Good morning. It’s Monday, May 9.
• | Nancy Pelosi hits back at Gavin Newsom on abortion fight. |
• | California bishops challenge right of rape victims to sue. |
• | And a purple explosion of jacarandas across Los Angeles. |
Statewide
1
A contractor worked the bullet train in Kern County on April 19.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2008, California’s bullet train was slated to cost $33 billion and start moving passengers by 2020. The latest estimate: $105 billion with a start date in 2029 at the earliest. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers are now locked in a standoff on funding. Against this backdrop, CalMatters wrote: “[Speaker Anthony] Rendon and a majority of Democrats in the Assembly want to essentially detonate Newsom’s plan for the rail.”
2
“It’s a lot easier than you think.”
Californians, on average, use about 100 gallons of water per capita per day. In some parts of the state, the figure surpasses 300 gallons. Yet in Israel and Spain, similarly dry parts of the world, consumption is around 35 gallons a day. Experts say the difference is made with recycling, desalination, drip irrigation, and other tools that California has been slow to adopt. L.A. Times
California’s two largest reservoirs — Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville — are at “critically low levels.” CNN
3
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday hit back at Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow San Francisco Democrat, over his remarks last Wednesday accusing his party of being absent on abortion rights. On CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, Pelosi said she and other Democrats have battled for “decades” in Congress. “I have no idea why anybody would make that statement unless they were unaware of the fight that has been going on,” she said. S.F. Chronicle | Axios
4
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.
Nine California Catholic dioceses have petitioned the Supreme Court to review a 2019 California law that extended the window for childhood rape victims to sue. The state measure set off a wave of lawsuits against the church and the Boy Scouts of America. In their petition, the bishops called the law unconstitutional and warned of “potentially ruinous liability” for the church. A group that advocates for victims called the petition “a slap in the face.” Religion News Service | Catholic News Agency
5
California lawmakers want to crack down on loud car exhausts. They sent a bill for signature to Gov. Newsom to roll out sound-activated devices that would obtain license plate photos of ear-splitting vehicles in six cities. As noise laws now stand, cars are limited to no louder than 95 decibels and motorcycles to 80 decibels. That puts out of bounds even some vehicles straight from the factory. Tests have found that lawnmowers and jackhammers can hit about 100 decibels. Jalopnik | Auto Week
Northern California
6
El Dorado County residents voted to allow outdoor cannabis cultivation in 2018. Yet more than three years later, as surrounding counties have issued hundreds of cultivation permits, El Dorado has issued a total of zero. Critics say the sheriff’s office is thwarting the industry by dragging out background checks. For Lee Tannenbaum, who changed careers and invested millions of dollars, the delay has been devastating. “It’s sitting,” he said. “I can’t do anything with anything because of these holdups.” KCRA
7
“It’s technically free.”
A new crop of startups popularized by San Francisco tech firms is luring the TikTok generation into debt with “buy now, pay later” loans at the point of sale. Apps with names like Klarna, Sezzle, and Zip are heavily marketed by influencers who glamorize buying new fashions with a few clicks and a small down payment. Missed payments are common, leading to fees in some cases and added interest in others. SFGATE
8
People strolled through San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1940s.
A YouTuber by the name of NASS, who specializes in “upscaling” vintage videos with artificial intelligence, has been busy in recent months. Since January, he’s sharpened, colorized, and added audio to more than a dozen archival films shot around California, making them feel somehow more immediate and immersive. A few favorites:
Southern California
9
A mother was arrested after her three children were found dead in their San Fernando Valley home early Sunday, police said. Neighbors said they called police in response to screaming from the house in the Woodland Hills neighborhood. “I kept hearing, ‘My family is abusing me,’ and just kept hearing screaming,” said Priscilla Canales. The slain children included a 12-year-old girl and two 8-year-old boys, police said. A fourth child who ran to a neighbor’s house was unhurt. Fox 11 | L.A. Times
10
Dave Chappelle is asking Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón to reverse his decision not to file felony charges against the man who tackled the comedian at the Hollywood Bowl last week. “Ten thousand people saw Dave Chappelle assaulted on stage at the Hollywood Bowl last Tuesday night, and the assailant had a deadly weapon on him,” said Gabriel Colwell, Chappelle’s lawyer. “The fact that this isn’t charged as a felony case by the D.A. is insane.” Rolling Stone | N.Y. Post
11
Jacarandas lit up a street in Long Beach last week.
In Los Angeles, you know summer is near when the streets are draped in pale purple. Jacaranda trees are now bursting into bloom across Southern California. Native to South America, they were planted in earnest a century ago from San Diego to Santa Barbara. In an elegant appraisal, the writer Julia Wick connected the tree’s allure to its marking of time: “Their purple pageantry is the closest thing we have to seasons, to any season at all. They dazzle us and then disappear. And, as we look up at the space that was briefly purple and is now just sky, we Angelenos feel the rarest thing of all: time passing.” LAist
See a map of jacarandas for Los Angeles, and another for San Diego.
12
Los Angeles has a shiny new car-free bridge across the L.A. River. Years in the planning, the Taylor Yard Bridge is painted bright orange and designed to evoke classic railway bridges. A platform in the center invites people to take in the view. The bridge is part of a revitalization effort that aims to connect the path to a $1 billion riverside park on an old railroad property. Architect | designboom
A few pictures. 👇
Mike Kelley
Mike Kelley
Mike Kelley
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