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The road rage killing of 6-year-old Aiden Leos: What we know about suspects, shooting -- It was an act of violence that stunned Southern California. A mother was driving with her 6-year-old son on the 55 Freeway on a Friday morning when gunfire rang out. Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II, Lila Seidman, Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Judge and attorney in pivotal Newsom recall lawsuit were former law partners -- The Sacramento County Superior Court judge whose ruling in November was pivotal to the recall campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom, providing supporters extra time to gather the necessary petition signatures to trigger a special election, was once a law partner with the attorney hired by the effort’s proponents to plead their case. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

When is the Newsom recall election? Maybe sooner than you think -- The date of California’s recall election still is not set, but voters may decide the governor’s fate closer to Labor Day than November. Laurel Rosenhall CalMatters -- 6/7/21

Open  

What will a reopened L.A. County look like? More freedom but also coronavirus tests and rules -- Los Angeles County is eagerly awaiting a full reopening June 15. But despite the excitement, it won’t be a complete return to a pre-pandemic normal. Rong-Gong Lin II, Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Masks? Social distancing? We answer your questions on California’s new COVID workplace rules -- California has new COVID workplace safety standards, but only after weeks of delay, nine-plus hours of discussion and multiple votes. Jeong Park in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/7/21

Policy & Politics 

Supreme Court rules against immigrants with temporary status -- A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that thousands of people living in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents. Mark Sherman Associated Press -- 6/7/21

Barbara Ferrer mourns the 24,000 dead in L.A. County and wonders if she did enough -- The pandemic was spreading fast across Los Angeles County. Barbara Ferrer was trying to stop it, but her moves were turning many against her. Jaclyn Cosgrove in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

California’s rising tide of COVID vaccination records raise privacy concerns -- When California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced cash incentives to spur coronavirus vaccine-hesitant residents to get their shots, he emphasized everyone who received a dose was automatically entered into state databases. Solomon Moore in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/7/21

Skelton: An AR-15 is like a pocket knife? Maybe federal judges shouldn’t get lifetime appointments -- The U.S. district judge began his 94-page ruling sanctioning the AR-15 assault rifle for home and militia use by equating it with a Swiss Army knife. Yes, you read that correctly. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Woman with knife disrupts L.A. mayoral campaign launch focused on homelessness -- One of the first in-person events in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election centered on the issue likely to animate the entire race: homelessness. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Water  

Mandatory water restrictions coming to Santa Clara County -- Santa Clara County’s largest water provider announced Monday that it is moving forward with plans to declare a water shortage emergency and to urge cities and water companies that deliver water to 2 million residents in and around San Jose to impose mandatory water restrictions. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/7/21

San Diego Water War In The North County -- Two water agencies that serve the Fallbrook and Rainbow areas want to separate from the San Diego County Water Authority. They say they could get better rates elsewhere. Alexander Nguyen KPBS -- 6/7/21

Street  

VTA shooting survivors face long road to recovery, psychologists say -- The calls started less than 24 hours after the VTA rail yard shooting. Seeing yet another tragedy unfold — families crying, police sirens, the knowledge that someone is gone forever — was deeply traumatic for survivors of the Gilroy Garlic Festival mass shooting, said Kasey Halcon, who supervises a center to help people affected by the 2019 shooting. Kate Selig in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/7/21

Gascón promised to review controversial police killings. After 6 months, is he too late for some? -- In his bid to unseat Jackie Lacey as head of the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office last year, George Gascón didn’t simply attack her record of declining to prosecute police officers who killed unarmed people — he promised to go a step further and undo what he saw as her mistakes. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Inside the California organization tracking anti-Asian hate incidents -- Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based coalition, has recorded nearly 7,000 hate incidents involving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s become a key source of information for the media and for advocates looking to stop the surge of racist attacks. Mallika Seshadri CalMatters -- 6/7/21

As opioid overdoses rise in L.A. jails, inmates get access to lifesaving drug -- The man swayed and stumbled between two bunk beds in a Los Angeles County jail dorm, then collapsed onto another inmate who had fallen to the floor. Alene Tchekmedyian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Two arrested in Davis in possession of over 60 California EDD debit cards, police say -- Police in Davis arrested two suspects Sunday evening after a traffic stop led to a search that turned up drugs, a handgun, stolen mail and California Employment Development Department debit cards belonging to several dozen people, authorities said. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/7/21

Housing  

Sausalito's housing war is happening on the water. In this conflict, eviction means crushed boats -- It was a relatively peaceful morning at Dunphy Park, a tent city near Sausalito’s waterfront — until they got the call. Someone’s boat had been pulled in, and it was about to get crushed. Annie Vainshtein in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21

Environment  

How the pandemic may have helped whales off California’s coast -- It’s no secret that the COVID pandemic shut down the world’s economy, sent millions of people to the hospital and affected everything from birth rates to air pollution levels. But now scientists are discovering how it even changed the ocean off the coast of California. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/7/21

Also . . .   

