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The candidates before the start of the debate at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden and entrepreneur Andrew Yang greet well-wishers during a break at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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The candidates await the start of the Democratic presidential primary debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Sen. Bernie Sanders during the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

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The candidates greet each other before the start of the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) waves before the debate begins.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) waves ahead of the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

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Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, left, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and businessman Tom Steyer on stage during the sixth Democratic debate at Loyola Marymount University on Thursday in Los Angeles. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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The candidates on stage at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) spar during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) listens as businessman Tom Steyer speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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The candidates on stage during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Entrepreneur Andrew Yang makes a point as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg listens during the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden applauds as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks while flanked by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks while flanked by entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden go at each other during a heated exchange at the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden listens as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point as Sen. Elizabeth Warren listens. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during an animated moment. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks as former Vice President Joe Biden listens during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) listens. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks while flanked by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and businessman Tom Steyer. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks as Andrew Yang and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) listen during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden listen. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders raises his hand as former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

United in their disdain for President Trump, top Democratic presidential candidates aired their differences over healthcare, foreign policy and the influence of money in politics in a pugnacious year-end primary debate.

The battle lines reflected the current state of play in the race. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., continued their long-simmering rivalry, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar resurfaced her critiques of the millennial mayor’s limited resume. The two most consistent front-runners of the race, former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, largely trained their sights on each other.

The final confab of 2019, hosted by “PBS NewsHour” and Politico, was the smallest yet; only seven candidates met the stricter polling and donor requirements set by the Democratic National Committee. The candidates squared off Thursday evening in Gersten Pavilion at Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit university perched on a bluff overlooking Marina del Rey and the Pacific Ocean.

A relatively sedate affair in its first hour, the debate took a more combative tone when Warren criticized the influence of wealthy donors, an implicit jab at Buttigieg, who has ascended in the polls in recent weeks.

“I can’t help but feel that might have been directed at me,” said Buttigieg, who went on to frame his fundraising strategy — reliant on both small-dollar grass-roots donors and wealthy givers — as a nod to inclusivity.

“I’m not going to turn away anyone who wants to help us defeat Donald Trump,” he said.

Warren responded with derision over Buttigieg’s recent fundraiser in a lavish wine cave in Napa Valley.

“We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the president of the United States,” she said. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the president of the United States.”

Buttigieg, noting Warren herself partook in private fundraisers in the past, accused her of “issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass.”

One of the sharpest attacks on Buttigieg didn’t come from his usual progressive foes, but from his fellow Midwestern moderate, Klobuchar.

Klobuchar raised questions about Buttigieg’s “electability,” noting that he lost his most recent race, in 2017, to become chair of the Democratic Party.

“If you want to talk about capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to office with 80% of the vote as a gay dude in Mike Pence’s Indiana,” Buttigieg said of his 2015 reelection as mayor of South Bend, a Democratic stronghold — a distinction Klobuchar picked up on.

“If you had won in Indiana, that would be one thing,” Klobuchar responded, referencing Buttigieg’s 2010 run for state treasurer. “You tried. You lost by 20 points.”

Meanwhile, Biden and Sanders reprised their squabble over their approach to healthcare policy, as Biden attacked Sanders over “Medicare for all,” calling Sanders’ plan to replace private insurance with government insurance “unrealistic.”

“Put your hand down for a second,” Biden teased Sanders, as the Vermont senator waved to the moderators to get a chance to respond.

“Joe’s plan” would “maintain the status quo,” Sanders said, rattling off details about how much American workers currently pay for private health insurance.

“I’m going to interrupt now,” Biden replied. “It’s going to cost $30 trillion over 10 years.” He called Sanders’ cost estimates “preposterous.” “At least before he was honest about it!”

The former vice president also found himself on the defensive on foreign policy when he was asked about recent disclosures in the Washington Post that multiple American administrations, including the Obama White House, in which Biden served, misled the public about the Afghanistan war.

“I’m the guy who from the beginning argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan, period,” said Biden, distancing himself from President Obama’s decision. “We should not have done it, and I argued against it constantly.”

Sanders quickly lobbed a salvo about Biden’s foreign policy judgment.

“You’re also the guy who helped lead us to the disastrous war in Iraq,” he said, noting Biden’s vote for the Iraq war when he was a senator.

Just one day after President Trump became the third American president to be impeached by the House of Representatives, the historic event merited roughly 10 minutes of the three-hour forum. As the candidates explained how they would convince a deeply divided public that Trump deserved such severe reproach, they largely relied on well-established campaign themes.

Biden, who has touted his foreign policy credentials as a central selling point, lamented the decline of America’s reputation abroad. “We need to restore the integrity of the presidency,” he said.

