Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Dec. 30.
- Crime in San Francisco falls for a third straight year.
- Insurers are driving L.A. families into toxic homes.
- And rains produce early wildflower show in Anza Borrego.
Statewide
1.
California sued President Trump’s administration 52 times this year. In about 80% of the cases, the courts have ruled in California’s favor, or the administration has agreed to drop its opposition and settle, according to Rob Bonta, the state attorney general. Judges have halted multiple federal funding freezes, blocked orders to cut off food-stamp benefits, and returned control of the California National Guard to the state. All told, the victories have amounted to roughly $168 billion in savings for the state, Bonta said. S.F. Chronicle
2.
Reporter Doug Smith hiked to the burn scar of the massive 2002 McNally fire in the Sequoia National Forest. He was retracing his journey there 20 years earlier, when he encountered a scene of mass death. Seeing it again brought initial disappointment: Rather than a regrown forest, he found brush as far as the eye could see. But in a poignant essay, Smith, 79, said he gained new perspective on a landscape whose recovery would take longer than his lifetime to manifest: “I’m still not able to call that beauty, but I can call it hope.” L.A. Times
3.
Clear skies on Monday revealed satellite views of a Sierra Nevada draped in glorious white after California’s snowy Christmas week. On Dec. 11, 19% of the mountain range was covered with snow, according to the National Weather Service. By Dec. 29, the figure was 56%. Ski resorts in Tahoe and the Central Sierra posted jubilant messages. “Christmas miracle,” wrote Palisades Tahoe, which reported 5 feet 5 inches of snow. Mammoth Mountain reported 6 feet 1 inch. KRON
- See recent satellite views. 👉 NASA Worldview
- Tragically, an avalanche on Friday killed a 30-year-old ski patroller at Mammoth Mountain. Family members said Cole Murphy “felt most alive” in the mountains. Sacramento Bee
4.
Perpendicular white walls.
Large expanses of glass.
Cantilevered platforms.
In 2025, the latest iteration of the McMansion took shape across California. “Welcome to the age of the McModern,” wrote Architectural Digest. Wealthy buyers sought the look of midcentury modern homes while cramming as much of the city as possible into a single sprawling structure, the magazine wrote: wine cellars, gyms, movie theaters, and more: “In other words, they want to create a space where everything is at their fingertips and there’s no need for them to mix with the outside world.”
Northern California
5.
California’s rural northern counties have some of the nation’s highest rates of gun suicides among older adults, CalMatters reported. Researchers cite factors such as loneliness, illness, financial struggle, and feeling like a burden. Kelly Frost, of Trinity County, said she never saw her 81-year-old father cry. “He was a cowboy,” she said. After he ended his life on Dec. 18, 2024, first responders found a note. It began:
“The pain???????
!!!!!!!!!!
To much to stand
No Help”
6.
Since Rep. Ro Khanna signaled his support for a tax on California billionaires last week, he has faced fury from longtime allies in his Silicon Valley district. Founders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists stormed onto X to accuse him of threatening innovation, stoking class resentment, and behaving like “an obnoxious jerk.” Garry Tan, CEO of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, wrote: “Time to primary him.” Khanna didn’t back down. S.F. Chronicle
7.
The artificial intelligence revolution isn’t only making high-profile billionaires like Jensen Huang and Sam Altman even richer. It’s produced a crop of new billionaires from smaller startups — and they’ve made their fortunes shockingly fast. Mira Murati, 37, announced her AI startup Thinking Machines Lab in February. By June, it had a $10 billion valuation without releasing a single product. The New York Times wrote about “the new billionaires of the AI boom.”
8.
In response to illegal marijuana cultivation in Siskiyou County, the authorities began stopping trucks carrying water to pot farms. Growers, most of whom are of Hmong or Chinese descent, accused the county of racism and sued. On Monday, the county settled, agreeing to new protocols that require officers to have reasonable suspicion for stops and searches. An external auditor will ensure compliance at county expense. Courthouse News
9.
Crime in San Francisco fell for a third straight year in 2025. Total crimes fell roughly 25% compared to 2024, with significant drops in violent and property crimes. The city recorded just 28 homicides this year, the lowest total since 1954. Evan Sernoffsky, a police spokesman, told the Chronicle that officer morale is higher than it’s been in years. “An invigorated, inspired workforce leads to these kinds of public safety outcomes,” he said. KRON | SF Examiner
Southern California
10.
After the Los Angeles fires, Jeff Van Ness and his wife, Cathlene Pineda, were told by their insurer that they could return home. In August, reluctantly, they did. A month later, the New York Times asked permission to test for the presence of lead and other heavy metals. They found dangerous levels of carcinogens and neurotoxins in their house — and in their bodies. “What happened to the Van Ness family is unfolding across the Los Angeles basin,” the Times wrote in a troubling investigation.
11.
Last week, an actor sued Tyler Perry in Los Angeles County court, accusing the Hollywood mogul of sexual assault. In the complaint, Mario Rodriguez said he cut off contact with Perry in 2019. But newly obtained text messages showed that Rodriguez reached out to Perry as recently as August, expressing gratitude and financial distress. “Just know that I love you and I thank you for everything,” he wrote in one message. In a statement Monday, Rodriguez said people are trying to use his vulnerability to discredit him. Perry’s lawyer called the lawsuit a “money grab.” A.P. | L.A. Times
12.
Storms in November and December caused destruction, but they also topped off California’s reservoirs, wiped drought conditions off the map, and produced an early wildflower show in the Southern California desert. In Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, an unusual burst of color erupted in November, months ahead of the main bloom season, as seeds were jolted awake after a dry summer. The photographer Sicco Rood has captured magnificent pictures of a place where the palettes of fall, winter, and spring jostle simultaneously for attention. 👉 @siccorood
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
Wake up to must-read news from around the Golden State delivered to your inbox each morning.