Essential California Week in Review: Counting votes and coronavirus cases

A look at California stories from the last week, including the state's first death linked to the coronavirus outbreak. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Los Angeles Times] Essential California March 7, 2020 [Send to a friend]( [|][View in browser]( Good morning, and welcome to the [Essential California newsletter](. It is Saturday, March 7. Here’s a look at the top stories of the last week: A virus spreads... The number of coronavirus cases continues to grow. Gov. Gavin Newsom [declared a state of emergency]( to help state agencies prepare after California saw its first death, that of [a Placer County man]( who had developed COVID-19 after returning from a cruise to Mexico. Current passengers on the ship remained under quarantine Friday, and [more than 20 tested positive](. A Sunnyvale man who had also been on the ship [has also died, though it’s not clear whether his death is linked to COVID-19](. ...and so does panic. “It’s kind of spooky” in L.A.’s normally vibrant Chinatown, [where visitors have vanished]( and officials are [decrying anti-Asian bigotry and misinformation]( that is spreading amid the outbreak. Meanwhile, [crowds are flocking to Walmarts and Costcos]( creating long lines and leaving empty shelves. [To our readers: [Sign up for Coronavirus Today]( a new special edition of the Los Angeles Times’ Health and Science newsletter that will help you understand more about COVID-19.] A key decision. On Tuesday, California voters handed Sen. Bernie Sanders [his biggest victory of Super Tuesday]( though it’s [not yet clear]( exactly how the state’s 415 delegates will be allotted. Counting continues in state and local races. With California’s plethora of voting options, [many election results are slow to come](. Incumbent L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey had an early lead [but still might face a major November clash](. The race to replace Katie Hill in Congress [appears headed to a runoff](. And votes are still being counted, but Proposition 13 appears to be [the first failure of a state school bond measure in 25 years](. Long lines, angry officials. L.A. County’s rollout of its long-awaited voting system was marred by reports of broken machines and wait times of three hours or longer. California’s chief elections officer [lashed out and demanded changes](. Cover-up exposed. After Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others died in a helicopter crash, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department [quietly ordered deputies to destroy scene photos]( they were accused of showing off. [Sheriff Alex Villanueva acknowledged the order]( Monday, while an attorney for Vanessa Bryant [requested an internal affairs investigation](. A trial unfolds. The L.A. murder trial of Robert Durst, the New York real estate heir, has begun, with more than [100 witnesses, dozens of hours of video and reams of documents]( assembled. He’s accused of killing his close friend Susan Berman in her Benedict Canyon home in 2000 to prevent her from incriminating him in his wife’s disappearance. A 2015 HBO documentary on Durst was widely watched, but the 12 jurors weighing his case [are the audience who matters now](. Pour out some Two Buck Chuck. Marketing whiz and retail visionary Joe Coulombe, the founder of Trader Joe’s, died after a long illness at age 89. [Here’s how he built a local grocery that became a national institution](. The long legacy of L.A.’s oil wells. Most of Los Angeles’ profitable oil is gone. What remains is a costly legacy: nearly 1,000 wells across the city, in rich and poor neighborhoods, left to the state to clean, according to [a first-of-its-kind analysis of state records by The Times and the Center for Public Integrity](. DM to Mmmm. Meet the social media-native restaurants [where a delicious meal is just a message away](. Enjoying this newsletter? Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. [Become a Times subscriber.]( ADVERTISEMENT This week’s most popular stories in Essential California 1. Here’s where coronavirus cases have been reported in California. [Los Angeles Times]( 2. Questions you should ask before canceling a trip because of coronavirus fears. [Los Angeles Times]( 3. California’s Democratic primary: How did your neighborhood vote? [Los Angeles Times]( 4. The complete list of L.A. Times endorsements in the March 3 California primary. [Los Angeles Times]( 5. Here’s where to find your best California spring break — without the crowds. [Los Angeles Times]( ADVERTISEMENT ICYMI, here are this week’s great reads The strange terror of watching coronavirus empty the streets of Rome: “Three nights ago, going to a friend’s house for dinner at 8 p.m., we walked through the Piazza Navona, the most beautiful square in the world, and were completely alone.” [The New Yorker]( Did the Grand Princess cruise ship at the center of a coronavirus outbreak mismanage the emergency? Current and former passengers describe confusion and missteps in this account by my colleague Anita Chabria. [Los Angeles Times]( Who got America to the moon? An unlikely collaboration of Jewish and former Nazi scientists and engineers. [Los Angeles Times]( Will the millennial aesthetic ever end? “If you simultaneously can’t afford any frills and can’t afford any failure, you end up with millennial design: crowd-pleasing, risk-averse, calling just enough attention to itself to make it clear that you tried.” [The Cut]( Poem of the week: “Notes from the Other Side” by Jane Kenyon. [Poets.org]( Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to [Julia Wick.](mailto:julia.wick@latimes.com) Follow her on Twitter [@Sherlyholmes](. (And a giant thanks to the legendary [Diya Chacko]( for all her help on the Saturday edition.) ADVERTISEMENT Thank you for reading the Los Angeles Times Essential California newsletter. Invite your friends, relatives, coworkers to sign up [here]( a subscriber? Get unlimited digital access to latimes.com. [Subscribe here](. 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