Good morning. It’s Friday, April 3.
- Officials announce L.A.-area hospice fraud arrests.
- The cigarette makes a comeback in Hollywood.
- And three classic California homes hit the market.
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Statewide
1.
For hundreds of years, Iran was the world’s biggest producer of pistachios. Now California dominates the market. The shift began after the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979, when dozens of Americans were taken captive. Trade embargoes followed, and a massive tariff essentially ended Iran’s pistachio reign. Now the war in Iran is cementing California’s place as the world’s pistachio king, as ship exports through the Strait of Hormuz have slowed to a crawl, the New York Times reports.
2.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Severin Borenstein, an expert on the economics of energy at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Borenstein noted that California’s gas challenges will remain even after an end to the war in Iran. As its refineries close, the state still has to figure out the logistics to import more gas. “Those were issues I was talking about before the war started,” Borenstein said, “and they have not gone away.”
3.
Here’s a look at three classic California homes now on the market.
- Donald Wexler, regarded as a founder of Palm Springs Modernism, incorporated Polynesian themes in the 1960s home pictured above. The steel-and-concrete design seeks to blend with the surrounding desert terrain for indoor-outdoor living. Asking price: $1.8 million. N.Y. Times | dwell
- San Francisco’s historic Sylvester House, built in 1865, is being offered for the first time in half a century. The sprawling Italianate home has six marble fireplaces, custom wallpaper, and a magnificent porch. In 2005, it won an award for its faithful restoration. Yours for $3.5 million. Realtor.com
- This renovated 1924 home is nestled along the banks of the Russian River in Guerneville. The two-story residence maximizes views of the surrounding redwood forest, with decks on both floors and an outdoor pergola with room for a bistro table and chairs. Asking price: $585,000. Sonoma Magazine
Northern California
4.
A reporter and photographer retraced the route that skiers took in the deadliest avalanche in California history. They hoped to get a feel for the place deep in the Lake Tahoe backcountry. “Was the route so intimidating, or exhausting, that it would have clouded their judgment? What we found shocked us — and made the tragedy seem even sadder and more unfair. The spot where the nine met their fate was postcard peaceful.” L.A. Times
5.
OpenAI said on Thursday that it bought TBPN, a popular technology news talk show that aims to compete with Bloomberg and CNBC. The San Francisco AI company said TBPN would retain its editorial independence, but analysts portrayed the acquisition as a marketing move. The AI industry has faced intensifying skepticism over its role in reshaping society, while OpenAI has stoked public mistrust over its dealings with the Pentagon. Wall Street Journal | N.Y. Times
Southern California
6.
Federal officials on Thursday announced the arrests of eight people accused of bilking more than $50 million in healthcare funds through sham hospice facilities across Southern California. Hospice fraud has become a political flashpoint as Republicans have sought to link the problem to lax oversight under Gov. Gavin Newsom. Bill Essayli, a Trump-appointment federal prosecutor, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, slammed the state during a news conference. “I call California the kingdom of fraud,” Essayli said. L.A. Times | Courthouse News Service
7.
A minor was arrested in the death of a 12-year-old girl who was struck by a metal water bottle during a Feb. 17 fight at Reseda Charter High School, police said on Thursday. Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa was injured when she tried to defend her older sister from bullies, her family said. She died days later after doctors discovered severe bleeding in her brain. The family has demanded that the assailant and school be held accountable. No details on the suspect were released. CBS News | L.A. Times
8.
They were featured in several Oscar best picture nominees. Kylie Jenner used one as a glamorous prop on the cover of Vanity Fair. So did Odessa A’Zion in W, and Sabrina Carpenter in Interview Magazine. And they’ve become commonplace at trendy Los Angeles clubs and parties.
The cigarette, shunned for years, is making a Hollywood comeback. The Ankler hit the streets on a recent Friday night for answers. “I’ve connected it to this thing where people are going analog,” said Jake, a comedian in his 30s who was smoking outside the restaurant Taix.
9.
From his house in Los Angeles, it took Matthew Gallagher about two months and $20,000 to start his company, a telehealth provider of weight-loss drugs called Medvi. He gained 300 customers in his first month. In 2025, Medvi’s first full year, the company collected $401 million in sales. Gallagher then hired his first employee, his younger brother. This year, they are on track to $1.8 billion. “A $1.8 billion company with just two employees? In the age of AI, it’s increasingly possible,” the New York Times wrote.
10.
After years of antisemitic and racist controversies, Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, delivered his first full live show in the U.S. since 2021 at SoFi Stadium on Wednesday night. Fans lined up for merchandise and reveled in nostalgic hits performed by the rapper on top of a futuristic orb-like stage. The spectacle, the New York Times wrote, “seemed to blot out, however momentarily, the sins that cost him lucrative business deals and tarnished his legacy as a musician and cultural figure.”
11.
A homeowner in Glendale pulled out his Bermuda grass lawn and planted a garden of native California plants including sage, lupines, and poppies. The transformation cut his water usage so dramatically that he now only waters it once a month during summer. Birds, bees, and butterflies float through the landscape. “Having a native garden brings a unique level of joy because you discover you’re doing something for the native wildlife that no other type of garden can do,” he said. “It’s a really special thing.” L.A. Times
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- In the 1960s and 70s, young idealists left cities for the Northern California wilderness in search of deeper meaning. The back-to-land movement faded, but many of their unconventional dwellings still stand. A photographer traveled the back roads of Mendocino and Humboldt counties collecting images of the aging pioneers and their teetering structures. Aperture
- It took 5,000 workers and five years to construct the aqueduct that first carried water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles in 1913. Over the subsequent century, the true costs of the L.A. Aqueduct would be greater than almost anyone could have imagined. A civil engineering vlogger told the story of the “wild” water conveyance that made L.A. possible. Practical Engineering
- Chris Espinosa is Apple’s longest-tenured employee. In 1976, when he was just 14 years old, Espinosa became employee No. 8, recruited by Steve Jobs to write computer programs for the Apple II. In the intervening years, Espinosa has watched the company grow from a garage start-up into a roughly $4 trillion behemoth. N.Y. Times
- A recent poll found that nearly half of Angelenos are unhappy with the performance of Mayor Karen Bass. Even so, in early February, it seemed that she might face no real opposition in her reelection bid. But with just days before the filing deadline to run, a group of strange bedfellows scrambled to orchestrate a remarkable challenge. L.A. Material
- In 1922, the boxing promoter Sid Grauman debuted the world’s first truly ambitious cinema design with the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. A few years later, he shifted his attention two blocks down the street, where he opened an even grander venue, the Chinese Theatre. The Financial Times included both in a photo feature on the world’s 24 most breathtaking cinemas.
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