The Brief

Stage and screen actor Alfred Molina is no stranger to performing characters with dimension, subtly, and humor in such roles as Inspector Gamache in the Three Pines, Diego Rivera in Frida, Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, and even as the villainous Doctor Octavius in the Spider-Man movies.

Molina now takes on the part of big-shot attorney Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind, now staged at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Originally created as a commentary on McCarthyism in the 1950’s, playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee used a fictional version of the real 1925 Scopes Monkey trial as a proxy for their message.

In the landmark case, a high school science teacher was prosecuted for teaching evolution. Molina’s character comes to the defense of the high school teacher in a trial that shakes a small, religious town to its core.

Molina spoke with LAist Weekend Edition host Julia Paskin about taking on the role. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Julia Paskin: Your character states he is not there for the money, so why does Drummond take on the case?

Alfred Molina: He's there to defend the Constitution, I think, in some way.

[The play] was striking at something that was very, very deep in the American democracy, which is the much vaunted separation of church and state. And here we had laws being passed which were kind of faith-based that were controlling the education of people in the United States.

And [Drummond] is a warrior wanting to make sure that you know that the laws and people's freedom of thought — in particular, freedom of speech — are protected and cherished.

JP: Here we are in 2023 with some states still debating what can be taught in schools. Perhaps the subject matter has shifted, but the debate in Inherit The Wind feels current. What does it mean to you to perform the story today? 

AM: These idea and topics — they're still part of the national discourse.

It's what theater does best in a way. It's able to illuminate these ideas in a dramatic way that is hopefully going to keep an audience hooked on the arguments. And we've had a lot of excited conversations after the play with members of the audience who are responding very energetically to the questions that the play brings up.

JP: Your character is going up against Matthew Harris Brady (played by John Douglas Thompson), and despite having very deep disagreements, there is still a respect and reverence between them. That was refreshing to me in today's political climate. How do they maintain a humanity while thinking the other is entirely wrong? 

AM: That relationship, which has gone through lots of mutations over a period of years, is mentioned quite early on in the play. So you understand that there's a real history here. In fact, Brady says at one point, this friendship was based on a mutuality of admiration. They were clearly on different sides of the fence, but there was still this civility between them and an ability to discuss without rancor, without becoming sort of just angry with each other.

And I think that gives the relationship a depth which pays off later in the play.

John Douglas Thompson, Alfred Molina, and Cast in Inherit the Wind

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Jeff Lorch

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Pasadena Playhouse

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JP: Your character even comes to Brady’s defense — or in defense of how we just speak about people. What’s happening for Drummond in that moment and how do you see a connection to discourse today? 

AM: From a personal point of view, as the actor playing the part, it made me realize that you can disagree with people but that doesn't mean you have to hate them.

I remember many years ago, having a really serious discussion with a relative. And then we both said, you know what, we're never going to convince the other. So let's just leave this aside and enjoy the rest of the relationship which is the vast majority of it.

And I think that's something we've lost, particularly in this age of social media. And just the decent thing of, you might have disagreed with someone, [but] when they're no longer in a position to argue their case, that doesn't mean you dismiss their whole life.

Drummond actually says at one point, “I refuse to erase a man's lifetime.” And then he goes on to say “we all have the same right, which is the right to be wrong.”

JP: You last performed at the Pasadena Playhouse in The Father in early 2020. What keeps bringing you back to the Pasadena Playhouse? 

AM: Apart from the fact that it's a 10-minute commute, you mean?

But no, It's a lovely theater. It's got so much history.

And we're now under the leadership of Danny Feldman, our producing artistic director. We're in a kind of golden age at the theater, in [that] he's really channeled a lot of his energy and creative energy into making it truly a theater that belongs to the community.

I joined the board about a year or so ago, and we've now created an education committee.

The Pasadena Playhouse had a very healthy, very vibrant accredited school attached to it. Some of the alumni include people like Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. The school closed down in the late 1960s’s, due to kind of financial restrictions. The theater was going through a bad time.

