Newsletter: Essential California: Bringing a U.S. Navy landmark back to life

Good morning. It is Wednesday, Nov. 11. Did you buy a lottery ticket in Chatsworth back in August? If so, you could be the winner of an unclaimed $63-million jackpot. Here's what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Increase in LAPD shootings

The new president of the Los Angeles Police Commission wants a thorough review of shootings by officers. Matt Johnson said LAPD officers have opened fire 45 times this year, up from 23 during the same period in 2014. "We will have to reward excellence and hold accountable those who do not comply," Johnson said. He is calling for the most aggressive effort the police commission has ever undertaken to better understand police shootings. Los Angeles Times

School finances

The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a long-term budget shortfall, and officials say the reasons include declining enrollment and the cost of providing employee benefits and special education services for students. L.A. Unified spends $2,621 per student per year on employee health, retiree and pension benefits, according to an independent review panel. The amount is about $700 per student higher than the state average. Los Angeles Times

Mountain lion's death

The puma known as P-34 was killed by rat poison, a necropsy found. The animal was found by a runner in Point Mugu State Park back in September. The death is the latest sign that a 2014 ban on certain types of rat poisons is not having the effect its supporters had hoped for. Los Angeles Times 

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water purchase: The Metropolitan Water District seeks to buy four islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, giving officials access to 20,000 acres of land. Two of the islands are in the path of a proposed tunneling project that could bring more water down from Northern California. It's a project backed by MWD. Los Angeles Times

Snow and rain: It was far from a drought buster, but the Sierra Nevada — a key source of water for California — collected a nice amount of snow from the latest Northern California storm. Mammoth Lakes got 20 inches of the snow in what officials said was one of the bigger storms of recent years. Los Angeles Times

VETERANS DAY

Landmark restored: Three hundred volunteers have restored the USS Recruit, informally known as the Neversail, to its original glory. The vessel, made of wood and sheet metal, was used to train seamen for the U.S. Navy until the 1990s, when the boot camp and training center in San Diego closed. "She was an icon in San Diego for decades. To lose that tie to history would have been terrible," said Alan Makinson, chief executive of San Diego's E Clampus Vitus chapter. Los Angeles Times

Coming home: In an essay, a Vietnam veteran explores the enormous struggles that soldiers face coming back from the battlefield. For Rick Martinez, that included post-traumatic stress disorder and years of homelessness. Zócalo Public Square

L.A. AT LARGE

Settlement reached: The family of a man who was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies in 2009 will receive an $8.85-million settlement from Los Angeles County. The payout is the county's largest in at least a decade for a shooting by officers. Los Angeles Times

In the park: The Northridge Pacers seem to have received a reprieve. Columnist Steve Lopez reports that the children may continue running in the city's second-largest park — for now. "There’s been plenty of room for decades. If there were a better alternative for the Pacers, they would have moved long ago," Lopez writes. Los Angeles Times

Campaign funds: In his State of the City address in the spring, Mayor Eric Garcetti touted the success of Turf Terminators, a company that helped Californians transform grassy lawns into drought-tolerant plantings. The mention came after the company's representatives, friends and family members reportedly donated more than $25,000 to the mayor. Records show that Turf Terminators received more than $23 million in rebates from the Department of Water and Power and Metropolitan Water District. CBS Los Angeles

Rising rents: Rents in L.A. will increase this year 4.8% overall, "more than doubling the rate of inflation," a new report finds. The average rent in Los Angeles is now said to be $1,873 a month. Curbed LA

UCLA donation: The city's film czar, Ken Ziffren, donated $5 million to UCLA to create the Ziffren Center for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law. He's a founding partner of law firm Ziffren Brittenham. Hollywood Reporter

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

New assignment: The former Treasury Department official who ran for governor against Jerry Brown has a new job. Neel Kashkari will lead the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He is probably best known for leading the $700-billion bank bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program from 2008 to 2009. Los Angeles Times

Friends in high places: Prominent feminists are telling Steve Westly not to run for governor in 2016. That's because the Wall Street Journal reported that he tried to help the founder of the advertising firm RadiumOne skirt domestic violence charges. Gurbaksh Chahal was accused of hitting his girlfriend 100 times in a 30-minute period; he faced 45 felony charges. After Westly reportedly connected him with former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, Chahal pleaded guilty to just two misdemeanors. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Shootings by officers: One in four people shot by law enforcement in Los Angeles County in 2010-14 was unarmed, according to an investigation by KPCC. African Americans were shot at triple their proportion in the population. In 11% of cases, the station found, officers shot a person to protect the life of another. 89.3 KPCC

New details: A man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police Monday allegedly grabbed a beanbag gun and fired one round before he died. Police Chief Charlie Beck said that occurred after officers used the beanbag gun and a Taser in attempting to subdue the man, who was allegedly running in and out of traffic. The mother of the 34-year-old victim told KTLA that her son had been homeless and had drinking issues. Los Angeles Times

Hamburger scam: An Orange County man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for peddling bogus In-N-Out franchises in the Middle East. Craig Stevens pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge after soliciting nearly $4.3 million from 10 investors. In-N-Out is a privately owned company with no such franchise agreements or partnerships. Los Angeles Times

Good grief: A man who voiced Charlie Brown back in the 1960s pleaded guilty to threatening to hire a hit man to kill San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore. Peter Robbins told the judge that he suffers from bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. He faces four years and eight months in prison. Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

Changing neighborhoods: The city of Anaheim has traditionally experienced a peaceful coexistence between Disneyland and homeowners. But that balance has been thrown off by short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. "These are basically unsupervised mini hotels in our neighborhoods," one homeowner said. Los Angeles Times 

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Takeout options: Amazon Prime customers can now have some of their favorite L.A. dishes delivered right to their homes. The company is offering a new food delivery service that includes food from Umami Burger, Sprinkles and Baby Blues BBQ. Los Angeles Times

Grand marshal: Documentarian Ken Burns will be the grand marshal of the 2016 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Francisco will see sunshine and a high of 60 degrees. Riverside will be sunny and breezy at 73 degrees. In Los Angeles, there will be sunshine and a high of 73 degrees. San Diego will have a high of 74 degrees.

AND FINALLY

Today's California Memory comes from Shirley I. Sparks:

"My husband and I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. After college we moved with our family for his first job. The job was in downtown Los Angeles in 1966. We had no idea where to find our first home but heard of a place similar to our Pacific Northwest roots, with huge trees and waterfalls and trails with wildlife. We moved to La Cañada, adjacent to the Angeles Forest. My fondest memory is of Thanksgivings there. We would put the turkey in the oven and hike up the hill above our house with our three children. Sometimes we could see the ocean! The warm sun and the smell of the evergreen trees bring so many fond memories of our life in the '60s and Los Angeles."

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.