Good morning. It's Friday, Sept. 20.
Today's edition: 14 items, < 6 minutes

Four automakers stick by California in emissions standoff.

Sinking delta poses the risk of a "Katrina on steroids." 

And the best hikes in all nine California National Parks.

A federal judge in Sacramento granted the Trump campaign's request to block a California law that requires presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns to run in the state's 2020 primaries. While the law applies to all presidential candidates, the judge said it was plainly targeted at one in particular. "The elephant in the room is President Trump's tax returns — that's what this is about," he said. "But it does have implications that are far-reaching." Politico | L.A. Times

Four of the world's largest automakers — Ford, Honda, BMW, and Volkswagen — are sticking with an agreement to meet California's auto emissions targets, even after the Trump administration revoked the state's authority to set its own standards. The U.S. Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into the companies over the deal. Sacramento Bee

A new state bill could subvert relaxed emission rules: It would require automakers to meet California's mileage standards if they want to be eligible for rebates. S.F. Chronicle | CALmatters

On this week's California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with author and innovation consultant Jonathan Littman about how the traffic app Waze is clogging city neighborhoods. "It's pretty clear to see," Littman said, "if everyone takes the same shortcut, it's not only not a shortcut, it's probably longer." California Sun Podcast

Waze transformed peaceful L.A. neighborhoods into exhaust-fumed gridlock. Residents are not happy about it. LA Magazine

Ghost towns, high mountain passes, sweeping views of the Pacific, and the largest intact grove of giant sequoias in the world. Outside magazine consulted experts to name the best hike in every National Park, of which California has more than any state. Outside magazine

TIME magazine's latest cover story chronicles how the San Francisco company Juul hooked kids on vaping: "To a remarkable degree, a single company is front and center in one of the biggest public-health crises facing the country: the sharp rise in vaping among teenagers and young adults." TIME magazine

Another view: "Never before has a boon to public health been met with such hysteria and ingratitude." Politico Magazine

In parts of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, the land has sunk 25 feet since the late 1800s. The phenomenon — known as subsidence — means aging dirt levees are doing more work than ever to keep water back. A breach could leave huge swaths of California without usable water for months, even years. "It's Katrina on steroids," a biometeorologist said. "We're a $4 trillion economy. Think of shutting down water for 30 million Californians." Bay Nature magazine

A private security manager providing bodyguards to tech elites got a concealed weapon permit after he made a $45,000 campaign donation to Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, records showed. The S.F. Chronicle also identified nine other individuals who contributed to Smith's campaign, then were later issued coveted permits. A corruption investigation is ongoing. S.F. Chronicle

Mammoth Lakes got its first snow of the season on Thursday, a reminder that the Eastern Sierra ski season is only seven weeks away. The Lake Tahoe area got its first snowfall on Monday, with six days still left in summer. L.A. Times | KTLA

Here are a couple collections of photos from Mammoth. Instagram | NBC Los Angeles

Homeless men in desperate circumstances had a nickname for the wealthy West Hollywood political activist accused of operating a drug den: "Dr. Kevorkian." In a federal complaint, 10 men told investigators that Ed Buck, 65, paid them to use drugs and dress up in skimpy underwear. Several claimed they lost consciousness after Buck served them a drink. Some said they woke up to find him injecting drugs into their arms. L.A. Times | A.P.

Democratic presidential candidates have been flocking to meet Ady Barkan, a "Medicare for all" activist from Santa Barbara who is dying of A.L.S. but still campaigning. "That's the paradox of my situation," he said. "As my voice has gotten weaker, more people have heard my message. As I lost the ability to walk, more people have followed in my footsteps." N.Y. Times

If you've heard that homicides have been on the decline in Los Angeles, that's true overall — but not for women. Since 2016, the number of female victims has been increasing. Last year, 114 women were killed in Los Angeles County, the most since 2010. In nearly half of the cases, the accused killers were former or current intimate partners. L.A. Times

Bon Appétit Magazine named the 10 best new restaurants in America. No. 1 is Konbi, a tiny sandwich shop in Los Angeles's Echo Park neighborhood. The 10-seat space is an ode to Japan's 24-hour convenience stores, and it makes a chocolate croissant, the magazine wrote, "worth planning your entire morning around." Bon Appétit | L.A. Magazine

"The fast-food diner is L.A.'s true regional specialty restaurant, and it's all thanks to pastrami." Eater LA

 Before Bernie Sanders, there was Upton Sinclair. It was on this day in 1878 that the author, champion of the underdog, and socialist candidate for California governor was born.

Sinclair is best remembered for his 1906 book "The Jungle," which exposed the grotesque conditions endured by both workers and livestock in Chicago's meatpacking industry. It sold millions of copies, stirring the country. President Theodore Roosevelt called on the 27-year-old Sinclair to give him a firsthand account, culminating in a pure-food statute that led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.

Sinclair kept up pressure for reforms, annoying Roosevelt, who wrote a note to his publisher: "Tell Sinclair to go home and let me run the country for a while."

But Sinclair, a mild-mannered man who stood 5'7", was only getting started. In more than 90 books and thousands of speeches over the next six decades, he championed strong trade unions, birth control, an honest press, vegetarianism, education reform, and other causes.

