All of the must-read news about the Golden State in one place.
Hi, I’m Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times. I survey more than 100 news and social media sites daily, then send you a tightly crafted email with only the most informative and delightful bits.
Each weekday at about 6 a.m., you’ll get an email like this.
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, June 3.
- Businesses fight for survival in isolated Big Sur.
- Animal advocates warn of dog neglect on Skid Row.
- And a mysterious cabin in the redwoods of Arcata.
Statewide
1.
California transportation officials have said Big Sur’s Highway 1 will remain blocked through the summer season, extending what has become the longest shutdown anyone in the region can remember. The first of a series of landslides shut off southern access to Big Sur in January 2023. “I think I probably went through all the stages of grief, with frustration and anger and all of those things that you feel,” said Diana Ballantyne, general manager of the Fernwood Resort. The Wall Street Journal visited several businesses along the battered route.
2.
Dispatches from the immigration crackdown:
- Congressional leaders denounced a May 30 raid on two San Diego restaurants that resulted in four arrests. The lawmakers said the targeted workers appeared to have no criminal histories. “Why were ICE agents armed to the teeth as if they were entering a war zone, storming restaurants?” said Rep. Juan Vargas. KPBS | S.D. Union Tribune
- A Bay Area father of three was arrested when he showed up to a routine check-in at an immigration office in San Francisco last week, his wife said through tears. Miguel Angel Lopez Luvian, a 47-year-old vineyard worker, came to the U.S. with his parents nearly 30 years ago. KTVU | NBC Bay Area
- Some immigrants are choosing to self-deport. Patricia Topete Vazquez came to Fresno at age 12. She was valedictorian of her high school and won a full ride to college. Last week, she returned to Mexico. “My dream was to be in the U.S., and now, my dream is in another country,” she said. KFSN
3.
The amount of battery power in California has risen from 500 megawatts in 2018 to almost 16,000 in 2025 — nearly a quarter of the total for the entire U.S. “The battery boom tells a story of solar power’s supremacy. In the middle of the day, when the sun is strongest, as much as three-quarters of the state’s electricity can come from solar. Batteries charge in the afternoon when solar power is cheap, and release energy in the evenings … At their daily peak, around 8 p.m., batteries can provide as much as 30% of the state’s electricity,” wrote the Economist.
4.
On Monday, American sprinting great Maurice Greene came to the defense of a high school sprinter who was disqualified over her celebration ritual during California’s track and field championships. After finishing first in the 400 meters, Clara Adams sprayed her cleats with a fire extinguisher, mimicking Greene’s famous stunt during a 2004 meet. Greene said people called to tell him about Adams’ misfortune. “I was like, ‘Huh? What?'” he said. “If it was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her.” KSBW
- Sports reporter Joseph Dycus: “We found out where the state’s governing body for high school sports draws the line: having fun.” Mercury News
Northern California
5.
While ranchers in Northern California’s Sierra Valley want desperately to shoot wolves attacking their livestock, endangered species law makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison. The Los Angeles Times reports:
“Whether Sierra Valley ranchers would face such consequences is another question. The wolf attacks feel so out of control, said Sierra County Dist. Atty. Sandra Groven, that she would not pursue charges against a rancher who kills a wolf caught preying on cattle.”
6.
Diane Peterson, a 26-year-old high school teacher in San Jose, was fatally stabbed on the final day of the school year in 1978. For decades, the investigation led nowhere. But on Monday, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced that the killer was identified as Harry Nickerson, at the time a 16-year-old student at the school. A relative came forward to admit that Nickerson had confessed to the stabbing just minutes after it happened. Nickerson killed himself in 1993. “This marks the end of a terrible and tragic mystery,” Rosen said. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
7.
People in the tech world have been increasingly turning to psychedelics with hopes of unlocking efficiency or potential. But some have an unexpected epiphany: the office grind is meaninglessness. “Tech workers leaving their jobs after taking psychedelics has happened frequently enough it’s become modern lore in Silicon Valley,” wrote the Wall Street Journal. The phenomenon has fueled a new class of integration therapists, who help clients make sober sense of their world-bending experiences.
8.
In 2015, an Arcata city worker happened upon a shocking discovery in a forested municipal park: a secret cabin. The two-story home had real windows, shelves loaded with books, wall art, and a neatly organized pantry. “There was everything you need for a quiet, happy life in the woods,” recalled journalist Kevin Hoover. The city stapled a notice of trespass to the door and returned weeks later. But the cabin had vanished with scarcely a trace. To this day, its builder remains unknown. A new short film explores “the mysterious cabin in the Arcata Community Forest.” Lost Coast Outpost
Southern California
9.
“The only sin that can’t be forgiven is a sin that you’re not sorry for.”
In the 1990s, Cesar Galan lived the life of a hardened gang member in southeast Los Angeles County. Then a burst of gunfire left his brother dead and Galan paralyzed. In his lowest moment, he found grace. The words of Catholic prayers “took on a different frequency.” He studied Plato and Aristotle. In 2023, he was ordained as a priest. Now he wheels through the halls of St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, praying over others at their lowest. Reporter Harriet Ryan wrote a moving account of Galan’s unlikely journey to redemption. L.A. Times
10.
Kenneth Clair has spent nearly 40 years in prison for the 1984 killing of a woman in Santa Ana. DNA testing just proved that he didn’t do it, said his lawyer, Michael D. Mortenson. Clair has always denied killing 25-year-old Linda Faye Rodgers, and no physical evidence linked him to the crime. New tests of 20 pieces of evidence from the crime scene indicated the presence of two unknown individuals but none of Clair’s DNA. It’s now up to the district attorney to act, Mortenson said: “Everyone right now should be on the same side.” O.C. Register
11.
Animal advocates are demanding something be done about dogs enduring brutal conditions on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. A recently posted video showed several dogs being kept in small wire crates, covered by plastic tarps. Rebecca Corry, of Stand Up For Pits Foundation, said animal abuse has happened in plain sight for years. “It makes no sense because the laws apply to everybody,” she said. “If someone in Beverly Hills had pit bulls under a tarp baking in the sun, laying in their own feces and urine, they’d be removed and it would probably be front page news.” KCAL | Los Angeles magazine
12.
The 2008 Will Ferrell comedy “Step Brothers” created a fictional outdoor gala called the Catalina Wine Mixer. Catalina made it real. Over Memorial Day weekend, a crowd peppered with nautical attire and argyle sweater vests gathered on the island for the 10th year of the film-inspired event. The New York Times published a fun photo essay on a whimsical Catalina Island tradition.
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