Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 6.
- Publishers sue Meta for “flagrant copyright breach.”
- A San Bernardino County deputy shoots man’s dog.
- And one night in Joshua Tree’s colorful Cubist retreat.
Statewide
1.
During an energy hearing on Tuesday, state lawmakers were informed that California now has enough fuel supply to meet demand for six weeks. The grim assessment came after the last California-bound oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since war erupted in Iran docked recently at the Port of Long Beach. If the strait remains closed through May, “all bets are off,” an energy markets specialist told the L.A. Times. “Refineries have to source from elsewhere, and they are scrambling to find where to get that oil.” KCRA
- California’s fuel watchdog issued subpoenas to gas stations suspected of price gouging. Some dropped their prices after being contacted by the agency. Bloomberg
2.
Tom Steyer has presented himself as a warrior for the environment in his campaign for California governor. But financial records showed that the restless San Francisco billionaire has maintained investments in a hedge fund that has been a major lender to the coal industry in recent years, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Steyer has used his vast wealth to flood the state with ads, accounting for more than three-quarters of all ad spending on the race as of April, an analysis found.
3.
With ballots for California’s June 2 primary already in the mail, seven candidates for governor met on Tuesday for another debate marked by testy exchanges. The L.A. Times’ Gustavo Arellano summed up the proceedings: “Chad Bianco raged, Steve Hilton tried to mask his MAGA-ness with his British accent. Katie Porter scolded, Tom Steyer channeled Bernie. Xavier Becerra did his best impression of the old Bunsen character from ‘The Muppet Show.’ Matt Mahan was just … there.”
- Xavier Becerra took fire after surging in the polls; Katie Porter defended her temperament; and Chad Bianco appeared to endorse a far-right militia group. Here are takeaways from the debate. 👉 NBC Los Angeles | N.Y. Times
4.
The survival of Sierra forests depleted by drought, insects, and wildfire has come to rely heavily on specialized workers known as pinecone cowboys. As natural regeneration fails to keep up with tree die-offs, the workers climb towering redwoods by rope to harvest the seeds ensconced in pinecones hundreds of feet above the forest floor. The work is crucial to reforestation, yet the pinecone cowboy is a dying profession, starved by a lack of funding. High Country News
5.
The Bald Hills in Humboldt County are pretty enough, with magnificent redwoods, oaks, prairies, and wandering elk. Right now, the hills are also carpeted in a rare bloom of purple, sweet-smelling lupine. In a recent Instagram video, a National Park Service botanist credited the outburst of color to a prescribed burn in the area in 2024. Lupines are known as “fire followers,” plants that flourish in landscapes cleared by fire. SFGATE
Northern California
6.
Five major publishing houses and the author Scott Turow filed a class-action lawsuit against Meta and and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on Tuesday, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted works to train its artificial intelligence platform. The lawsuit says Meta downloaded the books and articles from piracy sites with the direct encouragement of Zuckerberg himself. “It’s the most flagrant copyright breach in history,” said Mary Rasenberger, CEO of The Authors Guild. Meta vowed to fight the lawsuit “aggressively.” NPR | N.Y. Times
7.
Oakland’s City Council on Tuesday fined a couple $915,000 for cutting down 38 trees on their property without permits. Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner bought the lot in 2019 with plans to build a family home there. When they began felling oaks, maples, buckeyes, and other species on the property, city officials repeatedly warned them to stop. Yet the cutting continued. The harshness of the penalty split the council, but most members ultimately agreed that anything less than the full fine would undermine the law. S.F. Chronicle | Oaklandside
8.
A spectacular world of granite spires in Shasta County.
A loop along the dazzling alpine lakes of the Eastern Sierra.
And a miniature Yosemite Valley in the Bay Area.
KQED put together a nice roundup of Northern California alternatives to crowded big-name parks.
Southern California
9.
The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday announced an investigation into the Los Angeles school district over a union contract that “appears to guarantee that teachers will be reassigned, not terminated” after accusations of sexual misconduct. The Los Angeles Times and others, however, suggested that the federal government simply misread the document. The word “reassignment” means an accused teacher would be reassigned to their home, not to another classroom, while the matter is investigated. L.A. Times | EdSource
10.
A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy walked into a man’s backyard and shot his dog dead on Monday, leaving the owner bereft and confused. Jesus Serna, who was not home at the time, said he got a call from the authorities informing him that his dog, Daisy, had been killed: “I asked why they were there and they told me it was due to a vehicle being near my home that was stolen.” Serna had no connection to the vehicle. Disturbing surveillance video showed the deputy open a backyard gate and within seconds open fire on the barking dog. KTLA
11.
“There’s so much creativity.”
In late 2024, Los Angeles legalized restaurants operating out of homes, bringing out of the shadows hundreds of underground cooks who were already serving food from backyards, driveways, and kitchens. More than 320 permits have since been issued across the county, redrawing the culinary map. In Arleta, a cook sells tacos and Mexican seafood. A home restaurant in Sylmar prepares barrel-style beef on a dome-shaped grill shipped from Colombia. In Norwalk, a barista offers specialty coffee drinks using Oaxacan coffee beans. L.A. Times
12.
“The silence is absolute, broken only by the occasional call of a bird and the hypnotic hum of distant highway traffic. The entrance to the national park is less than a mile away, but there’s so much to take in here, and so little time to do it, we can’t seem to bring ourselves to get in the car. The property is ringed with enormous boulders; we scale across them like mountain goats, disturbing the occasional indignant lizard.”
Journalist Anna Merlan wrote about what it’s like to stay in Joshua Tree’s Monument House, a colorful Cubist gem available for rent on AirBnb. Dwell
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