Good morning. It’s Monday, May 18.
- Tom Steyer pays influencers to boost his campaign.
- Wildfire burns 16 square miles of Santa Rosa Island.
- And utility plans power line through Anza-Borrego park.
Statewide
1.
Carlos Espina, a Latino influencer based in Texas, surprised some in his audience last month when he endorsed Tom Steyer for California governor. “I really believe Tom Steyer is different,” he told his millions of social media followers. What Espina failed to mention was that Steyer had paid him $100,000, the New York Times revealed on Saturday. Campaign finance filings show that the deep-pocketed candidate has struck many such deals with influencers, inflating the perception of organic support for his campaign. State regulators opened an investigation. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
2.
Other updates from the campaign trail:
- “I haven’t really had a clue who I’m going to vote for.” In dozens of conversations with voters, the L.A. Times’ Mark Z. Barabak found Californians deeply frustrated by their options as the gubernatorial primary enters its final two weeks.
- Election denial has become a feature of the American electoral system, wrote the Atlantic. A prime example is Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff who seems to have taken at face value an activist group’s claim: “There’s obviously something wrong with the machines.”
- According to the San Francisco Chronicle, California has six voting groups beyond Democrat and Republican: “The left coast,” “Tesla liberals,” “urban working class,” “standard liberals,” “moderate conservatives,” and “staunch conservatives.” Which do you identify with?
Northern California
3.
“About halfway through freshman year, some coding classes started requiring students to sign a declaration — ‘I did not utilize ChatGPT’ — to submit each assignment. During the first term these attestations began to appear, I watched a freshman I knew sign the declaration that he’d done his homework without A.I. as ChatGPT was still open in the next window — while on the deck of a yacht party financed by venture capitalists.”
Artificial intelligence has transformed how students think and behave at Stanford, writes Theo Baker, a senior. N.Y. Times
4.
The beloved conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who led the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995, has been hailed for his remarkable longevity and vitality, keeping up a demanding schedule well into his 90s. A performance at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall on Friday, however, did not go well. Concertgoers watched with alarm as a frail Blomstedt, who turns 99 in July, fell in and out of sync and at one point slumped over on a piano bench until he was “all but horizontal.” Attendants halted the music and rushed to help Blomstedt, who cried out during the process. S.F. Chronicle | Slippedisc
5.
A year ago, Arthur Monarque was in prison. On Saturday, he collected a Bachelor of Arts from Cal Poly Humboldt. Monarque is the first graduate of the university’s groundbreaking Pelican Bay Prison B.A. program, the first program of its kind at a maximum-security prison in California. He’s planning to go for a master’s degree. Monarque said he grew up around gangs and made decisions he wished he could take back. He felt a mix of excitement and nervousness about the future, he said: “I never thought I’d be standing here today.” Eureka Times-Standard | Redwood News
6.
In the middle of San Joaquin Valley farmland, there’s an old military airfield that once roared with the sound of F4F Wildcats during World War II. Today, planes still fill the skies above Crows Landing, but the sound is that of buzzing. A club for veterans has embraced flying model airplanes as a form of recreational therapy for PTSD sufferers. Steven Loya, a Vietnam veteran, said people sometimes ask him when he was in combat. “Last night,” he said, choking back tears. “That’s what the post traumatic stress does to us.” ABC10 did a nice segment on Crows Landing.
- “The Moving Wall,” a traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial, arrived in Stockton last week. Ramona Raterman found the name of her brother, who died at the age of 20. “It’s overwhelming,” she said. Stocktonia
7.
An estimated 30,000 runners turned out for San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers, the storied annual footrace where the party matters more than who wins. Among the costumes this year were wedding gowns, Costco uniforms, mushrooms, Frida Kahlo, construction workers, a cable car, Coit Tower, a jellyfish, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Here are galleries showcasing the wildest get-ups. 👉 SFGATE | S.F. Chronicle
8.
A eucalyptus grove overlooking a lake 30 minutes from Oakland.
A lazy river that cuts through ancient redwood groves in Mendocino County.
And a grassy bluff on Point Reyes where herds of tule elk roam.
The San Francisco Chronicle analyzed data from the website Dyrt, a sort of Yelp for camping, to determine the 10 best campgrounds in the Bay Area, according to campers.
Southern California
9.
A 67-year-old man sent up flares after his sailboat hit rocks on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands and set a wildfire early Friday that had burned nearly 16 square miles by Sunday evening, officials said. Propelled by high winds, the wildfire destroyed historic structures and forced the helicopter evacuation of 11 National Park Service employees. The sailboat operator, who was alone, was rescued. Ecologists fretted about the fate of plant species that exist only on Santa Rosa Island, including North America’s rarest pine. Noozhawk | SFGATE
- See video of the wildfire captured by a Coast Guard helicopter.
10.
After California required the state’s municipalities to plan for new housing, Huntington Beach fought the order for years in state and federal court — and lost. Now the penalty is coming due. Starting June 1, Huntington Beach must pay $160,000 plus another $50,000 per month “until the city cures the violation,” a judge ruled last week. The money will go into a fund expected to help other cities build housing. Attorney General Rob Bonta celebrated the ruling, calling it a “costly lesson.” Voice of OC
11.
San Diego Gas & Electric wants to run a 140-mile high-voltage power line through the heart of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and critics are furious. The state’s largest park, in the desert east of San Diego, is known for its extreme solitude, bounteous wildflowers, and dark skies. California’s grid operator has said the line is essential to meeting the state’s energy goals. Bri Fordem, leader of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that it would ruin the park: “Nobody’s going to camp under the hum of a 500-KV line.” L.A. Times
12.
John Levy Jr. built his dream home on a lagoon overlooking the Pacific in Carlsbad, dubbing it “Levyland.” But along the way, he locked a gate and blocked a trail to the shore, a serious transgression in a state that enshrines public access to the beach in its constitution. The Coastal Commission fined him $2.5 million, an amount it said was commensurate with his disregard of the law. Now Levy has filed a lawsuit that challenges the agency’s ability to impose “ruinous financial penalties” without proving allegations in court. Carlsbad officials have sided with Levy. Wall Street Journal
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