All of the must-read news about the Golden State in one place.
Hi, I’m Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times. I survey more than 100 news and social media sites daily, then send you a tightly crafted email with only the most informative and delightful bits.
Each weekday at about 6 a.m., you’ll get an email like this.
Good morning. It’s Thursday, Aug. 28.
- President Trump is said to be serious about a third term.
- Graduates with AI skills are earning $1 million a year.
- And the messy divorce of Hollywood mogul David Geffen.
Statewide
1.
During a policy summit on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was “absolutely convinced” that President Trump will seek a constitutionally prohibited third term. Newsom, who has surged in polls since embracing a trollish persona on social media, recalled how Trump “went on and on about the third term” of Franklin D. Roosevelt when the governor visited the White House in February. More recently, Trump’s team sent him two dozen “Trump 2028” hats, Newsom said, getting visibly angry: “Who spends $200 million on a ballroom at their home and then leaves? This is serious.” Politico | S.F. Chronicle
- A new poll found that a majority of Republican voters would support President Trump seeking a third term. Semafor
2.
The authorities arrested 138 people on Wednesday after protesters occupied the lobby of Sen. Alex Padilla’s San Francisco office and demanded that he vote against supplying arms to Israel. The demonstrators banged pots and pans and chanted “Padilla, Padilla you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” A similar protest unfolded at the Burbank office of Sen. Adam Schiff. S.F. Chronicle | KTVU
- Employee activism over Gaza is again causing friction inside Silicon Valley’s biggest businesses. Wall Street Journal
3.
Dispatches from the deportation crackdown:
- A federal grand jury indicted two employees of a San Bernardino County surgery center who were accused of interfering with the arrest of landscapers who ran into the center as immigration officers gave chase. Video showed staffers tussling with an agent are ordering them to leave. L.A. Times | KTLA
- Nearly a dozen current and nine former ICE officials said the Trump administration’s push for high daily arrest quotas has “led to the detention of thousands of individuals with no criminal record, as well as long-term green card holders, others with legal visas, and even some U.S. citizens,” Reuters reported.
4.
Cheech and Chong, stoner royalty, were well poised to capitalize on the end of marijuana prohibition. Indeed, they built a $100 million empire, but not in their home state of California. As cannabis businesses buckled in the face of onerous regulation and black-market competition, the comedy duo fixed their sights beyond state lines. They clinched a deal to sell their hemp drinks nationally at Circle K stores and have branded shops in Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Texas. Cheech and Chong have no dispensaries in California. SFGATE
Northern California
5.
“It was as if a faucet was suddenly turned on, and it was shooting out winds that spread across the lake’s surface. Winds from the north traveled across the full length of the lake, creating a huge area for the waves to develop energy and grow in size.”
The New York Times obtained videos and satellite imagery and interviewed more than 30 people for a powerful report on how a beautiful summer day suddenly turned deadly on Lake Tahoe.
6.
New college graduates with artificial intelligence know-how are getting snapped up and paid lavishly by tech companies in Silicon Valley. Databricks, a data-analytics company in San Francisco, said it planned to triple the number of people it hires right out of school this year. “We definitely have people, quite junior people, that have big impact, and they’re getting paid a lot,” said Ali Ghodsi, the company’s chief executive. “Under 25, you can be making a million.” Wall Street Journal
7.
Minerva University, a tiny academy in San Francisco, is notable for what it lacks. There are no lectures, no sports, no tenure, and no campus. Established in 2012, the university conducts all instruction online, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1. Freshmen spend the first year in San Francisco before setting off to see the world, living in Seoul, Taipei, Hyderabad, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and Berlin. The model has proven extraordinarily attractive. A recent ranking named Minerva America’s hardest college to get into. Desert Sun
8.
London’s Natural History Museum on Tuesday shared a first look at some of the honorees of this year’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, including the gorgeous image above of clouds reflected in San Francisco Bay’s salt ponds. The picture was captured by Jassen Todorov, a classical violinist and licensed pilot who spends his much of his free time in the sky, tilting his aircraft to snap photos. The Guardian | PetaPixel
- See more of Todorov’s salt pond photos.
- And hear him on the California Sun Podcast (October 2021).
9.
On the morning of March 11, 2005, Kevin Berthia — depressed, jobless, and saddled with medical debt — decided to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. The 22-year-old from Oakland climbed over the railing and started a countdown in his head. That’s when California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Briggs appeared, a moment captured in a remarkable photograph. He just wanted to talk, Briggs told him. Berthia paused — and then opened up to another person for the first time. More than 20 years later, People magazine caught up with the two men whose bond has grown to be “more like brothers” than friends.
Southern California
10.
Riverside County prosecutors said on Thursday that Emmanuel Haro, a 7-month-old whose disappearance has attracted national attention, suffered long-term abuse at the hands of his parents, who have both been charged with murder. “Because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. Haro’s body has not been found, but Hestrin said he has “a pretty strong indication” of where it is. Haro’s mother has insisted that she is telling the truth: someone kidnapped the boy. San Bernardino Sun | Desert Sun
- Jake Haro, Emmanuel’s father, was convicted of child abuse in 2023, but a judge suspended his prison sentence. “If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said on Wednesday. L.A. Times
11.
Three Rivers, a gateway to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, was a hippie haven back in 1970s. Little of that spirit remains. The small community near the junction of three forks of the Kaweah River has been now overtaken by hundreds of Airbnbs. George Tomi, who has lived in Three Rivers for nearly half a century, said the trash and noise are a nuisance. But the real tragedy is the loss of community, he added. He pointed toward the highway. “I live on a little dead-end road over there, and there’s probably 15 Airbnbs,” he said. SFGATE
12.
David Geffen, the billionaire Hollywood mogul known for his ruthlessness, surprised friends when he began talking about having fallen in love. The object of his affection: Donovan Michaels, a strapping model 50 years his junior. They married after two years in 2023. Then this summer, Geffen, now 82, filed for divorce. They had no prenuptial agreement. WSJ. Magazine reported on the messy allegations that are spilling out in court filings and threatening to warp a legacy Geffen built over eight decades.
Correction
Wednesday’s newsletter misspelled the name of a high school in Riverside County. It’s Jurupa Valley High School, not Jarupa Valley High School.
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