For Warren, it was a chance for return to her anti-corruption mantra.

“We need a candidate for president who can draw the sharpest distinction between the corruption of the Trump administration and a Democrat who is willing to get out and fight, not for the wealthy and well-connected but to fight for everyone else,” Warren said. “That’s why I’m in this race.”

Andrew Yang, the New York-based entrepreneur, chided the media and Democrats for focusing too much on the president and not enough on the decline in manufacturing jobs in states that propelled Trump to the White House.

“We have to stop being obsessed over impeachment … and actually start digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place,” he said.

Candidates were united in painting a dire view of the national economy, arguing that rosy statistics on the country’s gross domestic product and low unemployment rate have not translated to average Americans’ bank accounts.

“People are not getting paid enough,” Buttigieg said. “That is not the result of some mysterious cosmic force. It’s the result of bad policy.”

Californian Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist and former hedge fund chief, argued his success in the private sector would blunt Trump’s plan to run on the health of the economy.

“My experience building a business, understanding how to make that happen, means I can go toe-to-toe with Mr. Trump and take him down on the economy and expose him as a fraud and a failure,” Steyer said.

There was less unanimity on the new proposed North American trade agreement, known as USMCA, which was passed Thursday by the House.

Sanders said he liked that the new proposal would give Mexican workers more protection for forming independent labor unions that might help secure higher wages. But, he said, “it is not going to stop outsourcing, it is not going to stop corporations from moving to Mexico,” and that’s why he’s decided to vote against it when it arrives in the Senate.

Klobuchar, by contrast, said that while some of Sanders’ concerns were “correct,” she plans to vote for the measure, because it has “better labor standards, better environmental standards” and represents “a much better deal” than the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The candidates seemed to relish the Southern California setting — building in extra time in their visits to raise money and host campaign rallies — but there was no mention onstage of housing or homelessness, two issues at the front of mind of many Golden State voters.

Another top concern for California voters, climate change, did get substantial attention from the candidates, as Klobuchar acknowledged the devastating wildfires in Paradise and elsewhere in the state that have worsened as the planet warms. Buttigieg spoke of the on-the-ground effects of climate change closer to his home.

“This is not theoretical,” he said, referencing his neighborhood in South Bend that recently faced two thousand-year floods.

Sanders warned that scientists have underestimated the threat of climate change. But in a moment symbolizing the Democrats’ struggle to prioritize the issue, when the questions turned to race, Sanders tried to wrest the subject back to climate change, drawing a rebuke from moderator Amna Nawaz, senior national correspondent on “NewsHour.”

“Senator, this question is about race,” Nawaz said, drawing large cheers from the audience.

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“People of color are going to be the people suffering most if we do not deal with climate change,” Sanders responded.

Yang, the only candidate of color to qualify for the debate, bemoaned the absence of diversity on the debate stage.

“It’s both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color onstage tonight. I miss Kamala, I miss Cory,” Yang said, in a nod to California Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race this month, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who did not qualify.
“Though I think Cory will be back,” he added.

The topic of identity — be it race, gender or age — yielded some of the clumsier exchanges of the night. When Politico senior correspondent Tim Alberta noted that former President Obama argued for more female leaders of countries and attributed problems to “old men not getting out of the way,” he immediately turned to Sanders, whom he identified as the oldest contender onstage.

“And I’m white as well, yes,” Sanders said.

Biden, meanwhile, brushed off the potential of a slight from his former running mate.

“I’m going to guess he wasn’t talking about me either,” Biden said.

Warren, meanwhile, more successfully landed a zinger when it was noted that if elected, she would be the oldest president ever to be sworn in.

“I’d also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated,” she countered.

WASHINGTON — 

A day after the Democratic-led House impeached President Trump, House and Senate leaders argued Thursday over how his Senate trial will be conducted, with the two articles of impeachment likely to remain in limbo until at least early January as a result of the spat.

The Republican-led Senate is almost certain to acquit Trump of the two charges, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, once it receives them. But the House delay in transmitting them means his trial, and presumed vindication, could be pushed back.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) did not forward the articles of impeachment to the Senate before Congress left for the year on Thursday, saying she wants assurances the Senate will conduct a fair and full trial.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) met Thursday afternoon to discuss ground rules, such as how long the trial should last and whether witnesses will be called. They did not reach an agreement, however.

Earlier in the day, McConnell made political hay about the House delay, saying Democrats are “too afraid … to transmit their shoddy work product to the Senate.”

The trial will probably limit the Senate’s legislative work for weeks. It also could influence the Supreme Court calendar because the Constitution requires the chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., to preside over the Senate trial.

