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 80 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 Thursday, March 20.
- UC ends mandatory diversity statements in hiring.
- Orange County couple deported after 35 years in U.S.
- And standout pieces from the Desert X art festival.
Statewide
1.
The University of California said on Wednesday that it would end mandatory diversity statements in hiring, a practice that has become a flashpoint on college campuses. For years, UC departments have asked job applicants to provide essays describing how they would contribute to campus diversity. Critics argue that the requirement amounts to ideological policing. But Brian Soucek, a UC Davis law professor, accused university leaders of abandoning a core value to appease the Trump administration. “Show me how that worked out for Columbia,” he said. N.Y. Times | L.A. Times
2.
Also on Wednesday, the UC system announced a system-wide hiring freeze to brace against “existential” threats by the Trump administration to slash federal research funding. President Michael V. Drake noted that UC’s 80-year partnership with the U.S. government had yielded numerous breakthroughs in science and medicine. Ending it, he said, “is a lose, lose, lose, lose proposition for our country.” UC’s move followed a similar hiring pause by Stanford University last month. S.F. Chronicle | EdSource
3.
State lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bipartisan bill to eliminate ultraprocessed foods from the billion meals served in public schools each year. The measure would be the first to set down in law a definition of ultraprocessed foods, characterized by industrial ingredients such as synthetic dyes and preservatives. “It has always struck me as a gross contrast that our California farmers grow the healthiest, safest food in the world and yet our kids still eat unhealthy food from somewhere else,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican. Courthouse News | NBC News
4.
Where other predators earn their meals through precision strikes, the black skimmer relies on persistence and probability. Common along the coasts of Southern California and the Bay Area, the seabird glides low over the water, its oversized lower mandible slicing through the surface until it makes contact with a fish. Then: snap! The photographer Quynh Ton captured some incredible video of black skimmers hunting in Southern California last summer. 👉 YouTube
Northern California
5.
A convicted murderer in a Sierra foothills prison strangled his wife to death during a Nov. 13 conjugal visit, authorities said on Wednesday. David Brinson, 54, is serving life without parole for the execution-style shootings of four men during a Los Angeles robbery in 1994. According to prison officials, Brinson reported that his wife, Stephanie Brinson, 62, had stopped breathing during their visit in an “apartment-like” suite at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione. Investigators later determined that the cause of death was strangulation. L.A. Times | KCRA
6.
Since 2000, San Francisco has followed an official policy of harm reduction, the public health philosophy that eschews drug abstinence in favor of helping addicts survive. That has included the controversial distribution of pipes and aluminum foil to fentanyl users. This week, the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, signaled plans to end the practice. “The days of just handing things out, and no accountability — those are over,” he told reporters. Critics said the move would lead to more overdoses. S.F. Chronicle
7.
This week, ads warning unauthorized immigrants that federal agents are poised to “hunt you down” have been blanketing the airwaves in the Bay Area. For too long, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says in one version of the ad, “wide open” borders have allowed drugs, human trafficking, and violent criminals to flood into the U.S. “Those days are over,” she says. Noem’s agency said the ads are part of a $200 million campaign across radio, television, and the internet. S.F. Chronicle
Scheduling note
The newsletter will be off next week for spring break. It will return on Monday, March 31.
Southern California
8.
The federal authorities on Wednesday arrested Eugene Henley, a prominent Los Angeles music executive credited with helping launch Nipsey Hussle’s career, accusing him of running a “mafia-like” criminal enterprise that included murder, human trafficking, and extortion. In a 107-page complaint, prosecutors said Henley, 58, required victims including athletes and musicians to “check in” with him to obtain “protection.” Investigators believe he fatally shot an aspiring rapper who recorded a diss track targeting Henley in 2021. L.A. Times | A.P.
9.
Nelson Gonzalez and his wife, Gladys, entered the U.S. without authorization in 1989 after fleeing the disorder of their native Colombia. They built a life in Orange County, where they raised three daughters. Nelson, 59, worked as a phlebotomist. On Feb. 21, the couple, neither of whom has a criminal record, arrived for a routine check-in with immigration officials and were put in handcuffs. This week, after more than 35 years in California, they were deported to Colombia. Their family is devastated. KTLA
10.
“‘How long will I be here?’
“‘I don’t know your case,’ the man said. ‘Could be days. Could be weeks. But I’m telling you right now — you need to mentally prepare yourself for months.’
“Months.
“I felt like I was going to throw up.”
Jasmine Mooney, a former actress from Canada, told her story of being detained at the San Diego border for 12 days, during which she was bound in chains, held in “ice cold” jail cells, and forced to take a pregnancy test. The Guardian
11.
Researchers were surprised to find that Los Angeles’ trees are sucking up far more carbon than previously thought. According to a recent USC study, the trees are removing roughly 60% of daytime fossil fuel emissions during the spring and summer. “That’s a really big number,” said William Berelson, the earth sciences professor who led the research. According to the latest estimates, trees cover roughly 20% of Los Angeles, a figure that advocates of expanding the canopy say could be much higher. L.A. Daily News
12.
Desert X — the free art biennial that takes place in outdoor locations across the Palm Springs area — returned this month with 11 new sculptures. The art critic Christopher Knight said the latest edition feels a bit thin, but a few pieces stand out. The “knockout,” he said, is a collection of stacked marble blocks by the Guadalajara-based artist Jose Dávila that Knight likened to a “mammoth desert Stonehenge,” pictured above. L.A. Times
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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