Essential California: A second pandemic Easter

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, April 5, and here’s a quick look at the week ahead.

L.A. County officially moves into the orange tier Monday. Here’s what will change when the more relaxed rules take effect.

Also Monday: Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Oakland discussing topics including water infrastructure and small businesses.

Wednesday is World Health Day, marking the founding of the World Health Organization in 1948.

Hollywood’s strange awards season continues with the Directors Guild Awards held virtually on Saturday. Two women are nominated for the top prize for the first time this year. On Sunday, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” walked away with the night’s biggest prize for ensemble film cast.

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

Across L.A., Black churches celebrated Easter and embraced a new normal: From living rooms to parking lots to chapels with masked, socially distanced worshipers, my colleagues Kailyn Brown and Donovan X. Ramsey report on how Southern California’s Black churches celebrated their second pandemic Easter on Sunday. With indoor services permitted at 25% capacity, pastors wrestled with whether to ditch Zoom and invite their flock to worship in person. Most decided to wait. Los Angeles Times

In California, a million English learners are at risk of intractable education loss: More than 1.1 million students in California, nearly 20%, are considered English learners. By almost every measure of academic success — graduation rates, college preparation, dropout rates, state standards — these students rank among the lowest-achieving groups. And that was before pandemic-forced campus closures. Los Angeles Times

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L.A. STORIES

A pair of earthquakes rattle L.A. area. A magnitude 4.0 earthquake was reported this morning at 4:44 a.m. near Inglewood, less than half an hour after a smaller 3.3 temblor hit the same area. Los Angeles Times

“How sewing masks for the vulnerable stitched together an empowering Facebook community.” Started by a Koreatown performance artist, the Auntie Sewing Squad now has more than 800 volunteers nationwide. Los Angeles Times

Performance artist Kristina Wong at her Hello Kitty sewing machine.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“It wasn’t quite what she expected.” A week later, here’s what happened to some of the homeless people booted from Echo Park. Los Angeles Times

IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER

As more young migrants arrive at the U.S. border alone, overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities and delays in releasing the children worsen. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Gov. Gavin Newsom asked for a fracking ban. He may get more than he bargained for — the crackdown on oil and gas production under consideration by the California Legislature is much wider in scope than the plan requested by the governor. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Alameda County’s first Black chief public defender is trying to fix the problem with juries: “The problem boils down to peremptory challenges, the method attorneys use to exclude someone from a jury without having to say why.” San Francisco Chronicle

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

In these four Orange County ZIP codes, everybody 16 and older is already eligible for a COVID-19 shot. April 15 came early to parts of Santa Ana, Anaheim and Garden Grove. Orange County Register

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Stanford women’s basketball wins first national championship in nearly three decades. The Stanford Cardinal defeated the Arizona Wildcats to win the NCAA title. CNN

On confronting late-stage pandemic burnout: “What time is it? What day is it? What did we do in October? Why are we standing in front of the refrigerator staring at an old clove of garlic?” New York Times

One way to get the attention of the local school board and teachers association: A group of Fresno parents has put up a billboard in the city, advocating for a five-day-a-week return to in-person learning. ABC 30

A man broke into a Morro Bay restaurant’s crab tank and stole several hundred dollars’ worth of live crabs. The suspect “carried a fishing pole as a disguise.” San Luis Obispo Tribune

A poem to start your week: “The Otters and the Seaweed” by Teddy Macker. Gratefulness.org

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: generally sunny, 70. San Diego: not not cloudy, 73. San Francisco: afternoon sun, 57 . San Jose: nondescript, 64. Fresno: sunny, 75. Sacramento: mainly sunny, 70.

AND FINALLY

This week’s birthdays for those who made a mark in California:

Musician and producer Pharrell Williams (April 5, 1973), former Gov. Jerry Brown (April 7, 1938), filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (April 7, 1939), rapper Lil Nas X (April 9, 1999), Dolores Huerta (April 10, 1930) and Rep. Jim Costa (April 13, 1952)

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (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, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes.