Newsletter: Essential California: Woman faces backlash over a bear killing

Good morning. It is Tuesday, Aug. 9. Here’s what is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Bear break-in

A bear repeatedly broke into a woman’s cabin in the San Bernardino County mountain community of Forest Falls. Fearful for her children, she got a permit and had the bear killed the next time the animal came to her home. Authorities say her actions were justified, but they have sparked a backlash — and threats — in her community. Los Angeles Times

Supermarket math

Clerks, meat cutters and stockers who staff some of Southern California’s largest grocery chains are voting on a contract that includes modest pay increases and cements current health and pension benefits. California’s march toward a $15 minimum wage in 2022 loomed large over the negotiations, as union officials worried that the stores would cut benefits to make up for the money they’d have to pour into pay. Los Angeles Times

Translation, please

The mass migration from Central America has created a shortage of Mayan language experts. And this is creating problems particularly in L.A.’s court system. Los Angeles Times

Readers, we always love hearing from you. You can keep up with Alice and Shelby during the day on Twitter. Follow @TheCityMaven and @ShelbyGrad.

L.A. AT LARGE

They want Beck out: Activists affiliated with Black Lives Matter dropped a petition off at City Hall on Monday, demanding that Mayor Eric Garcetti fire Police Chief Charlie Beck. Los Angeles Times

Housing revolt: Upscale Cheviot Hills has become a battleground over the growing practice of adding second units in neighborhoods traditionally zoned for single-family homes. The city sees this as a way to add needed housing, but some residents have revolted. Washington Post

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Grid gets grilled: Gov. Jerry Brown and state regulators hoped more interstate cooperation with the electricity grid would eventually help spread clean energy through the region, increasing the market for renewable sources such as solar and wind. But concerns have put those plans on hold. Los Angeles Times

It’s back: Nearly two decades after the epic battle over bilingual education in California, voters will again decide on this issue in the fall. And the landscape has changed a lot since 1998. Sacramento Bee

Pension plums: A new study by California Transparent found that the former police chief of Bell got the biggest government pension in the L.A. area: $288,378 a year. Daily News

Trump slump? A Central Valley congressman’s stance on Donald Trump, or lack thereof, is generating debate. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

YouTube tales: Average Joes are getting famous on YouTube. But there is a dark and sometimes dangerous side to all the online exposure. Mashable

No charges: The Los Angeles County district attorney’s declined to file charges against actor Tom Sizemore in connection with assaulting his girlfriend because prosecutors said her injuries were minor. Los Angeles Times

Long memories: The massacre at the McDonald’s in San Ysidro in 1984 was one of the worst mass shootings in American history. Three decades later, some are still asking whether police tactics were proper. San Diego Union-Tribune

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water barons: An in-depth examination of the Resnicks and their agriculture — and water — empire in the Central Valley. Mother Jones

Beach bear: Is the drought sending more bears to the beaches of Lake Tahoe? (Check out the very cute video.) KCRA

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

So L.A.: Are you acting, producing, directing, teaching yoga, creating art, cooking at a pop-up restaurant and building your social media brand at the same time? Then this video mocking “the L.A. conversation” might be for you. Funny or Die

Religious revival: Inside Silicon Valley’s hippest church — which combines techy buzzwords with a lot of music. BuzzFeed

Parading around: Who says San Francisco has lost its weird charm? Welcome to the Nude Summer of Love parade. SFGate

Skyline dreams: Orange County doesn’t exactly have a dramatic skyline. But by other measures, its office towers are doing quite well. Orange County Register

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles will have morning clouds, with a high of 79 degrees in downtown. San Diego will be partly cloudy and hit 74. Sacramento continues its hot streak with 94 degrees. Santa Barbara will be partly cloudy and a cool 66.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Ardyth Shaw:

“During the late ’40s when I was a little girl, I have vivid and favorite memories of driving with my loving grandmother from San Diego to Los Angles on Highway 101, about once a month, to visit her sister in law, Corona. The landscape would remind me how far we were from our destination; the miles of orange groves, then the oil derricks and eventually the railroad cars, before we’d reach the actual city.”

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.