Newsletter: Essential California: That ‘A’ restaurant might have rats

Good morning. It is Friday, June 26. It has been 41 years, but the San Diego Chicken is still performing. He just doesn’t do splits the way he used to. Here's what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES 

Limiting exemptions

Opponents of a vaccination bill plan to sue if Gov. Jerry Brown signs it into law. The bill, approved Thursday by the state Assembly, would require all children entering kindergarten to be vaccinated unless they have a medical issue. California would be the third state to deny parents the right to opt out of vaccinations for religious reasons. Los Angeles Times

Secret salary 

The former police chief of Bell had his pension cut in half in a decision that will serve as a precedent for any California official whose pay is kept secret from the public. An administrative law judge decided that because Randy Adams’ salary was not approved in public, he cannot draw a pension based on that amount. He will receive $235,000 a year instead of the $510,000 he had sought. Los Angeles Times

LAUSD investigation

A Los Angeles school district probe into allegations of misconduct against celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith has broadened to include an accusation that he abused a child 40 years ago, district officials said. Los Angeles Times 

DROUGHT

Getting worse: Most of California is now in an exceptional drought, according to the latest maps from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Los Angeles Times

Faulty premise: In 1922, six Western states drew up plans for how much water each state could draw from the Colorado River. One problem -- that was a particularly wet period and state officials overestimated how much water the river would provide. Water management may be as much to blame for the drought as the lack of rainfall. ProPublica

L.A. AT LARGE

More efficient and economical: South Los Angeles sidewalks are getting repaired because the councilman there bypassed unionized city workers and contracted out the work to a nonprofit. The process appears to be faster and cheaper, but it may soon end. Councilman Bernard Parks is being replaced by Marqueese Harris-Dawson, who enjoyed tremendous support from labor during his campaign. 89.3 KPCC

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Campaign cash: A Republican activist whose Twitter profile reads “Kick ass for da Lord! Tax guy too” is accused of embezzling $170,000 from the reelection campaign of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). Jack Wu, who filed for bankruptcy in 1996, has not responded to the allegation. Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

Inside the hack: Sony should have known it was going to be the victim of a major cyber-security breach. That’s according to a new investigative piece that examines how Sony was operating as a company before hackers infiltrated its computer systems and stole everything from unfinished scripts to emails to Social Security numbers. Fortune

Making the grade: You might think you’re in good hands with a restaurant that has an “A” from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, but those grades can be misleading. They represent a snapshot in time, sometimes one or two hours of cleanliness, and even then restaurants can receive the top mark while simultaneously having a violation like rat infestation or a lack of hot water. San Gabriel Valley Tribune

EDUCATION

Student debt: Californians may be beautiful, but they’re lacking when it comes to brains. Writer Joe Mathews argues that if residents were paying a bit more attention, they would recognize that investing in the the state’s higher education system is the best hope for the future. “With immigration flat and the birthrate falling, California will need to attract more people from out of state to study and work here to maintain the state’s vitality,” he writes. San Diego Union-Tribune

HOUSING

Beachfront property: Music and film mogul David Geffen is selling his Malibu compound for $100 million. The property is famous for Geffen’s efforts to restrict public access to the beach. At one point, he erected fake garage doors and tore out the curb so people couldn’t park on Pacific Coast Highway in front of his home. Curbed LA

Home ownership: Rates in San Diego continue to decline. That means there’s more demand for the rental market, which pushes up rents. Compounding the problem is that it’s now more attractive to developers to build multifamily housing rather than homes, which means there’s less inventory for homebuyers. San Diego Union-Tribune

Home values: In Sacramento, they are increasing at twice the national rate. The city’s median home values increased 6.1% to $339,100. That’s still below the peak of home values in December 2005. Sacramento Bee

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Too much: Wild behavior in Hollywood is as old as Hollywood itself. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the Garden of Allah on Sunset Boulevard was ground zero for the drunken, sexual antics of movie stars and writers. GQ

Which filter: Wanna look cool on the Internet? Check out Los Angeles’ most “Instagrammed” walls. Los Angeles Magazine

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles will be cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Temperatures are expected to reach 80 degrees. In San Diego, it will be cloudy and 72. Riverside will have sunshine and heat at 93 degrees. San Francisco will have patchy fog in the morning and a high of 67.

AND FINALLY

BART station restrooms that were shut down in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will finally be reopened. The transit agency expects to spend $100,000 to $525,000 to remodel them.

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.