Newsletter: Gilroy mourns

The Northern California city of Gilroy is grappling with disbelief and anger after three were killed, including two children.

TOP STORIES

Gilroy Mourns

Stephen Romero was a chatty 6-year-old who loved climbing on the tire swing in his frontyard and telling people how excited he was to start first grade in the fall. He was shot in his mother’s arms — one of three people, including 13-year-old Keyla Salazar and 25-year-old Trevor Irby — who died after a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday. As remembrances and vigils took place in Northern California, disturbing details began to emerge about the 19-year-old Gilroy native alleged to have carried out the attack. Authorities say police began shooting at the suspect in less than a minute; he was carrying a military-style semiautomatic rifle that was purchased legally in Nevada on July 9 but is illegal to own in California.

‘We Don’t Want a Handout’

Once again, the nation’s political spotlight will shine on Michigan, as the Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare for their second round of debates starting tonight in Detroit. Will they remember the city of Flint, 60 miles to the north? Some candidates have already campaigned in the area, but so far there hasn’t been a renewed focus on Flint’s struggles. And the city that once became an unwilling symbol of urban decline is looking to the future, as locals lean on one another — and distrust government officials.

More Politics

-- Trump signed into law a permanent extension of the 9/11 victims’ compensation fund, ensuring that the money provided to victims of the 2001 terror attacks never runs out. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), the bill’s author, was not invited to the White House bill signing, her spokesperson confirmed.

-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has won over centrist skeptics in the Democratic Party who said she was too divisive and had been atop the party for too long.

Changing Tracks?

For all the sturm und drang that has surrounded California’s troubled high-speed rail vision, a plan to change the project is quietly gaining support. Key state lawmakers hope to shift billions of dollars from the Central Valley to rail projects in Southern California and the Bay Area. It’s a strategy that high-speed rail purists won’t like, but some supporters say it may be a way to save the project in the long term.

Faraway Places

The trustees of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Assn. are under scrutiny over their travel expenses. A Times review of internal documents shows they spent more than $1.3 million to attend conferences around the world since 2015. The trips have included faraway locales such as Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris. Supervisor Hilda Solis has called for a review of the association’s books, which her colleagues could endorse at a meeting today.

Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.

Sign up to get Today’s Headlines delivered to your inbox. »

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On this date in 2002, Lisa Leslie of the L.A. Sparks became the first player to dunk in a regular season WNBA game. The feat came against the Miami Sol at Staples Center.

Lisa Leslie finishes off the first dunk in WNBA history.

(Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

-- Los Angeles city computers were breached last week in a data theft potentially involving the personal information of about 20,000 applicants to the Police Department, including hundreds who are now sworn officers.

-- Charges have been filed against the suspect in a shooting rampage in the San Fernando Valley that left four dead last week.

-- San Francisco State University has shut down a Chinese language program under federal pressure.

-- Where can you get the best dumplings in Los Angeles? Here’s our official guide.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Suge Jacob Knight, one of former rap impresario Marion “Suge� Knight’s children, is trying to step out of his father’s shadow, one million-dollar home at a time.

-- A jury has found that Katy Perry’s 2013 hit “Dark Horse� improperly copied a 2009 Christian rap song, setting up arguments over how much the singer and other defendants will owe.

-- Ras G, a producer and vocalist at the heart of L.A.’s beat scene, has died at 39.

NATION-WORLD

-- Two tropical storms have been gaining force and pushing westward across the Pacific, with at least one of them on a path likely to take it just south of the Hawaiian islands at week’s end.

-- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Moscow hospital and sent back to jail after being treated for a severe rash and eye irritation his personal doctor said could be the result of a poisoning.

-- In northern Brazil, officials say at least 57 prisoners were killed by other inmates during clashes between organized crime groups at the Altamira prison.

BUSINESS

-- Why are healthcare prices in the U.S. so crazy? Consumer columnist David Lazarus says the near-total lack of transparency is a key reason we have the highest costs in the world.

-- A little more than two months after debuting its stock on the public market, Uber has made its first big cut to its workforce, laying off about 400 employees globally.

-- Federal prosecutors say Capital One Financial Corp. lost data from as many as tens of millions of credit card applications after a Seattle woman hacked into a cloud-computing company server.

SPORTS

-- Why are USC and UCLA losing more local football recruits to Pac-12 rivals? Ask the players.

-- Meet Harrison “Psalm� Chang, the L.A. native who earned $1.8 million as the runner-up of the first Fortnite World Cup Finals solo division.

OPINION

-- The Gilroy Garlic Festival killings are part of a sick American tradition.

-- Trump is on a race-baiting roll. Of course he is.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Records show how families have been exploiting a legal loophole to win their children need-based college financial aid and scholarships they would not otherwise receive. (ProPublica)

-- Alan Dershowitz’s long, controversial career — and the accusations against him. (The New Yorker)

ONLY IN L.A.

If you’ve ever dreamed of having Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz over in your living room, here’s your chance at the next best thing: The longtime Van Nuys home of the late Rose Marie, who co-starred in “The Dick Van Dyke Show,� is on the market. In her autobiography, Marie describes how Lucy and Desi reenacted a scene from their 1953 film “The Long, Long Trailer� in the home’s living room. But this fantasy doesn’t come cheap: Asking price is $1.049 million.

If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. Comments or ideas? Email us at [email protected].