Layoff count creeps past 700
Tomo Chien
October 08, 2025
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and these are the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.
Enjoy the fall break. The newsletter will return Tuesday morning.
1.
USC’s confirmed layoff count has reached 713, according to state documents published Tuesday. The latest disclosure includes staff and faculty from a mix of USC departments, and does not include several dozen layoffs that sources reported at Viterbi last week.
2.
The LAPD released a harrowing video of the hit-and-run crash that hospitalized a USC junior last week. In the short clip, a sedan appears to blow through a red light while speeding down Vermont, slams into a pedestrian, sends him flying across the intersection, then narrowly avoids hitting three more people.
3.
USC’s Department of Public Safety said it’s seeing an “unbelievable” increase in false bomb threats and active shooter reports. In response to student criticism for not publishing alerts about some threats, an official said the department weighs “the potential risk to our community” against the disruption such messages can cause.
4.
In case you missed it: A fire at the Heritage student apartments on Portland Street left one person dead yesterday afternoon. The unidentified victim was not a USC student, according to school officials.
5.
A team of recent Marshall grads landed a $200,000 deal on Shark Tank last week. Im’peccable Chicken — which sells ready-to-eat chicken breast it markets as “nature’s protein bar” — inked a deal with Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner at a $1.3 million valuation. See a preview of their appearance here.