Judge declares Google a monopoly // Wildfire sweeps through San Bernardino neighborhood

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Federal judge declares Google an illegal monopoly.
Wildfire sweeps through San Bernardino neighborhood.
And four tropical storms swirl to life in eastern Pacific.

Statewide

1.

Kamala Harris addressed a campaign rally in Atlanta last week. (Demetrius Freeman/Washington Post via Getty Images)

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination — becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket. On Tuesday, she is expected to announce her running mate, perhaps the biggest decision of her nascent campaign. Reports said she met recently with three finalists: Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. Each fit a profile that strategists have argued would give the ticket the broadest appeal: white, male, and centrist. Washington Post | N.Y. Times

2.

In 2023, California lawmakers moved to loosen Ticketmaster’s grip on the ticketing market after the Beverly Hills company faced accusations of bungling Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. An analysis of financial disclosures has now found that California lawmakers accepted more than $30,000 worth of free tickets from industry lobbyists as they considered tougher regulations. Legislation to allow more competition in ticketing was ultimately shelved. Politico

3.

Children took part in a Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco on Feb. 24. (Xinhua/Alamy)

From 2020 to 2023, the number of young children fell by roughly 15% in both San Francisco and Los Angeles County, an analysis of Census data found. The journalist Derek Thompson argued that the urban family exodus is a warning for progressives:

“American families with young children are leaving big urban counties in droves. And that says something interesting about the state of mobility — and damning about the state of American cities and the progressives who govern them.” The Atlantic

4.

Climate researchers created a mapping tool that predicts what sort of climate cities can expect in 60 years if the burning of fossil fuels continues more or less unabated. According to calculations by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science:

Venice Beach would feel like present-day Rialto, a suburb of San Bernardino.
Redding would have summers like those now experienced in suburban Phoenix.
And San Francisco’s climate would resemble that of Jamul, a mountain town outside San Diego where summer temperatures reach the 80s and 90s. S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Times

● ●

Look up your city. 👉 CityApp

Northern California

5.

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Google illegally exploited its market dominance to stomp out competitors, a landmark decision that analysts said could hobble one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote in his 276-page ruling. Next comes a remedy phase that could force the breakup of Google’s sprawling business. Reuters | Washington Post

6.

X’s San Francisco headquarters. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Linda Yaccarino, X’s chief executive, informed employees on Monday that the company would shut its San Francisco office “over the next few weeks.” Elon Musk said in July that he would move the company to Texas in response to a California law that prevents schools from requiring parental notification if a student identifies as transgender. The shuttering of the office will mark the end of an era for the company formerly called Twitter, which became a symbol of San Francisco’s tech industry. N.Y. Times | SF Standard

7.

Jon Jacobo, a former rising political star in San Francisco, was arrested on Monday and charged with rape and domestic violence, the district attorney’s office said. In 2021, a housing rights advocate named Sasha Perigo publicly accused Jacobo of raping her at his apartment. At least three other women subsequently came forward with allegations against Jacobo, including rape, stalking, and threats of violence. Jacobo has called the encounters consensual. SF Standard | Mission Local

8.

Tucked in California’s remote northeast is a landscape so surreal that NASA astronauts once trained there in preparation for moon missions. Medicine Lake Highlands was formed by volcanic eruptions over the last half-million years that sent lava oozing more than 30 miles across the landscape. Hardly anyone visits there. Yet the highlands have gorgeous lakes, forested hills, and hundreds of caves. The travel journalist John Bartell paid a visit to Little Glass Mountain, a giant mound of inky black obsidian, pictured above. ABC10/YouTube (~3 mins)

Southern California

9.

The New Yorker dropped a juicy profile of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. A few memorable details:

In 2014, Kennedy happened upon a bear cub carcass on a roadside. As a prank, he dumped the dead animal in Manhattan’s Central Park, making it look as if it had been hit by a bicycle.
In 2015, Kennedy told a Sacramento audience that when children receive vaccines, “that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone. This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
In a recent text exchange, Kennedy called Donald Trump “a terrible human being. The worse president ever and barely human. He is probably a sociopath.” Even so, he added, Biden is “more dangerous.”

10.

Firefighters worked to halt the Edgehill fire in San Bernardino on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi/L.A. Times via Getty Images)

A fast-moving wildfire swept through a hillside neighborhood in San Bernardino Monday afternoon, engulfing at least half a dozen homes. Dramatic video showed residents rushing to safety as the fire fed on dry brush and trees on a day when temperatures approached 110 degrees and winds reached 10 mph. “It just started going crazy,” said resident Robert Christian, 26. By nightfall, fire officials said they had the blaze under control. KABC | San Bernardino Sun

11.

Thanks to the California Coastal Act of 1976, the public is guaranteed access to the state’s beaches up to the mean high-tide line. Yet every so often, a homeowner needs a reminder that, no, they do not own the beach adjacent to their house. The latest incident played out on TikTok, where a viral video showed a woman berating a group of tourists to get off “her property” in Laguna Beach, which she barricaded with a rope. Alerted to the situation, the Coastal Commission sent the homeowner a letter: remove the ropes or face fines of $11,000 a day. SFGATE | L.A. Times

12.

Four tropical storms recently swirled to life in the Pacific south of California. Meteorologists said on Monday that the storms were not expected to approach California, but they put on quite a show for weather watchers. A live wind map showed the storms spinning in interacting pairs, pictured above from left to right: Carlotta, Daniel, Emilia, and Fabio. S.D. Union-Tribune | Weatherboy

See live wind map. 👉 Earth.nullschool.net

Scheduling note:

The newsletter will be off next week, Aug. 12-16. It will return Monday, Aug. 19.

Thanks for reading!

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

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