Good morning. It’s Wednesday, July 30.
- Tsunami waves threaten to flood parts of North Coast.
- Federal prosecutor’s office in Los Angeles faces exodus.
- And UCLA agrees pay $6 million in antisemitism case.
Statewide
1.
A tsunami triggered by a colossal earthquake off Russia’s coast began rolling along the coast of California shortly before midnight Tuesday, with severe “warnings” in effect for a 100-mile stretch of the North Coast and a tiny section of the Central Coast’s Port San Luis. According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, most of the California coastline was expected to see waves of no more than a foot through Wednesday, but they could reach 5 feet in Crescent City, a fishing village located roughly 15 miles from the Oregon border. Ryan Aylward, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Eureka, said water could inundate the city’s low-lying areas. He added: “It’s not going to flood multiple blocks of the city or something. But definitely close to the water, there is a threat.” S.F. Chronicle | Weather Channel | Fox Weather
- The Chronicle is live-blogging the tsunami here.
- Check social media updates from Weather Service offices in Eureka, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles.
- See tide readings along the California coast.
2.
As California Democrats push for a tit-for-tat redrawing of congressional districts if Texas redraws its maps, an obstacle stands in the way: In 2010, voters handed the job of redistricting to a nonpartisan commission. On Tuesday, California’s top prosecutor, Rob Bonta, said Democratic leaders are converging on a workaround. The state Legislature would draw up new maps and present them to voters in a special election. GOP Assembly Leader James Gallagher responded with a warning: “If they move forward in this fashion they will rip the state and this nation apart.” KCRA | L.A. Times
- “Crazy and foolish”; “I will support Newsom if we have to go to war.” Democrats appeared split on the redistricting push. Sacramento Bee
3.
Dispatches from President Trump’s deportation push:
- Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to draft an ordinance barring law enforcement from concealing their faces while on duty, arguing that masked immigration agents are spreading confusion and fear. It’s far from clear they would be able to enforce it. L.A. Times | A.P.
- A green-card holder who has lived in the U.S. since he was 5 years old was detained at San Francisco International Airport on July 21 after returning from a trip to South Korea for his brother’s wedding. Tae Heung Kim, 40, has been held in an unknown location for unknown reasons with no access to counsel ever since, his attorney said. S.F. Chronicle | Washington Post
Northern California
4.
San Francisco has experienced a wave of nightlife closures. For one thing, the city is aging. But there’s another worrisome trend: Gen Zers in their 20s aren’t going out like previous generations did. In May, a panel of nightclub owners called upon a 22-year-old party planner named Caden Velasquez to help explain. “There was a three-year period during Covid that people my age didn’t learn how to party,” he offered. “People my age are just realizing things — like going to trivia night on a Tuesday night is a fun thing to do. Because it is! Everyone here is welcome to tell Gen Z how to party.” S.F. Chronicle
5.
When cargo ship captains arrive from across the sea to the Golden Gate, they don’t enter San Francisco Bay. That job is done by harbor pilots who guide the ships through narrow channels and fitful currents in any weather day or night. The skill and extreme risk of the work is reflected in their salaries, which approach half a million dollars a year. Harbor pilots face a one-in-20 chance of being killed in a 30-year career, according to industry data. One of the scariest maneuvers is boarding a massive freighter from a speedboat via a rope ladder. Adian Minty, a pilot boat captain, posted a nail-biting video showing how it’s done in rough seas. Instagram
Southern California
6.
Hours after the Trump administration moved to extend the term of Bill Essayli, Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor, on Tuesday, Essayli’s office sought to dismiss charges against a donor to the president. Andrew Wiederhorn, a former burger chain CEO, was fighting accusations that he carried out a $47 million “sham loan” scheme. In March, the prosecutor handling the Wiederhorn case was fired at the behest of the White House in what one former federal prosecutor called “the most overtly political firing I’ve seen.” L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
7.
“To embarrass the Democrats, I’m going to do it.”
Essayli’s office has faced an exodus of staffers since he took over and pushed career attorneys to pursue MAGA-aligned cases despite insufficient evidence, according to an investigative piece that cited dozens of interviews with current and former employees. According to the report, Essayli has ignored recommendations of senior prosecutors and instructed staff to disregard Justice Department policies. “People who said that they would work their entire careers at the Department of Justice are leaving because they are facing moral challenges,” said Carley Palmer, who left the office last year. Bloomberg
8.
UCLA on Tuesday agreed to pay $6 million to settle allegations that it supported what plaintiffs said amounted to a “Jew exclusion zone” on campus during 2024 protests over the Israel-Hamas war. The settlement came on the same day that the Justice Department announced investigative findings that the university violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students, subjecting them to “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment.” In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi said UCLA would pay a “heavy price.” A.P. | L.A. Times
9.
The gunman who walked into a Manhattan building on Monday and fatally shot four people was a former Los Angeles high school football player. He left a note claiming he suffered from brain trauma, authorities said. “Football gave me CTE and it caused me to drink a gallon of antifreeze,” Shane Tamura, 27, wrote. He added: “Study my brain please.” His former teammates and coaches said they were in shock on Tuesday. “He was just a quiet kid,” said Walter Roby, a coach at Granada Hills Charter School. “He was coachable. If you asked him to do something, he did it with a smile.” L.A. Times | NBC News
10.
Two women who went to a Las Vegas conference that promised pathways to an “unlimited lifespan” left in ambulances after getting peptide injections, an alternative therapy championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kent Holtorf, a Southern California doctor who oversaw the injections, said he became convinced peptides weren’t the cause of the severe reactions after plugging everything he knows about the incident into an artificial intelligence app, which produced a report that “basically says that it is impossible it was the peptides.” ProPublica
11.
On Monday, a painter was putting the finishing touches on a San Diego client’s new granny flat, or ADU, which was built right up to the homeowner’s property line. When the painter lost his balance and stepped on the neighbor’s yard, the neighbor called the police and accused him of trespassing. Responding officers declined to issue a citation. A couple hours later it happened again, and the neighbor again summoned the police with the same result. The San Diego Union-Tribune checked in on one of the city’s nastiest ADU battles.
12.
Celebrities have been opening up about their plastic surgery. The newfound honesty has won at least some praise for helping put the lie to the idea that they “woke up like this.” It’s also giving people exact specifications for plastic surgery to-do lists. “I’m seeing so many patients coming in with, like, a Burger King order,” said Dr. Kelly Killeen, a plastic surgeon based in Beverly Hills. “They’re like, ‘I want the Kylie Jenner.’” N.Y. Times
Correction
An earlier version of this newsletter misstated the former role of a business executive under investigation for fraud. Andrew Wiederhorn was the CEO of the company that owns Fatburger; he was not the founder of Fatburger.
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