Police agencies whitewash officer misconduct // Magical scenes in June Lake

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Sept. 18.

Police agencies scrub officer misconduct records.
California cracks down on election deepfakes.
And snowfall creates magical scenes in June Lake.

Statewide

1.

For decades, California police agencies have gotten rid of problem officers by agreeing to scrub the misconduct from their records, allowing them to land new jobs with other law enforcement agencies. An investigation found nearly 300 officers and deputies whose misconduct had been whitewashed by the secret pacts, though the true number is likely much higher. Among them have been officers accused of embezzling, groping a woman in jail, and falsifying a report to link a man to a crime. S.F. Chronicle

2.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation aimed at cracking down on artificial-intelligence fakery on Tuesday:

Three measures take aim at doctored political images, making it illegal to knowingly share election-related deepfakes within 120 days of Election Day. Newsom said he was moved to act in part by an AI-manipulated video of Vice President Kamala Harris that Elon Musk promoted. Musk responded Tuesday by resharing the video. Politico | A.P.
Two other bills prohibit the unauthorized use of artificial-intelligence likenesses of performers — even after their death. The bills enshrine some of the demands made during the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Hollywood Reporter | A.P.

3.

This year, the state Legislature quietly spent $5.2 million to ship 2 million pounds of California granite to Italy to be fabricated into bricks for use in Sacramento’s new Capitol annex. A legislative staffer assured a reporter that the cargo-boat roundtrip of 16,000-odd miles was the most affordable option but declined to show evidence of any other bids. In June, California leaders agreed to make cuts to affordable housing, prisons, and college scholarships to help close a $47 billion budget shortfall. KCRA

4.

June Lake on Tuesday. (Samantha Lindberg, Mammoth Lakes Tourism)

A rare September snowfall created some magical scenes in the Sierra Nevada on Monday and Tuesday. Forecasters predicted that upper elevations would see 3 inches of snow or more by Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Samantha Lindberg, a landscape photographer with Mammoth Lakes Tourism, shared some gorgeous views of June Lake, a Swiss-like village in the Eastern Sierra. 👉 California Sun

Northern California

5.

Three years ago, Kylie Robinson learned from San Francisco’s medical examiner that her father, James Robinson, had died from a drug overdose in the Tenderloin. She held a funeral, spread some of his ashes in Hawaii, had his name tattooed on her arm, and named her son after him. Then, two months ago, a family friend saw a familiar face on Market Street: It was James Robinson. The San Francisco Chronicle told the story of a city agency’s “colossal mistake.”

6.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin found himself in the role of underdog. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

San Francisco is known as a liberal bastion, but there is only one progressive running in the mayoral election — and he is polling in fourth place. Aaron Peskin, a longtime county supervisor, is a vocal proponent of rent control; he does not believe police should crack down on public drug use; and he opposes sweeps of homeless encampments. The three candidates outperforming him have all made tough positions on property crime, fentanyl dealing, and homelessness central to their campaigns. L.A. Times

7.

A 23-year-old man was found guilty of murder in Northern California’s first fentanyl-related homicide trial on Tuesday. On Dec. 3, 2021, Carson Schewe, of Roseville, sold his friend Kade Webb, then 20 and freshly released from rehab, a Percocet pill laced with fentanyl, prosecutors said. It killed him. By then, Schewe had already lost a girlfriend and another friend to fentanyl. “I lose a friend every month,” he wrote in a text message shown to jurors. Sacramento Bee | KCRA

8.

In 2022, a Santa Clara County prosecutor named Erin West drew the case of a 30-year-old man who thought he found love on a dating app only to be swindled out of $300,000. He was so ashamed he was suicidal. Then West performed something of a miracle: she recovered about 70% of his money by tracing it to a cryptocurrency exchange. It was the first known clawback in the type of fraud known as “pig butchering.” The breakthrough has made West the face of the effort to stop the scams. Wall Street Journal

9.

Travelers navigated Oakland’s airport on April 12. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Passengers have been showing up at the wrong airport after Oakland airport changed its name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport in April, San Francisco alleged in a motion seeking an injunction over the rebranding on Tuesday. In other cases, the filing said, travelers have booked flights to San Francisco when they intended to go to Oakland. “Oakland has a trademark for Oakland International Airport,” said San Francisco’s city attorney, David Chiu. “It should use that and stay away from San Francisco’s brand.” SF Standard | KQED

Southern California

10.

Last month, the city of Norwalk in Los Angeles County adopted a moratorium on homeless shelters, saying they posed an “immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare.” On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened legal action. “It is counterproductive and immoral for any community to throw up their hands and say they’ve done enough while they still have people in need,” he said. At a City Council meeting the next day, Norwalk called his bluff, voting to extend the moratorium. LAist

11.

Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The Bay Area author Dave Eggers visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and was awestruck to learn how close we are to finding evidence of life on another planet. “For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether life is possible elsewhere in the universe, and now we’re within striking distance of being able to say not only yes, but here,” he wrote in a fascinating feature on “the searchers.” Washington Post

12.

Micki Witthoeft outside the Supreme Court on April 16. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“We live here now. So SUCK IT, BITCH.”

Last November, Hanna Rosin, a prominent podcast host, discovered that leaders of the “Justice for J6ers” movement had moved into her deep-blue neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Rosin and her partner spent months getting to know their new neighbors, three middle-aged white women headed by Micki Witthoeft, the San Diego mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed during the 2021 Capitol attack. In Witthoeft’s world, Rosin wrote, “January 6 was not a fire to be extinguished but embers with which to ignite something glorious.” The Atlantic

Correction

Tuesday’s newsletter misspelled the name of the daughter of an Orange County pastor released from prison in China. She is Alice Lin, not Alice Li.

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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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