After Coachella’s back-to-back weekends, barely any grass remains on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club. But that hasn’t stopped tens of thousands of country fans from venturing here for Stagecoach, which got underway Friday afternoon and runs though Sunday night with headliners Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen. The Times’ Mikael Wood and Vanessa Franko are at the festival, notebooks in hand and bandanas in place. Here’s a rundown of the highlights and lowlights of Day 2. Post...
On a Monday night in early March, Robert Balog and a friend made the hour-and-a-half drive from Van Nuys to Oxnard to meet an elusive man in a Best Buy parking lot. The man, 35-year-old Anthony Nuñez Jr. of Oxnard, emerged from an old-model red Ford Ranger and handed Balog a thick black bag. Inside were the decaying remains of Balog’s beloved pet, a short-hair American tabby cat named Stewie. Balog drove Stewie home, rolling down the windows to dampen the smell that began to fill the car. He was...