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The hedge fund gutting newsrooms in California and beyond.

Poetic clash between Dodgers and Giants ends on an off note.

And the timber wars are revived in Mendocino County.

Over the years, a secretive hedge fund named Alden Global Capital has gobbled up nearly 40 California newspapers. They include the Orange County Register, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Riverside's Press-Enterprise, San Jose's Mercury News, and the East Bay Times. In a devastating piece in the Atlantic, McKay Coppins broke down Alden's approach: "The model is simple: gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring out as much cash as possible."

A statewide task force established to recommend a reparations plan for Black Californians is split on a crucial question: Who should qualify? Some argue that reparations should flow only to those who can trace their ancestry to enslaved people. Others say all Black Californians deserve restitution, including recent immigrants from Africa. Task force member Lisa Holder: "If you have Black skin, you’re catching hell, and you deserve some kind of reparations, and we can start there.” S.F. Chronicle

The Dodgers will meet Atlanta for the pennant after dispatching the Giants 2-1 in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Thursday night. What had been a poetic clash, however, ended on an off note as the final out was delivered with a bad call. With two outs and two strikes, Giants batter Wilmer Flores checked his swing on a pitch out of the strike zone, but the first base umpire determined he had swung through. More than a few sports writers said the Dodgers deserved the win, wrong call or not. Still, as an ending to the series in one of the greatest rivalries in baseball, it was a bitter pill for Giants fans. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle

The L.A. Times' Bill Plaschke: "There’s a new ruler of an ancient rivalry."

Tree sits, marches, road blocks, bodies placed near chainsaws. 

The tactics of the 1990s timber wars are being revived in a Mendocino County forest, where a redwood timber harvest began this year. Unlike past battles, however, this one is being fought in the context of heightened anxiety over climate warming and monster wildfires. Cal Fire, which owns the property, has said the cull will promote forest health. The activists say the state is caving to logging interests. SFGate.com

“I and my colleagues are getting really tired of the type of activism that pretends to be science and in fact is just self-serving garbage.” Wildfire experts are pushing back more forcefully against activists who oppose forest thinning. Sacramento Bee

One child sleeps on a conference table; others on the floor. Scattered around are broken glass and bottles filled with urine. 

Photos taken inside an office used by Fresno County's child services agency caused an uproar after they were published Wednesday in the Fresno Bee. Social workers told the newspaper that children awaiting foster placement are sometimes kept in appalling conditions at the office for as long as two weeks, a practice that has persisted for years. Fresno Bee | GV Wire

Since 2009, Waymo, Alphabet's driverless car company, has been sending its vehicles all over San Francisco to collect map and traffic data. But something appears to have gone haywire in one sleepy neighborhood. Every day for weeks, as many as 50 Waymo cars have headed down a dead-end street, lurched to a stop as if confused, performed a multipoint turn, and headed out the way they came. "It’s literally every five minutes," one resident said. "And we’re all working from home, so this is what we hear.” KPIX | The Verge

Most oil-producing states have regulations dictating how far oil wells must be from homes and schools. In California, it's a regulatory free-for-all: Some counties have strict buffer zones, but others have none at all. As a result, Texas and Wyoming do a better job protecting communities from oil and gas drilling. This investigation includes eye-opening visualizations of where wells are concentrated across Los Angeles County. 👉 Grist 

The Coast Guard on Thursday said the size of the oil spill off Orange County two weeks ago was drastically smaller than feared. Officials initially estimated as much as 144,000 gallons of oil leaked from an undersea pipe. A Coast Guard spokeswoman said the agency is now confident that the true figure is around 25,000 gallons, or less than one fifth of the earlier estimate. A.P. | L.A. Times

Former President Clinton was admitted on Tuesday to the intensive care unit at UC Irvine Medical Center, after a urinary tract infection spread to his bloodstream. Doctors said Thursday that his health was much improved thanks to a course of antibiotics. "We hope to have him go home soon," they said in a statement. Clinton, 75, was in Southern California for a private event when he reported feeling unwell. CNN | A.P.

A Los Angeles judge on Thursday sentenced Robert Durst to life in prison without parole for the killing in 2000 of a close confidante. The punishment comes nearly four decades after Durst's first wife vanished in New York. Prosecutors said Durst shot his friend Susan Berman inside her Los Angeles home because she was about to talk to the police about his wife's disappearance. In a victim statement, a cousin of Berman’s fought back tears while saying, “I visited her and told her she could rest easy, that justice has been done.” L.A. Times | N.Y. Times

On this week's podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Doug Thompson and Robin Kobaly, ecologists who have called for stricter water conservation among the many golf courses of the Coachella Valley. They couple took up the cause after a groundskeeper casually mentioned how much water his golf course uses each night: 1.2 million gallons. "It was staggering for us," Kobaly said. "We just didn't know."

Five items that got big views over the past week:

In the late 1970s, L.A.'s Chinatown was struggling. So when promoters asked restaurant owners if they could rent space to music acts, many agreed. An unexpected alliance was born. Here's a look back at how the West Coast punk scene was incubated at Chinese restaurants. 👉 Topic 

For decades, California has abided by a political bargain that says sprawl can sprawl and downtowns can rise but single-family neighborhoods are to remain untouched. The deal is the foundation of local politics in virtually every American city. "And now it’s being torn up," wrote the N.Y. Times.

In 2016, two female cyclists were killed in San Francisco in separate hit-and-run cases. Five years later, one of the drivers remains in the county jail. The other served 16 days in jail and faces no more time. His private attorney cut a deal with prosecutors. S.F. Chronicle

A new study visualizes what 3 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels might mean for sites around the world. In the most dire scenarios, scientists say the planet could hit that threshold by the 2060s. See depictions: Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, Mountain View, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and Marina Del Ray.

