Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 15.
- Conspiracy theories spread about Nov. 4 election.
- San Mateo County ousts sheriff in California first.
- And Indigenous practitioners paint with fire.
Statewide
1.
President Trump’s aides have offered a series of explanations for his administration’s funding cuts during the government shutdown, calling the projects wasteful or out of step with White House priorities. But the targets share something else in common: Democratic congressional districts have seen roughly 37 times as much funding halted as Republican ones, an analysis. California has been among the hardest hit, with more than $3.2 billion frozen. The New York Times mapped the cuts.
2.
Conspiracy theories declaring the Nov. 4 redistricting election rigged are already running rampant on social media. Since last week, conservative accounts have alleged that a small hole in mail ballot envelopes was designed to reveal “no” votes that poll workers can then toss in the trash. In reality, the holes were introduced years ago to assist visually impaired voters. That hasn’t stopped Libs of TikTok, Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, and other right-wing accounts from spreading the conspiracy theory online. L.A. Times
3.
On Tuesday, Katie Porter expressed remorse in her first public comments since a pair of viral videos captured her clashing with a reporter and berating a staffer. The former House member and top candidate for California governor said in an interview with “Inside California Politics” that she intended to hold herself to a higher standard. “I think people who know me know I can be tough,” she said. “But I need to do a better job expressing appreciation for the amazing work my team does.” L.A. Times | KTLA
- Perhaps more damaging than the videos is how few Democrats have risen to Porter’s defense. “This is still a job that’s about relationships,” one former House colleague said. Politico
4.
California just added two new honorees to its growing roster of state symbols. The state shrub shall henceforth be bigberry manzanita, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared, and the state snake will be the giant gartersnake. The manzanita was seen as fitting for its beauty and workhorse role in regenerating landscapes scarred by wildfire. The campaign to include the giant gartersnake was linked to California’s water wars: crop irrigation has devastated the aquatic reptile’s native habitat in the Central Valley, shrinking its population by 90% in the last century. LAist
- A few other state symbols you may have missed:
- The state dinosaur: Augustynolophus morrisi
- The state slug: Banana slug
- The state Gold Rush ghost town: Bodie
- The state mushroom: California golden chanterelle
- The state theater: Pasadena Playhouse
Northern California
5.
In a California first, San Mateo County leaders on Tuesday voted unanimously to oust the county sheriff, Christina Corpus, over findings of dysfunction and harassment inside her office. The move marked the culmination of a bitter yearlong saga during which Corpus steadfastly refused to step aside even as she was abandoned by county supervisors, voters, prosecutors, and union leaders. Corpus remained defiant on Tuesday. “I was offered the chance to walk away quietly, to take a payout and disappear,” she said. “I refused.” Mercury News | S.F. Chronicle
6.
Columnist Joe Eskenazi took issue with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s portrayal of San Francisco as a place overrun by crime:
“As unnerving and disheartening as San Francisco’s overt misery and drug-use and mental instability can be, that’s not the same thing as crime. Reported San Francisco crime, which was already low, is down nearly a third. Homicides are on track for their lowest yearly total since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House and the Giants were playing in Manhattan. Subjectively, you may not feel safe in San Francisco. Objectively, you’ve rarely been safer.” Mission Local
7.
The Washington Post published a gorgeous multimedia project on tribal fire practitioners burning farmland in Orleans, about 50 miles south of the Oregon border:
“We watched them paint with fire. Water hoses in hand, two men corralled a three-foot-high fire as it moved through an open field, hosing down grass to keep the flames under control. It’s a scene that normally spells wildfire disaster. And yet the fire moved alongside the group.”
8.
More than a year after abandoning a proposal to create a utopian city on pastureland in Solano County, the billionaire-backed group California Forever has returned with a new proposal. Instead of building a city from scratch, the 250-page plan calls for extending Suisun City, a town of about 30,000 that has faced budget deficits for years. “America’s next great American city,” said California Forever CEO Jan Sramek, will include a massive manufacturing park and walkable neighborhoods for 400,000 residents. S.F. Chronicle | KCRA
9.
A motorist who replaced a lost license plate with a homemade pop art version was not able to fool a California Highway Patrol officer in Merced. In a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post on Friday, the agency said it gave “points for creativity,” but it was not enough to spare the driver a $197 citation. KABC | L.A. Times
Southern California
10.
On May 30, the former Charles Manson follower and convicted killer Patricia Krenwinkel was granted parole for a second time. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the recommendation for a second time. Krenwinkel’s role in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders was especially grisly. She confessed to stabbing victims and using their blood to scrawl “death to pigs” on a wall. Newsom acknowledged Krenwinkel’s “excellent disciplinary history” and “efforts to improve herself” during more than half a century behind bars. But he concluded that the 77-year-old still “poses an unreasonable danger to society.” CBS News | City News Service
11.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach had a right to privately pray on the field after games, the Chino Valley Unified School District argued that the ban on school prayer was essentially overturned. “We will not quietly surrender our right to reflect the values of our community,” board President Sonja Shaw declared. But on Friday, a federal judge shut the district down. The coach’s “quiet prayer,” he wrote, “differs dramatically from the practice in this case, where defendants began board meetings with a prayer … and where students regularly attended meetings.” S.F. Chronicle
12.
After the Pentagon issued a new set of rules for journalists that equates basic reporting methods to criminal activity, virtually every major news outlet refused to sign the document — with one known exception. Even as publications from the New York Times and Washington Post to Fox News and the Daily Caller rejected the rules as an affront to the First Amendment, San Diego’s One America News said it had signed the policy. OAN has distinguished itself in recent years as a reliable source of MAGA boosterism and election denialism. L.A. Times | Washington Post
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