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By Tomoki Chien
NEWSLETTER EDITOR

Good morning. Here are the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

LA Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency over homelessness, giving her the power to unilaterally direct money to programs and facilities aiming to remedy the crisis. Still, her declaration needs the City Council’s stamp of approval, but the legislative body is so dysfunctional that it might not be able to approve the declaration until mid-January.

David Zahniser, Dakota Smith, Benjamin Oreskes, Julia Wick / Los Angeles Times

2.

Scientists at a California lab reached a major milestone in developing nuclear fusion, a technology that could dramatically alter the energy landscape. For the first time, the researchers were able to produce more energy from the reaction — which mimics the process that takes place in the sun — than they put into it.

Kenneth Chang / The New York Times

3.

The U.S. Supreme Court said it won’t overturn California’s ban on flavored tobacco products, a win for anti-teen smoking advocates. Tobacco companies had sought to keep the measure, approved by nearly two-thirds of voters in November, from taking effect.

Staff / Associated Press

4.

A ransomware attack hit the California Department of Finance. LockBit, a Russian-affiliated group, claimed responsibility for the hack and set a Dec. 24 deadline for the department to pay up or else face a leak of the 76GB of sensitive data that the group claims it has.

Romy Varghese and Margi Murphy / Bloomberg

5.

Some 200 near-naked San Franciscans donned bright red undies for the 14th annual Santa Skivvies run, a fundraiser for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Some might gawk at the prospect of running through the city in their underwear, but it gets even better: During the 2020 COVID lockdown, participants were asked to complete the run on their own (red undies and all).

Sam Whiting / San Francisco Chronicle

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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