Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m enjoying the return of USG’s Instagram content. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Several layoff-related updates: The classical music station KUSC, which is owned and operated by USC, laid off eight employees. The Marshall School of Business began headcount reductions several weeks ago. And a new pinned module on our live tracker aggregates a breakdown of all known layoffs.

Tomo Chien / Morning, Trojan

2.

Viterbi will launch a major focused on artificial intelligence in fall 2026. “Our goal in this program is to really get students to work on industry-relevant problems,” said Executive Vice Dean Gaurav Sukhatme. “You learn ultimately by building and designing and doing.”

Kiyomi Miura / Daily Trojan

3.

USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, which regularly wins Department of Defense contracts, is building an AI system to predict enemy troop movements and bolster surveillance and reconnaissance.

Christine Casimiro / Military AI

4.

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s deployment of Marines and National Guard troops to LA was illegal. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote that Trump appeared intent on “creating a national police force with the President as its chief.”

Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein / Politico

5.

California’s famously strong weed has spawned its own smuggling economy in Britain that’s exasperating the country’s authorities. Police say people routinely attempt to smuggle suitcases packed to the brim with bud through British airports, where the drug is still illegal.

Lizzie Dearden / The New York Times