The strictest stay-at-home order since the spring. 

An Orange County assemblyman is accused of rape.

And Warner Bros. shocks the entertainment industry.

The strictest stay-at-home order since the spring is coming soon and it will last three weeks.

With coronavirus cases soaring, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that the new directive divides the state into five regions. The restrictions kick in when a region's ICU availability drops below 15%, which could include four regions — all but the San Francisco Bay area — within a day or two. "The bottom line is, if we don't act now our hospital system will be overwhelmed," Newsom said. A.P. | L.A. Times | CalMatters

Hair salons, movie theaters, museums, and other establishments will have to close.

Retailers and grocery stores must operate at 20% capacity.

Map: see your region and its ICU capacity. 👉 Mercury News 

Shopping malls — open. Tanning salons — open. Libraries — open. Children's playgrounds — closed.

Restrictions imposed in Los Angeles County this week angered parents who want to know why playgrounds were singled out for closure while so many other activities are still allowed. Laura Mannino, mother of a 5-year-old son, summed up the frustration: “Let my kid swing on a f— swing.” L.A. Times

A study found a 13% Covid positivity rate among Salinas Valley farmworkers. The California general population rate: 3%. Desert Sun

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a Pasadena church, ordering a lower federal court to reexamine California's restrictions on  indoor church services. N.Y. Times | A.P.

Federal officials warned that pandemic aid represented a jackpot waiting to be looted. But California failed to follow key advice: to cross-check Social Security numbers with prison inmate records. Sacramento Bee

The N.Y. Times created a fantastic tool that depicts your place in line to get a coronavirus vaccine based on your health, age, and where you live. Mine: behind 268.7 million people nationwide.

A former legislative aide filed a criminal complaint accusing an Orange County assemblyman, Bill Brough, of raping her following a 2015 dinner meeting in Sacramento. Patricia Todd is at least the sixth woman to accuse Brough of sexual assault or harassment in the last decade. She said didn't speak up until now for fear of retaliation from Brough: He told her he carried a concealed weapon. O.C. Register | Sacramento Bee

A high-profile Democratic strategist and former advisor to Gov. Newsom was arrested in October on two felony domestic violence charges, officials said. Nathan Ballard's wife told investigators that he pushed her into a glass door, then tried to suffocate their 4-year-old daughter with a pillow. Ballard said he would be exonerated. Politico | L.A. Times

Many people greeted the arrival of Atascadero's mysterious monolith on Wednesday as an amusing distraction. Now the story has turned bizarre. In the middle of the night, a group of men live-streamed themselves tearing down the silver pillar while chanting "Christ is king.” The men made explicitly racist remarks and claimed to have traveled from Orange County “on direct orders of QAnon and President Trump himself." Vice | The Tribune

For decades, investigators have puzzled over mysterious die-offs of coho salmon in the streams and rivers where they return from the Pacific Ocean. Now they think they've identified the killer: a toxin derived from car tires that washes off the roads whenever it rains. The investigation involved an epic process of elimination involving more than 2,000 chemicals. L.A. Times | CNN

A sand mining operation has blighted a stretch of the Monterey Bay shoreline for decades, infuriating locals and environmental groups. Now, after a public campaign, the last coastal sand mine in the United States has officially ceased operations for good. It was ordinary people who forced the issue, one activist said. "They were the unsung heroes.” Monterey County Weekly

In a move that shocked the entertainment industry, Warner Bros. announced that it would release its entire 2021 slate — 17 movies — to HBO Max the same day that they hit theaters. The action was described as a grim comment on the future of movie theaters that may force other studios to follow suit. "It will be almost impossible to go back," wrote the N.Y. Times's Brooks Barnes. N.Y. Times | Hollywood Reporter

Last year, Diego Stolz, 13, told an assistant principal at his Riverside County middle school that he was being targeted by bullies. Days later, Stolz's antagonists pounced, delivering a blow that killed him. Sued by the family, the school district is now offering an extraordinary defense claim: Stolz had himself partly to blame for failing to avoid the attack. Press-Enterprise

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has authorized his deputies to conceal their names while policing protests. The change came after several deputies were filmed with duct tape over their name tags. Civil liberties groups criticized the move. “There’s no way that we can effectively monitor law enforcement if you can’t even get the name of a deputy that you’re interacting with in public,” a law professor said. L.A. Times

Five items that got big views over the past week:

Manteca recently debuted the first diverging diamond interchange in California. Driving it is simple; understanding it less so. Here's a good video showing one in action. 👉 Wikimedia 

Oakland, one of America's most culturally diverse cities, is a roiling cauldron of creative energy. The videographer Andy To created a fantastic visual ode to the city using just his iPhone. YouTube (~5 mins)

Jennifer George, who lives in the Southern California exurb of Vista, installed a water fountain in her backyard that became a community  for a menagerie of wildlife. Here's a great highlight reel. 👉 Reddit 

A Rohnert Park couple converted their sunroom into a habitat for three sloths — Chewy, Sid and Willow. They call it "Sonoma Sloth House," and you can visit for $500. Press Democrat

The owners of a Fresno gas station and market have been making the homeless people who pass through their store TikTok famous. Here's a heartwarming video of Mary, who was brought to tears by gifts from her online fans. 👉 @akramadinas 

Host Jeff Schechtman chats with Daniel Lurie, the founder of Tipping Point Community, and Sam Cobbs, its CEO, on the organization's efforts to fight poverty in the Bay Area.

