Today: Italy's Sorrow. Clinton's Cash Machine Can't Stop, Won't Stop.

Aug. 25, 2016 5 AM PT

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Italy’s Sorrow

A rising death toll. Villages destroyed. And amid the rubble, a few miracles. Central Italy is digging out after a powerful, relatively shallow earthquake struck early Wednesday. “It was a ‘boom’ — but it was noise you felt through your bones, rather than heard,” said one survivor of the latest in Italy’s long history of deadly quakes. More from the scene in Amatrice.

Clinton’s Cash Machine Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

When is enough money enough? Even some Hillary Clinton supporters are flinching at the big fundraising drive that Clinton has embarked on through the nation’s elite enclaves, including Beverly Hills, Martha’s Vineyard and the Bay Area. It may not look good, but as an old saying goes, you can never be too rich — especially when the pressure is on to raise money for swing-state campaigns and Senate and House candidates. Take a look inside the moneyed corridors.

More Politics

-- Trump’s shifting talk on immigration shows his struggle to reach beyond his core supporters.

-- Bernie Sanders launches a political organization to further his progressive ideals.

-- Trump delivers his biggest insult yet, demeaning celebrities for their not-hotness.

An End in Sight to 52 Years of War in Colombia

The longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere looks to be coming to an end. Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said they’ve reached an agreement to end the fighting that’s estimated to have killed 220,000 people and displaced 6 million since 1964. Voters still must approve it in polling that could come as early as next month.

Why Turkey Went After ISIS in Syria

On the border with Turkey near the Euphrates River, the Syrian city of Jarabulus has been a way station for jihadis since Islamic State overtook it in 2013. Now, officials say Syrian rebel fighters backed by the U.S. and Turkey have taken it back. Turkish officials said the incursion into Syria was payback for recent terrorist attacks, but it has another purpose too: to keep Kurdish militias, Ankara’s archfoes, from establishing a foothold.

California Students Didn’t Ace This

The report card is out on how well California’s students are meeting Common Core learning goals. The result: needs improvement. The scores on the state’s new standardized tests are up, but only 48% of students met English language arts standards and 37% met math standards. Here’s a crash course on the results, how they broke out along racial groups, and a database that lets you look up how schools near you fared.

L.A.’s Fire Marshal, Over and Out

The city of L.A.’s fire marshal is stepping down after turmoil surrounding a backlog of building inspections. John Vidovich was barely two years into his assignment of enforcing safety codes for high-occupancy buildings such as apartments, schools and hospitals. Last year, a Times investigation found about 6,800 buildings were overdue for inspection. Vidovich vowed to clear the backlog, but inspectors told The Times they were pressured to cut corners.

The Earth-Like Planet Next Door

Don’t make your travel plans yet, but astronomers have finally found an Earth-sized planet that could conceivably support life. Proxima b circles the closest star to our solar system, just 4.2 light-years away. Though some scientists are holding out hope of finding a more exact Earth twin, others are excited about studying this planet more. How to get there? Well, they’re working on that too.

CALIFORNIA

-- Gov. Jerry Brown hailed two sweeping climate bills and said he plans to sign both into law.

-- The LAPD says a malnourished boy found dead in an Echo Park closet was the subject of earlier child abuse reports.

-- The Santa Monica City Council voted to close the city’s airport by July 2018.

-- Cancer surpasses heart disease as the leading cause of death in California and 21 other states.

NATION-WORLD

-- Attackers carried out a deadly assault on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.

-- An official says strong evidence suggests a Peruvian police “death squad” set up and killed criminal suspects.

-- The CIA has released thousands of previously classified briefings to Presidents Nixon and Ford.

-- As women are fined for wearing head scarves, French activists push back on the “burkini” ban.

-- The aging paradox: The older we get, the happier we are.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Mary McNamara: In the social-media age, the good, old TV confessional has gone by the wayside. Is there anyone who could bring it back?

-- Hollywood’s summer problem? Reboots people don’t want.

-- Is the AFI’s cancellation of a screening of “The Birth of a Nation” amid the Nate Parker controversy a sign of things to come?

-- As HBO’s “The Night Of” signs off, star Bill Camp reflects on the “subtle beast” of his character.

-- Hackers attacked actress Leslie Jones’ website; she’s recently been the target of social-media abuse too.

BUSINESS

-- State agencies say the threat of a Southland energy shortage due to Aliso Canyon is fading.

-- Uber drivers’ new option: Start a retirement account through the app.

SPORTS

-- No rest for bronze medalists Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross: They’re back on the volleyball sand in Long Beach.

-- How Jim Harbaugh, “the Donald Trump of college football,” is upending the sport.

OPINION

-- Sick and tired of hearing that Clinton is sick and tired.

-- The Patt Morrison podcast: How African American vernacular English affects black kids.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Researchers are working to make blindness a thing of the past. (National Geographic)

-- Mourning the loss of the front porch as “sacred space” to gun violence. (The Undefeated)

-- Meet the “Octobot,” the first autonomous, entirely soft robot. (Popular Mechanics)

ONLY IN L.A.

Would you like an iced tea, hold the ice? A U.S. District judge essentially said that request is simple enough in dismissing a lawsuit brought by an L.A. man alleging Starbucks misrepresents the sizes of its iced drinks. “As young children learn, they can increase the amount of beverage they receive if they order ‘no ice,’” Judge Percy Anderson wrote. Ice-cold, indeed.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.