Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Dec. 6.
- Winter storms blanket Sierra Nevada in snow.
- Neuralink faces investigation over animal tests.
- And people pay $4,000 to attend breakup boot camp.
Statewide
1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday unveiled a plan to put a cap on oil industry profits and fine companies that exceed it. Newsom had initially proposed taxing oil companies. But he shifted his tone, telling reporters, “It’s not a tax. It’s a penalty for price gouging.” The terms are significant: Taxes require approval from two-thirds of state lawmakers. A penalty needs only a majority. An industry official said the effect would be the same either way: higher costs. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.
2.
After a parade of winter storms, the Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 175% of normal on Monday. The accumulation, with more snow in the forecast, is a heartening development for the state’s drought. But Andre Schwartz, research scientist at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, said it was too early to get excited. “The skeptic in me, and the person that worked through last year, is a little bit more hesitant,” he said. CNN
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3.
Under a bill signed by Gov. Newsom this year, California will allow a new form of burial starting in 2027. Caitlin Doughty wrote in the N.Y. Times:
“The American funeral industry has promoted the idea that the ‘dignified’ dead body should be preserved by formaldehyde embalming, placed in a sealed casket, and lowered into a heavy concrete vault under the ground. Human composting reframes the dead body: not something to be protected from nature and the elements, but something meant to return to them.”
4.
The Michelin Guide announced its 2022 star recipients on Monday, including 89 restaurants in California. Among cities, San Francisco dominated with 28 starred restaurants, compared to 15 in Los Angeles. San Diego was also celebrated as Addison earned the state’s only new three-star rating, a distinction held by 14 U.S. restaurants. The dish to try, according to the guide: “sesame-seasoned Koshihikari rice finished with applewood-smoked sabayon and crowned with Regiis Ova reserve caviar.” Bloomberg | L.A. Times
See all 89 California restaurants. 👉 Michelin
5.
The Wyoming photographer Mitch Rouse specializes in precision aerial photos. For his “Farmland” project, he documented a mesmerizing world of colors and patterns in California’s agricultural industry. See 25 images. 👉 Behance | Colossal
Northern California
6.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is under federal investigation over its treatment of animals. Employees have complained that the San Francisco brain implant startup has rushed testing, causing needless suffering and death. In February, Musk sent a note to staff complaining that Neuralink’s progress was too slow. “It is driving me nuts!” he wrote. In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys. Reuters
7.
People are paying $4,000 to attend a breakup boot camp in Mendocino County. Tito Molina, a Los Angeles filmmaker, was shocked and devastated when his girlfriend of nine years ended their relationship. “Our lives were completely entangled,” he said, “so it just felt like too grand of an undertaking for myself. I just knew I didn’t have the tools to get myself out of this.” L.A. Times
8.
☝️ The dapper fellow seated at right above is Kanaye Nagasawa, the first permanent Japanese resident in the U.S. and one of the most impressive vintners in California history. As a 19-year-old samurai, Nagasawa was smuggled out of isolationist Japan in 1864 to study overseas, eventually settling in Santa Rosa. He became the largest winemaker in California, hosting parties during prohibition and hobnobbing with Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank, and John Muir. The BBC did a fascinating feature on “the samurai who forever changed California.”
9.
Whiskeytown Falls is one of Northern California’s prettiest waterfalls, cascading 220 feet down a series of granite terraces carpeted in green moss. Yet in a world with seemingly few places left to discover, the falls remained hidden until 2003, when a park biologist made it his mission to find the rumored falls in the Klamath Mountains west of Redding. A falls trail was carved and opened to the public a few years later. The travel writer Josh McNair paid a visit: “I really couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” he wrote. California Through My Lens
Sunset Magazine included Whiskeytown Falls among its top 10 waterfalls in the West.
Southern California
10.
Michael Avenatti, the Los Angeles lawyer and onetime presidential aspirant, was sentenced on Monday to 14 years in prison for dodging taxes and cheating clients out of millions of dollars. In a Santa Ana courtroom, Avenatti apologized to his clients, his voice breaking. “I am deeply remorseful and contrite,” he said, adding that he never set out to steal. “I am not an evil or vile man.” A.P. | L.A. Times
11.
In Los Angeles, dozens of firefighters made more than $400,000 in 2021.
In San Francisco, a registered nurse made $546,102.
And in Beverly Hills, an assistant police chief earned a staggering $716,284, making him the highest-paid municipal employee in California.
The wages were revealed in a report published by the state controller’s office. Hefty compensation — including regular pay, overtime and benefits — are common for public safety employees in California, a result attributed to labor agreements and soaring overtime pay. Bloomberg
12.
The Joshua Tree artist Kim Stringfellow has spent much of the last 25 years documenting the interplay of people and landscapes in the Mojave Desert. Stringfellow’s fans describe her as one of the few people who understands that the desert is not a wasteland but a place full of life and lore. Her ongoing documentary and curatorial project, the Mojave Project, she said, is “art as activism.” High Country News spent time roaming the desert with Stringfellow.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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