Good morning. It’s Thursday, July 24.
- Washington gives AI companies the green light.
- Data shows lack of response to west Altadena fire.
- And an army of trolls takes over Filoli Gardens.
Statewide
1.
When health insurers deny medical claims, Californians can appeal to a state regulatory body for independent reviews. An analysis showed that no insurer has more coverage denials overturned than Anthem Blue Cross, the state’s second-biggest health plan. Between 2021 and 2023, California regulators reversed 66% of Anthem’s denials, nearly double the rate of some other plans. Addiction treatment centers say Anthem’s tactics of denial and delay are putting patients at risk while pushing facilities to the financial brink. CalMatters
Northern California
2.
None of the eight people who drowned after their boat capsized during a sudden storm on Lake Tahoe last month were wearing life vests, according to investigative findings released on Wednesday. Skies were clear when the group of 10 set out on June 21. When conditions worsened they headed toward a marina, but waves battered the vessel, the report said. One person put on a life jacket and distributed others to everyone else, but no one else put theirs on. Then the boat rolled over. Two passengers survived: the one wearing a vest and another person clinging to one. S.F. Chronicle | KQED
3.
President Trump on Wednesday announced a sweeping artificial intelligence “action plan” that he said would speed up permitting and loosen environmental rules in the construction of data centers and factories. “America must once again be a country where innovators are rewarded with a green light, not strangled with red tape,” Trump said at an unveiling event in Washington. Industry executives and investors in the audience cheered. Tech writers said the plan amounted to a wish list from Silicon Valley. Wall Street Journal | Washington Post
4.
San Francisco is so excited about an upcoming run of Dead & Company concerts in Golden Gate Park that it draped city buses in psychedelic designs. The shows, beginning Aug. 1 and featuring former members of the Grateful Dead, have also inspired plans for Dead-themed talks, art shows, cover band concerts, a “Shakedown Street” market, and the hanging of more than 400 banners across the city. Critics sneered at the so-called “PsychideliBus” expenditure by a transit agency facing a severe budget shortfall. S.F. Chronicle | KQED
5.
A gentle army of trolls has occupied Filoli Gardens, the historic country estate 30 miles south of San Francisco. Created from recycled materials by the Danish “garbage artist” Thomas Dambo, the six gargantuan sculptures were installed as part of a new exhibit called “Trolls Save the Humans.” The artworks are intended as a moral admonition on the importance of living in harmony with nature. For parents who may have hesitated to drag the kids to a historic house, they are a brilliant diversion. Colossal | A.P.
- See photos of the Filoli trolls.
6.
Microplastics are everywhere, whether released into the air from worn tires or passed into our food from the lining of cans. Researchers have found them in our livers, blood, brains, and even placentas. Evidence has linked microplastics to chronic inflammation, dementia, and cardiovascular disease, wrote Tracey Woodruff, a UC San Francisco professor whose research focuses on environmental contaminants. But there are to limit to your exposure, she wrote. Among the simpler steps: use a wet mop around the house to avoid kicking up dust. Washington Post
Southern California
7.
As wildfires tore through Los Angeles on Jan. 8, more than 40 county fire trucks battled the inferno in Pacific Palisades and another 64 fought to put down the flames in east Altadena and neighboring areas, newly obtained vehicle locator data showed. But in west Altadena, where all but one of the 19 deaths attributed to the Eaton fire would occur, there was just one fire truck. Six months after the fire, the data bolstered a belief held by many in the racially diverse enclave: that the fire department let their homes burn. “We were abandoned,” said Sofia Vidal, 57. “I never heard a siren.” L.A. Times
8.
Southern California Edison on Wednesday announced a compensation fund for Eaton fire victims, even though it has yet to be formally implicated in the disaster. By setting up a fund while the cause is still under investigation, the utility seemed to acknowledge that its responsibility is a foregone conclusion. Critics questioned the utility’s motives, saying the plan could lead victims to be underpaid. “Victims have uniformly done better when represented by counsel,” said attorney Richard Bridgford. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
- A global reinsurance firm estimated the total economic losses from the Los Angeles fires at $65 billion. That makes them the costliest wildfire events in world history. S.F. Chronicle | USA Today
9.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli is struggling to persuade grand juries to find probable cause that crimes were committed in cases involving anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles. Of 38 felony cases filed by his office, just seven have resulted in indictments. Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said the rejections were “a strong indication that the priorities of the prosecutor’s office are out of sync with the priorities of the general community.” L.A. Times
10.
A man who was seen hurling concrete chunks at passing law enforcement vehicles in a widely shared video during anti-ICE protests last month has been arrested, the FBI said on Wednesday. Elpidio Reyna, 39, of Compton, had been on the FBI’s Most Wanted List since June 7. He was initially detained by Mexican authorities in the state of Sinaloa, where he fled, before surrendering to the FBI at the southern border. KABC | FOX 11
11.
The New Yorker profiled Carlos González Gutiérrez, the consul-general of Mexico in Los Angeles. A longtime resident of L.A., his vision of the city is precisely what the Trump Administration — and especially Stephen Miller — hopes to dismantle:
“When you are here, if you are a Mexican national, you realize that you belong, that, to a great extent, this is a Mexican city,” Gutiérrez said. “I don’t say that in a chauvinistic way. What I mean is that L.A. celebrates diversity.”
12.
During his life, the Los Angeles-based artist Noah Davis was a painter’s painter, making large canvases of everyday scenes in semi-surreal compositions. Since being tragically struck down by a rare cancer in 2015, when he was just 32, the wider art world’s attention to his work has grown exponentially. Critics called a retrospective now on display at Los Angeles’ free Hammer Museum “powerful,” pungent,” and “profoundly moving.” N.Y. Times | L.A. Times | Alta
- See artworks from the Hammer Museum exhibit.
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