Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Sept. 24.
- California accuses Exxon of plastic recycling “myth.”
- Strange saga of Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
- And the brutalist maze of UC San Diego’s Muir College.
Statewide
1.
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, sued Exxon Mobil on Monday, accusing the oil giant of misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic. In the first lawsuit of its kind, Bonta said Exxon, a leading producer of polymers used in single-use plastics, promoted the “myth of recycling” to extend its profits, even though it knew most plastics cannot be recycled. He planned to seek billions of dollars in damages. Exxon pointed the finger back at California, accusing state officials of failing to fix an ineffective recycling system. Wall Street Journal | Politico
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to approve or veto hundreds of bills approved by the state Legislature. A few recent moves:
- A 2016 ban on single-use plastic bags backfired when grocery stores instead handed out thicker “reusable” bags that made pollution worse. Under a new law signed by Newsom, those are now banned too. L.A. Times | A.P.
- Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required public universities to hire immigrants in the country illegally. The decision crushed the hopes of many students, but relieved university leaders worried about the risk of federal prosecution. Politico | L.A. Times
- The governor signed two bills designed to disrupt unhealthy relationships between young people and their devices. One prohibits social media companies from providing “addictive” feeds to children. The other requires school districts to limit cellphone use on campus. EdSource | A.P.
- See CalMatters’ bill tracker.
3.
More than two decades ago, Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle were both rising prosecutors in San Francisco. “Superstar women,” said Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor, who once dated Harris. “They represented the city.” But the future Democratic vice president and Guilfoyle, who has become a top surrogate for Donald Trump, didn’t get along, according to people who knew them then. Reporter Matt Flegenheimer dug into “the long, strange saga of Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle.” N.Y. Times
- The New York Times on Harris’ record as a prosecutor: She “cracked down on violent offenders; showed leniency on less serious crime.”
4.
Fall has arrived in the Eastern Sierra. In recent days, the region’s canyons and meadows have been begun transforming into pageants of yellow and gold, the handiwork primarily of quaking aspens, so named for the way they shimmer in the breeze. Local tourism operators say the time to visit destinations above 8,000 feet, such as Sagehen Summit, pictured above, is now. Further north, the first Virginia creepers have begun to turn wine-red in the autumn wonderland of Plumas County, meaning peak color could appear by mid-October. California Fall Color | PlumasCounty.org
- See a map of the current foliage status across California.
Northern California
5.
A retired Fresno Superior Court judge, Adolfo Corona, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexual battery and sexual penetration by fear or force, according to a court filing unsealed on Monday. Corona, who paid $70,000 in bail, pleaded not guilty. In 2018, Corona sentenced a sexual predator to probation, infuriating the 14-year-old victim’s father, Todd Thomas. “I’m not surprised at all this judge is sympathetic to predators,” Thomas said on Monday. L.A. Times | KFSN
6.
On July 23, the day former President Trump survived his first assassination attempt, two women exchanged words of a political nature on the pickleball courts of a retirement community in Walnut Creek. Things escalated. Punches were thrown and clumps of hair pulled. In response, the board of the private community, numbering roughly 10,000 residents, added restrictions on demonstrations and banned political columns in their weekly publication, the Rossmoor News. Those measures seem to have only inflamed passions. S.F. Chronicle
7.
Kelseyville, a small community near the shore of Northern California’s Clear Lake, was named after Andrew Kelsey, a settler notorious for enslaving and starving Indigenous laborers. In 1849, he was killed by the same Native Americans he had abused. Because of that history, supervisors agreed to hold a popular vote on whether to change the town’s name to Konocti, the Pomo word for a nearby dormant volcano. It’s expected to lose in a landslide. County Supervisor Moke Simon, who is Pomo, said the vote would illustrate, as he put it, “how racist this community is.” Politico
8.
Fresno has adopted one of the state’s most aggressive homeless encampment ordinances: no public camping anywhere, anytime. The law went into effect Monday. Mayor Jerry Dyer, a former police chief, insisted that Fresno wants to help people. But, he added, “There are times when people have to get uncomfortable before they can get comfortable.” Fresno Bee | KQED
- Oakland’s mayor, Sheng Thao, directed city agencies to ramp up encampment sweeps on Monday. “We must return public spaces to the public,” she said. KTVU | Mercury News
9.
UCSF placed one of its professors of medicine on leave after she singled out an Israeli student on social media, suggesting that he could be guilty of genocide, a source told the San Francisco Chronicle. Dr. Rupa Marya’s post drew broad condemnation, including from State Sen. Scott Wiener, who accused her of creating a “toxic, hostile environment at UCSF.” In January, Marya drew censure for suggesting that Zionist doctors are a threat to their patients. S.F. Chronicle
- A faculty group filed a labor complaint that accuses the University of California of suppressing pro-Palestinian speech. A.P.
Southern California
10.
The San Diego County medical examiner ruled a jail inmate’s death last September a homicide caused by the “neglect” of jail personnel. Keith Bach’s insulin pump had likely been beeping in the hours leading up to his death, alerting him that it had run out of insulin, according to newly released autopsy findings. Bach developed diabetic ketoacidosis and died. This occurred, the report said, despite the jail’s knowledge of Bach’s insulin requirements and his “multiple unanswered requests” for insulin. S.D. Union-Tribune
11.
A Tesla used to be the “it” car in Hollywood, a symbol of both wealth and commitment to the earth. Then Elon Musk became a vocal Donald Trump supporter and culture warrior. Alexander Edwards, an automobile-industry researcher, said some Tesla owners have become so disillusioned they are walking away from leases. “They want nothing to do with Tesla,” he said. Hollywood Reporter
12.
In the 1960s, UC San Diego hired the modernist architect Robert Mosher to design its second college. They “got more than they bargained for,” noted one architecture writer. Under Mosher’s vision, Muir College unfolded as a brutalist maze, where natural spaces weave between imposing concrete towers. The photographer Marco Petrini published a new series on the campus, which is regarded today as among the most striking examples of the architectural style anywhere. 👉 designboom
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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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