Good morning. It’s Monday, July 13.
- Hard-line AI resistance grows in the Bay Area.
- California allows tougher measures against wolves.
- And activists chain themselves to trees in Pasadena.
Statewide
1.
Prosecutors rarely visit prisons. But a group of California district attorneys gathered recently at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center to hear the stories of inmates. San Mateo County’s district attorney, Stephen Wagstaffe, described himself as “one of the public safety, law-and-order, harsh types.” But visiting the prison appeared to soften his outlook. He gestured toward a San Quentin inmate: “I see people like this gentleman and I think, ‘You know, he doesn’t have to die here.'” N.Y. Times
2.
Under California law, AT&T is obligated to offer basic telephone service to anyone who asks for it within its service territory. But the company, which made more than $23 billion in profit last year, is pushing to retire landlines, calling them obsolete despite patchy cell service in rural areas and even parts of Los Angeles. Ryan Johnston, a telecoms regulatory attorney, said AT&T is putting profits over people who rely on landlines in emergencies. “People should not have to accept a less reliable service in order to help AT&T meet its quarterly revenue goals,” he said. L.A. Times
3.
For all the talk of California’s anti-business posture, the state has attracted an unprecedented amount of capital this year. Venture capitalists have poured more than $335 billion into the state so far in 2026, with the vast majority of funding going to artificial intelligence companies, according to data from PitchBook. New York, the nearest competitor, raised less than a tenth of California’s total. Texas collected 1/40th. L.A. Times
4.
Reaching the Sierra Nevada’s remote backcountry typically involves days of lugging at least 30 pounds of gear on your back. But there’s an alternative. Aspen Meadow Pack Station has been leading groups into the Emigrant Wilderness, on the northern edge of Yosemite National Park, for more than 80 years. Guests ride on horseback, while mules carry the gear. “We can take you somewhere you’re not going to see other people and you’re just going to be there basically by yourself,” said owner Seth Diemel. ABC10’s John Bartell went along for a ride.
Northern California
5.
Last Wednesday, Rep. Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley congressman weighing a run for president, was visiting a Palestinian village in the West Bank when a car full of masked settlers carrying guns pulled up and blocked the road. They taunted him in Hebrew and Arabic, according to video and witnesses. When Israeli soldiers showed up, they sided with the settlers. Khanna said he was released only after calls to the American Embassy. “If this can happen to an American member of Congress, imagine what life is like for Palestinians who have no smartphones, no security, and no national platform,” Khanna said. N.Y. Times | A.P.
6.
“The ship may have sailed on nonviolence.”
The resistance to artificial intelligence is hardening, as young disillusioned men and women upend their lives and leave behind careers to join nonprofits and protest groups. Looming over the movement is the mysterious case of Sam Kirchner, the 27-year-old co-founder of the Bay Area organization Stop AI who disappeared in 2025 after falling out with the group over his insistence on more urgent action. Former comrades have warned that he could be dangerous. Wall Street Journal
- Hundreds of anti-AI activists marched in San Francisco on Saturday, carrying signs with messages such as “Stop slop” and “In a race off a cliff no one wins.” S.F. Chronicle | Mission Local
7.
California wildlife authorities are now letting sheriffs fire rubber bullets at wolves to protect cattle, a striking departure from past policy as the state seeks to balance conservation priorities with rising anger over wolf attacks. Plans are under development to give ranchers the same authorization, officials said. Wolf packs in Northern California, now numbering 12, are subsisting primarily on livestock rather than natural prey such as mule deer, recent research showed. Sacramento Bee
Southern California
8.
The Los Angeles Police Department on Saturday stopped working with Flock Safety, the company whose widely deployed license plate readers have sparked a backlash over potential privacy violations. “This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues,” a department spokesman said. In 2023, Flock said it was working with more than 200 law enforcement agencies in California. But in recent months, a drumbeat of cities have announced pullbacks in response to public outcry. KABC | L.A. Times
9.
Leonard Francis, the Malaysian contractor better known as Fat Leonard, gave a three-hour interview about his role as the mastermind of the most extensive corruption scandal in U.S. military history. Wearing a tan prison uniform at a federal prison in Lompoc, Francis bragged to a reporter about how he plied hundreds of U.S. Navy officers with cases of champagne, humidors of Cuban cigars, and five-star hotel suites. “I was doing what the Navy wanted me to do,” he said. “Everybody was aware of what was going on, and I just delivered.” Washington Post
10.
A Pasadena school district moved to cut down nearly 200 trees on its campuses as part of an effort to remove contaminants that seeped into the soil during the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. “We know this is hard to hear,” the district said in a statement. “Trees are where children play, where communities gather, where roots run deep.” But that argument fell flat with activists. They’ve responded by chaining themselves to the trees, recalling scenes from the Northern California timber wars of the 1990s. The Washington Post published a photo essay.
11.
The chaos in Newport Beach on July Fourth was not an isolated event. “Teen takeovers” are roiling cities across the country, causing violent rumbles with police in the Bronx, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and beyond, the Washington Post reported. “A lot of kids that have been interviewed talk about it: They just want to be out in public, outside, socializing — not online,” said Lily Robin, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute. “With the pandemic, I think a lot of kids missed out on that for a long time.“
- Buena Park became the latest California city to warn of an impending teen takeover: at Knott’s Berry Farm. O.C. Register
12.
A new pop-up book at Los Angeles’ Central Library cannot be checked out — or even held. “Luceros y Penumbras,” which translates to “Starlight and Shadows,” is said to be the largest pop-up book ever created, at 11 feet tall, 31 feet wide, and more than 1,800 pounds. Its four pages create two scenes: a replica of the library and a sprawling tree with references to Los Angeles’ cultural history. It takes about a dozen people to turn the page. LAist
- See video of “Luceros y Penumbras” being propped up.
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