Good morning. It’s Thursday, Nov. 7.
- Wildfire burns dozens of homes in Ventura County.
- Multiple counties poised to flip red for Donald Trump.
- And photogenic red foxes of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Election 2024
1.
As Donald Trump’s victory came into focus late Tuesday, California’s ruling Democrats were already bracing for battle. Attorney General Rob Bonta said his team had laid the groundwork for a raft of potential court challenges on environmental, immigration, and civil rights policies. “If he comes into office and follows the law … then there’s nothing for us to do,” Bonta said. “But if he violates the law, as he has said he would, as Project 2025 says he will, then we are ready. We have gone down to the detail of what court do we file in.” Politico | L.A. Times
- Columnist Emily Hoeven: Gov. Gavin Newsom can’t just cast himself as the leader of the anti-Trump resistance. “He will need to redefine what it means to be a Democrat.” S.F. Chronicle
2.
“It’s shell shock.”
“This is a bad dream.”
“I feel like I got beat up.”
“This is a new kind of disappointment.”
Trump’s decisive victory hit hard in deep-blue cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, where voters on Wednesday alternated between bouts of soul-searching, recrimination, and despondency. S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News | KQED
3.
A who’s who of Silicon Valley leaders wasted no time congratulating Trump on his return to power. Among them: Sundar Pichai of Google, Tim Cook of Apple, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and of course Elon Musk, who posted an altered picture of himself carrying a kitchen sink into the Oval Office in a reference to his takeover of Twitter. Washington Post | The Verge
4.
During his campaign, Trump promised to get revenge. Popular mandate in hand, he is now positioned to follow through. Among the Californians he’s targeted:
- Kamala Harris — In September, Trump told a rally “hundreds of people have been murdered because of her action at the border” and said Harris “should be impeached and prosecuted.”
- Adam Schiff — Trump has repeatedly excoriated the now senator-elect who led the prosecution of Trump’s first impeachment. He has branded Schiff a “traitor” and said he should be prosecuted for treason.
- Nancy Pelosi — Trump has said Pelosi should face prosecution on several fronts, including accusations of illegal trading and what he described as her failure to secure the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
- Mark Zuckerberg — Trump has accused the Meta founder of “a plot against the president” and said he would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again. Politico
5.
Statewide results roundup:
- With many ballots still left to count, Harris’ lead over Trump in California narrowed to roughly 17 percentage points on Wednesday, with the Republican drawing more than 40% of the vote. That’s up from 34.3% in 2020. Multiple counties appeared poised to flip red. KCRA | L.A. Times
- California’s five “tossup” House races remained too close to call, but each was leaning Republican. Several reports said Republicans were favored to secure a narrow majority in the chamber, setting the GOP up for a governing trifecta of the Senate, House, and White House. Politico | Wall Street Journal
- California’s statehouse saw significant turnover but Democrats maintained their two-thirds “supermajorities” in both legislative chambers. CalMatters
- Californians approved both of the $10 billion bond measures on the ballot, Propositions 2 and 4, securing funding for school construction and environmental projects. EdSource | L.A. Times
- Track the latest proposition vote totals.
6.
Local results roundup:
- Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, soundly defeated progressive incumbent George Gascón in the race for Los Angeles County district attorney. Hochman vowed to reverse Gascón’s “social experiments.” Politico | L.A. Times
- Voters in South Lake Tahoe rejected a controversial measure that would have imposed a hefty tax increase on owners of vacation homes. Supporters had argued that empty homes worsen the housing crisis. SFGATE
- Ysabel Jurado, who made headlines after a recording surfaced of her saying “fuck the police,” opened a wide lead against incumbent Kevin de León in the race for a Los Angeles City Council seat. KTLA | L.A. Times
- Berkeley voters rejected a proposed tax on natural gas, delivering a blow to environmentalists hoping to discourage its use. Bloomberg
Statewide
7.
A wildfire roared across more than 22 square miles of Ventura County in a matter of hours early Wednesday, engulfing dozens of homes and forcing more than 10,000 people to flee, reports said. Powerful winds stymied efforts to slow the so-called Mountain fire and made retardant drops by airplanes impossible, officials said. “Firefighters were right off the bat pulling people from their houses and saving lives,” said Trevor Johnson, a fire captain. “It was as intense as it gets.” Another official said it was “like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun.” ABC7 | A.P.
- A helicopter crew captured dramatic pictures of neighborhoods in flames. @abc7chriscristi
8.
The authorities arrested a San Jose City Council member, Omar Torres, and charged him with multiple felonies in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of an underaged cousin. Torres, 43, tendered his resignation the same day as his arrest on Tuesday. According to a police report, Torres admitted to the abuse, which took place in the late 1990s, during a phone call with the victim that was monitored by investigators. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you,” he said. Mercury News | L.A. Times
9.
A new program at the Sonoma County jail teaches inmates about live music, composition, and the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. After about 10 weeks of instruction, the students prepare their own roughly three-minute compositions and get the rare opportunity to hear them performed by musicians from the prestigious Juilliard School. Earlier this year, a video showing an inmate get emotional as he listened to a classical quartet play his piece went viral on TikTok. Press Democrat
10.
After 2-year-old Brigland Pfeffer was bitten by a rattlesnake in his San Diego backyard, he needed antivenom. The bill: $213,278.80. Why the high price? It’s not the manufacturing. Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, called the figure “eye-popping.” “When you see the word ‘charges,’ that’s a made-up number,” she said. “That isn’t connected at all, usually, to what the actual drug cost.” KFF Health News
11.
There are red foxes in greater Los Angeles. Nonnatives, the foxes were brought to Orange County in the early 1900s for sport hunting, while others were used on fur farms. Escapees multiplied, and by the 1980s red fox numbers boomed across Southern California. Nowadays, a small population of the animals has become a mainstay of the region around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Karen Schuenemann, a local wildlife photographer, specializes in documenting their photogenic ways. LAist
See more pictures at Schuenemann’s website. 👉 Wildernessatheart.com
12.
You should get away.
In Hope Valley, a barely populated natural paradise in the Northern Sierra, there’s a nearly 100-year-old resort nestled along a rolling river in an aspen forest. Newly renovated cabins are designed in Scandinavian style with full kitchens and fireplaces. It’s included in a listicle by the travel writer Keri Bridgwater on “10 cozy cabin” getaways across California. Locale Magazine
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