Newsletter: Essential California Week in Review: A new mask mandate for L.A.?

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, July 16.

Here’s a look at the top stories of the last week

L.A. County on verge of indoor mask mandate. Sustained jumps in cases and hospitalizations fueled by the hyper-infectious BA.5 subvariant pushed Los Angeles County into the high COVID-19 community level Thursday, a shift that could trigger a new public indoor mask mandate by the end of this month unless conditions improve.

Stunning spread of BA.5 shows why this wave is so different. The proliferation of the coronavirus subvariant is becoming a growing focus of scientific scrutiny, with experts saying it may replicate itself far more effectively than earlier versions of Omicron. Meanwhile, weekly COVID-19 deaths reported in L.A. County are rising fast.

L.A. water use plunges a record 9%. Efforts to monitor water use and stringent new rules appear to be working, with demand for water from city residents plummeting compared with the same month last year. It was the lowest water use for any June on record.

California opens the door to suing gun makers. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against restrictions on carrying firearms in public, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed at least three major gun control measures. The latest empowers lawsuits against companies that violate new state standards.

California’s broken recycling system is making cans hard to find. About 73% of an aluminum can comes from recycled scrap. As demand for canned beverages boomed in recent years, the state’s patchwork of recycling centers and recovery facilities just couldn’t keep pace.

Dogs at L.A. animal shelters go weeks or months without being walked. The confinement is the result of long-standing practices at Los Angeles Animal Services, critics say. The department largely relies on unpaid volunteers to walk and exercise dogs — a system that’s being stressed as more dogs come in.

The Emmy nominations have arrived. Emmy nominations were announced Tuesday morning, and with 754 programs vying for recognition, the free-for-all to win a place at the table was intense. There were plenty of surprises and snubs.

California cities ban new gas stations. Without realizing they were starting a movement, several Bay Area cities banned new stations to help combat climate change. Now, leaders in California’s most car-centric metropolis are hoping to bring the climate-conscious policy to Southern California.

How a California mental health funding plan fell apart. Nearly two decades ago, California voters passed a landmark tax on millionaires envisioned as a game changer for mental health. But despite improvements, it’s clear the results have fallen far short of the initial promise.

Dramatic new 6th Street Viaduct opens, delivering a ‘love letter’ to L.A. With its 10 pairs of tilted arches, it is the largest and most expensive bridge the city has ever erected, connecting downtown to Whittier Boulevard and replacing a beloved Depression-era bridge that was demolished in 2016.

LAPD killed a man it says aimed a gun at an officer. But body camera video tells a different story. The video has injected more uncertainty into the incident by failing to resolve a critical question: Did Marvin Cua cause the shooting by pointing a gun he was carrying at the officers, as the LAPD alleges?

ICYMI, here are this week’s great reads

One California town ran out of water. Then the fire came. The San Joaquin Valley’s water well problems stem from a complex mix of infrastructure failure, contamination and record-dry conditions. In East Orosi, the water went off on a Tuesday afternoon. A temporary fix allowed the water to run sporadically on Wednesday, but by then, a family had lost their home to a fire they had no water to fight.

‘Hollywood’s Finest.’ Mckenzie Trahan had lived on the streets of Hollywood on and off since she was 13. At 22, she was nearly seven months pregnant and staying in a tent in the dirt above the 101 Freeway. She would struggle to find and keep a home to raise her baby. In the process, she would have to leave behind the street life.

Reporter Gale Holland, photographer Christina House and videographer Claire Hannah Collins tell the stories of Mckenzie; her mother, Cynthia “Cat” Trahan; and her case manager, Leslie Kerr. Follow along on their journey.

Today’s week-in-review newsletter was curated by Laura Blasey. Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.