Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m reading about the best frozen treats in Los Angeles. Onto the five USC, LA and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC canceled this year’s mainstage graduation ceremony. But don’t fear: The school will introduce new festivities that are “uniquely USC.” Like a nationally embarrassing PR blunder? In other news: The 93 protesters arrested yesterday will face trespassing charges in court next month. Many professors are pissed. Protesters vowed to continue their demonstrations on campus. A California Senate candidate called the USC protesters “terrorists.” Oh, but good thing President Carol Folt came out of her PR-hidey hole … to congratulate Reggie Bush.

Jonathan Park / Daily Trojan

2.

Other California college campuses are boiling over. At UCLA, counter-protesters violently clashed with students in a pro-Palestinian encampment. UC Santa Barbara students peacefully occupied a building for the day. A UC Berkeley encampment is wearing into its fifth day. Stanford students erected an encampment for the school’s admit weekend. And at Cal Poly Humboldt, university administrators are trying to reason with a group of students still barricaded in a building. 

Staff / Los Angeles Times

3.

LA Metro officials declared a state of emergency over a series of violent assaults on its transit lines — a move that’ll let the agency more quickly retrofit buses with protective barriers around drivers. In an extreme incident this week, a man was arrested for fatally slitting the throat of a 66-year-old woman. “These incidents have occurred with no prompting or warning and have created an environment of increased risk and trauma,” officials wrote.

Rachel Uranga / Los Angeles Times

4.

Former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction in New York has raised the possibility that a court will also overturn his LA conviction. Weinstein’s attorney, who called the New York ruling a “great day for America,” argued that the New York conviction “interfered with his presumption of innocence in a significant way in California.” Legal experts largely agree that the LA ruling is likely to remain untouched, thanks to more permissive laws around acceptable evidence in California. 

Dani Anguiano / The Guardian

5.

USC’s star quarterback Caleb Williams was drafted first overall by the Chicago Bears last night. Williams, the recipient of the prestigious Heisman Trophy, has been labeled a generational talent and a potentially franchise-defining quarterback. Chicago will hope that Williams can reverse the franchise’s notorious inefficacy at the quarterback position — and Williams will hope to benefit from Chicago’s lucrative media market to build on his already formidable sponsorship empire. 

Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns / The Athletic