Newsletter: Essential California: Feds go after terrorist’s death benefits

Good morning. It is Wednesday, June 1. It’s National Dairy Month. In California, it’s legal to sell raw milk, goat milk and camel milk. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Presidential endorsement

After carefully avoiding any involvement in the Democratic presidential primary, Gov. Jerry Brown dropped his neutrality — and looked past his bitter history with the Clintons — to endorse Hillary Clinton. Here’s the story behind the move. Los Angeles Times

What’s in a name?

When it comes to ballot designations, judicial candidates want to sound tough, like the prosecutor who specializes in white-collar crimes but calls herself a violent-crimes prosecutor. But when those titles go too far, candidates can find themselves fighting about it in court. “They should be in the truth business. They’re gilding the lily,” said former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Los Angeles Times

Cultural competence

In Monterey Park, there’s one police officer who speaks Chinese: Bob Hung. Chinese-speaking officers are rare in the San Gabriel Valley, in part because families often want their sons and daughters to go into medicine, law or finance. But there’s an advantage to having police officers with the language and cultural skills to connect with a community. “His language skills help him elicit confessions, locate murder weapons and translate suicide notes, speeding investigations and provide cultural context to unexplained crimes.” Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water politics: How the California drought became a presidential race issue — with Donald Trump questioning whether there really is a drought and Bernie Sanders mocking him. ABC News

L.A. AT LARGE

Thanks but no thanks: The city of Los Angeles is expected to rescind approval today of a basketball court in Runyon Canyon. Doing so will cost the city $210,000, as it will have to pay back the private donor who was funding the project. Los Angeles Times

New housing: Thousands of housing units are coming to Warner Center. A $3-billion project that includes 4,000 units is coming to the former Rocketdyne site, and another apartment complex is planned for the old Tower Records location. Daily News

Nowhere to go: Los Angeles’ homeless population is aging. “Many older homeless people have been on the streets for almost a generation, analysts say, a legacy of the recessions of the late 1970s and early 1980s, federal housing cutbacks and an epidemic of crack cocaine.” New York Times

Annoying neighbors: The community of Rancho Palos Verdes is fed up with the peacock population. The birds screech, scratch cars and leave unwanted droppings in people’s driveways. “I didn’t move here to step in peafowl poop,” said one resident. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Public feud: Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas is accusing one of his fiercest critics, county Supervisor Todd Spitzer, of “falsely impersonating” an assistant district attorney in recent robo-calls promoting an upcoming ballot measure. Los Angeles Times

Political appeal: Sen. Barbara Boxer pinpoints why voters, particularly younger ones, are attracted to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ policy proposals. “It’s not going to be possible to do everything he says. However, my point is, young people, they want to be aspirational. And, I understand it,” she said. BuzzFeed

CRIME AND COURTS

Death benefits: The federal government wants to stop the family of one of the San Bernardino terrorists from receiving his death benefits. U.S. Atty. Eileen Decker says $250,000 in life insurance should not be paid to Syed Rizwan Farook’s mother because the policies are derived from a terrorist act. “Terrorists must not be permitted to provide for their designated beneficiaries through their crimes,” Decker said. Instead, officials want to make the money available to victims of the Dec. 2 attack. Los Angeles Times

Drug allegations: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating claims that contestants on “The Biggest Loser” were encouraged to take drugs to help them lose weight. Contestants told the New York Post that they were offered Adderall and pills containing ephedra. Producers for the show denied the allegations. BuzzFeed

Guilty verdict: Actor Michael Jace was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife. The 53-year-old did not testify in his own defense; however, immediately after the killing, Jace told investigators he shot his wife “so she would feel pain.” He faces 40 years to life in prison. Associated Press

Drug bust: A bus traveling from Mexico to Wilmington was discovered to have 182 pounds of cocaine on board, authorities said. The drugs, which have a street value of $10 million, went undetected at the border but members of a federal task force tailed the bus from San Ysidro to an auto body shop. The cocaine was found in a hidden compartment behind the bus’ left tire. Los Angeles Times

Living with grief: As a crisis counselor, Mandy Pifer was used to comforting people through the worst moments of her life. But six months ago, Pifer was the one who needed help when her partner was killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. “The grief comes in jarring waves of pain, with triggers she is still learning to detect.” Associated Press

EDUCATION

Student body: It’s not an accident that USC, once mockingly referred to as the University of Spoiled Children, is now a leader in recruiting minorities and students from low-income families. “Pay attention to the pipeline. Partner with K-to-12 schools. This is where you can make a difference. Every year our neighborhood academic initiative graduates between 75 and 90 kids, and one-third qualify to go to USC,” said university president C.L. Max Nikias. Wall Street Journal

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Safe to swim: This map shows all of the fatal shark attacks off the California coast since 1900. Don’t worry — it’s not that many. NBC Los Angeles

Hobo hieroglyphics: When is graffiti news? When it dates back to 1914 and comes from one of America’s most famous hobos. Associated Press

Church leader dies: Orange County televangelist Jan Crouch died Tuesday at the age of 78. She and her husband founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network more than 40 years ago. “Their first set had folding chairs and a shower curtain. But by the late 1980s, their telethons, broadcast from Costa Mesa, raised more money than Jerry Lewis’ muscular dystrophy telethons.” Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Francisco will have low clouds and a high of 69 degrees. Sacramento will have lots of sunshine and a high of 97 degrees. There will be clouds and a high of 89 in Riverside. Los Angeles can expect a mix of clouds and sun with temperatures reaching 76 degrees. San Diego will have low clouds and a high of 72.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Calvin Lau:

“A solo road trip can be a phenomenal reset button. In June 1970, my first was L.A. to Yosemite to the coast. I saw a snowy Yosemite. That trip planted some seeds, which still sprout. Since then I have hiked the John Muir Trail that starts in Yosemite Valley and started running marathons. Earlier this year, I had a calling for only my second solo road trip. I bookended the journey with two northern California marathons. I completed the last as the virtual lanterne rouge, finishing dead last. I did reset my life and am continuing to sprout more seeds.”

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.