Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Aug. 20.
- State Republicans sue to halt gerrymandering.
- Major heat wave to bake California through weekend.
- And video shows extraordinary agility of a bobcat.
Statewide
1.
A group of Republican state lawmakers filed a lawsuit Tuesday that asks the California Supreme Court to pause action on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to gerrymander the state’s congressional maps. The move could stymie the Democrats as they confront tight deadlines to arrange a Nov. 4 special election. State Sen. Tony Strickland, a Huntington Beach Republican, accused Newsom of undermining democratic norms. “No public input, no transparency, no light of day,” he said. CalMatters | N.Y. Times
- The law does not appear to be on the Republicans’ side, legal analysts said. S.F. Chronicle
- A Democratic lawmaker in Sonoma County took issue with the redistricting plan in a Facebook post. The backlash was so strident she deactivated her social media accounts. Press Democrat
2.
California Sen. Adam Schiff, a longtime antagonist of President Trump, established a legal fund in recent days after President Trump threatened him with federal investigations. In July, Trump accused Schiff of mortgage fraud. More recently, he said Schiff’s investigation of Russian election meddling put the U.S. in danger before addressing his attorney general, Pam Bondi: “I’m looking at Pam because I hope something’s going to be done about it.” A Schiff spokeswoman said the fund would allow him to combat “baseless smears.” N.Y. Times | Politico
3.
“This is a nasty forecast.”
California’s most significant heat wave of the summer so far begins today, meteorologists said. Temperatures are expected to surge from Wednesday through at least Sunday, peaking on Thursday with highs above 80 degrees along the parts of the coast and rising well into triple digits inland. Fire and extreme heat warnings were in effect across parts of central and southern California. A sampling of expected Thursday highs: Redding, 106; San Jose, 90; Paso Robles, 107; Los Angeles, 94; Palm Springs, 114; San Diego, 78. L.A. Times | KTLA | S.F. Chronicle
- See local forecasts:
4.
Much is uncertain about the life of Joaquin Murrieta. What’s known is that he was a Mexican miner who sought his fortune in California during the Gold Rush but ended up being hunted for crimes he may or may not have committed. He’s been called a bloodthirsty bandit, a freedom fighter, and the Robin Hood of El Dorado. “For us Mexican horsemen,” said Arturo Barajas, “he is like our hero.” Barajas was among the horseback riders last month who joined an epic 65-mile trek through the Central Valley in honor of the legendary outlaw. The L.A. Times photographed their journey.
Northern California
5.
In Monterey County, home to the agriculturally rich Salinas Valley, 16% of children enrolled in public school have experienced homelessness at some point. That’s roughly four times higher than the statewide rate. In some pockets around Salinas, the situation is even more dire. Two or three families cram into single homes, said Donna Smith, a social worker: “I’ve seen converted garages — or unconverted ones — where a whole family is living.” The Guardian wrote about “California’s hidden homeless children.”
6.
OpenAI is in talks to sell shares to an investor group in a deal that would would value the ChatGPT maker at roughly $500 billion, reports said. That would make the San Francisco company the world’s most valuable privately held company, bigger than SpaceX. The cash infusion would come at a time when tech companies are engaged in an all-out war for artificial intelligence specialists, with compensation packages as large as $250 million. OpenAI has seen its valuation leap from $157 billion in October to $300 billion in March. N.Y. Times
7.
The library in the Bay Area city of Gilroy re-imagined itself as a social hub. As libraries have fallen out of popularity, more and more are looking for ways to lure patrons back inside. The Gilroy Library added new play spaces, “lunch at the library” gatherings, and a slate of health, employment, and housing services. It also did away with shushing. “The library is no longer this quiet place for studying,” said librarian Rosa Hughes de la Rosa. “It’s a place for community.” Attendance in July was up 20% compared to the same period in 2024. Mercury News
8.
Clovis, a suburb of Fresno, welcomed students this week to a massive new $600 million campus, the most expensive school built in the San Joaquin Valley. As families have been squeezed out of San Francisco, making it the most childless major city in America, the Fresno metropolitan area is growing. A photojournalist took a tour around the school campus. Fresno Bee
Southern California
9.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, announced on Tuesday that the entire U.S.-Mexico border wall would be painted black so it would burn the skin of anyone trying to climb it. “That is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black, it gets even warmer,” Noem said during a visit to the border in New Mexico. Critics of the plan, which Trump has floated before, have said it would cost at least half a billion dollars and do little to make the steel hotter. Bloomberg | CBS News
10.
In November 2023, Cafe Tropical, a 50-year-old coffee shop in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, unexpectedly closed due in part to a feud between the owners. The community wasn’t having it. Former customers took over the shop and rehired most of the staff. On a recent afternoon, every table was full. At other coffee shops, you feel like a customer, wrote the Financial Times: “Tropical is different. It’s less transactional. And its story is its testament.”
11.
The Los Angeles artist Tristan Duke photographed Arctic glaciers through lenses fashioned out of their own ice. He perfected a way to hand-etch exquisite holograms onto metal platters. And he captured images of the movement of light itself at a trillion frames a second. In a profile of the restless polymath, a former colleague described Duke a man of “astounding intellect” who seems to perform magic: “It sounds crazy but I saw it time and again with my own eyes.” N.Y. Times
12.
Bobcats, California natives found throughout the state, are built to kill. They have powerful claws and independently rotating ears that can detect the faintest rustling. They can hit top speeds of 30 mph. And as an incredible video recently demonstrated, they are astoundingly agile. Robert Dlugos, a wildlife photographer in Orange County, posted trail-camera footage of the moment a bobcat leaped into the air to swat a passing bird out of the sky. See it here.
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