Newsletter: Essential California: A pitcher’s most important save
Good morning. It is Saturday, June 11. Here’s what you don’t want to miss this weekend:
TOP STORIES
Life changing: Joey Carney had one goal: to play baseball in college. After years, his dream became a reality and he walked onto the team at the University of San Francisco. That’s when he faced an even bigger challenge: donating part of his liver to save his mother’s life. Los Angeles Times
Chief leaves: Oakland’s police chief is stepping down. Sean Whent leaves just as the department is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against police officers. Mayor Libby Schaaf called Whent’s departure a “personal choice.” Associated Press
Living on the edge: Why do Los Angeles’ middle-class families feel like they’re living just above the poverty line? “The economy has changed dramatically in the past few decades, altering the types of jobs we do, where we live and what it takes to afford those staples of middle class life. Middle-class life has become 30 percent more expensive in the past 20 years.” Marketplace
Sentencing day: Actor Michael Jace was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for killing his wife. “There is absolutely no justification for my actions on that night. I am profoundly sorry for the pain that I’ve caused everyone,” he said at his sentencing. Jace shot his wife three times during an argument. Prosecutors said he was upset that his wife wanted a divorce. Associated Press
Summer vacation: President Obama and the First Family will visit Yosemite National Park next week. As president, Obama has moved to protect a record 256 million acres of public lands and waters. The last president to visit Yosemite was John F. Kennedy. SFGate
Street lights: The Department of Public Works in Los Angeles has its own museum that’s open once a month for 30 minutes. “The oldest light on display at the museum dates back to 1905 — a Five Globe Llewellyn — which back in the day dotted the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.” 89.3 KPCC
Whirlwind tour: Would you know how to spend 36 hours in L.A.’s Highland Park and downtown neighborhoods? “Despite pop culture portrayals of Los Angeles as either comically superficial or darkly dystopian, the nation’s second largest metropolis is a vivid, soulful, eclectic city.” New York Times
THIS WEEK’S MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA
1. Is that a ghost in the attic? Nope, it’s Dolly Oesterreich’s lover. Atlas Obscura
2. This map shows whether Los Angeles County neighborhoods voted for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Los Angeles Times
3. Lake Machado’s snakes aren’t going anywhere. Los Angeles Times
4. The case of Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer convicted of raping a woman, has taken the Internet by storm thanks to the victim’s statement to the court. In the following days, more court documents were released, including this letter from Turner’s father. Los Angeles Times
5. Polls show California’s Democrats split between Sanders and Clinton. But if that were the case, why wasn’t Tuesday’s primary closer? Los Angeles Times
ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEK’S GREAT READS
Punishment fit the crime: If a judge sends a rapist to jail for six months, does he deserve to be recalled? Yes, writes columnist Robin Abcarian. “I’d love to know why his definition of a sexually violent predator does not include a 19-year-old man who raped an intoxicated, unresponsive 22-year-old woman.” Los Angeles Times
Tear down that fort: Palos Verdes Estates has been slow to act on a state demand that a stone fort used by aggressive and territorial surfers be torn down. “The complexity of the situation has presented no easy or immediate answer,” said city manager Anton Dahlerbruch. The city likely will miss the state’s deadline by at least two months. Los Angeles Times
Purple rain: The history of the Jacaranda. “Their purple pageantry is the closest thing we have to seasons, to any season at all. They dazzle us and then disappear.” LAist
LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday: Sen. Barbara Boxer and Paula Poundstone will participate in a conversation at the Wallis Annenberg Center.
Thursday: The Taste of Orange food festival will kick off.
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.