ProPublica on the "insanity" of how we manage fire: "We keep doing overzealous fire suppression across California landscapes where the fire poses little risk to people and structures. As a result, wildland fuels keep building up. At the same time, the climate grows hotter and drier. Then, boom: the inevitable."

Get your California Sun mugs, T-shirts, and hoodies.

Today's California Sun: The hedge fund gutting newsrooms in California and beyond, poetic clash between Dodgers and Giants ends on an off note, and the timber wars are revived in Mendocino County.

The gutting of California newspapers // Timber wars in Mendocino County

Governor seeks to halt vaccine mandate for prison guards.

Meteorologists expect drenching that could end wildfires.

And a powerful L.A. politician is charged in bribery scheme.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has explained his Covid vaccine mandates for state workers and students as necessary measures to save lives. But his approach has differed for prison guards, a group backed by a powerful union that donated $1.75 million to Newsom's recall defense. On Wednesday, CalMatters reported that the governor asked an appeals court to overturn a judge's order requiring prison guards to get inoculated. SFGate.com | Mercury News

The California attorney general’s office filed felony charges against the leader of the state's largest labor union, accusing her of tax fraud, embezzlement, and perjury. Alma Hernández and her husband under-reported their income by more than $1.4 million to evade $143,000 in taxes, prosecutors said. Hernández resigned, ending her 11-year tenure at SEIU California, which represents more than 700,000 workers and wields significant political influence. Sacramento Bee | L.A. Times

Researchers estimate at least 4 million acres burned each year in prehistoric California. In recent decades, that amount of annual wildfire acreage across the entire country has been portrayed as "extreme." ProPublica wrote about the "insanity" of how we manage fire: "We keep doing overzealous fire suppression across California landscapes where the fire poses little risk to people and structures. As a result, wildland fuels keep building up. At the same time, the climate grows hotter and drier. Then, boom: the inevitable." 

If the forecasts hold true, California will at long last get a good drenching soon. The National Weather Service said an atmospheric river — a dense band of moisture likened to a river in the sky — could swirl into the state between Oct. 21 and Oct. 27. Its arrival would quench wildfires, put a dent in the drought, "and replenish water resources throughout the West Coast.” L.A. Times | SFGate.com

New analysis: the summer months this year were California's driest since 1895. S.F. Chronicle

School districts across Shasta County are making plans to cover classes ahead of a planned teacher walkout on Oct. 18. The instructors are angry about being pressured to get the Covid-19 vaccine. At one high school, two out of every five employees remain unvaccinated. Record Searchlight | KRCR

San Joaquin County supervisors on Tuesday described vaccine policies adopted in Los Angeles and San Francisco as the acts of a "totalitarian regime." In a resolution, they voted unanimously to ban vaccine requirements to enter county buildings. San Joaquin Valley Sun

Parents packed a school board meeting in suburban Modesto on Monday to ask the trustees to fight the state's student vaccine mandate. Most of the school board shared their concerns. One trustee said she'd quit over the mandate. Modesto Bee

In tiny Stratford, about 40 miles south of Fresno, the old-timers gather for their morning coffee at the local auto parts store. On a recent day, they recalled how Stratford once flourished, abounding with farming jobs and businesses. “It used to be a little Mayberry when we were kids,” said hay farmer Danny Rodrigues. Now jobs and residents are fleeing. The L.A. Times wrote about how years of drought and recession are hollowing out California's small farming towns.

A Bay Area police chief is on leave after a family member accused her of assault and threats to kill. In a restraining order request, the family member, an 18-year-old woman, said Richmond Police Chief Bisa French and French's husband, an Oakland police sergeant, became violent while demanding that the woman leave the man she says is her partner. The Frenches say the man, once convicted of human trafficking, is in reality a pimp and that the young woman is being manipulated. Mercury News | KGO

In 1882, Chinese workers used pickaxes and shovels to carve the 56-mile route that became Tioga Road, traversing Yosemite National Park from its east and west entrances. Chinese workers also served in Yosemite as cooks, laundry workers, and gardeners. That history has been largely overlooked in park exhibits— until now. This month, a former laundry building at the iconic Wawona Hotel was dedicated as a visitor attraction honoring Chinese contributions to the development of Yosemite. Fresno Bee | NBC News

City Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas, one of the most powerful politicians in Los Angeles, was charged on Wednesday with a bribery scheme. In a federal indictment, prosecutors said Ridley-Thomas conspired with a USC dean to steer millions of dollars in public funding to the university in exchange for a scholarship and teaching job for his son. Ridley-Thomas declined to comment Wednesday. The dean, Marilyn Louise Flynn, denied wrongdoing through her lawyer. L.A. Times | A.P.

President Biden announced Wednesday that the Port of Los Angeles would begin operating “24 hours a day, seven days a week” to relieve the logjam in the nation's overworked supply chain. White House officials said the nearby Port of Long Beach moved to an around-the-clock schedule last month, though port officials portrayed that as an exaggeration. With blockages up and down supply chains, some experts were skeptical the longer hours would make a difference. N.Y. Times | Washington Post

There's a facility at the Port of Long Beach that provides meals, internet, television, and a place to rest for the foreign workers who staff container ships. Lately, it's been empty. With unprecedented gridlock at American ports, seafarers have remained stuck on their ships, some going for months without ever setting foot on land. Long Beach Business Journal reported on an overlooked symptom of the port crisis: stir-crazy seafarers. 

 John Wooden was born on this day in 1910.

The quintessential American coach, Wooden arrived at UC Los Angeles in 1948 to take over a little-known basketball program that played in a cramped gym. He left in 1975, having transformed the Bruins into a powerhouse with 10 national championships. Wooden was said to be as conversant in Shakespeare and the Bible as basketball, imparting lessons that transcended sport. 

