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By Tomoki Chien & Claire Qiu

Good morning. Here are the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

California communities with high levels of electric car ownership tend to be at least 75% white and Asian, affluent and college-educated — raising serious equity concerns as the state looks to phase out gas cars over the next decade. High upfront vehicle costs and a lack of access to chargers for renters and people in low-income communities may be the biggest barriers to expanding access.

Nadia Lopez and Erica Yee / CalMatters

2.

The LA Metro is using classical music to drive homeless people away from a downtown train station. The music — and its 83-90 decibel volume in particular — has caused an uproar. Critics argue that the solution does nothing to address the root cause of the problem and liken the tactic to torture; prolonged exposure to music at such a volume can cause hearing damage.

Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times

3.

The Biden administration will send $307 million in federal funding to fix California's aging water infrastructure, further battered by this winter’s rain and snowstorms. Most of the remodeling projects are clustered in the Central, Yuma and Imperial valleys and along the Klamath and Colorado rivers.

Lisa M. Krieger / The Mercury News

4.

The founder of Cash App, Bob Lee, was stabbed to death in San Francisco Tuesday morning. His murder raised a furor: Pundits were quick to accuse city leadership of a soft-on-crime approach and declared the city “lawless.” But city data shows that while crime is climbing out of historic lows during COVID lockdowns, it’s still lower than it was before the pandemic. There's been no dramatic spike in crime.

Noah Baustin / The San Francisco Standard

5.

Under the guidance of new head coach Andy Stankiewicz, USC’s baseball team is off to a 17-10-1 start — earning a spot on Baseball America’s Top 25 poll. But attendance at Dedeaux Field has reached new lows. During the 2018 season, the Trojans brought in 599 fans per game compared to the 454 so far this season. In contrast, Auburn University posted numbers as high as 3,313 when the Trojans visited last month.

Samuel Spitz / Annenberg Media

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

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