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In California | A SPOTLIGHT ON ALL THINGS GOLDEN STATE | Monday, June 7 | | |
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| But first, move over frequent flier miles. If you're flying into or out of LAX and haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19, consider popping over to Terminal 6 on the lower level for a quick shot. Travelers who are 18 and older can get the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine, without an appointment. The L.A. Fire Department is partnering with Los Angeles World Airports and the L.A. County Department of Public Health to administer the shots. It's free and there are no residency requirements or citizenship restrictions. More details at LAist. |
| Know someone who cares about the Golden State? Let them know they can sign up for the In California newsletter via this link. I'm Julie Makinen, California editor for the USA Today Network, bringing you today's key headlines. |
Cops detail what led them to suspects in freeway shooting of 6-year-old boy |
 | | In this Tuesday, May 25, 2021, file photo, family members of 6-year-old Aiden Leos stand at a makeshift memorial on the Walnut Avenue overpass at the 55 Freeway in Orange, Calif., to announce that the reward for information leading to the suspects in the road-rage shooting death of Leos. Family members and friends tearfully remembered Leos, who was shot and killed in the incident on a Southern California freeway, at his memorial service on Saturday, June 5. | | Leonard Ortiz, AP | |
| On May 21, 6-year-old Aiden Leos was shot and killed while riding in a car on the 55 Freeway. The killing left the Orange County community shocked and saddened. Afterward, investigators with the California Highway Patrol circulated an image of a white car said to belong to the suspects, and on Monday officers detailed how surveillance, investigation and tips all played a part in identifying the suspects, the L.A. Times reported. |
| Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, were taken into custody at their home in Costa Mesa on Sunday. A reward for an arrest and conviction — funded by family members, donations, county officials and local businesses — climbed to $500,000. Officials received hundreds of calls and emails, they said. |
| CHP officials said they got a tip and enhanced an image of the license plate on white vehicle, which led them to identify the couple. They then investigated the couple's backgrounds and determined that they commuted along the 91 corridor. Investigators were able to figure out that the couple were in the area of the shooting at the time that it occurred. |
| CHP officers recovered a white 2018 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen SE registered to Lee's parents and impounded it Sunday evening as evidence, according to records reviewed by The Times. It fits the description of the vehicle circulated by officials in connection with the fatal shooting. |
Driver sought in hit-and-run that killed 3 girls |
 | | Daytona Bronas, age 12 (left); Sandra Mizer, age 13; and Willow Sanchez, age 11 were identified by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Coroner's Division as the three girls killed Saturday, June 5, 2021, during a hit-and-run crash in Lucerne Valley. | | Daily Press File Photo (Daytona) and submitted photos by Jessica Risler | |
| In another tragic incident in the Inland Empire, the California Highway Patrol is searching for the motorist who struck and killed three adolescent girls and critically injured a fourth in a hit-and-run incident in Lucerne Valley on Saturday night. The girls, two walking and two using wheelchairs, were on the side of the road when they were struck about 10:20 p.m. |
| Witnesses said the driver and a passenger "bolted into the desert" before first responders arrived, according to eyewitness accounts that build on still-emerging details from the California Highway Patrol. |
State ban on assault weapons still in effect; what happens next? |
 | | The current U.S. Supreme Court, photographed in April. | | Fred Schilling, Supreme Court | |
| California's ban on the sale of guns it defines as assault weapons remains in effect despite a federal judge's ruling Friday that it is unconstitutional. The San Francisco Chronicle's Bob Egelko writes that it seems likely, though not certain, to remain in force for the next year or two —until the Supreme Court is asked to review it. |
| At that point, he says, all bets are off. The high court is preparing to review its first gun case in more than a decade; the justices are looking at the authority of California and other states to require permits to carry handguns outside the home. And with the addition of three appointees by former President Donald Trump, there may be a new pro-gun majority on the court. Consider: |
| • | Justice Brett Kavanaugh cast a dissenting vote in 2011, as a federal appeals court judge, to overturn a ban on assault weapons in Washington, D.C., that the Supreme Court later left intact. | | • | Justice Amy Coney Barrett, as a federal appeals court judge in 2019, cast a dissenting vote to overturn a state law banning all convicted felons from owning firearms. | | • | Justice Neil Gorsuch, at his confirmation hearing in 2017, refused to say whether civilians could be legally prohibited from owning military-style weapons. He said the Constitution allows possession of guns that are "in common use for self-defense." | |
