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 Friday, Feb. 20.
- A joyous win for Bay Area’s Alysa Liu in Milan.
- N.Y. Times calls out California on slow vote count.
- And victims are identified in Tahoe avalanche tragedy.
Statewide
1.
Alysa Liu, pride of the East Bay, became the first American woman to win the Olympic gold in individual figure skating since 2002. A national champion at 13, Liu retired at 16, then mounted an improbable comeback, winning the skating world title last March. Now 20 and a student at UCLA, she delivered a near-flawless routine on Thursday, radiating joy and lightness in a sequined gold dress and her signature raccoon-striped hair. Sports writers called the performance “electric,” “cinematic,” and “magic.” S.F. Chronicle | N.Y. Times
- See Liu’s free skate. 👉 NBC Sports/YouTube
- Liu’s father, Arthur, started her in the sport at age 5 and spent more than $500,000 on coaches. In 2024, she informed him that he was off the team. Recalling the moment, Arthur teared up: “I have to be honest with you, that hurt.” N.Y. Times
2.
For more than a century, Americans learned the results of major elections within a day. Now they wait at least a week, and California is largely to blame, the New York Times editorial board wrote on Thursday. The state’s agonizing slowness is “damaging faith in government,” the board continued:
“California adopted its rules with the admirable intention of maximizing voting access. But the system has failed. Its benefits are close to nil: Turnout in California has fallen further behind the national average since the state changed its rules. And the costs of the new system are real.”
3.
Cesar Vasquez, an 18-year-old on the Central Coast, is a full-time ICE tracker. He drives through farming towns in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in search of unmarked SUVs, warning communities when ICE is on the move. Vasquez is a citizen, but his mother is not. He recalled how an ICE agent once addressed him: “How’s your mother, Cesar? We’ll go visit her soon.” Vasquez raced home and found his mother washing clothes. “My hands were shaking,” he said. “I then moved her to a secret location that I have precisely for this moment.” The Guardian
4.
If sagebrush is the smell of California, the Oak Titmouse might be the soundtrack. The range of the tufted plain gray birds overlaps much of the western half of the state, where they flit around dry oak woodlands in search of insects. Bold, curious, and highly vocal, their lively singing and chattering echoes through the forests all year. “Though drab in color,” the ornithologist Dave Shuford wrote, “this crested parid is the voice and soul of the oaks.”
- Hear the sounds of the Oak Titmouse.
- Audubon magazine included the Oak Titmouse in a list of “top 10 birds in California.”
Northern California
5.
Latest dispatches on the Lake Tahoe avalanche tragedy:
- “We are devastated beyond words.” Six of the nine people who died were all experienced skiers, mothers, and close friends in their 40s and early 50s, several with ties to the Bay Area. They were identified by their families as Carrie Atkin, Liz Clabaugh, Danielle Keatley, Kate Morse, Caroline Sekar and Kate Vitt. The other three victims were guides. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
- The Truckee guide company that led the ill-fated ski trip is being investigated for criminal negligence, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday. S.F. Chronicle | Reuters
6.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane died on Thursday at 53 years old. Last April, Dane revealed that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known also as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which initially caused the right side of his body to stop working. Dane was born and raised in the Bay Area, decamping for Hollywood a month before graduation from San Mateo High School. After a guest appearance on “Grey’s Anatomy,” he became a regular because of his popularity among fans who knew him as McSteamy. S.F. Chronicle | Hollywood Reporter
7.
Nick Land, Silicon Valley’s favorite doomsayer philosopher, believes the digital superintelligence is going to kill us all. On a recent Tuesday night, about 100 people gathered in the ballroom of a San Francisco mansion to hear him speak on stage with Curtis Yarvin, a fellow neoreactionary. The New Yorker reports:
“Yarvin speculated that, after all jobs had been automated, perhaps people could make money selling their organs. ‘But our new robot overlords do not need human organs,’ Land reminded him, before opening the floor.”
8.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Valerie Ziegler, a high school teacher in San Francisco, and Joel Breakstone, executive director of Stanford’s Digital Inquiry Group. Ziegler and Breakstone are part of a movement to train young people to think critically online. The first challenge, said Ziegler, is just getting kids to slow down: “They are consuming so much content at such a fast rate that they’re really not taking it in. They are swiping, they’re moving, they’re moving, they’re moving. … It is nonstop.”
Southern California
9.
A recent Politico poll found that roughly half of Canadians now think the U.S. is a bigger threat to world peace than Russia. That’s bad news for the Coachella Valley, which has relied heavily on Canadian tourists seeking escape to warmer climes during winter. A travel boycott has proved to be remarkably durable. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an issue where Canadians have had such a resolve,” said McKenzie McMillan, a travel advisor for the Vancouver-based Travel Group. “People have completely changed their consumer habits.” L.A. Times
10.
A parking sign that is mounted too high.
Tables that are too low for wheelchairs.
A website that is inaccessible to blind users.
Small businesses in Hermosa Beach have been hit by a wave of disability lawsuits that owners say are predatory. In each case, the cost of litigating would be more than the settlement demand, which ranges from $10,000 to $20,000. So almost everyone settles, even if the claims are baseless. Robert Yun, whose family owns Cal Sushi, is an exception. When he learned that the plaintiff suing him had filed hundreds of such lawsuits, he resolved to fight, even if it costs him. Other business owners are calling him a hero. Easy Reader
11.
The New York Times Style Magazine asked five of Los Angeles’ most influential culinary experts to share their favorite things to eat across the metropolis. They pared down a list of 50 nominees to 25 essential dishes that are “as ambitious and wide-ranging as the city itself, from a fastidiously grilled quail breast cradled in a bed of flowers to a classic bean and cheese burrito wrapped in a handmade flour tortilla.”
- See the full list of nominees.
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- In the spirit of Palm Springs’ 2026 Modernism Week, happening now, Architectural Digest compiled a list of “the 16 best Palm Springs Airbnbs for old Hollywood vibes and desert views.”
- In 2014, Amy Knox was convicted of embezzling. A year later, she pleaded to stealing from a subsequent employer. Later still, Knox was hired at Harm Reduction Coalition of San Diego, a nonprofit that partnered with the county to distribute overdose reversal drugs. Last week, yet again, Knox was charged with embezzling. Voice of San Diego
- More than 40 years after the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Cloverdale, a jury convicted 64-year-old James Unick in what was called the “coldest case ever presented to a Sonoma County jury.” Detectives used genetic genealogy to identify Unick. Press Democrat | SFist
- An AI video of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt had creatives predicting job doom. “I hate to say it,” wrote screenwriter Rhett Reese. “It’s likely over for us.” Hollywood Reporter
- There’s a hidden library under the streets of Old Pasadena. While patrons of The Cellar are invited to enjoy a quiet read, they are more likely to socialize or play chess over pricey wines and cheese plates, the library’s true business. LA Bucket List, a popular Instagram account, recently featured The Cellar.
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