Today's California Sun: The strictest stay-at-home order since the spring, an Orange County assemblyman is accused of rape, and Warner Bros. shocks the entertainment industry.

Strict new stay-home order // Warner Bros. stuns movie industry

Fierce winds kick up wildfires in Southern California.

U.S. Supreme Court ruling emboldens state's churches.

And a mysterious monolith appears on the Central Coast.

A red flag warning was issued for a corridor from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border Wednesday through Saturday as forecasts called for fierce winds to rake an exceptionally parched landscape. Utilities cut power to tens of thousands of customers Wednesday, with the potential to ultimately affect 1 million people. A.P. | Washington Post

A vegetation fire in eastern Orange County spread to roughly 1,500 acres early Thursday, forcing people to flee several mountain communities. O.C. Register | L.A. Times

A dramatic video of the blaze 👉 @stuartpalley 

Another wildfire threatened homes 10 miles east of San Diego. 10News | CBS8

The N.Y. Times produced a powerful report on how incessant wildfire smoke is poisoning the lungs of young people in the Central Valley, where air pollution is already awful. Through mid-November, at least some part of Fresno County was blanketed by smoke for 152 days. A researcher said such exposure is associated with genetic changes in children’s immune cells. “It could have irreversible consequences,” she said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's order preventing indoor church services may run into a legal roadblock after the Supreme Court struck down rules in New York that limited services. At minimum, it has emboldened pastors defying the governor. “The Supreme Court of the United States of America — yeah! We have a biblical mandate and First Amendment rights!” the leader of a megachurch thundered on Sunday. Worshippers, packed closely together, erupted in cheers. Sacramento Bee | CalMatters

Along the Central Coast, a sea of sand undulates gracefully along the Pacific, rare terns and plovers nest and breed — and "Mad Max"-like off-roaders send up a squall of dust, pollution, and noise. Oceano Dunes is arguably the most contested stretch of sand in California. Now the 40-year dispute over its future appears to be reaching a climax, as two state agencies fight over whether endangered birds and machines can coexist. “I don’t know of any problem as bad as this," said the state's new parks director. "I don’t know where we are going to end up.” CalMatters

A new mystery metal monolith has appeared atop a mountain on the Central Coast. Standing 10 feet and weighing about 200 pounds, the structure was discovered Wednesday morning on Atascadero’s Pine Mountain after a similar structure was found in the Utah desert in late November. As word spread, dozens of hikers flocked to the peak to see it for themselves. Atascadero News 

An 11-year-old boy in the San Joaquin Valley fatally shot himself during a Zoom class on Wednesday, officials said. His camera and audio were off at the time. His sister was in another room and ran to a neighbor's house for help. The authorities said the gun was registered to an adult in the home. Child psychologists have reported an increase in suicidal ideation among young people this year. ABC10 | CBS13

Bay Area dentists are reporting a surge in cracked teeth among their patients. The suspected culprit: Stress-related grinding in a year of extraordinary anxiety. A national poll of dentists found a 53% increase of chipped and cracked teeth. "A virus that is bad for respiratory health is, apparently, bad for dental health, too," wrote the S.F. Chronicle.

Joanna Hedrick, a counselor at Sacramento State, is doing her fantastic ginkgo leaf designs around campus again, little found gifts to the students and faculty. The groundskeepers know to steer clear. @joanna_hedrick

More on Hedrick's autumnual art form 👉 California Sun  

Several cities in Los Angeles County — including Beverly Hills, Whittier, and Lancaster — are so enraged over the outdoor dining ban that they are talking about launching indpendent health departments that would let them set their own rules. One council member cited Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s decision to eat at an outdoor restaurant hours after she voted to uphold the ban. “It says something about the arrogance of the supervisors,” he said. LAist | L.A. Times

Also questioning the ban: Superior Court Judge James Chalfant, who on Wednesday ordered county officials to present scientific evidence justifying its action. L.A. Times | Los Angeles magazine

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday: “My message couldn’t be simpler: It’s time to hunker down. It’s time to cancel everything, and if it isn’t essential, don’t do it. Don’t meet up with others outside your household, don’t host a gathering, don’t attend a gathering. And following our targeted safer-at-home order, if you’re able to stay home, stay home.” Deadline | KTLA

In 2017, the world was introduced to Carmen Puliafito, the former USC dean who lived a double life carousing with recreational drug users and prostitutes. Now the authorities have linked him to the case of an infant who at first appeared to have died from sudden infant death syndrome. As investigators dug into the case, however, they began to suspect that the nursing mother had used meth the night before her baby's death, and that the drug was provided by Puliafito. L.A. Times

Rafer Johnson died in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The track-and-field star carried the American flag into Rome’s Olympic Stadium in 1960 as the first Black captain of a U.S. Olympic team and went on to win gold in the decathlon. He was a student body president at UCLA, a movie actor, a TV reporter, a cofounder of the California Special Olympics, and a humanitarian who worked for the March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and American Red Cross. In 1968, Johnson helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin while working on the senator's presidential campaign. He was 86. N.Y. Times | A.P.

