Good morning. It’s Thursday, Sept. 1.
- Lawmakers approve plan to extend life of Diablo Canyon.
- Nearly 70% of L.A. teachers seriously consider quitting.
- And the beautiful California beach with purple sand.
Statewide
1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared an emergency in response to the prolonged heat wave now gripping the state, freeing up power supplies and relaxing pollution rules. The move followed a call for conservation — known as a Flex Alert — from the state’s electrical grid operator. Rolling blackouts were said to be “a possibility but not an inevitability.” A.P. | Sacramento Bee
As the heat intensifies this weekend, Death Valley could hit 126 degrees, which would tie the highest temperature ever observed globally during September. Accuweather | Washington Post
2.
California’s legislative session ended Wednesday night after a flurry of last-minute votes. A few of the most consequential measures now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk:
- SB-1338 — Establishes a court program that can force severely troubled homeless people into treatment, a proposal pitched in March by Newsom and opposed by civil liberties advocates. A.P. | Sacramento Bee
- SB-846 — Keeps California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon, open for an additional five years beyond its planned 2025 closure, giving PG&E a $1.4 billion forgivable loan. L.A. Times | NPR
- SB-1137 — Prohibits new oil wells within 3,200 feet of schools or neighborhoods, a measure that failed twice in the last two years in the face of oil industry opposition. L.A. Times | KERO
- AB-2632 — Limits solitary confinement in prisons to no more than 15 consecutive days and bans its use altogether in private detention centers used for immigrants facing deportation. A.P.
Tracking 2022 California bills. 👉 CalMatters
3.
Two wildfires roared across rural parts of Southern California Wednesday:
- A wildfire in a rural area of southeast of San Diego tore through dry brush, destroying at least four buildings and forcing the closure of a border crossing. The Border 32 fire was nearly 7 square miles and just 5% contained. S.D. Union-Tribune | KGTV
- North of Santa Clarita, a wildfire forced the evacuation of a mobile home park and closed the I-5 in both directions. Eight firefighters battling the Route fire were treated for heat-related problems as temperatures in the area hit 107 degrees. Bakersfield Californian | L.A. Times
See live wildfire map. 👉 Cal Fire
4.
John Muir liked to take his time in nature, once denouncing the concept of hiking. “People ought to saunter in the mountains,” he said, “not hike.” So he may have been dismayed by the “fastest known time” craze, a genre of endurance sport that makes racecourses of nature. On Aug. 4, the runner Joe McConaughy shattered the record on the John Muir Trail, running 223 miles from Yosemite to Mount Whitney in an ungodly three days, one hour, and 34 seconds. By the third night, he said, hallucinations filled his head. “It definitely got a little weird out there.” Trail Runner
McConaughy’s record didn’t stand long. A few weeks later, another runner, Jeff Garmire, shaved 13 minutes off his record. @thefreeoutside
5.
California has beaches of brown, black, white, and rainbow-colored glass. Along the Big Sur coast, there’s a beach known informally as “purple beach,” and from time to time it really is purple. The color comes from the the erosion of garnet and magnetite in surrounding hillsides — meaning the beach is essentially infused with finely ground gems. The best time to see it is after a rain. A few pictures.👇
Northern California
6.
Last summer, a Fresno court granted a teenager’s request for a protective order against his mother. So the woman, 35-year-old Shana Gaviola, arranged to put the boy in handcuffs and drive him to a boarding school in Missouri, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Also accused in the bizarre plot was Julio Sandoval, a former dean of the Agapé Boarding School. The Baptist facility has faced accusations of systematic abuse of students. Daily Beast | Fresno Bee
7.
In 2020, San Francisco supervisors paused development on 1,300 desperately needed housing units, 350 of them affordable. to do a race and equity study. Two years later, the study hasn’t even started. The columnist Heather Knight said the pointless delay is an example of why the state’s review of San Francisco’s notoriously burdensome housing approval process, announced this month, is so welcome. S.F. Chronicle
8.
Burning Man, the annual art bacchanal born on the beaches of San Francisco, has returned to the Nevada desert for the first time since before the pandemic. The temporary city of 80,000 festival attendees is so vast it could be seen from space on Monday. Two photo galleries. 👉 Reno Gazette Journal | NY Post
The theme this year is “waking dreams.” A look at the installations. 👉 ArchDaily
Southern California
9.
In 2015, Tricia Bigelow, then a presiding justice of a state appeals court in Los Angeles, bought an oceanfront condominium in Santa Monica. But she did not have to rely on her judicial salary. Bigelow was wired $300,000 from a man with whom she was having an affair: Tom Girardi, the vaunted trial lawyer now accused of stealing from clients for decades. The money was siphoned from a settlement trust set up for cancer victims. L.A. Times
10.
“Core teachers prided themselves on being radicals. They encouraged students to eschew taboos, expand their horizons, and question conventional wisdom. … In turn, the students worshipped them.”
A pioneering humanities program brought acclaim to a public high school in Los Angeles. But according to former students, a culture of sexual abuse festered at Grover Cleveland High School for years, as accused teachers used the curriculum itself to lure students into their thrall. A disturbing long read. 👉 Atavist Magazine
11.
In the first half of 2022, the Los Angeles area had the highest rental prices in the U.S., at a median price of $4,664 a month for a single-family home. A survey of school teachers in the city underscored the struggles they face on average salaries of around $75,000 a year. Among the findings:
- 28% of teachers worked a second job to make ends meet.
- 60% of veteran teachers said they were unable to find affordable housing in the communities where they teach.
- 70% said they seriously considered leaving the profession. The Guardian
12.
Carousel Mall was a centerpiece of San Bernardino’s downtown for decades before falling into decline and closing in 2017. The reporter David Allen toured the abandoned structure last week and found it trashed by scavengers and squatters. He anticipated a mess, he wrote: “But I didn’t expect to see sleeping quarters.” San Bernardino Sun
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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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