Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Nov. 18.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rhetoric grows strikingly religious.
- Suspect in Oakland coach’s killing cited “witchcraft.”
- And artist creates a “guerrilla wetland” in the L.A. River.
Statewide
1.
While the U.N. climate talks in Brazil gave Gov. Gavin Newsom a chance to play the part of U.S. climate leader, it also exposed the awkward reality of California’s reliance on oil from the Amazon region. The state’s refineries get roughly 30% of their oil from Brazil, Ecuador, and Guyana. Indigenous people marched through the streets of Belém on Saturday to demand an end to oil extraction from the Amazon. In California, both Republicans and environmentalists have made similar calls — if for different reasons. Politico
2.
In the past few months, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rhetoric has become strikingly religious. He’s quoted Corinthians, cited the Pope, and lectured Republicans on Christian values. Dan Schnur, a politics lecturer at UC Berkeley, detected an earthly motive behind the shift. A presidential bid would require Newsom to connect with more conservative parts of the country, he said: “There are political benefits to talking about your religious faith to those audiences.” S.F. Chronicle
3.
The Department of Justice sued California on Monday over new state laws that prohibit federal agents from wearing masks and require them to identify themselves during enforcement operations. In its filing, the federal government said the “No secret police” and “No vigilantes” acts made officers vulnerable to harassment and that it “will not comply.” A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said California would see the Justice Department in court, but Newsom himself has questioned the constitutionality of the legislation. N.Y. Times | A.P.
4.
In 2022, the Russian artist Gregory Orekhov unfurled a 250-meter-long carpet of red polypropylene in a snowy forest in Moscow. Three years later, he just repeated the art project in California, this time with a kilometer-long line along the sun-bleached floor of the Mojave Desert. Orekhov has explained the meaning, in part, as a twist on the award show red carpet, inviting viewers to imagine nature as the star. See more pictures of “El Mirage.” designboom
Northern California
5.
In the days since the murder of the beloved Oakland football coach John Beam last week, friends and family have struggled to understand why anyone would want to hurt him. On Monday, sources revealed that the man charged in the killing, Cedric Irving Jr., told investigators he believed that Beam used witchcraft on him. While the connection between the two men remained unclear, police believe Irving, 27, became fixated on Beam. Samuael Irving said his brother had grown distant from his family in recent years. “He wouldn’t tell us what was wrong,” he said. S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News
6.
After Jodi Smith’s husband was hired by Apple, her family moved from Minnesota to the Bay Area, where she accepted a teaching job in San Jose. But just weeks into the school year, Smith, who has never been arrested, was told that her background check revealed a 2009 DUI in Tulare County. It was clearly a different Jodi Smith. But as she came to learn, the checks regularly ensnare teachers with common names. It would cost her dearly. KGO told the story of how Smith was plunged into a bureaucratic nightmare with no simple way out.
7.
Apple’s introduction of a line of $230 iPhone pouches last week was met by a wave of mockery on social media. Some wondered if the product, a sort of sling made in collaboration with the famed design label Issey Miyake, was intended as parody. “Is it April Fools’ Day?” one commenter wrote. But within hours of going on sale last Friday, the iPhone Pocket, as it’s called, was sold out. Bloomberg | N.Y. Times
8.
A man was captured on video surfing the wake of a massive container ship entering San Francisco Bay over the weekend. He appeared to be using a hydrofoil surfboard along with a “tow boogie,” a remote-controlled vehicle that provides propulsion. The rising popularity of hydrofoiling has made the waves of container ships a tempting target. But David Wells, of the San Francisco Boardsailing Association, told the Mercury News last year that it’s extremely ill-advised. “The ship can suck you in, drag you under and chop you up like a Cuisinart,” he said. KRON
9.
A new sculpture is helping keep San Francisco weird. “Corpus,” by the artist Michael Christian, was recently unveiled at Pier 14, making it the latest addition to San Francisco’s Big Art Loop, an initiative to bring 100 large sculptures to the city. Some locals have proposed murkier origins for the 22-foot-tall creature, imagining an alien beast transported from deep space with unknown motives. @michaelchristianart
- A spinning boulder, a picture frame, a fish leaping out of the pavement. See the sculptures of the Big Art Loop.
Southern California
10.
In the summer of 2023, to much fanfare, Orange County officials announced plans to build a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War. Two years later, the cracked and unfinished memorial in Fountain Valley sits as a symbol of corruption and broken promises. County Supervisor Janet Nguyen recently called for it to be torn down. “What was the point?” she said. “They … put up these cheap materials that are getting worn down already within not even a year, just so they could launder the rest of the money themselves.” L.A. Times | LAist
11.
A man believed to be an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested on assault and child endangerment charges after he pointed a firearm at a 17-year-old motorist in Riverside County. Video of the encounter showed Gerardo Rodriguez, 46, order the boy out of his truck and detain him on the side of the road for nearly 20 minutes on the night of Nov. 10. “You’re speeding in the fucking neighborhood,” Rodriguez shouted. In a statement, CPB said the “matter is under investigation.” L.A. Times | L.A. Taco
12.
When artist Doug Rosenberg came upon a shopping cart tipped over in the concrete-encased Los Angeles River back in 2020, he was struck by inspiration. “It had begun to bloom some greenery around it, and there was a great blue heron perched on the cart, hunting in this little spot,” he recalled. Rosenberg pushed large rocks into the river, arranging them in concentric circles that would trap sediment and allow life to take root. After 10 weeks, a “guerrilla wetland” had emerged in the middle of the channel. NPR
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