniel Hope and Willi Zimmerman for a program that includes the Vivaldi favorite plus pieces by Bach, Mendelssohn and El-Khoury. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Wed., 8 p.m. $28 and up. (949) 553-2422. PhilharmonicSociety.org
What Makes It Great? Composer-conductor Rob Kapilow is joined by the Cal State Fullerton University Symphony Orchestra for an exploration of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $55. (562) 916-8500. cerritoscenter.com
Baroque Conversations This series presented by Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra launches a new season with Handel’s “Water Music” plus works by Telemann and Richard Strauss. First Presbyterian of Santa Monica, 1220 2nd St., Santa Monica. Thu., 7:30 p.m. Also at The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Fri., 7:30 p.m. $52 and up. (213) 622-7001. laco.org
The Magic Flute Performers interact with projected animations as LA Opera reprises it staging of Mozart’s fantastical romantic fable; sung in German with English subtitles. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Thu., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 7:30 p.m.; ends Dec. 15. $19 and up. (213) 972-8001. LAOpera.org
Kun-Woo Paik The Korean pianist performs in recital. Zipper Hall, the Coburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. Fri., 7:30 p.m. Tickets and info at (323) 692-2070.
Things to do
Apollo 13 in Concert American Youth Symphony performs James Horner’s score to accompany a screening of Ron Howard’s 1995 historical drama starring Tom Hanks. UCLA’s Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Court, Westwood. Sat., 4 p.m. $18. (310) 470-2332. AYSymphony.org
Mozart + Violin California Chamber Orchestra is joined by violinist Annelle Gregory for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1.; program also includes works by Haydn and Anna Amalia. Gershwin Performing Arts Center, Murrieta Mesa High School, 24801 Monroe Ave., Murrieta. Sat., 7:30 p.m. $10-$35. (800) 595-4849. CalChamberOrchestra.org
Passion Parnassus Chamber Orchestra performs Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Italian,” plus Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D with violinist Emily Uematsu and selections from Bizet’s “Carmen” with mezzo-soprano Milena Kitic. Soka Performing Arts Center, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo. Sat., 7 p.m. $15, $25. (949) 480-4278. soka.edu
Sounds Unknown: The Black Violin Salastina performs works by black composers including Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Florence Price and Derrick Spiva Jr. Pasadena Conservatory of Music, Barrett Hall, 100 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena. Sat., 8 p.m. Also at the Edye Second Space at the Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. Next Sun., 3 p.m. $10-$40. salastina.org
Back to Back Bach Tesserae Baroque presents solo lute and chamber works by Bach featuring lutenist Thomas Dunford. Contrapuntal Recital Hall, address provided to ticket holders, Brentwood. Next Sun., 5 p.m. $20-$40; advance tickets required. tesseraebaroque.org
Colburn Orchestra The student ensemble performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and more. Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Next Sun., 3 p.m. $15, $30. colburnschool.edu
Zlatomir Fung The cellist plays pieces by Brahms, Gabrieli, et al., in recital. Pepperdine University, Raitt Recital Hall, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Next Sun., 2 p.m. $28; sold out; waiting list available. (310) 506-4522. arts.pepperdine.edu
Juana The UCLA School of Music presents the world premiere of L.A.-based composer Carla Lucero’s opera about 17th-century Mexican poet, philosopher and composer Juana Inés de la Cruz. Freud Playhouse, UCLA, 245 Charles E. Young Drive East, Westwood. Next Sun., 2 p.m. $25. schoolofmusic.ucla.edu
LACMA’s Sundays Live Pianist Andrew Brownell performs. St. James’ in the City, 3903 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Next Sun., 6 p.m. Free. (323) 857-6234. lacma.org
Los Angeles Baroque: Surf ’n’ Turf The orchestra’s season opener includes pieces by Rebel, Vivaldi, Telemann and Costeley. St. James Episcopal Church, 1325 Monterey Road, South Pasadena. Next Sun., 4 p.m. Free; donations accepted. losangelesbaroque.org
The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Haydn’s Symphony No. 5, plus works by Bartok, Copland, Verdi and Saint-Saëns. Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, 600 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica. Next Sun., 7:30 p.m. $5-$25. losangelesyouthorchestra.org (also in Pasadena, Mon., Nov. 25)
Why Music Matters: Intro to the Orchestra Musicologist Nuvi Mehta is joined by Orange County Youth Symphony and others for an exploration of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Next Sun., 3 p.m. Free. (949) 553-2422. PhilharmonicSociety.org
Some weeks, you almost feel bad for “Saturday Night Live.” A few years into mining comedy from a news cycle that regularly stretches the bounds of reality, “SNL” went into Saturday with a presumptive target of the first week of impeachment hearings.
