Newsletter: Essential California: The origins of ‘Dirty John’

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 4, and here’s what’s happening across California:

TOP STORIES

‘You are evil’

“He had lavished her with compliments, and now he savaged her looks. He had entered the marriage broke, and now he demanded half her wealth. He had been gentleness itself, and now he threatened her with ‘long-lost relatives’ in the mob.” So begins the third installment of our “Dirty John” series of stories and podcasts, in which Debra Newell learns about John Meehan’s nickname, which dates back years to his time in law school. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Do you have questions about this series? Leave them here: Los Angeles Times

The latest from Las Vegas

The gunman who attacked a Las Vegas country music festival installed cameras outside his hotel room, including at least one in a room-service cart, to watch for the approach of police officers as he carried out his rampage, officials said Tuesday. Los Angeles Times

Plus: The workers behind the counter at the Starbucks inside the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite, Nev., winced whenever Stephen Paddock and his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, lined up for their usual beverages. That’s because Paddock had a nasty habit of berating Danley in public. “It happened a lot,” Esperanza Mendoza, supervisor of the Starbucks, said Tuesday. Los Angeles Times

And: When the bullets started flying on their wedding anniversary, Jack Beaton died protecting the woman he loved. Los Angeles Times

Caltech professors win Nobel Prize

Caltech professors Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, and Rainer Weiss of MIT, have won the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of gravitational waves. The feat offered experimental proof of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and ushered in a new field of astronomy with the potential to reveal the first moments after the big bang. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Flush with a new Nobel, the team partied at Caltech. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Big LACMA gift: Breathing fresh life into one of the city’s most ambitious cultural projects and making history as the largest gift on record toward the construction of an American museum, David Geffen has pledged $150 million to a new building for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles Times

Reversing the road diet: Faced with an ongoing furor over traffic congestion and so-called “road diets,” Los Angeles officials announced they will restore car lanes removed from two Playa del Rey boulevards earlier this year. Los Angeles Times

Car show on the move: The Palos Verdes Concours moved from the Trump National Golf Club in Palos Verdes, where it’d been held for 25 years, to an airport in nearby Torrance. The stated reason had nothing to do with politics. Autoweek

Ready for a runoff: Wendy Carrillo and Luis López will advance to the runoff in the special election to represent Assembly District 51 in Los Angeles. The special election is being held to replace Jimmy Gomez, elected to Congress after Rep. Xavier Becerra was named state attorney general. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

On tragedy and politics: Columnist Steve Lopez argues that understanding the minds of mass killers like Stephen Paddock can’t be blocked by politics. Los Angeles Times

A charter school fight: A small Hebrew-language charter school found out on Tuesday that there were limits to how far it could push a new school board majority that is widely regarded as pro-charter. Los Angeles Times

More housing found: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to convert an armory in Sylmar, long used as an emergency winter shelter, into a year-round facility for homeless women. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Chinatown slaying trial: On Tuesday, based on the testimony of witnesses, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled that there is enough evidence to try Vinh Dao, 37, in the Jan. 26 deaths of Joe Hoe “Tony” Young and Kim Kong Yun. Los Angeles Times

Drone guidelines released: The Los Angeles Police Department released formal guidelines on its proposal to fly drones during a one-year pilot program, spurring questions and concerns among members of a civilian oversight panel and the public at a contentious meeting Tuesday. Los Angeles Times

A tragedy in Fresno: While throwing a football around with other children, a Fresno boy touched a fence coursing with electricity. He died days later. Fresno Bee

THE ENVIRONMENT

Feeling uplifted: “Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail didn’t cure my depression—but it did change my life.” Quartz

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Cool list: Here are the 100 best Hollywood screenwriters of all time — well, as selected by today’s working screenwriters. Vulture

Homeless students: “As California’s housing costs continue to soar, more and more children are suffering the severest of consequences: No place to call home. Since 2014, the number of homeless children in California has jumped 20 percent.” EdSource

He did what? A USC player who was captured on video knocking over a Washington State fan after the Trojans’ football game in Pullman on Friday is being investigated by the Washington State University Police Department. Los Angeles Times

Few regrets here: Despite a shaky stock market performance, Snap Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said he has few regrets about taking his company public this year. Los Angeles Times

A Hef biopic? Brett Ratner’s long-simmering Hugh Hefner biopic is back on track, with Jared Leto slipping into the Playboy founder’s iconic smoking jacket. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: sunny, 78, Wednesday; sunny, 83, Thursday. San Diego: sunny, 74, Wednesday; sunny, 77, Thursday. San Francisco area: sunny, 70, Wednesday; sunny, 73, Thursday. Sacramento: sunny, 81, Wednesday; sunny, 85, Thursday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory comes from Nancy Westfall Gurrola:

“On New Year’s Eve 1962, my parents and I were invited to a party in Anaheim to watch my brother in the 1963 Rose Parade with the Boone, Iowa, High School marching band. We were staying in Pasadena, and since I pride myself on my ability to read maps, I said I would navigate from Pasadena to Anaheim. However, at some point I told my father to take an exit that resulted in us being lost for the next two hours, wandering around trying to get to our destination. So much for a small-town Iowa girl navigating L.A.’s freeways! We finally made it just in time to toast the New Year! The next day, the parade was wonderful, as was the Rose Bowl game. Being from the Midwest and the Big 10, we, of course, cheered for Wisconsin against the Trojans. No luck: Trojans, 42. Wisconsin, 37. But what a game: The Badgers scored 23 points in the fourth quarter! Great trip, great memories!”

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 Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.