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Today's California Sun: Fierce winds kick up wildfires in Southern California, U.S. Supreme Court ruling emboldens state's churches, and a mysterious monolith appears on the Central Coast.

Wildfires roar back // Metal monolith appears on Central Coast

More politicians caught violating their own Covid advice.

Conception captain is charged with 34 counts of manslaughter.

And a Riverside couple has the most 2020 wedding yet.

The night after Gov. Gavin Newsom attended his infamous soirée at the French Laundry, another prominent politician joined seven others for a birthday party at the Michelin-rated restaurant in Yountville: San Francisco Mayor London Breed. No rules were violated, but state guidelines at the time strongly discouraged such gatherings. Three days later, Breed banned indoor dining in San Francisco. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.

Across the bay, another mayor, San Jose's Sam Liccardo, apologized Tuesday for attending a Thanksgiving dinner with guests from five different households. A day earlier, he had urged his constituents to "cancel the big gatherings this year." CBS SF | Mercury News

A Redondo Beach restaurant owner is defying a county order to shut down in-person dining, saying he found a loophole to stay open. Alex Jordan, owner of Eat at Joe's, hung a banner that reads "The French Laundry Patio Dining." "If it's good enough for Gavin Newsom," he said, "it's good enough for all of my clients." NBC Los Angeles 

Los Angeles County shattered its daily coronavirus record on Tuesday, recording 7,593 new cases. The previous record: 6,186 on Nov. 23. The surge adds evidence that Thanksgiving gatherings fueled a new wave of cases. County officials believe the daily case load could hit 9,000 by next week. “We are in the middle of an accelerating surge in a pandemic of huge magnitude,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. L.A. Times | KTLA

State health officials say overwhelmed hospitals may have to turn patients away by Christmas. The crisis has exposed a potentially catastrophic weak spot in California's health care system: Not enough hospital beds. California has fewer beds per capita than all but two U.S. states, a dearth blamed on cost-cutting efforts. “This pandemic is a story of shortage," a hospital official said. N.Y. Times

In the early days of the pandemic, Newsom announced that 93,000 people had signed up to join an emergency health corps. All told, just 900 are now ready to be deployed. Sacramento Bee

California has given a staggering $400 million in fraudulent unemployment benefit payments to state prisoners, a state official said Tuesday. That's nearly three times the previously reported amount. In all, records show benefit claims were submitted in the names of 31,000 inmates, among them the convicted murderer Scott Peterson. A Republican state lawmaker demanded legislative hearings to determine accountability. L.A. Times | A.P.

A government study said coronavirus antibodies were found in blood samples from California, Oregon, and Washington as early as Dec. 13. The findings suggest the virus was quietly spreading long before officials were aware. NPR

San Francisco officials said on Tuesday that the city was planning further shutdowns after a quadrupling of infections over the past month. “Our dangerous winter has arrived,” the mayor said. KQED | SFist

A lot of California schools were planning to reopen classrooms to Zoom-weary students in January. “Those plans are now shrouded in uncertainty.” EdSource

The captain of a dive boat that caught fire near the Channel Islands last year, killing 34 people, was charged with 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter on Tuesday. A federal indictment said Jerry Boylan, 67, failed to train his crew or post a roving night watchman on the Conception. As a result, a prosecutor said, "a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare." Noozhawk | A.P.

California has received more than $1.3 billion in federal aid to rebuild thousands of homes lost in wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Yet disaster victims have yet to get a single penny. The reason: years-long bureaucratic delays. Meanwhile, some people are still living in cars on their burnt-out properties. L.A. Times

In the winter of 2018, Samuel Kolb was staying at a rental cabin in Lake Tahoe with his son when he entered an altered mental state possibly brought on by epilepsy. He told his son to call for help. Soon Kolb lay bleeding, shot twice by a Placer County sheriff's deputy who accused him of trying to stab him with a fork. Doctors told him he'd never walk again. This week, Placer County agreed to pay Kolb nearly $10 million, the largest payout of its kind in the county's history. A.P. | S.F. Chronicle

Manteca recently debuted the first diverging diamond interchange in California. Driving it is simple; understanding it less so. The design forces motorists to switch sides with opposing traffic on a freeway overpass, improving efficiency and eliminating risky 90-degree turns between oncoming cars. Some transportation planners want to do them all over California. Manteca Bulletin | ABC 10

A good video of a diverging diamond in action. 👉 Wikimedia 

A Riverside bride-to-be tested positive for the coronavirus just five days before her scheduled wedding day on Nov. 20. So they improvised. Lauren and Patrick Delgado exchanged vows from a distance, with her donned in a white dress at the second-story window of her mother's home and him standing outside. “It was the most 2020 wedding I have ever shot during Covid-19,” the wedding photographer said. NBC News | KTLA

It was on this week in 1900 that San Francisco witnessed the deadliest spectator disaster in the history of American sports.

The Cal and Stanford football clubs had the 10th meeting of their storied rivalry on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 29, at San Francisco’s old Recreation Park, drawing roughly 19,000 fans. 

