Good morning. It’s Friday, Dec. 1.
- Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis yell over one another.
- New solar rules result in thousands of lost jobs.
- And a photo series on communities around Joshua Tree.
Statewide
1.
The debate between Govs. Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis made more noise than sense on Thursday as the pair yelled over one another throughout. The leaders got personal at times, calling each other liars and bullies and hypocrites. By 20 minutes in, wrote the L.A. Times’ Robin Abcarian, she had a headache.
- S.F. Chronicle’s Emily Hoeven: “The closest thing to a winner Thursday night was unhinged male rage.”
- A body-language expert revealed the hidden meaning in Newsom’s fluttering eyelids and DeSantis’s shifting chin. Politico
- See the debate in 60 seconds, and read about five key moments with analysis from CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff.
2.
An analysis of registration data revealed that nearly 40,000 Idaho voters were transplants from California, by far the largest bloc originating from another state. But despite the common belief that a flood of liberal California transplants threatens to turn the conservative state blue, 75% of the transplants are Republicans. “In fact, the data shows that the percentage of Republican voters coming from other states is greater than the percentage of Republicans who already live in Idaho,” wrote the Idaho Capital Sun.
3.
At the beginning of 2023, about 67,000 people were working in residential rooftop solar in California. But after the state slashed incentives for the green technology, an industry trade group now estimates that 17,000 of those jobs will be gone by 2024. Ross Williams, the owner of HES Solar in San Diego, said he laid off more than half of his workforce this year after sales plummeted. “I would ask them why they did that,” he said of the state’s energy regulators. “Why did they put us in this spot when we told them we would be in this spot very clearly?” KPBS
4.
California developments connected to the Middle East crisis.
- Before now, Susan Sarandon’s highest-profile political controversy was her decision to endorse Jill Stein. But her remarks at a pro-Palestinian rally have generated so much anger in Hollywood that her agency dropped her. N.Y. Times
- Sarah Silverman shared a post saying Israel did not need to provide Gaza with water and electricity. It prompted a flood of texts asking the same question: “What the f— did you just post?” L.A. Times
- The Free Press, a Los Angeles publication founded by Bari Weiss, has seen its profile surge during the war, drawing readers hungry for an alternative to mainstream outlets. Subscribers now number nearly 75,000 and it recently signed a deal with Netflix. Wall Street Journal
Northern California
5.
Alameda County’s district attorney, Pamela Price, barred a reporter from a news conference on Wednesday, triggering outrage from First Amendment groups. Emilie Raguso, of the Berkeley Scanner, has written about public criticism of Price’s progressive policies. Asked why she was singled out for exclusion, a Price spokesperson called Raguso “an uninvited person” and suggested her publication was not “bona fide.” In a letter to Price’s office, three press freedom organizations called the action “blatantly unconstitutional.” S.F. Chronicle | Berkeley Scanner
6.
The billionaire group behind plans to build a new sustainable utopia on farmland in Solano County got heckled by a hostile crowd during the first town hall meeting in support of the project on Wednesday. Locals shouted down Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader who leads the company called California Forever, calling him a “shill” and “smooth talker.” “If not here, where?” Sramek asked the crowd of about 100 people. “Not here!” an audience member yelled back. N.Y. Times | Bloomberg
7.
Ad industry executives predicted that the brand boycott of X would only get worse a day after its owner, Elon Musk, cursed out companies that pulled back over his embrace of antisemitic conspiracy rhetoric. Agencies told reporters that temporary pauses would likely turn into permanent freezes. “There is no advertising value that would offset the reputational risk of going back on the platform,” said Lou Paskalis, the chief executive of AJL Advisory. N.Y. Times | Reuters
8.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with Jonathan Taplin, author of the new book “The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto.” Taplin says he is not a luddite. But he rejects a vision of the future in which artificial intelligence renders employment redundant for a great many people. “The notion that most people will sit home in their pajamas paid by the government to do nothing is not one that I want to inhabit,” he said.
Southern California
9.
The woman charged in the Monday killing of Hollywood consultant Michael Latt had been stalking a film director connected to him, according to court filings. The suspect, Jameelah Michl, 36, performed as an extra in a movie directed by A.V. Rockwell, a friend of Latt’s. After the film wrapped in 2021, Michl sent Rockwell a series of messages and gifts that appear to have gone unanswered. Her tone grew increasingly frustrated, then menacing. “My Glock is loaded as I write this,” she wrote in one note. “One pull of the trigger and I’ll be free.” L.A. Times | TheWrap
10.
“Chief, I need you back here immediately. This thing went way south.”
The filmmaker Nathan Truesdell specializes in short documentaries that expose local government incompetence to tragicomic effect. His latest project, “When The LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood,” looks back to June 30, 2021, when Los Angeles police officers detonated a cache of fireworks in a residential neighborhood — and ripped the block to pieces. Vimeo (~19 mins)
11.
Between 2015 and 2020, the British photographer Zoe Childerley made several trips to an area around Joshua Tree for a project about the characters scratching out lives there. She focused largely on the women, often living alone, “building new homes and embracing this formidable wild life,” she wrote. See images from the series dubbed “Dinosaur Dust.” 👉 Lens Culture | PhMuseum
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- The resurrection of long-dormant Tulare Lake was an economic disaster for many farmers. But it presented a rare opportunity to travel navigable waters from the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley to San Francisco Bay. Outside Magazine
- Since 2008, Stephanie Courtney has never been absent from American television. She meant to star on Broadway or make it as a comedic actress. Instead, she has been persuading Americans to buy insurance as the employee-character “Flo” from Progressive. N.Y. Times Magazine
- Esquire named the 50 best new restaurants in America for 2023, including 13 locations across California.
- A dog walker in San Francisco has become a hit on social media with his group portraits of surprisingly well-behaved dogs on outings around the city. See his photos. 👉 @runaround_hound
- Four in-the-know locals shared their favorite spots in Sacramento, including the beautiful historic district on the banks of the Sacramento River lined with wooden sidewalks and 19th-century brick buildings. Wall Street Journal
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