Starving brown pelicans overwhelm rescuers // Dreamy Sonoma County treehouse

Good morning. It’s Monday, May 13.

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt commencement events.
Starving brown pelicans overwhelm rescue facilities.
And a dreamy treehouse in the Sonoma County redwoods.

Statewide

1.

A protester faced off with police outside Pomona College’s commencement ceremony at Shrine Auditorium in L.A. on Sunday. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted several commencement ceremonies across the country over the weekend:

When activists erected tents on Pomona College’s graduation stage last week, the school moved the event to an auditorium in Los Angeles. The protesters followed, chanting “From the river to the sea!” and scuffling with police outside the ceremony on Sunday. At least one person was arrested. L.A. Times | KABC
At UC Berkeley, hundreds of soon-to-be graduates disrupted their commencement on Saturday, rising from their chairs and chanting “Free Palestine!” during the speeches. In response, guests briefly chanted “Kick them out!” S.F. Chronicle | Berkeleyside

2.

While California has been carpeted in the colors of spring since March, the Sierra Nevada still looked very much like winter as recently as last week. A federal report released on May 1 said the snowpack was so abundant it would soon push Lake Tahoe to full capacity for the first time in five years — and that was before an early May storm dropped even more snow. L.A. Times | Sacramento Bee

NASA’s Earth Observatory shared satellite imagery from before and after the May 5 snowfall. 👇

Satellite images depict snowpack on May 3, 2024, and May 5, 2024. (NASA Earth Observatory)

3.

Chain stores once kept only pricey items — cold medication, electronics, and baby formula — behind lock and key. It’s now typical to see whole aisles barricaded. It’s an aggravation for customers and store employees alike. “I apologize a lot and I get yelled at a lot,” a supervisor at a Vons in Pasadena said. While industry executives have been accused of exaggerating the scourge of retail theft, they point out that making shopping harder is not in their financial interest. “Locking a product,” a CVS spokesperson said, “is a measure of last resort.” L.A. Times

4.

Rescued brown pelicans at the Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach on May 3. (Leonard Ortiz/O.C. Register via Getty Images)

Starving brown pelicans are overwhelming wildlife rescuers along the California coast and no one is exactly sure why. In Santa Cruz, a wildlife care facility said it handled more than 100 starving pelicans in the last month. “We’re definitely burnt out,” a technician said. In Huntington Beach, the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center said it processed nearly 200 of the birds since April. About half died. “We know they’re starving,” said Elizabeth Wood, a veterinarian, “but we don’t know why.” KSBW | NBC Los Angeles

Northern California

5.

Hoodline, a San Francisco company that runs a national network of “hyperlocal” news sites, was once know for digging up stories that fell under the radar of the big newspapers. In 2020, the company was absorbed by Impress3 Media, an outfit that describes itself as “a digital content engine.” Now Hoodline embraces artificial intelligence as a substitute for human writers. Nuala Bishari, a former Hoodline reporter, noted that the news industry was already in a sorry state. Now, she wrote, “AI is also poised to capture more of the shrinking pot of revenue that used to go to real journalists.” S.F. Chronicle

6.

Last year, a Monterey County homeowner named Etienne Constable received a code enforcement letter directing him to build a fence to obscure the view of the fishing boat in his driveway. At first he was angry, then he got creative. He built the fence and recruited an artist friend to decorate it with a lifelike depiction of his boat. Monterey County Now | KSBW

7.

Rural California is home to more than 2 million people. Many of them arguably have more in common with rural Texans than they do with city dwellers in Los Angeles or the Bay Area. Some enjoy putting on their favorite cowboy boots and kicking up dust at the Redding Rodeo Steak Feed and Dance, just held over the weekend. The Record Searchlight shared 22 photos.

8.

After more than a decade of making homes for clients, the owner of a treehouse company recently built one for himself: a tubular dwelling 35 feet off the redwood forest floor in Sonoma County. Dubbed Spyglass, the 300-square-foot home is held aloft by thin steel posts and one massive redwood that juts through a deck outfitted with a cedar hot tub. He rents it out on AirBnb for at least $550 a night. Architectural Digest | Dezeen

Architectural Digest rounded up listings of the coolest treehouse rentals in California and beyond.

Southern California

9.

As illegal immigration has surged along the southern border, so has seaborne smuggling of migrants, especially in Southern California. The number of times migrants illegally entered or attempted to enter California by boat has more than doubled since 2020, according federal figures. Their dramatic arrivals, often caught on video, have become an increasingly common sight on public beaches. “The big concern for us is we have absolutely no idea who these people are,” said San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond. Wall Street Journal

10.

Dispatches from the affordability crisis:

A housing think tank found that for San Diegans to afford the average rent they need to earn roughly $48 an hour, or three times the minimum wage. It also found that more than 80% of county households are spending at least half of their income on housing. Anything above 30% is considered “cost-burdened.” KGTV | NBC 7

An analysis found that homebuyers in Orange County have to make $349,200 a year to afford the median-priced home. That’s 3.5 times what Americans must earn nationwide to afford a typical home. O.C. Register

11.

Sam Rubin worked at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2018. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Turner)

Los Angeles mourned the loss of Sam Rubin, a longtime KTLA entertainment reporter and fixture in Hollywood who died suddenly from a heart attack on Friday. He was 64. KTLA news anchor Frank Buckley fought back tears as he announced the news on Friday. “Quite simply,” he said, “Sam was KTLA. The newsroom is in tears right now.” Tom Hanks, Viola Davis, Ben Stiller, and Octavia Spencer were among those who posted tributes to Rubin, with many noting his enthusiasm and authenticity. “Even if I was on my 85th interview that day, I was always happy to see Sam,” wrote Ryan Reynolds. Deadline

California the beautiful

12.

The northern lights, caused by an extreme solar storm, lit up California’s night sky in pale purples, pinks, and greens from the Oregon border to the San Diego County mountains over the weekend.

A photo tour:

**Owens Valley**, near the Alabama Hills. (David McNew/Getty Images)

**China Camp State Park, San Rafael**. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

**Lake Tahoe**. (Jonathan Cook-Fisher/CC BY 2.0)

**Lake Berryessa**. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle via A.P.)

Get your California Sun T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, hats, and totes!

Thanks for reading!

The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.

Make a one-time contribution to the California Sun.

Give a subscription as a gift.

Forward this email to a friend.

Click here to stop delivery, and here to update your billing information. To change your email address please email me: mike@californiasun.co. (Note: Unsubscribing here does not cancel payments. To do that click here.)

The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412