Along the way he collected a Pulitzer Prize, fictionalized the Southern California oil boom in a book that inspired the film "There Will Be Blood," and uttered his immortal aphorism: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

In 1923, Sinclair was arrested during a pro-labor rally in San Pedro after he began to read from the Bill of Rights. "We'll have none of that Constitution stuff," the arresting officer remarked.

During the Depression, Sinclair ran for governor as a Democrat under the End Poverty in California banner. Of the state's 7 million inhabitants, a million were out of work. Sinclair appeared poised to handily beat the incumbent Republican Gov. Frank E. Merriam. But Hollywood and the state's leading newspapers mounted an astonishing smear campaign.

 "The prospect of a socialist governing the nation's most volatile state sparked nothing less than a revolution in American politics," wrote Greg Mitchell, author of "The Campaign of the Century." Sinclair's foes, Mitchell added, "virtually invented the modern media campaign."

Sinclair lost. But his campaign changed the Democratic Party. Sinclairites were elected in Sacramento and Washington, where they fought for civil rights legislation and labor reforms. The California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk later called Sinclair "the acorn from which evolved the tree of whatever liberalism we have in California."

Toward the end of his life, Sinclair summed up his work this way: "The English Queen Mary, who failed to hold the French port of Calais, said that when she died the word 'Calais' would be found written on her heart. I don't know whether anyone will care to examine my heart, but if they do they will find two words there — 'Social Justice.' For that is what I have believed in and fought for." N.Y. Times | L.A. Times

Five items that got big views over the past couple weeks:

In 1983, photographer Michael Jang was hired to take photos of wannabe weather presenters in San Francisco. Then he forgot about it. Decades later he stumbled across his old negatives. Flashbak | VICE

California has among the longest and most diverse seasons for fall foliage. Here are 5 of the best places to bask in the colors. California Sun

One of La Jolla's most celebrated homes, the modernist Razor House, was snapped up by singer Alicia Keys for $20.8 million. The views are ridiculous. Architectural Digest | S.D. Union-Tribune

In San Francisco, urban staircases abound — and many double as works of art. Curbed San Francisco put together a great photographic tour of its 12 favorites. Curbed San Francisco

Where is the best U.S. city to live based on salary and cost of living? An economist crunched the data. In the top 10: Visalia and Modesto. In the bottom 10: Oxnard and Vallejo. CityLab | Indeed Hiring Lab

Today's California Sun: Four automakers stick by California in emissions standoff, sinking delta poses the risk of a "Katrina on steroids," and the best hikes in all nine California National Parks.

Automakers stick by California // Best hikes in every National Park

Good morning. It's Thursday, Sept. 19.
Today's edition: 13 items, < 4 minutes

Anti-vaxxers liken themselves to civil rights activists.

Trump says San Francisco to get violation over needles.

And a mind-bending spectacle in Paso Robles wine country.

White women sing "We Shall Overcome." They wear T-shirts that read "Freedom Keepers" and march through the Capitol corridors chanting phrases like "no segregation" and "no discrimination."

But they aren't protesting over racial bias. They are California's anti-vaccine protesters, and they insist that their struggle is akin to that faced by African Americans in the 1960s. Politico

Officials across the state are grasping for solutions to the homelessness crisis. The latest:

Los Angeles County supervisors plan to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that has allowed homeless people to sleep overnight on sidewalks. "I'm simply fed up," a supervisor said. Curbed Los Angeles | L.A. Times

Frustrated by drug use on the streets, Kern County leaders have devised a new policy: Stricter punishments for low-level crimes. "Our citizens are done," the sheriff said. "They're through." Bakersfield Californian

"Our folks are being assaulted." After a series of attacks by homeless people, a labor union called on the state to distribute pepper spray to its groundskeepers. Sacramento Bee | KCRA

On Wednesday, President Trump announced the rescinding of California's authority to set its own emissions standards. Why was the exemption allowed in the first place? The 1970 Clean Air Act was crafted to promote uniform standards. But California had already been developing laws to address its suffocating levels of smog and argued with bipartisan solidarity for a waiver. Over the objections of the auto industry, Congress granted it. Today, state officials remain as resolute as ever about the need for regulatory independence. Stanford West Center | The Conversation

Smog was once so bad in Los Angeles that people suspected a gas attack. Here are 15 photos recalling the "beast you couldn't stab." California Sun

Janet Napolitano announced she would resign as president of the University of California on Aug. 1, 2020. Over the last six years, Napolitano led efforts to expand student access and diversity, but also faced criticism over her office's financial management. She said the time felt right to step aside. "I think the university will benefit from some fresh blood," she said. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.

