Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 1.

• California leaders overhaul CEQA in housing push.
• Workers stop showing up to farms over ICE fears.
• And Pappy & Harriet’s sees revival in the high desert.

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Statewide

1.

California leaders on Monday approved one of the most significant rollbacks of the California Environmental Quality Act in decades. Since being enacted in 1970, the marquee environmental law known as CEQA has been heralded for making it harder to drain wetlands or build polluting warehouses. But it has also become a weapon of choice for the forces of NIMBYism exacerbating the state’s housing crisis, critics say. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the overhaul, which will allow many projects to avoid rigorous environmental review, a “Holy Grail reform.” Environmental groups were apoplectic. N.Y. Times | S.F. Chronicle

• CalMatters: “The forces of housing won.”

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2.

In the vast agricultural region stretching from Ventura County into the Central Valley, farmers say they have lost a majority of their workers since ICE raids sent tremors of fear through the immigrant labor force. That means unpicked fruits and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. “In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone,” said Lisa Tate, a sixth-generation farmer. A migrant who has worked the fields for 30 years said his colleagues are petrified: “If they show up to work, they don’t know if they will ever see their family again.” Reuters

• California Republicans sent a letter to President Trump urging him to focus on violent criminals in his immigration crackdown. Raids on workplaces, they wrote, “are harming the communities we represent.” L.A. Times

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3.

President Trump told Fox News that his administration is working on a “temporary pass” for farm workers residing in the country illegally. While his administration has claimed to be going after the “worst of the worst” during raids on car washes and taco trucks, Trump suggested farms are different than other workplaces. “The farmer knows,” he said. “He’s not going to hire a murderer.” The latest shift comes as the administration has vacillated repeatedly between a policy of deportations for all illegal immigrants and one that includes carve-outs for favored industries. NBC News | The Hill

• Wall Street Journal editorial: “If you’re confused about the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, join the club.”

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4.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Los Angeles and its mayor, Karen Bass, over the city’s sanctuary law on Monday, accusing them of hindering federal efforts to address “a crisis of illegal immigration.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said sanctuary policies were “the driving cause of the violence” during anti-ICE protests in June. Under L.A.’s ordinance, city resources cannot be used for immigration enforcement except in cases of serious crimes. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, a co-author of the law, said “Trump is tearing families apart” and trying to force cities to help him. L.A. Times | Politico

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5.

A pair of reports gave accounts of conditions inside the facilities holding detained immigrants:

• “Some immigrants have gone a week or more without showers. Others sleep pressed tightly together on bare floors. Medications for diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic health problems are often going unprovided.” N.Y. Times
• The Adelanto ICE Processing Center, a high desert facility with a history of harsh conditions, has been repopulated after years of court-ordered dormancy. “Within its first three months back in operation, the facility generated at least 13 emergency calls — including at least two involving reported sexual assaults or threats of sexual assaults in March and April.” WIRED

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6.

The top military commander in charge of troops deployed to Los Angeles asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to return 200 of those forces so they can return to fighting wildfires, reports said. The request came as wildfire season has roared to life and the National Guard unit assigned to combating the fires is at just 40% of its regular staffing levels. Gov. Gavin Newsom seized on the request to renew his criticism of the military deployment: “President Trump: listen to your military leaders and stop the political theater.” A.P. | L.A. Times

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7.

More on the immigration crackdown:

• Immigration agents swarmed a Home Depot parking lot in Los Angeles Monday morning and detained a handful of people, including a taco vendor, reports said. “[They] just grabbed whoever they can; grabbed two of my friends who were just sitting right here,” said Diamond Cruz, a witness. CBS News | Boyle Heights Beat
  • MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff shared a picture from the raid, above, showing men in combat gear and masks.
• Military veterans are volunteering to attend immigration hearings with Afghans who helped U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan after ICE targeted a former Afghan interpreter for removal in San Diego. “This is personal,” said Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “For many of us, these are people that we served with.” KPBS
• Protesters have been gathering outside Los Angeles-area hotels where immigration agents are staying and raising a ruckus to keep them awake. At nightly “No Sleep for ICE” protests, participants clang pots and pans, beat drums, and shout into megaphones. USA Today

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Northern California

8.

When Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan opened a Bay Area school for disadvantaged kids in 2016, Chan told CNN she was in for the long haul. “To really understand the full impact of your work,” she said, “you’re just going to have to be patient.” Yet in April, the billionaire couple pulled funding from the school, forcing its closure. As parents absorb the fallout, they are learning the risks of depending on wealthy donors for essential services, wrote the Washington Post: “A billionaire’s change of heart can destabilize vulnerable families or local government finances.”

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9.

The San Francisco Standard, an upstart digital publication founded in 2021, just acquired another media outlet called Charter that focuses on the future of work. The Standard was co-founded by Michael Moritz, 70, a former Time journalist who made billions investing in Google and PayPal. A resident of San Francisco for four decades, he has become a powerful figure behind a movement toward a more moderate political class. “I think news and information in any city is as vital as water, electricity and gas,” he told the New York Times.

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10.

San Francisco’s school superintendent announced Monday that high schools would replace the district’s homegrown ethnic studies curriculum with an off-the-shelf version after pushback from parents and politicians. Critics say the San Francisco curriculum includes a presentation equating capitalism with racism and an exercise that asks students to role-play as Israeli soldiers putting Palestinians into refugee camps. Sarita Lavin, an ethnic studies teacher, said she’d never heard of a colleague using such lesson plans: “I think that that’s just been wildly overblown.” S.F. Chronicle | KQED

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Southern California

11.

Pappy & Harriet’s began as biker cantina in the high desert community of Pioneertown in the 1980s and grew into a renowned music venue, hosting Robert Plant, Rufus Wainwright, and Lana Del Rey. But starting around 2021, a bitter ownership fight ruined the fun for years. Now under new leadership, the roadhouse is said to have recaptured the spirit that made it one of the coolest places in the desert. The staff got pay raises, a beer garden was added, and the calendar is once again drawing big names. “It feels like family again,” said Rav Rivera, the general manager. Desert Sun

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12.

Earlier this month in Sherman Oaks, a new Trader Joe’s opened across the street from another Trader Joe’s. Initially, the company planned to shutter the older store, but then decided it might be “fun” to keep both open, according to Matt Judd, the new store’s manager. “Our business in this city has been so tremendous, so we decided to keep them both,” he said. “The city deserves it.” On a recent Friday, both stores were crowded. L.A. Times

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