Newsletter: Essential California: What happens when the LAPD’s Tasers fail

Good morning. It is Saturday, April 2. Here’s what you don’t want to miss this weekend:

TOP STORIES

When weapons fail: A Times review has found that nearly a quarter of those shot by Los Angeles police last year were wounded or killed after an officer tried to use a Taser but the weapon failed. Of the 1,100 times an LAPD officer used his or her Taser, it worked just 53% of the time. “I’ve had dreams where I pulled the trigger and nothing happens,” said Officer J.C. Duarte. Los Angeles Times

Overdose deaths: Overdoses of a powerful painkiller are suspected in the deaths of nine people in the Sacramento area. Authorities believe a total of 36 people have overdosed in the last week on opiate fentanyl. “This is just another face of the opioid epidemic,” said Dr. Caleb Alexander, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness.” Los Angeles Times

Young supporters: “Trumplicans.” Think it will take off? The Westmont College student running Students for Trump in California thinks it might. “Mr. Trump, he’s single-handedly bringing back freedom of speech. He’s enabled students to voice whatever we believe in a thoughtful way,” said Jake Lopez. Los Angeles Times

All of your fans: In Los Angeles, one company is providing crowds. For celebrities. And dignitaries. A growing sector for the business is supplying prolonged protests. “When the targets of our actions see that we’re going to be back, day after day, they get really scared,” said Adam Swart, 24-year-old CEO of Crowds on Demand. The California Sunday Magazine

Higher wages: In the “fight for $15,” most of the gains have been in major urban centers with high costs of living. However, now that California is making the move to increase the minimum wage statewide, the effects could be wildly different than in places like Seattle and Los Angeles. “There will almost certainly be both winners and losers, but no one knows how many of each, or whether the benefits will prove worth the cost.” FiveThirtyEight

Unaffordable housing: What does it say about a city when its middle-class residents need assistance to afford housing? “The pressure to subsidize the middle class by civic accommodation indicates that something, in the Bay Area, at least, is not merely unequal but out of balance.” The New Yorker

It’s a juicer: In Silicon Valley, investors are getting behind a company that manufactures a $700 juice machine that can produce eight ounces of liquid. Is it a food company? A tech company? “It’s the most complicated business that I’ve ever funded,” said David Krane, a partner at GV, formerly Google Ventures. New York Times

Drive to food: Yummy, yummy. Here are five food festivals in Southern California that are worth the drive. Time Out Los Angeles

THIS WEEK’S MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA

1. Take a walk down the most beautiful streets of San Francisco. SFGate

2. For $2.75 million, the site of a 1959 murder-suicide could be all yours. The Los Feliz home has been virtually uninhabited since the 1960s. Curbed LA

3. Captured on video: a fight between an African American woman and a white man with dreadlocks at San Francisco State University. Los Angeles Times

4. Firefighters came to the rescue this week when ducklings fell into a storm channel at Cal Poly Pomona. This video shows the happy reunion with mama duck. Facebook

5. The life of 12-year-old Jason Spears was filled with violence in his San Bernardino community. When he was shot and killed last month, the homicide rocked “a city already coping with prolonged economic struggles, persistent crime and the tragedy of last December’s terrorist attack.” Los Angeles Times

ICYMI, HERE ARE THIS WEEK’S GREAT READS

Marriage material: In Koreatown, parents are spending their nights at matchmaking events in the hopes of setting up their adult children. The fact that many singles don’t marry until their 30s or 40s now “has been a source of much heartburn for first-generation Korean immigrants, for whom getting their children settled in wedlock is the culmination of their obligation as parents.” Los Angeles Times

Funny financing: “The Wolf of Wall Street” is director Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film about the debauchery and criminal activity of Wall Street. How was the film financed? “Global investigators now believe much of the money to make the movie about a stock scam was diverted from a state fund 9,000 miles away in Malaysia, a fund that had been established to spur local economic development.” Wall Street Journal

Dissenting opinions: Justice Goodwin Liu is shaking up the California Supreme Court with a new practice — writing dissents when the court declines to hear a case. “Lengthy dissents from orders denying review, while rare on the California Supreme Court, are not uncommon on the U.S. Supreme Court.” Los Angeles Times

Out in the open: Columnist Robin Abcarian found the worst urinal in San Francisco. It’s in a corner of Dolores Park and it doesn’t offer any privacy whatsoever. “I have never seen anything quite like it,” she writes. Los Angeles Times

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday: Bill Clinton in Los Angeles to campaign on behalf of his wife; Monument for Anaheim police’s K-9 team will be dedicated at La Palma Park.

Tuesday: Beverly Hills will unveil revitalized landmark fountain at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.

Friday: The Queen Mary will begin the three-day “FantaSea: Magic Festival” in Long Beach.

Saturday: L.A. Times book festival begins.

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.