The following is Times columnist Helene Elliott’s first take on the future Hall of Famer, from Oct. 15, 1996. Behind him, clouds brushed the tops of the Santa Monica Mountains and the sun gilded the ocean, but Kobe Bryant was oblivious to the stunning backdrop at Will Rogers State Beach. For more than two hours Bryant, the high school ...

California leaders on both sides are playing an outsized role in Washington’s impeachment drama, reflecting the complex political landscape in the deep blue state. LOS ANGELES — When The Sacramento Bee published a scathing editorial about the impeachment trial last week — using words like “deliberately misled” “betrayed” and “lied” — much of the newspaper’s wrath was directed not at President Trump,

The largest gathering for mourning fans was at the Staples Center, where the 41-year-old basketball superstar spent most of his career and had some of his most iconic moments.

Aerial video captures bird’s eye-views of numerous tributes in light for NBA great Kobe Bryant, from the neon on the Ferris wheel at Santa Monica Pier to candlelight vigils outside the Staples Center.Jan. 27, 2020

It left the beach enclave of Huntington Beach to the left, and Disneyland to the right, as it worked its way north and west, drawing ever closer to the east-west range of hills, the Santa Monica Mountains, which define the northern end of Los Angeles proper and shelter the city’s most storied redoubts: Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Hills ...

Topline: The New York Times reported Monday that the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter that crashed and killed Kobe Bryant and eight others aboard on Sunday in Calabasas, California, was given special approval to fly in foggy weather,

Then a fireball erupted on a hillside off Las Virgenes Road. I had no way of knowing the helicopter that had plunged into the Santa Monica Mountains hillside was carrying basketball legend Kobe Bryant, as well as his young daughter Gianna, and this crash would send fans around the nation into mourning. It was 9:52 a.m., and I ventured out onto ...

it’s the latest sign of consolidation among e-scooter companies Circ isn’t Bird’s first acquisition. The Santa Monica-based company bought West Coast rival Scoot for a reported $25 million in early 2019. The acquisition allowed Bird to get back into the lucrative San Francisco market, after initially getting shut out of the city in 2018.

The helicopter appears to have struck the ground extremely hard, scattering wreckage over a wide area, and it may be difficult to determine the cause of the tragic accident, air safety experts say.

Dockless e-scooters swept cities worldwide in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, expect the battery-powered micromobility revolution to take a new direction.