Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Sept. 22.
- Firefighting helicopter crash leaves two dead in Yosemite.
- Critics cast Paramount settlement as sweetheart deal.
- And Escondido restaurant is celebrated for superb $4 tacos.
Statewide
1.
Two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed while doing water drops on a wildfire in Yosemite National Park on Sunday, officials said. The pilots, employees of a private aviation company on contract with the Forest Service, were the only people on board. The circumstances surrounding the crash were not immediately clear. Benjamin Cossel, a Forest Service spokesperson, choked back tears talking about the loss. “This is our family, so … We’ve lost family members,” he said. KFSN | Mercury News
- The Dome fire has spread to more than 5 square miles since igniting on Sept. 15.
2.
About a decade ago, a group of fire experts released a key report predicting the arc of wildfire over the coming decades. If we don’t change course, it concluded, “risk will continue to escalate until fuel-filled landscapes eventually reset catastrophically.” The solution is clear: We must somehow reduce the amount of fuels in our clogged-up forests. But that’s not happening at anywhere near the level necessary. As Kelly Martin, a former fire chief, put it: “Prescribed burning is discretionary; emergency management is not.” RE:PUBLIC wrote about America’s “wildfire doom loop.”
3.
Faced with an intensifying public backlash against data centers, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven bills on Monday that, among other things, aim to track the facilities’ water usage and protect consumers from their electricity costs. The move marked a sharp reversal for Newsom, who last year vetoed a water disclosure bill, saying he was reluctant to burden “critically important digital infrastructure.” CalMatters | L.A. Times
- California may be ground zero for the AI boom, but its anxiety mirrors that of the rest of the country. A poll found that 77% of voters believe advanced AI is likely a threat to humans. Politico
4.
In a sign of how alarmed California is about the intensifying El Niño climate pattern, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a state of emergency in anticipation of floods, landslides, power outages, and other potential impacts. NOAA’s latest forecast said there is a 75% chance this El Niño will be stronger than any in recorded history going back to 1950. The emergency order will expedite defensive work across the state, including efforts to buttress the Southern California coastline. L.A. Times | Mercury News
5.
A pair of new restaurant rankings gave shout-outs to several California establishments.
- The Italian culinary guide 50 Top Pizza recognized three California pizzerias in its latest global rankings: Pizzeria Sei in Los Angeles; Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco; and Truly Pizza in Dana Point. Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is celebrated for bringing many regional styles to California: Napoletana, Detroit, Sicilian, New Haven, and more. Some diners wanted to try them all. So Tony’s offered a tasting menu: five people, seven pies, $500.
- In its “Restaurant List 2026,” the New York Times included six California restaurants among its 50 favorite places in America:
- Restaurant Naides, San Francisco
- Bar Panisse, Berkeley
- Yerord Mas Bakery and Deli, Glendale
- Komal, Los Angeles
- Jacaranda, Los Angeles
- And Mesa Agricola in Escondido, which might be the most low-key of the bunch. Located next to a Little Caesars, it has six tables and a single cactus as decoration. The tacos are $4, and they are “tectonic,” the Times wrote.
Northern California
6.
In the old days, the so-called hacker houses of Silicon Valley were inhabited by disheveled engineers who coded all day and crammed into shared rooms at night. No more. According to a New York Times report, group tech houses are now commonly run by tech executives. They include mansions with rents as high as $10,000 a month for a room. And they throw lavish, drug-fueled parties where underage partying, sexual harassment, and property damage is disturbingly common.
7.
In Silicon Valley, there is an estimated $1.17 trillion in liquid wealth among households. Yet 28% of local households “need outside assistance to survive in the region,” according to researchers. Arielle Pardes, who has covered the tech industry for the past decade, wrote an acerbic commentary on “the land of billionaire barbarians” in the New York Times:
“The richest people in the tech industry have blocked policies that would raise taxes, increase wages or otherwise reduce their wealth to make life better for the people who live around them.”
8.
A picture of three students used in an ad by Stanford’s dining and housing department was altered to change the race and gender of one student and noticeably slim down another, the Stanford Review reported on Monday. One of the students, Billy Ramirez, said he was stunned to see that he had been replaced by a Black woman. “I was immediately baffled,” he said. “At first, I found it hilarious.” Shared widely on social media, the incident revived memories of the University of Wisconsin’s clumsy photoshopping of a Black student into an application booklet in 2000.
Southern California
9.
“That’s it?”
California’s announcement on Monday of a settlement that allows Paramount to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery was met with anger from critics who cast it as a sweetheart deal for what would become one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. After months of legal brinkmanship, Paramount agreed to invest more in domestic production and release 30 films a year, among other concessions to resolve antitrust claims. The Hollywood Reporter said the deal amounted to little more than “a stern finger-wave.” Reuters | Hollywood Reporter
10.
The latest exotic marine life to appear along the coast of Southern California is an olive ridley sea turtle, an endangered species normally found in tropical waters. The turtle was spotted digging a nest and laying eggs along the shore in Orange County on Sept. 16, making it the first known sea turtle to nest naturally anywhere on the West Coast. Unusually warm waters this year have drawn an array of unusual animals to the coast, including a whale shark, mahi-mahi, and spinetail devil rays. KABC | KTLA
11.
A world war is being waged at this moment that is far deadlier than any chronicled in history books. Millions die each week. But the combatants are ants, rather than humans. Argentine ants have spread the globe for more than a century, organizing into vast rival supercolonies. One of the most active battlefronts is around Escondido, where residents find piles of ant corpses under their lawns. Entomologist Mark W. Moffett drew parallels to the human predicament: “Tolerance — let alone collaboration — between the societies of most vertebrates seems to be virtually nonexistent,” he wrote. Washington Post
12.
Jason Mraz, the Oceanside singer and avocado farmer, was traveling through the San Diego airport on Monday when a local performer, Evan Diamond, began playing his infectious mega hit “I’m Yours” as part of an airport music series. Mraz walked over and began singing along, without being asked. “Love this song,” he said at one point, breaking into a smile. Diamond later posted video of the duet. “So wild and amazing!!” she wrote. “Gahhh!!!” S.D. Union-Tribune
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