And, in their first crack at an event that’s happened only three other times in U.S. history, the series showed signs of fatigue with a cold open to an episode hosted by musical guest Harry Styles that was built around a tweak of its own network.
Answering a critique by an NBC pundit who said the hearings lacked “pizzazz,” “SNL” recast the hearings as an episode of “Days of Our Lives.” As the sands of the hourglass fell, “Days of Our Impeachment” imagined a windswept political drama “where the only thing at stake is democracy.”
The timing of a “Days of Our Lives” homage carried a wistful edge given this weeks’ news that the long-running soap opera has entered “indefinite hiatus,” but “SNL” offered a justification tough to argue in calling their sketch “a ridiculous melodrama that’s somehow less crazy than what’s really happening in our government.”
Jon Hamm was on hand to portray the hearings’ first-day witness in ambassador Bill Taylor, and Cecily Strong played Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to the Ukraine who President Trump attacked midway through her Friday testimony, which in the sketch caused “SNL’s” Heidi Gardner to faint in the gallery amid a swell of soapy strings. “If the president wanted to intimidate you he would’ve shot you on Fifth Avenue,” Mikey Day’s Rep. Jim Jordan argued.
Although Alec Baldwin was not on hand as the Tweeter in Chief, Kate McKinnon offered her haunting impression of Rudy Guiliani (“Mercury is in retrograde so my powers are at an all-time high,” she crowed), and Beck Bennett arrived as a frowning Mitch McConnell just before Melissa Villasenor’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Further exemplifying the kitchen sink approach, Kenan Thompson also appeared as the Cleveland Browns’ helmet-swinging defender Myles Garrett, and a consciously disinterested Pete Davidson (“Who am I playing again?”) as Michael Avenatti to remind the hearings of the president’s extramarital affair. “That story was from last season,” Hamm’s Taylor reminded him. As Davidson went on, Strong’s Yovanovitch added, “We know, no one seems to care.”
So many scandals, so little time. But save your strength, “SNL” — these hearings are just getting started.
Here is a list of dance performances in L.A. for Nov. 17-24:
Dance/Back 2019 Works by BrockusRED and rising local choreographers are featured in this annual benefit. Madrid Theatre, 21622 Sherman Way, Canoga Park. Sun., 6 p.m. By donation. (818) 347-9419. brockusproject.org
L.A. Dances Two-month festival, with three distinct programs, features classic and contemporary works by Kyle Abraham, Bella Lewitzky, Benjamin Millepied and others. L.A. Dance Project, 2245 E. Washington Blvd., L.A. Sun., Thu.-next Sun., 8 p.m.; ends Nov. 24. $45. (213) 422-8762. ladanceproject.org
Nutcracker Tea Dancers from Los Angeles Ballet perform highlights from the holiday favorite as part of this annual fundraiser. Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, 9850 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Sun., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $75, $150. (310) 998-7782. losangelesballet.org
So You Think You Can Dance Live! 2019 Finalists from the TV dance competition perform. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, downtown L.A. Wed., 7:30 p.m. $41 and up. dancelivetour.com (Also in Thousand Oaks, Dec. 1)
Hildegard Herself Heidi Duckler Dance presents the second half of a site-specific work inspired by 12th-century abbess, composer and mystic Hildegard von Bingen. St. John’s Cathedral, 514 W. Adams Blvd., L.A. Fri.-Sat., 7 p.m. $35, $50. heididuckler.org
Masterpieces Kazakhstan’s Astana Ballet performs a mix of classical, modern and contemporary dance as part of its West Coast tour. The Saban Theater, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Fri., 8 p.m. $85-$155. eventticketboss.com