President Trump polished off his West Coast fundraising swing with one last attack against San Francisco, saying he would sic the EPA on the city for polluting the ocean with used needles. "We can't have our cities going to hell," he said. Mayor London Breed called the comments "ridiculous." S.F. Chronicle | N.Y. Times

In Mendocino County, Native Americans regularly risk fines and jail fines for what they call "guerilla gathering," harvesting mollusks, seaweed, shells, and other prohibited items. But they say breaking California laws is preferable to the alternative: losing a connection to the land that dates back for millennia. High Country News

"California Indian history didn't end with the Gold Rush. It's still in progress." KCET

Several Bay Area cities are following in San Francisco's footsteps and outlawing e-cigarette sales. "This is not just crazy San Francisco saying that e-cigarettes are bad for folks, particularly bad for our young people," a San Francisco supervisor said. Juul said it would consider legal action. "Prohibition does not work," a spokesman said. Politico 

The San Francisco Public Library has eliminated overdue fines for all library patrons. It's the latest to join a "fine-free movement" that has already won converts in Oakland, Berkeley, San Diego, and other places across California. Research has shown that library fines disproportionately harm low-income patrons and don't appear to alter the rate of returned items anyway. KQED | NBC Bay Area

Pro tip: Your San Francisco Public Library card gets you free passes to more than a dozen Bay Area museums and attractions.

Northern California's American River poses a triple threat of natural beauty: crystal clear water, brightly colored flora, and forested canyon walls that soar more than 2,000 feet overhead. Three forks course through the Sierra, offering some of the West's busiest rapids, then join at the main stem east of Sacramento. Flowing gently through the capital, it serves as one of the country's most-used urban recreational waterways. For all those reasons, wrote nature writer Tim Palmer, the American "is California's quintessential river." TheAmericanRiver.com | VisitCalifornia.com

Here are California's eight most enchanting rivers. California Sun

On June 21, 2018, Tristan Beaudette was fatally shot in the head as he slept in a tent next to his two daughters, ages 2 and 4, at Malibu Creek State Park. It was later revealed that someone had been opening fire on campsites and cars in the area for years — yet the public was never warned. "In my opinion," a sheriff's deputy said, "you had state parks trying to keep the park system clean and not reporting things." Now several state agencies are facing a $90 million lawsuit by Beaudette's widow. Outside magazine

In an unprecedented lawsuit, eight Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said the department's East L.A. station was menaced by a secret clique known as the Banditos, comprised of predominantly Latino deputies who wear tattoos of a skeleton with a sombrero. The lawsuit accuses the Banditos of refusing to provide backup to disfavored deputies, encouraging the planting of evidence, and violently attacking two fellow deputies. LAist | KABC

California is rife with roadside spectacles, wrote the N.Y. Times. "But there is nothing quite like the mind-bending spectacle now on display at dusk in the hills of Paso Robles." Since it opened in May, the "earthbound aurora borealis" known as Sensorio has drawn thousands of tourists and become an Instagram phenomenon. (I went. Believe the hype.) N.Y. Times | L.A. Times

This Airbnb in Paso Robles is a working alpaca farm — and it's only $74 a night. Country Living

Here's a prison in the middle of nowhere. The image was captured as part of a photography project by Noritaka Minami on one of California's most peculiar cities. Founded in the Southern California desert in the 1950s, California City was meant to rival Los Angeles. All that remains today is little more than a sprawling grid of emptiness. WIRED | NoritakaMinami.com

Today's California Sun: Anti-vaxxers liken themselves to civil rights activists, Trump says San Francisco to get violation over needles, and a mind-bending spectacle in Paso Robles wine country.

Anti-vaxxers as civil rights activists // Mind-bending spectacle in Paso Robles

Good morning. It's Wednesday, Sept. 18.
Today's edition: 15 items, < 6 minutes

Navy says unidentified flying object videos are real.

Sale of giant sequoia forest guarantees preservation.

And San Jose to be the biggest city to swear off natural gas.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration plans to formally revoke California's authority to set auto emissions standards stricter than those of the federal government. As the administration has sought to relax federal tailpipe rules, it's been frustrated by California's outsize influence over the automaking industry. "We embrace federalism and the role of the states," EPA chief Andrew Wheeler said, "but federalism does not mean that one state can dictate standards for the nation."

California vowed to fight the change all the way to the Supreme Court. "California won't ever wait for permission from Washington to protect the health and safety of children and families," Gov. Gavin Newsom said. A.P. | N.Y. Times

President Trump arrived in California on Tuesday with fresh criticism of the state's homelessness crisis. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, he said, people are living on the "best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings ... where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige." 

He added: "The people of San Francisco are fed up and the people of Los Angeles are fed up, and we're looking at it and we will be doing something about it at the appropriate time." No specifics were offered. Washington Post | L.A. Times

Trump attended a fundraiser at the Portola Valley compound of Scott McNealy, among the few tech titans to have consistently supported the president. The Baby Trump balloon made an appearance. SFist | Mercury News

A White House report contended that San Francisco and Los Angeles could cut homelessness by at least 40 percent simply by relaxing building regulations. Sacramento Bee | USA Today

Trump attended a fundraiser at the  Beverly Hills mansion of developer Geoffrey Palmer. "We will never be a socialist country," he was reported to tell the gathering. L.A. Times

The California lawmaker behind an industry-backed bill to weaken the state's landmark privacy law is married to a top executive at Ring, a doorbell surveillance company that collects vast amounts of consumer data. Asked by Politico about the apparent conflict of interest, Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin called the line of questioning offensive. Politico | The Week

