Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m reading about the Trader Joe’s tote bag craze. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

The director of “Crazy Rich Asians” will deliver this year’s commencement address. Jon M. Chu, who most recently directed the soon-to-be-released “Wicked” starring Ariana Grande, is a graduate of USC’s cinema school and said he’s “humbled” to return to his alma mater. Chu is also well-known for directing “In the Heights,” the musical film written by Lin Manuel Miranda. “I feel very privileged actually, to be able to speak to these young people who are going to be changing the world in the future,” he said. Fun fact: Chu is a Bay Area native and son of the famous Chef Chu. 

Laya Albert / Annenberg Media

2.

USC’s tuition consistently outpaces inflation. In fact, the only two years since 2004 where inflation beat out tuition increases were 2021 and 2022 — but those were anomalies, because the pandemic caused an irregular spike in prices. The university has since accelerated the pace of its tuition hikes and wasn’t particularly forthcoming when asked what justifies the ballooning prices, writing: “Tuition is the largest source of the university’s academic operating budget.” All those tuition bumps mean that, adjusted for inflation, a USC degree in 2004 cost just $48,104. Compare that to today’s $69,904. Related: Here’s a look at USC’s growing presidential salary.

Tomoki Chien / College Brief

3.

Elsewhere in Trojanland, a woman who pleaded guilty to paying a fraudster to secure her son admission at USC is trying to clear her name. In 2021, Elisabeth Kimmel was sentenced to just six weeks in a medical prison for paying the infamous William “Rick” Singer $250,000 to get her son a USC pole vaulting scholarship; her son is not a pole vaulter. Now, Kimmel claims her conviction violated the Constitution. She says her purportedly poor health meant a lengthy trial would have risked her life, and that’s the only reason she pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say her argument is “built on an Alice-in-Wonderland version of events.” Without the plea deal, Kimmel could’ve served up to 20 years in prison. 

Flint McColgan / Boston Herald

4.

We may never know whether Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for an exemption in a wage law to benefit one of his billionaire donors: because everybody at the negotiating table signed nondisclosure agreements at the behest of the workers union. Newsom’s much-touted law will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour come April. But the governor took flak this week after Bloomberg reported that an oddly specific line in the law — which exempts restaurants who bake and sell bread a-la-carte from the wage hike — would benefit a long-time Newsom donor who owns two dozen Panera Bread franchises. The donor, facing just as much flak as Newsom, said he’ll abide by the $20 minimum wage.

Ashley Zavala / KCRA

5.

Huntington Beach voters approved a measure that bans nongovernmental flags from flying on city property — namely, the Pride flag. Breast cancer awareness and religious flags are also banned, but POW-MIA and Olympic banners aren’t. It’s an unsurprising development for a city that’s become the latest arena for culture war theatrics. This is the same town that banned mask and vaccine mandates, established a panel to review children’s library books for allegedly sexual content and regularly assails Joe Biden’s immigration policies. “A lot of this is taking Huntington Beach back to how it was,” said the city’s mayor, who supported the measure. 

Alicia Victoria Lozano / NBC News

I have no parties to list this Thursday — I suspect everybody’s winding up for spring break. The list will be back the week after.