Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, Sept. 7, and here’s what’s happening across California:

TOP STORIES

A two-tiered system

From 2010 to 2016, the LAPD logged more than 110,000 burglaries and cleared 11.5% of them, according to an L.A. Times analysis of the most recent data collected by the California Department of Justice. Celebrities such as Dodgers star Yasiel Puig who have been the victim of a big haul may get a visit from the LAPD’s elite Commercial Crimes Division, a specialized team of investigators who almost always lift fingerprints. Not everyone who has their home burglarized gets the same treatment. Because of a shortage of crime lab analysts, only about 21% of burglary calls result in fingerprints being collected, according to LAPD figures. Los Angeles Times


More on the DACA decision

Despite President Trump’s removal of the shield that has protected 800,000 so-called Dreamers from deportation, Bryan Peña refuses to suddenly slink into the shadows. Instead, he plans to get louder, more public, more emphatic about his right to stay. The threat of deportation has roused Dreamers like Peña to rally, propelled by polar forces: They have everything to lose and could soon have nothing to lose. “This is where I want to live,” Peña said. “This is the only life I know.” Los Angeles Times

Plus: A day after Trump threatened to end protections for Dreamers, he stunned all sides again Wednesday by endorsing a legislative fix that could put the young immigrants on the path to legal status. Los Angeles Times

Van Houten wins parole, again


Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted along with other members of Charles Manson’s cult in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, was granted parole Wednesday by a panel of state commissioners in Chino. It was the 21st time that Van Houten, 68, has appeared before a parole board, and the second time that commissioners found her suitable for release. Now, Gov. Jerry Brown must now once again decide whether to release her. Los Angeles Times

The vaxer debate rages on

The rate of medical exemptions for immunizations for incoming kindergartners rose sharply the year after California eliminated the personal-belief exemption, a new study finds. The results, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., hint that some parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children may have found doctors willing to give medical exemptions to students — a potential trend that may undercut the collective protection against contagious diseases that the state law sought to bolster. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES


Shooting downtown: A man who followed a worker into the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday morning was shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol officer, authorities said. Los Angeles Times

LA 2028 update: Should Los Angeles’ 2028 Olympic bid go over budget, state lawmakers will provide up to $270 million in guarantees under legislation unveiled last week. Los Angeles Times

Settlement reached: Los Angeles will pay $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit from a man who suffered severe injuries after his bicycle hit a pothole in Sherman Oaks, lawmakers agreed Wednesday. Los Angeles Times

Difficult questions: The case of star USC kicker Matthew Boermeester, who was kicked out of the school for allegedly abusing his girlfriend, highlights a predicament attorneys and experts say many universities are increasingly facing: whether to investigate when alleged victims of sexual or dating violence do not want to cooperate with campus officials. Boermeester is two credits shy of graduating and is suing the university to let him finish his course load. Buzzfeed


POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

DACA politics on the homefront: The Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program next year could have a broad effect on Democratic efforts to retake control of the House in 2018, and nowhere more so than in California, where more than a fourth of the estimated 800,000 recipients, often called Dreamers, are thought to live. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Not surprisingly, California State University Chancellor Timothy White is concerned about the end of DACA. NPR

SilValley talk: “A politically awakened Silicon Valley, buttressed by the tech industry’s growing economic power, could potentially alter politics long after President Trump has left the scene. But if the tech industry becomes a political force, what sort of policies will it push?” New York Times


CRIME AND COURTS

Shooting aftermath: A gunman who authorities say fatally shot a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy and wounded two California Highway Patrol officers died from his wounds over the weekend, the coroner said. Los Angeles Times

Shooting settlement reached: Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $1.49 million to the family of an unarmed, disabled Compton man who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in a tragic case of mistaken identity last year, officials said. Los Angeles Times

No ivory for sale here: The first prosecutions in California under a new law prohibiting the sale of ivory products were filed Wednesday by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. City News Service


THE ENVIRONMENT

Remembering a fallen comrade: Gary Helming was a seasoned firefighter who was well-known for “bringing order out of chaos,” colleagues say. So when the Los Padres National Forest battalion chief perished in a car crash last week, his death shocked wildfire authorities throughout California. Los Angeles Times

Fire progress: Firefighters battling the Railroad fire near Yosemite National Park relied on cool weather Wednesday to make progress on a blaze that continues to threaten groves of giant sequoias in the Sierra National Forest. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE


Getting ready for the weekend: After a dismal Labor Day weekend, Hollywood is sending in the clowns, with New Line Cinema’s Stephen King adaptation “It” poised to give a much-needed jolt to the film business. Los Angeles Times

Bringing back Orion: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is reviving Orion Pictures, the movie label best known for releasing “The Terminator” and “Silence of the Lambs,” as a standalone distributor. Los Angeles Times

Demographic destiny: A study by the Washington-based Public Religion Research Institute found that in California only 24% of state residents surveyed identified themselves as both white and Christian. Sacramento Bee

No Stone zone: Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser to President Trump, has been dropped from the lineup of the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition this month. Stone says he plans to sue the organizers of the event being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. LA Weekly


CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: sunny, 84, Thursday; sunny, 81, Friday. San Diego: partly cloudy, 77, Thursday; partly cloudy, 74, Friday. San Francisco area: partly cloudy, 70, Thursday; partly cloudy, 69, Friday. Sacramento: partly cloudy, 80, Thursday; sunny, 87, Friday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory comes from Margot Smith:


“So much changed in our Beverly Hills neighborhood because of World War II. The milkman’s truck had metal tires because no rubber tires were available, and it made a lot of noise when it came down the street to deliver milk. The Helms Bakery truck did not come to the door as often with doughnuts and danish because of gas rationing. We missed the ice cream man’s truck and bells, and the iceman who delivered big blocks of ice to our ice box started using a horse and wagon. When WWII ended, my friend and I rode a streetcar down Hollywood Boulevard to see the joyous crowds celebrating. The streets were packed with people, and it was over at last!”

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.