The University of California announced that it would dump fossil fuel investments from its nearly $84 billion pension and endowment funds. In an opinion article, university officials called fossil fuel assets "a financial risk." But students and environmentalists had campaigned for the change as a climate imperative. "The real power from the divestment movement comes from standing up and saying the fossil fuel era needs to come to an end," a U.C. professor said. CALmatters | S.D. Union-Tribune

San Jose is poised to become the largest U.S. city to ban natural gas from many new homes, as the City Council approved a proposal to create the ordinance. State and local officials have increasingly embraced the move away from natural gas as good for the planet. Buildings emit about a quarter of greenhouse gases in California. Mercury News | Reuters 

Long read: On Sept. 8, 2018, Karen Navarra was at her San Jose home when her heart rate spiked then plummeted. She had been brutally murdered. But there were no witnesses — except for her Fitbit. Surveillance footage showed that a gray car was parked in the driveway at the time of her death. It belonged to Tony Aiello, Navarra's 90-year-old stepfather. He told police he had brought Navarra biscotti and pizza. "She was alive when I left," he said.

But the police believe the evidence points to Aiello. Their confidence is rivaled only by the family's ardent faith that he's innocent. WIRED

A family in the Sierra Nevada foothill town of Sonora left their front door open to let in some cool air. Next thing they knew they had a mountain lion lying on their bathroom floor. Sheriff's deputies were able to coax the wild animal out the bathroom window. "He did get a stern warning about the break-in before being released," the sheriff's office said. Modesto Bee | A.P.

A federal appeals court this month dismissed a lawsuit against three Fresno police officers accused of stealing more than $225,000 while conducting a search warrant. The raid was part of a gambling investigation, but the two targeted men were charged with no crimes. Yet the police kept the money. The judges' reasoning? The officers enjoy legal immunity. Forbes | Law & Crime

The world's largest privately owned giant sequoia forest is being sold for $15 million to the Save the Redwoods League. The 530-acre property in the Sierra east of Tulare, known as the Alder Creek, is roughly the same size as Muir Woods National Monument, and includes the 3,000-year-old Stagg Tree — the fifth-largest tree in the world. It will eventually be turned over to the U.S. Forest Service and opened to the public. Bay Nature | Mercury News

Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor from West Hollywood, was accused by prosecutors of being a violent sexual predator who preyed on men struggling with addiction and homelessness. He was arrested on Tuesday and charged with operating a drug house. In 2017 and last January, Buck provided the meth that killed two men who were found in his apartment, prosecutors said. Hollywood Reporter | L.A. Times

Homeless advocates tried twice to get permission to use the vacant Hawthorne Federal Building outside Los Angeles, and were rebuffed. Now the White House is eyeing the facility to house residents from Skid Row, where up to 11,000 people live on the streets. The Late Modernist building, designed by the architect Cesár Pelli, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. CityLab | L.A. Times 

The Navy acknowledged for the first time that flying objects recorded by its pilots off the coast of San Diego in 2004 and in Atlantic waters in 2015 were real — and unidentified. A military spokesman said the Navy had made no conclusions about the objects that moved at hypersonic speeds with no distinct wings. Advocates of research into U.F.O.s have been enthralled by the mystery. S.D. Union-Tribune | Gizmodo

This is San Diego. Spread across nearly two square miles, the city's Balboa Park is a botanical wonderland of themed gardens, including the Desert Garden, pictured above. But the park is more than plants and trees, the L.A. Times once wrote. With a renowned zoo, 17 museums and cultural institutions, and 10 performance spaces, "It is San Diego's heart and soul." BalboaPark.org | The Republic

Anti-Chinese sentiment so pervaded early California that even the wives of American soldiers were not spared. 

If New York's Ellis Island became a symbol of new beginnings for immigrants, the San Francisco Bay's Angel Island was a gauntlet designed to keep Asians out. White immigrants were separated from Asians. While most newcomers faced only a few hours of routine checks, Chinese immigrants endured grueling interrogations and were held in bleak dormitories for weeks or longer.

Among them was Leong Bick Ha, the wife of a former U.S. Army sergeant who had secured the right to bring her to America under the War Brides Act. Yet she was separated from her 15-year-old son and detained for three months only to be told that her marriage could not be confirmed.

It was then, on this week in 1948, that Leong hanged herself from a shower pipe at 630 Sansome Street in downtown San Francisco, which served as a makeshift detention quarters after a fire burned the facility at Angel Island.

The story of her death prompted furious coverage in the Chinese-language press and led to a hunger strike by more than 100 women detained at Sansome Street.

The U.S. attorney general publicly condemned the treatment of the war brides in San Francisco, saying the immigration service had "surreptitiously reestablished a barbaric practice."

After years of public pressure, the Sansome center was shuttered in 1954. From then on, facilities were placed in out-of-the-way places, according to one INS official, to insulate them from scrutiny. 

