Newsletter
The California Sun gathers all the must-read stories about California in one place.
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Sept. 8.
- Gavin Newsom defends California during Southern swing.
- Elizabeth Holmes documentary is the talk of Telluride.
- And a photo tour of one of L.A.’s finest midcentury homes.
Statewide
1.
During a swing through the South last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom was trailed by a familiar taunt from critics: keep your California ways out of our state. But he pushed back. The perception of California as a failed state is a lie, Newsom said. He rattled off statistics on Alabama’s higher murder rate and California’s soaring GDP — while glossing over dismal numbers on homelessness and gas prices. Vera DeVito, 78, listened to Newsom at an event in South Carolina. He still has work to do, she said: “He’s a little slick, not a lot of meat. But he’s good looking, which helps.” S.F. Chronicle | A.P.
2.
Few Republicans have frustrated California Democrats so much as Rep. David Valadao, who has won election after election in the San Joaquin Valley despite a sizable GOP registration disadvantage. In November, however, he may be tested like never before. Redistricting made his district even more blue. And Valadao will need to muster strong Latino support in his heavily Latino district even as the cohort has turned sharply away from President Trump over the past year. A.P.
- Valadao’s Democratic opponent, Randy Villegas, is trying a novel path to defeat him: moving to the left. Washington Post
Northern California
3.
A married couple and two of their children, ages 13 and 10, died after their plane crashed into a bluff shortly after takeoff in northwest Fresno on Saturday, authorities said. Danna Eady, 41, a flight instructor at Reedley College, was piloting the small aircraft. It was unclear what caused the accident. The Eadys were survived by their two oldest children, both teenagers, who were not on the plane. KFSN | Valley Public Radio
4.
In 2019, Sonoma County launched a drone program to find illegal cannabis grows that morphed into a crackdown on homeowners over code violations. Dozens of people were fined millions of dollars for unpermitted decks, non-operating cars, people living in trailers, and other infractions. But last week, the county agreed to halt the drone surveillance and pay three plaintiffs $50,000 each to settle a privacy lawsuit. “No one should be afraid to step into their backyards because a government drone may be watching,” said Nick Hidalgo, an ACLU lawyer. Press Democrat | Reason
5.
California is desperate for housing and middle-class jobs. Yet three years after a company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires proposed a new city on rangeland an hour’s drive from San Francisco, the project remains as elusive as ever. Ben Metcalf, managing director of UC Berkley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, blamed regulatory bloat. “Think of any large development in California over the past 20 years, and it has taken 20 years for that development to break ground,” he said. N.Y. Times
- In another part of the Bay Area, Brisbane has refused to build new housing for decades. Now it’s about to find out what happens when its land-use authority is stripped away. S.F. Chronicle
6.
“Brilliant.”
“Insane.”
“Like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
The talk of the Telluride Film Festival was a new documentary on the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, directed by absurdist comic Nathan Fielder and filmmaker Lance Oppenheim. About a month before Holmes was to report to prison in 2023, she invited the documentary crew into her home and gave them access to moments many would consider off limits. Among the movie’s revelations: Holmes is making plans from behind bars to launch a new Theranos. N.Y. Times | Deadline
- The trailer for “You Can See Everything” is unnerving.
7.
In an age of rising artificial slop, Bay Area restaurants are returning to hand-painted signage. Damon Styer is the owner of New Bohemia Signs, the oldest dedicated sign-painting workshop in San Francisco. “It sounds cliché now,” he said, “but the more that all things digital intrude in every aspect of our lives, the more people are going to feel this hunger for evidence of handcrafted stuff.” S.F. Chronicle
8.
San Francisco’s embrace of color has been linked to its anti-establishment ethos, forged out of the Gold Rush and subsequent cultural movements. Earlier this year, an analysis of homes in San Francisco found that 32% qualified as colorful. That’s compared with 15% in Houston. The photographer Travis Monson recently shared a great collection of staircase photos that highlight San Franciscans’ penchant for colorful self-expression. Reddit
Southern California
9.
Jeff Belle, 69, has been divorced at least eight times. Five of his ex-wives accused him of using them for money. He’s been convicted for check fraud and disciplined for practicing healthcare without a license. A former stepdaughter called Belle “one of the worst human beings I’ve ever encountered in my life.” Yet he is the Republican candidate for Congress in San Diego County’s South Bay region. “With some of my challenges in the past,” Belle told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “most people wouldn’t have the courage to run, would they?”
10.
David Huerta, a Los Angeles labor organizer, was arrested during an immigration raid last summer and charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer, a felony. The case was eventually dropped. But for more than a year, Huerta endured sleepless nights and grew emotionally distant from his wife. He struggled with shame and began seeing a therapist for the first time. Recounting how he was shoved to the ground on the day of his arrest, he teared up: “If they can do this to me, imagine what they’re doing to other people.” The Atlantic
11.
Donna Dubray and Paul Carbullido Jr. had never ridden jet skis before when the friends headed out for a ride off Long Beach on the evening of Aug. 16. It was supposed to be a quick sunset jaunt. But when Carbullido was tossed from his jet ski, it drifted out of reach. Dubray tried to swim after him and lost her jet ski as well. “Now the longtime friends clung to life jackets while choking on fierce waves, their bodies dangling in the Pacific Ocean. It was Aug. 16, and the last rays of sun had faded. It was not clear if help was on the way,” the New York Times recounted.
12.
“The Big Lebowski” fans may recognize the residence pictured above as that of the smut mogul Jackie Treehorn. But the glass-and-concrete structure designed in the early 1960s by John Lautner holds a larger significance in the minds of architects, who rank it among Los Angeles’ finest midcentury homes. One of its most enchanting features: More than 500 miniature skylights in the sloping ceiling evoke the feeling of walking though a dappled forest. In a recent issue, Wallpaper* magazine published a tour of the home with gorgeous photos by Sterling Reed.
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