Newsletter: Essential California: Preparing for dangerous earthquake

Good morning. It is Monday, April 27.  Here's what’s happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Nepal’s earthquake

A California man and member of Google’s privacy team died on Mt. Everest after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal triggered an avalanche, per the Los Angeles Times. Dan Fredinburg was on the mountain with three other Google employees, who survived the avalanche. And a Santa Monica couple are among those missing in the wake of the quake.

Earthquake dangers

A similar earthquake could strike California and kill as many as 1,800 people, the Los Angeles Times reports. When the U.S. Geological Survey simulates a magnitude 7.8 quake on the San Andreas Fault, officials found there would be $213 billion in economic losses, in addition to the loss of life.

Public sector employees

An analysis by the Los Angeles Times finds most of the city’s employees make more money than their counterparts in the private sector. In fact, they often make more than public employees in other cities. And those numbers underscore a problem for the Coalition of L.A. City Unions -- leaders are threatening a strike if L.A. city officials freeze their pay.

Colleges close down

Orange County-based Corinthian Colleges will shut down its remaining schools, affecting about 16,000 students. The move follows state and federal investigations into its job-placement programs. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education fined Corinthian $30 million for allegedly tampering with its job placement rates.

L.A. AT LARGE

Park attractions: Residents near Runyon Canyon have said “no way” to a proposal that would allow a zip line to operate overhead. Even Councilman Tom LaBonge has said the popular hiking spot is not the right place for a zip line that could attract noisy crowds.

Minimum wage and tips: The restaurant industry is preparing for tough times if the city of Los Angeles increases the minimum wage, the LA Weekly reports. Restaurant owners want tipped employees to be exempt from the wage.

Reunited with abandoned infant: A former Santa Ana police officer was reunited with a man he rescued 25 years ago when, as an infant, he was abandoned in a trash can. Now, the former officer is going to help the young man, known as “Baby Adam,” to find his birth mother, per CBS 2.

ENVIRONMENT

Tagging nature: Graffiti artists have taken to tagging national parks, including Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Joshua Tree National Park. That’s provoked a strong reaction from hikers, who have now taken to patrolling the parks.

Wind power: Californians from Imperial Beach to San Clemente will soon be getting their energy from a wind farm in Mexico. The effort is being led by Sempra Energy of San Diego, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The first burst of power will come across the border next March.

Bottled water in a drought: In the midst of a drought, why is Nestle still getting access to millions of gallons of Sacramento’s water, which it bottles and then sells at a profit? That’s what critics are wondering in the Sacramento Bee.

Future of California’s water: Is desalination the answer to California’s water woes? Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik doesn’t think so. “Enthusiasm for desalination tends to overlook its high costs, which stem in part from its enormous energy demand and weighty environmental footprint,” he writes.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Republican runs for Senate: Former state GOP chairman Tom Del Beccaro is running for the U.S. Senate, reports KPCC-FM (89.3). He is the second Republican to announce his bid for the seat currently held by Sen. Barbara Boxer.

COURTS AND CRIMES

Analyzing judges: Gov. Jerry Brown’s two latest appointments to the state Supreme Court have not created the liberal bloc many analysts were expecting. That’s the opinion based on two recent rulings involving the death penalty and sex offenders, the Los Angeles Times reports.

SPORTS

L.A.’s sports leaders: It’s L.A.’s 50 most powerful people in sports, according to the Daily News. “In a city with nine professional sports franchises, a pair of Pacific-12 Conference universities, an assemblage of sports agencies and a concentration of media conglomerates, championships aren’t the only measure of success.”

Tough times for players: The Pasadena high school baseball program that produced Dodger great Jackie Robinson has fallen into disrepair, reports Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. The field has fallen apart and players don’t have access to locker rooms, sponsors or even a working scoreboard.

Newsletter: Want more news about the Dodgers? Sign up for the Los Angeles Times’ Dodgers Dugout newsletter.

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Waving off drones: The agency that manages the Golden Gate Bridge is asking the federal government to help restrict the number of drones that buzz the famous bridge. One device even crash-landed on the road recently, according to the Associated Press.

Welcome to the future: What do you want Los Angeles to look like in 2050? Here’s what folks wrote on postcards to KCRW-FM (89.9).

Off to the races: The Santa Anita racetrack hosted the Wiener Dog Races on Saturday and LAist has a photo collection of the participants.

AND FINALLY...

Today is the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at UCLA that foreshadowed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The university will commemorate the occasion with a screening of the film “Selma.”

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.