Good morning. We’re aware that there may be some formatting issues in this email; we’ve been wrangling the MailChimp editor all morning and have had no luck. Bear with us. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Anybody with a valid student ID can now ride for free on the Metrolink railway system, which connects essentially all of Southern California between San Diego and Lancaster. The offer extends to students as young as kindergarteners all the way to adults in technical schools, and will run for six months or until grant funding runs out. Riders can get their Student Adventure Pass at any MetroLink ticket machine or register with their student ID in the Metrolink app.

2.

Over 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied on campus Tuesday evening in a peaceful protest. The rally came the same day as a strike on a Gaza hospital killed more than 500 people; both Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the attack. Many students covered their faces and declined to provide their names for fear of being doxxed by websites like Canary Mission, which posts the names, photos and biographical information of college students and professors it deems anti-Israel.

3.

Los Angeles Unified students are still struggling in math and English after pandemic setbacks, standardized test scores show. Though math scores rose by a modest 2 percentage points over the previous year, 7 in 10 students still fail to meet state standards — and English scores dropped district-wide by half a percentage point. Both categories were below what they were in the 2017-18 school year, underscoring the ongoing struggle to cover learning loss wrought by the pandemic.

4.

Rite Aid will close 31 stores in California as part of its restructuring plan after filing for bankruptcy. The pharmacy chain has been troubled by lagging sales and several large settlements in opioid-related lawsuits, posting a $306.7 million loss of revenue in the last year. At least 10 stores in LA County and six in Orange County are marked for closure. None are particularly close to USC.

5.

Christina Pascucci, a veteran KTLA news anchor, said she’ll run for California’s Senate seat as a Democrat. The first-time candidate framed herself as a moderate consensus builder focused on issues like the California-Mexico border, education and family support policies like childcare and parental leave. Pascucci faces an uphill battle in credibly competing with Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee — the race’s three leading contenders.

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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