California State University, the country’s largest four-year university system, signaled that it plans to permanently end its use of the SAT in admissions. An advisory panel recommended the change on Wednesday and the Board of Trustees is expected to officially approve it in March. CSU’s move would cement a transition to “test blind” admissions across all of public higher education in California. The UC regents embraced the change in November on the grounds that the exams handicap poor and minority students who lack access to costly test preparation classes. EdSource | A.P.

One unintended consequence of the relentless pumping of water from aquifers beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley has been the slow-motion collapse of the ground beneath our feet. Since 1900, parts of the valley floor have dropped as much as 30 feet. This week, repair work began on the buckling Friant-Kern Canal, a crucial artery for water deliveries whose carrying capacity has decreased by more than half. The projected price tag: $500 million. Visalia Times-Delta | San Joaquin Valley Sun

Coronavirus roundup:

On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Mark Fainaru-Wada, the sports reporter who co-authored “Game of Shadows,” on steroids in baseball. Fainaru-Wada said Barry Bonds, who was shut out of the Hall of Fame this week, was hardly an outlier in his use of performance-enhancing drugs. “The idea that this somehow was an anomaly or some small percentage,” he said, “I think people are being quite naive if they really believe that.”

In 1860, a group of white settlers slipped onto an island off Eureka and slaughtered the Wiyot people living there. Years later, in an added indignity, the remains of many victims were dug up, then traded, studied, and displayed in museums. This week, officials announced that the remains of 20 suspected victims held at UC Berkeley had been returned home. “They’re going to be at peace and at rest with our other ancestors,” said Ted Hernandez, a Wiyot tribal leader. Eureka Times-Standard | A.P.

“Living rent-free next to millionaires.”

A Vice documentary on the renegade boat-dwellers of Richardson Bay made vivid the tensions between them and the wealthy residents of Marin County. The so-called anchor-outs described a way of life defined by self-sufficiency, community, and freedom. A homeowner along the shore saw the boat community differently: “They’re meth addicts, they’re alcoholics, they’re ex-felons or current felons.” YouTube (~10 mins)

The lawsuit filed Monday by 69-year-old Anh Lê drew widespread condemnation: It recounted how he was brutally attacked on a San Francisco street by a father and son wielding a “baseball bat,” and how the District Attorney’s Office ignored Lê as it gave the suspects a “slap on the wrist.” Other sources have since presented a starkly different picture. Records showed that a victim advocate from the District Attorney’s Office reached out to Lê more than two dozen times via phone, email, and mail, but got no response. The bat was made of plastic and it was swung by the son, an 11-year-old boy; the father was wheelchair-bound. S.F. Chronicle

In 2020, Congress ordered the renaming of Fort Bragg, the North Carolina base named after a Confederate general and slave owner. But California’s Fort Bragg is planning to keep its name. After more than a year of meetings and debate, a citizen panel on Monday concluded that the small town on the Mendocino Coast was too polarized over the issue. One commissioner made a prediction that seemed all but certain: “This problem will not go away,” she said. Press Democrat | Fort-Bragg Advocate-News

A company pays $1,950 a year to extract millions of gallons of water from the San Bernardino National Forest and sell it as Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water. This is going on, critics note, as Californians are being asked to conserve water during a lingering drought. “Why is this allowed to happen?” said Amanda Frye, a leading activist. “This is our water.” L.A. Times

This week, crews cleared homeless encampments near Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, where the Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 13. Officials cited fire safety concerns, but critics said the timing before a major event, similar to that of a homeless sweep before the 2021 Oscars, made the true purpose plain. “I think it’s all about appearances,” said Madeline Devillers, a homeless advocate. “There’s no equivalent push to get them in housing … it’s just ‘Get out.’” KTLA | The Guardian

The L.A. Times published a photo essay from the sweep.

“She’s basically a swimming head.”

The discovery of three exceedingly rare — and particularly frightful — deep-sea anglerfish on Southern California shores has delighted and baffled the ichthyology world. Was it oil spills, ocean-dumped DDT, sonic booms, or just chance? No one knows. New Yorker

Five items that got big views over the past week: