Good morning. It’s Monday, April 29.
- The Silicon Valley group chats that changed America.
- Fire-torn Altadena faces wave of home burglaries.
- And eight California towns with European vibes.
Statewide
1.
President Trump signed executive orders on Monday that aimed to escalate his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that fail to fully cooperate with immigration authorities. One order directs his administration to publish a list of “sanctuary cities,” saying their policies amount to “a lawless insurrection.” Such jurisdictions, the order continued, shall face “all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations.” In 2020, the Supreme Court rejected a attempt by the first Trump administration to void California’s sanctuary law. S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Times
2.
Harmeet Dhillon, the California lawyer selected by President Trump to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, is dramatically reshaping the office to advance Trump’s social agenda. Dhillon has redirected her staff to focus less on racial discrimination and more on combating antisemitism, the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports, anti-Christian bias, and “woke ideology.” More than 100 division attorneys have already said they will quit, Dhillon noted recently. “I think that’s fine,” she said. Washington Post
3.
Last year, California lawmakers passed a bill to make it a felony to buy sex with minors, but only after Democrats forced a carve-out for those seeking to solicit 16- and 17-year-olds. They argued that the initial proposal was too broad and could ensnare people not involved in trafficking. In February, the issue was revived when Assemblymember Maggy Krell, a Democrat, introduced a proposal to undo the older teen exclusion. But on Monday, a legislative committee blocked it. Assemblyman Nick Shultz, the Democratic chairman, said he wanted to see more study. Krell called it a “disgrace.” KCRA
4.
In California, a place shaped by successive migrations, the European vibes are often strong. Travel + Leisure identified European doppelgängers for eight California cities: Temecula, it says, could stand in for Tuscany; Carmel could double for France; and Santa Barbara could be Madrid.
Northern California
5.
A network of Signal chats that formed among Silicon Valley leaders during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic helped forge a stunning realignment of tech toward Donald Trump, a journalism investigation found. The format of encryption and disappearing messages created a sort of safe space from the viewpoint policing that prevailed on platforms such as Twitter and Slack, explained venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a central figure in the conversations. The chats, he said, helped produce our national “vibe shift.” Semafor wrote about “the group chats that changed America.”
- “Zuckerberg’s been great.” Trump gloated about bending titans of media and tech to his will in a new interview with the Atlantic.
6.
A Mexican multinational concrete company called Cemex is trying to win permission to blast a 600-foot deep gravel extraction mine along the San Joaquin River just outside of Fresno. The proposal has caused such an uproar that Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who represents Fresno, introduced a bill specifically designed to block it. During a packed town hall hosted by Arambula last week, attendees gasped when they saw a rendering of the proposed crater, pictured above. “Now I realize what they were talking about,” one person said. Fresnoland
7.
A new study highlighted one of the less frequently discussed earthquake threats in California: coastal areas could essentially plunge into the sea. A major quake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault that runs for 700 miles off the Pacific Northwest, could cause a sudden drop by as much as 6 feet along coastal areas between Humboldt County and southern Washington, the authors said. In such a scenario, “all the sea level rise you expected by 2300 is going to happen in minutes,” said Tina Dura, the study’s lead author. S.F. Chronicle | Lost Coast Outpost
8.
Silicon Valley, a place of lofty professed values, has increasingly found itself in the role of climate villain as a result of its enormous appetite for electricity. For Apple, the solution has taken the form of planting vast eucalyptus farms in Brazil in an effort to offset the tens of millions of tons of greenhouse-gas emissions the company releases into the atmosphere. Critics say the strategy chokes out native species, depletes springs, and invites megafires. A journalist traveled into the Brazilian savanna for an ambitious investigation into the “controversial tree farms powering Apple’s carbon neutral goal.” MIT Technology Review
9.
As the Bay Area rallies behind the Warriors’ NBA playoff run, some fans at Chase Stadium are killing the mood. For years, it’s been a franchise ritual to give every fan a T-shirt to wear as part of a mass color-coordinated show of support. This year, however, many fans have noted with displeasure that occupants of the priciest seats are snubbing their shirts. “The tech-bro vibe that radiates off the Patagonia-wearing crowd feels more ‘voluntary field trip’ than ‘rooting on their favorite team’s fight for survival,'” wrote sports columnist Alan Chazaro. SFGATE
Southern California
10.
Bob Filner, a longtime San Diego politician who left office under a cloud of sexual harassment accusations, died on April 20, family members confirmed on Monday. Filner left academia in the 1970s to enter politics, rising from the school board to Congress, where he positioned himself as a brawler for the underdog. His election as San Diego mayor in 2012 made him the first Democrat to hold the post in 24 years. But he quit after only nine months, eventually pleading guilty to crimes in a cascade of sexual harassment allegations. In 2018, he expressed remorse during an interview with KQED. “Nobody would say no to you,” he said. “That becomes very intoxicating.” Filner was 82. KPBS | S.D. Union-Tribune
11.
First came the fire, then the thieves. Burglaries have skyrocketed 450% in the Altadena area since Los Angeles’ January wildfires, as thieves have prowled for homes that are still standing but unoccupied. Elena Amador-French said she wouldn’t want to move back into her home yet even if she could: “I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that people are constantly coming in and scouting out the area. It’s like this trauma on top of the trauma that we’ve already all been through.” L.A. Times
12.
Roughly 55,000 Los Angeles County workers walked off the job late Monday, making good on threats to strike over failed contract negotiations. Among the complaints was an insultingly low pay offer, according to the union. “They thought we would never strike,” said labor leader David Green. “They thought wrong.” County officials said the union’s salary proposals would cost billions at a time when government coffers have been drained by wildfire costs, a massive sex abuse settlement, and the loss of federal grants. L.A. Times | LAist
The picture in item No. 4 is Catalina Island’s Avalon off the coast of Southern California.
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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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