The Spectacular Society Entity Contemporary Dance performs choreographer Marissa Osato’s work inspired by the U.S. government’s internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Navel LA, 1611 S. Hope St., L.A. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. $20-$30. (213) 340-4213. entitycontemporarydance.com
Things to do
Pasión Española Roberto Amaral and dancers of the Amaral Studio, with guest artist Misuda Cohen, are featured in a program of flamenco plus classical and contemporary Spanish dance. Lanterman Auditorium, 4491 Cornishon Ave., La Cañada Flintridge. Sat., 8 p.m. $25, $35. (800) 838-3006. brownpapertickets.com
Through the Pages Redondo Ballet celebrates classic fairy tales. Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Fri., 7 p.m. Free; advance tickets recommended. (310) 292-4572. redondoballet.com
Sonikete Blues: Woodshedding Forever Flamenco presents featured dancer Cihtli “La Gallardi” Ocampo, the Ethan Sultry Group and others in this mashup of flamenco, jazz and delta blues. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A. Next Sun., 8 p.m. $30-$50. (323) 663-1525. fountaintheatre.com
First, on Oct. 29, Los Angeles International Airport banned taxis, Uber and Lyft from curbside pickup and ordered them (and their traveling customers) to use LAX-it, a new pickup lot east of Terminal 1 at World Way and Sky Way. Next came long lines and delays during peak travel times, howls from frustrated travelers and an apology from airport leadership.
Now, as the holidays approach and with them, crowds, comes “Son of LAX-it.”
On Nov. 6, LAX responded to complaints by adding three lanes to the pickup lot, expanding its size by about 50% in hopes of getting more travelers on the road faster.
These changes in the way cabs and rideshares are handled are vital, LAX officials say, because of the congestion that ride-hailing services brought to the traffic horseshoe serving the terminals, compounded by lane closures that are part of construction projects that will continue for years.
The construction will continue until the airport’s automated people mover opens in 2023. Which means that for the next few years, LAX-it will be a reality for anyone leaving LAX in a taxi or standard ride-hailing vehicle.
Here’s how to manage it:
• If you’re flying out of LAX, nothing changes in terms of getting to the airport. Drop-offs remain at the same places on the upper level.
• If you’re picking up friends or family on the lower level of LAX, you can drive around the horseshoe to the terminals, but you’ll need to head for the outer median rather than the curb nearest the terminal doors. (LAX officials call this the “curb-flip.”)
• FlyAway buses (which serve Hollywood, Long Beach, Van Nuys and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles) continue to pick up passengers leaving LAX on the lower/arrivals level. Shared-ride vans such as SuperShuttle also continue to pick up passengers leaving LAX on the lower/arrivals level, under orange signs.
• As a just-arrived air passenger planning on using Lyft or Uber, whether you’re walking or taking a shuttle to the LAX-it area, LAX officials say, you can call your ride-hailing company while you’re still at the terminal. If you prefer, you can wait until you’re on the bus or arriving at the LAX-it lot.
• If you’re flying into Terminals 1, 2, 7 or 8 with only carry-on bags and you’re comfortable walking a few hundred yards, don’t bother with those green LAX-it shuttle buses. Instead, follow the abundant sidewalk signage to the LAX-it lot, which has restrooms, phone-charging stations, a limited amount of shade and usually a food truck and coffee truck. It will probably take you less than 10 minutes.
• If you’re flying into Terminals 3, 4, 5 or the Bradley International Terminal, your walk will be closer to 20 minutes (and you may have more luggage), so the shuttle bus may be a better option. If you use a walker or wheelchair, the LAX-it buses will accommodate you.
