Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Aug. 25.
- Hotter fires turn Western forests into shrubland.
- Trump officials propose $103,000 fee for H-1B visas.
- And the humiliation of 49ers owner Jed York.
Statewide
1.
Bigger and hotter blazes are increasingly sweeping through forests across the West that are not able to survive such high-intensity blazes. In parts of the Sierra Nevada, that means spiky shrubs and poison oak are now growing in places once populated by majestic trees. Researchers estimate that as much as 40% of Western conifer forests will turn into shrubland by 2100. “This is a permanent shift from one ecosystem type to a fundamentally different one,” said Winslow Hansen, a forest ecologist. N.Y. Times
2.
California’s likely next governor, Xavier Becerra, has said the state needs to add more housing, but he’s declined to name a target. He thinks the public should own a share of artificial intelligence companies, but he won’t commit to pursuing the policy. Becerra says his tentative nature dates to 1993, when as a congressman he voted in favor of NAFTA only to see the trade deal erase American jobs. The lesson he took: Don’t back anything until you’re sure. “No one gets my vote unless I know what I’m voting for completely,” he told CalMatters.
3.
Since the 1970s, the Democratic share of presidential votes in California’s interior has stayed relatively stable, hovering between about 40% and 50%, a study of the state’s political geography found. The coast, meanwhile, has drifted leftward. The Democratic vote share along the corridor from the Bay Area to the North Coast, for example, rose from 48% in 1980 to 74% in 2024. L.A. followed a similar trajectory. The study affirms what many already knew, said Dan Schnur, a politics professor: Coastal and inland California “may as well be different states.” Press-Enterprise
4.
Gov. Gavin Newsom listed his suburban Sacramento mansion on Monday, offering a glimpse into the luxurious lifestyle of California’s top official. The 12,663-square-foot home includes a resort-style pool, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, and a tennis court. Asking price: $7.5 million. Newsom amassed his fortune through a portfolio of wine and hospitality businesses that he began with the help of oil scion Gordon Getty, a longtime family friend. Sacramento Bee | SFGATE
- See more pictures on Zillow.
Northern California
5.
The Trump administration said on Monday that it is planning to attach a $103,265 fee to H-1B visas, posing a substantial burden for many Silicon Valley companies that use the program to recruit tech talent. The move comes two months after a judge struck down an earlier attempt to implement a $100,000 fee, calling it an illegal tax on companies. The new regulation seeks to carve a different legal path. Doug Rand, whose work focuses on high-skill immigration, said it “would have catastrophic effects on America’s global talent pipeline.” N.Y. Times | Wall Street Journal
6.
A judge ruled on Monday that four Avenal city council members who refused to honor the results of a landslide recall election in April are “not lawfully” in office. “The ultimate issue is not close,” Judge Jennifer Giuliani wrote. “The court must uphold the will of the electorate.” The council members had argued that the county lacked authority to put the recall vote on the ballot, resulting in one of California’s most unusual cases of election denialism. After Monday’s ruling, the city manager confirmed that the each of the recalled officials would honor it. KSEE | N.Y. Times
7.
“We are sitting ducks.”
Fresno’s city attorney, Andrew Janz, directed his prosecutors to carry firearms after a man attacked one of their colleagues with a knife last week. Dustin Crawford, 42, was charged with attempted murder against the attorney, who had litigated a case involving him decades earlier. Janz said it is “well known within the criminal community” that prosecutors in the downtown courthouse are unarmed. “I want that to end today,” he said. At least one council member portrayed the move as impetuous. San Joaquin Valley Sun | KFSN
8.
The arrest of 49ers owner Jed York in a trailer park prostitution sting over the weekend was embarrassing for him and his family. But it also reflected the dysfunction of an organization that is “more soap opera than football team,” as one sports writer put it. York has talked in the past about wanting to put together a team made up of players of high moral character, sports columnist Ann Killion wrote on Monday: “Oh, to have an owner who could meet that description.” S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News
Southern California
9.
The Department of Justice spent more than a decade building an antitrust case against Live Nation, the Beverly Hills concert promoter. A trial was set to begin on March 2, just days away, when President Trump stepped in. Settle it, he told a senior department official. The two sides reached a deal so favorable to Live Nation that even Republican states refused to join it. Trump’s intervention, the Wall Street Journal reported, had followed an Oval Office meeting between him and Live Nation’s CEO on how to improve bookings at the Kennedy Center.
10.
The aerospace company responsible for a chemical leak in Garden Grove in May agreed to pay up to $100 million to residents who were forced to evacuate, Orange County’s district attorney announced on Monday. Roughly 50,000 people fled their homes during the crisis, which upended lives during Memorial Day weekend. Supervisor Janet Nguyen gave GKN Aerospace credit for “stepping up.” “They have been part of the community for decades and employ a large local workforce with good paying jobs,” she said. L.A. Times | City News Service
11.
The Mojave Desert’s Cima Dome has been called the most symmetrical natural dome in the U.S. Measuring more than 10 miles in diameter, the perfectly smooth protuberance slopes to its peak so gradually that it can hardly be perceived up close. To summit the dome offers no “sensation of victory,” a hiker once noted: “I was standing on a flat piece of earth.” Viewed from a neighboring high point, however, Cima Dome is said to be mind-bending. The travel writer Josh McNair included it on his list of California’s 35 must-see natural wonders. California Through My Lens | Digital-Desert
12.
In 2001, Robert Lang left his engineering job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab to devote his time fully to origami, becoming one of the world’s foremost origami artists. In January 2025, he watched his home and studio in Altadena go up in flames, along with decades’ worth of his origami work. A renowned paper maker used ash from Lang’s studio to make new paper, which Lang in turn folded into a wall of koi, pictured above. It’s on display now at a museum in San Diego. CBS News Sunday Morning did a nice feature on Lang.
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