To look again on the tales that outlined 2024, we compiled our most-visited protection into three classes: the articles that attracted the best variety of readers, the most well-liked tales that solely subscribers get to learn and the items that folks spent the longest time studying. To focus on as lots of our reporters’ tales as potential, we listed a subject’s highest-ranked piece and talked about comparable articles below it.
Most-read tales | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Most-read tales
(ranked by total variety of visits)
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A infamous hacking group claimed it stole the non-public information of two.9 billion folks from Nationwide Public Knowledge, a Florida-based firm that collects private data for background checks. 4 months later, a member of the group reportedly launched most of it at no cost on an internet market for stolen private knowledge.
Additionally extensively learn: Large knowledge breach that features Social Safety numbers could also be even worse than suspected
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In one of many largest money heists in Los Angeles historical past, thieves stole as a lot as $30 million in an Easter Sunday housebreaking at a San Fernando Valley cash storage facility the place money from companies throughout the area is dealt with and saved. Legislation enforcement sources mentioned the entire stolen surpassed that of any armored-car heist within the metropolis.
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A girl from Santa Barbara County, fed up along with her mail being stolen, took issues into her personal arms: She mailed herself a bundle containing an Apple AirTag — a monitoring machine that can be utilized to assist discover private gadgets by means of a Bluetooth sign — and helped authorities retrieve her mail, together with the bundle with the AirTag together with gadgets that have been seemingly stolen from different further victims. Authorities arrested two suspects.
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This story is about an Arizona couple’s combat to get again into Disney’s unique Membership 33 and the way they spent about $400,000 on a lawsuit they ended up shedding. Scott and Diana Anderson’s membership within the membership was revoked after an allegation that Scott Anderson was drunk in public in 2017.
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An investigation by The Occasions discovered alarming ranges of pesticides in hashish merchandise accessible on dispensary cabinets throughout the state.
Critiques of confidential lab stories, public information and interviews present California regulators have largely failed to handle proof of widespread contamination within the state’s weed crop.
Additionally, try the follow-up investigation with extra questions and extra testing: New assessments discover ‘hidden’ pesticides, in additional California weed manufacturers. Regulators ignored warnings
6
The son of “Sister Wives” star Janelle Brown was discovered lifeless at his Arizona residence. Brown advised police that her son, Garrison, despatched alarming texts earlier than his obvious suicide, prompting her to have somebody verify on him. The story is a reminder to hunt assist from knowledgeable and name 9-8-8, in case you or somebody you understand is battling suicidal ideas.
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Gross sales of child meals pouches — delicate baggage with plastic spouts for simple consumption — have skyrocketed since 2010. However specialists are involved that an overreliance on pouches, regardless of their comfort, can have an effect on a toddler’s diet, meals preferences, dental hygiene and speech improvement. This text is a deep-dive into the recognition of pouches and methods for shoppers to see by means of advertising and marketing ways and extra.
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The oarfish has lengthy been known as a doomsday fish, a reference that seemingly stems from Japanese folklore, which thought-about recognizing such a fish a foul omen of pure disasters. When a bunch of kayakers and snorkelers got here throughout a lifeless oarfish at La Jolla Cove, they instantly notified officers about their discover, serving to deliver the lifeless 12-foot-long uncommon fish onshore for future analysis.
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Going through a life sentence for extortion, Ralph Rocha turned on the Mexican Mafia and wore a wire for 2 years. Unbeknownst to his legislation enforcement handlers, he additionally made a secret set of tapes — these tapes, disclosed right here for the primary time, advised a really completely different story from the one brokers and prosecutors offered in a 2013 indictment alleging the Mexican Mafia and La Familia have been entwined in a sinister, transnational alliance.
This was the primary of the three-part collection. Learn Half 2: How an informant almost brokered a cartel alliance and Half 3: A mobster helped the feds arrest drug sellers. Native cops suspected him of murder
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After signing a 10-year, $700-million file cope with the Dodgers in late 2023, Shohei Ohtani grew to become a direct L.A. celebrity.
Most-read tales | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Deep reads
(ranked by common time spent on the web page)
1
That is the story of a sibling rivalry performed out in courtroom that decided the destiny of an actual property empire. About 30 years in the past, after the Northridge Earthquake, Shashikant Jogani’s brothers helped him rebuild his actual property empire, Northridge Meadows residences. At difficulty is whether or not two of the brothers had struck an oral settlement a couple of enterprise association on mortgage compensation and firm shares almost 30 years in the past.
One brother mentioned they shook on it. The opposite denied there was a deal. What did the jury suppose?
2
One after the other, in the summertime of 1984, teenage ladies vanished off the streets of the agricultural California mountain city of Placerville. By the point the third physique was found within the woods that fall, El Dorado County sheriff’s detectives have been below strain to seek out the killer, and for some time it appeared they did. They arrested a loner, Michael Anthony Cox — who was arrested and sentenced to loss of life after a trial that supplied no bodily proof and relied closely on the testimonies of two teenage ladies.
This story reveals troubling questions on each justice and the justice system. Years later, each younger ladies mentioned below oath that police pressured them, utilizing aggressive interrogation ways that led them to concoct tales about Cox that weren’t true. So why is he nonetheless on loss of life row?
3
It is a grotesque story about Madie Moore, who went to jail for killing her 8-year-old niece. Moore’s niece’s physique was discovered encased in concrete in 1995. However nobody was ever charged for a second physique police discovered — that of Moore’s nephew, Kenny.
Years later, whereas Moore was attempting to get out of jail, her daughter, who hoped Moore wouldn’t go free, addressed the California parole board.
“Why,” Candice Moore requested, “are we not talking about Kenny?”