Withholding the articles appeared intended to pressure Republicans to accept at least some Democratic demands to start the process. Democrats want the Senate to call as witnesses several current and former Trump aides who refused to testify in the House, but McConnell has rebuffed those pleas.

Trump wants the Senate to acquit him of the two impeachment charges. The first involves his efforts to use U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine to boost his reelection chances. The second involves his refusal to release documents or allow witnesses to testify to the House about the alleged scheme.

The latest twist in the impeachment drama represents a clear political irony.

Republicans bitterly complained about lack of “process” during the House inquiry. Now Democrats have picked up the charge as the impeachment moves to the Senate, saying Republicans haven’t committed to a fair, impartial trial.

Democrats also shifted course by deliberately waiting to transmit the articles needed to start the Senate trial despite weeks of arguing that Trump’s alleged misconduct was so severe that they had to act swiftly to impeach him.

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“They’re playing games…. They’re not allowed to do that,” Trump told reporters Thursday.

McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday that Pelosi’s refusal to forward the articles showed that the three-month House impeachment inquiry was flawed and unfair, and that Democrats are afraid to give Trump his day in court.

It takes a simple Senate majority to set the impeachment trial rules, and Democrats could try to sway moderate Republicans who may be concerned enough about the president’s conduct to help them keep the rules from benefiting Trump too much.

On Wednesday night, Pelosi questioned why Democrats should participate in a Senate trial without knowing the ground rules given McConnell’s claim last week that he is “taking my cues” from the White House in shaping the trial.

Pelosi said she would not name the House “managers,” Democratic lawmakers who will present evidence to the Senate, until it’s clear how the trial will be conducted.

“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us,” she said. “But right now, the president is impeached.”

Once Pelosi names them, the full House must vote to approve the managers, and the articles of impeachment cannot be transmitted to the Senate until it does so.

The managers resolution could be approved by voice vote during a procedural meeting over the holidays. But that would require Republican consent. Every Republican voted no on the articles of impeachment.

On Thursday, Pelosi said House managers were not chosen for President Clinton’s trial in 1999 until after Senate trial rules were set. Knowing the rules would help her determine how many managers are needed and who should be picked, she told reporters.

“Frankly I don’t care what the Republicans say,” Pelosi said.

McConnell countered that senators set rules for the length of Clinton’s trial before it began, but waited to decide whether to hear from witnesses after hearing opening statements from each side. Clinton’s trial lasted five weeks, videotaped testimony from three witnesses was shown, and the Senate acquitted him on both counts.

“We remain at an impasse because my friend the Democratic Leader continues to demand a new and different set of rules for President Trump,” McConnell said.

Pelosi and Schumer huddled Thursday morning in the speaker’s office. Schumer and McConnell met several hours later.

Schumer had previously asked McConnell to reconsider the Democrat’s proposal this week to call four witnesses for the trial, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security advisor John Bolton.

Justin Goodman, a Schumer spokesman, said Democrats believe the witnesses and documents withheld from the House “are essential to a fair Senate trial.”

Schumer had proposed starting the week of Jan. 6 and allowing up to 126 hours of statements, testimony and deliberations — meaning a trial of at least three weeks.

McConnell largely shot down that request this week and has suggested he wants a short trial without witnesses.

“Is the president’s case so weak that none of the president’s men can defend him under oath?” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. “If the House case is so weak, why is leader McConnell so afraid of witnesses and documents?”

Senate Republicans questioned what Pelosi is trying to achieve by waiting.

“Either she thinks she has leverage, which she does not have, or she’s undermining her own message about the seriousness of this proceeding,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “This idea that they would somehow decide to withhold the articles of impeachment pending some accommodation by the Senate is ridiculous. And it’s not going to happen. So I don’t know what kind of games they are playing.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who conducted depositions for Democrats during Clinton’s impeachment trial, chided lawmakers for making their positions known ahead of the trial.

“People aren’t helping the Senate’s reputation by saying, ‘Well we’ve already made up our mind and we’re coordinating with the defendant,’” he said, referring to McConnell’s vow to work with Trump’s lawyers. “Everybody settle down a little bit.”

Given the heated passions of impeachment, he said, it’s high time for lawmakers to go home for the holidays.

“I’ve been saying quietly to a lot of senators in both parties, ‘Go home, take a deep breath, and let’s come back and do it the way we should,’” Leahy said.

Staff writer Jennifer Haberkorn in Washington contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK — 

A major evangelical Christian magazine founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham on Thursday published an editorial calling for President Trump’s removal from office.

