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- Men assaulted Jewish fraternity member in antisemitic hate crime
Men assaulted Jewish fraternity member in antisemitic hate crime
Carly Heltzel
March 03, 2026
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m looking at photos from last night’s total lunar eclipse. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.
1.
Authorities are looking for a group of men who assaulted a member of Cal Poly’s Jewish fraternity in an antisemitic hate crime this weekend. Police say the men pulled up to Alpha Epsilon Pi’s house in a white truck yelling slurs at the residents before parking and entering the property through an unlocked gate. After a verbal altercation, one of the men punched a member in the head and the group fled. They were identified as men ages 20 to 25 wearing blue jeans, trucker hats and cowboy boots.
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to pull funding from counties who aren’t adopting his mental health diversion court system to his liking. He called out 10 counties, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, for failing to use the program to adequately get people with severe mental health disorders off the streets and into care. Families of people eligible have criticized the program’s voluntary nature, which allows more people to slip through the cracks.
3.
Gas prices usually rise in the spring due to seasonal manufacturing costs, but the U.S.’s new conflict with Iran could heighten that. While Iran doesn’t typically sell much oil to the U.S. because of its sanctions, Iran controls a key channel for shipping oil from gulf nations called the Strait of Hormuz. Experts say 20 million gallons of oil pass through the channel every day. In 2026, gas prices have already risen 17%, and there could be another 20-30 cent increase in the near future.
4.
Schools can once again out transgender students to their parents after the Supreme Court blocked a California law. The law previously banned automatic alerts for pronoun or gender expression changes, but the Supreme Court granted this emergency appeal to negate the law, even as the case is still being heard in lower courts. A conservative Catholic law firm called the decision “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.”
5.
Three “graffiti towers” in downtown LA have a prospective buyer, but it’s going to cost a fortune to scrub them clean of spraypaint. Over 40 floors of the towers are tagged, spawning a viral video where they got their name. That happened after a Chinese developer ran out of money and left them unfinished and unoccupied. One restoration expert said it will take a long time and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, “if not in the million range.”