Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m reading about how you can make your trip to LAX suck less. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

California lawmakers want to invest in the space industry. In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state’s two senators and 40 representatives wrote that California should woo defense and space contractors — who bring high-paying jobs and economic growth — with lenient tax credits. The state, which was instrumental in putting men on the moon, already houses heavyweights like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, NASA and SpaceX. But California’s space industry has long been in decline. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have relocated elsewhere, and just last month, NASA laid off almost a tenth of its Pasadena laboratory.

Staff / Los Angeles Daily News

2.

Progressives could reshape the LA City Council after notching wins in the midterms. Three so-called super progressives, including incumbent Nithya Raman, will have the opportunity to expand the council’s progressive bloc from three to five members if they win in the November general election. That’d mean a third of the council would be deeply progressive, which could, given a handful of left-of-center swing votes, dramatically shift the city’s stance on things like homelessness, public transit and the size of the police department.

David Zahniser / Los Angeles Times

3.

Earlier this month, a Compton couple blew out a tire driving over one of their neighborhood’s glaring potholes. So they visited a Home Depot and started fixing it themselves. Neighbors, long frustrated with the area’s state of disrepair, showered them with thanks and donated around $2,000 that allowed the couple to repair 38 potholes. But not everybody was so thankful. Last week, city officials sent the couple a cease and desist letter, noting that DIY fixes to city property are illegal and that they raise liability concerns. “They feel embarrassed. Because they feel that we have put them on blast,” the couple said. 

Caitlin Hernández / LAist

4.

You can once again take the scenic train through San Clemente after crews repaired a stretch of tracks damaged by a January landslide. Full service resumes today for Metrolink’s segment between San Clemente and Oceanside and Amtrak’s popular Pacific Surfliner to San Diego. The closure was the fifth time in just three years that hillside erosion has shut down rail service in the region, including a six-month closure in 2022. This time around, crews erected a 200-foot wall to buttress the slope above the tracks with $7.2 million in emergency funding.

Teresa Watanabe / Los Angeles Times

5.

Lego asked a Southern California police department to stop photoshopping mugshots with the company’s signature plastic heads. Last week, the Murrieta Police Department made headlines when it started covering photos of suspects with Lego heads to comply with a new state law that limits police from publishing certain mugshots on social media. Lego, clearly, was unimpressed, but Murrieta police didn’t seem particularly discouraged. “We are currently exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers,” said a police department spokesperson.

Jeffrey Clark / Fox News