Essential California

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, Aug. 3. Want to make Essential California better? Please take this reader survey. Here’s a look at the top stories of the last week:

TOP STORIES Gilroy mass shooting. At least three people were killed and 15 others were injured in a mass shooting at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday, making the small California town a member of the grim fraternity of places terrorized by such violence. For many residents, there is a special hurt in the fact that one of their own carried out the attack. [Full coverage of the shooting in Gilroy] Trump’s tax returns. President Trump will be ineligible for California’s primary ballot next year unless he discloses his tax returns under a state law signed Tuesday and effective immediately. High-speed rail. Key California lawmakers have devised a plan to shift billions of dollars from the Central Valley bullet train to rail projects in Southern California and the Bay Area. Homelessness. The L.A. City Council reinstated rules that limit where people can live in their vehicles. People cannot spend the night in their cars on residential streets or live in their vehicles at any time within a block of a park, school, preschool or day-care facility. Representation. Black women in the California Democratic Party are demanding more clout, saying the organization has failed to make room for them at the top. Ice cream guide. Here’s an interactive map of the best places to get ice cream and gelato in L.A. Guns and ammo ‘sanctuary.’ City officials in Needles hope somehow to cajole the state to exempt them and possibly other border towns from rules on purchasing ammunition and let them honor out-of-state concealed-carry permits. Solar panels. California will need hundreds or maybe thousands of square miles of solar power production in the coming decades. Farmers are supplying the acreage as the water supply dries up. Nipsey Hussle. Construction crews put up a fence Thursday around the lot of the strip mall in South L.A. where Nipsey Hussle established his store, The Marathon Clothing — and where the late rapper and activist was gunned down. Endangered plants disaster. Hundreds of federally endangered plants in Topanga State Park were bulldozed by crews from the L.A. Department of Water and Power as part of a wildfire prevention project. Wildfire money. Nearly two years after wildfires ripped through Northern California’s wine country, those who suffered losses from the blazes have yet to receive more than $200 million in federal funding intended to rebuild and help prevent future disasters in the state.