Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, October 2, 2026
- Governor Gavin Newsom signed three laws this week aimed at addressing some of the most pressing safety concerns surrounding electric bicycles, as the devices’ popularity continues to rise in California. It was not long ago that the headlines about e-bikes seemed full of promise, as a replacement for gas-guzzling cars, and an affordable, flexible new mode of transportation. Now, a lot of the news is about crashes and serious injuries, often involving kids.
- Lyft has agreed to pay more than $272 million to settle a state lawsuit alleging it misclassified California drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees, from 2016 to 2020.
- A new study has found that when applying for building permits, mosques face more pushback over parking requirements than churches.
The bell had already rung on a recent morning at Newport Beach’s Ensign Intermediate School. But two of the school’s students hadn’t made it to class. Instead, they were sitting on a sidewalk across from campus, detained by a police officer for parking their e-bikes on the street.
The situation at Ensign has gotten messy since the school district, Newport-Mesa Unified, voted to ban e-bikes from middle and elementary school campuses, citing safety concerns. Many students kept riding their e-bikes to school anyway, parking them in swarms in the surrounding neighborhood. The neighbors did not like this. Shouting matches ensued between students and homeowners. At least one student returned from class to find her tires deflated. The city responded to the tension by putting up “No e-bike parking” signs on several streets.
“I wouldn’t want it in my neighborhood either, like, I get it,” said Corey Gulbranson, who got a $100 parking ticket on behalf of his daughter, one of the Ensign students detained for allegedly illegally parking her e-bike. “But at the end of the day, we’re just trying to get our kids to school on a legal mode of transportation.”…