A.M. Brief: California Adventure Plans to Reopen in March (Without Rides)

For your Thursday: California Adventure has a March reopening date (sans rides), another alleged anti-Asian hate crime, more haggling over vaccines for county teachers, and a new report claims the city’s Ethics Commission is getting pressured to relax its rules. Per usual, this is your news brief. Take it!

Morning News Rundown

Have you been jonesing for a real-life Disney experience? Starting next month, California Adventure hopes to reopen for an in-person event. “A Touch of Disney” will offer park food and photo ops with Disney characters. Tickets start at $75, which includes parking a $25 food credit, but no rides or attractions. The target date is March 18, with events ongoing Thursdays through Mondays. [LAist]

LAPD is investigating an assault against a U.S. Air Force veteran in Koreatown as a potential hate crime. Denny Kim, 27, suffered a broken nose and a black eye after a pair of assailants knocked him to the ground and used racial slurs. Kim says the assault was totally unprovoked. Assuming the attack was racially motivated, it would only be the latest in a surge of violence against Asian-Americans nationwide. [NBC Los Angeles]

L.A. County is setting aside thousands of doses to vaccinate the education sector, with 40% of its total allotment designated for L.A. Unified. But is it enough? Based on county data, the L.A. Times estimates there will be 10,000 doses available per week countywide for the education sector. LAUSD’s superintendent previously said the district wants to vaccinate 25,000 staff members before reopening schools on April 9. More details on the exact number of doses will be announced in the coming week. [L.A. Times]

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission is supposed to be the watchdog that draws impartial limits on gift-giving and lobbying events for city politicians. But a new report by the L.A. Times alleges that the Ethics Commission’s director was pressured into relaxing those rules, else face budgetary cuts. [L.A. Times]

A CalMatters analysis of data from the California Department of Health illustrates a stark contrast in opportunities for in-person learning between students in affluent and low-income districts. Using the prevalence of free or reduced-priced meals programs as a metric of poverty, the analysis showed that wealthier students were offered some form of in-person instruction at a rate up to 7 times higher than in the poorest districts. [LB Post]