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 sites, then send you a tightly crafted daily digest — no ads, no AI, just essential news.
Each weekday at about 6 a.m., you’ll get an email like this.
Good morning. It’s Friday, Oct. 2.
- Prolonged heat wave is poised to envelop California.
- Hundreds mourn teen who fell to his death on campus.
- And Huntington Beach faces a Democratic insurgency.
Please note: The newsletter will be off on Monday. Back in your inbox on Tuesday.
Statewide
1.
October, when the vegetation is parched and the wind dry, is California’s most dangerous month for wildfires. So a forecast calling for extreme heat from today through at least Oct. 8 has fire officials on edge. “This is one of the longer-duration ones that I’ve seen in my time at this office,” said Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office. Accuweather | L.A. Times
- A sampling of projected highs on Saturday, when temperatures are supposed to peak:
- Redding, 98 degrees
- Petaluma, 92 degrees
- San Francisco, 76 degrees
- Modesto, 96 degrees
- Los Angeles, 100 degrees
- San Diego, 92 degrees
- Utilities warned that wildfire risk could trigger widespread power cutoffs. “From a hazard standpoint, it is going to be from San Diego to Los Angeles in that corridor,” said forecaster Marc Chenard. Bloomberg
2.
The University of California on Wednesday asked a federal judge to throw out a Justice Department lawsuit that accuses UCLA of enabling antisemitism, describing the case as “political coercion.” In May, federal prosecutors sought repayment of $2 billion in UCLA research grants over allegations that campus leaders showed indifference to harassment of Jewish and Israeli students. UC’s new legal filing marked a shift toward a more combative posture, rebuking the administration for having “head-in-the-sand disregard” for recent reforms and “weaponizing” civil rights law. L.A. Times
3.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with author Nathaniel Philbrick, whose new book “The Rush” argues that the 19th-century stampede into California’s gold fields led to the rise of modern America. “Thomas Jefferson’s ‘pursuit of happiness’ in the Declaration of Independence became not something which meant that you hoped to lead a life similar to your parents,” he said. “It meant you wanted to get rich. … And it began with the California Gold Rush.”
Northern California
4.
In 2020, during the national uproar over the police killing of George Floyd, Berkeley introduced what is thought to be California’s only outright ban on the use of tear gas by police. Six years later, in a divided vote that infuriated law enforcement, the City Council chose on Tuesday to reject a proposal to allow the use of chemical agents even in “high-risk emergencies.” Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra said undoing restrictions would go against the “resistance to the Trump administration.” Berkeley Scanner | S.F. Chronicle
5.
“Last week, a beer bottle shattered next to a student in the yard. A couple weeks ago, a first-grader reached through the fence surrounding the recess yard and grabbed a bloody hypodermic needle. He passed it around to four other children before it was caught.”
An elementary school in San Francisco’s Mission District has been unable to keep the dysfunction of the streets at bay. Parents say the situation would never be tolerated in a more affluent neighborhood. Trying to address it, one said, “feels like screaming into a void.” S.F. Chronicle
Southern California
6.
Video circulated online Thursday that showed what preceded a teenager jumping to his death from a fourth-floor balcony at a Los Angeles high school a day earlier. One male is seen repeatedly pummeling another male as a teacher tries futilely to intervene. The beaten student, identified as Xavier Nungarary, then darts out of the classroom and over the ledge. Hundreds gathered for a vigil on Thursday. “He was so funny,” said Reighdan Rivera-Carrera, who knew Nungarary for many years. “He didn’t deserve to go through what he was going through.” KTVU | L.A. Times | NBC Los Angeles
7.
Two years after Huntington Beach installed an entirely MAGA City Council, a political backlash is threatening to turn the council blue. Under MAGA control, the city cracked down on library books deemed obscene, took down the pride flag, and declared itself a nonsanctuary for illegal immigrants. The moves galvanized Democrats and some independents in a city where fewer than half of voters are registered as Republican. “We sort of have the wind at our back,” said Taryn Palumbo, 41, a Democratic candidate for the council. Wall Street Journal
8.
A Temecula Valley school board trustee, Melinda Anderson, was caught on video placing recording devices under the desks of two rival members, in the latest turmoil to hit a board known for culture-war struggles and messy internal drama. Steven Schwartz, whose desk was targeted, said it took him time to digest what he was seeing in the surveillance video. “It’s not often that I can’t find the words,” he said, “but I was flabbergasted.” Facing a criminal investigation, Anderson announced Wednesday that she planned to resign. Patch | Riverside Record
9.
A medical transport helicopter was carrying a 45-year-old woman suffering from a severe allergic reaction when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Catalina Island late Wednesday. The patient, the pilot, and a nurse died, the authorities confirmed on Thursday. The woman’s 24-year-old son and a paramedic survived. Witnesses said they watched in horror as the aircraft went down moments after takeoff. “Random citizens” were among those who entered the water to help, a fire official said. KTLA | L.A. Times
10.
Hahn Nguyen’s boyfriend was annoyed that her 9-month-old pit bull, Blackey, chewed on his shoes. One day she came home and reported that the dog had been run over by a car. After police arrested Nguyen, 75, on Thursday, however, they informed the boyfriend that it was Nguyen who ran over the dog, apparently because of the shoe chewing, authorities said. The gruesome act was captured on someone’s door camera as Nguyen was seen placing the dog under her minivan and slowly driving over him. O.C. Register | City News Service
11.
Earlier this year, one of California’s wildest dining destinations opened in Escondido. At Mkutano House, nestled in the middle of an elephant preserve inside San Diego Zoo Safari Park, diners sip cocktails as nine of the largest land animals on Earth amble about and splash in a lagoon as close as 15 feet away. Guests have been giving the experience high marks, with many pleasantly surprised by the quality of the African-inspired cuisine. SFGATE
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week.
- Given that the Pacific Crest Trail has been thoroughly photographed, Tom Kelly chose to chronicle his hike another way: He made hundreds of audio recordings, then plotted them on an online map. His first-of-its-kind “sound map” is strangely mesmerizing. S.F. Chronicle
- Listen to the sounds of the trail.
- One night a few weeks ago, a young man named Luca Opperman saw a woman threatening employees with a tree branch inside an In-N-Out in Lake Elsinore. He jumped through the drive-through window “like Spider-Man,” grabbed a spatula, and squared off with the woman in what would later become a viral video. N.Y. Times
- Everyone went to drive-ins during their 1960s heyday. Numbering more than 220 across California, the outdoor theaters were embraced as a cheaper, family-friendly alternative to indoor movies. Forgotten Los Angeles featured a fantastic 1978 “pictorial survey” of Southern California drive-ins by the photographer Elisa Leonelli.
- See Leonelli’s full series of 60 images.
- A music producer named Jay Judah built a program that creates musical tones from passing vehicles on a live traffic camera view of Highway 101 in Los Angeles. He essentially turned the freeway’s five lanes into a musical staff, assigning an instrument to each. The Drive.
- Pick instruments yourself at “The 101 Plays Itself.”
- Beginning last fall, Anthropic began hosting meetings with religious scholars. The objectives were twofold: to investigate how to apply moral wisdom to its models and to broach the possibility of AI consciousness. Scholars were stunned to discover that company leaders appeared to believe Anthropic’s Claude had a “moral status.” N.Y. Times
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