Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m reading about the best places to eat alone in Los Angeles. Onto the five USC, LA, and California stories you need to know for today.

The newsletter will be off tomorrow while I tend to a family emergency.

1.

An artist set off a ring of 10,000 “organic, sustainable” fireworks and 1,000 pyrotechnic drones above the Coliseum last night. The chichi art installation’s website mentions something about a “heavenly secret” and “visual story full of mystery and wonder” — but students mostly complained about the fireworks’ smoke and unpleasant smell.

Nathan Elias and Syra Patel / Daily Trojan

2.

USC dropped a lawsuit against several insurance companies who provided the school “abuse and molestation” coverage — then withheld millions when it came time to pay women abused by disgraced gynecologist George Tyndall. The insurers, on several technicalities, had refused to cough up after USC settled for over $1 billion.

Staff / Law360

3.

A lucky break in weather conditions gave firefighters a brief window to make headway against Southern California’s three major blazes. The Line, Bridge, and Airport fires have collectively injured over a dozen people and destroyed 215 structures — though officials warned that thousands more are at risk.

 Paige St. John / Los Angeles Times

4.

Donald Trump said he would, if reelected, withhold federal wildfire aid from California unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees to divert more water to farmers. Prior to yesterday’s assassination attempt, Trump also somewhat fantastically claimed that “Newscum” could simply make the land “damp” to prevent the fires.

Soumya Karlamangla / The New York Times

5.

Into sports betting? Bad news: A USC study found that average credit scores have dropped by 1% in states where online sports betting is legal — and, mind you, that drop is wholly thanks to a small subset of the population. It’s technically illegal in California, though workarounds are aplenty.

Editorial Board / The Washington Post