Good morning. It’s Thursday, Aug. 21.
- Gavin Newsom trolls his way to social media stardom.
- Ousted fire chief accuses L.A. mayor of smear campaign.
- And immigration arrests unfold outside San Diego schools.
Statewide
1.
The latest developments in the nationwide redistricting fight:
- The state Supreme Court rejected a petition from Republicans seeking to halt the Democratic-held Legislature’s effort to reapportion California’s House districts on Wednesday. The brief order offered little explanation, saying the lawsuit “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief.” S.F. Chronicle | Sacramento Bee
- Former President Barack Obama endorsed California’s redrawing of congressional districts, calling it a “responsible approach” to offset similar Republican-led efforts in Texas. Politico | Washington Post
- A Democratic pollster found that a whopping 84% of California’s Democrats back the redistricting push. Axios
- The state’s rural north, meanwhile, is fuming. L.A. Times
2.
Marcus Lemonis, the executive chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond, announced Wednesday that the home goods retailer would avoid California entirely as it seeks to reemerge after going out of business in 2023. Lemonis, who has hailed the Trump administration in recent Fox News appearances, insisted the decision was not political. “It’s about reality,” he said. “California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America.” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office fired back on X: “Like most Americans, we thought Bed Bath & Beyond no longer existed.” S.F. Chronicle | USA Today
3.
Gavin Newsom’s face on Mount Rushmore.
J.D. Vance’s face on the body of the Australian breakdancer Raygun.
Offensive nicknames, grandstanding boasts, and meandering tangents written in all-caps.
The transformation of the California governor’s press office into a social media troll, emulating the sitting president for laughs, began as a one-time joke. Liberals loved it, leading Newsom to run with the strategy. “In doing so,” reporter Adam Wren wrote, “Newsom is not only getting on Republicans’ nerves, but also potentially redefining how Democrats function as the opposition party in the age of Trump.” Politico | N.Y. Times
4.
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, perched on a bluff along the Central Coast, was supposed to shutter by 2025. Now, with the state desperate for electricity, it’s primed for a 20-year extension. But PG&E, the plant’s operator, will first have to convince the California Coastal Commission that it can safely operate the aging plant. A reporter and photographer got a look around California’s last-running nuclear plant. Bloomberg
Northern California
5.
More than a year after Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain vanished in Redding, the authorities on Wednesday arrested her husband, Tyler McCain, charging him with murder in a case that has fixated the Northern California city. Suspicion fell squarely on McCain since the early days after the 39-year-old mother of four disappeared. Her siblings said he was not forthcoming. He skipped search parties, and he waited 10 months to speak to the media. According to prosecutors, an informant said McCain admitted to killing his wife during a domestic violence incident. S.F. Chronicle | KRCR
6.
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department is planning to revert to a 911 dispatch platform that critics say will rely on “pen and paper.” Sheriff Jeff Dirkse made the peculiar decision despite a county-wide push to modernize outdated dispatch systems across law enforcement and firefighting agencies. When Dirkse, who preferred a rival vendor, didn’t get his way, he opted his department out. On Tuesday, Supervisor Terry Withrow admonished the sheriff’s department: “God help you if something happens to the public or one one of your deputies.” Modesto Focus | Modesto Bee
7.
On Dec. 23, 1964, a partially built dam on the North Fork of the American River burst during a storm, unleashing a wall of water that took out the Georgetown Bridge. For more than 60 years, 750 tons of metal and concrete from the span has been left to sit in the river near Auburn. For a time, officials counted on a proposed dam submerging the debris deep under water. But that never came to pass. This week, work finally began on removing the fallen bridge from the riverbed. SFGATE
8.
Vaillancourt Fountain’s days appear to be officially numbered. This week, park authorities requested the sculpture’s removal from San Francisco’s Embarcadero ahead of a planned redesign of the plaza. Since its unveiling in 1972, the 710-ton artwork has divided public opinion. The architecture writer Allan Temko likened it to something “deposited by a concrete dog with square intestines.” Supporters, charmed by its quirkiness, are lobbying to save it. S.F. Chronicle
Southern California
9.
Kristin Crowley, the former Los Angeles fire chief, filed a legal claim Wednesday accusing Mayor Karen Bass of orchestrating a “campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation” to protect her political image after the city’s January wildfires. Bass ousted Crowley on Feb. 21 over her handling of the fire response, despite Crowley’s strong support from the firefighters union. In her claim, Crowley’s lawyers said Bass sought to deflect attention from her own absence from the country and prior cuts to the fire department’s budget. L.A. Times | LAist
10.
At least three times this month, a parent has been arrested by immigration authorities outside an elementary school in the San Diego area. The latest action came Wednesday morning, when armed men in bulletproof vests grabbed a father in front of an Encinitas elementary school while his young daughter watched. Catherine Blakespear, a state senator who represents the region, called the arrest “inhumane, barbaric, and lawless.” By the end of the day, neighbors had raised about $35,000 to help the man’s family. Times of San Diego | KPBS
11.
One of the oldest living things on Earth sits off a remote dirt road in the Mojave Desert — and no one seems to care.
The King Clone, a scraggly creosote bush, began its life nearly 12,000 years ago, when woolly mammoths still roamed. Its astounding longevity owes to an unusual strategy of self-cloning, in which the plant continually reproduces itself in an outward direction, forming a circular colony from the same roots. Apart from a metal fence, affixed with a yellow placard that reads “ecological reserve,” there’s nothing to suggest the significance of the site. SFGATE’s Farley Elliott went out to have a look.
12.
☝️ You can climb this fairy-tale-esque tower in San Diego.
Constructed in 1915, California Tower in Balboa Park was designed to evoke Spanish Colonial cathedrals. Small tour groups, at $10 a ticket, ascend every two hours on weekdays and hourly on weekends. The views from an eighth-floor viewing deck are said to reach from the Pacific Ocean to the Cuyamaca Mountains and beyond.
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