Human Race: New DA in town

Former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman will take the reins as Los Angeles County district attorney after ousting incumbent George Gascón on Nov. 5. Gascón, who was backed by liberal philanthropist George Soros and survived two recall efforts during his term, lost his reelection bid soundly to Hochman in a contest that signaled voter weariness with progressive law enforcement policies. Hochman, an independent and lifelong Angeleno, says he wants to rebuild trust broken by a failed four-year “social experiment.”

As the chief law enforcement officer in the nation’s most populous county, Gascón had instituted controversial reforms that included support for zero bail, lenient sentences for nonviolent offenses, and a blanket policy requiring all juveniles to be tried in juvenile court, no matter how heinous their crimes. Hochman, in ­contrast, vowed to stay true to what he called a “hard middle” approach. His “Blueprint for Justice” agenda includes plans to uphold California’s death penalty laws, increase the prosecution of low-level misdemeanors, and return to the use of sentencing enhancements that maximize prison time for violent offenders.

Although Gascón is a former Los Angeles police officer, local police unions threw their support to Hochman, as did victims’ advocacy groups. When Hochman’s campaign coffers maxed out at the county’s $2.5 million fundraising limit, surplus funds went to a foundation supporting crime victims, youth education, and programs to prevent recidivism.

Executive charged

Jason Yates, the former CEO of the nonprofit My Faith Votes, was charged Nov. 4 with eight counts of possessing child pornography. During a video hearing in the District Court of McLeod County, Minn., state officials claimed that between February 2023 and July 2024, Yates owned a hard drive with digital pornographic images of minors under age 14. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began investigating Yates, 55, after a relative allegedly discovered the hard drive in his office. The court complaint said Yates admitted to a prior child pornography conviction that had been expunged. My Faith Votes is a nonpartisan organization working to motivate American Christians to vote for the purpose of “influencing our nation with biblical truth,” according to its website. —Mary Jackson

Mayor indicted

A grand jury indicted Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Miss., in a federal corruption probe just days after his induction into the National Civil Rights Hall of Fame. During a sting operation that implicated the mayor, a district attorney, and a city councilman, prosecutors say Lumumba accepted bribes in exchange for his agreement to fast-track the approval of a downtown Jackson development project. Two FBI agents posed as developers in the sting, flying the Jackson officials on a private jet to Florida, where they later met on a yacht. While aboard, Lumumba allegedly accepted five campaign checks totaling $50,000. He has pleaded not guilty. —Kim Henderson

Tory turnover

The U.K.’s Conservative Party named Kemi Badenoch, 44, its new leader on Nov. 2. The election came after the Labour Party defeated the Tories at the polls in July and ended the Conservatives’ 14-year monopoly on the prime minister’s seat. Badenoch, who replaces Rishi Sunak and is the first black female leader of a national British party, has been a member of the House of Commons since 2017. As opposition leader, she is expected to push the Conservative Party further to the right. She supported Brexit and has criticized ­policies increasing taxes, immigration, transgender accommodations, and government support for inefficient green energy projects. She has promised to reform government and society to favor personal responsibility, family, sovereignty, and capitalism. —Todd Vician

Off to the farm?

Jailed Cambodian journalist Mech Dara, who exposed corruption and human trafficking (see “Human Race,” November), was released on bail in late October, but his time in detention was purportedly enough to change his mind about freelance reporting in Cambodia: He told an AP reporter Nov. 5 he would farm vegetables and sell coconuts in the future. In a government-released video, Dara, 36, apologized to the Cambodian prime minister and promised not to post “fake news” in the future. —Amy Lewis

Catch and release

Roman Catholic officials said Nov. 11 the Rev. Emmanuel Azubuike had been released from his abductors six days after being kidnapped in Nigeria’s southeastern Imo state. The Catholic priest, ordained in 2014, had reportedly been returning home to his parish late in the day when he was abducted by armed men. Northern Nigeria has endured an epidemic of kidnappings and attacks blamed on Islamist insurgents and armed criminal gangs in recent years, but kidnappings are also hitting other parts of the country, with clergy sometimes targeted. The Rev. Thomas Oyode, a Catholic priest kidnapped during an October attack on a seminary in southern Edo state, regained his freedom on Nov. 6. —Onize Oduah

Iranian Jew hanged

On Nov. 4, Iranian executioners hanged 20-year-old Arvin Ghahremani at Kermanshah Central Prison in Iran despite two years of legal battles, fundraising, and prayers to save him. Ghahremani, an Iranian Jew, was convicted of murder in 2022. He testified to acting in self-defense when he killed a Muslim, Amir Shokri, who allegedly attacked him with a knife in a fight over a debt. Though Ghahremani’s family raised money to pay retribution to Shokri’s family—a custom typical in Iran—the family refused after discovering Ghahremani was Jewish. Many observers criticized his trial as unfair and anti-­Semitic. Ghahremani’s execution is the first of a Jewish minority in Iran in 30 years. —Elisa Palumbo

Trans lawmaker

Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride became the first transgender person elected to Congress after clinching the state’s only U.S. House seat on Nov. 5. McBride, a 34-year-old Democrat, defeated Republican can­didate and former state trooper John Whalen III, taking nearly 60 percent of votes in the deep-blue state. McBride previously worked as a press secretary for the LGBTQ activist group Human Rights Campaign and was the first transgender intern at the White House and the first transgender state senator. —Mary Jackson