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

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Today's California Sun: Governor seeks to halt vaccine mandate for prison guards, meteorologists expect drenching that could end wildfires, and a powerful L.A. politician is charged in bribery scheme.

Powerful L.A. lawmaker charged in bribery case // Forecast calls for good drenching

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes measure to extend college aid.

Walgreens plans to close another five stores in San Francisco.

And dazzling views of the Sierra as fall and winter collide.

In September, both chambers of the state Legislature unanimously approved a measure to expand college aid. The legislation was the culmination of years of campaigning to reduce college costs and would have extended eligibility for the Cal Grant, the state's biggest financial aid program, to an additional 150,000 students. Last Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it, calling it too expensive. CalMatters 

☝️ Here's what could happen to Santa Monica Pier with unmitigated warming.

That's according to a new study by climate researchers that visualizes what 3 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels might mean for sites around the world. In the most dire scenarios, scientists say the planet could hit that threshold by the 2060s, causing a gradual rise of the seas over a span of centuries that swallows our cities. CNN | The Guardian

Also depicted: Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, Mountain View, Long Beach, and Marina Del Ray.

Early photographers of the American West strapped heavy equipment onto mules and hiked for days into the wilderness. A century and a half later, with a camera in every pocket, those old ways are generally long forgotten — but not by John Chiara. The San Francisco photographer shoots California using handmade box cameras as large as a small elephant that he hauls on a trailer and positions in front of his subjects. To make a photo, he climbs inside the camera and manipulates the exposure of photographic paper. A single shot can take half a day. "The subject of my work," Chiara once said, "is photography itself.” The results have been called luscious, moody, and magical. Lens Culture | Guernica

Walgreens said Tuesday it would close another five stores in San Francisco, attributing the decision to retail crime. Company officials said rampant shoplifting was not only hurting the bottom line but also endangering the stores' employees. All told, Walgreens has closed 22 San Francisco locations in five years. S.F. Chronicle | SFGate.com

In July, Target said it would start closing all of its San Francisco locations early because of retail crime. KGO

Dottie Dodgion, a rare high-profile female drummer in the jazz world of the 1950s and ’60s, died on Sept. 17 in a hospice center in Pacific Grove. Dodgion played with figures such as Charles Mingus, Benny Goodman, and Marian McPartland. One night in 1961 while playing with Goodman, the bandleader failed to recognize Dodgion as he name-checked band members. The crowd demanded an introduction, then gave her a standing ovation. Goodman's manager later whispered "Bye" in Dodgion's ear, indicating she was fired for showing up the boss. At age 90, Dodgion played her last set on March 12, 2020, at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. Shortly afterward, the regular gig was canceled because of the pandemic. New Yorker | N.Y. Times

In 2017, a Fresno police officer fatally shot an unarmed 16-year-old. After a four-year battle, the boy's mother, Christina Lopez, won a $4.9 million settlement with the city. Now she's behind bars. Prosecutors have accused Lopez of using her settlement to buy guns for members of a Fresno gang. Fresno County District Attorney Lisa A. Smittcamp called it "some of the most despicable behavior I’ve ever seen from a human being.” Washington Post | Fresno Bee

An oyster bar on Tomales Bay made The New York Times' 2021 list of the 50 most exciting restaurants in America. Marshall Store is a tiny family-owned restaurant perched directly on the shore right off of Highway 1. The oysters are farmed on location, served smoked, barbecued, and raw to patrons seated at communal tables on the deck. It's said to be a fine way to spend a sunny afternoon on the coast.

Also on the list: Mister Jiu's, Nari, and The Anchovy Bar in San Francisco; Pearl River Deli and n/naka in Los Angeles; and Mini Kabob in Glendale.

A wildfire outside Santa Barbara more than tripled in size from the day before, reaching 21 square miles by late Tuesday. With just 5% of the blaze contained, the Alisal fire has raced through an area lightly populated with ranches, including one once owned by Ronald Reagan. Highway 101 remained closed in both directions. Forecasts called for winds to pick up again Thursday, prompting PG&E to issue its second outage warning of the week, telling 29,000 customers they could have their power cut. A.P. | KTVU

Amazon dropped a planned warehouse in El Cajon after San Diego County leaders advanced a plan to require that employers on county-owned land pay a "prevailing wage," essentially the going rate for an occupation. Labor leaders heralded the ordinance as a way to lift working families out of poverty. Critics, including the city of El Cajon, warned that it would be financially disastrous, especially among disadvantaged communities where jobs could evaporate. Vice

The UPS driver killed by a small plane that careened into a San Diego suburb on Tuesday was just months from retirement. Steve Krueger, 61, worked for the delivery company for 30 years. A snow lover, he had recently bought a home near Mammoth Lakes where he planned to spend much of his time. NBC San Diego

Aviation experts suspect disorientation or a medical emergency may have played a role in the crash. NBC San Diego | A.P.

The U.S. will open its borders with Canada and Mexico to nonessential travel in November, ending a 19-month freeze imposed during the pandemic. Only vaccinated travelers, however, will be allowed to cross. Mexico had pressed the U.S. for months to ease restrictions that have separated families and curtailed leisure trips. N.Y. Times | A.P.

☝️ This is what it looks like when fall and winter collide in the Eastern Sierra.

The famous fall show of the Eastern Sierra, when the aspens, cottonwoods, and willows don bright colors against a backdrop of soaring peaks, lasts just a few weeks every September and October. Even more fleeting — and dazzling — is when the tableau is draped with a dusting of early winter snow, as happened late last week. A few photographers shared their favorite pictures.

Today's California Sun: Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes measure to extend college aid, Walgreens plans to close another five stores in San Francisco, and dazzling views of the Sierra as fall and winter collide.

Governor vetoes expansion of college aid // Fall and winter collide in the Sierra

Powerful winds fan threatening fires across the state.

Two people are killed as plane dives into San Diego suburb.

