Newsletter: Essential California Week in Review: El Niño is showing signs of a strong return in 2023

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, May 20.

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

There is currently an 80% chance El Niño will be moderately strong and a 55% chance it will be strong. ‘We need to be prepared.’ For California — a state already bracing for potentially devastating floods because of epic snowmelt — a strong El Niño could bring a second consecutive winter of above-average precipitation, accompanied by landslides, floods and coastal erosion.

Border crossings drop significantly after Title 42 ends, U.S. officials say. Some speculated that border crossings could reach more than 14,000 a day after Title 42 was lifted. Instead, the numbers have dropped.

• She helped other migrants seek asylum ahead of Title 42’s end. Now it’s her turn. Soraya Amaya and her family fled El Salvador after gangs threatened to kill them. After months in Mexico, where she volunteered to help other migrants at the border, they’ve finally secured a U.S. asylum appointment.

California Democrats are further torn after seeing Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s return to Washington. The California senator cast critical votes Thursday to advance judicial nominees who lacked Republican support. And yet, among some California Democrats, Feinstein’s return did little to quell concern about her effectiveness.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is investigating Hollywood restaurants over allegations of keeping service fees and stiffing workers. The city attorney is examining whether Ten Five Hospitality — the group that operated the five restaurants at the time of the allegations — violated an ordinance by allegedly keeping the entirety of the 5% service fee they charged to customers instead of distributing it to workers.

Is a four-day workweek as good as it sounds? Employees share what it’s really like. Efficiency and time management are key when you’re on a four-day work schedule, as the more than 250 corporate employees at ThredUp are. Still, getting your work done in four days can be intense and stressful.

Gloria Molina, a Chicana who blazed paths across L.A. politics, has died. Molina’s political life had been a series of firsts that inspired generations of women and Latinos to seek public office — the first Latina Assemblymember in California, the first Latina on the Los Angeles City Council, the first Latina on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

Dozens of L.A. County sheriff’s deputies ordered to show suspected gang tattoos, and reveal others who have them. It’s unclear what the consequences would be if deputies don’t go in for questioning, though the letters that county Inspector General Max Huntsman sent last week warned that refusing to answer questions could “adversely affect your employment with Los Angeles County or your status as a peace officer.”

A beach town finds itself between a bluff and a hard place. The Casa Romantica landslide is the latest in a season of crumbling cliffs in California following a winter of remarkably wet and powerful storms. More than 700 landslides were reported statewide in January alone, according to the California Geological Survey.

One person was knocked unconscious in a fan brawl outside Dodger Stadium. A brawl involving several people outside Dodger Stadium left one person unconscious, and authorities say none of the parties involved is cooperating with police.

The 15 most banned books in America this school year. The debut book by a Santa Rosa illustrator, “Gender Queer,” has become the most banned book in America, a target of school boards, conservative candidates, preachers and parental groups who condemned it as pornography aimed at impressionable children.

Dancers at this California topless bar to become the only unionized strippers in the U.S. “This is not just a win for the dancers at this club, but the entire strip club industry,” said Lilith, a Star Garden dancer.

A top L.A. chef at Horses was accused by his wife of killing their family cats and assault. He denies the claims. Elizabeth Johnson alleged that her husband joked about feeding one of their kittens to coyotes, according to a court filing.

Scientists take flight to map California’s vast snowpack and measure flooding threats. Their measurements, along with estimates by other researchers, show that when the snowpack reached its peak in April, it held approximately 40 million acre-feet of water, nearly as much as the total capacity of all the state’s reservoirs combined.

Barack and Michelle Obama stir buzz at daughter Sasha’s USC graduation. Sasha Obama, 21, beamed as she crossed the stage to commemorate her new sociology degree, as her sister and parents applauded in the audience. The announcement of her name was met with almost universal cheers from the crowd.

ICYMI, here are this week’s great reads

A Black Astronaut from California feels the weight of injustice on Earth. NASA astronaut Victor Glover Jr. will travel farther into space than any Black person before him when he pilots the Artemis II lunar mission in 2024. But he’s already embarked on a personal mission that hits closer to home on Earth.

He’s accused of killing her brother in Davis. Why she forgives him. “People grieve in their own ways, and they express fear in their own ways, and I have great compassion for that too,” Maria Breaux said. “For me, the greatest healing has been through forgiveness.”

One of L.A.’s last family-owned cinemas is in limbo. Its fans aren’t ready to give up. The revival of the neighborhood cinema, built in 1946 and purchased by Judy Kim’s parents almost 50 years ago, was ignited a few months ago, when Kim realized she couldn’t keep the cinema afloat on her own. Almost immediately, the community responded to her call.

Today’s week-in-review newsletter was curated by Kevinisha Walker. 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.