Today, 630 Sansome St. lives on as a federal building, with I.C.E. offices and a bustling immigration courtroom. Protesters commonly gather outside its doors with placards condemning the policy of family separation, a reminder of how anxieties have shifted from western shores to the southern border. Smithsonian | Topic

"For what reason must I sit in jail? / It is only because my country is weak and / my family poor"

Angel Island now hosts a museum, where you can see poems by Chinese immigrants carved into the walls. New Yorker | Parks.ca.gov

Today's California Sun: Navy says unidentified flying object videos are real, sale of giant sequoia forest guarantees preservation, and San Jose to be the biggest city to swear off natural gas.

Flying objects baffle Navy // San Jose swears off natural gas

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Sept. 17.
Today's edition: 14 items, < 5 minutes

Border patrol agents grow overwhelmed and bitter.

Trump makes a fundraising swing through California.

And the five best places to bask in the colors of fall.

President Trump is making a fundraising swing through California today, with stops expected in San Diego, Los Angeles and — for the first time in his presidency — the Bay Area. But details of the itinerary have been kept tightly under wraps. Past visits to California have been disrupted by chaotic protests. The Guardian | Mercury News

Trump has focused lately on homelessness in California, a problem he attributed to "the far left's destructive agenda." In a letter, Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded for more housing vouchers: "Mr. President, shelter solves sleep, but only housing solves homelessness." A.P. | Politico

In a pair of deep dives, the Washington Post explored Sen. Kamala Harris's four years at Howard University and the N.Y. Times examined her bruising campaign for San Francisco district attorney.

"Harris threw herself into a world of black abundance, into a place where there was a constant drumbeat of exceptionalism. Alumni boast about a Howard swagger. They see it in Harris now." Washington Post

"In a party weighing how best to counter President Trump's boundless capacity for brawling, Ms. Harris is the one who knows how to hit hardest, friends say, because that is how you win in San Francisco." N.Y. Times

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he'd veto a bill that would have essentially negated every environmental rule proposed by President Trump. In doing so, Newsom is siding with Republican-leaning farmers and water agencies while opposing Democratic leaders and environmentalists. Why would he do that? Although Newsom didn't mention it in his veto statement, the measure posed a mortal threat to talks over California's longstanding water wars. CALmatters | Sacramento Bee

Newsom announced plans to crack down on illicit e-cigarettes and launch a $20 million awareness campaign about the dangers of vaping amid an outbreak of lung illnesses. "It's really unconscionable," he said, "folks that are producing those products, they sleep at night knowing what they're doing to destroy the health of a generation." S.F. Chronicle | KQED

Hours after the announcement, health officials said an adult from Tulare County had died from complications related to the use of e-cigarettes. Visalia Times Delta | A.P.

One of the biggest problems facing California's bullet train project: mismanagement of land acquisition. Seven years after its land-buying program began, the project has yet to acquire hundreds of parcels. At the same time, it's gathered up surplus acreage that serves no purpose. "The authority is as broken as it ever has been," one manager said. "The top officials just bark orders, but nobody follows orders here. Nothing is working.” L.A. Times

A photo of the first official leaf of autumn has been posted to California Fall Color, a website that collects reports from more than 100 volunteer "color spotters" across the state. It came from the Virginia Lakes area of the Eastern Sierra, where the aspen groves are just now starting to turn. 

Reached by the Sun, fall foliage connoisseur John Poimiroo said the copious winter rain augured well for a colorful fall, but he also noted the unusually dry summer months. His best guess? "I think it will be a pretty typical autumn," he said. In other words: a symphony of colors as dazzling and diverse as any place in the country. California Fall Color

Here are the five best places to bask in California's fall colors. California Sun

"By referring to Mr. Unsworth as 'pedo guy,' I did not intend to convey any facts or imply that Mr. Unsworth had engaged in acts of pedophilia. Pedo guy was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up."

— Elon Musk in a court filing after he was sued for defamation by the British caver Vernon Unsworth L.A. Times | Reuters

Also, Musk paid $50,000 to dig up dirt on Unsworth. Buzzfeed News

Prosecutors in Santa Clara County have served at least three search warrants as part of an investigation into whether Sheriff Laurie Smith's office gave out coveted concealed-gun permits in exchange for campaign money, sources told the S.F. Chronicle. Among those contacted by investigators: AS Solution, a security company whose bodyguards protect Silicon Valley tech executives. S.F. Chronicle

A Marin County man was arrested after his 11-year-old son died on a family boating trip in the San Francisco Bay, the authorities said. Javier A. Burillo, 57, was driving the boat with his two sons when they were believed to hit a wave, tossing them overboard, investigators said. Burillo, who is a member of one of Mexico's wealthiest families, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with a vessel, willful harm or injury to a child, and operating a boat while under the influence. Marin Independent Journal | A.P.

San Francisco has by far the highest property crime rate in California, with more than twice the number of reported thefts per capita as Los Angeles, a new report found. Records showed that San Francisco averaged a staggering 5,844 property crimes per 100,000 residents per year from 2014 to 2016. Yet the county ranks near the bottom for arrests. Police blamed a "revolving door" at the jails. S.F. Chronicle

Administrators are investigating claims that students were subjected to racist taunts including the "n-word" during a football game at San Clemente High School in Orange County. Cheerleaders from Lincoln High of San Diego were told they should be on leashes, the Lincoln coach said. San Clemente's enrollment is mostly white. Lincoln's is mostly black and Hispanic. S.D. Union-Tribune | KPBS

"To have gone from where people didn't know much about us to where people actively hate us, it's difficult. There's no doubt morale has been poor in the past, and it's abysmal now. I know a lot of guys just want to leave."

