Good morning. It’s Friday, May 8.
- State’s Latinos appear to sour on Donald Trump.
- San Francisco official keeps landing in jail.
- And survey names the finest California state parks.
Please note: The newsletter will pause on Monday. Back in your inbox on Tuesday.
Statewide
1.
An analysis found that California’s Latinos extended far more support to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to gerrymander House districts in November than they did to Kamala Harris’ bid for president a year earlier. In precincts where a majority of ballots were cast by Latinos, the share of “yeses” for Proposition 50 surpassed the vote for Harris by roughly 30 percentage points. The findings, wrote CalMatters, “provide some of the clearest quantitative evidence yet that the Latino rightward shift toward Trump in 2024 was more a blip than a permanent realignment.”
2.
Half a dozen former Biden administration officials, all speaking anonymously, reacted with incredulity to Xavier Becerra’s rise in the California governor’s race, Politico reported. They described the former health secretary as ineffective, absent, and unprepared during his Cabinet tenure. “There are a lot of administration alumni running for office across the country and most of them have been endorsed by Biden and Harris,” one former official said. “That hasn’t happened for Becerra and it’s obvious, at least to most of us, as to why.”
- Becerra’s campaign pushed back on the report, providing statements of praise from several Biden administration colleagues. Politico
3.
“I think all students are panicking right now.”
College students across the country found themselves locked out of their coursework on Thursday after a massive cyberattack hobbled Canvas, one of the most widely used education apps. The outage hit dozens of California campuses, including Stanford, USC, and the UC and Cal State systems. In a statement to the Daily Californian, the UC Berkeley newspaper, a cybercrime group said it would release “more than 600,000” records of Berkeley staff and students unless a ransom is paid. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
4.
Many Californians are unaware of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, tucked in the Mayacamas Mountains 10 miles east of Santa Rosa. But visitors rave about the preserve’s 6 square miles of lush, mossy forest, sweeping ridgelines, a fabulous waterfall, and one of the prettiest viewpoints in the Bay Area.
Sugarloaf just earned the “hidden gem” honor in the 2026 Best of California’s State Parks survey, conducted by popular vote. See the other winners.
5.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Kate Washington, a Sacramento author of the forthcoming memoir “Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims.” As Washington approached her 50th birthday, she felt empty. So she embarked on a project to fully immerse in 50 bodies of water. Her journey across California — from the American River to Lake Tenaya, Big Chico Creek, and beyond — “brought me back to myself,” she said.
Northern California
6.
A judge disqualified the Santa Clara County district attorney, Jeff Rosen, from trying pro-Palestinian activists accused of vandalizing Stanford’s executive offices after Rosen highlighted the case in campaign materials. In one fundraising email, Rosen, who is Jewish, recalled how his father survived concentration camps and stressed his commitment to the Jewish people. Judge Kelley Paul said Rosen undercut the defendants’ right to a fair trial by implying that the alleged crime was antisemitic. “This case is not a hate crime,” he said. Palo Alto Online | Jewish News
7.
William Palmer is president of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board — and he keeps landing in jail. The San Francisco Chronicle recounted a traffic stop for expired tags in December that ended with Palmer in handcuffs:
“The driver wasted no time letting them know who he was. ‘My name is president William Monroe Palmer,’ he said, leaning out his window. ‘I’m the president of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board. … How may I help you, sir?’ … He first declined to provide his driver’s license, citing his ‘constitutional rights,’ then refused to hand the card over, saying, ‘I just have to show it to you.'”
- See body cam video of the encounter.
8.
During an economic conference in Beverly Hills on Monday, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang was told by an interviewer that he faces a potential bill of $8 billion from California’s proposed billionaire tax. He doesn’t mind paying taxes, Huang replied:
“I love this country. … I think once a year we get a bill, we pay it, and it’s big, and I don’t mind it. And Lori and I never once think about it. We love this country. In a way, that’s our way of giving back. I would love California to be better. I would love the United States to be better. … But it’s fine. I never once thought about it.”
9.
Under pressure from outraged locals and environmentalists, Humboldt County blocked a man from chopping down the last of five old-growth redwoods on his property in Redway. Residents were shocked when the homeowner began felling the trees in January over fears of falling branches. The spared redwood is a 250-foot-tall specimen believed to be more than 350 years old. “There is only one reason to live in Lower Redway, and that’s because you want to live among the ancient redwoods,” said Sue Maloney, who has led resistance to the tree cutting. Lost Coast Outpost | Eureka Times-Standard
Southern California
10.
The journalist Dana Goodyear, whose home was lost in the Palisades fire, sowed wildflower seeds with her son to help heal the toxic mess left behind. She wrote:
“Already the first flowers that bloomed in our lot are starting to die, the sunflowers bowing their heads and the poppies shedding their bright petals. I am not sad. I celebrate their impermanence. … The 10,000 seed bombs and the flowers they grew are leaving new seeds in the ground, and when the conditions are right — enough water, enough sunlight, enough space — the flowers will come back.” National Geographic
11.
At Cafe on 27, the pancakes and Nutella waffles are served with postcard-worthy views. The treehouse-style breakfast spot is tucked in the Santa Monica Mountains along Topanga Canyon Boulevard, or Route 27. “The sprawling, tree-blanketed patio opens out directly into the canyon, where verdant hills are the only thing you’ll see for miles,” wrote LAist, which recently included Cafe on 27 in a piece on five unique Los Angeles cafés.
- “It’s absolutely gorgeous.” The Instagram account LA Bucket List gave a video tour of Cafe on 27.
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- “The home’s many windows and doors mean that even when you’re inside, the desert is ever-present. Each carefully positioned geometric opening frames a different slice of the landscape.” Anna Merlan wrote about what it’s like to stay in Joshua Tree’s Monument House, a colorful Cubist gem available for rent on AirBnb. Dwell
- “With the saturated orange of the garden umbrellas, bubblegum-pink decorative cacti that fringe the pool, and bright-blue high chairs at the bar, Skyview now calls to mind high-color Americana.” Travel+Leisure took a tour of lodgings along California’s Central Coast, birthplace of the motel.
- A Chino man named Michael Sherman turned his front yard into what he calls a “food forest,” and some neighbors are not pleased. After getting complaints, the city issued Sherman a $750 fine and ordered him to cut the vegetation back. He’s planning to fight it. CBS News
- In Silicon Valley, schools for gifted children have proliferated as founders and executives have sought to disrupt education. One such experiment was meant to be the next big thing for young geniuses. Instead, it spiraled into lawsuits and feuding. The Wall Street Journal told how “Silicon Valley’s brightest parents broke their own school.”
- “Los Angeles and San Francisco tend to dominate the imagination when people think of California, with San Diego often reduced to that place with a zoo south of L.A. … San Diego is so much more than that.” Mike Blake, a photojournalist who has lived in San Diego for 25 years, shared tips on how to explore the city. Reuters
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