Newsletter: Essential California Week in Review: Dangerous heat is coming to Los Angeles this weekend

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, July 22.

Here’s a look at the top stories of the last week

Dangerous heat is coming to Los Angeles this weekend, raising warnings in the valleys. The latest bout of extreme temperatures, coming amid an unrelenting heat wave, is forecast to bring highs of 100 to 110 degrees in the valleys, deserts and mountain areas.

• Death Valley’s extreme heat goes off the charts from climate change.
• Steve Curry, an experienced and inveterate hiker from Sunland, is believed to be the second person to die in Death Valley’s searing heat this year.
• Low-income LADWP customers’ bills are about to rise. What help is available?
• Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?
• Hellish heat leaves Southwest in misery: Fainting, broken cars, sizzling sidewalks.
• Why do high temperatures cause more smog?

‘A lot of blood in the water.’ Why actors’ and writers’ strikes are a big blow to Hollywood studios. As SAG-AFTRA members join writers on picket lines, the fallout will disrupt Hollywood film and TV productions worldwide. “There’s going to be blood in the water,” said one analyst. “This will not end well.”

• NBCUniversal said eliminating shade enjoyed by striking writers and actors was not intentional. It’s not the only disruption picketers have faced.
• L.A. politicians are joining picket lines. The city attorney wants them to stay away.

Near Skid Row, an immigrant family realizes their dream with a little shop — then sells a $1-billion Powerball ticket. Flanked by fabric shops and stores displaying elaborate quinceañera dresses, a frenzy buzzed at the downtown Los Angeles store where the ticket to a $1-billion Powerball jackpot was sold.

A fourth bus of migrants sent from Texas arrives in L.A. with 41 aboard, including 6 children. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a fourth busload of migrants on a lengthy bus trip to L.A., a “cruel” action amid “a scorching summer,” said one advocate.

A gun is found in Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall days after the county announced youth transfers. Just days after youths were moved into Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, probation officers found a gun in an area that youths would have had access to, sources said.

Photo of the week

This tagged sea otter, called “841” by authorities, has been harassing surfers along the Santa Cruz coastline. So far, she has dodged repeated attempts to trap her.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

California’s wily, surfboard-stealing sea otter evades capture again. As authorities extend their dragnet over land, sea and air, the renegade sea otter known as “841” continues to evade capture while snacking on shellfish.

L.A. police union official tells cops to go ‘somewhere that understands your worth.’ Police union Vice President Jerretta Sandoz advised LAPD officers on Facebook to work in a city that doesn’t have two or more council members “who hate you.”

Gun control laws in California and beyond are in peril as the Supreme Court expands the 2nd Amendment. Does the 2nd Amendment give gun rights to ex-felons and dangerous defendants? U.S. Supreme Court justices are about to decide.

Monterey Park gunman sent a manifesto before the mass shooting, sheriff says. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna did not disclose what was inside the communication, which is now with the FBI.

More than 34,000 L.A. County households lost Medi-Cal in July amid rollback of COVID rules. Tens of thousands of L.A. households have had Medi-Cal discontinued this month. Across the U.S., more than 3 million had lost Medicaid coverage as of Wednesday.

• Did you get COVID but never feel sick? A new study hints at why.

Ex-deputy in a high-profile shooting will plead guilty to violating skateboarder’s civil rights. Christopher Hernandez and his former partner, Miguel Vega, were both charged in federal court earlier this year on a five-count indictment. Vega is still headed for trial in October.

Tupac Shakur killing: A Vegas-area search was linked to a man who claims he was in the car with the killer. Authorities searched a Henderson, Nev., home for computers and other items linked to the unsolved slaying of Tupac Shakur, sources told The Times.

The California Supreme Court upholds Uber workers’ right to sue. The state’s high court rules an Uber driver whose contract required him to take disputes to arbitration could represent his peers in a class-action suit.

Students wanted: Schools scramble to add more 4-year-olds. The expansion might be off to a slow start, but offering free child care and education across the state is a game-changer.

Want a night market in your neighborhood? This new bill could make it easier to start one. California Assemblymember Matt Haney and San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio announced AB 441, which seeks to revitalize cities by streamlining their ability to host new night markets, flea markets, farmers markets and regular community events.

The real estate developer in former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar’s bribery case is sentenced to six years in prison. The judge said David Lee’s crimes — bribing an elected official and then falsifying his record of that payment — merited a sentence that would serve as “a warning to others.”

Temecula school board outrage over LGBTQ+ lessons motivates Gov. Gavin Newsom to rush new textbook law. Newsom is taking on conservative Temecula Valley Unified school officials over textbooks that discuss slain gay activist Harvey Milk.

ICYMI, here are this week’s great reads

Karla Torres will attend Cal State Fullerton, pursuing a degree in business marketing, starting in August.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Elaborate duct tape dress wins Los Angeles teen a national scholarship contest. Karla Torres, 18, received the most online votes for a Marie Antoinette-inspired duct-tape prom dress. The first-generation student won a $10,000 scholarship.

Facing shutdown, a shelter feared worst for 80 dogs and cats. They just got a second chance. Soon after Paw Works moved into its new 8,000-square-foot shelter in Oxnard last year, Ventura County officials said it lacked the proper permits and needed to shut down immediately.

Inside the world of L.A.’s gym-fluencer ecosystem. Exclusive L.A. gyms have turned exercise — a sweaty, uncomfortable experience for most people — into content primed for public consumption.

Today’s week-in-review newsletter was curated by Elvia Limón. Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.