Good morning. It’s Friday, Jan. 30.
- Governor files civil rights complaint against Mehmet Oz.
- Former CapRadio executive arrested on corruption charges.
- And “Melania” posters are defaced across Los Angeles.
Statewide
1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a civil rights complaint on Thursday against Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, accusing him of making “baseless and racist allegations” against Armenian Americans. In a video posted on Tuesday, Oz stood in front of a Los Angeles bakery and claimed that hospice and home care businesses in the area had committed $3.5 billion worth of fraud. It was orchestrated, he said, “by the Russian Armenian mafia. You notice the lettering and language behind me is of that dialect.” N.Y. Times | L.A. Times
- “Anti-Armenian hate.” “Ethnic profiling.” “Tired, racist tropes.” California members of Congress slammed Oz’s remarks.
2.
The U.S. housing market experienced a slump in 2025 as higher mortgage rates kept many buyers at bay. But ultra-luxury real-estate sales skyrocketed. Los Angeles County delivered the country’s most dramatic year-over-year increase in sales of homes priced at $10 million or more — 54% — with 292 such deals. Close behind was San Francisco, where sales of $10 million-plus homes jumped 50%. Wall Street Journal
- Analysts said such spending was unsurprising given the stock market’s stellar performance in 2025. The top 1% of households now hold almost one-third of the nation’s wealth, Bloomberg reported.
3.
Scientists on a research vessel off California’s Central Coast were astonished to encounter a waved albatross, roughly 3,000 miles away from its native Galapagos Islands. It was just the second recorded sighting of the species with a yellow bill and 8-foot wingspan north of Central America. The scientists were at a loss to explain what would possess the bird to venture so far north. “I can’t even believe what I saw,” said marine ornithologist Tammy Russell, who was on board the vessel. “I’m still in shock.” A.P.
4.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talked with David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University. In December, an L.A. Times investigation of California county fairs found allegations of rampant corruption and mismanagement. McCuan discussed how the fairs evolved from quaint local affairs to big business: “And so the lack of accountability, the mismanagement and potential for corruption, all of those things have gone way up as the dollar size, if you will, has increased dramatically as well.”
Northern California
5.
A former top executive of CapRadio, the primary NPR station serving the Sacramento area, was arrested Thursday and charged with felony embezzlement, grand theft, and forgery. Prosecutors said Jun Reina, the station’s former general manager and chief financial officer, “orchestrated a multi-year scheme” during which he stole more than $1.3 million for luxury international travel, home renovations, tuition for his children, and more. In 2023, CapRadio announced that it was laying off staff and cancelling shows after an audit uncovered financial mismanagement. Sacramento Bee | KCRA
6.
Anthropic has positioned itself as the artificial intelligence industry’s superego, speaking with apparent sincerity about the “civilizational concerns” posed by the technology. The company publishes white papers about the impending dangers, even bringing them to the attention of politicians. Yet none of that has stopped Anthropic from moving full speed toward building tools that it acknowledges could have horrific consequences. “The AI company shouting about AI’s dangers can’t quite bring itself to slow down,” the Atlantic’s Matteo Wong wrote.
Southern California
7.
While immigration raids in Los Angeles grabbed headlines last year, a quieter operation was unfolding in San Diego and Imperial counties. Arrests there surged 1,500% from the year prior, surpassing the number recorded in the much larger Los Angeles region. During a visit to the San Diego border in December, President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, warned of an even bigger crackdown. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said. “Wait until next year.” CalMatters
- Many Californians planned to join national anti-ICE protests on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, people are being urged to stay home from school, work, and shops as part of a “national shutdown.” L.A. Times | KGO
8.
The California Post, the new West Coast version of the New York Post, has already hired more than 80 newsroom staff members, including reporters poached from Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and the San Francisco Standard. At a coming-out party in Los Angeles in November, 94-year-old owner Rupert Murdoch himself was in attendance. “The message was clear,” the New York Times wrote. “This is not a toe-dip to test the frothy waters of Hollywood, but a well-funded push to cement The Post as a national brand.”
9.
A $35 million marketing campaign for “Melania,” a documentary about the first lady, has gotten a ruthless reception in Los Angeles. In the San Fernando Valley, bus stop posters for the film were defaced with devil horns, slurs, and references to Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler’s companion. L.A. Metro officials preemptively reassigned buses featuring ads for the film to avoid additional vandalism. L.A. Times | FOX 11 LA
- The extraordinary promotion of “Melania” by Amazon has many in Hollywood convinced that the company is simply currying favor with President Trump. N.Y. Times
10.
On Thursday, federal regulators said they were investigating how a Waymo autonomous vehicle hit a child near a Santa Monica school during drop-off hour on Jan. 23. Waymo said the child, who suffered minor injuries, ran into traffic, where a Waymo braked hard, slowing to 6 mph before impact. The company said the incident demonstrated the safety of driverless cars: models show a “fully attentive human driver” likely would have struck the child at greater speed, it said. L.A. Times | Washington Post
11.
At a canine longevity conference in San Diego in October, there was a booth offering $295 “torches” that can be inserted into a dog’s anus to reduce inflammation. “Our animals and us are actually super deficient in light, especially the most healing wavelengths that we have,” said Jackie Jolie, CEO of AnimaSol. “And that’s what’s causing our genes to change, our gut microbiome to go to hell.” WSJ. Magazine delved into San Diego’s “wild world of pet wellness.”
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Native to the redwood forests along the North Coast, the ferret-sized Humboldt marten is extremely elusive. To learn more about their ways, researchers placed 135 remote cameras across roughly 150 square miles of Humboldt and Del Norte counties. They got some fantastic new images. Popular Science | KATU
- See video of the Humboldt marten.
- Each year, the Wall Street Journal polls readers to determine their House of the Year. The 2025 winner is a $4 million Tudor Revival cottage in Carmel Highlands. Built in 1925, the home was designed by Michael J. Murphy, a builder who was instrumental in giving the region its signature fairy tale aesthetic. The Journal published pictures.
- After a wildlife photographer found a group of wild horses starving and stranded by deep snow near Mammoth Lakes, the U.S. Forest Service mounted a rescue operation to save them. Getting the animals out required cutting a trail through the snow and luring them onto trailers with food. L.A. Times
- See video of the trapped horses before their rescue.
- During Thanksgiving dinner in 2018, the Reiner family and guests went around the table sharing what they were grateful for. Then it was Nick Reiner’s turn: “Well, I’m certainly not grateful for this fucking food, and I’m not grateful for any of you freeloaders in my house,” he yelled, according to a dinner guest. Washington Post
- A visit from a wayward cougar unnerved residents in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights before officials were able to subdue it with a tranquilizer on Tuesday. The night before, Lindsey Ann Cummings, a nurse, got the scare of her life when the powerful cat emerged from the shadows outside an apartment building. “It was one paw away from my jugular,” she said. S.F. Chronicle | KQED
- See video of the mountain lion.
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