Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 7.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom says California “done” with Walgreens.
- Rampant plagiarism found in USC scientist’s new book.
- And the bizarre descent of Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams.
Statewide
1.
Walgreens said last week that it would no longer sell the abortion pill mifepristone in 20 red states after being warned that it could face legal consequences. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom responded by ordering his administration to review all of his state’s relationships with Walgreens. California, he said in a tweet, won’t do business with “any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk.“ His office deflected questions from reporters about what that might entail. SFGATE | L.A. Times
2.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last summer that he wanted to visit Taiwan if elected to the top leadership post in the House. But reports said Monday that the Bakersfield Republican had been convinced to meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in California instead to avoid an aggressive Chinese response. After McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August, the People’s Liberation Army held huge military exercises, firing ballistic missiles over the self-governing island. Reuters | Bloomberg
3.
An atmospheric river poised to barrel into California from late Thursday through Saturday has weather experts warning of potentially serious flooding and debris flows. But the heavy rain and snow may not pose the biggest threat, forecasters said. A surge of warm air could cause rain to fall at middle elevations of the Sierra, liquefying snowpack and unleashing the equivalent of up to 10 inches of rain into streams and rivers in a matter of hours. Accuweather | Fox Weather
A detailed update on what to expect. 👉 CW3E Scripps
4.
About a fifth of the conifer forests in California’s Sierra Nevada have become mismatched to their habitats as a result of a warming climate, a mapping project by Stanford University researchers found. In so-called “zombie forests,” mature ponderosa pines, Douglas firs, and sugar pines are able to survive, but they are not likely to grow back over time, the study authors said, as shrublike vegetation suited to warmer conditions likely grows in their place. N.Y. Times
Explore the “zombie forests” map.
5.
“Then one day I saw it, the reason this was happening. They were under attack.”
The Sebastopol photographer Nick Dunlop is a connoisseur of one of the avian world’s most extraordinary aerial dramas: the pursuit of European starlings by hungry peregrine falcons. He just published a new video chronicling the twirling black blobs of starling flocks, known as murmurations, above the farm fields of California. YouTube (~7 mins)
Northern California
6.
Twitter’s revenue and adjusted earnings fell about 40% year-over-year in December as advertisers fled the platform after the takeover by Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported. Twitter no longer reports earnings publicly; the declines were revealed in an update to investors, sources told the newspaper. Musk has laid off more than two-thirds of the staff at Twitter, based in San Francisco, in a bid to slash costs. A report in Platformer on Monday said the sapped workforce has led to a site increasingly prone to glitches. Reuters | Platformer
7.
A man who set himself on fire at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza last Wednesday has died, officials said Monday. In a horrifying scene witnessed by dozens of students and bystanders, Chet Bohrer, 42, of Salt Lake County, Utah, walked through the square engulfed in flames as people tried frantically to swat him with their jackets and douse him in water. He was heard shouting about the “Mormon Mafia.” Multiple videos were posted to social media, where they’ve been viewed tens of millions of times. Berkeley Scanner | Berkeleyside
8.
Marjorie Knoller is going to spend at least another three years in prison. It was Knoller’s dogs, two hulking Presa Canarios, that fatally mauled Diane Whipple in a San Francisco apartment building in 2001, a case that so scandalized the city the trial had to be moved to Los Angeles in search of an unbiased jury. The case took several bizarre turns, including Knoller’s and her husband’s decision to officially adopt the imprisoned white supremacist who had trained the dogs. Knoller was ultimately convicted of murder. Last month, she was denied parole after the board determined she still posed a threat to society. SFGATE recounted the saga.
9.
Scott Adams was always “anti-‘PC,'” a fellow cartoonist said. But about a decade ago, he began morphing from an amusing crank into a combatant in the culture wars. He praised anti-vaxxers, questioned the death toll of the Holocaust, and lamented anti-white discrimination. On Feb. 22, when Adams torpedoed his career in a racist video rant, he advised white Americans to “get the hell away” from Black people. “That’s what I did,” he said. “I went to a neighborhood that has a very low Black population.” He was referring, presumably, to the Bay Area city of Pleasanton, where Adams settled in 2009. Black residents make up less than 2% of the population. The Washington Post explored “the bewildering descent of Scott Adams.”
Southern California
10.
“It’s egregious.”
An L.A. Times analysis of a high-profile USC oncologist’s new book found 95 instances of plagiarism, some running for several continuous paragraphs. Dr. David Agus’ “The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life,” which he promoted on CBS News and “The Howard Stern Show,” was already No. 1 among animal books on Amazon before its March 7 publication. Now the publisher, Simon & Schuster, has halted sales. L.A. Times | CBS News
11.
A jury awarded a Los Angeles County prosecutor $1.5 million on Monday after she accused District Attorney George Gascón of retaliating against her for speaking out against his progressive policies. Shawn Randolph, who led Gascón’s juvenile division, said she was shuttled off to the parole division after she opposed his ban on trying juveniles as adults, among other policy shifts. Several prosecutors were present when the verdict was read. One excitedly said, “Finally.” Gascón faces more than a dozen similar lawsuits from other workers in his office. L.A. Times | City News Service
12.
Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls, the L.A. Times reported on Saturday. Cris Hazzard, aka the Hiking Guy, has said Switzer Falls, in the San Gabriel Mountains, is one of his favorite hikes of any kind across the Southland region. The short walk there takes you through oaks and alders and across the ruins of a 100-year-old mountain resort before reaching the majestic, two-tiered waterfall. Hiking Guy
Here are seven more top-rated falls across the region. 👉 L.A. Times
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