But we're hopefully in the next few years trying to resuscitate that side of the theater. And Danny's already started moves towards that, you know, we've had productions involving local school kids.

So for me, it's lovely to be part of an institution that is truly part of this community.

Inherit the Wind is directed by Michael Michetti and is being staged at the Pasadena Playhouse through Sunday, November 26th.

Protip: You can enter a lottery to watch the show from special seating onstage.

Michael Gates, a former deputy assistant attorney general, produced a letter Friday that he said confirmed he was not fired for cause, but rather resigned from the Civil Rights Division of the federal Department of Justice.

The Orange County Register last week reported that Gates had been fired for cause, citing an anonymous DOJ source who said Gates repeatedly referred to women colleagues by derogatory and demeaning names and had complained about the department employing a pregnant woman. The Register also published a government employment form, which was undated, that they said showed that Gates was fired for cause.

Gates told LAist the allegations were “100% fabrication.” Then on Friday, he shared a screenshot of a Nov. 21 letter from John Buchko, director of operational management at the DOJ, stating that the department “has accepted your voluntary resignation” and “will remove from your personnel record any previous reference to your termination.”

LAist reached out to Natalie Baldassarre, a DOJ spokesperson, to confirm the letter, sharing that screenshot. She responded by email: “No comment on personnel matters.”

Michael Gates provided this letter. A spokesperson for the department said they would not comment on personnel matters.

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Courtesy Michael Gates

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Back to Huntington Beach

Gates told LAist earlier this month that he was resigning from his job with the federal government because he missed Huntington Beach and his family. On Friday, the Huntington Beach City Council confirmed Gates has been hired back as chief assistant city attorney. He starts Monday.

Gates is both loved and loathed in politically contentious Huntington Beach. He has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump and his policies and a continuous thorn in the side of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is one of the most prominent critics of the president.

Gates was first elected city attorney in 2014 and has won re-election twice since then, with wide margins. Huntington Beach is among a minority of cities in California that elects rather than appoints a city attorney.

Gates' track record

As city attorney, Gates sued the state over housing mandates and the right to implement voter ID. He also marshalled the city into the center of culture war battles. While he was city attorney, his office sued California over the state’s sanctuary law, as well as a law prohibiting schools from requiring teachers to inform parents of a child’s request to change pronouns or otherwise “out” them as LGBTQ.

Many Huntington Beach residents support his work. But Gates has also faced heavy criticism and legal penalties, for some of his actions. In 2021, the city paid out $2.5 million total in a settlement with one former and one current employee who alleged age discrimination while working at the city under Gates. The city did not concede to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

And last year, Gates helped broker a controversial settlement over the pandemic-era cancelation of the city’s annual airshow, which will cost Huntington Beach taxpayers millions over the coming years.

What’s next?

Gates told LAist he’s looking forward to, once again, heading up the city’s litigation, including a scheduled trial against an effort to force Huntington Beach to adopt by-district elections. He said he plans to run again for city attorney in next year’s election.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who rose to prominence as one of President Donald Trump's biggest defenders and recently became one of his biggest critics, is leaving Congress.

Greene's announcement late Friday that she would resign effective Jan. 5, 2026, is the latest escalation of months of clashes with the president over his second term agenda — including the release of the Epstein files.

"Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for," Greene wrote in a lengthy statement shared online.

The third-term Congresswoman also said it would not be fair to her northwest Georgia district, one of the most conservative in the country, to have them "endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for," while noting that "Republicans will likely lose the midterms."

Greene is one of a record 40 House members and 10 senators who have indicated they do not plan to return to their seats after the 2026 election, joining a number of lawmakers who are retiring or running for a different office.
Copyright 2025 NPR

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed a motion Friday in Superior Court to dismiss manslaughter charges against two Torrance police officers who fatally shot a Black man in possession of an air rifle in 2018.

Hochman argued in court documents that prosecutors can’t meet the legal standard of proof needed for the officers to be convicted of a crime.

The court has not yet ruled on the matter.

The details

Officers Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez were indicted in 2023 in connection with the killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, 23, who was suspected of stealing a car.

