Good morning. It’s Monday, April 15.
- Google starts blocking links to California news websites.
- San Francisco police virtually halt traffic enforcement.
- And Death Valley springs to life with wildflowers.
Statewide
1.
Google on Friday began blocking links to California news websites for some users in what amounted to a threat directed at state legislators as they consider a measure requiring the search giant to pay licensing fees for linking to news. Google’s Jaffer Zaidi said the law “would create a level of business uncertainty that no company could accept.” Mike McGuire, the state Senate leader and a co-sponsor of the bill, called Google’s move an act of “extraordinary hubris” and “a breach of public trust.” Politico | CNN
2.
As of Sunday, California’s main electrical grid had run on 100% renewable energy for at least part of the day for 30 out of the last 38 days, according to Stanford environmental professor Mark Z. Jacobson. California had hit the milestone for brief periods before, but the latest run suggests they are becoming more commonplace. “This is getting so easy, it’s almost boring,” Jacobson wrote. The Cooldown
- One of the world’s largest battery plants is nearing completion near Lake Elsinore. Storing power is vital in the clean energy push to compensate for the intermittence of sun and wind. Reuters
3.
Forbes’ latest billionaires list affirmed California as a place of extraordinary individual wealth. Four of the world’s 10 richest people (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Larry Page) made their fortunes in California, which is now home to roughly a quarter of all U.S. billionaires. The men’s combined wealth, nearly $630 billion, is more than the GDPs of Belgium, Argentina, or Thailand. Other Forbes facts:
- Magic Johnson joined the billionaires list for the first time thanks to investments in sports teams, movie theaters, Starbucks, and other businesses. Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, also debuted on the list.
- The combined wealth of tech billionaires surged to an astonishing $2.6 trillion, up $750 billion from a year earlier. Nobody had a better year than Zuckerberg, who added $113 billion as investors cheered on cost-cutting at Meta.
- The Bay Area’s artificial intelligence boom helped mint several new billionaires, including Nvidia’s Harvey Jones, Notion’s Ivan Zhao, Cloudflare’s Michelle Zatlyn, and Figure’s Brett Adcock.
4.
Death Valley got so much rain since the fall that a lake formed in one of the world’s driest places. Now the wildflowers have arrived — a feast of colors in the form of desert golds, desert sand-verbena, and birdcage evening primrose. “The thing about a super bloom is it forces you to realize the abundance of life that’s actually here,” said Naomi Fraga, a desert plant specialist. “Because all of a sudden you have all these annuals that are everywhere and it’s amazing. It just feels magical, beautiful.” Washington Post
- New satellite images showed Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve coming alive, though not with poppies. “There are sweeping fields of goldfields interspersed with owl’s clover and creamcups,” the reserve said. Earth Observatory | L.A. Times
Northern California
5.
Six months after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the acrimonious debates at California’s colleges and city councils show no sign of abating:
- For months, students at Pomona College have been holding die-ins, walkouts, and sit-ins. President G. Gabrielle Starr accused the protesters of being “actively destructive of the values that underpin our community.” L.A. Times
- In an interview, UC Regent John Pérez rejected the suggestion of equivalence in the level of campus Islamophobia and antisemitism. “The antisemitism is absolutely disproportionate. … The numbers and the spikes are vastly different, and the types of incidences are vastly different.” Politico
- In Bakersfield, a pro-Palestinian activist was arrested and charged with 18 felony counts after she threatened lawmakers during a City Council meeting. “We’ll see you at your house, we’ll murder you,” she said. L.A. Times | KERO
6.
An analysis found that police have all but stopped issuing traffic tickets in San Francisco. In March 2014, the police department issued 12,444 citations. In December 2023, the number was 336. The dips in individual infractions are even more striking. Biking citations fell from 1,583 in 2014 to seven in 2023. Pedestrian citations fell from 5,479 to 30. Jack Glaser, a public policy professor, suggested the unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd played a role in causing police to wind down enforcement. S.F. Chronicle
7.
Since January, an Armenian cemetery in Fresno has been targeted by six arson attacks. The most recent, on Friday, torched eight trees less than two weeks before the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide on April 24. Founded in 1885, the cemetery is the resting place of several prominent Armenian figures, including the writer William Saroyan. “It would be impossible to overstate how upsetting this is to us,” said Sheri Manning-Cartwright, the cemetery manager. San Joaquin Sun | FOX26
8.
A San Francisco startup released a wearable computer that it promoted as a sort of AI-powered Star Trek communicator that would free you from your smartphone. The $699 Humane AI Pin was roundly mocked by critics:
- “You’d think if I said, ‘Send a message to …’ followed by someone’s name, then the next prompt would be to ask me what the message is, right? No, the Humane Ai Pin asked me whether I wanted to send ‘Send a message’ to my friend, as if I’m some kind of Mafia boss commanding a goon to whack someone.” WIRED
- “The projector is basically unreadable when you’re in the sun.” Washington Post
- “After many days of testing, the one and only thing I can truly rely on the AI Pin to do is tell me the time.” The Verge
Southern California
9.
One after another, at least six youths pummeled a 17-year-old at a Los Angeles County juvenile hall in December as several officers stood by and watched, a video obtained by the L.A. Times showed. Some officers appeared to laugh and shake hands with the assailants. An attorney for the victim’s family said one of officers, Taneha Brooks, organized the beating, telling the youths that the teen was racist based on his gang affiliations and where he lives. All of the assailants were Black; the 17-year-old, who suffered a broken nose and “moderate traumatic brain injury,” is Latino. L.A. Times
10.
Last month, Shohei Ohtani pulled his translator, Ippei Mizuhara, into a conference room and asked what was going on. Mizuhara finally came clean. He had enormous gambling debts and had been stealing from Ohtani to pay them off. But he asked Ohtani to go along with a story he had just told the Dodgers and a reporter for ESPN: Ohtani had voluntarily paid his debts. Ohtani refused and called his agent, Nez Balelo, into the room. The New York Times got details about the dizzying scandal that threatened to taint baseball’s biggest star.
11.
During the pandemic, the Joshua Tree area became California’s hottest housing market, more than doubling the median price in a matter of two years. Then prices tumbled back toward earth. John Medina, a Los Angeles-based investor who rushed into the market, said he lost $100,000 on one property: “I’ve flipped over 100 homes in my career. Before this property, I’ve never lost money on one.” Wall Street Journal
12.
Coachella, America’s premier music festival, wrapped up its first weekend in Indio. A gentle 3.8 earthquake rocked the crowd, Taylor Swift made an appearance (as a fan), and No Doubt was said to steal the show. See photos of the performers and fan fashions. New York Post | L.A. Times
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The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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