California is embarking on a $3 billion initiative to convert up to 4,000 schools in low-income neighborhoods into centers of community life. Known as community schools, they will provide services to both child and family. In New York, which has embraced the model, the schools stay open longer and on weekends. Psychologists make regular rounds, and pro bono lawyers counsel families on immigration and health insurance. Parents are a ubiquitous presence, taking classes or picking up groceries. EdSource

Coronavirus roundup:

California on Monday threatened to revoke the charitable status of the organization widely seen as a steward of the Black Lives Matter movement over delinquent tax filings. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has faced growing criticism from local organizers who question how tens of millions of dollars in donations is being spent. A New York Magazine story this week portrayed the group as stubbornly opaque, with no clear leader and no answers to basic questions about finances or operations.

A San Francisco 49ers man remained in a coma Wednesday after apparently being beaten in the parking lot of SoFi Stadium during Sunday’s NFC championship game. Daniel Luna, an Oakland restaurant owner who was wearing a San Francisco jersey, was found by paramedics and taken to a hospital, where medical staff contacted police. “They believe he suffered from an assault at the stadium to his upper body and facial area,” said Inglewood Police Lt. Geoffrey Meeks. L.A. Times | Sports Illustrated

San Francisco’s police chief said his department would no longer cooperate with the city district attorney on investigations of police use-of-force incidents. Police Chief Bill Scott had agreed to let prosecutors lead such inquiries in response to concerns about police investigating themselves. But in a scathing letter to District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Wednesday, Scott accused prosecutors of withholding evidence in a case involving an officer accused of beating a man with a baton. S.F. Chronicle | SF Standard

The Bay Area suburb of Woodside, where a typical home sells for $4 million, found a novel way to sidestep a new state law the reduces barriers to home construction. City officials declared that the entire town is mountain lion habitat and therefore protected from new development. “We love animals,” Mayor Dick Brown explained. State Senator Scott Weiner tweeted his outrage: “Can’t wait for the lawsuit against Woodside for this brazen violation of state law.” The Almanac | SFGATE

With most votes counted, the effort to recall a Shasta County supervisor appeared headed for victory on Wednesday. Supervisor Leonard Moty, a Republican and former police chief, was targeted for removal by a local militia that demanded fiercer resistance to pandemic measures. If the election result holds, the county is in for a rude awakening, Moty said: “I’m proud that I stood against anarchists, extremists, and white supremacists wanting to take over our county.” Redding Searchlight | Sacramento Bee

Along a country road in the Sierra foothills, a lonely Wells Fargo building stands as a curious reminder of California’s Gold Rush past. The fortified brick structure was built in the town of French Corral in 1853 for the express purpose of storing gold. The community thrived for more than 50 years as prospectors extracted a bounty estimated at more than $130 million in today’s dollars. But as the mines declined, so did the town. Today French Corral is little more than a ghost town with a few dozen people, some grazing livestock, and the Wells Fargo branch. Atlas Obscura

“The invective on the internet of hate is being followed by vile acts on the streets.”

Los Angeles saw a 71% jump in hate crimes last year, as police recorded the third-highest number of incidents — 615 — in any U.S. city since the 1970s, a report found. The surge reflected a national trend that also produced spikes in San Diego and San Francisco, which both had their highest annual totals in more than a decade. In most large cities, Black people were the most-targeted group. L.A. Times | L.A. Daily News

Roughly 400 Afghans are being resettled in Orange County as the U.S. absorbs a new wave of refugees rushed out of Kabul during the final, chaotic days of the war in Afghanistan. Examples of individual generosity have abounded. In one touching campaign, a TV station in Orange County’s Little Saigon raised $80,000 from a Vietnamese audience who recalls the hardship of being a refugee in a strange land. O.C. Register

A reporter embarked on an epic quest to find Susy Thunder, the great lost female hacker of the 1980s. She explained why nobody knows who she is: “Because I never got caught. All the best hackers, all the best phreakers in the world, we don’t know who they are because they never got arrested. And they never went to prison.” Set time aside for this longread that seems readymade for a movie adaptation, with hackers, groupies, betrayal, and revenge. 👉 The Verge

A futuristic compound with an overhead shark tank in the hills above Palm Desert just sold for $42 million, making it the highest home sale price ever recorded in Coachella Valley. Built for a hospitality magnate, the sprawling estate has swooping roofs, an office built into a boulder, and retractable glass walls that detect the wind and automatically close. The sharks are displayed as part of an aquarium tunnel leading to the dining room. The buyer wasn’t disclosed. Realtor.com | Mansion Global

See the sharks in this video tour. 👉 YouTube