Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m reading about a 120-year-old Burbank diner where Walt Disney used to eat. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Nine firefighters were injured yesterday morning when a truck’s fuel tank exploded in Wilmington near the Port of LA. Two firefighters — including one who had to be intubated and airlifted to a burn unit — were injured critically. The truck driver called 911 after noticing something was wrong with the tractor and managed to escape unscathed. Officials said no homes were in danger because the explosion was in an industrial area. 

John Antczak / Associated Press

2.

Voting for USC’s Undergraduate Student Government begins next Tuesday. You’ll be able to cast your ballot online — I’ll link to the form when it goes live next week — or at one of four in-person polling stations at Tommy Trojan, Leavey Library, Alumni Park and Pardee Lawn. Voting runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through next Friday, and you’ll be able to claim treats from Fluff Ice, Porto’s and Dazzling Donuts with a screenshot of your voting confirmation page.

Sophie Sullivan / Annenberg Media

3.

California’s ethnic studies debate was already contentious, but it’s gotten even worse with the Israel-Hamas war. The timeline is clear: All the state’s public high schools must offer the subject — ​​broadly described as the study of non-white people in the U.S. — by 2025, and it’ll be a graduation requirement by 2030. But the thorny question is what the course will actually teach. A model curriculum that state educators drew up has come under fire for including lessons about Jewish Americans but not discussing the Israel-Palestine conflict. So of course, critics are counterproposing curriculum that excludes Jewish history and criticizes Israel. Expect this one to keep heating up.

Dana Goldstein / The New York Times

4.

Police arrested an Ontario-area high school senior who allegedly planned to shoot up his campus in an homage to the Columbine High School massacre. Sebastian Villasenor, 18, was booked Wednesday in San Bernardino County. Police recovered 1,000 rounds of ammunition, seven rifles, two revolvers, a handgun and a shotgun from the Villasenor family home, and thanked the high schooler’s parents for their cooperation. Officials said they discovered the plot after a student who became aware of Villasenor’s plans alerted school administrators.

Andrew J. Campa / Los Angeles Times

5.

OpenAI unveiled a new program that can turn text prompts into minute-long videos. The tool, called Sora, comes from the same San Francisco-based company that created ChatGPT and DALL-E. It’s not open to the public just yet: Select creators and security experts are testing the program for safety vulnerabilities. But sample videos show the program is capable of advanced concepts like stitching together shot changes from different camera angles without being told in the prompt — while also looking quite good. 

Steven Levy / WIRED