Why Black Latinos say they live in two worlds: ‘We are here and we are also invisible’ -- Marie Nubia-Feliciano wanted to know about Latino student organizations when she arrived at UC Irvine in 1990 and visited the school’s multicultural center. Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/7/21

Looming ‘Fix 99’ freeway closure may be Sacramento area’s largest ever. Here’s what to know -- Transportation officials and local law enforcement are continuing to brace Sacramento-area commuters for a major construction project that will fully close a busy stretch of Highway 99 for more than four days starting Friday night. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/7/21

Bill Bratton talks L.A. police, George Floyd and his memoir -- Over his three-plus decades running police departments in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles, Bill Bratton branded himself as America’s top cop. Joel Rubin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

The Zoot Suit Riots Cruise brings back ‘a forgotten era’ -- History lessons come in many forms. For Art Zamora, they’re carried by classic chassis rolling down the streets of Los Angeles. Steve Saldivar in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Is Disney’s Avengers Campus worth an hours-long wait? Our expert advice -- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the so-called normal people are often nonessential. Todd Martens in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

‘Go for Broke’ Japanese American veterans get a postage stamp marking WWII service -- At 16, Don Miyada was wrenched from his family’s farm near Laguna Beach and sent to a prison camp in Arizona. Anh Do in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Connected by love and loss, they reaped what Rodney sowed — and gave it away -- On a spring day when the mustard greens were still tender, Sherril Wells stopped harvesting, raised her arms and danced to Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” playing over her SUV’s speakers. Diana Marcum in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

California Policy and Politics Monday Morning  

Two suspects arrested in alleged road rage shooting of 6-year-old Aiden Leos -- Two people have been arrested in the shooting death of 6-year-old Aiden Leos, who lay dying in his mother’s arms on the 55 Freeway in Orange last month in what officials have called a road rage incident. Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II, Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times$ Brian Rokos, Tony Saavedra and Nathaniel Percy in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/7/21

Virus  

California one of just two states at CDC's lowest level of COVID transmission -- California continues to help set the pace for U.S. COVID-19 recovery, now ranked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of just two states at the lowest level of coronavirus community transmission. Kellie Hwang in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21

How scientists are already hunting for California's next COVID variant -- At the start of the year, infectious disease experts across California were, in their own words, stumbling around in a blind frenzy. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21

Policy & Politics 

San Jose church that defied coronavirus orders draws protest by hosting anti-gay leader -- On the first weekend of Pride month, a group waved rainbow signs to protest San Jose’s Calvary Chapel and its guest speaker of the day: Tony Perkins, a notorious anti-gay activist. Janelle Bitker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21

Walters: California’s death penalty is reconsidered again -- California’s evolution into a cultural melange in the latter half of the 20th century posed a question that still looms: Can such a complex society achieve the broad social consensus that’s a prerequisite for effective governance? Dan Walters CalMatters -- 6/7/21

Street  

Authorities investigate two shootings on the 605 Freeway. One man was wounded -- The California Highway Patrol is investigating two shootings that occurred within hours and a few miles of each other Saturday on the 605 Freeway, including one that wounded a man in his 30s. Tony Barboza in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/7/21

Rally demands justice a year after man's killing by Vallejo police -- One year and four days after Sean Monterrosa was shot and killed by a Vallejo police officer, his sisters stood across the street from San Francisco’s City Hall on Sunday to honor his memory and demand justice. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21

Water  

‘Truly an emergency’: how drought returned to California – and what lies ahead -- Just two years after California celebrated the end of its last devastating drought, the state is facing another one. Snowpack has dwindled to nearly nothing, the state’s 1,500 reservoirs are at only 50% of their average levels, and federal and local agencies have begun to issue water restrictions. Gabrielle Canon The Guardian -- 6/7/21

Education  

California schools move ahead with fall distance learning plans despite limitations -- While parents and state officials are pushing to fully reopen campuses this fall, some families are fearful of sending their kids back into classrooms too soon. But options for distance learning this fall are unclear across the state. Sydney Johnson EdSource -- 6/7/21

Also . . .   

Hawaii-bound kayaker rescued by Coast Guard helicopter near Santa Cruz -- Derreumaux, 44, had hoped to solo-paddle his 23-foot kayak to Hawaii when he set out May 31 on a voyage he thought would take him about 70 days. He’d been preparing for the adventure for three years. Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/7/21