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Good morning. It’s Monday, May 19.
- Palm Springs bomb suspect linked to “nihilistic” beliefs.
- Government cuts weather monitoring in Central Valley.
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Statewide
1.
The National Weather Service has been an around-the-clock operation for more than half a century. But the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government means that is no longer the case in some parts of the country. Among the places hit hardest by the cuts is California, where forecasting offices in Hanford and Sacramento now have too few meteorologists to operate overnight shifts. The disruption comes just as California’s traditional wildfire season is ramping up. Washington Post | S.F. Chronicle
2.
The political advocacy group that represents California cities reacted sharply after Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed local opposition for the state’s housing crisis last week. “California cities are not the obstacle,” the League of California Cities said. Meanwhile, the wealthy beachfront community of Encinitas is openly trying to organize like-minded cities in an anti-housing insurgency, wrote columnist Sara Libby. As Newsom correctly diagnosed, she added, “California is full of Encinitases.” S.F. Chronicle
3.
Since California became the first state to require ethnic studies in high school in 2021, the mandate has languished amid fierce disagreement over the curriculum. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom has essentially killed the mandate with a budget revision that drops funding for it. Two opinions:
- Writing in the S.F. Chronicle, Justin Ray said the mandate amounted to an illusion of change: “For students who deserve a real education in who they are, what came before them, and what they’re capable of becoming, that’s not just a failure. It’s a betrayal.”
- Writing in Commentary, Seth Mandel celebrated Newsom’s move, portraying the course as an activist project driven by antisemitism: “In other words, it is an anti-intellectual desperation play to make decades-old racial politics relevant again.”
Northern California
4.
Political leaders in Benicia once battled the city’s Valero oil refinery over its risks to public health. Now, as the plant prepares to shut down by 2026, the city finds itself in the awkward position of pleading with Valero to stick around. The refinery is Benicia’s largest employer and accounts for 20% of its tax base. There is talk of having to eliminate the public pool, the summer concert series, and even the dog-poop bag dispensers in parks. “The hit on the community is going to be severe,” said Mayor Steve Young. KQED
5.
As the Trump administration targets students who express disfavored political views, college newspapers are responding by scrubbing op-eds and removing names from articles. At Stanford, Greta Reich, the editor of the Stanford Daily, said a “chilling effect” had gripped the normally outspoken student body. International students who are staff members now avoid topics related to the Middle East and “anything really about the Trump administration,” she said. Washington Post
6.
On the artificial intelligence revolution:
- Ilya Sutskever, one of the world’s leading AI researchers, commonly talked about his fear that an all-powerful artificial general intelligence would bring about “a rapture,” an OpenAI researcher said. “We’re definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI,” Sutskever once said. The Atlantic
- The AI revolution is already underway, if visible only in a few odd spots, wrote Megan McArdle. But make no mistake, she added, “We are resting in the eye of a gathering storm, and those who fail to fortify themselves now risk being swept away when the storm finally unleashes its full power.” Washington Post
7.
Tiffany Slaton, the Georgia woman who vanished for three weeks in the Sierra, explained how she survived on foraged leeks and melted snow during a news conference on Friday. Early in her trek, Slaton fell from a cliff, she said. She had to splint one leg and “pop the other knee back into place.” She pressed on through snowy terrain, eventually stumbling upon a cabin. She thought she was hallucinating, she said. But inside was “the best sleeping bag I had ever seen.” When rescuers found Slaton, she was 10 pounds lighter and suffering from snow blindness. Valley Public Radio | NBC News
8.
Thousands of runners gathered on Sunday for San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers, the storied annual footrace that is more costume party than athletic competition. Among the costumes were rubber ducks, Forrest Gump, Oompa-Loompas, numerous popes, and a space-bound Katy Perry. Here are a couple galleries showcasing the wildest get-ups. 👉 SFGATE | S.F. Chronicle
Southern California
9.
A 25-year-old linked to writings that espoused “nihilistic” beliefs and laid out the case for “a war against pro-lifers” was identified by the authorities as the suspect in a bomb explosion Saturday outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic. Investigators said the suspect, Guy Edwards Bartkus, of Twentynine Palms, died in the blast. Akil Davis, from the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, called the attack “an intentional act of terrorism.” The suspect’s father, Richard Bartkus, said he had not seen his son in 10 years. “He wasn’t dumb,” he said. “But he wasn’t a leader. He was a follower.” Desert Sun | N.Y. Times | L.A. Times | A.P.
10.
Nearly half of the campuses in the Pasadena Unified school district have soil contaminated by toxins such as lead, arsenic, and chromium after the Eaton fire, tests found. At one high school, there was lead next to the tennis courts at more than three times the state’s allowable limit. Lead, when inhaled, can cause permanent brain and nerve damage. Students have been back on campus since January. It wasn’t until April that the district moved to conduct testing. “The superintendent kept saying it’s safe,” said Nicole Maccalla, a parent. The parents’ response: “Prove it.” L.A. Times
11.
Librarians and their defenders in Huntington Beach are trying to wrest control of the library system away from the MAGA-aligned City Council. They put two initiatives on the June 10 ballot. One would repeal an ordinance that takes the authority over book decisions away from librarians and hands it to a board selected by the council. The second measure would bar the privatization of libraries. Opponents have embraced polarizing rhetoric, putting up signs around town that read: “PROTECT OUR KIDS FROM PORN, NO on A & B.” Politico
12.
There were roughly 2,500 active-duty troops were along the U.S.-Mexico border at the end of the Biden administration. Now there are about 8,600, the New York Times reported:
“That’s not all. The military has also dispatched U-2 spy planes, surveillance drones, helicopters and even two Navy warships to surveil the borders and coasts round the clock.”
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
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