Good morning. It’s Tuesday, April 5.
• | Authorities make arrest in Sacramento mass shooting. |
• | Elon Musk becomes “the anti-media media mogul.” |
• | And Black Lives Matter secretly buys $6 million home. |
Statewide
1
California is calling upon Native American tribes to bring back the once-prohibited practice of lighting controlled burns to help prevent devastating wildfires. As part of an initiative announced last week, California firefighters will learn directly from tribal leaders. “We’ve been talking about these fires for a long time and trying to get people to listen to us, and for decades no one really did,” said Redbird Willie, cultural fire practitioner in Sonoma County. “Now all of a sudden everybody is listening.” CNN
2
Lake Oroville reached record lows in 2021, forcing the closure of its hydroelectric plant.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
As California’s drought worsened wildfires and damaged crops, it also slashed a crucial source of renewable energy. In 2021, electricity generation from hydropower plants at the state’s shriveled reservoirs fell nearly 50% from average, new data showed. And 2022 is looking even worse. That’s expected to have big impacts on emissions as natural gas helps make up the difference. MIT Technology Review
3
Researchers projected how valley fever could spread through the end of the 21st century.
Morgan Gorris, Los Alamos National Laboratory
The ideal conditions for valley fever are wet winters followed by dry summers — in other words, California, where rates of the fungal infection that is transmitted in dust have risen 800% since 2000. As models suggest increasingly extreme cycles of precipitation and dryness, researchers say valley fever could become a threat across the entire western U.S. in the coming decades. Scott Shirley, a Paso Robles winemaker who was stricken by the disease, described what it’s like. “On a pain scale of one to 10, it was a 10,” he said. “The worst pain I’ve ever felt.” L.A. Times
4
☝️ Buck Rock is an active fire lookout atop a granite dome at 8,500 feet in Sequoia National Forest. The perch affords spectacular 360-degree views of the highest peaks of the Sierra clear across the San Joaquin Valley to the Coastal Ranges. The public is usually welcome to visit, though it is currently closed until at least May. You just have to climb some serious stairs. Atlas Obscura | BuckRock.org
“This is one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen in California!” Huell Howser once paid a visit to Buck Rock. YouTube
Northern California
5
Evidence markers were placed throughout the shooting crime scene in downtown Sacramento.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The authorities on Monday announced an arrest in connection with Sacramento’s weekend mass shooting, but said the suspect “has not been arrested for any homicide related to this incident.” Dandrae Martin, 26, was booked on assault and firearm charges. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said she expected more arrests. “The investigation is highly complex,” she said, “involving many witnesses, videos of numerous types, and significant physical evidence.” KCRA | Sacramento Bee
“A father of four. A best friend with a positive personality. A vivacious partygoer.” Here are the six victims killed in Sunday’s shooting. 👉 A.P. | N.Y. Times (gift article)
6
On March 25, Elon Musk polled his Twitter followers on whether Twitter adheres to free speech principles, saying the results “will be important.” More than 70% answered no. On Monday, a regulatory filing disclosed that Musk, whose net worth surpasses $270 billion, had bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him its largest shareholder. “Oh hi lol,” he tweeted later. Twitter stock surged 27% on the news. Washington Post | Bloomberg
Politico Magazine’s Jack Shafer: Musk is now the “the anti-media media mogul.”
7
Wages may be higher in the Bay Area, but they hardly keep up with the soaring cost of homeownership. A new report by UC Berkeley researchers found that just 24% of homes sold in San Francisco in 2019 fell within a price bracket affordable to middle-class buyers. That’s down from 47% in 2010. “To be able to qualify for any of these houses anywhere in the Bay Area, you have to have an average annual income of $235,000,” said Tim Yee, a real estate broker and president of RE/MAX Gold Bay Area. “It’s crazy.” Patch | S.F. Chronicle
8
A capture near Mount Tamalpais.
Doris Mitsch
Early in the pandemic, the Bay Area photographer Doris Mitsch set up a camera outside her front door and shot consecutive images of birds flying around her home. “While we on the ground were locked down, up in the air, there was still a lot going on,” she wrote. The photos grew into a project, “Locked Down Looking Up,” that offers a new perspective on the avian ballet in California’s skies. Colossal | Dorism.com
Follow Mitsch on Instagram. 👉 @dorismitsch
Southern California
9
John Eastman, the Orange County lawyer who outlined a legal theory designed to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has emerged as a key figure in the Jan. 6 congressional probe. His supporters say he was simply fulfilling his duty by seeking all legal options for his client, President Trump. But Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law School, said attorneys can only go so far. “There are things lawyers can’t do even in the name of zealous representation,” he said. That would include, he said, “attempting coups to overthrow the government.” L.A. Times
10
Melina Abdullah, left, defended luxury home purchases by leaders of her Black Lives Matter group.
Robert Gauthier/L.A. Times via Getty Images
Last spring, three leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement — Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Melina Abdullah — sat on a patio in Southern California for a recorded chat. At one point, Abdullah addressed public criticism of Cullors buying expensive homes. “Y’all don’t know shit about what it takes to live in a box here,” she said, addressing the critics. None of the women acknowledged the $6 million home behind them, which included 6,500 square feet, a pool, multiple fireplaces, and parking for 20 cars. It was paid for with money donated to their group, a transaction that they had hoped to keep secret. New York Magazine
11
A Canadian public service video explained advisory bike lanes.
“You’re playing chicken.”
“I almost got hit three times so far.”
“It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Residents of a San Diego neighborhood were recently surprised to discover that city workers had reconfigured their street without notice. What had been a two-lane, two-way street was repainted to become a single lane with two bike lanes on either side. Yet the road remains open to two-way traffic, forcing vehicles to veer into the bike lanes to avoid oncoming cars. A city official said the so-called advisory bike lanes, common in Europe, are a first for San Diego. She acknowledged that they should have warned residents. NBC San Diego | KUSI
12
Just two weeks before the scheduled return of America’s biggest music festival after a three-year hiatus, its headliner bailed. Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, abruptly pulled out of performances planned for the Coachella music festival, reports said. The rapper has come under criticism for erratic online behavior in recent weeks that has included harassing messages toward the comedians Pete Davidson and Trevor Noah. A Change.org petition calling for Coachella to drop Ye collected about 50,000 signatures. TMZ | Variety
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