Good morning. It’s Friday, March 1.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom calls favoritism allegations “absurd.”
- Residents hunker down as blizzard roars into Sierra.
- And a video tour of a $2 trillion company’s office.
Statewide
1.
A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday dismissed a Bloomberg report that suggested the governor pushed for a carve-out that benefits a campaign donor in a new fast food minimum wage law, calling the idea “absurd.” The law exempts restaurants that operate bakeries such as Panera Bread, two dozen franchises of which are owned by Newsom donor Greg Flynn. Newsom argued Thursday that the law does not exclude Panera after all, a claim he had not made before, even when asked to explain the bakery exception last year. It came down to “the sausage-making” of politics, he said then. Politico | A.P.
- “OK, but we’re going to need some proof,” wrote the L.A. Times Editorial Board.
2.
Updates from the Sierra Nevada:
- A blizzard began to roar through the mountains Thursday, with latest forecasts predicting that up to 13 feet of snow would fall by Sunday. Locals stocked up on supplies and hunkered down. “This will be a legitimate blizzard,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist, said in a morning briefing. Sacramento Bee | Mercury News
- Midday Thursday, Yosemite National Park announced that it would close from 12:01 a.m. Friday through Sunday. “Visitors currently in the park should leave as soon as possible,” the park said. Some ski resorts also announced closures. Fresno Bee | SFGATE
- “We’re getting absolutely hammered.” Storm chasers recorded video from Donner Pass, where ferocious winds were ramping up. A nearby peak recorded a wind gust of 145 mph. @US_Stormwatch | @Donovan_J19
Northern California
3.
The U.S. plans to deport Jose Inez Garcia Zarate, the unauthorized immigrant whose killing of Kate Steinle at a San Francisco pier in 2015 set off a fierce debate over immigration, officials told the N.Y. Times on Thursday. Garcia Zarate was cleared of murder after he said he fired a gun by accident and evidence indicated the bullet had ricocheted. He remained in prison on gun and probation violations and was transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Feb. 16. They planned to deport him to Mexico within days. N.Y. Times
4.
Growing up in San Francisco, Ray Davis would walk his sister to school, then walk back home because there was no one to take care of his baby brother. His father was in prison. Then his mother went away too. He’d beg anyone he knew: “Can I stay with you?” A ward of the court at age 15, he brought a judge to tears pleading for permission to attend an East Coast boarding school on a sports scholarship. A new life began. Reporter Zak Keefer told the story of how Davis rose from hardship to the cusp of hearing his name called in the upcoming NFL Draft. (The article is paywalled, but accessible if you provide an email). The Athletic
5.
When word of Richard Parina’s death spread last month, political figures in San Francisco offered condolences. They knew Parina as an amiable 78-year-old who advocated for seniors and fed the homeless. He told friends he was a retired brigadier general with 21 medals, including multiple Purple Hearts and a Silver Star. But a pair of reporters found that many of his claims appeared to be fabrications — including his death. “His ex-wife said he never went to war or won any medals. And no records could be found verifying that Parina is dead,” they wrote. SF Standard
6.
The artificial intelligence darling Nvidia has become one of Silicon Valley’s most coveted jobs in tech after the company’s stratospheric surge in value. The Santa Clara office space itself adds to the chipmaker’s allure: two spaceship-like buildings connected by an outdoor park, with vast open spaces, an indoor “mountain,” and flooding natural light. The Wall Street Journal took a video tour of what the headquarters of a $2 trillion company looks like.
7.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talks with the prominent San Francisco lawyer James Brosnahan, who has a memoir out chronicling his 60-year career as a Justice Department prosecutor and trial lawyer. Brosnahan talked about the unusual psychology of criminal defense lawyers who make careers standing up for murderers and swindlers. “There are going to be a lot people in prominent cases who really don’t like them,” he said. “They know that. And, as I say in the book, they don’t care.”
Southern California
8.
A gunman opened fire in an El Cajon dental office Thursday afternoon, killing a man and wounding two other people — a man in his 40s and a woman in her 20s — the authorities said. After an hours-long manhunt, police arrested the suspected shooter, identified as Mohammed Abdulkareem, 29. They gave no word on a motive or whether the shooting was targeted. A man identified as the father of the female victim said she was shot in the legs and didn’t know the gunman. NBC News | CBS News
9.
“We were certain Ukraine would win in early 2023. I planned to be home by spring.”
Hundreds of thousands of refugees came to the U.S. in flight from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They’ve learned the language, launched careers, made new friends. Many long to return home. Stella Kalinina, a Russian-Ukrainian American photographer, told the stories of six families who moved to Los Angeles in a moving photo essay. The Guardian
10.
During summer 2020, as statues were being toppled across California, Ventura preemptively removed the Junipero Serra figure that stood in front of City Hall. The Franciscan priest has been a contentious figure for his role in suppressing Indigenous cultures. After more than three years in storage, the statue was reinstalled Thursday at the city’s Mission Basilica San Buenaventura. Bitter feelings linger. Some wanted the statue returned to City Hall. But Christy Weir, a local lawmaker, said the placement at the mission came as a relief: “It feels like a closure to a really difficult, controversial time.” Ventura County Star
11.
A famous resident is drawing lookie-loos from across the state to a quiet neighborhood in Glendora. They arrive with binoculars and telephoto lenses in hopes of spotting a rare broad-billed hummingbird, with a bright red beak and emerald feathers, that has made a home in Kristin Joseph’s flowery front yard. Joseph began transforming her yard in a bout of inspiration two years ago, tearing out the lawn and adding native plants that have attracted grasshoppers, praying mantises, and butterflies, she said. “And I have a plethora of birds in my yard all day long.” Whittier Daily News
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Reporter Dara Kerr looked into why the billionaire Marc Benioff has been quietly buying up the Hawaiian town of Waimea. While Kerr was reporting her story, Benioff mentioned that he knew where she was staying: “Unnerved, I asked how he knew, and he said, ‘It’s my job. You have a job and I have a job.'” NPR
- A developer wants to build a trio of towers in place of the historic ranch house that housed Sunset magazine’s former headquarters in Menlo Park. Thanks to the so-called “builder’s remedy,” there may be no stopping it, wrote urban design critic John King. S.F. Chronicle
- Fruit and nut tycoons Lynda and Stewart Resnick are among the most generous donors to academic and cultural institutions in America. They are also, according to their critics, climate criminals. N.Y. Times
- San Francisco prosecutors are weighing sanctions against a public defender over her conduct while representing a man who savagely beat his girlfriend. Deputy Public Defender Ilona Yanez bought drinks for jurors in an apparent bid for leniency in sentencing, according to a report by ABC7.
- A drone operator had his aircraft in the air and recording when a landslide peeled away from a coastal bluff along the Lost Coast Headlands on Saturday. Two people standing near the cliff’s edge can be seen scrambling away as the ground fаlls. Redheaded Blackbelt
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