Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m reading about how Los Angeles was just ranked the second “rattiest” city in the country — behind Chicago, but ahead of New York. Onto the five USC, LA and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC football fired its embattled defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch, just a day after losing 52-42 to Washington. It was a long time coming. Even last season, Grinch quickly became a favorite target of analysts and outraged fans looking for answers after a pair of losses to Utah and an embarrassing defeat to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. Head coach Lincoln Riley had until this weekend stood by Grinch: But a bottom-30 ranked defense that again squandered quarterback Caleb Williams’ generational talent for a second conference loss was no doubt the last straw.

2.

Bay Area police are investigating a hit-and-run at Stanford University as a hate crime. The victim, who’s an Arab Muslim student, said a white man in his mid-20s made eye contact with him before accelerating and hitting him, shouting an expletive and referring to “you and your people” as he drove away. The student said he recognized the man as somebody “who had previously shown animosity” toward his community.

3.

The Highland fire has been fully contained a week after breaking out, fire officials said. The blaze — which had spread rapidly thanks to Santa Ana winds and grass growth promoted by Tropical Storm Hilary — burned 2,487 acres and destroyed at least 13 structures. No civilians sustained injuries, though two firefighters did. Officials are still investigating how the fire started.

4.

A San Jose police officer involved in a controversial shooting last year resigned after investigators discovered a trove of racist text messages on his phone, including some that made light of the shooting and referred to the victim by a racial epithet, as well as one that said “I hate Black people.” Last March, the officer — Mark McNamara, who is white — shot a Black man who helped disarm an instigator in a bar fight as he backed out of the door with the confiscated gun in his hand. The department’s chief called the texts “disgusting and horrible.”

5.

Santa Catalina Island residents are up in arms over a plan to hire sharpshooters on helicopters to eradicate the island’s deer population with AR-15-style rifles. Conservation officials say the deer, which aren’t native to the island, are eating away vegetation and throwing the island’s delicate ecosystem out of balance. But the proposal has enraged residents, who have branded the island’s top conservation biologist as “the woman who killed Bambi” and said they feel left out of the decision-making process.

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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