And a pumpkin champion is crowned in Half Moon Bay.

Whipping winds on Monday prompted PG&E to cut power to about 21,000 customers as at least half a dozen fires broke out across the state. The Alisal fire exploded to roughly 3,900 acres in the Los Padres National Forest northwest of Santa Barbara, shutting the 101 Freeway in both directions and prompting evacuations. Near Isleton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a vegetation fire overtook a mobile home park, destroying at least 30 homes, officials said. Noozhawk | ABC10 | A.P.

“They say they’re doing this so everyone can have the American dream. But what about the American dream of living in a single-family neighborhood?”

For decades, California has abided by a political bargain that says sprawl can sprawl and downtowns can rise but single-family neighborhoods are to remain untouched. The deal is the foundation of local politics in virtually every American city. "And now it’s being torn up," writes the N.Y. Times in a piece that chronicles how the California dream is being reimagined in a single neighborhood in San Diego. 

The political columnist Mark Z. Barabak on California's most significant divide, between fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers and those of the San Francisco Giants: "Seen from the north, Los Angeles is an undifferentiated sprawl, a smoggy, celebrity-addled home to the airheaded and vain. Viewed from the south, San Francisco is a pretentious and prettified crackerbox of a city, foggy and filled with a bunch of weirdos and effete snobs." L.A. Times

The Dodgers were on the brink of elimination after their loss in Game 3 of the National League Division Series Monday night. Blustery winds appeared to thwart a game-tying home run. ESPN | NBC Sports

In 1971, a San Jose businessman named Glen McLaughlin came across a strange 1663 map in a London shop that depicted California as an island. He became obsessed with the cartographic error, which persisted in maps from the 1600s into the 1700s. Over time, McLaughlin amassed more than 700 maps showing California as an island, the world's largest collection. Now digitized at Stanford, they have have struck a chord in academia and beyond for the kernel of truth they contain: that California is in many ways a world apart. Big Think | Wired

Roughly 70,000 victims of California wildfires sparked by PG&E between 2015 and 2018 were paid off with stock in the utility, putting their financial recovery at the mercy of the company’s share value. That deal now appears to be playing out unfavorably. An analysis found that the hedge funds that engineered the victim settlement have since dumped millions of their shares in the utility. The hedge funds grossed $2 billion, but they depressed PG&E's share price, leaving fire victims with significantly less than they were promised. KQED

During the pandemic last year, nearly 100 volunteers — landscape architects, cabinet installers, plumbers, and others — gathered on San Francisco's Treasure Island and renovated five grimy old apartments. Dubbed Home Free, the complex now houses women said to have been unjustly imprisoned for killing abusive partners. “We were committed to making a vibrant, dignified and safe home, a place that says ‘you’re worthy,’” a founder of the nonprofit behind the project said. N.Y. Times

After San Francisco ordered all city workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine, police department employees submitted 228 requests for exemptions on religious grounds. The number granted so far: zero. According to data obtained by the S.F. Examiner, 214 requests were denied. Fifteen remain pending. Police officers have until Wednesday to get inoculated or face termination.

Pumpkin watchers turned their attention on Monday toward Half Moon Bay, where officials conducted the 48th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Jeff Uhlmeyer, a retired engineer from Olympia, Wash., took the top prize with a bonkers 2,191-pounder, roughly equivalent to a Mazda Miata, making it the second-heaviest gourd ever weighed at the event. Uhlmeyer was cryptic about his method. "Basically," he said, "you let the plant tell you what it needs." Bay City News | Half Moon Bay Review

“Low altitude alert, climb immediately, climb the airplane.” 

The pilot of a small plane was repeatedly warned that he was flying too low before nose-diving into a San Diego suburb on Monday, leaving a path of destruction and killing the pilot and a UPS driver on the ground, reports said. En route from Yuma, the plane was heading in to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego when it crashed in Santee around noon, officials said. The plane was owned by Dr. Sugata Das, a cardiologist who was said to live in San Diego and commute frequently by air to a Yuma hospital. NBC San Diego | S.D. Union-Tribune | A.P.

On Monday in Los Angeles, where Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been celebrated in place of Columbus Day since 2018, city leaders announced that Father Serra Park in downtown Los Angeles would be renamed in collaboration with local tribal communities. The city will also move to update its flag to include representation of local tribes. “We’re sorry as a city for all the things that were done as a Spanish city, a Mexico city, an American city to erase the peoples whose land this is and always will be,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. L.A. Times | LAist

An Italian church was vandalized with anti-colonization graffiti on Monday. Police are investigating it as a hate crime. L.A. Times | KTLA

Roughly 120 golf courses, many of them shoulder to shoulder, crowd the arid Coachella Valley, the highest concentration in the world. As the state contends with a prolonged drought, a single course sucks up as much as 1 million gallons of water a night from an underground aquifer. That water is then replenished with supplies from the Colorado River or Northern California. The columnist Steve Lopez had some thoughts about the situation. L.A. Times

It begins with Horace Bowers, 91, asking his grandson, Los Angeles composer Kris Bowers, "What's a concerto?" What follows is a conversation about the life of the elder Bowers, who survived the Jim Crow-era South and fled to Southern California as part of the Great Migration. That set in motion a new life that began in penury and culminated with the younger Bowers premiering a concerto with the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The fantastic film "A Concerto Is a Conversation" was nominated for an Oscar for best short documentary. YouTube (~13 mins) 

Today's California Sun: Powerful winds fan threatening fires across the state, two people are killed as plane dives into San Diego suburb, and a pumpkin champion is crowned in Half Moon Bay.


Winds fan threatening wildfires // Pumpkin champion crowned in Half Moon Bay

Five consequential new laws signed by the governor.

Valley fever spreads in the hotter and drier West.

And a poll shows deep discontent across the Bay Area.

