Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Dec. 3.
- Nearly 40% of Stanford undergrads claim disability.
- Waymo cars are seen as public health breakthrough.
- And an experiment in radical living in Bombay Beach.
Statewide
1.
Over the past 15 years, the number of young people diagnosed with conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression has soared. But the change has been even more pronounced at the nation’s most prestigious universities. This year, 38% of Stanford undergraduates were registered as having a disability. “You hear ‘students with disabilities’ and it’s not kids in wheelchairs,” one professor said. “It’s just not. It’s rich kids getting extra time on tests.” The Atlantic published an eye-opening article on “accommodation nation.”
2.
Data recently released by Waymo showed that its self-driving cars have been involved in 91% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes compared to human drivers on the same roads. Jonathan Slotkin, a neurosurgeon, said the statistics are a call to action:
“If Waymo’s results are indicative of the broader future of autonomous vehicles, we may be on the path to eliminating traffic deaths as a leading cause of mortality in the United States. While many see this as a tech story, I view it as a public health breakthrough.” N.Y. Times
3.
Gavin Heffernan, a filmmaker who specializes in time-lapse videos, brought his considerable skills to Yosemite National Park in October. He filmed during a full moon that bathed El Capitan, Half Dome, and other granite giants in soft light without obscuring the stars. The juxtaposition of earthly and celestial beauty is hypnotic. Vimeo (~3 mins) | PetaPixel
Northern California
4.
President Trump vowed to crack down on crime in San Francisco. Instead, his administration has quietly taken law enforcement away from the city. The number of people people charged with federal crimes in San Francisco and surrounding cities through November 1 of this year fell 40% from the same period in 2024, an analysis found. Agents who once built those cases are now rounding up immigrants to deport, federal sources said. “They just don’t have the agents to do criminal cases,” a former Justice Department official said. Reuters
5.
After years of fierce debate, San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan to allow taller and denser housing in neighborhoods that have long resisted development. The city’s chief economist projected that the “family zoning” plan would produce roughly 14,600 new units over the next 20 years. San Francisco is America’s second-densest city, trailing only New York. But rents are astronomical, and pro-housing activists point out that Paris is three times more densely populated than San Francisco. S.F. Chronicle | KQED
6.
San Francisco on Tuesday filed the first-ever government lawsuit against food makers over ultraprocessed foods, accusing companies like Coca-Cola and General Mills of knowingly marketing addictive and harmful foods. The lawsuit does not call for a ban on breakfast cereals, candies, chips, and other products but seeks court orders to end “deceptive marketing.” “These companies engineered a public-health crisis,” said David Chiu, the city attorney. An industry spokesperson accused Chiu of “demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content.” S.F. Chronicle | N.Y. Times
7.
An albino alligator named Claude that attracted a cult following while living in a patch of swampland inside San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences has died, the museum said on Tuesday. No cause was given. After arriving at the museum 17 years ago, the alligator’s pale coloring helped endear him to fans around the world. Claude appeared in a children’s book, and toys made in his image were sold in the museum gift shop. In September, thousands attended Claude’s 30th birthday celebration. “We will miss him dearly,” the museum said in a statement. S.F. Examiner | A.P.
8.
For a second straight year, readers of Condé Nast Traveler named Oakland the best food city in America:
“There’s no wrong neighborhood from which to start exploring Oakland’s staggeringly diverse food scene. In Temescal, located in the north of the city, you’ll find buzzy soul food spot Burdell, as well as out-of-the-box pizzas (think toppings like Monterey Bay squid and chanterelles) at fan-favorite Pizzaiolo; Fruitvale, named after the fruit orchards that dominated this part of town in the mid-19th century, is packed with taco trucks that serve some of the best birria in the country.”
Southern California
9.
A man tossed two Molotov cocktails into a federal building that houses ICE offices in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, the authorities said on Tuesday. According to an affidavit, Jose Francisco Jovel, 54, described his actions as a “terrorist attack” and told officers, “You’re separating families.” The incendiary devices apparently failed to ignite and nobody was hurt, officials said. A.P. | L.A. Times
10.
Reporter Ash Sanders ventured to Bombay Beach on Southern California’s Salton Sea, where philosophers and artists are conducting a postapocalyptic experiment in radical living. In an absorbing long read for The Believer, she wrote:
“A struggling town next to a dying sea is not exactly a place you’d expect to encounter a cultural renaissance, counter- or otherwise. But in recent years, a group of artists have moved to the town, parlaying a backdrop of disaster, disinvestment, and despair into an attempt to build a brave new world.”
11.
Los Angeles’ Mountain School of Arts has no campus, no set schedule, a rudimentary website, and only one course of study — “something along the lines of ‘how to be an artist.'” Yet the school, founded in a Chinatown bar in 2005, counts a dazzling array of major art figures among its faculty and alumni. Artillery Magazine sat with Piero Golia, the school’s Italian, chain-smoking founder, for a piece on “L.A.’s most mysterious art institution.”
12.
Passengers on whale-watching boats commonly hope to catch a glimpse of a blue whale. The planet’s largest animal is, by all accounts, awesome to behold. But they lack the charisma of humpback whales, which are known for their curious and playful nature. During an outing off Newport Beach on Sunday, a whale-watching group was treated to a show from a juvenile humpback that jumped from the water no fewer than 50 times. Wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau captured some amazing video. @markgirardeau | O.C. Register
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