Doctors warn of liposuction ‘Wild West’
Tomo Chien
April 01, 2024
Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m reading about a famed Bay Area bagel chain that’s coming to Los Angeles. Onto the five USC, LA and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
In late 2020, a South LA doctor performed a liposuction on a 28-year-old woman in a strip mall. Less than an hour after the operation, the patient was dead. Worse: The doctor wasn’t a trained plastic surgeon. He was a pediatrician. Doctors say the incident is emblematic of a broader “Wild West” in the world of cosmetic surgery, where physicians trained in fields that have nothing to do with cosmetics are offering the complex surgeries in cash-only private practices that avoid the scrutiny of insurance companies and hospitals.
2.
Heavy storms collapsed a chunk of the Pacific Coast Highway in Monterey County, leaving some 2,000 motorists stranded in remote Big Sur over the weekend. By Sunday, officials started guiding the marooned tourists — who slept in inns, tents or their cars the previous night — in convoys around the damaged section of highway. It was the latest in a series of landslides that have intermittently shut down sections of the scenic highway over the last few years. “It was a crazy, weird Easter,” one tourist said.
3.
Electric cars will lose their carpool lane privileges by October 2025 unless lawmakers take action. California has allowed electric, plug-in hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles to use carpool lanes regardless of their number of passengers since 1999. But it’ll take legislation at the state and federal level to extend the program, which transportation officials say is unlikely. It’s unclear how the end of the program will affect electric vehicle sales — but it’s possible that it’ll lead to less crowded carpool lanes during rush hour.
4.
Two Bay Area transit operators allegedly built themselves secret mini homes in train stations complete with kitchenettes, showers and beds. Prosecutors say the men — who face felony charges for stealing public funds to complete the unauthorized renovations — cloaked the scheme by keeping invoices under $3,000 so they could approve the payments to contractors without approval from higher-ups. “It was rather nicely done,” said the county’s district attorney. “They figured the Bay Area [commute] really is lousy.”
5.
USC women’s basketball advanced to the “Elite Eight” quarterfinals in the NCAA tournament with a gritty win over Baylor. It was a hard-fought, 74-70 victory after two relatively painless wins earlier in the tournament. A late-game rampage by freshman phenom JuJu Watkins, who’d been lukewarm for much of the game’s early play, powered the Trojans through. The team plays UConn tonight at 6:15. You can stream on ESPN for free.
