Good morning. It’s Monday, June 21.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom embraces a pugnacious tone.
- The epic battle for artificial intelligence talent.
- And Jerry Garcia’s example of living freely.
Statewide
1.
On July 11, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office called Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, “a fascist cuck” on social media. A day later, Newsom’s communications director, Izzy Gardon, called a Republican state lawmaker “a bald little man.” This week, Newsom has posted memes of President Trump with child molester Jeffrey Epstein.
After President Trump put troops on the streets of Los Angeles last month, Newsom issued a directive to staff, the L.A. Times reported: Forget the high road.
2.
On the deportation crackdown:
- California cannabis companies had hoped they would have an ally in President Trump. Raids on one of the state’s largest cannabis companies have put that notion to rest. “There is a sense that the community has gotten a little complacent in our legalization bubbles,” said Caren Woodson, an industry leader. CalMatters
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement has insisted that face masks are a legitimate precaution against violence. Critics say their true purpose is to sow fear. On Sunday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accused the agency of conducting a “reign of terror” in her city. N.Y. Times | Politico
- A Long Beach coder’s alert network for sightings of immigration agents has drawn more than 470,000 subscribers. First Amendment lawyers say such efforts are perfectly legal even as Trump administration officials contend that they endanger lives. Washington Post
Northern California
3.
The younger brother of Pat Tillman, the NFL star turned Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, was arrested on Sunday after crashing a car into a San Jose post office, authorities said. The crash, shortly before 3 a.m., ignited a fire that took dozens of firefighters more than 90 minutes to extinguish. Richard Tillman, 44, was booked on suspicion of arson. The Postal Inspection Service suggested it was intentional, but no motive was disclosed. Mayor Matt Mahan alluded to mental health issues as a possible factor. N.Y. Times | Mercury News
4.
The world’s richest companies are engaged in a war for artificial intelligence talent that is playing out in a frenzy of raids, secret deals, and betrayals, the Wall Street Journal reported:
“The most powerful CEOs in tech are dangling pay packages worth more than $300 million to their most prized recruits — and even that kind of money isn’t always enough to win them over.”
5.
The billionaire-backed group that wanted to build a futuristic utopia in the farmlands of Solano County is pivoting after facing intense local resistance. Now they’re planning what is being billed as the largest advanced manufacturing park in America. The plans for the 3-square-mile “Solano Foundry” appear designed to capitalize on President Trump’s push to revive manufacturing on American shores. “You cannot really operate as a country if you’re only doing service jobs and basically outsource your middle class,” said Andreas Lieber, the Foundry’s general manager. Bloomberg | KQED
6.
Jim Newton, the author of a forthcoming biography on Jerry Garcia, wrote a wonderful essay on the political legacy of the iconic Grateful Dead frontman:
“For those many people struggling today to find a place between active resistance and doleful compliance, Mr. Garcia’s life suggests an alternative: of exercising freedom rather than waiting on the government to grant it or being afraid of the government taking it away.” N.Y. Times
7.
On a walk through Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve, 25 miles north of San Francisco, the writer Rebecca Solnit marveled at the gnarled oak trees that “resemble old men”; the plunging swallows and western bluebirds; and 5-foot-tall wild oats whose golden-ish hue has no word — “summer-colored?”
For its 25th anniversary, Bay Nature rounded up its 25 favorite outdoor destinations in the Bay Area, including Mount Burdell.
- See some gorgeous pictures of Mount Burdell.
Southern California
8.
A man who had been thrown out of a Los Angeles music club for being disruptive returned in a car and plowed into a crowd outside on Saturday, injuring at least 36 people, authorities said. Bystanders beat the suspect, Fernando Ramirez, 29, and shot him in the buttocks. Ramirez was previously convicted of a 2019 hate crime in which he punched a Black employee of a Whole Foods in Orange County. When asked why he did it, he told an officer that “he hated all Black people,” court records showed. N.Y. Times | L.A. Times | A.P.
- See graphic video from the crash and melee.
9.
Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were killed in an explosion on Friday were remembered by colleagues as dedicated officers who served with honor and courage. “These heroes represented the best of our department,” said Sheriff Robert Luna. Between the fallen lawmen — identified as Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, and William Osborn — they left behind 16 children. Outside a training facility in East L.A., a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles, and handwritten messages drew a procession of mourners over the weekend. KTLA | L.A. Times
- At the time of the blast, the officers were moving explosives recovered on Thursday from a Santa Monica apartment. A tenant was said to have called the police after discovering a bag of grenades. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
10.
In late May, a pair of sisters were pulled into a powerful current along the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park. One of the sisters managed to reach the shore. The other didn’t make it. The grieving parents had spent three agonizing nights at a nearby hotel waiting for news on the search for her body when a waitress approached. There’s a man not affiliated with official emergency service agencies who finds people, she told them.
The L.A. Times profiled Juan Heredia, a diver who finds drowning victims after the authorities have given up — with astonishing success.
11.
Lynsi Snyder, the billionaire In-N-Out heiress, told a conservative podcast on Friday that she is leaving California for Tennessee, saying she loves her home state “but raising a family is not easy here, doing business is not easy here.” For many years, In-N-Out resisted opening locations outside of the Western U.S., prizing quality over quantity. But in 2023, the company announced plans to open a Tennessee office as part of an expansion effort. Snyder, 43, a mother of four who lived in an 11-bedroom mansion in the San Gabriel Valley with her fourth husband, didn’t elaborate on what made raising a family hard. Business Insider | Los Angeles magazine
12.
In 2022, the married owners of a design firm, Amanda Gunawan and Joel Wong, were in the market for a home when they happened upon a property designed by the modernism master Rap Kappe in the hills of La Cañada Flintridge, 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Neglected for 30 years, it was an open slate for renovation. Their changes — including 14-foot glass where walls once stood — showcase what’s possible when designers are free to follow their vision without the meddling of a client. They gave a tour for a popular architecture video series. YouTube
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