Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m chuckling at a Turkish broadcaster’s dramatic narration of the USC “police state.” Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC is the most expensive university in California, but apparently not the best. Forbes’s annual rankings slotted the school at 28th in the nation — a 14-place drop from last year — behind Stanford (2), UC Berkeley (5), UCLA (13), Claremont McKenna (19), UC San Diego (21), and CalTech (22).

Staff / Forbes

2.

Nearly a fifth of women incarcerated in California for murder or manslaughter were imprisoned for killing partners who committed severe domestic violence against them. The damning numbers show that — even when beaten, raped, strangled, and threatened with death — self-defense laws consistently fail women.

Rachel Louise Snyder / The New York Times

3.

For eight decades, a service organization called the Trojan Knights has camped for a week next to Tommy Trojan before the UCLA football game — at least ostensibly to guard the statue from Bruin vandals. But this time around, USC’s anti-camping rules will likely force the group to modify the tradition.

Melissa Grimaldo / Daily Trojan

4.

USC is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by the family of Drakeo the Ruler, a rapper who was fatally stabbed at BMO Stadium near campus at a 2021 hip hop festival. The rapper’s family alleges USC failed to provide adequate security for the event; in new legal filings, USC said it had nothing to do with the festival.

Staff / City News Service

5.

The U.S. Navy managed to set off a 13,000-acre wildfire on San Clemente Island, threatening a number of endangered species. The obscure, remote outpost that’s technically in LA County is the Navy’s only live-firing range for ship-to-shore bombardments. Lobbing mortar rounds into dry grass poses a fire hazard, apparently.

Tony Briscoe / Los Angeles Times