Essential: Trump, Berkeley and outrage on all sides

[Essential California] Essential California [Send to friend] | [Open in browser] Good morning. It’s Friday, Feb. 3, and here’s what’s happening across California: TOP STORIES Trump, Berkeley and outrage on all sides UC Berkeley officials, who had worked hard to make room for free speech, found themselves squeezed between outrage on both the right and the left over the protests that canceled Milo Yiannopoulos’ talk. Also further inflamed was the already roiling UC debate about campus free speech — not just as it concerned Yiannopoulos but also a host of hot-button issues, including anti-Semitism, Palestinian rights, sexual harassment and racism. Then came the tweet from President Trump, which in an instant blurred the facts and exacerbated the tension. [Los Angeles Times] Plus: The Trump era has been a turning point for the anarchist movement in the Bay Area and beyond. [New York Times] L.A.’s biggest IPO? Snapchat app maker Snap Inc. filed papers Thursday to move forward with what’s expected to be the biggest initial public offering ever for a Los Angeles company and one of the highest valued in U.S. history. Conceived six years ago by Stanford University fraternity brothers to help peers send photos that would vanish after viewing, Snapchat roared through high schools and colleges starting in Orange County. When the app hit 40,000 users in months, its co-founders knew they held a treasure. [Los Angeles Times] Plus: The inside story of the men who built L.A.’s tech powerhouse. [New York Times] Government transparency The California Supreme Court appeared ready to rule that government business conducted on private telephones and computers must be made public. But the quandary expressed by justices was how to fashion a rule to protect the privacy of government employees and still ensure that public business was open to inspection. [Los Angeles Times] ADVERTISEMENT L.A. STORIES The return: An Iranian man who was barred from entering the United States under President Trump’s travel ban returned to Los Angeles on Thursday, the first person allowed into the country after a legal challenge to the White House’s executive order. [Los Angeles Times] New tube: Check out this cool video showing the new pedestrian tunnel connecting downtown’s big subway station to a new shopping center on 7th Street. [Curbed Los Angeles] No way: Porter Ranch residents have made it clear they don’t want the Aliso Canyon gas facility relocated after a leak forced them to flee their homes. [Daily News] Beach development: A massive $400-million seaside development was approved in Redondo Beach, but it still faces some major obstacles. [Daily Breeze] POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Firefighter payouts: A new audit is raising questions about the hefty overtime some Sacramento firefighters are receiving. Two firefighters, the report found, got paid for working “almost 70 percent of the time they are living and breathing.” [Sacramento Bee] Caring about Obamacare: In the conservative Central Valley, a new push to save the Affordable Care Act from people for whom it has become a lifeline. [Los Angeles Times] Sanctuary debate: Fresno’s mayor is clarifying his stance against becoming a “sanctuary city” in an effort to quell criticism. “The only difference between Fresno and other cities who label themselves as sanctuary cities are only words with no clear definition.” [Fresno Bee] Getting ugly: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Trump’s war over “The Apprentice” ratings and politics is getting personal. [Los Angeles Times] Strange bedfellows: How Eli Broad and other charter forces have found themselves bedfellows with teachers unions in the fight over Betsy DeVos. [Wall Street Journal] CRIME AND COURTS Horrible crime: An 83-year-old Korean woman was assaulted in Koreatown on Wednesday afternoon in an attack that became the subject of a viral social media post, which claimed the assailant had yelled “white power” before fleeing. But none of the witnesses to the assault told investigators that they heard the suspect, who is now in custody, make racial remarks. [Los Angeles Times] Big critic: An Emmy-winning producer was convicted Thursday of trying to kill a roommate who laughed at him when the producer said he was going to win Oscars. [Los Angeles Times] Finding forgiveness: After three decades, a son learns what happened to his missing father. [Sacramento Bee] DROUGHT AND CLIMATE Drought’s exit: Snowfall from a series of blizzard-like storms that blanketed the Sierra Nevada last month deposited the equivalent of more than 5.7 trillion gallons of water along the rugged mountain range — enough water to fill California’s largest reservoir more than four times. [Los Angeles Times] Take a deep breath: The Clean Air Act could be an early environmental battleground for Trump and California. [Los Angeles Times] ADVERTISEMENT CALIFORNIA CULTURE Staying the course: Sony Corp. said Thursday that is has ruled out a sale of its struggling movie studio, just days after declaring a nearly $1-billion write-down on the film and television business. [Los Angeles Times] Another battle: SeaWorld has another animal rights fight on its hands. This involves a 21-year-old female polar bear set to be shipped to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium sometime in the near future for breeding. PETA objects. [San Diego Union-Tribune] ‘Zoot Suit’ redux: Today, at a vigorous 76, hair and mustache graying, Luis Valdez, author and director of the play “Zoot Suit,” flashes the same benevolent smile he flashed when his aptly named El Teatro Campesino, the Farmworkers’ Theater, was in its infancy in the 1960s. [Los Angeles Times] Surf battle: Which Orange County city has the best surfers? This new contest is designed to find out. [Orange County Register] Real estate hoax: It turns out the listing for Drake’s Hidden Hills home was an elaborate hoax. [The Real Deal] CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Los Angeles area: Scattered showers with highs in the mid-60s. San Diego: Cloudy with highs in the upper 60s. San Francisco area: Showers with highs in the upper 50s. Sacramento: Rain with highs in the low 60s. [More weather is here.] AND FINALLY Today’s California memory comes from Richard A. Sax: “My early childhood was spent in the Richmond District of San Francisco. The neighborhood was a wonderful combination of various cultures of the world. However, we all had one thing in common: If a kid had 5 cents, s/he would buy a candy bar. (Yes, I’m that old!) However, if one had 15 cents, any or all of us would go to a Chinese bakery for baozi, a steamed bun with hoisin-sauce pork inside. On my most recent trip to San Francisco (my second oldest son lives and works in the Mission), I was able to find a very good baozi for 60 cents. Quite tasty!” 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 [Shelby Grad]. [Email][Twitter][Facebook] [Sign up for Newsletters] | [Privacy Policy] | [Unsubscribe] | Copyright © 2017 Los Angeles Times | 202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. | 1-800-LA-TIMES