Newsletter: Essential: The deadly serious fight to keep the Zika virus out of Southern California

Good morning. It’s Saturday, May 21. Here’s what’s going on around California:

TOP STORIES

“The cockroach of mosquitoes”: Officials are engaged in a painstaking effort in Southern California to control the insect that carries the Zika virus. “This is very, very, very serious,” said Edward McCabe, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes. “We wouldn’t want L.A. to turn out to be ground zero for endemic Zika in the U.S.” Los Angeles Times

Water, water everywhere but …: The Seal Beach pier, which has been battered over the years by fire, storms and earthquake, was hit again Friday. A fire broke out at the closed Ruby’s Diner restaurant on the wooden span. It’s unclear how badly the pier itself was damaged. Los Angeles Times

Safety net: A state Senate budget committee has blocked an effort by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration to gut key provisions of a groundbreaking 2008 law that requires child protection services to release case records after a child dies from abuse or neglect. Los Angeles Times

Out with the old: Disneyland’s vintage Skyway Station is being demolished to make way for the new Star Wars attraction. OC Register

Saving the past: The building that helped start the Los Angeles historic preservation movement is celebrating a key anniversary, saved after attempts to tear it down and build a strip mall. LA Daily News

Back to the future: For the first time in 60 years, we can take the train from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica. Los Angeles Times

HERE ARE THIS WEEK’S GREAT READS

Talk of the town: Rona Barrett was once Hollywood’s top gossip journalist. Then she disappeared from Tinseltown. Now, she’s in Santa Barbara, building housing for the elderly. But she still keeps tabs on the celebrity scene. BuzzFeed

A murder set him free: Reggie Cole had always said he was no murderer. A gang banger, yes. A drug dealer, sure. But he insisted he wasn’t a killer. Until the day in prison he sank a 6-inch shiv into the neck of a menacing inmate called Devil. “I went in innocent and I came out a killer.” Los Angeles Times

Drink up: Silver Lake has become the juice bar capital of Los Angeles. But that won’t save the trendy neighborhood as it faces challenges from all sides. Boom

Pre-game exercise: Two longtime buddies have been going to Dodger games for years. But recently, they decided on taking the long way. Jay Lewitt and Rick Gottesman got to Dodger Stadium via a 22-mile, nine-hour walk from Sherman Oaks. Los Angeles Times

THIS WEEK’S MOST POPULAR STORIES IN ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA

1. How a KTLA weather woman’s little black dress took the Internet by storm. Los Angeles Times

2. Jay Z and Beyoncé are outbid by fashion designer Tom Ford on a nine-bedroom estate in Beverly Hills. LAist

3. Before and after photos of the California drought. Los Angeles Times

4. A transgender 9-year-old tells her story. Los Angeles Times

5. Meet a professor who is studying the adult entertainment industry. LA Weekly

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday: The Billboard Music Awards.

Monday: The California State Science Fair begins at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

Thursday: The Grammy Museum will open “Bruce Springsteen: A Photographic Journey” exhibit.

Friday: The Queen Mary in Long Beach marks the 80th anniversary of its first voyage.

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.