Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 9.
- Former Long Beach safety officer walks free after killing.
- Progressive Los Angeles County D.A. trails badly in poll.
- And survey finds abundant happiness across California.
Statewide
1.
California is leading a legal charge against TikTok, joining with 13 other attorneys general across the U.S. in litigation filed Tuesday that accuses the social media giant of using software designed to addict children and teenagers. The lawsuits paint a picture of a multibillion-dollar company willfully stoking a mental health crisis as it preys on young people’s lack of defenses against addictive content. TikTok “knew the harms,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “It’s really that simple.” N.Y. Times | A.P.
2.
A woman with no pilot training found herself at the controls of a private plane over California last Friday after the pilot, her husband, suffered a heart attack. In traffic control recordings, Yvonne Kinane-Wells, the only passenger, can be heard talking to an air traffic controller. “Are you with me?” he says. “Yes, I am,” she responds shakily. Kinane-Wells then followed instructions to reach the nearest airport, in Bakersfield, where she landed the plane without a scratch. “It’s to my knowledge unprecedented,” said Ron Brewster, director of airports for Kern County. Inside Edition | L.A. Times
3.
If Marin County was its own nation, it would rank as the seventh-happiest in the world, just behind the Netherlands. That’s according to Gallup poll data cited in a new state legislative report on “life satisfaction” across California. Also clustered near the top of the county rankings were Alpine, Placer, Yolo, and San Luis Obispo counties. But even the least happy places in California compare favorably globally. If Lake County — ranked last — were its own nation, it would be the 22nd happiest in the world, between the Czech Republic and Malta. Press Democrat
Northern California
4.
Tim Garman won his seat on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in 2022 on a record of conservative values. He touted “constitutional liberties” and opposed vaccine and mask mandates in his role as a school board chief. But shortly into his tenure, his perspective shifted after residents openly expressed racism during board meetings. “I didn’t realize the level of hatred that was behind these people,” he said. Garman has since broken ranks with the board’s far-right flank, making himself an object of scorn. The Guardian
5.
The former director of San Jose’s police union pleaded guilty on Tuesday to smuggling opioids into the country. Prosecutors accused Joanne Segovia, 65, of importing more than 17,400 opioid pills from countries such as India and China in 2021 and 2022, in a case that stunned relatives and coworkers. Her lawyer sought leniency by portraying Segovia as a first-time offender driven by addiction. She faces up to 20 years in prison. Mercury News | A.P.
6.
The northern lights put on a colorful show across parts of Northern California Monday night thanks to a dramatic blast from the sun. Photographers captured some nice images and video:
- Lake Almanor, by Jake Edwards
- Golden Gate Bridge, by Shreenivasan Manievannan
- Lake Sonoma, by Kent Porter
- Mono Lake, by Dakota Snider
Southern California
7.
Eddie Gonzalez, the former Long Beach Unified safety officer who opened fire on a moving car filled with young people in 2021, killing an 18-year-old woman, walked free Tuesday after a judge sentenced him to time served. The killing of Manuela Rodriguez, which was captured on video, sparked public outrage. But Judge Richard M. Goul said Gonzalez was “legally entitled” to try to stop the occupants of the vehicle. Outside the courtroom, Oscar Rodriguez, the victim’s brother, said he was speechless. “I don’t get it,” he said. City News Service | Press-Telegram
8.
Former President Trump’s plan to hold a rally in the Coachella Valley on Saturday has baffled some analysts. While the presidential election is expected to be close, California, which Trump lost by 29 percentage points in 2020, is not considered to be in play. His trip does not appear to be part of a fundraising swing. And temperatures in the valley are forecast to rise into triple digits. Asked on Tuesday why he was going to California, Trump explained: “I felt I owed it to them.” CNN | L.A. Times
- Coachella’s mayor, Steven Hernandez, spoke out against the rally plan: “He wasn’t invited by the people who live here.” Desert Sun
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9.
George Gascón, Los Angeles County’s progressive district attorney, is trailing challenger Nathan Hochman, an independent who previously ran for state office as a Republican, by 30 percentage points in a new poll. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that just 21% of county voters are likely to choose Gascón, compared with 51% who favor Hochman. The lopsided result comes as residents express overwhelming concern about crime. “And they’re not crediting Gascón with doing much about it,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll. L.A. Times
10.
Terence Tao, a mathematics professor at UCLA, is sometimes called the “Mozart of Math.” Widely considered the world’s greatest living mathematician, Tao has thoughts about how artificial intelligence will push the discipline into uncharted territory:
“The naive way you would use AI is to feed it the most difficult problem that we have in mathematics. I don’t think that’s going to be super successful, and also, we already have humans that are working on those problems. The type of math that I’m most interested in is math that doesn’t really exist.” The Atlantic
11.
After Elvis Presley married Priscilla in Las Vegas in 1967, they honeymooned in a Palm Springs home that looked like a spaceship hovering off the ground. In 2022, the house of tomorrow, as it was dubbed in the press, was purchased for $5.7 million by another newlywed couple, who spent a year modernizing the home while trying to preserve its groovy aesthetic. Architectural Digest took a tour.
- You can tour the home yourself during during Palm Springs’ modernism week, Oct. 24-27.
12.
In Joshua Tree, the desert city namesake of the national park, there’s a crochet museum, a sculpture garden built from trash, and a 20-foot-tall Muffler Man outside a former Richfield gas station built in 1949. Sometimes, wrote the travel publication Wildsam, gateway towns are as joyous as the wild lands themselves.
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