4
From Colman Domingo to Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White and Martin Scorsese, Hollywood’s largest stars dressed to impress. Try the pictures from the pink carpet, backstage and The Occasions’ portrait studio on the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.
Additionally extensively learn: All of the appears to be like from the 2024 SAG Awards pink carpet
And: All of the appears to be like from the 2024 Oscars pink carpet
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“They say that all the time — ‘I’m over it,’ ” Ariana Madix of “Vanderpump Rules” fame advised The Occasions, assuming the voice of an irritated fan. “But them saying that feels a little bit like, ‘Oh, you own my life? You’ve decided that you’ve consumed enough content?’ ” On this interview, Madix speaks out on Bravo masking for ex Tom Sandoval, the critics who say she’s simply cashing in and her subsequent chapter: Broadway’s “Chicago.”
Two L.A. sports activities card collectors owned a uncommon LeBron James rookie card that they hoped to promote for giant bucks. The brothers consigned the cardboard to Goldin Auctions, a New Jersey-based powerhouse on this planet of sports activities memorabilia. Its founder, Ken Goldin, is an auctioneer dubbed the “King of Collectibles,” who upended the brothers’ plan.
7
Thirty years after the discharge of their debut LP, the members of Weezer reveal how their self-titled debut album — generally known as the Blue Album due to its cowl (and the truth that the band stored naming further albums “Weezer”) — got here to be.
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A girl falsely confessed to a surprising homicide and was exonerated almost twenty years later from a wrongful conviction that derailed her and her sons’ lives.
A part of a Occasions investigation into the surprising collection of murders that shocked Placerville, Calif., within the Sierra Nevada foothills within the Eighties, it is a story of homicide, controversial police ways and justice delayed in a California neighborhood.
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A girl who accused former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault was indicted by a grand jury on two felony costs. Three different ladies accused him of sexual assault; he denied all their claims and alleged every of the ladies had turned consensual sexual encounters into a possibility for extortion. What does this imply for Bauer and his MLB future?
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Already a beloved determine who starred at operating again for UCLA’s final Rose Bowl workforce a quarter-century in the past, new UCLA coach DeShaun Foster spoke with The Occasions concerning the begin of his tenure, what he hoped to alter and the way he wished the Bruins to compete.
Most-read tales | Deep reads | Subscribers’ favorites
Subscribers’ favorites
(subscriber-exclusive tales ranked by variety of visits)
1
This investigation is so well-liked, it additionally landed on our checklist of total most-read tales.
2
This collection attracted a excessive variety of readers and in addition landed on our checklist of total most-read tales.
3
A video of Victor the Bear swiping at a lady’s leg and what occurred subsequent fueled a raging debate over humanity’s coexistence with wild animals, significantly people who encourage each awe and terror.
For some, the video is an instance of individuals baiting wildlife with perilous penalties. To others, it illustrates the issue of untamed animals changing into habituated to interacting with people.
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Authorities say Danielle Johnson, a widely known astrologer, self-described “divine healer” and Reiki practitioner, left a path of violence in her wake on Aug. 8, the day of the photo voltaic eclipse. She fatally stabbed her associate, pushed her two kids from a transferring automobile on an L.A. freeway, killing her toddler daughter, after which rammed her dashing car right into a tree.
Her actions — which have been linked to her alarmist obsession with the eclipse — elevate a query: How may somebody so trusted, revered and anxious for the religious well-being of others have been so unwell herself?
Additionally, learn the profile of Danielle Johnson: A celebrated L.A. astrology influencer’s beautiful fall from ‘healer’ to photo voltaic eclipse killer
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A violent conflict between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and supporters of Israel outdoors a synagogue within the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles was condemned by Mayor Karen Bass, who ordered extra police patrols within the space and at homes of worship across the metropolis.
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The large ripple results of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are nonetheless being felt by tens of hundreds of individuals in Hollywood and adjoining industries. Crew members have been hit particularly laborious and are preventing to seek out work.
“I am currently in the worst place I’ve ever been in my entire life financially,” mentioned Heather Fink, a growth operator and director. “The industry is in a crisis. It is not back to normal. We are in debt.”
Additionally extensively learn: Hollywood’s exodus: Why movie and TV employees are leaving Los Angeles
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In Palm Springs, a cap on short-term leases in particular high-demand neighborhoods has all however frozen the market in these communities.
Gross sales are down. Houses languish available on the market for months. And traders who purchased up Palm Springs properties in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic are dealing with a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} in losses.
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These reasonably priced communities are far-flung and a protracted drive from the bustle of town. However locals say the cut price costs and charms make the trade-offs price it.
And since that is California, some marvel how lengthy it is going to be earlier than others uncover what they’ve and transfer in.
Additionally extensively learn: We ranked the highest 25 greatest locations to retire in California for most individuals. Would you reside right here?
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Past the monetary blows inflicted by the pandemic and the actors’ and writers’ strikes, the huge Los Angeles-based leisure trade generally known as Hollywood is dealing with the far larger forces of financial disruption which have already struck the remainder of the US.
The decades-long manner of earning money within the movie and TV trade has been turned the other way up by new applied sciences, altering public appetites and the globalization of the workforce.
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This delicately curated information steers Southern Californians towards the perfect tacos in one of many world’s most eclectic meals scenes. Spanning regional kinds from Tijuana, Sinaloa, Mexico Metropolis and past, it is a complete checklist that displays historical past, regional cooking kinds and revolutionary diversifications which have grow to be a part of L.A. meals tradition.
Additionally extensively learn: These are the 101 greatest eating places in Los Angeles
And: 20 of essentially the most picturesque restaurant patios in Los Angeles
