Good morning. It’s Friday, May 15.
- The Chinese AI superstars of Silicon Valley.
- A “riveting” profile of the Warriors’ Steve Kerr.
- And crews dump sand on eroded Capistrano Beach.
Statewide
1.
Dana Williamson, a former political strategist for Xavier Becerra, pleaded guilty Thursday to three felonies stemming from a plot to skim $225,000 from one of his campaign accounts when he served as the federal health secretary. Williamson, 53, dabbed tears as the charges were read in a packed Sacramento courtroom. The case has reverberated through the California’s governor’s race as rivals accused the Democratic frontrunner of being oblivious, even if not complicit, to corruption on his team. Becerra described the betrayal as a “gut punch.” CalMatters | N.Y. Times
- The Becerra pile-on continued at the likely final governor’s debate on Thursday. Here are key moments. 👉 Mercury News | N.Y. Times
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a revised $350 billion spending plan on Thursday that closes the state’s budget deficit for the next two years thanks to surging revenues from the artificial-intelligence boom. Newsom said the plan keeps a promise not to leave his successor with a giant structural deficit. “I’m not trying to get out of Dodge,” he said. The budget faced criticism from opposite political directions: immigrant advocates said it underinvests in health care, and a leading Republican said the cuts don’t go far enough. CalMatters | KQED
Northern California
3.
“Everything else has become irrelevant.”
“Other things are just not as cool.”
“It’s like you don’t deserve to live if you don’t work on AI.”
Reporter Viola Zhou networked her way deep into the Chinese artificial intelligence crowd in Silicon Valley, a cohort possessed of rare talent and singleminded ambition. She stayed for five nights at the Facebook House, the former home of Mark Zuckerberg. Among its tenants, Zhou wrote, was a young Chinese woman working on something investment-related: “When I told her I wasn’t founding a startup but that I worked in the media, a pitiful look came across her face. ‘That’s okay,’ she said in a comforting tone.” Rest of World
4.
“Sitting in yet another hotel breakfast room at the end of yet another long season, [Steve Kerr] sifted through memories. Like the night Klay Thompson scored 37 points in a quarter, his teammates delirious at the sight of it, Steph Curry running up and down the sidelines as the crowd got louder and louder. ‘It felt like we were in the presence of God,’ Steve said, and when I asked why sometimes players reach a flow state, he said it was more than optimized mechanics.
“‘I think there’s some mysterious spiritual thing.'”
Wright Thompson, one of the finest feature writers in sports, wrote a profile of the longtime Warriors coach as he faced a crossroads in his career. Fellow sports journalists called the piece “spectacular,” “riveting,” and “the greatest story I’ve ever read.” ESPN
5.
A month after sacking all six members of the federal agency that oversees the Presidio, a treasured national park in San Francisco, the Trump administration filled the board with MAGA allies and tech elites. Among them are the former chief attorney for DOGE, a real estate investor, and the wives of Marc Benioff and Marc Andreessen. President Trump has called the Presidio Trust an “unnecessary governmental entity” that should be “dramatically” shrunk. S.F. Chronicle
6.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with William Riggs, a professor of engineering and management at the University of San Francisco and an expert on transportation innovation. He argues that the Waymos on San Francisco’s streets have revealed a contradiction: People tolerate bad drivers while holding far safer automated vehicles to impossible standards. It’s common to see human drivers honking at automated vehicles, Riggs noted: “Why? Because they obey the speed limit.”
Southern California
7.
Since the news broke last summer that a couple filled their Arcadia mansion with babies procured from misled surrogates, they have had at least six more children, bringing their tally to 27. Allegations of child abuse have foreclosed any possibility for family reunification, meaning the children will likely be placed into guardianships or adoption. Yet, aside from the alleged abuse, there is no legal penalty for what the parents did, nor does there appear to be much appetite among lawmakers for creating one, the New Yorker reported.
8.
As the sea chips away at beaches along the California coast, some communities are fighting back. Not long ago, Capistrano Beach in Dana Point was a dreamy stretch of the shore, with fire pits, volleyball courts, and a crimson-colored basketball court lined by palm trees — all of which have vanished. This week, trucks began arriving to the beach as part of an effort to unload some 13,500 cubic yards of sand from an inland quarry. “We repair infrastructure all across the county,” said a county supervisor. “The beaches are part of our county infrastructure. We need to start treating them like that.” KABC | O.C. Register
9.
For years, Kars4Kids has burrowed its way into Californians’ brains with its earworm radio jingle urging listeners to donate their old cars. Now an Orange County judge has barred the group from continuing to air the ads after finding that it violated false advertising laws. The case began after a donor learned that Kars4Kids funnels the money not to needy kids, but rather to an Orthodox Jewish nonprofit in New Jersey that runs summer camps and organizes gap year trips to Israel for 17- and 18-year-olds. SFGATE | The Guardian
10.
Tim Bovard, 72, is the last full-time taxidermist at any museum in the United States. He wakes most days at 4:30 a.m. and commutes from Claremont to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where he has worked since 1984. He takes the job very seriously, sometimes sleeping in his office. The New York Times published a delightful profile:
“When asked about whether retirement is on the horizon, he laughed. He was still sleeping on his office floor as recently as New Years. There’s an orangutan he wants to mount this year, and tens of thousands more leaves to make. ‘No plans to retire.'”
11.
Years ago, Los Angeles began replacing its warm amber streetlights with cold white LEDs. Now a backlash is growing. In a city famous for its soft glow, an increasing number of streets have come to feel like prison yards when the sun goes down, the Los Angeles Times reports: “So if everyone hates the light blight, why do cities keep installing it?” The Bureau of Street Lighting says they make neighborhoods safer, a claim that some researchers strongly dispute.
- Hatred of “big light” has become a cultural phenomenon. Few feel as strongly about it as the Los Angeles artist R. Jamin. Elephant Magazine
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Roughly 20 miles from the Big Sur coast and half a mile below the surface is an undersea mountain called Sur Ridge that teems with fantastical marine life. Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers piloting underwater robots shared a new high-resolution video tour of the oasis. YouTube (~10 mins)
- William Palmer is president of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board — and he keeps landing in jail. The San Francisco Chronicle obtained body cam footage of a traffic stop for expired tags in December that ended with Palmer in handcuffs.
- After a student at Palo Alto High School was accused of using artificial intelligence to compose an essay, his family compiled a nearly 1,200-page evidentiary dossier to refute the claim. But the school stood its ground. So the family filed a civil rights claim in federal court, framing the boy’s treatment as anti-Asian. Palo Alto Online
- Tiny Eureka claims to have more Victorians per capita than any other place in California. Among the most charming is the Pink Lady, built by a lumber baron as a gift for his wife in 1889. This week, the owners began repainting the home, swapping its muted rosy color for a vivid hot pink — and some locals are aghast. Lost Coast Outpost has the pictures.
- Some mountain climbers seek out the tallest peaks as part of a quest for personal achievement. The San Francisco Chronicle put together a bucket list of seven California summits that comprise the state’s most unforgettable high points: “Not the tallest seven. Not the hardest seven. The essential seven.”
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