Newsletter: Chinese ‘parachute kids’ don’t want a hard landing

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Nov. 22. As you prepare for your Thanksgiving feast, take a moment to meet Leon, the turkey saved from the dinner table and now living in a California sanctuary. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State.

TOP STORIES

Who killed this young mother?

It was an enduring L.A. murder mystery: Who killed a young mother in what appeared to be a brazen drive-by shooting as her husband looked on in horror? Detectives followed a few leads, but the investigation went cold. A breakthrough nearly two decades after the shooting led investigators to a drug dealer with a wild story. On Monday, the jury reached a shocking verdict. Los Angeles Times

Surge in Chinese students

Inside the influx of Chinese students arriving at American schools, dreaming of a different future than the one China allowed them: Many consider themselves defectors from an unforgiving Chinese educational system in which, every year, 9 million students vie for just 7 million university seats. In the last decade, the number of Chinese students in U.S. high schools jumped from 1,200 to 52,000. More than a quarter of these students — called “parachute kids” if they come without their family — land in California. Los Angeles Times

Diversity rises, falls

The new California Legislature will look slightly more racially and ethnically diverse than the last, but its number of women has dropped lower than it has been in more than two decades. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

All about traffic: Here’s how two Long Beach entrepreneurs created viral websites that generated millions of clicks slamming Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama with highly questionable stories. To them, it’s all about business. Washington Post

Above it all: A breathtaking drone excursion above Los Angeles on video. It’s a lot cooler than driving. Curbed LA

Crash site: Six people were hospitalized Monday after a man crashed into a planter during a test drive of a vehicle outside the Los Angeles Auto Show. The impact sent shards of concrete into the crowd. Los Angeles Times

Full disclosure: A dispute over the sale of a Malibu home has resulted in a California Supreme Court ruling giving home buyers more protections in their dealings with real estate agents. Los Angeles Times

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

California breakaway: Supporters of the long-shot plan for California to secede from the union took their first formal step Monday morning, submitting a proposed ballot measure to the state attorney general’s office in the hopes of a statewide vote as soon as 2018. It might not happen, but it’s likely to get a lot of attention. Los Angeles Times

Nuclear waste to Nevada? Yucca Mountain in Nevada could provide a destination for the 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste now beached at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. But such a plan would likely bring a big fight. Los Angeles Times

Suit story: Why the Trump University settlement in San Diego is a big deal and presents the president-elect in a decidedly bad light. Los Angeles Times

So close: Democrats are just a few hundreds votes away from having a supermajority in the state Legislature. Here’s the one razor-thin race that will decide it. Sacramento Bee

CRIME AND COURTS

Border battle: One of the most emotional experiences along the San Diego-Tijuana border — the family reunion — might become a thing of the past amid Donald Trump’s new illegal immigration crackdown. That’s the fear of some on the border. San Diego Union-Tribune

Kanye troubles: More rough times for Kanye West. The Los Angeles Police Department visited West as part of a disturbance call Monday, according to law enforcement sources, a day after the rapper abruptly canceled the rest of his tour. West agreed to seek medical assistance, the sources said. Los Angeles Times

Rodman troubles: Former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman was charged with causing a hit-and-run crash, lying to police and driving without a valid license after police say he drove the wrong way down the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana earlier this year. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Death everywhere you look: Dramatic 360-degree video shows the devastation of 102 million dead trees in California — and how scary that is for firefighters. New York Times

Rain, kind of: The rainstorm that swept through Southern California on Sunday and Monday didn’t drop a ton of rain, but it did cause a lot of accidents. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Kayaking commute: There have been a lot of stories about people doing some extreme things to deal with the Bay Area’s skyrocketing rents (RVs, sleeping in cars). This guy commutes to work on an inflatable kayak into San Francisco. SFGate

Silicon Valley and the Donald: After standing firmly against Trump during the campaign, Silicon Valley is now trying to figure out how to embrace him. Mercury News

Trump effect: Did a developer’s connections to Trump kill a major residential housing project in San Francisco? Curbed SF

San Andreas fears: Insurers are becoming increasingly concerned about some nightmare earthquake scenarios in California. Wall Street Journal

Unlikely house-hunter: The German government has purchased the Pacific Palisades residence once owned by Thomas Mann, averting demolition of the home where the Nobel Prize-winning novelist lived for a decade after fleeing Adolf Hitler. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

After our rainstorm, Southern California will see mostly clear skies, with a slight warming trend to Thanksgiving. On Turkey Day, the L.A. basin will be clear with highs into the 70s.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Tom Hood:

“I was awed by the wistful beauty of eucalyptus trees spotted at dusk in the Sepulveda Pass. They were spread out, not like the densely packed forests of my native New York. It was my first impression of Los Angeles on my way to lodging in Sherman Oaks, then on to an interview at Cherokee Apparel the next day in Sunland. The early morning found me on the 210 near the Big Tujunga wash. I spotted hundreds of yuccas in full bloom. It was then I decided: I want to live here.”

For the record: Some readers noticed an error in Monday’s newsletter. We accidentally said it was Nov. 14, not Nov. 21. EC loves time travel, but that was a slip-up — not a chance to avoid Thanksgiving. Sorry for the confusion.

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 Shelby Grad.