• If you still want curbside pickup, you can get it (at the outer island median, arrivals level) by paying more. Many limousine and transport services, including Blacklane, 24-7 Ride, Uber Black, Uber Black SUV and Lyft Lux, hold Transportation Charter Party permits allowing pickups.
• The LAX-it bus fleet was designed to pick up travelers curbside on the lower level of the terminal loop, with buses appearing every three to five minutes and making no more than two stops, delivering travelers to LAX-it within 15 minutes. When the system struggled at first, LAX officials increased the size of the fleet.
• At the LAX-it area, you’ll see seven lanes for cars making pickups, with a long sidewalk for travelers on foot in the middle.You’ll find Lanes 1-4 on the left, 5-7 on the right. Lanes 2-4, color-coded green, are reserved for Uber. Lane 1, color-coded yellow, has taxis, ride-hail company Opoli and pool services such as UberPool. Lanes 5-7, to the right and color-coded pink, are reserved for Lyft. For help, look for one of LAX’s lane managers in green vests. Lyft representatives wear pink vests; the Uber representatives, black.
• When travelers use their ride-hailing apps to summon a driver during busy hours, instead of identifying drivers by their names and license plate numbers, Uber and Lyft will send PINs to LAX-it travelers. The travelers then line up to be matched with drivers, much as taxi customers are lined up to be matched with cabs. This is where the delays set in during the system’s first week, but LAX officials hope that with additional lanes and more familiarity among Uber and Lyft drivers, pickups will happen faster.
• Under current plans, a coffee truck will be present 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a second shift will run from 3 to 11 p.m. A food truck is scheduled from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., then 4 p.m. to midnight.
Dear Liz: I just got a message about thousands of dollars I have in a 401(k) account from a job I had over 10 years ago. They are asking me what I want to do with the money, roll it over into an IRA or cash it out. What should I do?
Answer: Don’t cash it out.
Unexpected money can feel like a windfall, and it’s natural to dream about potential splurges you could afford. But this cash didn’t fall out of the sky. This is money you earned and that could grow substantially if you make the right moves now. If you cashed it out, you’d lose a substantial chunk to taxes and penalties, plus you’d lose all the future tax-deferred growth that money could earn.
Your best option probably would be to transfer the money directly into your current employer’s retirement plan, if you have one and it allows such transfers. Employer plans may offer lower-cost access to investments than you’d get with an IRA, plus consolidating the old plan into the new means one less account to monitor. Also, employer plans may offer more protection from creditors, depending on where you live.
Rolling the money directly into an IRA is another good option. You’ll need to open an account, preferably at a discount brokerage that keeps costs low. An IRA would give you access to more investment options, but beginning investors might just want to opt for a target date retirement fund or a robo-advisory service that invests using computer algorithms. With either option, the mix of investments and the risk over time would be professionally managed.
Whichever you choose, make sure the old plan sends the money directly to your chosen option, rather than sending you a check. If a check is sent to you, 20% of the money would be withheld for taxes and you’d have to come up with that amount out of your own pocket within 60 days or that portion would be considered a withdrawal that’s taxed and penalized.
How Medicare, COBRA interact
Dear Liz: You recently wrote about how Medicare coverage interacts with employer coverage. My husband will retire next year at age 65. His company has over 20 employees, so it’s considered a large company plan that won’t require him to sign up for Medicare. Is it better for him to elect family COBRA coverage for 36 months and defer Medicare coverage, since his company healthcare plan will be superior to Medicare? Can he elect Medicare coverage once COBRA terminates? Coverage matters more than costs.
Answer: He shouldn’t put off signing up for Medicare, because COBRA won’t insulate him from penalties.
The previous column mentioned that Medicare Part A, which covers hospital visits, is usually premium-free, but people generally pay premiums for Medicare Part B, which covers doctor’s visits, and Medicare Part D, which covers prescription drugs.
