Good morning. It’s Wednesday, July 8.
- The Colorado River is pushed to its breaking point.
- Blistering heat to spread across the Western U.S.
- And luxury home demand goes “bananas” in San Francisco.
Statewide
1.
“No one has ever seen it like this.”
The Colorado River, a vital source of water for millions of Californians, is in serious trouble. Starved of snow and rain, its giant reservoirs have dropped to dangerously low levels. Lake Powell now stands at just 22% of capacity. Brad Udall, a water and climate research scientist, is pushing a radical solution: permanently buying out farmland in California and Arizona. “There are too many straws in the glass,” he said. “Rather than having an annual fight over who gets what, let’s remove some straws.” The Guardian | L.A. Times
2.
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said on Tuesday that they charged 37 people in a crackdown on an Indian crime syndicates that preyed on diaspora communities in California and beyond. The authorities said crimes were choreographed by jailed kingpins from India and included kidnapping, extortion, drug smuggling, firearms dealing, and killings. In one case, a police chief in India sought to extort $400,000 from a Los Angeles family by falsely charging their relatives in India with murder until they agreed to pay, prosecutors said. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
3.
In the 18th century, royal gardeners in France bred strawberries in manure beds warmed by underground fires so Louis XIV could enjoy them in March instead of waiting until summer. Today, shoppers can buy strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries any time of year — and they’re sweeter than anything the king ever tasted. The New York Times told the story of how, in just the last decade, a Watsonville farm turned a fragile, local, seasonal treat into worldwide refrigerator staple.
4.
“This is an ugly-looking forecast.”
A heat dome is about to bring some of the hottest temperatures of the summer so far to the Western U.S. The temperatures were expected to peak Wednesday and Thursday, hitting triple digits across the Central Valley and Southern California desert communities. The forecast called for Thursday highs of 95 in Sacramento; 83 in San Jose; and 91 in Los Angeles. The National Weather Service issued the highest level of heat alert for the Coachella Valley, where highs could hit 117 degrees. Accuweather | KTLA
Northern California
5.
Demand for luxury homes in San Francisco is surging as the artificial intelligence boom mints thousands of new multi-millionaires. From January through June, more than 140 San Francisco homes sold for at least $1 million above their asking price, new data showed. Mike Simonsen, Compass’ chief economist, called the trend “absolutely bananas.” S.F. Chronicle
- “A classic story on poverty.” At the other end of the housing market, evictions are piling up in Fresno as rents rise and wages stagnate. Fresnoland
6.
The Stanford gynecologist Sally Greenwald has attracted a devoted following among high-powered Silicon Valley women of a certain age with her motto, “sexual health is health.” She encourages clients to have more and better sex. “The argument is not: sex equals longevity,” Greenwald said. “It is: sex equals sleep, stress reduction, cardiovascular engagement, relational fulfillment, and pelvic-floor health, and each of those equals health.” New Yorker
7.
In 1954, the poet Elsa Gidlow bought a former chicken ranch in Marin County’s Muir Woods and forged what she called “an unintentional community.” Druid Heights was a home to artists and iconoclasts who lived for decades in about a dozen off-the-grid structures. Its decline began in 1977, when the National Park Service absorbed the settlement, evicting residents without ownership. Today, it is essentially a ghost town with a population of one: a widower named Ed Stiles who first arrived there in 1965. Even he has resisted efforts to preserve the counterculture haven. “I would like to see the area return to nature and ‘Druid Heights’ become a memory of the illusion it always was,” he and his late wife wrote in 2017. Each passing year brings that vision closer to reality.
- A travel vlogger recently toured the ruins of Druid Heights. YouTube
Southern California
8.
With animation jobs drying up, USC’s Expanded Animation program quietly shut down last month. Xindi Zhang, a recent graduate of the program, said she considered the department a “utopia” for her as a student. But she’s not sure it’s necessary anymore. “I don’t think you can really teach students the current stuff,” she said. “There’s no ‘current stuff.’ Every minute is changing.” The Atlantic wrote about the corner of Hollywood most susceptible to artificial intelligence.
- Tilly Norwood, the AI creation that Hollywood loves to hate, is set to star in a new feature film, a studio announced. Variety
9.
In Southern California, beachgoers are increasingly creating temporary “living rooms” — with tables, couches, and elaborate shade structures — and some towns have had enough. Newport Beach now bans canopies larger than 6 feet by 6 feet; Laguna Beach created umbrella-only zones. The restrictions have been divisive. Lifeguards say they are necessary to preserve lines of sight. During one hearing, a resident accused Newport Beach of spoiling everyone’s fun. “Do you really want to keep some girls from having a party on the beach?” he said. L.A. Times
10.
On August 29, 2024, Jeremiah Manuyag Flores, a San Diego sheriff’s deputy, shoved a shackled detainee, causing him to fly headfirst into a wall, cracking his spinal column. Flores provided no medical aid, and the man was found hours later lying in a pool of blood. In an incident report, Flores lied, saying no force was used. In December, a jury found him guilty of excessive force and falsifying a record. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. S.D. Union-Tribune | KGTV
11.
NASA shared video of Los Angeles captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they orbited over the city on July 4th. “A celebration so bright it reached all the way to space!” the space agency wrote. Closer to earth, the annual barrage of illegal fireworks caused its usual share of mayhem. A woman was killed and three others were severely injured in a fireworks explosion in Chino, while trees, buildings, and cars caught on fire in other parts of the region. Space.com
12.
Jeff Goldblum has lived in the hills above West Hollywood for more than four decades, descending to improve every movie he’s cast in and play piano with his jazz band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. He and his wife invited Architectural Digest to tour the renovation of their guest house, which includes a nightclub-style social space and a gym with pink workout equipment.
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