Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Jan. 17.
- California’s great drenching is winding down.
- Tulare County community jolted by shooting massacre.
- And panel urges $5 million for each Black San Franciscan.
California storms
1.
The rain is finally relenting. While Northern California could face some light precipitation Wednesday, meteorologists predicted that the rest of January would be dry. Here are some of the stunning numbers from the great California drenching of 2022-2023:
- At least 19 people died, a toll higher than the last two wildfire seasons combined. L.A. Times
- More than 18 inches of rain fell on San Francisco in its wettest 22-day period since 1862. Other isolated places across the state got more than 50 inches. @NWSBayArea | CNN
- Some reservoirs filled up so much that they had to release water. Levels at the reservoirs of Oroville, Folsom, Sonoma, and Don Pedro, among others, are all now at least 100% of average for this date. Water.ca.gov
- The Sierra snowpack now stands at 247% of normal for this time of the year, or in the technical language of State Climatologist Michael Anderson: “epic levels.” KQED | Water.ca.gov
- More than 500 landslides were recorded since New Year’s Eve, a troublingly large number attributed to California’s young geology, prolonged drought, and widespread burn scars. @CAGeoSurvey | AGU.org
2.
Other storm developments:
- More than 70 residents along a canyon north of Ojai had to be rescued by helicopter over the weekend as the only road into town, pictured above, collapsed. Further south, rescue crews saved 11 people from swollen waterways across San Diego County on Monday. L.A. Times | S.D. Union-Tribune
- “It’s a failure of leadership.” California voters approved billions for new water storage projects. Nearly 10 years later, none have been built. Sacramento Bee | Politico
- President Biden planned to travel to the Central Coast on Thursday to observe storm damage. A.P.
3.
“If it’s not the biggest in the last 30 to 50 years, it’s certainly in the top three.”
The massive swell that rolled into California on Friday, Jan. 6, produced a surf event that will likely be talked about in parking lots and coffee shops for years. Surfline produced a short film on what it dubbed the “Wild West swell. 👉 YouTube (7 mins)
Statewide
4.
Six people — including a teenage girl and her infant son — were fatally shot at a home in the community of Goshen, just east of Visalia, early Monday in what authorities described as a “cartel-style execution.” Investigators were searching for at least two suspects. “We believe this was a message being sent,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters. “We believe that this was a targeted family.” Visalia Times-Delta | Reuters
5.
The twang of an electric guitar. Dollar bills pinned to the walls. A chalkboard that reads, “Soup of the Day: Whiskey.”
Scattered along the remote desert highways of Southern California is a collection of mom-and-pop bars where the regulars have favorite barstools and mojito orders may get you laughed out. Louise Farr profiled six great California desert bars. 👉 Alta
6.
Last fall, the National Audubon Society released a beautifully designed online map that uses a trove of bird sighting data for the most complete picture of migratory patterns across the Western Hemisphere. In California, the flights resemble a multicolored circulatory system, as multitudes of birds surge up and down the Pacific Flyway. Among the most charismatic birds now in the state: surf scoters, belted kingfishers, and the fabulous short-eared owl, pictured above. Bay Nature | Audubon.org
Northern California
7.
A San Francisco reparations committee has recommended giving each Black longtime resident of the city a lump-sum payment of $5 million. In a draft report presented to city leaders last month, the panel said that while San Francisco never formally practiced slavery, it embraced “the values of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression.” The Board of Supervisors president, Aaron Peskin, said he hopes his colleagues will approve the recommendations. S.F. Chronicle
8.
Garberville, a place of peace flags and hemp lattes in the heart of Northern California redwood country, was once known as a cannabis powerhouse, serving as a supply hub of southern Humboldt County. Now it’s on life support. As a market glut has caused marijuana prices to crash, local businesses have been shuttering. “I have been here my whole life,” said Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, “and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it this bad.” Lost Coast Outpost | SFGATE
9.
Willy, pictured above, ended up in a Sacramento dog shelter after he was attacked by a group of dogs and had to have both ears amputated. John Holmquist, a veterinary technician at the shelter, took pity on the good boy and crocheted him a new pair of “ears.” I “just giggled to myself as I put it over his head,” he said. Willy was adopted shortly after his photos were posted online a couple weeks ago. KCRA
Southern California
10.
In recent years, an internet subculture of scambaiting, or pranking people believed to be making scam phone calls, has grown into a lucrative niche within the YouTube creator economy. Last year, a pair of YouTube scambaiters from Los Angeles traveled to Kolkata, India, and released cockroaches and mice in a call center, amassing more than 60 million views online. “It’s more than just prank calls,” explained Art Kulik, one of the YouTubers. “It’s prank calls to serve a purpose.” Rest of the World
11.
USC’s school of social work announced in a memo that it was removing the word “field” from its curriculum because it could be considered anti-Black. “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘field work’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” the school explained. The move drew widespread derision, but Mildred Joyner, the president of National Association of Social Workers, applauded it. “I don’t know what going too far means,” she said. NPR
12.
The New York Times included Palm Springs in a travel feature on 52 places to go in 2023:
“Yes, this is the land of midcentury nostalgia, with its low-slung Modernist architecture and the recent return of the 26-foot-tall ‘Forever Marilyn’ statue. But these days, there’s another headliner: the surrounding desert, and the dark skies above.”
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