Dangerous winds were forecast to rake the bone-dry hills and valleys of California on Monday, prompting PG&E and Southern California Edison to warn that they may cut power to as many as 34,000 customers. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for much of the Central Valley, where gusts could hit 50 mph. Wildfire Today | Bloomberg

Gov. Gavin Newsom had until Sunday night to decide the fate of dozens of bills passed by the state Legislature. Five notable measures that got his signature:

Along with math, English, and science, California students will have to take an ethnic studies course to earn a high school diploma. The proposed curriculum faced years of heated debate before winning approval. A.P. | EdSource

Large retailers will now have to provide gender-neutral toy sections. “Part of it is to make sure if you’re a young girl that you can find a police car, fire truck, a periodic table, or a dinosaur,” the bill’s author said. L.A. Times | A.P.

California public schools and colleges must now offer free menstrual products in bathrooms. “Just as toilet paper and paper towels are provided in virtually every public bathroom, so should menstrual products,” the bill’s author said. Washington Post | A.P.

The sale of gas-powered leaf blowers will be banned as early as 2024 under a law aimed at curbing emissions. Battery and plug-in machines are expected to take their place. L.A. Times |  Sacramento Bee

Native American students can now be excused from school for cultural ceremonies. Until now, tribal members said they have felt as if they have to choose between being who they are and getting a classroom education. Record Searchlight

See the status of other consequential bills. 👉 CalMatters 

Valley fever is on the rise in the hotter and drier West. Named after the Central Valley, the disease spreads as people inhale an airborne fungus that thrives in arid soil. Its symptoms mimic those of the flu, meaning many cases go undiagnosed. But infection can saddle patients with debilitating, lifelong illness and sometimes death. By one estimate, cases in California soared 800% between 2000 and 2018. Grist

Morgan Gorris, an earth systems scientist, mapped the potential spread of valley fever based on rising climate temperatures. 👇

Officials spent more than $610 million to bring the Dixie fire under control — by far the most expensive suppression campaign in California history. The effort encompassed 6,579 workers, 569 fire engines, 194 water trucks, 198 bulldozers, 78 helicopters, and enough fire retardant to fill 31 Olympic-size swimming pools. The N.Y. Times did a deep dive on the how California's firefighting operations have ballooned to meet the challenge of wildfires that are bigger and more intense than any time on record.

On June 22, 2016, two female cyclists were killed in San Francisco in separate hit-and-run cases. There were vigils, expressions of outrage from city leaders, and days of media coverage. Five years later, the columnist Heather Knight followed up on the cases of the accused drivers and found wildly divergent outcomes.

— Nicky Garcia, who was 19 at the time of the collision, is still sitting in the county jail. He has yet to face trial.

— Farrukh Mushtaq, who was 32, served 16 days in jail and faces no more time behind bars. His private attorney cut a deal with prosecutors. S.F. Chronicle

A survey of 1,610 registered voters throughout the Bay Area found deep levels of discontent. More than two out of three respondents said quality of life in the region had worsened in the last five years. A solid majority, 56%, said they expected to leave within the next few years. Among the top worries: drought, wildfires, homelessness, and cost of housing. Mercury News

Oak trees don't produce acorns every year. But when they do, they drop tons of them all at the same time. Scientists haven't exactly figured out how the trees coordinate in this way. But they have a fascinating theory about why they do so: After millions of years of evolution, oaks have learned to overwhelm acorn-loving animals such as squirrels with food supply. That way, the creatures will bury the seeds, spreading oaks across the land. Bay Nature included California's coast live oak in its list of species to look for in the Bay Area this fall.

When an oil slick was first detected off Orange County, environmentalists feared a calamity for the coastline's marine ecosystems. A week later, the mood is more upbeat. “Based on what we’re seeing, it’s a lighter impact than expected of a worst-case discharge,” California Fish and Wildlife Lt. Christian Corbo said. “We’re hoping to see less impacts to the shoreline, less impacts to wildlife, based on that lowered threshold.” A.P.

Huntington Beach said it would reopen its city and state beaches on Monday after tests showed the water was free of oil. O.C. Register | A.P.

Southern California water officials are paying farmers to not grow crops. Brad Robinson, an alfalfa farmer in Blythe, said he was receiving $909 this year for each acre of farmland left dry and unplanted. The water instead stays in Lake Mead, which has sunk to its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s. “Honestly, I think I could make more money farming," Robinson said. "But for the sake of the Colorado River, I think it’s the right thing to do.” L.A. Times

A 40-year-old man who tried to drive his truck into people on a Southern California sidewalk was pulled from the vehicle and beaten to death, the authorities said. The trouble started around midnight Friday when the man was asked to leave a business in Hawthorne, police said. Instead, he climbed into his truck, ultimately slamming into a liquor store. Responding police officers found him sprawled on the ground. Daily Breeze | CBSLA

☝️ Meet the latest graduates of Cal State Los Angeles, all of them incarcerated in state prison. The 25 men were participants in the Prison Graduation Initiative, the first in-person bachelor’s degree program for California inmates. "Having professors come into the facility and make space for us has been life changing," said Allen Burnett, who served 27 years behind bars. "They told us things I was never accustomed to hearing, things I never expected to hear, like 'We believe in you,' 'That's a good job,' 'You did this correctly.'" CNN

 … Julia Bricklin, a nonfiction writer and California historian; her most recent book, “The Notorious Life of Ned Buntline,” explores the antics of the 19th-century dime novelist who popularized the legend of Buffalo Bill.

Q: What is one place everyone should visit in California?  

A: Montana de Oro State Park is just phenomenal. The trails and campgrounds are in Los Osos, just northwest of San Luis Obispo. The beachy woods and mild weather are evocative of what the California coastline was like before global warming and over-building set in.

What’s the best book you've read or podcast you've listened to recently?  

