Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 18.
- Silicon Valley executives join U.S. Army Reserve.
- Undocumented parents miss children’s graduations.
- And Indigenous kayakers to paddle entire Klamath River.
Statewide
1.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seemed inclined to let President Trump keep National Guard troops in Los Angeles during arguments on Tuesday. All three judges on the panel, two appointed by Trump and one by President Biden, suggested that presidents enjoy broad discretion and courts should be reluctant to step in. “If we were writing on a blank slate, I would tend to agree with you,” Judge Jennifer Sung told California’s lawyer at one point, before citing legal precedent that favored the administration. Whichever way the ruling goes, the losing side is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. S.F. Chronicle | N.Y. Times
2.
The Defense Department said on Tuesday that it activated a second detachment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, bringing the military force in the city to 4,100 guardsmen along with 700 Marines. The move came even as Mayor Karen Bass lifted a downtown curfew after protests over immigration raids ebbed. In a statement Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said troops were diverted from wildfire prevention work and are “now twiddling their thumbs for Donald Trump’s political theater.” Bloomberg | NBC Los Angeles
3.
Sen. Alex Padilla delivered his first remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday since being dragged from a news conference held by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, last week. His voice shook while recounting how agents pinned him to the ground. “I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, ‘Why I am being detained?’” he said, adding that the episode reflected a nation adrift. “Throughout this country’s history we’ve had conflict. We’ve had tumult. But we’ve never had a tyrant as a commander-in-chief.” The White House called the speech a “temper tantrum.” S.F. Chronicle | The Guardian
- See Padilla’s full remarks. 👉 PBS
4.
“Immigrant families have been on an emotional roller coaster.”
“One minute you have a message saying they won’t go after agriculture, the next something else.”
“We don’t have a clue right now.”
At the onset of the summer harvest, a feeling of dread hung over California’s agricultural communities on Tuesday after the Trump administration gave conflicting signals about its plans to conduct immigration raids at farms. The uncertainty has cemented an unlikely alliance between growers and workers’ rights associations, as employers have reached out for guidance on how to protect their workers. A core message: Don’t let agents on the property without a signed warrant. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
5.
In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom arranged for a nonprofit to hire former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to prepare a report on how to streamline infrastructure projects. For 10 months of work, Villaraigosa was paid more than $380,000, financed by corporate special interests including Doordash, Disney, and Southern California Edison. An ethics watchdog said the arrangement had an “ick factor.” The governor’s office declined to answer any questions about it. CalMatters
Northern California
6.
The historian Steven Johnson, looking for an angle on the Gold Rush, fed a collection of written works into an artificial intelligence app and peppered it with questions about the material. Within 30 minutes, he discovered a promising historical figure for a potential book: a Native American chief’s granddaughter who was held up as the last of the original Yosemite Indians. The New York Times Magazine wrote about how historians are getting over their initial apprehensions and using AI to do their reading for them.
7.
Not long ago, collaboration with the military was anathema in Silicon Valley. No more. Last week, four executives from Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI — Shyam Sankar, Andrew Bosworth, Kevin Weil, and Bob McGrew — were sworn in as lieutenant colonels in the U.S. Army Reserve. The newly established Army innovation corps is part of a push to prepare for the wars of the future, expected to be waged with robots and drones. “The gap between Silicon Valley and Washington is — finally — beginning to be bridged,” Sankar wrote in an essay. Wall Street Journal | Business Insider
8.
A year after four major dams were removed from Northern California’s Klamath River, a group of young Indigenous kayakers set off from its headwaters last Thursday with plans to paddle 300 miles to the ocean by mid-July. “And when they reach the wide mouth of the river at the Pacific Ocean near Klamath, Calif., they will be celebrated as the first to descend the full length of the Klamath, source to sea, since the dams went up and pinched life from the water,” the N.Y. Times’ John Branch wrote in a dispatch illustrated with gorgeous photography.
9.
At Malakoff Diggins, once California’s largest hydraulic gold mine near Nevada City in the Sierra foothills, glampers stay in cabins designed to resemble those of Gold Rush-era miners. They walk the historic town; visit the elaborately carved cliffs of the “Diggins,” pictured above; and grill dinner over an outdoor fire pit. KQED included Malakoff Diggins in a list of five favorite glamping destinations in the Bay Area and beyond.
Southern California
10.
Seven men were charged in the notorious 2022 robbery of a Brink’s big rig at a Grapevine truck stop, federal authorities announced on Tuesday. It was said to be the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history. All of the suspects, who hail from Los Angeles-area neighborhoods, had been honing their craft in the parking lots and truck stops of San Bernardino County, officials said. When they made off with 24 bags of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and watches from the Grapevine stop, they may have gotten more than they bargained for: a haul estimated to be worth $100 million. L.A. Times | Courthouse News
11.
Daniella Martinez Cerezo, class president at her Los Angeles high school, opened her graduation speech on Monday by noting who wasn’t there. “Hello, Mom; hello, Dad,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “I know you couldn’t be here today because you’re afraid. I don’t know how to live my life in a world without you both. I don’t say this a lot, but thank you. Thank you for giving me life.” The New York Times wrote about the undocumented parents who are missing their children’s graduations.
12.
In the summer of 1946, as America was enjoying a period of postwar optimism, a bicycle trade group in Southern California organized a Sunday trip from Los Angeles to San Diego to promote interest in the hobby. It wasn’t a ride from city to city. Rather, Angelenos boarded a San Diego-bound train with their bikes at Union Station. The group danced to music in a box car, enjoyed a ride around another city, and accepted prizes for the best cycling outfits. Google Arts & Culture has a fun collection of photos from the trip by the LIFE photographer Peter Stackpole.
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
Wake up to must-read news from around the Golden State delivered to your inbox each morning.