Good morning. It’s Monday, Dec. 29.
- Billionaires consider leaving state over proposed tax.
- Swimmer’s body found after suspected shark attack.
- And forecasters say more wild weather in store this week.
Statewide
1.
California billionaires including Larry Page and Peter Thiel have made moves to cut ties with the state in response to a proposed wealth tax, several sources said. Labor leaders are trying to qualify a ballot measure that would tax billionaires the equivalent of 5% of their assets. For Page, a Google co-founder, that could amount to more than $12 billion out of his roughly $258 billion fortune. Several companies linked to Page recently filed paperwork to incorporate in Florida. N.Y. Times
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s dilemma: tax the rich or defy the left. Politico
2.
California’s law enforcement agencies have struggled with staffing since the unrest of 2020 led to an exodus of disgruntled officers and a decline of recruits. Yet this year, the California Highway Patrol graduated 780 cadets, a 60% surge compared to the total in 2022. The agency credited its surge in applicants to a revamped marketing campaign that promised workplace fulfillment and, crucially, a starting salary of $122,000. L.A. Times | Sacramento Bee
3.
Starting in January, you’ll be able to travel from the Bay Area to Los Angeles or Denver in opulent train cars that evoke the accommodations of European royalty. The startup Lunatrain is offering private rail cars attached to Amtrak trains on the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr routes, with five bedrooms, a glass-paneled roof, and gourmet meals prepared by an onboard chef. The inaugural trips, starting at $10,000, are already booked. Travel+Leisure | S.F. Chronicle
Northern California
4.
A body recovered along the Santa Cruz coast Saturday was identified as Erica Fox, a 55-year old triathlete who disappeared after a reported shark attack days earlier. Fox was a founder of the Kelp Krawlers, a group that swims on Sundays off Pacific Grove in Monterey Bay. She vanished below the water when a shark breached the surface during a group swim on Dec. 21. Her husband, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, spent the week scanning the sea from a promontory in Pacific Grove. “She lived her life fully,” he said on Sunday. Mercury News
5.
After a Tesla Cybertruck carrying a group of young friends crashed into a tree in the East Bay last year, Matthew Riordan, another friend who was trailing in his own car, raced to rescue them. The Cybertruck was on fire. But the doors, which open electronically by a button, wouldn’t budge. “Just did not work,” Riordan recalled in a deposition. He grabbed a tree branch and broke a window, but three people inside died before they could be rescued. The Washington Post investigated the dangers of Tesla’s extreme design philosophy.
6.
Valerie Ziegler, a San Francisco high school teacher, is training her students — “screenagers,” as she calls them — how to spot conspiracy theories, partisan propaganda, and artificially generated deepfakes on social media. While education officials are not yet expected to set specific standards for teaching digital literacy, Ziegler and a number of her peers are forging ahead on their own. In a profile, the New York Times said Ziegler is “part of a vanguard of California educators racing to prepare students in a rapidly changing online world.”
7.
In 2011, an entrepreneur bought a small island on the fringes of San Francisco Bay for $150,000 and began developing what he billed as a luxury kitesurfing club for billionaires. In the process, regulators say he illegally rebuilt levees that killed the marsh and became a death trap for young salmon. After a decadelong legal fight with regulators, the island has now been transferred to a conservation group that plans to restore its natural ecosystem. S.F. Chronicle
8.
“I recently went to a singles mixer at a bar downtown, and every person I met worked in tech — and it didn’t take long for artificial intelligence to enter the chat. As the pros and cons of different platforms were debated, I felt as if I were having an out-of-body experience: What am I doing here?“
The San Francisco Chronicle columnist Emily Hoeven wrote about being in your 20s in a city where young people are an increasingly vanishing breed.
Southern California
9.
After recording its wettest Christmas ever, Southern California is in for more wild weather this week. Meteorologists said wind gusts would reach up to 65 mph through Tuesday, followed by another round of rain by midweek that threatens to drench Pasadena’s Rose Parade for the first time in two decades. Accuweather | L.A. Times
- “My house is buried in over 5 feet of mud.” Wrightwood and Lytle Creek, a pair of towns in the San Gabriel Mountains, were digging out over the weekend after being submerged in floodwaters and debris. Reuters | L.A. Times
10.
Giant orange plumes rose over Castaic in northwestern Los Angeles County on Saturday after a natural gas pipe ruptured, forcing the 5 Freeway to be closed for hours and thousands of residents to shelter in place. Some trapped motorists darted into nearby shrubs to relieve themselves as a hazmat crew worked to contain the leak. The cause remained unclear a day later. But a SoCalGas spokesperson said “significant land movement” was observed in the area after recent storms. KABC | L.A. Times
11.
ChatGPT became Adam Raine’s confidant as the Orange County teenager planned to end his life. An analysis of months of his conversations found that the OpenAI chatbot began as a homework helper. But as the relationship escalated, Raine spent an average of five hours with the chatbot daily, engaging in conversations in which ChatGPT used words such as “suicide,” “suicidal,” or “noose” as many as 20 times more often than he did. In one haunting exchange, ChatGPT advised him against a plan to signal his distress to his parents. Washington Post
In case you missed it
12.
Here’s a quick catch-up on news you may have missed over the holiday break:
- “It is the greatest sleuth story ever told.” An autistic codebreaker claimed to have solved two notorious cold cases: the Black Dahlia and Zodiac killings. Several experts said his conclusions appear sound. L.A. Times
- Michael Abatti, a powerful Imperial Valley farmer, was arrested on charges of fatally shooting his estranged wife. The couple were in the midst of a contentious divorce. Desert Sun | A.P.
- Faced with a wave of sex abuse lawsuits, at least 25 California school districts have resolved claims in secret, using nondisclosure deals to block taxpayers from learning about the allegations or the cost of settling them, an investigation found. L.A. Times
- Since January, President Trump’s team has hauled in nearly $2 billion from donors, including a who’s who of Silicon Valley, a New York Times investigation found. In turn, donors received pardons, jobs, favorable regulatory moves, and more.
- A Los Angeles Fire Department report on the Palisades fire was altered in what appeared to be an effort to burnish the department’s image, an investigation found. The report’s author was so appalled he refused to endorse the final version. L.A. Times
- Also: sources revealed that Nick Reiner had been prescribed medication for schizophrenia; a judge ruled that California schools cannot bar educators from informing parents about their child’s gender identity; and a group of Sikh truckers sued California for revoking commercial driver’s licenses.
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