The editorial in Christianity Today — coming one day after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives made Trump the third president in American history to be impeached — raised fresh questions about the durability of his support among the conservative evangelicals who have proved to be a critical component of his political base.

The magazine’s editorial, written by editor in chief Mark Galli, envisions a message to those evangelical Christians who have remained stalwart Trump backers “in spite of his blackened moral record.”

“Remember who you are and whom you serve,” Galli’s editorial states. “Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency.”

Galli’s editorial recalls that the magazine was starkly critical of Democrat President Clinton’s moral fiber during the 1998 impeachment proceedings against him, calling Clinton “morally unable to lead.”

“Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president,” the editorial stated.

At the core of its indictment of Trump is what Galli described as the “profoundly immoral” act of seeking the assistance of the Ukrainian government in a bid “to harass and discredit” a Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The magazine’s editor in chief took no position about whether Trump should be removed from office through a Senate conviction or a defeat at the ballot box next year, calling that a matter of “prudential judgment.”

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Christianity Today was founded more than six decades ago by Graham, a leader of the modern evangelical movement who counseled multiple past presidents on matters of faith.

But those storied roots in the evangelical Christian community underscore the editorial’s potentially limited ability to pry Trump’s most ardent evangelical supporters from his side: One leader among pro-Trump Christians is Graham’s son, the Rev. Franklin Graham.

And the younger Graham is hardly alone among the white evangelicals who have remained loyal to the president amid nearly three years of political tumult. A Pew Research Center survey in August found 77% of white evangelical Protestants approving of Trump’s job performance.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the editorial.

Jenna Ellis, a senior legal advisor to Trump, tweeted that the editorial is “shameful and constitutionally ignorant.” “Pious ‘Never Trumpers’ who feel morally justified about this #impeachmentcircus are as morally reprehensible as Democrats,” Ellis tweeted.

Despite playing nearly half the season in the AFC, and having no interceptions, respect and votes from players and coaches carried Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey to another Pro Bowl.

In balloting results announced this week, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman received the most votes from fans for NFC players at his position. Ramsey no doubt received fan votes but earned Pro Bowl recognition for the third season in a row via votes from players and coaches, which accounts for two-thirds of the voting.

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Sherman, Marshon Lattimore of the New Orleans Saints and Darius Slay of the Detroit Lions were other NFC cornerbacks voted to the Pro Bowl.

“Knowing that my peers — the players and coaches — still see what I do and see the production that I put out there on the field, it’s an honor,” Ramsey said Thursday.

Ramsey and defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who was voted to the Pro Bowl for the sixth time, are part of a Rams defense that must bounce back Saturday against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

The Rams (8-6), a Super Bowl participant last season, will miss the playoffs unless they defeat the 49ers (11-3) and the Arizona Cardinals, and the Minnesota Vikings (10-4) lose home games against the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

The Rams are coming off an embarrassing 44-21 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys. Ramsey, however, limited Cowboys star receiver Amari Cooper to one catch for 19 yards.

“He took Amari Cooper out of the game,” said Rams safety Eric Weddle, a six-time Pro Bowl selection. “Anytime he was manned up he didn’t get a ball thrown his way.”

Ramsey, 25, was not yet a member of the Rams when they lost to the 49ers, 20-7, on Oct. 13 at the Coliseum. The last time 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo faced the Rams, the secondary included cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Troy Hill and safeties John Johnson and Eric Weddle.

Weddle is the only member of that group who will be on the field Saturday.

Peters was traded to the Baltimore Ravens a few hours before the Rams traded for Ramsey. Hill had surgery Monday for a thumb injury suffered against the Cowboys, and coach Sean McVay on Thursday declared him out of the game against the 49ers. Johnson suffered a right shoulder injury against the 49ers in October, played through it, and then had season-ending surgery.

So Ramsey will start opposite cornerback Darious Williams, with Weddle and rookie Taylor Rapp at safety.

The 49ers, with running backs Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Tevin Coleman and fullback Kyle Juszczyk, rank second in the NFL in rushing. Coach Kyle Shanahan utilizes the run game to set up Garoppolo for passes to the running backs, star tight end George Kittle and receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel, among others.

“They’ve got some good receivers that make a lot of plays, a quarterback who gets them the ball and a good tight end,” Ramsey said. “Just excited for another opportunity to go out and play.”

Sanders, as with Ramsey, was a midseason acquisition. He has 30 catches, three for touchdowns, since his trade from the Denver Broncos.

Two weeks ago against the New Orleans Saints, Sanders caught seven passes for 157 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. He also passed for a touchdown in the 48-46 victory that kept the 49ers in the hunt for the top seed in the NFC playoffs.

Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips knows Sanders well. Both helped the Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50 at the end of the 2015 season. Sanders caught six passes for 83 yards in the 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

“He’s savvy, he recognizes coverages real well, he knows where the weaknesses are, he knows where to run to,” Phillips said. “He helped me get a ring, so I’m a fan of his as far as that’s concerned, but not this week.”

Etc.

Tight end Gerald Everett is recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for three games and will be available against the 49ers, McVay said. … Kicker Greg Zuerlein (thigh) is scheduled to kick during a workout Friday. The Rams could sign a free agent if Zuerlein is not physically sound.

In recent seasons, few things in the NBA have produced unexpected moments quite like games between the Clippers and the Houston Rockets.

In 2015, there was Houston’s shocking 19-point comeback to win Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. Three years later, Rockets players attempted to storm the Clippers’ locker room after a contentious game at Staples Center.

In the teams’ first meeting this season, ex-Clipper and current Rockets guard Austin Rivers lobbied officials to call the technical foul on his father, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, that led to the elder Rivers’ ejection. In the second, the brother of Rockets guard Russell Westbrook was escorted out of Staples Center after jawing with Clippers center Montrezl Harrell.

“There is something” to the rivalry, Doc Rivers said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Houston’s 122-117 victory Thursday at Staples Center continued a matchup that remains anything but ordinary.

What began with an offensive outage unlike any other this season for Houston’s James Harden continued with dust-ups between Patrick Beverley and Ben McLemore, and Beverley and Westbrook, a third-quarter ejection for normally mild-mannered Lou Williams, a fourth-quarter ejection for Beverley and a wild scoreboard swing in the final minutes.

Perhaps the most unexpected development to come from the loss was that a Clippers team that has been so steady at closing out comebacks this season lost its composure late. Because of it, the Clippers’ 10-game home winning streak is gone too.

“We had a big lead and came out and kind of gave it up,” Rivers said. “I thought it was like when you get jumped. I thought that’s what happened. We didn’t react to it very well.”

Paul George scored a team-high 34 points to lead the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard scored 25, with nine rebounds, making two of nine shots after halftime.

By going away from the two-man traps that had defined their approach to guarding Harden during the two previous meetings this season, the Clippers held the NBA’s leading scorer to two points in the second quarter and five before halftime, his fewest in a first half this season.

“I liked how we were guarding him when we were guarding him one-on-one,” Rivers said. “I thought when we did that, we were effective.”

The Clippers had a 15-point halftime lead and the Rockets (19-9) were out-of-sync enough that Westbrook requested arena staffers to check whether the rim on one end of the court was, in fact, level.

But all that progress was undone by a horrific third quarter in which the Clippers were outscored by 18. A team that pushed the ball upcourt with speed in the first half, off makes and misses, began possessions at a walk. The pace was the first sign to Rivers that something was amiss.

“The beginning of the third, that first six minutes, changed the entire game,” he said. “I thought we had a chance to knock them out and we didn’t.”

Houston’s comeback began a game of runs in the final 12 minutes.

With 9:31 to play and Westbrook in control on his way to a 40-point performance, the Clippers trailed 101-89.

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With 5:03 to play, after a pair of three-pointers apiece by Landry Shamet and George and another by Beverley, the Clippers led 111-105 despite missing Williams, who’d been ejected six minutes earlier after hotly arguing a foul call.

But with 1:53 to play, the Clippers were down again, 122-113. Westbrook’s offense, and the defense of forward P.J. Tucker, changed the outcome, Rivers said, but Harden secured it for Houston.

In two previous meetings with the Clippers (21-9) this season Harden had averaged 42 points and made 50% of his field goals, including three-pointers. The Clippers couldn’t keep him down forever.

He scored 12 of his 28 points in the final 6:32 and added an assist on an alley-oop in the stretch.

It’s already a one-team race for the title in the English Premier League, but there’s still plenty to play for back in the pack, where four teams with tournament aspirations battle one another for valuable points this weekend. But it’s a different story in Spain, where traditional powers Barcelona and Real Madrid are separated by just two scores in goal differential atop the La Liga table. Both will be at home this weekend, highlighting the top televised soccer games from Europe.

EPL: Unbeaten Liverpool has all but clinched the league title and is on pace to shatter the EPL record for points in a season as well — and it’s not even Christmas yet. But there’s some drama just below the Reds, where seven teams are separated by 15 points in the battle for the EPL’s four remaining European tournament invitations. Two of them meet Saturday when second-place Leicester City (12-2-3) visits third-place Manchester City (11-4-2), the defending champions who have already lost as many games this season as in either of the past two full campaigns (NBC, Universo, 9:30 a.m. PT). City hasn’t lost a home league match to Leicester since 2016, but Leicester hasn’t lost to anyone anywhere since Oct. 5, a span of 11 matches. Fourth-place Chelsea (9-6-2) and fifth-place Tottenham (7-5-5) , two other teams still in the running for a continental berth, meet Sunday (NBCSN, Telemundo, 8:30 a.m. PT). Spurs have lost just one of their last seven league matches while Chelsea has lost four of its last five.