| Justice Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, has criticized his fellow justices for refusing to consider challenges to state firearms laws. When the court left intact California's 10-day waiting period for gun purchases in 2018, Thomas said his colleagues had turned the right to bear arms into a "constitutional orphan." |
| Last week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego on assault weapons contradicts decisions by other federal courts, but Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who has written extensively on gun-related issues, says it seems "likely to find majority support in the Supreme Court." |
| Gov. Gavin Newsom has slammed Benitez's decision to overturn the three-decade-old ban on assault weapons as "a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians." The Democrat added: "Comparing an AR-15 to a Swiss army knife is a disgusting slap in the face to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence." |
Wondering if you should get tested for COVID-19? Here's the new California guidance |
| The California Department of Public Health has updated its COVID-19 testing guidance to outline when people, depending on vaccination status or setting, should get tested. In a nutshell: |
| If you are fully vaccinated, aren't showing symptoms, and don't work in a health care setting, there's no need for any regular screenings. But diagnostic testing should be considered for anyone who shows symptoms of COVID-19 or has been exposed to the virus, according to the guidance. |
| If you have not been vaccinated, diagnostic screening should be considered if your workplace has: |
| • | an increased risk of introducing and spreading COVID-19 (such as public transit, restaurants, theaters, stadiums, places where social distancing may be difficult); | | • | a high density of people; | | • | staff that congregate in residential areas (such as homeless shelters, correctional facilities); | | • | a higher risk of COVID-19 among workers (such as manufacturing, construction, retail, and food service workplaces). | |
| Screening should continue in health care settings regardless of vaccination status, the guidance states. An exception is among residential congregate-care facilities where more than 70% of residents and staff are fully vaccinated, or more than 70% of staff are fully vaccinated. |
| Most fully vaccinated people who are asymptomatic do not need to be tested if they've been exposed to the virus, but it is recommended if they work in congregate settings, or high-density workplaces, or live in a dormitory or other high-density residential setting. |
| Those who haven't been vaccinated and have had contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 should get tested. |
| What if someone at my work gets COVID-19? If one or more of your coworkers have tested positive for COVID-19, all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, should be tested. However, fully vaccinated individuals "are not required to quarantine or be excluded from work," the guidance states. |
| The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standard requires testing to take place weekly during outbreaks of three or more people, and twice a week during outbreaks of 20 or more people. |
So you want to break down political divides. Here's a way to possibly help |
| You probably know some people — coworkers, maybe even family — who didn't vote the way you did for president in 2020 and see a lot of things differently when it comes to politics. But do you ever talk to them about why? |
| Or do you just stick to the weather, either because you don't want to bother or because you've gotten sick of hitting a brick wall? |
| In an effort to bridge that divide — through conversation instead of avoidance — newspapers in the USA TODAY Network are partnering with the group behind an event called "America Talks." The idea is simple: You answer a few questions about your politics, you're matched up with someone who answered differently, then the two of you talk. |
| The conversations happen next weekend, June 12 and 13. |
| Pearce Godwin, founder and CEO of the Listen First Project, explained the thinking to USA TODAY: "It's easy to sit back and point fingers, to lose hope. What if instead we stepped forward and got real with each other, extending curiosity, goodwill and grace?" |
| If you sign up as I did at the project's website, AmericaTalks.us, it asks whether you approve of the job Joe Biden is doing as president. From there, it asks about your views on gun control, the minimum wage, immigration, marijuana and whether freedoms of speech and religion are threatened. |
| After you write brief answers to a couple more questions, it will take all that and match you up with someone to talk with next week. It might be easier to talk to a stranger about thorny topics than to a friend or relative. Think of it as a warm-up. |
| In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: LAist, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle. Julie Makinen is California editor for the USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @Julie_Makinen. |
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