Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Aug. 27.
- Bill pushed to help unauthorized migrants buy homes.
- Mark Zuckerberg regrets censoring Covid-era content.
- And San Diego ranger cites “Bubble Man” for bubbles.
Statewide
1.
This week, California Democrats are expected to approve a measure that would provide up to $150,000 in home loans for immigrants in the country illegally. The novel proposal from Vice President Kamala Harris’ home state could pose a political risk for her as former President Trump seeks to widen his polling advantage on immigration. Supporters of the bill noted that applicants would have to be taxpayers. “It isn’t given out willy nilly to just anybody,” said Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes. Politico
2.
Birth centers, staffed by midwives, are popular with mothers who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Yet 19 of the centers have closed in California in the past decade. Former leaders of Best Start Birth Center, which closed in San Diego in March, blamed California’s onerous regulations. “The system is just a mess,” said Roberta Frank, Best Start’s founder. “It’s flawed. It’s set up to prevent providers that can provide really good care from even getting started.” CalMatters
3.
California debuted its largest firefighting aircraft yet. In December, Congress allowed the state to take possession of seven C-130 Hercules planes, massive military transport aircraft that would be retrofitted with 4,000-gallon water tanks — the equivalent volume of roughly 20 hot tubs. On Monday, California put one of the planes into service over Northern California for the first time. NBC Los Angeles | ABC7
- Cal Fire shared video of the C-130H in action.
4.
Each spring, pictures of the wildflower blooms in California’s deserts and valleys flood news and social media feeds. But the bloom arrives later and lasts longer in the cooler high Sierra, quietly putting on a show well into September. Pictured above is a view near Bridgeport in the Eastern Sierra, where a late summer walk along Horse Creek Trail promises stirring views of wildflowers, waterfalls, soaring peaks — and few people. Monocounty.org | Bishop Visitor
- The photographer Michael Frye shared a gallery of Eastern Sierra wildflowers captured last summer. Michaelfrye.com
Northern California
5.
Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, said he regrets caving to Biden administration demands to censor Facebook content related to the coronavirus pandemic and vowed to resist any such future pressure. In a letter Monday to the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg said the pressure from the White House “was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” He also expressed regret for hiding a New York Post story about President Biden’s son Hunter Biden. “We shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he wrote. Wall Street Journal | Politico
6.
On July 2, a day of soaring temperatures and low humidity, an Oroville man named Spencer Anderson bought fireworks and decided to test one out by tossing the lit pyrotechnic from the window of his car, he told officials. That set off a fire that tore across 6 square miles of dry brush on the outskirts of Oroville, destroying 13 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. On Monday, Anderson, 26, was arrested and charged with arson. He faces years in prison. Action News Now | L.A. Times
7.
A Bay Area firefighter was placed on leave after he was seen in a viral video unleashing a racist tirade against another driver following an apparent vehicle collision in Lodi last Friday. During the argument, the driver who shot the video, Vath Touch, told the unidentified firefighter that the police were coming. “Oh the cops are definitely coming, dumb-ass Mexican,” the firefighter replied. He later added: “You’re probably going to work at some fucking lawn job.” His boss, Alameda County Fire Chief William McDonald, denounced the remarks at a news conference Monday. KCRA | KGO
8.
Since the late 1970s, a tiny publisher based in Marin County has sold more than three million copies of a spiritual text called “A Course in Miracles” that proposes humans live in a world of illusion that alienates us from God. Students of the book believe the author, Helen Schucman, channeled Jesus himself. When the Canadian writer Sheila Heti read the “Course” during the pandemic, she said she felt her malaise melt away. She wrote in Harper’s magazine about her quest to understand the “amazing, suspenseful, cosmic mystery.”
Southern California
9.
NASA’s decision to have SpaceX bring home two stranded astronauts has affirmed the Hawthorne company’s position as America’s dominant space company, said science writer Marina Koren. NASA had hesitated for weeks over the decision, which landed as a devastating blow to SpaceX rival Boeing. “Right now, NASA has no other reliable way to send people to space from U.S. soil, and, with Boeing’s flop, no prospect of a second option for potentially years to come,” Koren wrote. The Atlantic
10.
A homeless veteran known as “Bubble Man” for his bubble-blowing performances was cited by a San Diego park ranger on Saturday for “liquid littering.” “Basically he was saying when my bubbles pop, the residue of the bubbles fall to the ground and kill the grass,” said Sandy Snakenburg, who lives out of his truck and supports himself with tips from his bubble shows. The citation came a few months after San Diego drew national headlines for cracking down on yoga classes in public parks. CBS 8
11.
Malibu’s “wave house,” one of California’s most important homes, has sold for $29.5 million. The late surfer-architect Harry Gesner built the midcentury modern masterpiece in 1957 as an homage to the beauty of a cresting wave. The new buyers are Joshua Kushner, a real estate heir, and his wife Karlie Kloss, a former Victoria’s Secret model. Kushner and his brother, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, co-own Westminster Management, a property management company that has been accused of slumlord practices. Wall Street Journal
12.
A rooftop seafood restaurant with sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills. A Middle Eastern paradise with soaring ceilings and lush greenery. And a Parisian space that is “sexy and glamorous without taking itself too seriously.”
OpenTable gave its picks for the 13 most beautiful restaurants in Los Angeles.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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