La Liga: Wednesday’s scoreless draw in El Clasico left Barcelona and Real Madrid equal in points atop the table, but that could change this weekend in the final games before La Liga’s 11-day holiday break. Barcelona (11-3-3), which has a narrow edge over Real Madrid in goal differential, goes first, facing Alaves (5-8-4) on Saturday (BeIN Sports, 7 a.m. PT). Led by Lionel Messi, who is tied for the league lead in goals (12) and assists (6), Barcelona has lost just one of its last 17 games in all competition. Real Madrid (10-1-6) plays its final game before the break Sunday (BeIN Sports, noon PT) against Athletic Club (7-4-6). Its only loss came in mid-October at Mallorca, and it has shut out five of eight opponents since then, allowing just 12 goals in 17 games overall, same as Athletic Club.

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SAN FRANCISCO — 

A San Francisco woman is offering a $7,000 reward and has hired a plane to fly over the city in the search for her blue-eyed miniature Australian shepherd stolen from outside a grocery store last weekend.

The plane, which cost an additional $1,200, will fly a banner with the website she set up to find her her dog, Jackson, who was stolen Saturday outside a grocery store in the Bernal Heights neighborhood.

Emilie Talermo said Thursday that she has been doing everything she can to find her 5-year-old dog.

“I am just one person, and I really need help getting the word out there,” she said.

Surveillance video from the grocery store shows a man in a hoodie approaching the bench where Jackson was tied up.

Talermo and her friends have distributed thousands of fliers with the photo of the 28-pound dog, who has white, black and gray fur and bright blue eyes.

She set up a website, www.bringjacksonhome.com, where she’s offering a $7,000 reward, “no questions asked,” and she has even opened an account for the sweet-faced dog on Tinder.

“He’s always with me. It’s a very real love,“ Talermo said, her voice breaking. “I just need help finding him.”

The airplane will circle over San Francisco and Oakland for two hours Friday. The plane was set to fly Thursday but had to be rescheduled because of weather.

To help finance her search, Talermo launched a GoFundMe, which has raised more than $7,000 since Tuesday. She plans to donate any extra money to Rocket Dog Rescue or donate all of it if Jackson isn’t found.

Talermo said she got Jackson in New York. They moved to Los Angeles and then to San Francisco.

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“Those people I’ve met throughout the years know my love for this dog. I’m just blown away by everyone’s support,” she said.

SACRAMENTO — 

California marijuana users can now turn to their smartphones to find out whether a dispensary is legit.

The Bureau of Cannabis Control on Thursday announced a program encouraging licensed cannabis retailers to post QR codes in their store windows. The checkerboard codes can be scanned by a cellphone camera linking the reader to the bureau’s online license system.

That will allow consumers to verify that the store is licensed.

Consumers will be able to determine which retailers ”carry products that are tracked, tested and legal,” bureau chief Lori Ajax said in a statement.

Officials said consumers without a QR code-enabled phone can also check a retailer’s license information by visiting the bureau’s license search tool at CApotcheck.com.

California voters legalized marijuana sales to adults under Proposition 64, passed in 2016. However, state regulators have struggled to meet the demand for licensing, and many communities have either banned commercial sales or not set up rules for the legal market to operate.

In addition, legal shops continue to be undercut by a thriving illicit market, where consumers can avoid taxes that can approach 50% in some communities.

Last week alone, search warrants were issued against 45 illegal operators in Los Angeles, authorities said.

The QR code program was applauded by the United Cannabis Business Assn., which represents licensed retailers.

Executive Director Ruben Honig called it a tool for consumer education.

“When voters approved Proposition 64, there was an immediate assumption that overnight, everywhere that sold cannabis was legal and safe,” Honig said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. California’s illicit market is nearly three times the size of its legal one and many consumers cannot tell the difference, leading them to unknowingly purchase untested and unregulated products that may put their health at risk.”

SAN DIEGO — 

If you enjoy swimming in the sheltered waters of San Diego’s Children’s Pool, mark your calendar for May 15. That’s the day the city will reopen the popular La Jolla beach.

The pool was closed Sunday to protect harbor seals who have used the beach as a nursery since at least 1996.

How people and seals could coexist on this 110-yard, crescent-shaped stretch of sand has long been debated. But when this beach was named the Children’s Pool in 1932, there was nothing controversial about it.

