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This year, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele made his country the first in the world to embrace bitcoin as legal tender. That means that come September, Salvadorans will be able to pay bills and taxes in bitcoin and that all businesses will be required to accept the digital currency — from McDonald's to the fruit vendor on the corner.

Today, L.A. Times Latin America correspondent Kate Linthicum explains how El Salvador got into the cryptocurrency game.

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How a California surfer helped bring bitcoin to El Salvador

El Salvador makes bitcoin legal tender

A look at El Salvador’s meme-loving, press-hating autocratic president

There are about 20 million people in the United States with felony records and unemployment rates among the formerly incarcerated is especially high — 27%, a few years ago, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Compare that with the overall unemployment rate around the same time, which was less than 4%. The stigma of a criminal record has long influenced this reality, but with the Great Resignation unfolding before us, the situation for these folks seems to be looking up. Today, we'll hear from L.A. Times business reporter Don Lee, who has written about the issue, and from someone who's working to connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs — and who was formerly incarcerated himself.

More reading:

Once shunned, people convicted of felonies find more employers open to hiring them

Tight job market is good for felons, people with disabilities and others who are hard to employ. But can it last?

Visit the Honest Jobs website

Skateboarding is a mainstay of California street culture, from San Diego to San Francisco and beyond. It’s so popular that L.A. County filled outdoor skateparks with sand earlier in the pandemic so no one could grind on them.

But during the pandemic, skateboard sales surged — and communities long marginalized from the sport are now making their own spaces.

Today we talk to reporter Cerise Castle, who’s covering and participating in this rise, and skateboarders from various parts of America — including Washington, D.C., and the Navajo Nation — tell us why they skate.

More reading:

Skating can be a bridge in L.A. These 3 crews show how bonds form on four wheels

Skateboarding improves mental health, helps build diverse relationships, USC study says

From the archives: Skateboarders in urban areas get respect, and parks

Over the past couple of years, a slew of weather disasters afflicting the United States have shown how fragile our energy system truly is, from electrical grids to solar panels, wind farms to coal. Add aging infrastructure and a clapback by Mother Nature, and zap: No power. For days.

Today, we convene our monthly Masters of Disasters panel — earthquake and COVID-19 reporter Ron Lin, wildfire reporter Alex Wigglesworth and energy reporter Sammy Roth — to talk about the future of energy in a rapidly warming world.

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Will blackouts be Gavin Newsom’s downfall? A former governor weighs in

Ridgecrest earthquake packed the power of 45 nuclear bombs, but its impact was muted

Two years ago, the world watched as millions of people in Hong Kong marched in the streets to call for autonomy from China. Beijing responded by passing a national security law last summer that broadly defined acts of subversion, foreign collusion and terrorism. Critics say the law crushed civil liberties. Since it was enacted, many people have fled Hong Kong — some to neighboring Taiwan. Yet Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its territory, is at risk as well.

Today, we start a two-part series on the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. This episode gets into the continued crackdown on freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, where authorities have arrested thousands of pro-democracy activists and shut down a major daily newspaper. We’ll also discuss China’s growing threats to absorb Taiwan. Tomorrow, how the Chinese Communist Party is rewriting China’s history.

An earlier version of this episode was published July 1, 2021.

More Reading

Beleaguered pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily says it’s closing down

As democracy fades, Hong Kong’s political opposition become political prisoners

The most important company you’ve never heard of is being dragged into the U.S.-China rivalry