The best book I’ve read recently was “Home Before Dark,” by Riley Sager. I read three to four mysteries a week, but not usually ones layered with horror. It was so smartly done. I was terrified, but could not put it down!

I’m going to cheat a little and say West Coast Pretzels, in Sun Valley. I’m cheating because it happens to be my husband’s company, but the vegan pretzels — Bavarian style — are absolutely the best you can get on this side of the country. They’re modeled after those that Philadelphians grew up with, and some transplants say they’re actually better.

You’re organizing a dinner party. Which three California figures, dead or alive, do you invite, and why? How would you get the conversation started?

I’d invite Frank Morris, the famous Alcatraz escapee, just to find out what the heck happened to him! (I like to think he made it.) I’d also invite (Dona) Maria Ignacia Alvarado de Pico, wife of the last governor of California under the Mexican regime. I’d love to hear her relate the sweeping changes to the California landscape and political system as observed from her (admittedly) privileged position. Lastly, I’d invite the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, just to see what made her tick. I know I could get her to tell me what really happened when she was purportedly kidnapped from Santa Monica in 1926! I think I’d get the conversation started by asking them what they thought of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Much of your writing seeks to unearth lesser-known histories of California. What's a story you've discovered in your research that you'd still like to tell?

In the mid-1800s, there was a spiritualist — a “trance medium” — named Cora L.V. Hatch. She was one of the most famous people in America during her heyday and had the ear of very powerful politicians. She was married four times and divorced three, each time shedding a man who said he loved her but really wanted a share of her receipts. I’d really like to be able to learn more about her childhood and non-public life and put together a biography. I think she could really shed light on how women carefully and craftily navigated the courts back then in order to just be able to control their own money and destiny.

“5 questions with …” is a weekly feature by Finn Cohen, who edits the California Sun. Conversations are sometimes edited for brevity. Someone you’d like to see interviewed? Let him know: finn@californiasun.co.

Today's California Sun: Five consequential new laws signed by the governor, valley fever spreads in the hotter and drier West, and a poll shows deep discontent across the Bay Area.

Poll shows deep discontent across Bay Area // 5 consequential new laws

Here are a few stories you missed in the California Sun over the last week.

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As wildfires spread across 3,800 square miles of California this year, the deaths of untold numbers of animals have gone uncounted. Saving them falls to people like Axel Hunnicutt, a state wildlife biologist who slogs through charred landscapes with a dart gun at his side in search of injured animals. In July, he found an emaciated and burned bobcat near Lake Shastina in Siskiyou County. Weeks later, "Lava Bob" is almost well enough for release. “Now he yowls and growls and drools, and comes stalking toward us. We must look delicious," a veterinarian joked. "He’s gorgeous.” Record-Searchlight

Kunisha Fernandez and her husband Steven Fitch met in San Diego, where she worked for a medical records company and he was a mover. They bounced around in search of affordable rent before inspiration struck. Gathering their four kids together, they asked: “How would you like to live outside full-time?” They sold their things, traded their car for a used minivan, and on June 5 set off for a new life on public land, joining a growing contingent of Americans who describe themselves as “homeless by design.” Bay Nature

In 1971, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a groundbreaking photo project designed as a "visual baseline” against which to measure progress on cleaning up our air, land, and water. About 100 photographers roamed all 50 states for the Documerica series, capturing the ecological toll of rapid development but also everyday American life. I combed through the digital archive's roughly 900 California images to bring you these 26 favorites. 👉 California Sun 

The last fluent speaker of Wukchumni is gone.

For many years, Marie Wilcox was a guardian of the Indigenous language once commonly spoken in Central California. In the 1990s, she began writing down words as she remembered them and didn't stop for two decades, ultimately producing a complete compendium of Wukchumni. On Sept. 25, Wilcox died at a hospital in Visalia. She was 87. N.Y. Times

“It’ll just be gone one of these days.” Wilcox was featured in an acclaimed short documentary in 2014. 👉 YouTube (~9 mins) 

Deep within the Sonoran Desert, beyond Palm Springs and the Salton Sea, is one of the poorest places in America. The squatter community known as Slab City scratches out a hand-to-mouth existence on an abandoned military base. The photographer Daniel Skwarna declared it both "America the Great and the toxic end-product of American capitalism." A photography magazine selected Skwarna's brilliant Slab City series as a 2021 Critics Choice winner. LensCulture | Dodho

In the late 1970s, Los Angeles' Chinatown was struggling. Asian Americans were flocking to the suburbs and the recession had non-Chinese customers avoiding downtown altogether. So when promoters asked Chinatown restaurant owners if they could rent their upstairs banquet spaces to music acts, many agreed. An unexpected alliance was born. Here's a great look back at how the 1970s and 80s West Coast punk scene was incubated at Chinese restaurants. 👉 Topic 

There's a California beach where you are almost as likely to see elk as people. Gold Bluffs Beach is located where Humboldt County's exquisite Fern Canyon opens up to the Pacific. Surrounded by dunes, wetlands, forest, and sea, it attracts abundant wildlife, including herds of Roosevelt elk, a majestic species that stands up to 5 feet at the shoulder. There's human habitat too: a campground of 26 sites with fire rings and tap water. The Guardian once named Gold Bluffs Beach one of the 10 best beaches along the entire West coast.

A few items shared in the newsletter last week.

Sunday sampler: Last fluent speaker of Wukchumni dies // Photographic trip to 1970s California

Report finds that California vastly undercounts heat deaths.

San Francisco plans to relax its mask mandate on Oct. 15.

And the Humboldt County beach where majestic elk roam.

California has been chronically undercounting deaths from heat exposure, an investigation by the L.A. Times found. Between 2010 and 2019, the hottest decade on record, official data showed 599 heat deaths. The true toll: roughly 3,900 dead, largely among the poor, sick, and elderly. The undercount has contributed to a failure by state officials to address one of the deadliest consequences of global warming, as heat waves hit the West more intensely and frequently.

Laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in recent days:

Removing a condom without permission during intercourse is now a form of sexual battery under the nation's first anti-stealthing law. Sacramento Bee | A.P.

California companies will be barred from silencing employees in settlements over workplace harassment. Until now, companies have commonly required non-disclosure agreements to protect their public reputations. Reuters | A.P.

If you want a ketchup packet at Carl's Jr. you'll have to ask for it. Restaurants are now banned from handing out single-use condiments under a law aimed at reducing litter. Mercury News | Sacramento Bee 

Sally Ride will be featured on the 2022 quarter as part of an initiative to honor trailblazing American women, the U.S. Mint announced Wednesday. Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Ride got her Ph.D. in physics at a time when just 3% of doctoral candidates in physics nationwide were women. On June 18, 1983, she became the first U.S. woman to blast into space. At only 32, she was also the youngest American astronaut of any gender. NPR | USA Today

On this week's California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Richard L. Brown, the president of California’s largest state employees’ union. Brown has argued that labor saps its negotiating power when it wades into partisan political fights. In the past, he said, SEIU Local 1000 has taken sides on matters such as border policy and police brutality. "Those are noble causes," he said. "But not for a labor union."

San Francisco said Thursday that it would lift its mask mandate in limited settings on Oct. 15. Barring a sudden surge of coronavirus cases, people will be allowed to go maskless in offices, gyms, college classes, places of worship, and other venues. Notably not included are bars and restaurants, where patrons will have to keep masking up until further notice, even though proof of vaccination is required at those venues. The reason, officials said: their clientele is more variable, and therefore riskier. S.F. Chronicle | SFist

Other Bay Area counties announced mask-easing criteria on Thursday that suggested their mandates would remain in place for months to come. KQED | Mercury News

Arcata decriminalized psychedelics Wednesday night. The fogbound home of Humboldt State University is now the third California city to allow the possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, mescaline, and other plants, following Oakland and Santa Cruz. Some state lawmakers have been making the case for decriminalizing psychedelics statewide, citing their promise in mental health therapy. Lost Coast Outpost | Eureka Times-Standard

Tesla is going to Texas. Its chief executive, Elon Musk, said Thursday that the world's most valuable automaker would move its headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin. Musk, who moved to Austin himself last year, didn't explain his reasoning, but Texas offers cheaper housing and lower taxes. Musk has also sparred bitterly with local California officials over pandemic measures. Bloomberg | A.P.

There's a California beach where you are almost as likely to see elk as people. Gold Bluffs Beach is located where Humboldt County's exquisite Fern Canyon opens up to the Pacific. Surrounded by dunes, wetlands, forest, and sea, it attracts abundant wildlife, including herds of Roosevelt elk, a majestic species that stands up to 5 feet at the shoulder. There's human habitat too: a campground of 26 sites with fire rings and tap water. The Guardian once named Gold Bluffs Beach one of the 10 best beaches along the entire West coast. 

Black balls of tar have been washing up on the beaches of San Diego County, more than 50 miles down the coast from the oil spill off Orange County. While the bits of tar were relatively small, about the size of a quarter, officials have warned that shifting currents could still push thicker parts of the miles-wide oil slick ashore, with potentially devastating effects for marine ecosystems. L.A. Times | NBC San Diego

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia on Thursday called on prosecutors to criminally charge a school safety officer who opened fire on a moving car filled with young people on Sept. 27, killing an 18-year-old woman. Police said the shooting of Manuela Rodriguez, which was caught on video, is being investigated as a possible homicide. The safety officer, Eddie Gonzalez, was fired by the school district on Wednesday. He hasn't commented publicly. Long Beach Post | A.P.

In the early 1970s, roughly 100 photographers roamed all 50 states for a groundbreaking photo project called Documerica. I combed through the digital archive's roughly 900 California images to bring you these 26 favorites. 👉 California Sun 

Kunisha Fernandez and her husband Steven Fitch gathered their four kids together one day and asked: “How would you like to live outside full-time?” Then they sold their things, traded their car for a used minivan, and set off for a new life on public land. Bay Nature

As wildfires spread across California this year, untold numbers of animals have been killed and injured. Saving them falls to people like Axel Hunnicutt, a biologist who slogs through charred landscapes with a dart gun in search of injured animals. Record-Searchlight

Deep within the Sonoran Desert is one of the poorest places in America. The photographer Daniel Skwarna declared the squatter community known as Slab City both "America the Great and the toxic end-product of American capitalism." LensCulture | Dodho

Up for grabs: A minimalist concrete home on 5 acres in Joshua Tree that was designed to fit in among the area's boulders. Described as "Neo-brutalist," it includes big windows that face the open desert. Asking: $1.75 million. The Spaces

Today's California Sun: Report finds that California vastly undercounts heat deaths, San Francisco plans to relax its mask mandate on Oct. 15, and the Humboldt County beach where majestic elk roam.

San Francisco plans to relax mask rules // Beach where majestic elk roam

The last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language dies.

L.A. adopts one of nation’s strictest vaccine mandates.

And a photographic trip back to early 1970s California. 

A CalMatters analysis found that roughly a quarter of University of California lecturers don't return each year, an unusually high rate of turnover. Labor leaders think they know why: It's cheaper to maintain a revolving door of lecturers than to grant the pay raises and job stability that come with seniority. Asked repeatedly for comment, the UC declined to respond. 

The last fluent speaker of Wukchumni is gone. 

Anxiety over California's water crisis is so acute it's fueling a market for consumer air-to-water systems that sell for up to $200,000. The units work like air conditioners, using coils to chill air, then collect water drops in a basin. A hydrologist said they may be a fine idea for individual homeowners but they are no solution to the state's droughts. “We really actually need to curb climate warming to really make a difference again,” she said. A.P.