Unable to get inside, hundreds of boys and men clambered atop a glass factory whose roof offered a perch just beyond the edge of the stands. Some, it was later reported, joked about the flimsy roof straining to support their weight. Then, roughly 20 minutes after kickoff, the inevitable: The roof, one survivor recounted, “sprung open like a gallows trap,” sending a mass of bodies tumbling 45 feet onto the blistering hot furnace machinery below.

News accounts described bodies writhing in agony. “I saw the poor fellow who had been chatting with me strike the furnace," one survivor told the Chronicle. "He curled up like a worm in the heat.”

As the dead were identifed, 23 in total, the scale of the loss came into tragic focus. Most were just children. The Chronicle ran the names in alphabetical order:

Barnwell, Talleyrand, 15
Eckfeldt, William, 12
Flahavan, Edgar, 13
Girard, Leon, 17
Monahan, Charles, 32 ...

The roof collapse at the San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works building ranked as the worst loss of life ever at an American sporting event, a distinction unsurpassed to this day. Yet even as the city's newspapers splashed the story across their front pages, the sports sections included this item: Stanford 5, Cal 0.

While children lay dying at the edge of the stadium, the football teams played on. Later, as panicked mothers and fathers bellowed the names of their missing sons at the city's hospitals and morgues, Stanford fans, jubilant in victory, paraded down Market Street.

An official inquest was concluded within a week and placed all blame on the victims themselves. The story then dropped out of the news pages, never to return. In time, the 1900 Big Game catastrophe was all but forgotten. Today, a UC San Francisco building stands at the site of the old glass factory. No marker recalls the history.

Today's California Sun: More politicians caught violating their own Covid advice, Conception captain is charged with 34 counts of manslaughter, and a Riverside couple has the most 2020 wedding yet.

More politicians caught dining out // "The most 2020 wedding"

Governor warns of a "drastic" new stay-at-home order. 

Salesforce is expected to announce Slack purchase.

And a ridiculously cute lion cub at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

With coronavirus infections spreading out of control, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that he may impose full-fledged stay-at-home orders within days. Projections now show California's intensive care units potentially overloaded by mid-December, and hospitals close to full by Christmas. “The red flags are flying in terms of the trajectory in our projections of growth,” Newsom said. “If these trends continue, we’re going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic, action.” S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Times | A.P.

See trackers of cases in California, the U.S., and worldwide.

The N.Y. Times has been publishing obituaries for people around the world who have died from the coronavirus. On Monday, Brandy Marie Houser, a hospice care consultant from Modesto, was recalled as a karaoke enthusiast who loved to throw surprise parties for her friends. “She was a pop culture ninja," her husband said. "I’ll never be as cool as her.” Houser was 41. N.Y. Times

A groundskeeper. A teacher. A world traveler. Here are more profiles of the 19,141 lives lost in California. 👉 L.A. Times 

Hours after Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl voted to ban outdoor dining across the county last week, she dined outdoors at a restaurant in Santa Monica. Kuehl, in justifying her vote, had argued that outdoor dining threatened to fuel a surge of coronavirus infections. Reacting to the report, another supervisor who opposed the ban, Janice Hahn, said public officials were squandering the public's trust. FOX 11

California was expected to get its first batch of Covid-19 vaccinations by mid-December, enough to inoculate roughly 163,500 people. First in line: Health care workers. Desert Sun | Bay City News Service

California will provide $500 million in aid to struggling small businesses in the form of grants up to $25,000, Newsom announced on Monday. Sacramento Bee | A.P.

“I see no matter how much we scream from the mountaintops, we’re getting overwhelmed. I see Covid patients every day. It’s endless.” Here's a powerful story on the weary work of an emergency physician near Sacramento. 👉 S.F. Chronicle 

Several news outlets reported that Salesforce plans to announce on Tuesday its purchase of Slack, the workplace chatroom. The potential deal between two San Francisco companies would represent a major bet on remote work, marking Salesforce's largest acquisition ever and likely putting Slack's value at more than $20 billion. CNBC | TheStreet

Federal prosecutors charged the chief of San Francisco's utilities commission with accepting bribes in exchange for insider information on city contracts. The official, Harlan Kelly, resigned, declaring his innocence and vowing to fight. The news followed alleged scandals involving the heads of San Francisco's public works and building inspection departments. That's three San Francisco department heads accused of misconduct just this year. KQED | S.F. Examiner

San Francisco's Chinatown is starting to resemble a ghost town. The historic neighborhood has survived earthquakes, racism, and repressive legislation. Now the pandemic is posing one of its greatest tests, with sales down 70%. Eddie Au, the owner of a crafts store, said it would take three or four years for Chinatown to recover. He opted instead to close shop and retire. Washington Post

The New Yorker told the devastating story of a homeless man whose job is to guard vacant homes from squatters, a growing need as investors turn profits in a broken real-estate market. “Unfortunately, I am one of those who need shelter of any kind, and I’ve got shelter with pay through the cold, raining months,” Augustus Evans said. 

