Newsletter: Today: The Next Electric Car. The President Might Report to This Woman.

I'm Davan Maharaj, editor of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don't want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Who's Driving This Electric Car Company?

It will make electric cars. It's based in California. And its name harks back to a prominent scientist. But it's not Tesla Motors. Instead, Faraday Future is a start-up taking shape in Gardena, with plans to sell vehicles in 2017 and to invest $1 billion in a factory. The company is led by some former Tesla employees, and though it wants to keep its ownership secret, incorporation papers link it to a Chinese multibillionaire. Here are the pieces of the Faraday puzzle. 

Crime and Less Punishment After Prop. 47

A year ago, California voters approved Proposition 47, which reduced drug possession and some theft crimes to misdemeanors. Since then, the prison and jail population is lower, and people with felony records got a new chance in life. But law enforcement says repeat offenders are continuing to commit crime with little consequence. Fewer drug offenders are getting treatment. And with crime up in the state's largest cities, some say the proposition is to blame.

The President Might Report to This Woman

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been campaigning hard ahead of Sunday's election in Myanmar. But even if her party wins, she can't become president. The military remains firmly in charge, and a constitutional clause bars her from the office. Her response: If victorious, she would hold a position "above the president." Here's why Myanmar is still struggling with reform.

Preach It: Ben Carson's Evangelical Base

Few expected Ben Carson to be a leader in the GOP race. He had never held elected office, nor did he have a national political profile. In conservative communities, though, he was well regarded before he announced his White House aspirations, thanks to his faith-based books. See how it's helping Carson in places like Sioux City, Iowa, and how he might build on that base. 

From 'Soul Train' to Griffith Park

Robin Russell played in London's Wembley Stadium on tour with Little Richard. He performed on "Soul Train" with the 1970s soul-funk band the New Birth. These days, you'll find him with his six-piece kit in Griffith Park, in the same spot he's jammed for 14 years. "Drums were made to play outdoors," Russell says in today's Great Read. Watch him play too.

CALIFORNIA

-- A man who stabbed four people at UC Merced was angry about getting kicked out of a study group, authorities said. 

-- Whoops! L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's Clinton endorsement was issued "in error."

-- Gov. Brown takes heat for asking state officials to research oil and gas on the family ranch.

-- Robin Abcarian revisits La Conchita, where a devastating landslide hit in 2005. 

NATION-WORLD

-- New York is investigating whether Exxon hid what it knew about climate change.

-- In China, a so-called funeral reform policy has driven some elderly to desperate acts.

-- Can the family of a Mexican teen shot and killed just across the border sue a U.S. Border Patrol agent?

-- Doctors Without Borders says the U.S. asked if Taliban fighters were "holed up" at its Kunduz hospital. 

-- Black Americans are closing the life expectancy gap with whites, the CDC says.

BUSINESS 

-- SeaWorld fights back: It will open a new attraction aimed at reversing a drop in attendance.

-- David Lazarus: Using TiVo? Your personal choices may be going straight to advertisers.

-- Let the battle begin over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

SPORTS

-- Su'a Cravens of USC is in line for an award, but "I still don't consider myself a linebacker." 

-- Drama over a tweet and more before the next match between the Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies. 

ENTERTAINMENT

-- Bad Boy for Life: A look back at the rap empire Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs built.

-- Movie review: Why "Spotlight" is the "All the President's Men" for our time. Plus: how the film was made. 

-- Aziz Ansari's new Netflix show is "a kind of mature take on immaturity."

-- Kenneth Turan's DVD/Blu-ray pick: experimental and 3-D films from the past. 

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- What does "boots on the ground" really mean? (The Atlantic)

-- First person: "That time I tried to buy an actual barrel of crude oil." (Bloomberg)

-- The joys of Little Golden Books. (Zócalo Public Square)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

The Batmobile. The Munsters' Koach. The Beverly Hillbillies' hot rod. Classic TV fans know the work of George Barris, the "king of the car customizers" who died Thursday at 89. Barris started out in the 1940s modifying cars as a hobby, then opened Barris Custom Shop in Bell. He later switched the middle word to "Kustom." "Because I was Greek, I spelled it with a K," Barris said. "I wish I would have trademarked that. I'd be a millionaire."

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.