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By Tomoki Chien & Claire Qiu

Good morning. In yesterday’s newsletter, we wrote that California healthcare workers are no longer required to vaccinate or mask as COVID restrictions phase out.

That’s true, but we forgot to add that Los Angeles County has chosen to go against the grain and retain both its vaccine and mask mandate for those workers. Now, onto the five USC, LA and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Andrew Guzman, a legal scholar and economist, will serve as USC’s next provost — the most influential university role second only to the president. Guzman, who’s currently interim dean of USC Libraries and the former dean of the Gould School of Law, succeeds Charles Zukoski, who resigned under vague circumstances earlier this year.

Christina Chkarboul / Daily Trojan

2.

More than 300 LA Police Department officers plan to file a negligence lawsuit against the city for allegedly endangering their lives by releasing their photos and other identifying information while on undercover assignments. The department previously admitted it accidentally shared undercover officers’ information as part of a public records request to civilian journalist in March.

Libor Jany and Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times

3.

California K-12 public schools managed to largely level off the pandemic-fueled enrollment decline this year. Statewide enrollment dropped by just 40,000 in the fall, compared to 160,000 in the fall of 2020. Some districts saw as little as a 0.01% decline, staving off fears of budget cuts — state funding is based on enrollment and attendance.

Jill Tucker / San Francisco Chronicle

4.

LA’s new property tax is in a state of limbo. Measure ULA, approved by 58% of voters in November, is meant to fund affordable housing and address homelessness. But two lawsuits threaten to block the tax, meaning the city must collect the money but decide whether to incur the risk of actually spending the funds — because it’s possible the lawsuits will prevail and the money will have to be returned.

Nick Gerda / LAist

5.

You’ll probably be able to ski in California this summer: Thank the record snowfall. Mammoth Mountain extended its season to the end of July. Palisades Tahoe will remain open until Independence Day. Some resorts are already at double their seasonal snowfall average and are fast approaching all-time records.

Amudalat Ajasa / The Washington Post

You’re all caught up. Thanks for reading Morning, Trojan, and have a good day. Anna Hsu copy edited this newsletter.

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