Good morning. It’s Friday, Aug. 28.
- Firefighters struggle to get a handle on Big Sur fire.
- Two riders suffer brain hemorrhages on Six Flags ride.
- And marmots stalk hikers in Sequoia National Park.
Statewide
1.
In 2019, California school districts warned that a new law suspending the statute of limitations on childhood sexual assault goes too far. Seven years later, local governing bodies across the state are straining under the weight of massive liabilities. In L.A. County, officials have already agreed to settlements that would cost roughly $500 for each of the county’s 9.7 million residents — while another 5,400 claims remain unresolved. On Thursday, after years of debate, lawmakers agreed to raise the evidentiary standard for plaintiffs. Wall Street Journal
- The state Legislature has raced to pass bills before the 2026 session concludes on Monday. They include new prohibitions against child marriage, disposable vapes, and shock gloves for police. Other measures would punish lawyers who scout for clients at hospitals, allow balcony solar, and let stores round transactions to the nearest nickel.
2.
Nearly three weeks after the Timber fire broke out in Big Sur, firefighters are still struggling to get a handle on the blaze, which has spread across more than 36 square miles of difficult terrain. Highway 1 was closed again on Thursday, five days after the reopening of the crucial artery. Officials said the shutdown would allow firefighters to position engines on the roadway as part of a new strategy to slow the blaze. Tourists were urged to stay away. Mercury News | L.A. Times
3.
A man climbing without a rope on a near-vertical slab in the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes deviated from the established route and found himself stuck on a 6-inch ledge. He clung there, above a roughly 2,400-feet drop, for more than eight hours, before rescuers were able to reach him. His body was trembling. Pulled to safety, he told his rescuers, “Well, that sure beats dying.” The San Francisco Chronicle recounted the story in heart-pounding detail.
4.
A “criminal mastermind” is terrorizing California hikers, the Wall Street Journal reported. In one recent attack, a 28-year-old engineer from the Bay Area woke up in his tent to a wet tongue in his ear:
“A marmot stared back. … Welcome to Sequoia National Park, also known as Marmot Country. Yellow-bellied marmots are stalking hikers and campers in a park more famous for its namesake giant trees. They snatch backpacks, swipe shoes and nibble on trekking poles. Some even chase humans.”
Northern California
5.
A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the Pentagon violated Anthropic’s First Amendment rights when it blacklisted the San Francisco artificial intelligence company. The Pentagon labeled Anthropic a national security risk after it refused to allow unfettered use of its technology for mass surveillance or drone warfare. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said the government provided no evidence that the company posed a risk, but rather acted “to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government.” N.Y. Times | Courthouse News
6.
Dozens of winery and vineyard owners suffered losses during a 2025 wildfire in Northern California’s wine country. As of yet, just one has received a settlement payout: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s PlumpJack Group. The other owners, some of whom lost everything, expressed pessimism that they will ever be made whole. Ed Snider, a vineyard owner, said he “really felt uncomfortable” with the PlumpJack payout. Snider lost his vineyard, home, and income stream. “It pretty much left me penniless at 65,” he said. S.F. Chronicle
7.
The opinion journalist Kate Andrews called San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, a “quiet radical,” arguing that his attention to quality-of-life issues represents a break from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. As of May, Lurie boasted a 74% approval rating. “I think it is radical for an elected official to think about his or her city and just stay focused on that,” Lurie told Andrews. “I think there is something that is resonating with the people of San Francisco, where they see me focus on them.” Washington Post
Southern California
8.
Jake Reiner gave his first interview since his brother, Nick, was accused of murdering their parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, in December. It’s been a “living nightmare,” the 34-year-old said:
“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened. … It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was. How I didn’t get a say in what happened. I didn’t get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter, and I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all this.” KABC
9.
A popular roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain has been closed since July after two riders suffered similar brain hemorrhages in less than the span of week, a CNN investigation found. The news network found more than a dozen reports over the past two decades involving serious injuries linked to X2, a marquee attraction at the park in Valencia, 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Two people died. Yet state regulators have continued to allow the ride. Hollywood Reporter
10.
Survivors of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires have waited nearly 600 days for federal long-term recovery funds, the longest such delay ever recorded, according to After the Fire USA. “It’s really like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Jennifer Gray Thompson, the nonprofit’s CEO. California’s senators have said the delay is President Trump’s way of punishing a city and state that did not vote for him. LAist
11.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Shaikin about the federal investigation into the business dealings of Dodgers owner Mark Walter. At issue is Walter’s practice of using policyholder money from his insurance empire to buy ownership stakes in sports teams. “Mark Walter was essentially investing this money with Mark Walter,” said Shaikin. The question for investigators is whether the transactions amount to self-dealing.
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week.
- While machines handle the harvesting of sturdier crops in California, such as nuts and rice, most fruit and vegetable varieties are still collected by hand. After years in the fields, migrant workers develop blinding efficiency. An Oxnard farmworker who goes by Rosalba on social media dazzled followers with a demonstration of her cilantro harvesting technique. @AlmazanRosalba/TikTok
- After finishing college in 2021, Leopold Aschenbrenner set off for the Bay Area “to find the true American spirit.” Before long, he had built an AI-focused hedge fund that managed $45 billion in assets. Last month, it nose-dived. The Wall Street Journal chronicled Silicon Valley’s latest cautionary tale of hubris outpacing common sense.
- When building its latest roller coaster, Universal Studios Hollywood sought to make it as quiet as possible, so as not to disturb residential neighborhoods that abut the park. Then came the riders. “Screams — bloodcurdling screams,” said Craig Strong, who has lived near the park for 25 years. N.Y. Times.
- In 1980, a spiritual pilgrim named Garth Bowles created a sanctuary in the Mojave Desert open to free thinkers, seekers, and misfits. All comers are welcome to stay the night for $50 at campsites set among giant boulders. Los Angeles magazine included Boulder Gardens Sanctuary in a list of five places to reconnect with nature near L.A.
- In 2001, Robert Lang left his NASA job to devote his time fully to origami. In 2025, he watched his studio in Altadena go up in flames, along with decades’ worth of his origami work. A paper maker used ash from Lang’s studio to make new paper, which Lang in turn folded into a wall of koi. It’s on display now at a museum in San Diego. CBS News Sunday Morning
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