It was the Taylor Swift diss heard around the world. “She doesn’t write her own songs.” That’s what Damon Albarn, the lead singer for the British bands Blur and Gorillaz said to L.A. Times pop music critic Mikael Wood.

The drama between Taylor and Damon got real. But it also hit on something really interesting — songwriting, and who gets the credit for it, is a thing … now more than ever.

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For Damon Albarn, modern life is still pretty much rubbish

Column: Taylor Swift slapped back for all the women who have been told ‘you didn’t write that.’

After insulting Taylor Swift, Damon Albarn says he was cast into ‘social media abyss’

Just when it seemed schools and parents and teachers were figuring out how to do in-person learning again, Omicron hit.

The highly contagious variant really blew up while schools were on winter break in California. So when schools reopened and students returned, there were problems.

Today, we hear from a parent and high school students who are trying to navigate their teenage years while worrying about COVID-19.

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California schools under intense strain, fighting to stay open during Omicron surge

Amid high absenteeism, incoming L.A. schools chief says campuses are safe

Omicron surge anxiety, absences and confusion mark first day of new LAUSD semester

On New Year’s Day, comedian Jen Murphy boarded a cruise ship out of Miami and got ready to perform for 1,800 people. She never did end up getting on that comedy stage, though. Instead, she ended up getting trapped in a COVID cruise quarantine.

Today, Murphy gives us a hilarious and intense look into why she got on a cruise ship in the middle of the pandemic in the first place and what she learned from it.

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Shame and fish filets: Diary of a comedian trapped in COVID cruise ship quarantine

Cruise passengers share what it’s like to be on a ship with COVID cases

Visit Jen Murphy’s website

Xiomara Castro is about to be inaugurated as the first-ever female president of Honduras. But la presidenta has a daunting task in front of her. Her countrymen continue to leave the nation, tired of poverty, government corruption and violence.

And the legislative majority she was counting on to help her reform Honduras is now gone.

Today, we’ll talk about how Castro promises to solve her country’s problems. But, in light of what’s happening right now in the National Congress of Honduras, will she even get a chance?

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Honduran Congress splits, threatens new president’s plans

Kamala Harris headed to Honduras for inauguration of country’s president

La diáspora hondureña en EE.UU mira a Xiomara Castro como el ‘cambio’ y la ‘esperanza’

Native American culture and history have long been ignored or romanticized as vestiges of a lost people — or both.

The Serrano people of Southern California have seen their Indigenous language nearly vanish. But tribe member Ernest Siva has been working to save it. Among his efforts: The octogenarian contributes to Cal State San Bernardino’s language program.

Then, 25-year-old Mark Araujo-Levinson found the classes through a Google search — and started making YouTube videos of himself learning the language.

Today, we hear their voices. And L.A. Times Metro reporter Nathan Solis takes us through their story and how their efforts have gained momentum.

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The Indigenous Serrano language was all but gone. This man is resurrecting it

San Bernardino County recognizes Serrano language and museums sitting on tribal land

Tongva, Los Angeles’ first language, opens the door to a forgotten time and place

Felicia Rangel-Samponaro used to live a fairly normal life as a suburban stay-at-home mom in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. But now the half Black, half Mexican-American mom crosses the border to help Black and Latino migrants, many of them asylum seekers stuck in camps in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico. 

Today, we hear her story.

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The woman defending Black lives on the border, including her own 

Podcast: Our nation’s Haitian double standard 

Podcast: Biden shut a migrant camp. Then this bigger one appeared

For over 140 years, street vendors hawking Mexican food have been a staple of life in Southern California. Horse-drawn tamale wagons turned into taco trucks, turned into hot dog carts, turned into pop-up tents — …and, eventually, hipsters caught on and these trends went national.

But even as SoCal has become famous worldwide for its street food scene, government officials have amped up their war on it.

Today, we examine one city’s crackdown on street vendors. And we also talk to an East L.A. taquero affected by code enforcement.

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Column: He’s L.A. food royalty. He began with a taco cart. Let street vendors thrive

Anaheim teams with county to take down taco stand pop-ups

Where to get beef birria, and a haircut. Seriously.

This past December brought record-high amounts of snow to the Sierra Nevada, California’s main mountain range. The state, of course, has suffered for years from bad, bad drought, so we should all be happy that the dry days are over with all this snow, right? In fact, those who monitor such things are saying we should be saving water more than ever. Because there’s a real possibility that one day, blizzards in the West might be gone. Today, our Masters of Disasters reconvene to talk about this possible future.

 More reading:

 A ‘no snow’ California could come sooner than you think California is suddenly snow-capped and very wet. 

But how long will the water rush last? 

Editorial: Welcome the bout of winter storms, just don’t call them drought busters

The COVID-19 era is rough, to say the least. But let’s put it in perspective. Every pandemic ends eventually, and this one will too.

Today, assistant editor Jessica Roy with the L.A. Times’ utility journalism team walks us through a century of past pandemics — from the 1918 flu to SARS — and the different ways they resolved, and she describes what’s likely to happen in our future.

Then medical historian Frank Snowden, a professor emeritus at Yale, reaches further back to explore how pandemics have changed society and what we’ve learned from them.

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Will this pandemic ever end? Here’s what happened with the last ones

CDC shifts pandemic goals away from reaching herd immunity

From the archives, April 2020: From the Black Death to AIDS, pandemics have shaped human history. Coronavirus will too

Two years ago, Nikole Hannah-Jones launched “The 1619 Project,” a collection of New York Times Magazine articles, photography and podcasts. That project became a launching point to talk about Black people’s roles in shaping the United States. Hannah-Jones has been praised and vilified for her work ever since.

Today, we share highlights from a L.A. Times Book Club chat between Hannah-Jones and L.A. Times executive editor Kevin Merida. They talked about how Black people can be patriotic despite centuries of mistreatment … and about using mountains of research to get back at haters.

More reading:

Nikole Hannah-Jones dives into the origins and language of ‘The 1619 Project’

Nikole Hannah-Jones became a political target. What she’s learned from the ‘hurtful’ attacks

Howard-bound Nikole Hannah-Jones plans to ‘even the playing field’ for HBCUs. Here’s how