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 Friday, June 20.
- Appeals court sides with president on National Guard.
- Dodgers block federal agents from entering parking lot.
- And video captures an elusive Sierra Nevada red fox.
Please note: The newsletter will be off on Monday and Friday next week.
Statewide
1.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that President Trump acted within his discretion when he sent the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests, halting a lower court order to return those forces to state control. In a unanimous ruling, the judges noted that protesters had thrown “concrete chunks” at officers and vandalized federal property. “The federal government’s interest in preventing incidents like these is significant,” they wrote. Trump called it a “big win.” Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said the legal fight is “far from over.” A.P. | L.A. Times
2.
The Dodgers said it blocked a caravan of masked agents in unmarked white vans and SUVs from entering Dodger Stadium parking lots on Thursday after they showed up and requested access. Homeland Security later denied trying to enter the stadium. “This had nothing to do with the Dodgers,” said spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. A neighborhood activist at the stadium said an agent told her they were there to process people arrested during an earlier immigration raid, adding: “We can’t do it in the Home Depot parking lot because the public makes it dangerous.” L.A. Times | NBC News
- The Dodgers standoff came as immigration agents conducted several more raids at Home Depots and a car wash across the Los Angeles region on Thursday. City News Service
3.
The Pasadena Police Department said on Thursday that it was investigating an apparent immigration raid at a bus stop on the day when a masked agent was captured on video pointing a gun at protesters. Local officials said ICE failed to respond to inquiries about the identity of the individual or the agency involved. Mayor Victor Gordo said he was incensed. “It was reckless, it was irresponsible and it was dangerous,” he said. Three lawmakers went to a detention center seeking to check on the individuals arrested in the raid. They were turned away. O.C. Register | Pasadena Now
4.
“I like Alex Padilla.”
“You know, he’s a good friend.”
“I know a genuinely gentle, kind person when I see one, and I’m a pretty good judge of character. And Alex Padilla is a kind, gentle person.”
In a Washington Post piece on how Sen. Alex Padilla ended up in handcuffs last week, several Republican members of Congress spoke warmly of the California Democrat.
5.
In polls from 2015 to 2023, majorities of Californians supported extending state-funded healthcare to undocumented immigrants. In a recent survey, conducted by the Policy Institute of California, support plummeted to 41%, with 58% opposed to providing the coverage. “At the top of everyone’s mind is how expensive it is to live in the state,” said State Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, a Republican. “My constituents feel like California is not prioritizing the needs of working families, and when it comes to spending money on healthcare for undocumented immigrants, a lot of my constituents tell me that they don’t think it’s fair.” Wall Street Journal
6.
California is the largest global consumer of Amazon oil. On Thursday, Indigenous leaders from the remote rainforest in Ecuador where much of it is extracted paddled kayaks in the San Francisco Bay to call attention to the threat of drilling to their lands. An oil tanker loomed, poetically, in the distance. Juan Bay, president of the Waorani people, urged California to consider whether it wanted to be “complicit in the violation of rights” happening on Indigenous territory. A.P.
7.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Josh Jackson, author of the new book “The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands.” Jackson’s obsession with the state’s vast Bureau of Land Management lands began in 2015, when he made a camping trip to the Mojave desert’s otherworldly Trona Pinnacles, pictured above. Before then, he had thought BLM lands had perhaps been disregarded by the more glamorous forest and park services for a reason. That seems ludicrous now, he said.
- Former Bureau of Land Management photographer Bob Wick recommended seven favorite destinations in California.
Northern California
8.
While hiking in the Tahoe National Forest on Wednesday, three men in a group of six hikers jumped into the water at the site of a roughly 50-foot waterfall on the North Fork American River. They never resurfaced, officials said. Placer County divers continued to search for the men on Thursday, officials said. Rattlesnake Falls, also known as Palisade Falls, where the men were said to jump, is a popular area for kayaking and cliff diving with scenic pools and sheer canyon walls. KCRA | ABC10
- See video of people cliff diving along the river. 👉 YouTube
9.
The wildlife photographer Randy Robbins has been trying for years to capture images of one of the rarest animals in California: the Sierra Nevada red fox. Fewer than 80 of the bushy-tailed animals are believed to exist in the wild today. After checking a trail camera he left out all winter in the Mount Lassen area, Robbins posted video of a Sierra Nevada red fox strolling, stretching, and relaxing atop a ridge against a gorgeous mountain backdrop. YouTube | KCRA
Southern California
10.
“Across Southern California, port officials estimate, a million jobs are tied to the [San Pedro Bay port complex], including truckers, warehouse workers, manufacturers and freight forwarders. Their jobs now hinge on the terms of trade set by the president.”
The New York Times published a piece illustrated with superb photos and video on “ground zero in Trump’s trade war.”
11.
The Los Angeles Zoo announced the arrival of 10 California condor chicks. North America’s largest soaring bird once flew all over the West. By the 1980s, after more than a century of poaching, habitat destruction, and lead poisoning, there were only 23 left on earth. Aggressive breeding has since brought the number up to more than 550. All of the zoo’s condor chicks will be candidates for release into the wild. L.A. Times | KTLA
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- In some countries, dogs are lunch. At the School of Canine Massage in Ojai, they are patients whose well-being is a subject of deep study. A short documentary about the academy is the mood booster you need. 👉 Vimeo (~11 mins)
- Troops deployed in L.A. have been telling friends and family that they are uneasy about being made into pawns in a political battle, according to advocacy organizations that represent military families. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions. The Guardian
- A year after four major dams were removed from the Klamath River, a group of Indigenous kayakers set off from its headwaters with plans to paddle 300 miles to the ocean by mid-July. “They will be celebrated as the first to descend the full length of the Klamath, source to sea, since the dams went up and pinched life from the water,” wrote the N.Y. Times’ John Branch.
- For the 100-year anniversary of the motel, the travel journalist Christopher Reynolds searched for the state’s greatest lodgings with guest rooms that open to the outdoors. Standouts included the Mojave Sands Motel in Joshua Tree, the Melody Ranch Motel in Paso Robles, and Motel Capri in San Francisco. L.A. Times
- To help usher in summer, Eater Los Angeles mapped its favorite 16 ice cream shops, which offer flavors from banana streusel and cinnamon sesame to mint cacao and saffron pistachio.
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