Good morning. It’s Wednesday, April 17.
- State cracks down on overpumping in San Joaquin Valley.
- Google workers arrested after protesting Israel contract.
- And mistrial called in killing of young woman in Long Beach.
Statewide
1.
The San Joaquin Valley has been sinking as much as a foot a year in places as a result of heavy groundwater pumping to irrigate the farm belt’s crops. On Tuesday, for the first time, California regulators voted unanimously to impose hefty new water fees and assume oversight of pumping across the valley’s Tulare Lake Subbasin, a region covering 840 square miles between Fresno and Bakersfield. “This is the new reality,” said water board member Laurel Firestone. Agricultural leaders warned that the move would destroy livelihoods. S.F. Chronicle | Valley Public Radio
2.
For the second year straight, Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday killed a bipartisan proposal to ban homeless encampments near schools, parks, and transit hubs across California. “Just because individuals that are unhoused make people uncomfortable does not mean that it should be criminalized,” said state Sen. Aisha Wahab. “And this bill does that.” Brian Jones, the state Senate GOP leader and a co-sponsored the bill, called the rejection “immoral and irresponsible.” CalMatters
- “A growing number of Americans do not see homeless people as humans.” Watch a new “Op-Doc” on “criminalizing homelessness.” 👉 N.Y. Times
3.
The Democrats’ pathway to reclaiming control of the House runs squarely through California, where six competitive districts will be key to flipping the chamber. On paper, they have reason to be optimistic: The party enjoys a registration advantage in each district. But their coalition is more fragile than it may appear. “Working-class Latinos, especially men, have been shifting to the right,” Politico reported.
4.
California’s new fast-food wage law not only set a minimum wage of $20 an hour, it catapulted the pay of salaried staff who earn at least double the minimum wage under a separate rule. The higher wages are now rippling into adjacent industries as workers embrace the new fast-food benchmark as leverage with their employers. “The floor has been lifted,” said Joseph Bryant, a labor leader. “Lower-wage workers across the board are saying, ‘We deserve the same.’” Bloomberg
5.
Reports that the price tag to attend several leading East Coast colleges such as the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Dartmouth would push well past $90,000 this fall were greeted with shock. But California is not that different. The total cost of tuition, housing, and other expenses to attend the University of Southern California this fall is around $95,200. For Stanford University, it’s $92,900. The San Francisco Chronicle ranked California’s most expensive colleges.
Northern California
6.
Several Google employees were arrested on Tuesday after dozens of the tech giant’s workers barged into company offices in Sunnyvale and New York and refused to leave until Google ended a $1.2 billion contract with Israel. Organizers of the protest, from the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” accused Google and Amazon of leading “the world’s first AI powered genocide.” Bailey Tomson, a Google spokesperson, said the protesters would face consequences: “These employees were put on administrative leave, and their access to our systems was cut.” Washington Post | Mercury News
7.
Bernie Krause, a soundscape recordist, began collecting audio in a Sonoma County nature preserve 30 years ago. Early recordings in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park pulsed with the sounds of rustling animals, burbling creek water, and the songs of warblers, wrens, and doves. But his recording last April, at the height of spring, featured something he had not heard before: total silence, a consequence of years of drought and habitat loss. “The changes are profound,” Krause said. “And they are happening everywhere.” The Guardian
8.
In 2021, a married pair of Salinas school teachers quit their jobs, moved to Florida, and founded their own Christian school. Disillusioned by perceived liberal bias in public schools, they now teach kids to be anti-“woke.” Kali Fontanilla, who is multiracial, recalled being radicalized during her education at UC Santa Cruz. A professor told her class to take a “privilege walk.” He had students form a line, and asked a series of questions: Have you ever seen a play? A concert? Students stepped forward if the answer was “yes,” backward if the answer was “no.” Fontanilla hated it. Washington Post
9.
A century ago, a butterfly with beautiful periwinkle-blue wings used to flutter about San Francisco’s coastal dunes. As buildings and parks swallowed up its habitat, the Xerces Blue became the first U.S. butterfly to disappear due to human development. Now scientists are releasing a closely related species called the Silvery Blue in restored San Francisco habitat in a bid to fill the ecological gap. “This isn’t a Jurassic Park-style de-extinction project, but it will have a major impact,” said Durrell Kapan, a researcher on the project. A.P. | Bay Nature
Southern California
10.
In September 2021, a Long Beach school officer named Eddie Gonzalez fatally shot an 18-year-old woman in the back of the head as she fled the scene of a minor fight, a moment captured on video. On Tuesday, jurors announced that they were deadlocked on whether Gonzalez was guilty of murder or manslaughter. The judge declared a mistrial. An unnamed juror told the Press-Telegram that Gonzalez’s guilt was clear to her: “Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind.” Other jurors, she said, were persuaded that he acted in self-defense. Press-Telegram | Long Beach Post
11.
Not long ago, the streaming model was based on bringing in subscribers rather than earning revenue from individual shows, resulting in a profusion of creative work. Now the streaming gold rush is over, with revenue, employment, and stock prices in decline. “Profit will of course find a way; there will always be shit to watch. But without radical intervention, whether by the government or the workers, the industry will become unrecognizable. And the writing trade — the kind where one actually earns a living — will be obliterated,” Harper’s Magazine wrote in a sobering cover story.
12.
When the Los Angeles Times editor, Kevin Merida, abruptly stepped down in January, inside sources told the New York Times that he had objected to meddling by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong in a forthcoming story that featured one of his billionaire acquaintances. The story was finally published on Tuesday: On Aug. 9, 2022, an American bully XL owned by surgical-device inventor Gary Michelson was said to bite a woman outside a Brentwood park. She demanded $85,000. He sued, accusing her of extortion. It got uglier from there. L.A. Times
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