Good morning and welcome to Essential California Newsletter. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

In pursuit of donations, USC recognized affluent kids as walk-on athletes

It is difficult to get into USC, which has become one of America’s more selective universities. Only about 9% of applicants pass the cut.

But until fairly recently, there was another route used by parents with money and influence. Like The Times’ Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton reported this week, USC quietly offered wealthy, well-connected families an alternative path to admission with much lower academic expectations and an 85% to 90% acceptance rate.

Their investigation digs deep into a secret admissions committee that processed the applications. Internal records show that USC fundraisers expected substantial donations from families of those admitted and, in some cases, were upset when funds did not materialize.

Here’s more to know:

• USC says the problems is in the past and that it established new safeguards in 2020. “This fraud involved a limited number of employees exclusively in athletics who are no longer with the university. We are pleased that this matter is in the past and that we have learned from it to ensure it does not happen again.”
• It underlines lingering concerns about USC admissionss and how it raises money. When the school admissions scandal broke, more than half of the parents accused of conspiring to bribes tried to get their children into USC.
• Varsity Blues continue to cast a shadow. A parent is accused of the scandal sued USC for the return of a $100,000 donation he made in connection with his son’s admission, along with $75 million in damages for what he claims was fraud and deceit by the university.
• USC is not alone. The Times in 2019 reported cases there UCLA athletics got going players whose parents offered donations to the school. A 2020 revision was found The University of California “falsely designated” at least 22 applicants as athletic recruits between 2013 and 2019 “because of donations from or as favors to well-connected families.”

The biggest stories of the week

Voters cast early ballots in Columbus, Ohio, on October 8.

(Paul Vernon/Associated Press)

What are Harris and Trump’s swing-state strategies for the final stretch?

• Harris and Trump are targeting voters’ fears as they make a final push for support in key states which appear to be toss-ups.
• Almost 30 million Americans have already voted. But experts say the early voting numbers don’t allow them to predict who will win.
• Trump says he will carry out the “largest deportation” in US history. Experts say it is unlikely.
• Convicted of 34 felonies, charged with sexual assault and impeached twice, Trump remains breathtakingly close take back the White House.

Gascón, LA’s progressive “godfather,” is fighting to keep his job as DA

• Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón is lagging behind its challengerformer federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, in recent polls, and much of the incumbent’s support from 2020 has disappeared.
• Gascón took office at a time when the public wanted to reform criminal justice. But he now faces an electorate concerned about public safety although crime is decreasing by some measures.

Other celebrities accused of taking part in abuse at parties hosted by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

• A woman claims she was 13 when she was raped by Combs and a male celebrity, identified only as Celebrity A, while a female celebrity, identified as Celebrity B, looked on, according to a federal lawsuit submitted this week.
• Combs’ alleged sexual assault of women was aided and abetted by a complex and extensive networks of enablersaccording to a Times review of court filings and interviews with current and former business partners.

Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela will be remembered by fans as the World Series gets underway in LA

More great stories

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

This week’s must-reads

(Zihui Zhou/UC Berkeley)

Half a pound of this powder can remove as much CO₂ from the air as a tree, according to a study by researchers at Berkeley. Keeping carbon dioxide in check is necessary to prevent some of the most dire consequences of climate change, scientists say.

“You have to take CO₂ from the air — there’s no way around it, says Omar Yaghi, the study’s senior author. “Even if we stop emitting CO₂we still have to take it off the air. We have no other options.”

More good reading

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

To your weekend

Dodgers pitcher Gavin Stone said In-N-Out Burger, the iconic California burger chain, is his favorite restaurant in LA.

(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• Eat like your favorite Dodger. Here are 15 LA restaurants that 2024 World Series players love.
• LA’s Chinatown helped reinvent Southern California. Now energized by a new generation of Asian-American creatives, it reinvents itself.
• In “Conclave”, a quest to elect a new Pope leads down some less than holy ways.
• Labor organizers take aim at Amazon in “Union”, a complex, important documentary, our critics write.

To stay inside

How well have you been following the news this week? Take our quiz

(Times staff and wire images)

Which team defeated the Dodgers in a 10-5 home victory to earn their 22nd trip to the World Series? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Shelby Grad

Check ours top stories, substances and that latest articles on latimes.com.