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Newsletter: Essential California Week in Review: A tragedy in Gilroy

Katiuska Pimentel, left, aunt of Gilroy shooting victim Keyla Salazar, hugs Keyla’s parents Juan Salazar and Lorena de Salazar before a San Jose vigil.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, Aug. 3.

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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.

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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.

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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.

‘Mind-blowing’ photo captures humpback whale with a California sea lion in its mouth. Sacramento Bee

Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting: 3 killed, 12 wounded, gunman dead. San Francisco Chronicle

What does it take to be rich in the Bay Area? Here’s how much you need to make in every city. SF Gate

A 26-year-old billionaire is building virtual border walls — and the federal government is buying. Los Angeles Times

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Live L.A. like a local? Here are tips from readers on where to take visitors. Los Angeles Times

ICYMI, here are this week’s great reads

Unfair labor practices: The workers who make Korean barbecue possible deserve better. Los Angeles Times

Decades of greed, neglect, corruption and bad politics led to last year’s Paradise fire. Mark Arax’s sweeping account revisits the worst fire in California history. California Sunday

A devastating dispatch from L.A.’s homelessness crisis: After the mayor visited their homeless encampment, a couple lost all their belongings. LAist

Athleisure, barre and kale: Jia Tolentino on the tyranny of the “ideal woman.” The Guardian

Looking ahead

Saturday Recommendation: Pork and beef hui tou at Hui Tou Xiang in San Gabriel

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Hui tou dumplings from Hui Tou Xiang.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles Times food writer extraordinaire Jenn Harris has been taking friends on dumpling crawls through the San Gabriel Valley for nearly a decade. Her knowledge is vast and deep. She’s frequented some of the spots since her Chinese grandmother first took her there; others were learned of from the great Jonathan Gold. This week, she released her official guide to the best dumplings in Los Angeles. Here’s a particularly delicious excerpt:

Hui tou are the blintzes of the dumpling world, and Hui Tou Xiang in San Gabriel is one of the few places in the area to find them. The dumplings look like mini griddled burritos about the size of a glue stick. The skins are blistered and browned, perfectly chewy and elastic and swollen with garlicky pork or beef filling. The pork is similar to what you might expect in a very good xiao long bao, and the beef brings to mind the broth-enhanced meatballs in albondigas. Both are addictive, as is the house-made kimchi that arrives on each table when you sit down.”

Hui Tou Xiang is located at 704 W. Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel. (626) 281-9888. Read Jenn Harris’ full dumpling guide.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes. (And a giant thanks to the legendary Diya Chacko for all her help on the Saturday edition!)

With the Essential California newsletter, you will get quickly up to speed on the stories shaping California - from our pages and beyond. You’ll also get original reporting and in-depth conversations on the issues that matter most. Delivered to your inbox, Mondays through Fridays, with a week in review on Saturdays. Sign up at latimes.com/essentialcalifornia.

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