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, April 10.
- A sheriff’s deputy is fatally shot in Tulare County.
- Murder charges are filed in Yolo County fireworks blast.
- And Artemis II crew prepares to splash down off San Diego.
Statewide
1.
“This is senseless.”
A sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot Thursday morning while serving an eviction notice in Porterville, about 50 miles north of Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley. The authorities said the target of the eviction, David Morales, 59, opened fire on deputies, then barricaded himself inside the home for hours. He later exited and resumed firing before being run over and killed by a police armored vehicle, officials said. Deputy Randy Hoppert, 35, left behind small children and a pregnant wife, reports said. Visalia Times-Delta | KFSN
- Harrowing video showed deputies reacting as shots rang out.
2.
Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, announced charges on Thursday against 21 people accused in a $267 million hospice fraud scheme. Prosecutors said the defendants used stolen identities to enroll in Medi-Cal, then bought hospice companies and billed the state for services never rendered. Bonta used the occasion to push back on Trump administration claims that California has allowed health care fraud to run rampant. “We’ve been doing this work for years,” he said. “We’ve been doing it successfully before certain people in this country decided to think about it for the first time.” L.A. Times | Courthouse News
Northern California
3.
More than nine months after the deadly explosion at a Yolo County fireworks warehouse, at least six people were arrested on Thursday, jail and court records showed. Of those, at least four were charged with murder. They included Sam Machado, a Yolo County sheriff’s lieutenant who owned the remote Esparto farm where the July 1 blast occurred, and three individuals with ties to Devastating Pyrotechnics, a fireworks company that used the property to store fireworks without local permits. Sacramento Bee | S.F. Chronicle
4.
In the North Coast’s Humboldt Bay, a plan is taking shape to assemble hundreds of wind turbines as tall as Los Angeles’ loftiest skyscrapers, then tow them out to sea. Pulling it off, officials say, will require major port upgrades, hundreds of miles of new transmission lines, and perseverance against opposition from local residents and a federal administration strikingly hostile to offshore wind. The Los Angeles Times wrote about the “audacious bid to build the world’s deepest floating wind farm.”
5.
The Atlantic’s Matteo Wong put in stark terms the power now being harnessed by Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence companies:
“These companies can or could soon have the capability to launch major cyberattacks, conduct mass surveillance, influence military operations, cause huge swings in financial and labor markets, and reorient global supply chains. In theory, nothing governs these companies other than their own morals and their investors. They are developing the power to upend nations and economies. These are the AI superpowers.“
6.
A California jury’s finding that Google and Meta are liable for a woman’s addiction to social media represents an opening salvo against a central anxiety of our time, the New Yorker wrote:
“Whether or not cases survive appeals or change the incentives and behavior of tech companies, they stand as recognition of the fear that what makes us most human is not the capacity to reason and make choices but rather the vulnerability to giving that up.”
7.
Philz Coffee, founded 23 years ago in San Francisco, confirmed its intention on Wednesday to remove Pride flags from its dozens of locations throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Mahesh Sadarangani, the company’s CEO, said the move would create a “more consistent, inclusive experience.” It has not gone over well with customers and employees. At a San Francisco location on Thursday, a Pride flag still hung from the ceiling. A chalkboard read: “Welcome to the queerest coffee shop in town. Period.” S.F. Standard | SFGATE
Southern California
8.
At about 5 p.m. today, a capsule carrying the four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to splash into the ocean west of San Diego, where a San Diego-based warship will collect them. Coming home may be the riskiest part of their journey to the moon as the Artemis II heat shield protects the crew from searing temperatures while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds approaching 25,000 miles an hour. “There is no backup, and no way for the astronauts to escape,” the New York Times noted.
9.
“It’s just an automated GLP-1 prescription mill.”
Medvi, a Los Angeles telehealth provider of weight-loss drugs, has come under fierce criticism for shady business practices since the New York Times published a widely shared article last week on the company’s astonishing growth. One report revealed that Medvi’s site was plastered with fake before-and-after pictures of purported customers. Another found that ads for the company were promoted by doctors who don’t appear to exist. Medvi has also faced an FDA warning over misleading claims and litigation accusing it of breaking spam laws. Business Insider | Futurism
10.
In recent weeks, the New York Times and other publications have written about a Southern California man with severe autism, Woody Brown, who was said to have written a novel. Several journalists and critics are now arguing that the outlets have fallen for a clear example of the discredited practice of facilitated communication. Brown, who is mute, is said to write by pointing to letters on a laminated card held by his mother. Jill Bearup, a British author, analyzed a video of the pair in action. “The short version,” she said, “is that the keys he taps bear almost no resemblance to what his mother says that he is saying.” FdB | Jill Bearup
11.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Ann Carlson about her new book, “Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air.” Los Angeles was defined by smog between the 1950s and ’70s. Once it became clear that cars were the culprit, however, auto manufacturers denied the problem. It wasn’t until California forced the companies to act in 1966 that the smog began to lift. “So it’s not an accident that the public continues to be very supportive of environmental protection,” said Carlson.
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- One theory behind the origin of the nickname “the Golden State” cites the golden hue of California’s hills. If true, the name captures only one of the landscape’s seasonal variations. In spring, carpets of velvety green unfurl across the hillsides. Dustin Winterowd, a drone photographer, recently shot scenery in the Bay Area that could double as an Irish countryside. See his photos and video.
- Up for grabs right now is a renovated 1924 home nestled along the banks of the Russian River in Guerneville. The two-story residence maximizes views of the surrounding redwood forest, with decks on both floors and an outdoor pergola with room for a bistro table and chairs. Asking price: $585,000. Sonoma Magazine
- The New Yorker interviewed dozens of people for a searing account of the doubts surrounding Sam Altman and OpenAI. Most shared the view of his critics: “Altman has a relentless will to power that, even among industrialists who put their names on spaceships, sets him apart.”
- A homeowner in Glendale pulled out his Bermuda grass lawn and planted a garden of native California plants including sage, lupines, and poppies. The transformation cut his water usage so dramatically that he now only waters it once a month during summer. L.A. Times
- Robert Keenan was passed over for promotions repeatedly in his 24 years at the Justice Department. Then his fortunes flipped with the agency’s political turn under President Trump. While more than 3,400 attorneys fled the department, Keenan, 60, embraced the new focus with gusto. The California lawyer is now “a go-to guy at Trump’s DOJ,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Get your California Sun T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, hats, and totes!
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
Get your daily dose of the Golden State.
We also have our own stories to tell.
The Sun helps you discover amazing journalism in California. But the news can be a bit grim. That’s why we write a couple stories every week that we think inspire awe — on historical wonders, innovative people, or beautiful photography.