Good morning. It’s Thursday, July 2.
- Big fireworks shows are on the retreat in California.
- The American story seen through the lens of San Francisco.
- And the ridiculously cute kit foxes of Anza-Borrego.
Please note: The newsletter will be off Friday and Monday. Please enjoy your July Fourth, and we’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. 🇺🇸
Statewide
1.
In the last few years, Fourth of July shows at the Rose Bowl, Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley, Morro Bay on the Central Coast, and other places have moved from fireworks to drones. Big fireworks shows are on the decline across California, and critics see it as another front in the culture wars. Republican Rep. Ken Calvert introduced a bill to waive restrictions on fireworks for the nation’s 250th birthday. “Americans celebrate Independence Day by eating hot dogs, apple pie and watching fireworks,” he said, “and I’m not going to let left-wing lunatics stop that.” L.A. Times
2.
For months, seabirds have been showing up dead from starvation along the California coast after a marine heat wave disrupted the food supply. The recently formed El Niño is now expected to hasten the die-off. “We’ve been seeing cormorants walk to shore and then just die within the hour. I mean one time it happened within 15 minutes, and I’ve never seen that before,” said Tammy Russell, a marine ornithologist. “That has been heartbreaking for me and we’re seeing this happening across the whole coast.” A.P.
3.
Kamala Harris has been courting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other progressive figures as she contemplates another White House bid, reports said on Wednesday. One source told the New York Post that Harris was trying to rebrand herself to be more appealing to young Democrats after her 2024 defeat. Polls have shown Harris besting Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and other top Democrats in a hypothetical primary contest. Axios
Northern California
4.
California’s pandemic-era workweek came to an end on Wednesday as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-office order went into effect, requiring roughly 100,000 state workers to show up at the office four days a week. Newsom framed the mandate as an effort to restore a more traditional rhythm in state government. But workers who for six years grew accustomed to remote work fiercely opposed the change. Thousands protested in Sacramento on Wednesday. Bloomberg | Sacramento Bee
5.
In Avenal, where three recalled City Council members have refused to leave office, recall supporter Ginger Wallis predicted on Monday that the standoff is “probably going to lead to handcuffs.“ Two days later, search warrants were served on Wednesday at the homes of the council members as part of what the Kings County district attorney’s office called a criminal probe. Investigators collected computers, phones, and other materials. Wallis said she was “ecstatic.” Fresno Bee
6.
As the U.S. turns 250, Joe Eskenazi told the story of American history through the lens of San Francisco’s Mission Dolores:
“Within earshot of these bells, change has been a constant. … The city has assumed a role as a serial boomtown, a place spawned by lust for gold and sustained by lust for everything else. If you’re running from something, this is about the furthest west you can go without getting wet. But it’s also a place to run to, with big ideas, for a big job, or simply to be who you are.” Esquire
7.
Tech columnist Zeynep Tufekci explained why artificial intelligence won’t steal all of our jobs:
“Air Canada disabled its chatbots after they mistakenly promised a customer a refund — and the customer sued and won. McDonald’s scuttled the bot taking orders at its drive-throughs after a number of viral videos showed it to be wildly dysfunctional. … These scary — OK, OK, funny — incidents aren’t the result of coding errors. They’re the result of an essential, inescapable fact about the artificial intelligence that has become so common in so many aspects of our daily lives: Large language models are not reasoning machines. They’re plausibility engines.” N.Y. Times
8.
“There’s probably not a metropolitan area on Earth that has the quality and variety of hiking trails that we have in the Bay Area,” the San Francisco Chronicle declared recently. But what is the best hike of all? An analysis of 1.5 million reviews of hikes in the Bay Area provided by AllTrails yielded a definitive ranking. No. 1: Marin County’s Dipsea Trail to Steep Ravine Trail Loop. “Everyone who hikes through the fern-studded canyon carved into Mount Tamalpais seems to come away enchanted by its aura,” the Chronicle wrote.
- The entire hike is on Google Street View.
Southern California
9.
Victor Willis, an original member of the Village People and a co-writer of “Y.M.C.A.,” died on Tuesday. Willis was born in Texas but grew up in San Francisco and later lived for a number of years in San Diego. The Village People became stars of the disco era by performing in the outfits of male stereotypes, with Willis often dressed as a helmeted police officer. In 2024, Willis threatened to sue media outlets that described “Y.M.C.A.” as a gay anthem. “Gay people like us, straight people like us,” he said. “But we’re not a gay group.” Willis was 74. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
10.
Gary Winnick, once the richest man in Los Angeles, spent his fortune on lavish mansions before his business colossus imploded. When he died in 2023, he was more than $150 million in debt. In a development that shocked the real estate world, a judge ordered Winnick’s crown jewel, the Casa Encantada mansion in Bel Air, to be sold at auction to satisfy the family’s debts. On Wednesday, a mystery buyer had the winning bid: $130 million, an incredible sum but far below the 2023 asking price of $250 million. Wall Street Journal
11.
When the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens this fall, Los Angeles will have added three new gargantuan museums in a span of five years, joining LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Together, the cultural hubs will comprise a space equivalent to 15 football fields. For all the debate surrounding the projects, the architecture critic Joe Day predicted that they would prove to be welcome civic additions: “They might even offer us some respite from current and future turmoil — museums are, among their charms, bulwarks of idealism.” Places Journal
12.
Desert kit foxes — hardy, intelligent, and ridiculously cute — should be well-known symbols of the Southern California desert. But they are seldom seen, operating mostly at night. When one does appear, it cuts an unmistakable profile, roughly the size of a Chihuahua with a bushy tail and outlandishly big ears. Researchers have found that desert animals evolve longer extremities to dissipate heat. In the case of kit foxes, massive ears also convey superb hearing. They can sense a kangaroo rat stirring underground in its burrow. Nature photographer Sicco Rood got a gorgeous picture of three kit foxes in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park on June 16, above. @AnzaBResearch | DesertUSA
- See video of kit foxes playing around their den.
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