Good morning. It’s Monday, Dec. 1.
- Mass shooting leaves four people dead in Stockton.
- David Sacks benefits himself in White House role.
- And Dick Van Dyke radiates charm as he nears 100.
Statewide
1.
Reporter Brittny Mejia spent several days with farmworkers in a cantaloupe field in rural California this fall. One of the pickers, Mimi, said she has been in the country illegally for 23 years. She pulled out a photo of her three children, Mejia wrote:
“Her older son, whom she brought from Mexico when he was 2 years old, has DACA and recently graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering. Her middle son is studying to be a pharmacy technician and her daughter, the youngest, had just turned 16 that day.
“‘They’re my motivation,’ she said. ‘I’m so proud of them.'” L.A. Times
2.
A 400-mile sea of fog has been nestled in California’s Central Valley for more than a week. Nicknamed tule fog, which rhymes with newly and is named for the region’s tule grass, it commonly occurs after winter rains as nighttime cooling causes moisture to saturate the air, forming what is essentially a low cloud bracketed by mountains. On Nov. 16 and 17, heavy rains fell across the valley. As of Sunday, the tule fog had remained entrenched for at least 10 straight days, weather watchers said. Washington Post | @weatherwest.bsky.social
- See latest satellite view of California.
3.
The travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson rode the entire length of the scenic California Zephyr train route, from Chicago to the Bay Area: 53 hours and 33 stops across seven states. One of the best parts, she wrote, was spending time with fellow passengers. Because no one is in a hurry, encounters lingered. “Call it corny, but the conversations and games (Yahtzee!) will stay with me,” Gilbertson wrote. Wall Street Journal
4.
In 1975, when Peter Turnley was just 20 years old, he accepted a commission from California’s Office of Economic Opportunity to take pictures of the state’s working poor. Over four months, he spent time with migrant farmworkers in the San Joaquin valley, travelers who hopped trains in search of work, and the urban poor of Watts and the Tenderloin. Turnley’s photos were then stashed away and forgotten. Half a century later, they will be exhibited at the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles this month. L.A. Times
Northern California
5.
A mass shooting at a child’s birthday party in Stockton on Saturday left three children and one adult dead — ages 8, 9, 14, and 21 — and another 11 victims hospitalized, the authorities said. The attack, which unfolded at a banquet hall where more than 100 guests had gathered, was said to be targeted. The gunman remained at large as a massive manhunt continued on Sunday, officials said. Christina Fugazi, Stockton’s mayor, called the shooting an act of terrorism. She choked back tears, saying of the slain children: “They should be writing their Christmas lists right now.” KCRA | L.A. Times
6.
“People don’t think about them as mini-motorcycles, which is really what they are.”
Under a 2002 federal law, e-bikes are regulated like regular bicycles. But they are far more dangerous. On pedal bikes, the chance of dying from an injury was less than 1%, data from Marin County showed. On an e-bike, it was 11%. The New York Times Magazine wrote about a shocking e-bike crash that led Marin County to start regulating the machines more like motorcycles than pedal bikes.
7.
After the Silicon Valley investor David Sacks was appointed to the role of White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar, he held on to a tech portfolio of 20 crypto and 449 artificial intelligence investments, an analysis found. Policies that Sacks has since pushed have sometimes run counter to national security recommendations. But they have allowed his investments to flourish. The New York Times investigated how Sacks has used his White House perch to benefit himself and his friends.
8.
Cow manure is a major source of methane, a potent planet-warming gas. A Bay Area startup believes a solution could come in the form of tiny microscopic pink organisms that eat methane. During a test this summer, the microbes absorbed some 85% of the methane coming from a cattle manure lagoon in Petaluma. If scaled nationwide, the company estimates that the microbes could slash up to 1.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, an amount produced by driving more than 370 million gas-powered cars for one year. Washington Post
Southern California
9.
The columnist Steve Lopez wrote eloquently about the “majesty and mayhem” of the San Gabriel Mountains, the backdrop for Los Angeles:
“The January fires, which raged at the intersection of the built and the natural environments, were not the first in L.A. and won’t be the last. They were humbling reminders that we’re temporary inhabitants of a place both blessed and cursed, tucked between ancient peaks and rising sea, with no greater calling than to be better stewards of our inheritance.” L.A. Times
10.
After a dismal summer and early fall, Hollywood had an abrupt reversal of fortunes as “Zootopia 2” earned a staggering $556 million globally since its Wednesday opening. That made it the biggest international opening ever for an animated movie, and the fourth-highest global debut of any kind. “Wicked: For Good,” which came out a week earlier, has brought in $393 million internationally. “The message filmgoers seemed to be sending studios once again: Give us energetic fantasies that allow us to escape the challenges of the real world, and we will come,” wrote Hollywood reporter Brooks Barnes. N.Y. Times | A.P.
11.
Dick Van Dyke will turn 100 years old on Dec. 13. The star of “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” who has lived in Malibu for many years, reacted to photos from his past in a delightful video interview. At one point he broke out in song: “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning.” Later, considering his legacy, he said, “I don’t think remembering me is that important. It’s the music. The music we leave behind.” YouTube/People
In case you missed it
12.
A quick catch-up on news you may have missed over the holiday break:
- Black Friday shoppers were sent scrambling when a gunman opened fire inside a mall in San Jose. Police said the shooting followed a verbal altercation with a man who was wounded along with two bystanders — a woman and a 16-year-old girl. Mercury News | L.A. Times
- ICE has begun detaining green card applicants married to U.S. citizens when they report for interviews to obtain permanent residency. In San Diego alone, lawyers estimated that several dozen foreign-born spouses have been detained since Nov. 12. N.Y. Times
- A federal judge ordered ICE to stop holding immigrants at its San Francisco facility. “The government makes no effort to explain why depriving detainees held at 630 Sansome of sleep, basic hygiene, and medical care furthers its interest in enforcing the immigration laws,” he wrote. S.F. Chronicle
- A Northern California prosecutor used artificial intelligence to file a motion that was riddled with errors. A group of lawyers has now asked the California Supreme Court to investigate whether unchecked use of AI poses a risk of wrongful convictions. N.Y. Times
- Gramma, San Diego’s “Queen of the Zoo,” died on Nov. 20. Born in 1884, the Galápagos tortoise was 141, a lifespan that included 20 presidents and two world wars. Caretakers said Gamma was “a sweet and shy tortoise” who enjoyed romaine lettuce and cactus fruit. Washington Post | A.P.
- See video of Gramma. 👉 @sandiegozoo
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