California’s median home price in September reached $712,430, closing out four consecutive months of record highs after the market cooled briefly from the pandemic. There's been much talk of a California exodus. But the loss of about 650,000 residents last year was insignificant for a state with roughly 40 million people, an appraiser said. “Builders haven’t been able to build fast enough to satisfy our population.” N.Y. Times

The California Supreme Court threw out the murder conviction of an emergency room nurse who spent seven years in prison after being convicted of bludgeoning to death her boyfriend in 2003. The court said prosecution evidence showed Kimberly Louise Long was 2 miles away at the time of death. She burst into tears when she got the news. Orange County Register | CBSLA

The Santa Barbara Zoo recently introduced the female African lion cub to the world. Born on Nov. 5, she became critically ill after failing to get enough milk from her mother. She's doing better now after learning to nurse from a bottle, zoo officials said. KEYT | Santa Barbara Independent

A couple more photos 👉 @santabarbarazoo  

Many travelers along the 101 in Humboldt County will make a stop in the idyllic seaside village of Trinidad. Fewer venture just north of town to College Cove, pictured above, the terminus of a quarter-mile walk through a Sitka spruce forest. It's not unusual to find the beach empty, yet locals say it's among the prettiest stretches of coast in all of Northern California. Outdoor Project | VisitRedwoods.com

Monday's newsletter said incorrectly that the entire Bay Area was in the purple tier of the state's reopening plan. Marin County remained in the red tier, with fewer restrictions.

Today's California Sun: Governor warns of a "drastic" new stay-at-home order, Salesforce is expected to announce Slack purchase, and a ridiculously cute lion cub at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Newsom warns of "drastic" lockdown // Ridiculously cute lion cub

California reports more Covid hospitalizations than ever. 

The best year for Republicans in more than a decade.

And a Fresno market makes homeless neighbors TikTok famous.

Skyrocketing test positivity in San Francisco. A tripling of the death rate in L.A. County. Record new infections San Diego County. 

Coronavirus numbers are exploding across California, which is now reporting more hospitalizations than ever — 7,415 as of Sunday — a total that has doubled in just two weeks. Officials are bracing for things to get worse before they get better as Thanksgiving gatherings yield another possible wave of infections. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle | A.P.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “We may see a surge upon a surge.”

No outdoor dining. No playground access. No gatherings.

Residents of Los Angeles County have by and large abided by coronavirus orders, especially relative to people in other parts of the country. But resistance is growing after the latest round of restrictions. That has county officials pleading with people to stay the course. "Dead people don't get a second chance," the county's top health official said on Saturday. L.A. Times | LAist

San Francisco has now moved into the dreaded purple tier, which now encompasses almost all of the entire Bay Area, triggering business shutdowns and a 10 p.m. curfew. S.F. Examiner | S.F. Chronicle

Check your county's status. 👉 Covid19.ca.gov 

Coronavirus patients are proliferating across California, but many are better off than those who got sick in March or April. That's because doctors have learned a great deal over the course of the pandemic. Steroids are now proven to work. The antiviral Remdesivir is readily available. And many patients are able to avoid ventilators and the ICU. Here's a look inside the Bay Area's busiest Covid ward. 👉 Mercury News 

Gov. Gavin Newsom has reversed parole for Leslie Van Houten, a Charles Manson follower convicted of helping him kill Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in 1969. It was the fourth time a governor has blocked Van Houten's release. Her lawyer said he would appeal. “Plenty of murderers have gotten out of prison and done just fine, but they’re not high-profile cases,” he said. N.Y Times | A.P. 

President Trump may have been steamrolled at the ballot box in California, but 2020 was the best year for the state's Republicans in more than a decade. The party was poised to recapture as many as four of the seven House seats that Democrats flipped from G.O.P. control in 2018. Voters also shot down business tax and rent control measures, as well as a bid to revive affirmative action. Politico

Newsom has to pick someone to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and many names have been floated. But California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has emerged as the front-runner, according to more than half a dozen insiders interviewed by the N.Y. Times. Newsom, the report said, owes Padilla for numerous political favors over the years. N.Y. Times

Security camera footage at a Fresno zoo showed a person cutting the lock to an aviary exhibit at around 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, stuffing two exotic birds into a duffel bag, then disappearing into the night. One of the birds, a lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo, is critically endangered. The other, a Nicobar pigeon, is listed as near threatened. Zookeepers are beside themselves. Visalia Times-Delta | KSEE

The owners of a Fresno gas station and market have been making the homeless people who pass through their store TikTok famous. Akram Mohsin and Mohsin Alaqwari treat them not as nuisances but as neighbors with hidden talents and endearing personalities. Viewers have taken to sending gifts addressed to the subjects of videos. Fresno Bee | KFSN

Here's a heartwarming video of Mary, who was brought to tears by gifts from her TikTok fans. 👉 @akramadinas 

A man broke into his estranged girlfriend's South Pasadena home early Saturday, attacked her, and was then killed by the woman's mother and sister, the authorities said. The mother and sister at first tried to pull the assailant off the woman, but he was too strong, police said. Then they returned with a kitchen knife and golf club. San Gabriel Valley Tribune | A.P.

