Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 7.
- Increasing alarm over soaring coronavirus rates.
- San Francisco changes its mind on robot lethal force.
- And San Diego’s relentlessly growing homeless population.
Statewide
1.
California’s public health officials are expressing increasing alarm over coronavirus rates.
- In Los Angeles County, infections jumped 75% over the last week in what the L.A. Times described as a “full-blown coronavirus surge.” Officials warned that mandatory masking could return by early January. L.A. Times
- In Santa Clara County, health officer Dr. Sara Cody said Covid-19 levels in the wastewater “are absolutely skyrocketing.” But she rejected the possibility of new mask mandates. CBS Bay Area
- The season’s triple virus storm — flu, Covid-19, and RSV — is straining the state’s hospital system, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state health secretary. “Hospital census numbers rival some of the hardest moments of the pandemic,” he said. Sacramento Bee
California coronavirus tracker. 👉 Covid19.ca.gov
2.
The first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop floating wind farms in the Pacific was seen as a test of industry appetite for such projects in difficult terrain. Bloomberg called the bids Tuesday “modest.” Of 43 developers that initially prequalified to bid, just six vied for five leases, netting $402 million. In February, an auction for five leases off the East Coast drew $4.37 billion. The challenge of tethering turbines in the deeper waters off California make their viability “less clear,” one analyst said. Bloomberg | CalMatters
3.
During a ceremony Tuesday to honor law enforcement with Congressional Gold Medals for defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, family members of fallen officer Brian D. Sicknick declined to shake the hands of Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy has minimized former President Trump’s role in stoking the Capitol mob, even telling Sicknick’s mother that Trump had no idea what was going on. On Tuesday, she called McConnell and McCarthy two-faced: “They’re going to leave here today, get on a plane, go down and see Trump and kiss his ring.” Politico | N.Y. Times
See the snub. 👉 @HowardMortman
4.
In 2015, at the height of a severe drought, California’s state water agency learned that a man was illegally bottling water from a tributary of the Tuolumne River and selling it Starbucks. The state prosecuted him in what looked like a slam-dunk case. Six years later, they are still tangling with him in court, even as he faces fresh allegations of stealing water. Grist wrote a maddening piece on why it’s so hard to catch water thieves California.
5.
Julia Carmel spent 34 hours on one of America’s most scenic trains: Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, between Los Angeles and Seattle. In her travelogue, she highlighted the discomfort of riding coach overnight. But she added: “If you’re lucky, you’ll have a few moments that are so special that all the others eventually fade to a blur.” L.A. Times
Northern California
6.
In an unexpected reversal, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to temporarily prohibit police from using robots with lethal force a week after advancing the policy. The change of heart during the second vote, typically a formality, followed intense backlash from critics who threatened to bring the matter to the ballot box. One of the five supervisors who changed his mind, Supervisor Gordon Mar, said he grew “increasingly uncomfortable” with his vote over the past week. Mission Local | KQED
7.
Last month, San Francisco’s Elections Commission notified the city’s well-regarded elections director, John Arntz, that in the interest of “racial equity” he would not be renewed for his post. Arntz is white. Condemnation rang out from across the city’s political leadership. Now the mayor and board of supervisors have found a way to save Arntz’s job — by blocking funding a candidate search. SF Standard | S.F. Chronicle
8.
Some people jog along the beach, or a forest trail. Tate Dobson, feeling restless last Friday, ran clockwise around a traffic roundabout in downtown Healdsburg for six hours, logging 415 laps and 36 miles. The tracking of his run, pictured above, looks like a particle accelerator. “I don’t have a great reason for why I did it,” he said. S.F. Chronicle
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9.
By historical happenstance, San Francisco’s main airport was located in 1927 on a spit of land that hemmed it in as the region — and demand for air travel — grew up on all sides. As a result, SFO has one of the closest parallel runway configurations in the U.S. — just 750 feet from centerline to centerline. That makes it one of the greatest plane-watching airports. Aviation geeks like to gather at nearby Bayfront Park to see hair-raising parallel plane landings like the one pictured above. A video compilation. 👉 NickFlightX (~17 mins)
Southern California
10.
San Diego’s downtown homeless population hit a record high in November, with more than 1,700 people sleeping on sidewalks and living in cars. A recent report found that nearly 12,000 homeless people in the region had acquired housing over the prior year. Yet for every 10 homeless people moved into housing, 13 more people became homeless for the first time. Bob McElroy, a homeless advocate, said he was at a loss: “It’s the first time in three and a half decades of doing this that I’m discouraged.” S.D. Union-Tribune
11.
A Huntington Beach elementary school principal who jumped to his death from a parking structure at Disneyland on Saturday made a Facebook post minutes beforehand saying his job was imperiled by an allegation of domestic violence. Court records showed that Christopher Christensen faced charges of child endangerment and battery. In his note, he said he had a “heated” argument with his wife, but denied hitting anyone. “I need you all to know that a gentle, kind, loving and sincerely good man has been destroyed by one unfortunate night,” he wrote. O.C. Register | L.A. Times
12.
It’s monarch butterfly season in California, when legions of the graceful orange insects alight in coastal groves to overwinter after fluttering hundreds of miles from as far as the Rockies. Monarch numbers have been grim in recent years but rebounded unexpectedly last year. Initial counts suggest this will be another good year. At Pismo Beach, volunteers have counted more than 24,000 monarchs. “That’s kind of a miracle,” said Amber Clark, an environmental scientist. SFGATE | Santa Cruz Sentinel
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The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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