If only such important decisions weren't in the hands of Trump, a president so obviously unprepared and ill-equipped to make them.
Rather than using his powers during the pandemic, Trump simply wants to be adored for having them.
Joe Biden's choice of a running mate will help voters envision what a Biden presidency would look like — and help them decide whether he deserves to be president.
Dispatch from the pandemic: Circumstances have forced my family to practice extreme social distancing
A graph of the spread of fake news -- conspiracy theories, propaganda and disinformation -- would likely run parallel to that of the coronavirus itself.
He was a very sick man when he arrived in our emergency room, but he was more worried about the hospital staff than about himself.
A touching video of Jane Goodall releasing a chimp into the wild makes my son sob. His tears may reveal frustration over our coronavirus-altered lives.
Dispatch from the pandemic: Times of stress can be life or death for a recovering alcoholic or addict
How the soothing action of knitting calms my stress and fears -- one in a series of dispatches from the pandemic.
May we find the grace to discern hope and meaning in this season of faith and crisis.
More humans may be exercising more flexibility and cooperation, in vaster global numbers, than at any other time in human history.
The court's slapdash intervention didn't serve the Constitution, just the GOP's chances in one election. Sound familiar?
A doctor leaves the calm of home to work in the charged atmosphere of the hospital where sober conversations abound about the possibility of being overrun with COVID-19 cases.
Conservative skepticism toward both science and government intervention has shifted from an ideology to a pathology.
China's reporting obfuscations are blamed for the lack of U.S. preparedness. But other governments recognized the situation in China months ago and took action.
Meat processing plants have shut down as COVID-19 cases turned up among workers and inspectors. Trump's solution? Force the shuttered plants to reopen.
The resonant truth of the coronavirus crisis is that none are safe and all are affected, even if only by nagging doubts and dark uncertainties.
'Exciting' vice presidential selections have sometimes been a disaster.
Egged on by Mitch McConnell, Trump has floated the idea of letting states go bankrupt in response to the COVID-19 cash crunch. It's a really bad idea.
A federal appeals court rules that a state's failure to teach kids their ABCs denies students their rights under the U.S. Constitution.
California suspended its pioneering plastic bag ban because of coronavirus fears about reusable bags. That can't be a permanent backslide.
In America, the healthiest are by no coincidence also the wealthiest. The poor, the disabled and people of color get the short end of the stick.
The crazy quilt of closures and the ad hoc reopenings we're seeing are not going to work for California.
In tandem with some charities in the area, L.A. Unified is essentially running a collection of food banks.
President Trump made a grave mistake by heavily and repeatedly promoting COVID-19 products for which there was too little evidence.
Don't hate Bolinas, California for having the means to undertake a mass testing program. Thank them for doing the rest of us a favor.
Earth Day's 50th anniversary reminds us of how far we've come, and how far we need to go in protecting the environment from its biggest threat: us.
The Trump coronavirus immigration order shows he has yet to find a crisis he can't try to exploit for his own political gain.
At a time when L.A. residents are demanding more from their local government's safety net, their city has significantly less money to help.
Protesters are right that the pandemic restrictions are doing tremendous damage to the economy. That's not a reason to lift the stay-at-home orders.
George Gascón pushed L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey into a runoff. His challenge is to show how his progressive policies can keep us safer.
Critics, including the state sheriff's association, don't seem to know how bail works.
The definition of "essential" necessarily varies by jurisdiction, and those definitions necessarily are controversial and subject to dispute.
There's plenty of lightly used street space available that could be dedicated to exercise and the pursuit of fresh air.
Christy Smith is the voice we need in California's 25th Congressional District to help guide the nation through the coronavirus crisis.
The federal stimulus checks go to people with Social Security numbers, leaving out millions who work in the U.S. without permission, but who pay taxes.
In rural and hard-to-reach areas, postal workers are the only ones who provide regular delivery service.
Trump isn't wrong to question the World Health Organization's early responses to the coronavirus. But he is wrong to abandon funding in the middle of a pandemic.
Mountain lions in southern California are endangered by rat poison and development. Time to protect them.
Communities have a shared interest in keeping renters housed and keeping landlords in business. They provide an essential service: a roof over one's head.
The coronavirus epidemic has superheated the issues confronting colleges and their students in ways that will reverberate for years, if not forever.
Trump is correct that the decision is a very tough call. But it will be made by mayors and governors, not federal officials.
The Supreme Court allows livestreaming of oral arguments. The next step should be cameras.
Psychiatrist Kenneth Rosenberg's film brings together many strands of American dysfunction: mental healthcare, incarceration, homelessness, policing, race. It provides few answers but helps us ask the right questions.
The coronavirus outbreak is exposing weaknesses in our planning for such disasters, and offers a chance to rethink how we do many things.
There's no place and precious little time for this kind of shameless obstructionism during a pandemic that is particularly ravaging older impoverished people already racked with medical problems — like the ones who would have been cared for at the Ayres Hotel.
Cutting off asylum-seekers isn't the only controversial policy issue President Trump has forged ahead with under the guise of fighting COVID-19.
Who needs the federal government when you have the world's fifth-largest economy taking charge?
Sanders leaves the presidential race with some major accomplishments.
Hotel rooms are what homeless people need now