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

1.

A worker manning one of USC’s checkpoints had a candid take on his job. “They gave us one big task,” he said. “Keep the protesters out.” USC isn’t alone: Colleges across California are attempting to stymie the resurgence of bitter pro-Palestinian protests. The first real test is today, when students at four Bay Area universities are planning a coordinated demonstration.

Jaweed Kaleem / Los Angeles Times

2.

Little-known fact: Kamala Harris spends more time in Brentwood than in any place outside of Washington. Her neighbors in the posh LA neighborhood are pissed — the Secret Service, apparently, is constantly shutting down their street. “I will vote for her if she agrees to sell her house,” one neighbor said.

Erich Schwartzel / The Wall Street Journal

3.

A California company is using a robot that looks like a World War I tank to carry out prescribed burns — a process where fire-prevention teams burn dry vegetation in a controlled setting so future wildfires have less fuel. The robot contains the blaze in a burning chamber, which minimizes the risk of inadvertently starting a wildfire. It looks pretty cool.

Coco Liu / Bloomberg

4.

Prosecutors accused the owners of a Van Nuys car rental business of orchestrating a massive “crime tourism” ring. The owners allegedly rented cars to foreign visitors then directed them to steal some $35 million worth of goods across the U.S., which they later resold.

Richard Winton and Hannah Fry / Los Angeles Times

5.

USC researchers said they found a way to detect bacteria with what’s essentially a specialty flashlight. The handheld device uses violet light to illuminate bacteria that would normally be impossible to detect without a lab test — which has big implications for surgeons, who can now better clean wounds and avoid serious infections that require amputation.

Staff / ScienceDaily