Black Lives Matter protesters have been holding daily rallies outside the home of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, calling on President-elect Joe Biden to rule out Garcetti for a possible cabinet position. The activists accuse of the mayor of failing to address homelessness and police aggression. "We're saying that we will not allow the kind of white supremacist capital interests that he represents to set national policy for this country," one activist said. City News Service | CBSLA

In the last month, six Buddhist temples have been vandalized in the Santa Ana area. In a recent case, someone spray-painted “Jesus” down the spine of a statue. “It’s beyond trespass. It’s beyond vandalism. It’s a hate crime targeted at the Vietnamese American Buddhist community, and we will not stand for that,” a local lawmaker who attended one of the temples said. L.A. Times

… Jeff Weiss, a music journalist from Los Angeles. He founded the popular site Passion of the Weiss and writes regularly for the L.A. Times, Washington Post, and theLAnd.

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

A. It's unclear whether it was more mortally betrayed by Instagram or the poxed image of Don Draper meditating in all-white vestments at Esalen, but my pick stays Big Sur. Beyond the imagined nostalgia for hangovers at Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Bixby cabin, it's simply the most charismatically gorgeous place on earth. Temporary serotonin is a hike in Pfeiffer Burns and an Old Fashioned and wheelbarrow of fries at Nepenthe (with ambrosia sauce; book optional, but recommended). In typical Californian fashion, the utopian wind chime "vibes" are often shattered by the apocalyptic infernos that have become tragically regular. Disney has yet to add it to the California Adventure. 

What’s the last great California album you listened to? 

GarciaLive Volume 14: January 27, 1986, The Ritz. While technically recorded in New York, anything from Jerry Garcia counts as a California album by legal statute. Even the Dead songs about El Paso and Abilene sound filtered through the left-handed psychedelia of a native son. My Dead obsession traces back to a borrowed and never returned cassette of an undated show from Provo Utah radio. It was dubbed circa '97, but sounds like it could've been first taped in 1972 or 72 B.C. Only recently, with the July release of this 34-year old show, did I discover that my favorite Dead period is actually this: a Jerry show with Beverly Hills bassist John Kahn recorded the day before the Challenger exploded. Jerry sings weary devil hymns and Dylan covers, Texas blues and GD canon, like a prophet in rags ascending and collapsing. 

What’s a hidden food gem in your area? 

Wat Dong Moon Lek in the no-man's land between Virgil Village, East Hollywood, and Silver Lake. Every neighborhood needs a great neighborhood Thai place, especially one with versatile and addictive soup options. My blood type is basically tom kha udon at this point.

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? 

Snoop Dogg, Eve Babitz circa '72, and old Henry Miller (who spent the last two-fifths of his life in Big Sur and the Palisades, so I'm claiming him). Snoop is legitimately the most entertaining human to ever inhale. Eve because no one has ever been more artful at decadence and fun. And old Henry Miller because after he calmed down, he understood how to live as well as anyone I've ever read — and I'm a sucker for eccentric genius misanthropes with a corny penchant for mysticism. Snoop's blunt would do the heavy lifting to spark the conversation. 

You've been part of Los Angeles' music scene for a while. What do you think are some of the most significant developments — a specific artist, a particular scene, a label — in the past few years that have impacted the area?

I've spent the last three years covering the persecution of Drakeo the Ruler by the District Attorney's Office and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, so my answer naturally goes there. Not only did Drakeo invent "nervous music" — an indigenous L.A. strain of lethal anxiety rap that has become one of the most influential sounds of the city — his mistreatment embodied the cruelty and corruption endemic to the county's criminal justice system. Earlier this summer, he released "Thank You For Using GTL," the best rap album ever recorded from jail. After George Gascón was elected district attorney, the prosecutors offered to cut him a deal to release him from Men's Central for time served. After facing the death penalty at one point, he's back home and figures to go down as one of the greatest artists the city has ever produced. 

“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.

An earlier version of this newsletter said incorrectly that the entire Bay Area was in the purple tier of the state's reopening plan. Marin County remained in the red tier, with fewer restrictions.

Today's California Sun: California reports more Covid hospitalizations than ever, the best year for Republicans in more than a decade, and a Fresno market makes homeless neighbors TikTok famous.

Record Covid hospitalizations // A great year for Republicans

Health workers could get vaccinated by early December. 

Cave yields evidence of native Californian drug rituals.

And a visual ode to the creative energy of Oakland.

Please note: The newsletter is pausing from now through the Thanksgiving holiday. Back in your inbox on Monday. 

A record-high number of new coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County on Monday pushed the region over a threshold for issuing a new stay-at-home order. County supervisors planned to meet Tuesday to discuss the way forward. It was unclear how severe the restrictions would be, but officials said the situation was dire. “At this rate, our hospitals won’t have any spare beds by Christmas,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. L.A. Times | A.P.

The number of coronavirus deaths statewide is poised to double by March 1, from roughly 18,700 to more than 37,000. See the projection. 👉 University of Washington 

California's health care workers could start getting coronavirus inoculations by early December, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday. Federal health officials have said states will start getting doses within 24 hours of FDA authorization, which is expected within weeks. The broader population will likely have to wait until "March, April, June, July," Newsom said. SFGate.com | S.F. Chronicle

Covid-19 is rampaging through California like never before. But a Pentecostal church in a Sacramento suburb held three packed indoor services on Sunday with conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a guest. 