The N.Y. Times interviewed 25 current and former border agents along the southern border. They described a force that's grown defensive, insular, and bitter. N.Y. Times

In 2018, a Cal Poly psychology lecturer caught a colleague, a tenured professor, sliding his phone between her legs and snapping pictures. She reported the violation to campus police, and on Monday the professor, Jason Alan Williams, entered a plea of no contest. Yet, more than 16 months after the incident, he remains on the university payroll. The Tribune

Here's Ellen O'Neal, known as the "godmother of skating." In the 1970s, as the Z-Boys of Dogtown were getting most of the media attention, a small group of female skaters were collecting sponsorships and trophies with a style defined by graceful moves and long hair that spun wildly as they twirled. Born and raised in San Diego, O'Neal was among the best of any gender. When she entered her first competition at age 16, she found herself the only female out of 60 competitors. She took second place. Skate Boarding Hall of Fame | Vintage Everyday

Today's California Sun: Border patrol agents grow overwhelmed and bitter, Trump makes a fundraising swing through California, and the best places to bask in the colors of fall.

Border patrol's morale crisis // 5 best fall destinations

Good morning. It's Thursday, Sept. 12.
Today's edition: 16 items, < 5 minutes

Fire experts say forest thinning is wasted effort.

Photos from a TV audition in 1980s San Francisco.

Scheduling note: The newsletter will pause Friday and Monday while I'm away at a journalism conference. Back on Tuesday.

Moments after California's Legislature gave final approval to a landmark measure regulating the gig economy, Uber declared that it would not reclassify its drivers as employees. That's because, an Uber lawyer explained, drivers aren't core to the company's business, "which is serving as a technology platform for several different types of digital marketplaces." Even so, Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash said they would spend $90 million working to undo the law. The Verge | N.Y. Times


The bill will also impact janitors, truckers, translators, adult performers, and more. Unions hope to organize the newly minted employees. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle

A statewide measure capping annual rent increases at 5 percent plus inflation moved to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. "They sent me the strongest package in America," he said. A.P. | Sacramento Bee

The NCAA warned Newsom not to sign a bill that would let college athletes profit from endorsements. If he does, California schools could be banned from NCAA competitions because of their "unfair recruiting advantage." L.A. Times | A.P.

The California Senate approved a measure imposing a three-year moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in law enforcement body cameras. Civil rights advocates say the tech isn't yet reliable. WIRED | Washington Post

Also advanced were measures that would bar landlords from refusing low-income renters, outlaw the sale of new fur products, and forbid circuses from using exotic animals.

When it was reported in July that California's top insurance regulator, Ricardo Lara, accepted tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the industry, he said it was unintentional. Now records show he knew it was industry money, and photos show him partying with a lobbyist before his inauguration. Lara's communications team called the Sacramento Bee "TMZ" when its reporters asked questions about it. Sacramento Bee

California is spending $32 million on forest thinning projects to prevent wildfires. But the state's hot, dry winds carry wildfires over fuel breaks with ease. Some experts say the money would be better spent on fire-proofing homes. "Time and time again in my research," a scientist said, "I find that fuel is one of the least important factors when it comes to protecting the home." L.A. Times

"This is a worst-possible wildfire scenario for Southern California." Vox

California's Supreme Court refused to block death penalty cases despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's moratorium on capital punishment. Two inmates had argued that jurors might be swayed if they believe a death penalty won't be carried out. California prosecutors, many of them fiercely opposed to the moratorium, have continued to vigorously pursue death penalty cases. Mercury News | A.P.

Sales of new electric vehicles in California shot up 64 percent in the first half of the year. But that doesn't necessarily herald the dawn of the electric car age. Pure electric cars still only total 5.5 percent of California car sales. And consumers are largely interested in just one brand. Electric car buyers "don't seem to be [electric vehicle] fans," an analyst said, "they seem to be Tesla fans.” L.A. Times

In a recent publisher's note, the leader of Humboldt County’s newspaper of record declared, "Culture change is hard and necessary ... and we're just fine." But laid-off reporters from the Eureka Times-Standard say the newspaper has been cut to the bone — then cut again. With just two news reporters now on staff, they wonder if it can survive in a meaningful way. Lost Coast Outpost

Report: 33,000 newspaper newsroom jobs were lost between 2008 and 2018. Pew Research Center

The Trump administration said it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, delivering a blow to industry leader Juul. But the $38 billion San Francisco company, perhaps chastened by a drumbeat of negative coverage, isn't pushing back. "Flavors today are problematic," the company's CEO told the S.F. Chronicle’s editorial board. S.F. Chronicle | Politico

Inhalation toxicologist: Vaping likely has dangers that could take years for scientists to even know about. The Conversation

Aaron Persky, the former judge who was ousted for his lenient sentencing of a former Stanford swimmer in a sexual assault case, has now been fired from his new job as a Bay Area high school tennis coach. The school district, which was initially unaware of his role in the case, said the move was in the "best interest" of students. Mercury News | SFGate.com

