Good morning. It’s Friday, March 15.
- Analysis finds California poised to fail climate goals.
- Nearly 300 years of wrongful incarceration in L.A. County.
- And swarming bees disrupt Indian Wells tournament.
Statewide
1.
A new study found that California is on track to fall short of its ambitious climate goals — and it’s not even close. The report, compiled by Beacon Economics and environmental group Next 10, analyzed state data to conclude that California would need to triple its rate of greenhouse gas cuts through the end of the decade to reach its target mandated under state law: emitting 40% less in 2030 than in 1990. “That does not bode well,” said Stafford Nichols, a Beacon researcher. CalMatters
2.
Northern California used to enjoy a sizable advantage in California politics. But the U.S. Senate primary just proved that the paradigm is shifting, argued columnist Mark Z. Barabak. Any regional advantage, he wrote, “has apparently been wiped away by the nationalization of politics, by the everywhere reach of social media and, especially, the star-making capacity of TV news, which has turned personalities like [Rep. Adam] Schiff into political celebrities far beyond their native turf.” L.A. Times
3.
The author Dean King told how the great wanderer John Muir first made his way to Yosemite after disembarking from a steamship in San Francisco in 1868:
“He stopped a man on the street carrying a carpenter’s kit on his shoulders and asked him for ‘the nearest way out of town to the wild part of the State.’ Surprised, the man set down his kit and inquired, ‘Where do you wish to go?’ ‘Anywhere that’s wild,’ Muir responded.” Literary Hub
- Hear King on the California Sun Podcast.
Northern California
4.
San Francisco was sued twice on Thursday to force a crackdown on open-air drug use in the Tenderloin neighborhood. A complaint by a group of Tenderloin businesses and residents accused the city of using their neighborhood as a containment zone for vices. The sidewalks, the suit said, are “dangerous, impassible and unsanitary.” The second lawsuit, lodged by the University of California Law School, accused the city of violating a 2020 settlement that required it to address squalid conditions around the school’s Tenderloin campus. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.
- Riverside County has embraced a controversial tactic in its fight against fentanyl: charging people who supply fatal doses of the drug with murder. N.Y. Times
5.
In Oakland, everyone seems to agree that something needs to change in the fight against crime. David Muhammad, a criminal-justice reform advocate, rejects the bleakest depictions of the city where he grew up. Yet his car has been broken into three times in two years. He meets monthly with community leaders who tend to recoil at tough-on-crime talk. “Still, the group is wondering, ‘What is going on?’“ he said. “Certainly, there is something that needs to improve. We love Oakland and want to see it thrive.” L.A. Times
6.
A Monaco billionaire whose property-buying spree has raised alarms in historic Carmel sneered at his critics during a tense City Council last week. “I thought that jealousy was the curse of Europe,” the real estate heir Patrice Pastor said via Zoom. “But I can see that it does not spare your magnificent country.” Seeking a tax break on a Frank Lloyd Wright property he bought for $22 million last year, Pastor said he would maintain the home in perfect condition either way, “even if only to continue to bother those jealous people who will never have access to it.” SFGATE
7.
A San Jose woman has sued to block an 11-year-old boy with severe autism from visiting his grandparents’ home next door to her residence because she is bothered by his grunting. The boy, according to his mother Serena Arvayo, is unable to speak, instead making vocalizations known as “stimming,” which he would sometimes do while chasing bubbles in the yard. The neighbor, Janine Lu, asked a court to declare the boy a “nuisance,” saying his vocalizations have caused her “emotional distress.” Arvayo has countersued. NBC Bay Area
8.
They’re seldom seen, but bobcats have adapted to the urban environs of San Jose, subsisting on a diet of rabbits, voles, gophers, and squirrels. Shravan Sundaram, an environmental scientist and wildlife photographer, has been documenting the cats long enough to discern individual personalities. They can be shy, inquisitive, and startlingly ferocious, he said. The Mercury News published a collection of his photos.
- See more pictures on Sundaram’s Instagram page.
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Offered now in magnificent black and tan.
Southern California
9.
Upon their release from prison after two decades in prison, a pair of former bank-robbing partners had choices to make. Freed in 2019, Montez Day, who was 48 years old and a father, swore he’d never go behind bars again. He got a job, a home, and a new lease on life. When Bruce Bell got out in 2021 at the age of 71, his lawyer informed the judge that he had grown too old to commit crimes again. But two years later, authorities say, Bell started trying to rob banks once more. Reporter Brittny Mejia told the story of how two lives diverged. L.A. Times
10.
On Wednesday, Stephen Patterson became the 13th person to be exonerated in Los Angeles County since 2020. Patterson was convicted of a 2005 killing on the testimony of a single eyewitness peering through closed blinds in her home 200 yards from the shooting. He was sentenced to 50 years and served 19 before walking free on Wednesday. When he heard about the total time served by the 13 exonerees — nearly 300 years — his spirit was broken, Patterson told a news conference: “That’s a long time, and it’s minorities, and it’s overlooked.” LAist | Fox11
11.
A quarterfinal match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells was delayed for nearly two hours Thursday when a swarm of bees descended onto the court, stinging Carlos Alcaraz in the forehead. He and opponent Alexander Zverev darted for the exits as the umpire, grinning, announced: “Ladies and gentleman, play is suspended due to bee invasion.” A beekeeper hustled to the stadium within an hour, sucked up the bees with a large vacuum contraption, then trotted through the stands giving high-fives and posing for selfies. Desert Sun
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past couple weeks:
- A tunnel of Monterey cypress trees in Point Reyes leads to a graceful Art Deco building, the home of a Morse-code radio station that once watched over the Pacific Ocean. The photographer Ann Hermes visited the “radio squirrels” who still fire up the equipment every Saturday. The Atlantic
- In a feature on the top 10 surfing rides of all time, professional surfer and writer Sam George included a wave more than 100 miles from the ocean. In 2015, surfing great Kelly Slater made the debut ride at his Surf Ranch wave pool in the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley. The Inertia
- On county maps of California, an oddly straight horizontal line bisects the state about 30 miles north of Bakersfield. Its existence reflects a cultural divide between the state’s north and south that was never quite erased. California Sun
- As squatters have become a growing aggravation for homeowners in Southern California, a new hero has stepped forward: The Squatter Hunter. Flash Shelton, a former bouncer and handyman, specializes in removing squatters by out-squatting them. L.A. Times
- Dronme Davis, a plus-size model in Mendocino, attracted a wide following on Instagram as an advocate of the so-called body positive movement, proudly posting pictures of her belly rolls. Then, without explanation, she dropped the weight. Her silence felt to some like a betrayal. N.Y. Times
Editor’s note
The California Sun Podcast is off today. Back next week.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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