Good morning, we hope you’ve gotten a good start to your week. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

A majority of California voters oppose cash reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans, a UC Berkeley poll found, suggesting a tough road ahead for the effort to adopt a first-in-the-nation reparations policy. Despite the fact that a majority of voters said they believe Black Americans continue to be affected by the legacy of slavery, only 23% said they supported cash payments — compared to 59% who opposed them and 13% who had no opinion.

2.

The state Legislature is considering a bill that would pilot a guaranteed transfer program for community college students to UCLA, taking a piecemeal approach to the eventual goal of a common admissions guarantee for community college students at both University of California and California State University campuses. The bill is a salvaged version of a scrapped original effort that would’ve created a UC-wide transfer guarantee.

3.

Fast food workers in California could earn a minimum wage of $20 per hour by April, thanks to a deal cut between labor groups and fast food companies. The wage increase is contingent upon labor groups and their allies in the Legislature scrapping a provision on the same bill that would’ve made restaurant companies liable for workplace violations committed by their franchisees.

4.

California lawmakers voted to lift a six-year ban on state-funded travel to 26 states with anti-LGBTQ+ policies Monday. Legislators said that the ban led to unintended consequences like complicating the state’s policy to pay travel fees for people seeking abortions in California and difficulty for college sports teams, state workers and university employees to procure funding for travel to the banned states. Alternatively, the Legislature will promote awareness and anti-discrimination through ad campaigns in red states.

5.

San Francisco is seeing a troubling rise in building fires, reaching a 10-year high for residential and commercial blazes last year. It’s not clear what exactly is responsible for the trend. Some experts say the increasing prevalence of synthetic materials in construction and furniture is leading fires to spread faster than they did 40 years ago. City officials pointed to the fact that many buildings were built before new sprinkler system requirements and thus don’t have modern fire suppression systems.

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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