Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 7.

• Farmers’ ally Rep. Doug LaMalfa dies unexpectedly.
• Jensen Huang says he’s “fine” with billionaires tax.
• And a lighthouse shines in the middle of the desert.

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Statewide

1.

Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term Republican congressman for a vast swath of Northern California, died early Tuesday after what sources said was an aneurysm and subsequent heart attack. A fourth-generation rice farmer, LaMalfa was known as an affable champion of agricultural interests and a staunch Trump supporter. The president said on Tuesday that LaMalfa was a “great, great, great member” of Congress who was passionate about water issues. Gov. Gavin Newsom called him “a devoted public servant” and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. LaMalfa was 65. Sacramento Bee | L.A. Times

• Reporter Ryan Sabalow covered LaMalfa’s political career for many years. “When he said he was ‘one of us,’ it wasn’t an act,” he wrote. CalMatters
• LaMalfa’s passing further narrowed the slim Republican majority in the House, meaning the party can afford only two defections on any party-line vote. N.Y. Times

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2.

The Trump administration on Tuesday cut off billions of dollars in federal child care and cash assistance for low-income families in California and four other blue states. President Trump sought to justify the action by claiming widespread fraud throughout the states, but offered no details or evidence. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office responded by calling Trump “a deranged, habitual liar.” In an interview on MS NOW, Newsom said he would welcome a federal fraud investigation: “Bring it on … I can’t stand fraud.” L.A. Times | Politico

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3.

In a new Atlantic profile of Gavin Newsom — headlined “The Front-Runner” — the California governor suggested the reasons the Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election could be distilled down to one word: weak. Reporter Helen Lewis writes:

“Newsom slaps his hand on a marked-up hardback of Bill Clinton’s memoir, brought down from the shelf a minute earlier. ‘Given the choice,’ he tells me, summing up a crucial Clinton insight — one many Democrats still can’t quite seem to grasp — ‘the American people always support strong and wrong versus weak and right.'”

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Northern California

4.

Jensen Huang, the Nvidia CEO, said on Tuesday that he doesn’t care about a proposed one-time tax on California billionaires, breaking with a cohort of ultrawealthy residents who have fiercely denounced the idea. “We chose to live in Silicon Valley and whatever taxes, I guess, they would like to apply, so be it,” Huang said. “I’m perfectly fine with it. It never crossed my mind once.” Huang is estimated to be worth roughly $156 billion, meaning a 5% tax would leave him with about $148 billion. Bloomberg | Wall Street Journal

• Larry Page, a founder of Google, does seem to care. He recently moved several of his companies to Delaware, even though the proposed tax is far from assured, Business Insider reported.

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5.

A wolf attack that fatally injured a family horse on New Year’s Day has shaken a rural community in Lassen County. The 20-year-old horse, named Smoke, spent his later years giving rides to Wyatt Hanson’s children and nieces. “He was in so much pain,” he said. “It makes me choke up even thinking about seeing his face.” On Monday, Lassen County Sheriff John McGarva urged state wildlife officials to take action. Growing numbers of wolves in Northern California, he wrote, “are no longer just hunting to survive, but killing for the sake of killing.” Sacramento Bee | FOX40

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6.

Ever since Creedence Clearwater Revival belted the lyrics of its 1969 hit “Lodi” — “Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again” — the California Delta city has struggled to shake its reputation as a place where one gets stuck. In reality, Lodi is one of the state’s most overlooked wine regions, a folksier alternative to Napa with a rich history of premium grapes. Lodi winemaker Layne Montgomery said industry struggles have hit his winery hard. “I blame that song,” he said, entirely in earnest. S.F. Chronicle

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7.

“Chinese peptides” are the latest biohacking trend in Silicon Valley. Peptides are short chains of amino acids that regulate hormones and reduce inflammation. Personal optimization enthusiasts claim they can treat disease, build muscles, fix autism, give you a tan, and more. The unregulated drugs flooding Silicon Valley are sold as powders in vials labeled “for research use only,” which users mix with water and inject themselves. It’s all very reckless, scientists say. N.Y. Times

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8.

Pacific Grove calls itself “Butterfly Town, U.S.A.,” a nod to its role as a winter refuge for migrations of monarch butterflies. Butterfly murals adorn outdoor walls. The names of schools and businesses commonly include the words “monarch” and “butterfly.” There’s an annual butterfly parade. So the monarch’s crashing population amounts to an identity crisis for the city on the edge of Monterey Bay. A small army of volunteers are scrambling to do what they can to save them, starting by imploring neighbors to maintain their yards with butterflies in mind. The Guardian

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Southern California

9.

Of more than 9,000 homes destroyed by fires in the communities of Altadena, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu, only about one-third have taken steps to rebuild a year later, an analysis found. About 4% have sold. The rest remain much as they were after the debris was cleared. The ability to rebuild has been shaped by wealth and insurance as much as it has by red tape. “We know the disparities exist, but they become shockingly obvious,” said Char Miller, an environmental analysis professor at Pomona College. Wall Street Journal

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10.

A Kern County man was convicted Tuesday of killing four of his infant children between 1992 and 2001. The murder investigation began in 2007, when a fisherman pulled a container from a Northern California swamp that contained the remains of an infant. The case went cold for years before DNA analysis led to the discovery of other victims and a suspect: Paul Allen Perez, who was serving time for assault when he was named in 2019. District Attorney Jeff Reisig said Perez deserves to die in prison: “These crimes involved pure evil.” Sacramento Bee | KCRA

• From the archives: In chilling testimony, the slain children’s mother described living in fear as Perez killed their babies one by one. Davis Enterprise

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11.

The California Institute of Technology, one of the nation’s most prestigious research universities, named astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana as its next president. The 54-year-old provost of Johns Hopkins University was chosen in part for his ability to communicate with the public at a time when American science is under threat. He said his love of science began in childhood in Sri Lanka when his father pointed at the moon and said men had been there. “The idea that you could walk on the moon, in the sky, just sort of blew up the sense of possibility for me,” he said. N.Y. Times | L.A. Times

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12.

There’s a 50-foot-tall lighthouse rising from the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert. The Desert Lighthouse is the work of Los Angeles artist Daniel Hawkins, who was struck by the idea while driving through the blackness of the desert late one night almost two decades ago. “I felt very unmoored,” he said. He spent years finding a suitable site, figuring out permitting, and raising funds. The solar-powered tower was illuminated on July 1, 2017. People sometimes congregate there to memorialize lost loved ones. SFGATE

• See a Google Maps satellite view of the Desert Lighthouse.

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