Good morning. It’s Monday, July 15.
- Homeowners block beaches on the Russian River.
- Storm brings wild weather to Southern California desert.
- And Laurene Powell Jobs pays $70 million for S.F. home.
Statewide
1.
The shooting of former President Trump on Saturday drew immediate condemnations from California’s political leaders, regardless of party affiliation. Others peddled conspiracies:
- Dmitri Mehlhorn, a top political adviser to LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, sent an email to journalists urging them to consider that the shooting could have been “staged.” “This is a classic Russian tactic,” he explained. Semafor
- Elon Musk, who reacted by publicly endorsing Trump for the first time, offered up a counter conspiracy: the secret service allowed the attack. “Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate,” he wrote on X. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
2.
Isaac Chotiner asked the California congressman Robert Garcia to explain where voters who’ve lost confidence in President Biden are going wrong:
Garcia: “We have two nominees who are a lot older, including one in Donald Trump, who also can’t put together a sentence, can’t speak at rallies, is literally a lunatic who wants to destroy the country. …”
Chotiner: “I didn’t bring up Trump because I think you and I agree that he should remain very, very far from the White House, but, when you said that he ‘also’ can’t put together a sentence, you implied that Joe Biden can’t put together a sentence, either. …”
Garcia: “I didn’t say that Joe Biden can’t put together a sentence.”
Chotiner: “You said Donald Trump ‘also’ can’t put together a sentence.”
Garcia: “No. What I’m saying is that Donald Trump can’t put together a sentence. Look …” New Yorker
3.
Some California mayors reacted with delight after the Supreme Court freed cities to clear homeless encampments on June 28. “I’m warming up the bulldozer,” said R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, a Los Angeles exurb where more than 5,500 people are sleeping unhoused in a stretch of high desert. He added: “I get that some of these people have fallen on hard times. … But the population we’re talking about doesn’t want a bed.” The New York Times wrote about how the court ruling is already reshaping how cities deal with homelessness.
Northern California
4.
When federal authorities cracked down on an unpermitted gathering of the Rainbow Family in Northern California’s Plumas National Forest this month, it created some hard feelings. Fern Rose, who arrived for the gathering from Cave Junction, Ore., said members of the counterculture group are unfairly portrayed as drug addicts and hooligans. “It’s not OK to be racist. It’s not OK to hate brown, Black, and yellow people. But it’s OK to hate hippies?” she said. S.F. Chronicle
5.
Google is nearing a deal to pay roughly $23 billion for a cybersecurity startup called Wiz in what would be the company’s biggest acquisition ever, several reports said. Wiz was founded in 2020 and hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, the company said. In 2023, that figure grew to $350 million. The acquisition would come at a time of intense antitrust scrutiny as the Biden administration takes a hard line on the consolidation of power in Silicon Valley. Wall Street Journal | N.Y. Times
6.
Northern California’s Russian River is bliss in summer, gently meandering more than 100 miles through redwood and wine country toward the Pacific. Under the law, its beaches are public up to the “ordinary high-water mark,” roughly the average high tide. But that hasn’t stopped property owners from trying to cordon off sections of the river. David Steindorf, an advocate for public access, said it’s a problem everywhere: “Anybody with a $20 ‘no trespassing’ sign becomes the law until somebody tells them they can’t.” Press Democrat
7.
Laurene Powell Jobs bought a San Francisco home for $70 million in the most expensive home sale in the city’s history, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Spanish Renaissance Revival mansion in the Pacific Heights enclave was built in 1916 and includes a two-story interior courtyard with a glass roof and a cinematic view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Jobs, a philanthropist and the widow of Apple visionary Steve Jobs, is said to be worth $11.4 billion. Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg
- “It’s been described, with good reason, as the most beautiful house in America.” Architectural Digest once did a photo spread on the home.
8.
The only touring Black rodeo in the world came through Oakland over the weekend. Thousands of spectators turned out for the 40th anniversary of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, where the bull riding and barrel racing unfolded with a locally inspired soundtrack that featured rappers Mac Dre and Guapdad 4000. The San Francisco Standard published some great photos.
9.
☝️ This plant is called a cobra lily because it looks like a rearing cobra, red tongue dangling. The comparison goes further: like the snake, the cobra lily, or darlingtonia californica, is an artful killer. They rise up to 3 feet from Northern California bogs, offering nectar on their leafy fangs. When an insect wanders into the bulbous top of the plant, it becomes disoriented by the translucent leaves. Exhausted, the prey falls into the tube and drowns, to be slowly consumed. There’s a bog along the Smith River, just outside Gasquet, where you can see hundreds of cobra lilies waiting patiently for their next kill. Atlas Obscura | KQED
Southern California
10.
“The whole neighborhood is a war zone.”
As California’s relentless heat wave drew to a close over the weekend, a rare summer thunderstorm roared into the Southern California desert on Sunday, causing major flooding in Twentynine Palms. Gauges recorded rainfall rates of a more than an inch an hour in places. Video posted to social media showed roads turned to rivers and homes swamped by water. Desert Sun | LAist
11.
Two Southern California figures left us over the weekend.
- Richard Simmons died at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday. The fitness instructor became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1980s by preaching a message of self-love in Dolphin short shorts to America’s stay-at-home moms. People who knew him said had an extraordinary generosity of spirit. He was 76. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
- Shannen Doherty died at her home in Malibu on Saturday. The actress who played Brenda Walsh on the teen drama “Beverly Hills, 90210” was a staple of 1990s tabloids, which portrayed her as a Hollywood “bad girl.” On set, colleagues complained of divalike behavior that led to her departure from two shows. She was 53. The cause of death was cancer. L.A. Times | A.P.
12.
Photographer Dustin Snipes made creative use of the sun for a photoshoot featuring Trinity Rodman, a Newport Beach soccer star who will be representing Team USA at the Paris Olympics. Rodman, 22, is the daughter of former NBA star Dennis Rodman. Peta Pixel
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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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