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, April 16.
- Democrats are asked what they knew about Eric Swalwell.
- A jury finds Live Nation operated an illegal monopoly.
- And San Diego has so much water that it’s selling it.
Statewide
1.
“He was a creep. That was well known.”
The downfall of Eric Swalwell is now forcing some powerful Democrats to answer questions about what they knew and when. Rumors of affairs had followed Swalwell, a married father of three. But there is no evidence that allegations of sexual assault were circulating among Democrats, a pair of news report said on Wednesday. Close allies, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Ruben Gallego, said they had no idea. “The man lived a double life,” Gallego said. Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
2.
In 2024, California lawmakers alarmed by the social and educational harms of smartphones in schools mandated that districts adopt limits on the devices. Now they want to go further: prohibiting the devices outright throughout the school day. The proposal has bipartisan support. Martin Hilbert, an expert on digital technology at UC Davis, likened policies that allow phone use during breaks and lunch to banning smoking at a restaurant while people eat, but allowing it between courses. “Anything but a bell-to-bell ban is a losing proposition by design,” he said. Courthouse News
Northern California
3.
“We’ll kill you over there, too.”
India’s most wanted criminal network has a presence in California’s Central Valley and it is terrorizing members of the Sikh diaspora. The Bishnoi gang, as its known, has a reputation for demanding money from high-income individuals under threat of violence. California’s Sikhs, numbering more than 250,000, have presented an attractive target because of their relative wealth and familial ties to India, where relatives can face threats. Victims sometimes choose to pay and remain silent, CalMatters reported.
4.
To environmentalists, the name Coyote Creek conjures a precious landscape of vernal pools, animal habitat, and stately oaks just east of Sacramento. In government and industry circles, it has become synonymous with a proposal to blanket roughly 2 square miles of the area with solar panels. The prospect of abundant clean energy has enticed county leaders, wrote Flora magazine: “Alas, ‘clean’ energy in this case means the planned removal of approximately 3,493 trees — mostly mature blue oaks lining Coyote Creek and studding the surrounding oak savannah.”
- CBS News Sunday Morning ended a recent episode with nearly two minutes of video of oak woodlands near Petaluma, free of any talk. The landscape, now radiant green, is stunning.
5.
Allbirds, the over-hyped San Francisco shoe company that saw its value tumble 99% in the span of five years, is making a radical pivot. The company said Wednesday that it would shift to artificial intelligence infrastructure and rechristen itself NewBird AI. Its stock soared 582%. “The response,” wrote Bloomberg, “underscored the intensity of the speculative mania around AI, which has fueled stampedes into would-be winners and panicked pullbacks from any industry that seems at risk of being undone by the competitive threat.”
6.
Vacaville is a more affordable option than many other Bay Area cities. Its location is another perk, offering easy access to the delta, wine country, and the redwood groves of Sonoma County. The city’s underappreciated downtown is small but tidy, with nearby residential streets that recall the area’s 19th-century prosperity. Victorians abound.
The New York Times profiled Vacaville for its “Living In” real estate series.
Southern California
7.
A federal jury on Wednesday found that Live Nation, the Beverly Hills concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, operated an illegal monopoly over concert venues, in a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for the music industry. The government accused Live Nation of using its clout to overcharge fans and pressure venues to use its Ticketmaster service. Internal messages revealed employees calling customers “stupid” and boasting that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” Analysts said the ruling could lead the company to be split. Wall Street Journal | A.P.
8.
Saudi Arabia is pouring about $12 billion into Paramount Skydance’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that would include CNN, HBO, and a film catalog with rights to Batman, Superman, and Harry Potter. For Riyadh, the deal is about soft power as much as money. For Hollywood, writes Hollywood Reporter, “the Saudis’ ability to write giant checks appears to override any moral objections to working with a government accused of silencing dissent and widespread human-rights abuses.”
9.
Once wracked by water shortages, San Diego now has so much that it’s selling it. Since the drought years of the early 1990s, the county has invested billions in water independence, cutting usage, raising a dam, and building the largest desalination plant in North America, among other measures. Arizona and Nevada are now both pursuing a deal with San Diego to buy millions of gallons of fresh water produced by the plant. Wall Street Journal
10.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the disbarment of John Eastman, a former Orange County law professor, over his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. George Cardona, chief trial counsel for the State Bar of California, said the decision “affirms the fundamental principle that attorneys must act with honesty and uphold the rule of law.” As an attorney for President Trump, Eastman crafted a plan to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to block Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Eastman said he would seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. Politico | O.C. Register
11.
The journalist Daniel Engber wrote a thoughtful piece in The Atlantic about doubts over whether a severely autistic Los Angeles man, Woody Brown, truly wrote a novel being attributed to him:
“To these writers and the other people who have vouched for him, Brown has two, interlocking sides: an outward-facing self who loves Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons and watches them even as he sits in class or speaks with a reporter, and an inward-facing one who knows five languages, has a natural feel for story structure, and is working on a new bildungsroman about camaraderie.”
12.
A 432-square-foot studio in Southern California has been listed for $18.8 million. It has no garage, no bedroom closet, and one bathroom. But you should see the backyard. The diminutive home sits at the end of an expansive lot on the edge of the Pacific in Laguna Beach. While neighbors have erected mansions up and down the block, past owners of the tiny home had visiting family pitch tents in the yard, the real estate agent said. SFGATE has the pictures.
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