Good morning. It’s Friday, April 19.
- Alameda County prosecutors charge cops in man’s death.
- Calexico voters recall transgender City Council member.
- And a dreamy little hotel along the wild Mendocino coast.
Statewide
1.
A coalition backing a voter initiative that would set harsher penalties for shoplifting and drug dealing announced Thursday that it had collected enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The measure would roll back parts of Proposition 47, the landmark 2014 criminal justice law that downgraded some theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors to alleviate crowding in jails. Over the years, the proposition became an object of scorn among law enforcement leaders and others who blamed it for increases in crime. A.P. | L.A. Times
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new plan Thursday to force accountability from local leaders in the fight against homelessness. Under the blueprint, cities and counties that receive state homelessness grants will face stricter benchmarks, while an expanded housing enforcement unit cracks down on those that fail to deliver — potentially in the form of litigation. “I’m not interested in funding failure any longer,” the governor said. Mercury News | A.P.
3.
After her son was born in 2004, the photographer Justine Kurland set off with him in a van to explore the American West, indulging the boy’s fascination with trains. The journey, which lasted the better part of six years, is chronicled in Kurland’s latest collection, “This Train,” a family photo album that offers an alternative vision of contemporary American life. The trains, one critic wrote, become the only reminder the rest of the world exists at all. CNN | The Guardian
Northern California
4.
On Thursday, Alameda County’s district attorney, Pamela Price, announced criminal charges against three Alameda police officers involved in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez, who succumbed after officers knelt on his back for several minutes. The move reversed the decision of Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, who cleared the officers even as protesters drew comparisons to the killing of George Floyd. “We’re trying to rebuild trust in a system that has not always been fair to folks,” Price said. A lawyer for the officers called it “a blatantly political prosecution.” Mercury News | KQED
5.
San Francisco is getting giant pandas from China.
Mayor London Breed, in China on a trip to promote tourism, shared the news Thursday, saying the city would be “a long-term home” for an unspecified number of the black-and-white bears that have been a symbol of U.S.-China diplomacy. Awkwardly, the timing of the announcement came a day after the San Francisco Chronicle ran an exposé on turmoil and neglect at the city zoo, including a close call between a shambling grizzly bear and a zookeeper. Mission Local | S.F. Chronicle
6.
San Francisco sued Oakland on Thursday over the neighboring city’s decision to rename its airport San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, saying the change would hurt the reputation and bottom line of San Francisco’s airport. In its lawsuit, San Francisco accused Oakland of trying to “intentionally and knowingly capitalize off of confusion” between the two names. Oakland airport spokesman Robert Bernardo said the renaming had nothing to do with San Francisco: “No one can deny the geographic fact that Oakland is located on the San Francisco Bay.” S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News
7.
A circular rotating restaurant atop San Francisco’s brutalist Hyatt Regency wowed patrons for 34 years before coming to a halt in 2007 when it closed during a change in ownership. Now, 17 years later, the rooftop venue will rotate again. The hotel has spent the past year refurbishing the mechanics and making plans to reopen as a ticketed happy-hour venue called Club Revolve. S.F. Chronicle | SFist
8.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talked with Stu Smith, proprietor of Smith-Madrone Winery in Napa County. They talked about the turmoil convulsing California’s great wine region, including a bitter struggle between vintners and environmentalists. Smith accused local officials of essentially working to kill off the small wineries that power the county’s economy through overzealous regulation. “They’ve turned their back on us,” he said.
9.
Hidden behind the trees on a promontory along the Mendocino coast is a rustic little inn that is regularly ranked among the country’s finest hotels. All 11 rooms at Brewery Gulch Inn have fireplaces, and most have redwood balconies with views of the wild Pacific. Guests wake to sun filtering through the mist, enjoy made-to-order breakfasts in the great room, and set off to explore the redwoods. “The days went on this way, enchanted and outside of time,” one visitor wrote. “The trip home was like waking from a dream I didn’t want to end.” N.Y. Times | California Through My Lens
Southern California
10.
Calexico overwhelmingly backed the recall of a transgender City Council member in a special election held Tuesday, capping a bitter campaign that led to accusations of transphobia in the almost entirely Latino border city. Nearly 74% of voters supported the ouster of Raúl Ureña, 26, who won a council seat in 2020 on a social justice platform. After about two years in office, Ureña began wearing dresses and makeup at public events. Not long after that, opponents launched the recall effort, accusing the politician of pushing “toxic” left-wing causes. L.A. Times
11.
“Devastating.”
“A gut punch.”
“Like buying a Rothko for the frame.”
Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger demolished a Los Angeles home built by the celebrated modernist Craig Ellwood, and preservationists are furious. Ellwood, one of the Case Study architects, built the single-story Zimmerman House in 1950, incorporating the openness, minimalism, and exquisite craftsmanship characteristic of the period. In its place, the celebrity couple is building a three-floor, 15,000-square-foot modern farmhouse, or what the New York Times once described as “the millennial answer to the baby boomer McMansion.” Dwell
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Death Valley got so much rain since the fall that a lake formed. Now the wildflowers have arrived — a feast of colors in the form of desert golds, desert sand-verbena, and birdcage evening primrose. Washington Post
- Satellite images showed Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve coming alive, though not with poppies. Earth Observatory
- The Sarlacc pit of the “Star Wars” universe, in which a beast’s gaping barbed mouth awaits victims at the bottom of a sandy crater, is almost too terrifying to contemplate. But its real-life counterpart can be found devouring prey all over California. Bay Nature
- When the L.A. Times editor, Kevin Merida, abruptly stepped down in January, inside sources said he had objected to meddling by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong in a forthcoming story that featured one of his billionaire acquaintances. The story was published on Tuesday. L.A. Times
- With federal personnel too limited to keep up with the influx of migrants along the Southern California border, a 22-year-old named Peter Fink created a makeshift migrant camp. There are no aid tents, medical volunteers, or port-a-potties — just modest rations and small tents. N.Y. Times
- Earlier this year, crews finished draining the reservoirs behind the last of four dams set for removal along Northern California’s Klamath River. Before-and-after satellite images showed how the waterway has already begun to radically reshape itself. Earth Observatory
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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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