Thieves pull off $30 million heist
Good morning. It’s Thursday, and it’s National Burrito Day. Here’s where you can find the deals. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
Thieves stole as much as $30 million from a San Fernando Valley money storage facility, an Italian Job-esque heist that’s one of the largest in LA history. The burglars, who are still at large, likely broke into the building Sunday night through the roof — but it’s not clear how they avoided the alarm system. The vault appeared untouched from the outside, and facility managers were none the wiser until Monday.
2.
San Bernardino County deputies shot and killed a teenager with mental health issues who was armed with a knife. The 17-year-old boy was a foster youth who escaped a mental health facility and arrived at a home where his sisters live. Somebody called the police, and when deputies arrived, he locked himself in a bathroom and threatened to cut himself. Deputies broke down the door and a scuffle ensued. He was dead by the end of it. It was the second time the deputies have killed a teenager in the last month.
3.
California’s new $20 fast food minimum wage has stirred its fair share of outrage. But a key effect — other than the fact you’ll have to pay $1.80 more for a Whopper meal — is that it just got a lot harder for schools to find cafeteria workers. Cafeteria staff, who aren’t covered by the new law, are historically some of the lowest-paid employees in public education. That’s left schools scrambling to offer raises and other incentives in an effort to avoid a mass exodus of workers to now higher-paying service jobs.
4.
Consider adding Bakersfield to your bucket list: It’s where many fast food restaurants test new menu items before releasing them to the broader market. Taco Bell, Del Taco, Carl’s Jr. and Wienerschnitzel all participate, and fast food connoisseurs from across California flock to be the guinea pigs for the new items. But the products aren’t necessarily good: Take Wienerschnitzel’s “Sea Dog,” which a writer said “wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever eaten” but was “by far the hardest.”
5.
An AIDS foundation posted a billboard near Coachella directing festival goers to an STD testing site if they “catch more than vibes.” Coachella organizers are pissed. The billboard, they say, is copyright infringement, apparently because it features a photo of the festival and uses its color scheme. They threatened legal action unless the billboard is torn down, but the foundation’s president was defiant. “Do they really not know how people spend their time during festival weekends?” she said.