Newsletter: Today: Clinton’s All-Star Backup Team. Two Sides of the Thin Blue Line.

I’m Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I don’t want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Clinton’s All-Star Backup Team

Last week, a lot of Republican heavy-hitters stayed away from the GOP convention as it made Donald Trump the nominee. This week, the DNC has been struggling to squeeze in all the Democratic power players during prime time. Here’s how Hillary Clinton’s backup team, from President Obama on down, plans to spring into action after Philadelphia. Speaking of POTUS, he’ll address the delegates tonight.

Return of the Man From Hope

“In the spring of 1971, I met a girl,” Bill Clinton began his speech — a lengthy love story and a case for why his wife should be president after she became the first-woman to lead a major-party ticket last night. The ad-libbing and the biting of the lower lip were back. Republicans weren’t buying it, of course. But were Democrats, and especially Bernie Sanders supporters, convinced that Hillary is “the real one” and “a change-maker”?

More Politics

-- Can Trump win? President Obama says, “Anything is possible.”

-- Analysis: In a campaign that pits fear against facts, Clinton has found a tough opponent in Trump.

-- Get more insight in our Essential Politics newsletter, and check out our full coverage.

Two Sides of the Thin Blue Line

Nickerson Gardens in Watts is one of L.A.’s toughest housing projects. Policing it is one of the LAPD’s most complicated assignments. Earlier this week, police fatally shot an 18-year-old black man who they said had drawn a gun and wounded an officer. The next day, as police talked with angry residents, another crisis broke out: This time, officers ran over to administer CPR to a young man who had collapsed. As the nation wrestles with questions of race and justice, here are 12 hours in the life of the LAPD.

LAPD officers try to revive a resident of Nickerson Gardens.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times )

Of Muslims, McCarthyism and Homeland Security

In the effort to prevent terrorism, Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson often meets with Muslim leaders around the country. The request: Help the authorities identify potential threats. But he also has a story to tell: Of how his grandfather was a target of the communist witch hunts six decades ago. His goal is to show that he understands how innocent people can be persecuted. But it doesn’t always work.

‘The Netflix of China’ Finds a U.S. Foothold

Streaming TVs. Electric cars. Smartphones. LeEco has been called “The Netflix of China,” but its ambitions are far more reaching, as reflected in a recent name change from LeTV. Now it’s buying Irvine-based television maker Vizio for $2 billion in cash, giving it a leading position in the U.S. smart-TV and soundbar market. And after last week’s Dollar Shave Club acquisition, the deal is another big win for start-ups in Southern California.

Where Science Meets Crowdsourcing

After the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, trust in the Japanese government and energy officials was low, to say the least. Could the radiation level readings they provided be believed? That’s when a group of people decided to build their own Geiger counters and collect the data. The result is Safecast, an organization that taps into a phenomenon known as “citizen science.” Read on to see why their next project could focus on air quality in Los Angeles.

CALIFORNIA

-- Firefighters have made some progress in the battle to control the Sand fire in the Santa Clarita Valley, as a state of emergency was declared.

-- L.A. County supervisors have pulled a measure from the November ballot that would have taxed marijuana to provide funds for the homeless crisis.

-- Homeless people in Westlake are taking cues from immigrant street vendors, selling goods on the sidewalk.

-- Steve Lopez’s road trip along the coast continues, as he discovers the dangers of oyster farming and beauty of breaching whales.

NATION-WORLD

-- What happens when a white officer shoots a black man, but no one releases a video?

-- One of the attackers who killed a priest at a Normandy church twice attempted to travel to Syria to fight for Islamic State.

-- Here’s why Netanyahu is apologizing to Israel’s Arab citizens.

-- China’s censors are cracking down on the online news industry.

-- Are skin-cancer checks by doctors worth the trouble? A federal task force isn’t sure, while dermatologists express concern.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Dave Franco is moving beyond being “James Franco’s brother.”

-- The Toronto film festival, an awards-season bellwether, spotlights female directors and people of color.

-- The Strokes turned darkness into light at an L.A. concert to benefit homeless charities.

-- More acclaim for Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”: It’s been nominated for 11 MTV Video Music Awards.

-- A musician’s estate will appeal the ruling in the Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” case.

-- “Miss Cleo,” the infomercial psychic who used a Jamaican accent but actually was from L.A., has died at 53.

BUSINESS

-- A congressman is calling for tougher requirements on medical-device warnings after a Times story on Olympus Corp.’s emails about scopes.

-- With Model 3 orders looming, Elon Musk is racing to get the Tesla gigafactory completed early. Meanwhile, the NTSB released more information about a crash involving Autopilot.

-- An added plus for Verizon: It gets Yahoo’s Silicon Valley real estate.

SPORTS

-- Bill Plaschke: For the Dodgers and Andrew Friedman, this is the time to step up, not stand pat.

-- The son of the founder of an Orange County badminton club is carrying his family’s dreams to Rio.

OPINION

-- Welcome to the Democratic Party, Bernie.

-- Should we preserve ugly but important buildings, like the former Studio One in West Hollywood?

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- A profile of Sarah Hurwitz, head speechwriter for Michelle Obama. (Washington Post)

-- Teachers and students say cheating is widespread at a Chinese program owned by ACT. (Reuters)

-- When Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci worked as a wedding planner. (Atlas Obscura)

ONLY IN L.A.

How many trees are there in L.A.? In short, no one knows. The last time anyone counted, there were 700,000 street trees. That was more than two decades ago, though, long before the punishing drought, and the city doesn’t have the money to send people out to do a tree census. Now a Caltech professor has an idea to use computers — but there’s one hitch.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.