Good morning. It’s Thursday, Jan. 15.
- California experiences its hottest December on record.
- San Francisco offers free child care to families.
- And vandals overrun an abandoned Orange County mall.
Statewide
1.
A U.S. District Court on Wednesday upheld California’s new congressional map, rejecting Republican arguments that it was redrawn with racial intent. “The evidence presented reflects that Proposition 50 was exactly what it was billed as: a political gerrymander designed to flip five Republican-held seats to the Democrats,” Judge Josephine Staton wrote for the 2-1 majority. The California Republican Party, which brought the complaint, could appeal to the Supreme Court, but the justices have indicated they would be unlikely to intervene. L.A. Times | A.P.
2.
The Western U.S. just had the hottest December on record, data showed. In California, heavy precipitation boosted high-elevation snowpack, a crucial source of water in the spring and summer. But the warmth left paltry snow levels overall. On Jan. 4, snow cover across the West was the lowest since 2001, federal scientists reported. “We are getting warmer,” said Nick Bond, Washington’s state climatologist. “We understand why. We don’t know exactly how it’s going to turn out.” Capital Press | S.F. Chronicle
3.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday announced an investigation into whether Elon Musk’s xAI violated state law by generating sexualized images of real women and children. Starting in late December, X was flooded by so-called “deepfake” pornography after xAI updated its artificial intelligence tool, Grok, to allow users to remove clothing in pictures of women and girls. “This is very explicit,” Bonta said. “It’s very visible.” California law prohibits the use of AI to create nonconsensual sexual images. N.Y. Times | Wall Street Journal
4.
California transportation officials posted video on Wednesday that showed motorists driving along a repaired stretch of Highway 1 in Big Sur where a massive landslide had blocked traffic for years. Engineers said Regent’s Slide, as it’s known, was the most technically challenging slide they’d ever encountered along the notoriously capricious coast, which is now fully reopened for the first time since 2023. Thousands of steel rods were drilled into the slope to keep it stable, officials said. KSBW | SFGATE
5.
A Trump administration lawyer on Wednesday tried to convince a federal judge that a new California law barring law enforcement from wearing masks is unconstitutional. “If states can require federal agents not to wear masks, or pink uniforms, that’s a huge impediment on the supremacy clause,” said the lawyer, Tiberius Davis. Judge Christina Snyder did not yet rule, but she appeared to be unpersuaded, asking repeatedly how the ban would impede federal officers. “Why can’t they perform their duties without a mask?” she asked. “They did that until 2025, did they not?” L.A. Times | Courthouse News
6.
Hardly any of the plastic you put in your recycling bin gets recycled. According to a new report by CalRecycle, the state’s recycling agency, just 2% of polypropylene packaging, used for items such as yogurt containers and margarine tubs, is getting recycled. Colored shampoo and detergent bottles, made from polyethylene, are recycled at a rate of just 5%. The figures confirm an ugly truth about recycling in California: most of our plastic still ends up in the environment, sickening animals and threatening human health. L.A. Times
Northern California
7.
San Francisco will offer free child care to families earning up to $230,000 a year, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced on Wednesday. Families making up to $310,000, or more than double the city’s median household income, will qualify for a 50% subsidy on child care costs. The subsidies, which will be financed through a commercial rent tax, reflect Lurie’s embrace of the “affordability” agenda that many Democrats believe is crucial to restoring the party’s brand. Bloomberg | S.F. Chronicle
8.
Six people died when a pickup truck collided head-on with a transit bus on a two-lane highway just south of Red Bluff in the Sacramento Valley on Wednesday morning. The authorities said the driver of a Toyota Tacoma crossed double yellow lines into oncoming traffic before the crash, which killed five people on the bus and the truck driver. One person on the bus survived with serious injuries. Video images showed the bus engulfed in flames and dark gray smoke billowing into the sky. KRCR | Action News Now
9.
On Nov. 7, a Redding woman named Jenny O’Connell-Nowain sat on the floor in the middle of a county supervisors meeting, held up a sign reflecting her displeasure with one of the lawmakers, and refused to leave. She was arrested and later found guilty of disturbing a public meeting. But when prosecutors recommended a sentence of community service plus probation, O’Connell-Nowain again refused, telling the judge she would do no such thing. The judge asked if she was prepared to go to jail for six months instead. “I am,” she replied. Action News Now | Shasta Scout
Southern California
10.
Last Friday, a group of rowdy anti-ICE protesters arrived outside a federal immigration building in Santa Ana, where a handful of federal agents stood in riot gear. One officer raised a “less lethal” weapon of some kind, pointed it directly at 21-year-old Kaden Rummler’s face from a few feet away, and fired. Rummler dropped to the ground, blood gushing, as another officer approached and dragged him away by the collar. Rummler underwent six hours of surgery, but his left eye, riddled with shrapnel, was destroyed. “I will never see through my left eye again, not even light,” he said. L.A. Times | A.P.
- See video of the encounter.
- Retired police captain: “There is really no reasonable explanation for that person being shot in the face.” O.C. Register
11.
In California, public access to the beach is a constitutional right. So when Carlsbad homeowver John Levy obstructed two paths to the coast and built a pickleball court on his property without permission, among other violations, the Coastal Commission issued repeated warnings. They they fined him $2.4 million. Levy is now challenging the commission’s authority in court. “They’re the investigator, they’re the judge, they’re the jury and also they’re the treasurer,” he said. CalMatters
12.
An abandoned mall in Orange County has been overrun by vandals, leaving the structure filled with broken glass, toppled planters, and graffiti. Videos posted to social media created buzz around the Westminster Mall, which closed in October, apparently leading more people to seek it out. The police department said it had fielded more than 400 calls about trespassing in three months. Last weekend, they arrested roughly 30 people on vandalism charges. O.C. Register | KABC
- See video inside the mall.
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