As the officers approached the car, they saw what was later revealed to be an air rifle between Mitchell’s legs. When Mitchell appeared to reach for the rifle,the officers opened fire, according to police.

The backstory

Former District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file charges against the officers in 2019, saying they reasonably believed Mitchell had a gun. Her successor George Gascón, elected in 2020 on a platform of police accountability, assigned a special prosecutor to review the case. The special prosecutor sought the criminal indictment.

When Hochman took office in 2024, he appointed a new special prosecutor, who recommended the charges be dropped.

“We cannot move forward in good faith with prosecuting these two officers because we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt with admissible evidence that the officers unreasonably believed they were in imminent danger when they saw what looked like a sawed-off shotgun or rifle between Mr. Mitchell’s legs and his hands moved toward the weapon just before the officers shot,” the statement read.

The courts

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta did not immediately make a ruling Friday on the motion to dismiss the charges, saying the state Supreme Court is also considering the case.

The state Supreme Court is considering an appeal filed by one of the officer’s attorneys after Ohta rejected an earlier motion to dismiss by the defense.

As the Palisades Fire was still burning in January, residents saw an eye-grabbing headline: the Santa Ynez reservoir, perched directly above the Palisades, was offline for repairs and empty.

The reservoir’s closure frustrated residents and spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce a state investigation into whether the reservoir being full of water would have made a difference fighting the deadly fire.

After months of analysis, California agencies including the state’s EPA, Cal Fire and the Department of Water Resources issued a report confirming the explanations given by local officials and experts in the aftermath of the fire: the water supply was too slow, not too low — and even a functioning reservoir likely wouldn’t have done much in the face of an unprecedented natural disaster.

Why the hydrants stopped working

The report found that not even a full reservoir positioned uphill from the Palisades Fire could have maintained water pressure and stopped the unprecedented disaster.

“The water system lost pressure, not due to a lack of water supply in the system, but because of an insufficient flow rate,” the report states.

A reservoir perched at a high elevation, such as the Santa Ynez, can serve an important role in maintaining water pressure for hydrants throughout the system. As water gets used downhill, water from the reservoir flows to pressure towers. Because of gravity and limitation on flow rates, the pressure towers can't be refilled at the same pace as they are drained. Meanwhile, the reservoir dries up.

In the case of the Palisades Fire, the report states, a full reservoir would have helped keep water pressure up for only a short time.

The report noted that the exact data on the demand on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s system was missing.

However, investigators found that based on experiences with other fires, the high demand across the system meant it was “unlikely that [the reservoir] could have helped maintain pressure for very long.”

The system’s design

The report found that the closure of the Santa Ynez Reservoir was in line with the primary purpose of L.A.’s water infrastructure: maintaining a clean drinking water supply. The reservoir repairs were prompted by a damaged cover. The repairs, the report notes, were required by federal and state laws on drinking water safety.

More broadly, municipal water systems like L.A.’s weren’t built to fight wildfires, as LAist reported in January.

“This report confirms what we and others have been saying more broadly regarding water system expectations and capabilities, but does so completely independently and with new details specific to the L.A. fires,” Greg Pierce, the director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, said in an email to LAist.

What’s next

The report makes two major recommendations: continue to follow the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and make sure firefighters in the state are positioned for year-round fires.

The state stopped short of recommending any changes to L.A.’s municipal infrastructure. Water experts like Pierce say massive amounts of water and a very expensive redesign of L.A.’s water system would be needed to keep fire hydrants working during large urban conflagrations.

For their part, researchers and others have been looking into other solutions, including putting more utility lines underground and redistributing water across the system.

The report about the reservoir comes on the heels of a separate report from the Fire Safety Research Institute about the timeline leading up to and during the January firestorm. That report, which was commissioned by the California governor's office, contains a detailed account of the Palisades and Eaton fires' progressions and emergency services' responses on Jan. 7 and 8.

As for the Santa Ynez Reservoir, the repairs to fix its broken cover and make it usable again are slated to begin in June and finish by May 2027.