Good morning. It’s Tuesday, April 28.
- California’s forests are bombarded with glyphosate.
- The political transformation of Google’s Sergey Brin.
- And sprinter Allyson Felix plots comeback at age 40.
Statewide
1.
Logging companies and the U.S. Forest Service have been spraying massive amounts of glyphosate in California forests cleared by fire and timber harvests. The herbicide best known as Roundup has been blamed for killing off monarch butterflies and wild frogs, and some researchers have classified it as a probable carcinogen. Its use in forests is intended to help trees rebound faster by killing competing vegetation. “In short,” Mother Jones wrote, “a key rationale for spraying a disputed chemical in natural settings boils down to executives and regulators treating forests … as tree farms.”
- The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that could clear the way for a wave of lawsuits over alleged health risks of glyphosate. The justices appeared divided. A.P. | Wall Street Journal
2.
The Trump administration announced Monday that it would reimburse two wind developers $885 million to forfeit their leases in federal waters off New York and California’s Central Coast. In exchange, Golden State Wind pledged to abandon its wind farm project off Morro Bay and invest instead in oil and gas. “The agreements,” wrote the New York Times, “are extraordinary transfers of taxpayer dollars to private companies for the purposes of throttling offshore wind power, a source of clean energy that Mr. Trump has disparaged for decades.”
3.
After mounting a remarkable surge in the race for California governor, Xavier Becerra is now facing a barrage of attacks from progressives and rival Democrats. Detractors have highlighted campaign contributions from companies like Chevron, hammered his opposition to a billionaire tax, and accused him of losing track of unaccompanied migrant children during his tenure as President Biden’s health secretary. In interviews, critics called Becerra a “go-along Democrat,” “invisible,” and “clearly not a progressive.” Politico | L.A. Times
Northern California
4.
Until recently, the Google co-founder Sergey Brin seldom showed interest in politics. When he did, he embraced liberal causes, such as same-sex marriage rights and environmental conservation. But like many Silicon Valley tycoons, he’s shifted to the right. The New York Times interviewed more than a dozen people close to Brin for a piece on his political transformation and the role his girlfriend, a Trump-loving gut-health influencer named Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, may have played.
5.
In November, 1991, someone kidnapped a woman from a home in the suburbs northeast of Sacramento, then raped and strangled her, leaving her body in nearby woods. The investigation into the murder of Cinthia Wanner, a mother of two, went cold for decades. But on Monday, the Placer County authorities announced that a 64-year-old convicted sex offender, James Lawhead Jr., had been arrested after DNA analysis linked him to the crime. “This family has suffered in anguish for 35 years, and they deserve some accountability,” said Morgan Gire, the district attorney. Sacramento Bee | S.F. Chronicle
6.
Casey Harrell, of Oakland, was a climate activist and a new father when A.L.S. stole his mobility, then his voice. In 2023, he agreed to have electrodes implanted in his brain as part of a clinical trial at UC Davis to discern what he was trying to say. The recovery was brutal; Harrell spent five days in intensive care. Weeks passed. Everyone was warned to manage their expectations. Then, when Harrell was ready to test the software, he was positioned in front of a monitor and asked to read the words on the screen. It worked so well that he crumpled into tears. S.F. Chronicle
7.
Researchers at a secretive biotech company based in Redwood City are trying to figure out how to reverse aging. It sounds like science fiction, yet there is widespread agreement among scientists that the work has extraordinary potential. The company, Altos Labs, has a reputation as a black box. But in March they invited the journalist Susan Dominus inside. “The most vehement disagreements are not over whether cellular aging can be reversed,” she wrote, “but how far scientists can push it.” New York Times Magazine
8.
Workers on Monday began dismantling San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain after months of debate over its future. Upon its debut in the early 1970s, the artwork was intensely despised by critics, one of whom described it as “incredibly ugly,” “pretentiously simple-minded,” and “literally insipid.” Yet the fountain remained, and over time even earned affection. Preservationist were ultimately unable to save the deteriorating structure as the city prepares a $32.5 million renovation of plaza. S.F. Chronicle | KGO
9.
Steve Kerr, the plainspoken coach of the Golden State Warriors, sat for an interview with the New Yorker and had a lot to say about politics. (He insisted he has no desire to run for office).
“My dad was killed by Iranian proxies forty-two years ago. I have no regard for the Iranian regime whatsoever. But the answer does not lie in starting a war and killing innocent people. Imagine being a parent of one of the one hundred and seventy-five girls who died when their school was bombed. Their loss, their suffering . . . How are they going to feel about America? Violence begets violence.”
Southern California
10.
On April 23, the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel parodied the planned White House correspondents’ dinner, saying “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” The bit came before a gunman breached security at the Washington event on Saturday. But on Monday, President Trump called on Disney’s ABC to fire Kimmel, as White House officials sought to link the comedian to the violence. Kimmel addressed the dust-up late Monday. The joke was “obviously” directed at the Trumps’ age difference, he said. “It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination.” Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
- In his first court appearance Monday, Cole Allen, of Torrance, was charged with attempting to assassinate the president. He did not enter a plea. A.P.
11.
Westminster just dedicated a Charlie Kirk Way, in what the mayor said is a nationwide first. The city in western Orange County is home to the country’s largest enclave of Vietnamese Americans, whose political leanings have been shaped by strong anti-communist sentiment. The City Council also designated Oct. 14, the conservative activist’s birthday, as “Charlie Kirk Day.” During debate over the proposal in November, Councilmember Carlos Manzo, the lone dissenter, accused his colleagues of trying to “out Republican each other.” OC Hoods
12.
Los Angeles’s Allyson Felix is the most decorated sprinter in American history, with 11 Olympic medals to her name. At 40 years old, she’s not done. Felix, who welcomed a second child in 2024 and did not compete at the Paris Games, announced on Monday that she plans to come out of retirement in a bid to make the 2028 Olympic team in her hometown. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime homecoming,” she said. “And it is the only thing powerful enough to pull me back.” TIME | A.P.
Get your California Sun T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, hats, and totes!
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
Wake up to must-read news from around the Golden State delivered to your inbox each morning.