USC bans 'Tommy Watch'

Author

Tomo Chien
November 19, 2024

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m reading about how you can avoid Thanksgiving traffic next week. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles, and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

USC threatened to suspend members of the Trojan Knights service organization if they guard Tommy Trojan overnight — as is tradition before the UCLA football game. It’s presumably an enforcement of new anti-camping ordinance, but the school refused to cite a specific rule when it inexplicably pulled the group’s permits.

2.

LA’s mountain lions are becoming increasingly nocturnal to avoid contact with humans, a new study found. Researchers tracked nearly two dozen cougars for seven years in the Santa Monica Mountains and Griffith Park, and say their findings offer a “sense of optimism” that humans can coexist with wildlife.

3.

A Manhattan Beach shoplifter used a makeshift flamethrower to evade arrest when confronted by a 7-Eleven employee. Cops said the unidentified woman lit the contents of an aerosol can with a lighter then sprayed flames at the worker, who wasn’t seriously injured.

4.

Two people were rushed to the hospital after a midair malfunction left 22 guests stranded on a Knott’s Berry Farm ride. Aerial footage from the Orange County theme park showed the unfortunate guests suspended nearly horizontally in their seats for hours.

5.

A group of California secessionists is part of a growing trend of rural, conservative regions seeking to divorce their deep-blue states. “I’m so flipping excited,” said the founder of the New California State, which is exercising its “God Given Rights” to secede and also shares its bank routing and account numbers on its website.