In Santa Rosa on Monday, an 18-year-old FaceTiming while driving slammed into a pedestrian, leaving her with serious head injuries. A day later in the same city, a 39-year-old motorist dropped his cellphone, leaned over to pick it up, and swerved into a parked pickup truck, flipping his car. "These accidents happen daily throughout California and the country," a Santa Rosa police sergeant said. Press Democrat

In 1983, photographer Michael Jang was hired to take photos of wannabe weather presenters who replied to a job posting from a San Francisco TV station. Then he forgot about it. Decades later he stumbled across his old negatives. The photos, curated in a volume titled "Summer Weather," are a delightful portal to the style and sass of 1980s San Francisco. Flashbak | VICE

A team of Trump administration officials toured a California facility once used by the Federal Aviation Administration located in or near Los Angeles as a potential site to relocate homeless people, sources told the Washington Post. Trump has asked aides to figure out "how the hell we can get these people off the streets," an administration official said. Washington Post

Jarrid Wilson, a Riverside megachurch pastor who helped found a group to help people coping with depression, took his own life. He was 30. He is survived by his wife Juli and two young sons. "At a time like this, there are just no words," a church official wrote in an Instagram post. "The Bible says, 'There is a time to mourn.' This is certainly that time." A.P. | Press-Enterprise

"For a long time, there were two big knocks against solar power: It's expensive, and it can't keep the lights on after sundown." That reality has changed. This week, Los Angeles approved a contract for the cheapest solar power and energy storage in the U.S.: 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, cheaper than electricity from natural gas. L.A. Times

UCLA is the nation's No. 1 public university. That's according to two prestigious rankings released this month, from U.S. News & World Report and the Wall Street Journal. University of California campuses dominated both lists, with San Diego and Berkeley in the top 10 on each. Sacramento Bee | O.C. Register

Architectural Digest called UCLA's William Andrews Clark Memorial Library one of the world's most stunning university libraries. Architectural Digest

Here's Alice Stebbins Wells. It was on this day in 1910, historians say, that she joined the Los Angeles Police Department as the nation's first policewoman with arrest powers (though there's some debate). 

Until then, police forces had employed women as "matrons" or "workers" largely for the care of female prisoners. Wells, a Pentecostal minister from the Midwest, got the officer job after lobbying for a city ordinance that created the position. Her first assignment: keeping an eye on juveniles at dance halls and skating rinks. Newspaper reporters largely regarded her as a joke — the L.A. Times called her "Officerette Wells" — but they also described her as stern and capable.

Even as other female police officers followed in her wake, discrimination remained rampant in the force for decades. As late as the 1970s, Police Chief Ed Davis declared women officers unnecessary, saying he'd hire one when the L.A. Rams hired a female linebacker. But barriers to women in the department fell one by one, with the first female lieutenant in 1975, the first female captain in 1980, and the first female commander in 1997. As yet, no woman has led the LAPD, but in 2017 there were a record seven female police chiefs across the county. Los Angeles Almanac | Daily Mirror

Today's California Sun: Fire experts say forest thinning is wasted effort, UCLA is named the nation's No. 1 public university, and photos from a TV audition in 1980s San Francisco.

Case against forrest thinning // 1983 San Francisco portraits

Good morning. It's Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Today's edition: 14 items, < 5 minutes

Trump pushes crackdown on homelessness in California.

Church leaders are accused of forcing people to panhandle.

And Alicia Keys snaps up a modernist gem in La Jolla.

The California Senate approved a landmark bill that requires companies like Uber and Lyft to treat contract workers as employees. An expert said the measure would "implode the gig economy as we know it today." But Democrats said tech companies had been exploiting workers for years. "There is nothing innovative about underpaying someone for their labor," one lawmaker said. The bill now goes to the Assembly, then to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has indicated he'll sign it. N.Y. Times | USA Today

After intense lobbying, lawmakers carved out a one-year exception for newspaper delivery drivers. L.A. Times

Other legislative moves from the Capitol:

The California Senate voted to cap annual rent increases at 5 percent plus inflation for the next decade. Supporters say relief is needed because of the housing crisis. Opponents say it will stymie construction. A.P. | Curbed Los Angeles

A lawmaker dropped a bill that would do away with the practice of twice-yearly clock changes. Many Californians like the idea, but the logistics are complicated. S.F. Chronicle | Sacramento Bee

President Trump directed White House officials to launch a sweeping effort to address homelessness in California, sources told the Washington Post. Among the options discussed: demolishing encampments and moving homeless people into new government-backed facilities. Local and state officials reacted warily. "This isn't a problem that the president can redirect with a Sharpie pen," San Jose's mayor said. Washington Post | Politico

A team of White House officials was in Los Angeles on Tuesday on what was described as a fact-finding mission. L.A. Times | A.P.