At the time, philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps paid for the construction of a curved wall around the sand. This created a safe harbor for toddlers.

In the 1990s, though, harbor seals discovered that this was also an ideal rookery, a place to rear pups safe from predators.

Humans and seals coexisted here for years, although there was tension. People were reported harassing the animals; others cited seals charging children and adults who wandered too close to pups. Soon, rival advocacy groups sprang up.

“The seals had prospered for over 20 years sharing habitat with people,” argued the website of Friends of the Children’s Pool. “If the city still insists shared use is impractical, it can allow restoration of Children’s Pool as originally entrusted, not a giant sand box.”

“The close proximity of these seals to humans is unique,” countered La Jolla Friends of the Seals’ website, “as harbor seals will almost always ‘flush’ into the water when approached. This has allowed 120,000 monthly visitors from all over the world to see seals resting, mothers birthing, pups nursing, males splashing the water with their flippers, and couples swimming together in their mating ritual.”

In 2014, the city closed the beach during pupping season. The California Coastal Commission approved, but Friends of the Children’s Pool sued.

In 2016, a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Friends, saying the city’s actions were “preempted by the public’s right to beach access acquired under the Coastal Act, the California Constitution and the terms of the legislation granting the Children’s Pool Beach to the city.”

In June 2018, though, the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed that decision, ruling that the city had the right to annually close the beach for 5½ months.

Rowe writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

1/27

The candidates before the start of the debate at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

2/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden and entrepreneur Andrew Yang greet well-wishers during a break at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

3/27

The candidates await the start of the Democratic presidential primary debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

4/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with Sen. Bernie Sanders during the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

5/27

The candidates greet each other before the start of the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

6/27

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) waves before the debate begins.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

7/27

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) waves ahead of the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles)

8/27

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, left, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and businessman Tom Steyer on stage during the sixth Democratic debate at Loyola Marymount University on Thursday in Los Angeles. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

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The candidates on stage at Loyola Marymount. 

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

10/27

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) spar during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) listens as businessman Tom Steyer speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

12/27

The candidates on stage during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

13/27

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang makes a point as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg listens during the debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

14/27

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

15/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden applauds as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

16/27

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks while flanked by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks while flanked by entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

18/27

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden go at each other during a heated exchange at the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

19/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden listens as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic debate.  

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

20/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point as Sen. Elizabeth Warren listens. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during an animated moment. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

22/27

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks as former Vice President Joe Biden listens during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

23/27

Former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) listens. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

24/27

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks while flanked by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and businessman Tom Steyer. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

25/27

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks as Andrew Yang and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) listen during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

26/27

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden listen. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders raises his hand as former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point during the debate. 

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, Dec. 20, and I’m writing from Los Angeles.

At long last, the interminable parade of Democratic debates came to the most important state in the nation: California. Notably absent from the Loyola Marymount stage were home-state Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race earlier this month, and Sen. Cory Booker and Julián Castro, who both fell short of qualifying.

California figured early and often in the 2½-hour debate, including a question about climate change that specifically referenced the Northern California town of Paradise, which was ravaged by last year’s Camp fire.

But most of the California talk was made in passing, as opposed to much substantial courting of Golden State voters. (The in-passing mentions included references to California being “majority-minority” and home to more DACA recipients than any other state, as well as shout-outs to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee, who issued the sole “no” vote on authorizing force in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.)

[See also: “Five takeaways from the Democratic debate in Los Angeles” in the Los Angeles Times]

Perhaps the most notable omission? Housing and homelessness, which didn’t merit a single dedicated question from the moderators — despite the debate being held in a city where a homeless man died on the steps of City Hall only a day prior, and in a state where housing issues are never far from mind.

But a Napa Valley “wine cave” — the location of a lavish Mayor Pete Buttigieg fundraiser last weekend — did became an unlikely recurring debate subject. It began with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has spurned high-dollar fundraisers, ripping into the South Bend, Ind., mayor for his closed-door event, with Buttigieg pushing back with a barb about “purity tests.” Several others then picked up the wine cave narrative from the stage, with things taking a turn to the absurd when Andrew Yang coined the phrase “shake the money tree in the wine cave.”

Like all wine caves, this one was literal and figurative. The location in question was Hall Winery in St. Helena, which is owned by billionaire Democratic donors Craig and Kathryn Hall. Of course, the term also doubled as an easy, meme-friendly shorthand for big money in politics.

[From the archives: A 1989 Los Angeles Times story about wine caves becoming the latest “in” thing in the Napa Valley]

But jokes and metaphors aside, wine is also big business in California. The winery-owning governor of this great state was seemingly unamused by the Democrats bringing the mud-slinging into the vino den.

