House censures Adam Schiff // Food banks see surge in demand

Good morning. It’s Thursday, June 22.

Raucous scenes as House censures Adam Schiff.
Food banks overwhelmed by families seeking help.
And a Capitol rioter is sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Statewide

1.

Rep. Adam Schiff in Washington on Wednesday. (Kent Nishimura/L.A. Times via Getty Images)

The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to formally censure Rep. Adam Schiff over his role investigating former President Trump, accusing him of “falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuses of sensitive information.” The measure had the support of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and all but a handful of other Republicans. Democrats erupted in chants of “Shame!” Before Schiff, just two members of the House had been censured in almost four decades. The California Democrat said he would wear the reprimand as a “badge of honor.” Washington Post | A.P.

“I have all night.” Watch the rowdy scene as McCarthy reads the censure. 👉 CSPAN

2.

Some California food banks say they are serving more families than ever as pandemic aid expires and inflation strains budgets. Before the pandemic, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services served 150,000 people per month. That number has now doubled. At the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, it’s risen from 175,000 to 350,000. “Instead of functioning as sources of emergency aid, food banks say they are becoming long-term supermarkets for Californians facing food insecurity,” CalMatters reported.

3.

Wind turbines dot the landscape outside Medicine Bow, Wyoming. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

America’s biggest wind farm is rising in southeastern Wyoming, but its electricity is destined for Southern California. Officials held a groundbreaking on Tuesday for the TransWest Express, the transmission line that will run for 732 miles from Wyoming through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada to a substation near the California state line. The wind farm and transmission line are expected to come online in 2027. Some locals in the sagebrush valleys of southeastern Wyoming, home of the greater sage-grouse, are outraged. A.P.

4.

After a yearlong training program at a Los Angeles community college, Elijah Calderon is poised to earn about $105,000 a year as a power lineman. In a few years, he stands to make as much as $165,000 or more. A UC Berkeley sociology major earns about $64,000 four years after graduation, a new analysis of federal data showed. A UCLA graduate in history earns about $47,900. “It really pays to look at outcomes and not be blinded by the brand name,” said Martin Van Der Werf, a researcher on higher education. L.A. Times

5.

Anna’s Hummingbirds sparkle like jewels in the sunlight. (Mick Thompson/CC BY-NC 2.0)

The Anna’s Hummingbird is the most common hummingbird in California, easily found in backyards and parks. It’s a flamboyant creature, with an iridescent magenta crown, a boisterous song, and one of the most thrilling courtship displays in the animal kingdom. To win the affections of a female, a male will ascend more than 100 feet, then hurtle toward the ground, wings folded in tightly, like a missile. At the last moment, he pulls up while fanning out his tail feathers, which vibrate with a whistling sound like a reed in a saxophone. PBS captured high-speed footage of the maneuver. 👉 YouTube (~3:20 mins)

Northern California

6.

Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence revolution evokes visions of thinking machines. But behind the machines are humans engaged in the tedious work of processing raw information used to train AI. They are called annotators, and they are believed to number in the millions across places like Nepal, Nairobi, and Kenya. Pull back the curtain, the reporter Josh Dzieza wrote, and you find “the latest iteration of a particularly Silicon Valley division of labor, in which the futuristic gleam of new technologies hides a sprawling manufacturing apparatus and the people who make it run.” The Verge/New York Magazine

7.

For the first time, sales of electric and hybrid vehicles have surpassed those of pure-gasoline vehicles in a major American city. During the month of March in San Francisco, electrified vehicles accounted for 50% of all new registrations, S&P Global Mobility reported. In April, the figure climbed to 53.1%. That’s more than triple the share nationally. The most popular carmaker by far: Tesla, which has accounted for nearly one of every four vehicles across any type registered in San Francisco. KGO

8.

John Fisher has become one of the most hated men in Oakland. (Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)

In a devastating piece on “the stealing of the Oakland A’s,” reporter Dan Moore recalled how team owner John Fisher traded the club’s starting lineup, allowed its stadium to decay, then doubled season ticket prices. Now, Fisher appears close to getting his wish, Moore wrote: to wrench the team from its longtime home and fan base. “He’s treated the A’s less as a community asset than as a corporate cudgel and A’s fans less like community partners than like captured hostages.” The Ringer

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Southern California

9.

Daniel Rodriguez pleaded guilty in February. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a San Bernardino County man to 12 years in prison after he admitted to attacking a police officer with a stun gun during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A body camera captured Officer Michael Fanone screaming out in pain as Daniel Rodriguez, 40, repeatedly drove a Taser-like weapon into the officer’s neck, leaving him unconscious. After receiving his sentence, Daniel Rodriguez smiled and shouted “Trump won!” before being led out of the room. Wall Street Journal | A.P.

10.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on Wednesday announced 22 felony charges against a metal recycling plant next to a Watts high school, accusing it of knowingly contaminating the school grounds with high concentrations of lead, zinc, and other toxic waste. District Attorney George Gascón said the exposure to pollutants may go back decades, noting that the plant has been operating since in 1949. “The smell is just very, very nasty,” said Genesis Cruz, a 2023 graduate. “A sharp smell, like thick oil.” The Guardian | Daily Breeze

11.

Damon Lawner founded the elite Hollywood sex club Snctm in 2013 after watching the movie “Eyes Wide Shut,” which features scenes of wealthy elites at a secretive orgy. An L.A. Times profile published on Tuesday noted that Lawner had identified Hunter Biden as a former member. “I canceled his membership after 1 party because he’s a scumbag,” Lawner had written in a since-deleted Instagram post. Now Lawner has himself been banned from Snctm, which he sold for $1 million in 2019. L.A. Times

12.

In 1961, Disneyland invited teenagers to attend an all-night prom for a ticket price of $6. More than 8,000 students from 28 Los Angeles area schools attended, dancing, necking, and riding teacups in fine outfits until 5 a.m. Disney Grad Nite parties have been an annual tradition ever since. LIFE magazine sent three of its photographers — Ralph Crane, J.R. Eyerman and Grey Villet — to the original event but never ran the photos. LIFE.com has now resurrected a collection from the archives.

Correction

Wednesday’s newsletter misstated the name of an exhibit at the Hollyhock House in Los Angeles. It’s “Entanglements,” not “Entangled.”

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The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.

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