Good morning. If anything good has come out of USC football’s ridiculous suspension of an Orange County Register reporter — more on that later this newsletter — it was this hilarious and off-the-rails column in the Los Angeles Times.

It’s a great read. Onto the five USC, LA and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Wildfires are undoing years of progress cutting man-made air pollution and are likely to become an even larger polluter in the future, a Stanford University study found. Though the findings apply across the U.S., the phenomena is particularly dramatic in California and Nevada: Particulate pollution fell 32% from 2000 to 2015 in those states, then jumped 14% from 2016 to 2022. Experts blamed climate change and years of forest mismanagement for the increasing frequency and intensity of the blazes.

2.

USC football reinstated an Orange County Register reporter’s team access after banning him over what many called minor infractions — like shouting a question after a press conference ended. It was a rather remarkable walk-back for the team, which had doubled down on its decision just the previous day. But it perhaps wasn’t altogether surprising: Bullying journalists in one of the nation’s largest media markets doesn’t seem like a particular recipe for success. This ain’t Oklahoma no more.

3.

California will allow insurance companies to consider climate change when setting their premiums, a first-in-the-nation effort to keep insurers, who fear heavy losses, from fleeing the wildfire-prone state. The current model doesn’t let companies factor in future risks — only what’s already happened on the property. Seven of the top 12 insurance providers have paused or suspended service in the state in the past year.

4.

Expect another soggy Southern California winter, thanks to a persistent El Niño system that experts say will likely linger through 2024. Forecasters say there’s a high chance that the system will become a “strong” El Niño, which will likely translate to a wetter-than-average second half of the winter.

5.

A Central Valley school district is deploying a $1.4 million weapons detection system to screen students before entering campus. Evolv Technology — which is somewhat cagey about how its technology actually works — purports to use a combination of advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to detect weapons in bags and pockets. Madera Unified School District officials said that the new system is significantly less invasive than traditional metal detectors.

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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