Newsletter: Essential California: This island is in desperate need of water

Good morning. It is Wednesday, Sept. 7. A bride and groom. A sunset. Yosemite. Those are the ingredients for an amazing photograph. Here’s what is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Cold case gets warm

It’s a two-decade-old mystery. What happened to Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, who vanished without a trace? This week, the cold case got new life. The FBI and local police are digging on the San Luis Obispo campus, hoping to find her body. Los Angeles Times

Also: Read the narrative of the case, by Peter H. King. Los Angeles Times

School is out -- for good

ITT Technical Institute, the for-profit educational chain, is shutting down its campuses nationwide. The move will affect 35,000 students and cause at least 8,000 employees to be out of work. Students who are currently enrolled or who left within the last 120 days can seek loan forgiveness from the federal government, and those in California can apply for relief from private loans. ITT has faced federal and state probes over its recruitment and accounting practices. Los Angeles Times

Island without water

The drought is easing in some parts of California, but on Catalina Island, it’s getting worse. Residents in Avalon on Catalina Island are now in Stage 3 water rationing and must cut their usage 40% to 50%. “With the reservoir at the seriously low 139 acre-feet level, and meteorologists predicting more drought, the time has come to cut back again.” Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

City settlement: L.A. will pay $750,000 to a fired city official who filed a whistle-blower and discrimination lawsuit. Los Angeles Times

The good life: In this profile of Vice’s Shane Smith, we learn he bought his $23-million house sight unseen. And, he loves really, really expensive wine. Wall Street Journal

New legacy: The daughter of Bruce Lee is sharing the film star’s philosophies with a new generation. “In today’s Kardashian and Trump moment, to go, ‘I think the global millennials will appreciate a long-form conversation about philosophy’ was counterintuitive,” said Shannon Lee. LA Weekly

Goodbye old friend: George F. Will’s farewell to Vin Scully: “It is not Scully’s fault that he looks unreasonably young. It is to his credit that he comes to work in a coat and tie, and prepared — stocked with information.” Washington Post

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Time with a saint: Jerry Brown and his weeks in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa. Sacramento Bee

Campaign swing: Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is in California this week to raise money and speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Los Angeles Times

Sexist graffiti: In San Francisco, Hillary Ronen’s supervisorial campaign had to stock up on white paint this weekend after a vandal spray-painted a misogynistic slur on her office door. “Bullying & intimidation makes us work harder! When they go low we go high,” she wrote in a tweet. SFist

Election issue: How the issue of homelessness is taking over one political race in Orange County. KCRW

CRIME AND COURTS

Rowdy night: Before former 49ers tight end Bruce Miller allegedly punched out a 70-year-old man early Monday morning, he was at a popular restaurant fighting over a sandwich, according to the establishment’s manager. Miller was at Tommy’s Joynt when he got into a fight with a customer and allegedly tried to grab a sandwich. He was released by the football team shortly after being booked at San Francisco County Jail. NBC Bay Area

Bad idea: Authorities in Orange County say a man and a woman impersonating police officers picked a car to try to pull over. Its driver was an off-duty sergeant. What was their motive? “We don’t really ever see vigilante traffic enforcement,” said Tom Joy, a CHP officer and spokesman. Orange County Register

HEALTH

Unconfirmed reports: Two schoolchildren in Riverside County may have leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease. It will take weeks to confirm whether the children at Indian Hills Elementary School in Jurupa Valley in fact do have the disease. “Even if the cases were confirmed … leprosy is not easily transmitted to others, and we don’t feel like there’s a risk in the school setting,” said Barbara Cole, director of disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health. Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

Family planning: Patagonia in Ventura offers on-site daycare and after-school programs. But that’s a dying perk, even as more companies offer parental leave and subsidies for child care. Bloomberg

Customer service: Is Walmart under-staffing its stores in South Los Angeles? New research and personal anecdotes suggest yes. “At Crenshaw, customers would say, ‘Y’all so ghetto. You don’t have enough registers, customer-service people,’ ” said Daniel Coles, a Walmart worker. The Atlantic

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water legislation: In an op-ed, Sen. Dianne Feinstein makes the case for long-term strategies that deal with California’s old water infrastructure. “I want to avoid what happened last year, when a water bill was proposed on must-pass funding legislation – a proposal I had never reviewed, had not been vetted, and was opposed by the administration because it violated the Endangered Species Act,” she writes. Fresno Bee

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Knock, knock: Buyers in Silicon Valley have become so aggressive they’re trying to purchase homes that aren’t on the market. New York Times

Financial mess: How did this Orange County family rack up a $49,000 bill on the toll roads? This is a nightmare come true. Orange County Register

Blast from the past: Incredible postcards show what San Francisco looked like before the great 1906 earthquake. SF Gate

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles will have a high of 81 degrees. San Diego will have low clouds and a high of 75. Riverside will be sunny with a high of 92. It will be 74 and partly sunny in San Francisco. It will be 94 and sunny in Sacramento.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from JR Richardson:

“Spending two weeks at Balboa Island every summer in the late ’50s. The Jolly Roger take out window had the best tacos, then across the street for a frozen banana. Great way to end summer and start another year of school.”

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.