In California: Desert plants are dying in the heat. And trains are finally on the way to LAX

Know someone who cares about the Golden State? Let them know they can sign up for the In California newsletter via this link. I'm Julie Makinen, California editor for the USA Today Network, bringing you today's key headlines.

California deserts have lost nearly 40% of plants to hotter, drier weather, satellite data shows

Desert plants — famous for tolerance of torrid landscapes — are dying at an alarming rate due to the twin threats of even hotter temperatures and less rain, according to new research published this week.

After analyzing more than three decades of satellite data, UC Irvine scientists found a 37% decline in native vegetation across nearly 5,000 square miles of the southern California Sonoran desert, from the Mexican border north across Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to below Palm Springs. The work doesn't identify specific species that are dying, but complements efforts by researchers who are examining ocotillo, creosote bush, yucca, mesquite and other Sonoran Desert plants.

"They're already so badly beaten by drought or heat that they're at the brink of existence," said lead author Stijn Hantson, a UC Irvine project researcher. Add slightly hotter weather and even less moisture, and they perish, with nothing able to grow and replace them.

"They are not somehow super adapted to be able to withstand the effects of climate change," said co-author James Randerson, a biogeochemist and UC Irvine professor.

Los Angeles breaks ground on depot to connect subway to LAX airport

Los Angeles officials gathered on the outskirts of the city's infamously trainless airport to break ground on a $900-million Airport Metro Connector project that by 2024 will link the county’s fast-growing rail network to a people mover system being built at LAX, the L.A. Times reported.

The project is designed to be up and running in time for the 2028 Olympics. But some officials see it as a potential turning point in L.A.'s ambitious, expensive efforts to make mass transit a serious alternative in a city known for its cars.

The Airport Connector will join several huge rail projects under construction, including a subway to the Westside, another through downtown L.A. as well as new lines in southwest Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Mayor Eric Garcetti and others hope a connection to the airport could jump-start the effort to increase ridership.

“I think we’ve got all the right ingredients to bring people back,” Garcetti said Monday. “New lines, or extended lines, is the key to that. It has to get you to where you want to go.”

School district apologizes for 'racism, classism' after tortilla-throwing incident

A San Diego-area school district has apologized for a basketball postgame incident in which tortillas were thrown at a team from a mostly Latino high school.

The incident occurred after a championship game between Orange Glen and Coronado on Saturday, won 60-57 in overtime by Coronado on its home floor.  Following the game, Orange Glen head coach Chris Featherly said Coronado head coach JD Laaperi made disrespectful remarks toward him and his players, leading to a confrontation in which tortillas were thrown at Orange Glen players, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Video shared on social media shows at least two players from Coronado, a predominantly white school, threw tortillas.

"The Trustees of the Coronado Unified School District acknowledge these acts to be egregious, demeaning and disrespectful," the district said in a letter to Orange Glen. The trustees said they condemned "the racism, classism and colorism which fueled the actions of the perpetrators."

Brothers say they set record crossing gullies in Yosemite on a highline

Ice cream shops are my idea of fun. Two brothers from San Francisco have other thoughts. They say they have set a record for the longest highline ever walked in both Yosemite National Park and California. They and a group of friends spent nearly a week stringing a single, 2,800-foot-long line from Taft Point west across a series of gulleys that plunge 1,600 feet.

Moises and Daniel Monterrubio, brothers who are training to be rope-access technicians, had been thinking about crossing that void for a year. Highlining is high-altitude slacklining, in which a narrow strip of strong, nylon webbing — usually an inch wide and a few millimeters thick — is strung between two anchor points and serves as a kind of balance beam.

Completing a line means carefully heel-toeing from one end to the other while wearing a waist-harness that links to a 3-inch steel ring around the webbing. In a fall, walkers remain attached, but they have to haul themselves back up to balance or shimmy back to an anchor point while dangling upside down. The sport in the past decade has flourished into a culture of athletes, gear brands and sponsorships.

Summer is here: Fun things to do 

The San Francisco Chronicle is out with a host of guides to help you make the most of this summer of freedom in the Bay Area. Check out their picks for most beautiful restaurants, hottest new bars to visit, and best ice cream shops.

In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press. Julie Makinen is California editor for the USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @Julie_Makinen.