Ruth Schwartz, 59, is a former AIDS activist and Bernie Sanders supporter. So her latest identity has been an uneasy fit: landlord advocate. It's been more than a year since Schwartz has received rent from a tenant in her Oakland home. She filed an eviction suit, but the state's eviction moratorium stalled it court. “This is the best place in the world to be who I am, and I love that there are such strong tenants’ rights,” she said. “Except in a situation like this.” S.F. Chronicle

Students at an elementary school on the outskirts of Fresno are discouraged from walking to school. It hasn't been safe since so many warehouses sprouted along neighboring streets, bringing a stream of semi trucks, the principal explained. The columnist Marek Warszawski said the school's plight is an illustration of the relationship between urban planning and inequality. "Would Fresno planners surround a school on the north side of town with warehouses and distribution centers?" he wrote. "Of course not." Fresno Bee

Lawmakers think Silicon Valley is about to face its “Big Tobacco moment.” Revelations brought to light by a Facebook whistleblower have led both political parties to unite behind sweeping proposals targeting social media companies, after years of stalled attempts. “This time feels distinctly different,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. “The public has been engaged and outraged in a very different way.” Washington Post

Forecasters said the Sierra Nevada would likely get its first significant snowfall of the season Thursday and Friday as an early winter storm sweeps into the region. Highway officials planned to close three mountain passes between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite as a precaution. Areas hit by wildfire and smoke had their fingers crossed for some relief. A.P. | SFGate.com

The U.S. Coast Guard investigated a vessel in Oakland on Wednesday in connection with the pipeline oil spill off Orange County. Global positioning data showed that a German vessel called the Rotterdam Express was anchored near the vicinity of the spill last Friday and later headed north. A final determination on the cause of the disaster could take months, but investigators appear to be zeroing in on a ship anchor as a likely cause. L.A. Times | A.P.

The ecological crisis from the pipeline spill has cast a harsh light on the combination of oil production and global shipping in the same coastal area. Unprecedented gridlock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this year has forced ships to drop massive anchors near oil platforms and undersea oil lines. "The more ships you have at anchor, the more risk there is that something could happen," one expert said. L.A. Times | Bloomberg

Los Angeles on Wednesday approved one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates, requiring proof of inoculation for everyone entering a range of indoor venues, including bars, restaurants, nail salons, gyms, or even a Lakers game. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the ordinance would save lives. Critics called it discriminatory and unenforceable. It takes effect Nov. 4. L.A. Times | LAist

A Reuters investigation revealed that AT&T played a role in creating and funding One America News, the far-right conspiracy outlet based in San Diego. Robert Herring, the OAN founder and chief executive, testified that he created the network in 2013 at the suggestion of executives at AT&T, which subsequently provided tens of millions of dollars in revenue. “They told us they wanted a conservative network. … When they said that, I jumped to it and built one,” he said. 

Today's California Sun: The last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language dies, L.A. adopts one of nation’s strictest vaccine mandates, and a photographic trip back to early 1970s California.

Last fluent speaker of Wukchumni dies // Photographic trip to 1970s California

Local officials signal readiness to ease mask mandates. 

Precious hours were lost as oil spilled off Orange County.

And a moving photo essay on dropouts of the Sonoran Desert.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday tossed out a California law banning privately owned immigration detention facilities, saying it interfered with federal powers. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law in 2019 as part of a broader campaign to limit state cooperation with the federal government on immigration enforcement. But it cannot stand, Judge Kenneth Lee wrote, because "it bars the Secretary [of Homeland Security] from doing what federal immigration law explicitly permits him or her to do.” Politico | A.P.

☝️ In this map, the orange states are all of those to which California now prohibits state-funded travel. Since 2016, when California lawmakers restricted travel to states deemed discriminatory to LGBT people, the number of targeted states has ballooned to 18, encompassing an area home to more than a third of the nation's population. According to a Sacramento Bee analysis, all of the states on the travel ban list supported Donald Trump in 2020.

Since adopting a Covid-19 vaccine mandate on Aug. 2, the inoculation rate of Kaiser Permanente's workforce has risen from 78% to more than 92%. But more than 2,200 workers have remained defiant. On Tuesday, the Oakland-based health system said all of those workers had been suspended. They now have until Dec. 1 to get in line or be fired. Similar showdowns are unfolding at medical facilities across California. Mercury News | Sacramento Bee

Officials in the Bay Area and Los Angeles signaled a readiness to end their mask mandates. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday that, as infections rates fall, "it doesn’t necessarily make sense to keep that mask mandate everywhere." In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed, who was photographed partying maskless at a nightclub in September, said she was hopeful that mask rules will be relaxed soon. "I think it’s overdue." S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Daily News

On Feb. 10, Juliana Ramos, a 26-year-old nurse and mother of three, pulled over along Highway 99 outside Fresno to help a crash victim. As she ran out, a passing SUV fatally struck her. The driver briefly stopped, but then sped away without rendering aid. After an agonizing eight months, the authorities on Monday arrested a suspect: a 68-year-old cardiologist from Sonora named James Comazzi. KFSN | Fresno Bee

A Sonoma County surfer bit by a shark over the weekend recounted the attack from his hospital bed on Tuesday. Eric Steinley was waiting for a wave when the shark lunged from below, chomping down on him as many as three times. Steinley managed to wrestle away and paddle to shore, where other surfers quickly used a surfboard leash as a tourniquet on his badly injured leg and summoned help. He was lucky to survive. “I want to make sure everyone knows how thankful I am,” he said. Press Democrat

Today's California Sun: Local officials signal readiness to ease mask mandates, precious hours were lost as oil spilled off Orange County, and a moving photo essay on dropouts of the Sonoran Desert.

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