Good morning. It’s Thursday, July 16.
- Wild horses are rounded up in the Eastern Sierra.
- San Francisco allows Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes.
- And Oakland firefighters are hailed for saving a pigeon.
Statewide
1.
On Jan. 1, California’s minimum wage rose 40 cents to $16.90 an hour, the third highest among U.S. states. But a growing number of municipalities are going even farther on their own. An analysis found that 42 California cities and counties now require wage floors above the state standard. Emeryville workers earn a minimum of $20.34 an hour. In Sunnyvale, it’s $19.50; in West Hollywood, $20.25. Alameda County would offer the nation’s highest minimum wage, by far, if voters approve a measure on the November ballot. It would set a minimum of $30 an hour. Capital & Main | Mercury News
2.
In the Mono Lake area of the Eastern Sierra, a low-flying helicopter drove hundreds of wild horses into a pen last week. The federal round-up was the culmination of a years-long effort to reduce the number of free-roaming horses in the area, where they have trampled meadows and posed a threat to the lake’s iconic tufa towers. Critics denounced the operation as cruel. In the end, they said, more than 400 horses were separated from the only home they’ve ever known. S.F. Chronicle
3.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing the idea that Americans should own shares in the largest artificial intelligence companies, in what some advisers think could be a defining populist cause of the 2028 presidential campaign. For Newsom, who maintains deep ties with Silicon Valley, the concept could win him points with voters who are increasingly distrustful of Big Tech. “The next presidential election will be the first AI election,” said Nathan Gardels, a journalist who has discussed the public shares idea with Newsom, “and I think the governor is pretty well positioned on that.” Politico
4.
President Trump’s strong approval rating among Latinos has collapsed. But that doesn’t mean those voters are making their way back to Democrats. The New Yorker’s Jack Herrera examined the latest polling numbers on Latinos. In them, he wrote, “you see a group of voters wandering into a political wilderness. ‘They’re de-aligning, not realigning — it’s, like, we can be against both of you,’ Mike Madrid, a former Republican campaign manager and now an anti-Trump conservative strategist, told me.”
5.
The Washington Post had a panel of its critics compile a list of the 25 most influential works of American culture. It’s East Coast-centric and includes some head-scratchers: “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” are apparently weightier cultural works than Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech or anything by a jazz artist. Among the other shout-outs to California were Levi’s jeans, Mickey Mouse, and Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1.” Explore the list.
Northern California
6.
San Francisco will become the first Bay Area city to allow Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes after supervisors on Tuesday approved an ordinance allowing consumers to enjoy food, drinks, and live music while smoking onsite. Supporters said the change would help enliven the city’s nightlife industry. “San Francisco just gave our legal cannabis industry a real tool to compete and grow,” Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. Critics portrayed it as betrayal of the city’s health stance against smoking in workplaces. KQED | S.F. Examiner
7.
Anthropic’s latest ad opens with a series of dystopian images: a house in flames, gravestones in a cemetery, laborers in a African granite quarry. “Can AI be trusted?” a voice-over intones. “Who’s going to hit the brakes if we need to?” The questions are left unanswered. The ad then transitions to a montage of hopeful images, before concluding with the tagline: “Keep thinking.” The ad is just confusing, wrote the Atlantic. “Does Anthropic think that AI is going to set the world on fire and leave us jobless? … The company’s answer seems to be: We don’t know.”
- Some tech leaders have begun traveling with armed guards as the AI backlash has them fearing for their lives. Wall Street Journal
8.
A group of anti-Trump protesters has been gathering outside a Tesla showroom in San Francisco weekly for more than a year, and neighbors are sick of it. They clang cowbells, chant through loudspeakers, and encourage motorists to honk their horns. So far this year, the city has fielded more than 800 noise complaints from the neighborhood. Steve Harper, a protester, was indignant. “It’s on a Saturday, once a week, from 12 noon to 2. I don’t really think that really is creating a problem,” he said. “In our situation, how our country is right now, something needs to be done.” S.F. Chronicle
9.
Oakland firefighters saved a pigeon. Early Sunday, the firefighters were responding to a vehicle burning beneath an overpass when they encountered a pigeon that appeared to in distress from smoke inhalation. The crew members cupped a mask to its face and administered oxygen. A 15-second video of the rescue posted to social media swiftly caught the attention of millions of viewers. “This is what my tax dollars are for,” read one comment with more than 160,000 likes. Oaklandside
Southern California
10.
A 12-foot skeleton sold by Home Depot has become a staple of California yards during Halloween. But in Los Angeles, many people are now leaving them up year-round, decking them out to suit other holidays. The trend is being driven in part by a lack of storage space in an expensive housing market. Some neighbors are not amused. “At first it was funny, but the joke wears off quickly,” said Cody Bowers, of Hollywood. “It’s a beautiful neighborhood. Palm trees, beautiful plants, the mountains in the background. And then this massive skeleton.” L.A. Times
11.
A Huntington Beach councilman wants to put a 7-foot-tall bronze sculpture of President Trump in a park next to the Huntington Beach Civic Center. “We hope to have the project,” said Councilmember Pat Burns. “I’d really like to see it develop into a destination where people can walk through and appreciate things that made this country great.” Huntington Beach’s conservative council members have called themselves the “MAGA-nificent 7.” Last year, they approved a “MAGA” plaque for the central library. O.C. Register
12.
In the middle of a roundabout in northeast Los Angeles, a collection of nine massive granite sculptures etched with human faces call to mind the ruins of Stonehenge. Dedicated in 2017, the installation known informally as Egghead Stonehenge displays the faces of actual nearby residents. Its association with the ancient monument in the English countryside only deepened after a vehicle plowed into the eggs in 2019, toppling two of them. They were left that way for years. Atlas Obscura
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