Newsletter: Essential California: What’s washing up on Orange County’s shores?

Good morning. It is Friday, April 8. Would you like to have strangers hang out in your hot tub or backyard for a small fee? Then the newest app out of Silicon Valley may be for you. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Social workers charged

Four Los Angeles County social workers were charged with child abuse and falsifying records in the case of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who died in 2012. His mother and her boyfriend are awaiting trial on charges of capital murder and torture. “We believe these social workers were criminally negligent and performed their legal duties with willful disregard for Gabriel’s well-being,” said Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey. In the months before Gabriel died, social workers investigated allegations of child abuse but did not remove him from the home. Shortly before he died, officials closed Gabriel’s case. Los Angeles Times

Life after tragedy

This week marks a painful anniversary for the Korean American community — it’s been 10 years since a trio of murder-suicides were committed by fathers facing financial struggles in Southern California. Binna Kim was the only one to survive the shooting in her family. “As always, seeing their names engraved in stone made their deaths all the more real and permanent, reminding her how keenly she misses them — a pining that she turns to a poetic Korean word to convey: Geu-ri-wo.” Los Angeles Times

Big fine

Uber could pay as much as $25 million to settle lawsuits brought by the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles over the company’s background checks. Attorneys for the two cities argued Uber gave customers a false sense of security by touting that it had the toughest background checks in the industry. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water rules: Los Angeles County is exploring new water restrictions. One idea is to prohibit developers from building projects that would increase overall regional water demand. However, members of the business community warn that doing so could drive up the cost of housing. Los Angeles Times

Hot flash: Thermal, Calif., reached 101 degrees this week. That’s a far cry from the minus-10 degrees in Estcourt Station, Maine. CityLab

L.A. AT LARGE

An instant classic: This car chase had it all — a convertible, rain, an appearance by the TMZ tour bus. And the ending in South L.A. didn’t disappoint as the suspects casually sat on the hood of the car, talked on the phone and snapped selfies with friends. Local television stations carried the chase live for 90 minutes. Los Angeles Times

Religious symbol: The Christian cross has no place on the Los Angeles County seal, a judge ruled Thursday. The Board of Supervisors voted in 2014 to restore the cross to the seal despite the threat of litigation. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder found that adding the cross to the seal unconstitutionally added the county’s “power, prestige, and purse” to a single religion. Los Angeles Times

Building bike lanes: Time and again, cyclists are told cities can’t build new bike lanes because of the California Environmental Quality Act. But now, a solution appears to be in the works. Tucked into a bill related to the Sacramento Kings’ arena is a change to the way traffic effects are measured. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

No welcome wagon: West Hollywood has a message for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: You can’t sit with us. Mayor Lindsey Horvath says she won’t allow her city to issue any permits, should the Trump campaign try to hold a rally in WeHo. The city attorney there, however, stressed that Horvath was simply stating her opinion. Los Angeles Times

Polling results: A new Field Poll finds Trump 7 percentage points ahead of Ted Cruz in California’s Republican primary. However, he trails Cruz in the state’s most populous county — Los Angeles. Daily News

CRIME AND COURTS

Gang hangout: Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer filed papers Thursday in an attempt to stop gang members from congregating in buildings on West 82nd Street. For five years, the three apartment buildings have been the scene of shootings, killings and arrests, prosecutors say. “Take away their territory, you dilute their power … The final goal is to make a positive change that lasts,” said Police Chief Charlie Beck. Los Angeles Times

Who is she? The body of a 21-year-old woman was found stuffed into a suitcase, which was left behind a hotel in San Diego, police said. Authorities do not know how or when she died. Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

Customer service: Visiting a Disney park used to be a relatively easy experience for families whose children have a disability. They could move to the front of the line for rides and expect to be treated warmly by cast members. However, after the line policy was abused by families with able-bodied children, Disney changed its tune, according to one mother. The Daily Beast

Balancing the books: Hollywood might not feel the effects of the state’s new minimum wage laws in part because even low-level employees typically make more than $10 an hour. “It’s an industry that has a lot of income and pretty good margins. What will happen is you’ll have a smaller pool of waiters/wannabe actors to draw from,” said economist Christopher Thornberg. Hollywood Reporter

End of an era: It was an Orange County favorite, but PacSun, a.k.a. Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., is filing for bankruptcy. The retailer does not plan to close any stores. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

App for that: Researchers at UC San Francisco have developed an app to help people suffering from schizophrenia. Pacific Standard

Love is … stuck: A man had to be rescued from Morro Rock on Thursday after he climbed it to propose to his girlfriend over a video messaging app. Firefighters were able to get to the man by helicopter. The whole event left him with a new fiancée and a citation for trespassing. Fresno Bee

Fake it till you make it: It’s the history of the palm tree in Los Angeles. LAist

Sea foam: Yuck, what is that brown sludge washing up on Orange County’s coast? Orange County Register

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Diego will be cloudy and rainy with a high of 68. Riverside will be rainy with a high of 69. Los Angeles will have showers and a high of 65. San Francisco will be mostly cloudy with some showers and a high of 63. Sacramento will have an afternoon shower and a high of 70.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Joanne Scanlan:

“I grew up in Oakland in the 1950s. Back then we didn’t worry about energy use, and one of the exciting things to do in December was driving along the streets in Oakland where neighbors decorated their houses and yards with thousands of multicolored lights. One street of little mock-Tudor cottages outlined every peak and gable with lights. For me, and for my rural Mississippi-born parents who’d come to California in the Depression, driving through the city at night to look at the lights was a beautiful and wondrous experience.”

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.