Kirk, speaking with Pastor Greg Fairrington on stage: “I ask this question. If a pastor hasn’t opened their church, why are you a pastor?” 

Mark Morocco, a Los Angeles physician and professor of emergency medicine:

"We are furious and we are exhausted. And now we face again the flooding of our hospitals.

"We’re tired of seeing patients who got the virus after their kid’s 'limited' birthday party or because they went out to a restaurant dinner with 'close friends' or flew to a celebration in a state 'that didn’t have much COVID.'" L.A. Times

In a striking change of heart, General Motors said it would no longer support the Trump administration's legal fight to nullify California’s strict fuel economy rules. The company's CEO, Mary Barra, said GM shared the emission-reduction goals of California and President-elect Joe Biden. The N.Y. Times' Michael Barbaro summed up the development in two words: "Opportunism, defined." N.Y. Times | A.P.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she would relinquish the top Democratic spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, yielding to pressure from progressives angered by her handling of Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Welcoming the move, an activist group called for a replacement "who will not wishfully cling to a bygone era of civility and decorum that Republicans abandoned long ago." Washington Post | Politico

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin filed manslaughter charges against a former police officer on Monday, the first such prosecution in the city's modern history. The officer, Christopher Samayoa, shot 42-year-old Keita O’Neil in the head at the end of a chaotic pursuit in 2017. O’Neil was unarmed. The case was seen as a test for Boudin, who campaigned on promises to be tough on law enforcement. S.F. Chronicle | S.F. Examiner

Apple's head of security has been indicted on bribery charges for a scheme in which prosecutors say he offered iPads to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office to secure gun permits for Apple employees. Thomas Moyer promised to give $70,000 worth of the devices in exchange for four concealed-carry licenses, prosecutors said. Two high-ranking sheriff's officials were also indicted. Mercury News | S.F. Chronicle

Four hundred years ago, native Californians got high on hallucinogenic flowers and painted rock art. That's the conclusion of scientists who discovered the fibrous remains of psychedelic datura flowers stuffed in the cracks of a cave in the San Emigdio Mountains near a red pinwheel artwork that resembles the plant. It's the first clear evidence of hallucinogens being ingested at the site of a rock painting. Inverse | National Geographic

Your fantasy of traversing an Ewok-style walkway through a Humboldt County redwood canopy is now closer to reality. Redwood Sky Walk will include a network of suspended paths along towering old growth trees at Eureka's Sequoia Park Zoo, with segments as high as 100 feet above the forest floor. Lost Coast Outpost got a first look at the nearly completed construction. 

Oakland, one of America's most culturally diverse cities, is a roiling cauldron of creative energy. The videographer Andy To recently created a visual ode to the city using just his iPhone, captured at both street level and from the side of a helicopter. Locals called it one of the most authentic visual representations of The Town they'd seen in some time. YouTube (~5 mins) 

☝️ Just for kicks, a geographer from Helsinki named Topi Tjukanov created this fantastic animation of the optimal driving routes from San Francisco to roughly 2,000 locations.

The pattern is no accident. Scientists have described such branching as the essence of life itself, and it shows up all over the place. The idea, first articulated by the thermodynamics expert Adrian Bejan in 1995, is that all of nature is governed by a tendency to maximize flow. In this example, the asphalt arteries that radiate from San Francisco are an expression of the same relentless urge that produces the branching of veins, river deltas, lightning strikes, and the tunnels dug by worms. Big Think | Quartz

Today's California Sun: Health workers could get vaccinated by early December, cave yields evidence of native Californian drug rituals, and a visual ode to the creative energy of Oakland.

First inoculations set for December // Native Californian drug rituals

Covid-19 infections soar as expert warns of "worst wave yet." 

A devastating blow to L.A. County's dining industry.

And an outdoor expert names his favorite hike in California.

The coronavirus is now infecting more Californians than at any other point in the pandemic. According to an L.A. Times analysis, the state's average daily number of new infections has tripled in the last month. As of Saturday, it was more than 11,500 cases a day. A month ago, it was roughly 3,200. During the height of the summer surge, the average never surpassed 10,000. L.A. Times

Here are the latest California coronavirus totals, as tallied by the COVID Tracking Project. 👇

Confirmed cases:
1,102,033
+14,319 since a day earlier
+82,688 since a week earlier

Deaths:
18,676
+33 since a day earlier
+423 since a week earlier

Dr. Andra Blomkalns, chair of Stanford's department of emergency medicine:

“This is going to be the worst wave yet. And I don’t think we’ve realized or internalized that yet. I liken it to hurricanes: You see it coming, you know it’s coming, but you think maybe it won’t hit you directly, and maybe the winds won’t be as bad as they say. We should be prepared for a Category 5 hurricane." S.F. Chronicle

For the first time during the pandemic, coronavirus cases in the Bay Area are falling among Latinos while rising among whites. In mid-October, Latinos made up roughly 70% of weekly cases in Marin County. In early November, the figure was about 30%. The data suggests the virus is spreading more freely beyond narrow categories of essential workers to the general community. S.F. Chronicle

"I think it’s going to be mostly a cosmetic effect and not so much a real impact on interrupting this transmission.”

