Good morning, I hope you’ve had a good week. We’ll see you next on Tuesday, when we return from the long weekend. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted to add Stanford and Cal to its ranks, cementing the death of the Pac-12 in a new era of conference realignment. SMU will also join the ACC, bringing the conference to 18 schools once the expansion officially begins in the 2024-2025 academic year.

2.

USC may have improperly awarded tens of thousands of dollars in federal financial aid to its students during the pandemic, a two-year Department of Education audit found. In some instances, auditors found that USC artificially lowered students’ reported adjusted gross income, qualifying them for more federal aid. In another instance, a USC official classified a student as homeless without proper documentation.

3.

California regulators green-lit a proposal to increase storage capacity at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Facility, where the country’s largest known methane leak occurred in 2015 and forced thousands of Angelenos to move from their homes. Southern California Gas Co., which requested the controversial increase and operates the facility, said the ruling will allow it to store more cheap gas in the summer and fall, lowering prices in the winter months.

4.

USC graduate student workers rallied Thursday afternoon in support of their nascent union, pushing for more concessions from the university in ongoing negotiations. Already, the workers have won points like six weeks of paid time off and are now targeting harassment and discrimination protections, as well as support for international workers.

5.

Bioluminescent waves are back in Southern California. Head to Oxnard, Malibu, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach at night for a glimpse of the natural phenomenon, caused by dinoflagellate algae that’s red during the day — but glows blue at night. Researchers say that dinoflagellate, a type of phytoplankton, are able to gather in such high densities because of an exceptional ability to swim. “In the plankton world, they are Michael Phelps,” one scientist said.

You’re all caught up. Thanks for reading Morning, Trojan, and have a good day. Anna Hsu copy edited this newsletter.

3630 Watt Way, ANN 102, Los Angeles, CA 90089.