Good morning. It’s Friday, Aug. 29.

• Governor deploys “crime suppression” teams to cities.
• Berkeley takes lead in urban wildfire protection.
• And the story of how an ICE raid broke one family.

Please note: The newsletter will pause for the holiday weekend. Back in your inbox on Tuesday.

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Statewide

1.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he would deploy new “crime suppression” teams of California Highway Patrol officers to major California cities. During a news conference, Newsom rejected any suggestion that politics played a part in the mobilization, even as he displayed pictures of Republican politicians whose states have higher murder rates than California. “Perhaps the president could deploy the National Guard in every corner of Mississippi.” he said. “The murder rate’s out of control there. Carnage.” CalMatters | Washington Post

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2.

While defending his deployment of troops in American cities this week, President Trump cited Beverly Hills as a city beset by crime. “Many people” now leave their car doors open, he said. That way, when thieves “go in to steal the radio or whatever that they take, they don’t rip off the door.” That came as a surprise to a spokesperson for Beverly Hills, who said the city is unaware of residents leaving their doors unlocked. Beverly Hills, where the median home sale price hovers around $3.5 million, is by no means crime-free, but locals said Trump’s depiction bore little resemblance to reality. L.A. Times | KTLA

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3.

As UCLA works to reach a deal with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political jousting with the president is creating complications. Newsom vowed to “fight like hell” over the funding freeze, which was ostensibly imposed over antisemitism on campus. The White House responded: “Bring it on.” Campus leaders, meanwhile, are desperate to avoid a prolonged standoff. “There needs to be a sense of compromise on both sides,” said Thomas Carmichael, a medical school professor. “And that part probably should not occur with expressions of outrage and condemnation.” Bloomberg

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Northern California

4.

After wildfires burned Los Angeles in January, fears intensified in Berkeley, where 9,000 homes are packed densely in the heavily vegetated hills. The city took aggressive action on regulations that had been long discussed at the state level but never enacted. Over some sharp objections to removing beloved plants and trees, city leaders ordered homeowners to create ember-resistant zones around vulnerable houses. “As Californians continue to flee out-of-control wildfires, Berkeley could prove a model for urban wildfire protection,” Bloomberg wrote.

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5.

Bay Nature profiled the magnificent red-backed jumping spider, miniature predators common in the Bay Area:

“Jumpers don’t spin webs to capture prey. Instead, they use their remarkable vision and powerful legs to pounce, ambushing crickets, flies, dragonflies, and even small frogs. The spiders use their third or fourth pairs of legs to leap 10 to 20 times their body length. (Imagine a six-foot human hopping up onto an eight-story building.)”

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6.

On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talked with Eve Quesnel, an author based in Truckee, whose new book “Snow Fleas and Chickadees” is a sort of field guide to flora and fauna in the Sierra. Quesnel talked about the lost art of simply paying to attention to the nature that surrounds your own neighborhood. “There’s more around you than you realize … maybe there’s a snow plant hidden underneath the manzanita bush,” she said.

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7.

The movement of fog is commonly described as drifting, descending, or rolling. In San Francisco, it can be more like the rushing of a river. As the summer sun bakes the Central Valley, the resulting difference in air pressure means that inland California essentially inhales air from off the coast, carrying the fog along for the ride. The path of least resistance includes the strait into San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate, where photographer Eric Thurber recently captured a fantastic time-lapse of the phenomenon known as Fogust. 👉 Reddit

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Southern California

8.

Jesús Cruz arrived in Southern California 33 years ago, when he was 17, and built a life with a wife and four children. In June, he found himself back in Mexico, deported after immigration agents swarmed the car wash where he worked in L.A. Now his wife, Noemi Ciau, a U.S. permanent resident, faces an impossible decision: Should the family join him in Mexico? This month, she surprised Cruz with a visit. One evening, they sat at the kitchen table wiping tears. Cruz wondered if they could make it work in Mexico. “We were poor before,” he told Ciau. “We can be poor again.” The L.A. Times told the heart-wrenching story of how an ICE raid broke one family.

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9.

A newly published study on air pollution around the Tijuana River in Southern California found high levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide, which comes from sewage and smells like rotten eggs. One researcher on the study said the stench was so piercing that it kept him up at night. Kimberly Prather, another co-author, said nearby residents were being enveloped in “a cocktail of many, many, many chemicals.” She continued: “Nobody should be breathing that gas day after day — or in this case, night after night.” L.A. Times | S.D. Union-Tribune

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10.

Two weeks after the leaders of a cultlike group in the Inland Empire were arrested as part of an investigation into a suspicious disappearance, the authorities said on Thursday that they had reopened another inquiry into the 2010 death of 4-year-old boy whose parents had relinquished custody to the sect. A former member of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies told KTLA that the group was run by a “prophetess” who is believed to be an incarnation of God. He said the group was preparing for end times. L.A. Times

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11.

Cal Poly Pomona postponed a scheduled fall job fair after the inclusion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection set off a storm of student protest. In a letter to the community, Iris S. Levine, the university president, said federal employers cannot legally be excluded from participating. But the postponement, she said, “allows us to thoughtfully reformat these events in response to student and community feedback.” The Trump administration has set a goal of increasing its deportation force by 10,000 ICE officers and 3,000 Border Patrol agents. CalMatters

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In case you missed it

12.

Five items that got big views over the past week:

• Baller Hardware, a family-run hardware store in Los Angeles, has unwittingly become a must-have fashion label as customers flock to buy its branded hats and T-shirts. The merchandise’s popularity has been attributed to what GQ described as “blue collar cosplay.” SFGATE
• On March 11, 2005, Kevin Berthia climbed over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge and started a countdown in his head. That’s when California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Briggs appeared, a moment captured in a remarkable photograph. He just wanted to talk, Briggs told him. More than 20 years later, People magazine caught up with the two men.
• Summer is arriving earlier and ending later than it used to. An analysis of weather data found that some of the most dramatic warming has occurred along the California coast. Look up your zip code. 👉 Washington Post
• A 32-year-old Bay Area swimmer just broke the speed record for the 30-mile swim from the Farallon Islands to San Francisco. Days before the attempt, Catherine Breed told a reporter she was terrified. “My mom doesn’t want me to do it,” she said. S.F. Chronicle
• California agricultural barons Stewart and Lynda Resnick recently listed their Aspen home for $300 million. If it fetches that much, it will be the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal took a tour.

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The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412