“The virus doesn’t care — day or night. It’s really just a way of getting at behavior modification, but it just seems like an odd one that doesn’t in and of itself address the problem.”

Some infectious disease experts are questioning the potential effectiveness of California's 10 p.m. curfew, which began Saturday night. A.P. | S.F. Chronicle

Protests against the curfew were held late Saturday across a handful of California cities, including Redding, Fresno, and Huntington Beach. Videos showed demonstrators waving American and Trump flags and chanting "U.S.A." NBC Los Angeles

Los Angeles County announced that outdoor dining would be prohibited for at least three weeks starting Wednesday. After being forced to shut down in the spring, the freedom to serve outdoors had been a lifeline to the struggling industry. The new order is now expected to force more restaurants out of businesses. L.A. Times | Eater Los Angeles

"I cannot stress the ineptitude of leadership at every level of government and political party." David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku empire, posted an impassioned Twitter thread denouncing shutdowns without a safety net in place for employees. @davidchang

On Nov. 21, 1918, after tremendous public pressure, San Franciscans gathered on the streets to celebrate the end of a mask ordinance imposed to halt the spread of the so-called Spanish flu. They tossed their masks onto the streets and packed the bars and theaters. Then the flu roared back in January, nearly doubling the death toll. "History is full of lessons," the Chronicle wrote, "but this one seems to be screaming through the decades, more than a century later, carrying a message for this exact Bay Area moment."

Santa Clara County was on track to exceed its hospital capacity in three weeks, the county's health officer said. It's a possibility hospitals across the state are bracing for. Mercury News  | L.A. Times

Gov. Gavin Newsom's entire family was under quarantine after three of his children were exposed to an infected California Highway Patrol officer, the governor said. L.A. Times | A.P.

“There is no way I would attend a holiday gathering, as I am not suicidal.” Here's what 635 epidemiologists are doing for Thanksgiving. 👉 N.Y. Times 

Speculation has mounted that Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to name California elections chief Alex Padilla to fill the Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. That has prompted an aggressive campaign to change his mind. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and other Democratic figures are trying to convince Newsom that the seat should go to another woman of color. Among the favored choices: Rep. Barbara Lee and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Politico

Early Sunday, Los Angeles recorded its 300th homicide of the year, hitting a benchmark not seen in a decade. There were four killings over the weekend, including the death of a 17-year-old boy riding a bicycle. Homicides have surged across the U.S. this year, while rapes and robberies  have fallen. Among the reasons cited: the stresses of the coronavirus and the redirection of officers away from anti-crime programs. L.A. Times | CNN

A Rohnert Park couple converted their sunroom into a sloth habitat with three sloths — Chewy, Sid and Willow. They call it "Sonoma Sloth House," and you can visit for $500. “We never thought we were going to open this to the public," said one of the proprietors. "But we had to adapt or go under during Covid.” Press Democrat

It started with a small bowl of water placed in the backyard, which attracted a litter of coyote puppies. Then Jennifer George, who lives in the Southern California exurb of Vista, installed a water fountain. Since then her backyard has become something of a community water fountain for a menagerie of wildlife — coyotes, skunks, raccoons, opossums, snakes, rabbits, bobcats, and countless kinds of birds. Here's a great highlight reel. 👉 Reddit 

… Casey Schreiner, the founder and editor of Modern Hiker and author of “Day Hiking: Los Angeles.” His most recent book is “Discovering Griffith Park.”

A. Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County. The landscape is stunning, it’s an easy add-on to any trips out to the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, or the Eastern Sierra, and the National Park Service staff do an excellent job interpreting an important story that more Americans need to be aware of.

What’s the last great podcast you've listened to?  

I used to listen primarily to news and nonfiction podcasts, but the dual onslaught of Pandemic and Politics in 2020 finally drove me to some terrific longform storytelling podcasts as a reprieve. “Mission to Zyxx” is an improvised sci-fi comedy podcast that plays with tropes familiar to "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" fans and has hands-down the best sound design I have ever heard on a podcast. And “Dungeons & Daddies” is a hilarious and heartfelt improvised podcast about a group of dads who get sucked into the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons on their way to soccer practice and have to rescue their kids and find a way home.

What’s a hidden food gem in your area?  

I’ve spent the last seven years in the Thai Town neighborhood of L.A. Obviously, it is not short on excellent thai food. Coming back from field work for my book “Discovering Griffith Park,” I’d often stop in at the New Hollywood Plaza for eats. Everything is terrific in that plaza, but cash-only Ruen Pair is my favorite. Best papaya salad in Thai Town! If you have room when you’re done, cross the plaza for dessert at Bhan Kanom Thai.

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?

Oh man, this is a tough one, but here are three:

Will Thrall — One of the earliest modern hiker-historians of the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles; longtime editor of “Trails” magazine

Tiburcio Vásquez — Perhaps L.A.’s first celebrity outlaw / freedom fighter

Toypurina — Tongva medicine woman who led a revolt against the Spanish missionaries in 1785

For a conversation starter, how about “What makes someone a Californian?”

Today's California Sun: Covid-19 infections soar as expert warns of "worst wave yet," a devastating blow to L.A. County's dining industry, and an outdoor expert names his favorite hike in California.

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