Newly released data showed that California's poverty rate, at 18.2 percent, remained among the highest in the nation. Sacramento Bee

California's health care services director resigned Tuesday. No explanation was offered, but Jennifer Kent made the announcement a day after she criticized vaccine bill opponents on Facebook: "The Capitol is filled with a bunch of flat-earthers today," she wrote. "My poor sweet Bacteria Bear is dripping with unvaccinated booger-eater germs." The "bear" refers to a statue outside the governor's office. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle

Falling crime rates have reduced the number of arrests being made in California. But so have reforms to the criminal justice system. An analysis found that two reform measures in the last decade — Proposition 47, which reduced nonviolent felonies to misdemeanors, and AB109, which thinned overcrowded prisons — combined to lower the overall arrest rate by nearly 20 percent. S.F. Chronicle

The number of new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco has dropped to a record low, even as cases spiked among the homeless and people of color. Medical experts cited "structural racism" and the difficulty of getting homeless people to take medicine. "All of these barriers to taking your medication every day are amplified a hundredfold if you don't have a home," a doctor said. S.F. Chronicle | S.F. Examiner

Apple announced a bunch of new products. Among them:

The new iPhone 11 comes in six new colors and has a second camera lens with a wider angle. Starting price: $699. BuzzFeed | The Verge

The Apple TV+ streaming TV service will debut Nov. 1 and charge $4.99 a month, undercutting rivals Netflix and Disney. recode | Hollywood Reporter

"It blows me away how it all came perfectly together."

A family trapped atop an isolated 40-foot waterfall in the Arroyo Seco area east of Big Sur were desperate to be rescued. So they stuffed an SOS message into a Nalgene bottle and tossed it over the falls. Miraculously, within hours two hikers spotted the bottle and notified authorities. Under dark of night, a rescue helicopter with night vision goggles spotted the stranded trio. There was a lot of hugging and crying. Washington Post | CNN

More than 1,200 flights have been cancelled or delayed at San Francisco International Airport in less than four days, thanks to the closure of the busiest runway for repairs — and the fixes are expected to take until Sept. 27. The majority of disrupted flights have been within California, meaning delays are spilling over to airports across the state. SFGate.com | S.F. Chronicle

A dozen leaders of a church based in Imperial County were arrested on charges that they used homeless people as forced labor, holding them in locked homes and making them panhandle up to nine hours a day. "The indictment alleges an appalling abuse of power by church officials who preyed on vulnerable homeless people with promises of a warm bed and meals," a U.S. prosecutor said. S.D. Union-Tribune | KPBS

A man was charged with fatally shooting a protected mountain lion that roamed the mountains northwest of Los Angeles and was wearing a GPS tracking collar. Prosecutors believe Alfredo Gonzalez, 60, shot the male cougar, known as P-38, in the head, and vandalized its collar. No motive was given. He could get a year in jail. Ventura County Star | A.P.

Another mountain lion was killed over the weekend trying to cross the 405 freeway. Opinion: "If we keep letting mountain lions die in L.A. traffic, there soon won't be any left." L.A. Times

Kanye West built a bunch of dome-style homes inspired by "Star Wars" for Los Angeles's poor and homeless — then he ran into L.A. County's red tape. Inspectors visited his Calabasas estate and cited him for skipping the permit process. Now all but one of the structures have been torn to the ground. Archinect | L.A. Magazine

Here's what life looks like in La Jolla. Aside from cotton candy sunsets, the San Diego community is known for its superb theater, art galleries, and improbable cliffside architecture. One of the most celebrated homes, the modernist Razor House, was just snapped up by singer Alicia Keys for $20.8 million. The views are ridiculous. Architectural Digest | S.D. Union-Tribune

By the first half of the 19th century, California had attracted a patchwork of settlers from around the world, among them Spaniards, Britons, Frenchmen, and Americans. 

Then there were the Russians. It was on this day in 1812 that Fort Ross was dedicated on a grassy promontory just north of Bodega Bay as an outpost of the old Russian Empire.

Though established as a fortress, the colony was concerned primarily with capturing the West Coast's abundant sea otters, whose lucrative pelts became known as "soft gold." 

Between 200 and 400 Russians and Native Alaskans lived peaceably at the fort for about 30 years, intermarrying with Native Americans and trading with Spain and America.

They might have gone on that way had other settlers not poured into California. The otters were driven to virtual extinction and Russia's czarist empire, already stretched thin, decided to call it quits. In 1841, Fort Ross was sold for $30,000 to Swiss settler John Sutter, who moved its holdings to his fort near Sacramento.

Within a decade, California was transformed by the discovery of gold and the takeover by America. Today, Fort Ross lives on as one of the state's most intriguing historic parks. It's also among the prettiest, surrounded by dramatic coastline and redwood forests. California Sun | KCET

Today's California Sun: Trump pushes crackdown on homelessness in California, church leaders are accused of forcing people to panhandle, and Alicia Keys snaps up a modernist gem in La Jolla.

Trump eyes homelessness crackdown // La Jolla's cotton candy sunset

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Today's edition: 13 items, < 5 minutes

Protesters are arrested as vaccine bill becomes law.

The cost-of-living advantage in California's small cities.

And recalling one of the state's most audacious artworks.

Today's California Sun: Protesters are arrested as vaccine bill becomes law, the cost-of-living advantage in California's small cities, and recalling one of the state's most audacious artworks.

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