“Having a wine cave — It’s my business,” Newsom told a HuffPost politics reporter after the debate, per the reporter’s Twitter. “It’s how I started … I don’t know that it’s helpful to have those kinds of debates.”

And now, here’s what else is happening:

TOP STORIES

After the Democratic-led House impeached President Trump, House and Senate leaders argued Thursday over how his Senate trial will be conducted, with the two articles of impeachment likely to remain in limbo until at least early January as a result of the spat. The Republican-led Senate is almost certain to acquit Trump of the two charges, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, once it receives them. But the House delay in transmitting them means his trial, and presumed vindication, could be pushed back. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Julián Castro toured L.A.’s skid row on Wednesday to talk about his housing plan. Los Angeles Times

These 1920s L.A. apartments inspired one of the best noir films ever made. For the set of “In a Lonely Place,” director Nicholas Ray re-created one of his first Hollywood homes. Curbed LA

The end of a retail era: After 41 years at the Fred Segal center, Ron Robinson is closing his Melrose Avenue brick-and-mortar store in early 2020. Los Angeles Times

This mariscos master is now serving out of an underground restaurant in his Lennox backyard. His wife works the front of the house and helps with prep. L.A. Taco

Many see a divine image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in a stain on the sidewalk outside a Catholic church in Artesia. Los Angeles Times

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

A proposal to allow limited boating on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park was killed in the House. Boating on the waters has been banned for nearly a century. San Francisco Chronicle

The California Public Utilities Commission has ruled that the state’s major utilities can’t raise their profit margins, denying the companies the higher shareholder returns they had sought. Profit margins will stay level at 10.3% for Edison, 10.25% for PG&E, 10.2% for SDG&E and 10.05% for SoCalGas. That means for every dollar the utilities spend building electric or gas infrastructure, they’ll continue to charge customers an additional 10 cents or so in profits for their shareholders. Los Angeles Times

Climate change threatens billions in the CalPERS pension fund: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is the nation’s largest pension fund, says that one-fifth of its portfolio is invested in sectors at risk from climate change. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Since 2010, no police officer in the Bay Area city of Vallejo has been disciplined for using deadly force, despite multiple shootings of unarmed people — including a man holding a can of beer. And active police union leaders have been involved in the shooting investigations. The Appeal

An investigation into horse deaths at Santa Anita Park found no unlawful conduct. A special task force looked into the 30 deaths at Santa Anita during this year’s winter/spring meeting over the course of their nine-month investigation. Los Angeles Times

A former teen model who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has filed a new lawsuit against the disgraced movie mogul, his former studio Miramax and previous owner the Walt Disney Co. Los Angeles Times

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Strong storms boosted the California snowpack to the highest December level since 2015. The snowpack — a key source of the state’s water supply — measured 113% of average this week, roughly 40% higher than the snowpack during the same time in 2018. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Palm Springs has designated new pickup spots for Uber and Lyft drivers in bustling areas of downtown, which means ride-hail drivers will be directed away from main roads and riders may have to walk a block or two. “The idea is that people aren’t stopping on Palm Canyon in the middle of traffic and blocking traffic,” the city manager said. “It’s not good for the driver, or people getting in and out.” Desert Sun

No more “No Section 8″ in apartment listings: Starting in 2020 when a new law goes into effect, California landlords will no longer be able to reject tenants solely because they’re using housing vouchers. Capital Public Radio

A much-hyped wave of tech IPOs was supposed to mint a whole new set of San Francisco tech zillionaires. But instead, the initial public offerings fizzled, and people merely got rich-ish, instead of mega-rich. And now? “Private wealth managers are now meeting with a chastened clientele. Developers are having to cut home prices — unheard-of a year ago.” New York Times

A San Francisco woman with a lost dog is offering a $7,000 reward and has hired a plane to fly over the city in the search for her blue-eyed miniature Australian shepherd stolen from outside a grocery store last weekend. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: partly sunny, 75. San Diego: sunny, 71. San Francisco: cloudy, 59. San Jose: partly sunny, 65. Sacramento: partly sunny, 61. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory comes from Peggy Whiteman:

“We immigrated from Holland and flew from Amsterdam to New York and then the train to San Francisco in 1957. I was 7 years old. There were eight of us (mom, dad and six kids) with my mother six months pregnant. My most vivid memory of when we first arrived is the cab ride to the Cable Car Motel on California Street. My teenage sisters and my mother were screaming at the top of their lungs as we went up and down the hills. Holland is completely flat and they were just terrified.”

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.

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