Newsletter
The California Sun gathers all the must-read stories about California in one place.
Good morning. It’s Thursday, Oct. 30.
- Tribe reintroduces tule elk in Sierra Nevada foothills.
- Nvidia becomes the world’s first $5 trillion company.
- And activist who stole chickens in Petaluma is convicted.
Statewide
1.
Jodeah Wilson, 22, was so broke he had to drop out of Sacramento State University, unable to cover tuition. Earlier this month, his checking account had $76. He’s been hunting relentlessly for work for months, he said: “You can check Indeed. You can check Glassdoor. You can check my network. You can check how many career fairs I attended, how many internships I’ve acquired.”
Wilson is one of roughly half a million people between the ages of 16 to 24 in California who are stuck in the same predicament: neither working nor in school. Most are men. CalMatters
2.
The Tule River Indian Tribe recently reclaimed roughly 27 square miles of historical lands in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills and promptly reintroduced tule elk. State leaders and tribal elders gathered on Wednesday to commemorate the “land-back” deal, which involved the purchase of former cattle ranches with a mix of private and state funding. Leister Nieto Jr., chairman of the Tule River Tribal Council, said the land would be a place to heal and “simply be.” S.F. Chronicle
3.
They number fewer than 40; they live in the hottest place on earth; and they’ve been isolated for thousands of years.
The Devils Hole pupfish is a small iridescent blue fish found only in a single pool of 93-degree water inside a limestone cavern within Death Valley National Park. Scientists believe the pool is a remnant of a former watery ecosystem that dried up, stranding the fish for thousands of years in what could be described as an underground fishbowl. PBS’s Untold Earth documentary series told the extraordinary story of the world’s rarest fish.
4.
The Joaquin Murrieta of legend was a Mexican miner in Gold Rush California whose true love, Rosita, was raped by white prospectors. Consumed by revenge, he turned to banditry, robbing banks and giving to the poor. According to a new biography, however, little of the outlaw folk hero story holds up to scrutiny. Many of Murrieta’s victims were Chinese Americans, who rarely used guns:
“Murrieta’s deadliest attack was the Feb. 21, 1853, massacre of eight Chinese miners at a ferry crossing on the Stanislaus River. His killing spree put such fear into the Chinese prospectors of Calaveras County that an undetermined number of them quit their claims and moved to cities.” N.Y. Times
Northern California
5.
Nvidia became the first $5 trillion company on Wednesday. The milestone further cemented the Santa Clara chipmaker at the center of the global artificial intelligence boom. Its latest gains were juiced in part by praise from President Trump, with whom CEO Jensen Huang has forged an unlikely bond. During Nvidia’s developer conference in Washington on Tuesday, Huang spent nearly an hour lavishing praise on the president. “This president works like mad to help America be great and for America to win,” he said. Washington Post | Quartz
6.
Zoe Rosenberg, a 23-year-old activist from San Luis Obispo, was found guilty of a felony after she took four chickens from a poultry plant in Petaluma in a trial that tested whether moral claims about animal cruelty could supersede laws against trespassing and theft. Rosenberg, a member of the Berkeley animal rights group DxE, argued that her actions were “rescue” missions, and therefore justified. After the verdict, facing years in jail, Rosenberg said she regrets nothing: “I will never be sorry.” A.P. | KQED
7.
Sen. Adam Schiff, a Burbank Democrat, and Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Butte County Republican, don’t agree often. But they are both trying to save what was rural Glenn County’s only hospital until it was stripped of federal funding and forced to shutter on Sept. 30. The lawmakers introduced bills to reverse the decision. But even if they pass, the hospital would face another obstacle: reopening a closed hospital is very costly. “The reality is once the employees have left, you’re starting from scratch,” said Matthew Beehler, a spokesman for the hospital owner. CalMatters
8.
Thieves stole more than 1,000 items from the Oakland Museum of California on Oct. 15 in an art heist that is being investigated by the FBI, the authorities said on Wednesday. Police said someone broke into an off-site storage facility for the museum around 3:30 a.m. and made off with pearls, Native baskets, scrimshaw tusks, and other objects. Lori Fogarty, the museum’s CEO, said the thieves took not just things but “our state’s cultural heritage.” S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News
9.
A Bay Area jail accidentally released a murder suspect last week, and the authorities had yet to find him as of late Wednesday. Isaiah Jamon Andrews, 20, was arrested in Antioch on Oct. 18 after a police chase and was supposed to be extradited to Washington state to face charges in the killing of a 20-year-old man in Seattle. The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s office said only that it “realized” Andrews had been released, declining to say where the breakdown occurred. The victim’s mother said her family is devastated: “Everybody’s hurt. Everybody’s hurt.” KING | KGO
10.
Joseph Eichler, the renowned Bay Area developer who brought stylish architecture to the masses, was known to be a sometimes gruff fellow. But his homes included playful touches: a colorful door, roof beams that cast artful shadows, and street designs that rejected the monotony common of suburbia. This was most vividly demonstrated in Eichler’s Fairmeadow development in Palo Alto, pictured above. While maddeningly confusing to visitors, the neighborhood’s concentric circles eliminated through traffic, allowing life to spill onto the street, where kids bike and play. Eichler Network
- See an aerial view of Fairmeadow on Google Maps.
Southern California
11.
Amid rising worries of hunger as a result of halted food stamp benefits, the Barstow Police Department announced that it had a plan to help — by stepping up patrols at grocery stores to prevent theft. Nearly a quarter of the population of Barstow, located in the Mojave Desert, lives below the poverty lines. “These increased patrols are not in response to any specific incident,” the department noted, “but are a preventive measure to maintain public safety, deter theft, and reassure the community that law enforcement is present and ready to help.” KABC | CBS News
12.
“A whisper replaces the roar.”
NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 soared over the Mojave Desert on Tuesday in the first test flight of an experimental aircraft designed to break the sound barrier with little noise. Backers hope the sleek aircraft will help overcome one of the primary obstacles to supersonic commercial flight: the sonic boom produced when breaching the sound barrier. In tests during the 1960s, booms reportedly broke windows and terrified residents, leading the FAA to ban civilian supersonic flight over land. Reuters | Space.com
- See the X-59 in flight. 👉 YouTube/Reuters
Correction
An earlier version of this newsletter misidentified Joseph Eichler as an architect. He was a developer.
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