Failing to sign up when you’re first eligible for Part B and Part D typically means incurring permanent penalties that can be substantial. You can avoid the penalties if you’re covered by a large employer health insurance plan — but that plan must be as a result of current employment, either yours or your spouse’s. Once your husband retires, his employment is no longer current, so he should sign up for Medicare to avoid penalties.
If you or any other dependents need coverage, he may end up paying for additional insurance through COBRA on top of what he pays for Medicare. He can have both COBRA and Medicare for himself if his Medicare benefits become effective on or before the day he elects COBRA coverage. If he starts Medicare after he signs up for COBRA, his COBRA benefits would cease but coverage for you and any dependent children could be extended for up to 36 months. Another option to consider would be to cover you and any dependents using a plan from an Affordable Care Act marketplace. You may want to discuss your options with an insurance agent before deciding.
In fact, getting expert opinions is a must, because Medicare rules and health insurance in general can be so complex. Anyone nearing 65 also would be smart to discuss their individual situations with their company’s human resources department and then confirm the information with Medicare before deciding when and how to sign up.
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.
With companies such as Uber Technologies Inc., Slack Technologies Inc. and Pinterest Inc. going public this year, the question has been: How many millionaires will Silicon Valley mint? What’s not being asked is how much of that new wealth will go to women.
The answer, according to a new study released last week, is: not much. Carta, an equity management platform, crunched data from more than 300,000 employees at 10,000-plus companies, and found 4 in 5 paper millionaires are men.
The jobs that land the biggest equity packages tend to be held by men in C-suite roles, said Emily Kramer, Carta’s vice president of marketing. “As wealth goes up, the percentage of millionaires who are women go down because they are not CEOs, CFOs or founders,” she said.
Chief marketing officers, the most common executive role held by women, have the lowest median equity award, 39% less than that of chief financial officers, who tend to get the most generous packages after chief executives.
Among the world’s 500 richest people, there are just two female technology billionaires, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. MacKenzie Bezos, a major shareholder of Amazon.com Inc., is worth $36 billion, and Zhou Qunfei, founder of Lens Technology, is worth $5.9 billion. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, who is not in the top 500, has a net worth of $2.1 billion.
Carta last year for the first time identified an “equity gap,” finding women in Silicon Valley held 47 cents of equity for every dollar of equity men held. Carta this year found a slight improvement: Women hold 49 cents for every dollar in stock options men do, a 2 percentage point increase from last year. Women make up more than a third of all employees but hold only 20% of equity wealth, the study finds.
Although most equity ends up being worth nothing, when a start-up goes public or gets acquired, stock grants can result in a big payday, creating the next class of angel investors and entrepreneurs. And even with underwhelming valuations from tech companies this year, underrepresented employees are getting the “short end of the stick” and become “collateral damage,” said Henry Ward, chief executive of Carta.
The gender equity gap exists for a variety of interconnected reasons. Early employees often get better stock options than those who join later, and younger companies tend to have smaller proportions of women. There’s also a lack of representation on founding teams. Women make up only 13% of all founders in the data pulled by Carta, and female-founded teams got only 2.2% of venture funding last year.
Women also say they don’t know what to ask for during already opaque salary negotiations. One woman who worked for a unicorn start-up, who asked not to be identified to avoid alienating her former employer, said she didn’t know to ask for refresh grants after getting promoted several times. When the company went public, she ended up getting $20,000 (before taxes); she calculates she could’ve been a millionaire.
As WeWork prepared to go public, Trista Kempa, who says she was the 17th employee, said she wasn’t offered options at all. “I was 23, naive, and didn’t know what equity or options were — I certainly didn’t know how much it could impact my financial future,” she tweeted.
WeWork did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company wound up withdrawing its IPO.
Carta offers educational materials that teach women how to negotiate their liquidity preferences and ask for a fair equity offer upfront.
“It’s not a matter of getting in the door,” said Carta’s Kramer, who is also head of Table Stakes, an initiative highlighting the gender gap in equity at venture-backed companies. “It’s about advising employees on how to avoid a WeWork situation.”