Good morning. It’s Thursday, Oct. 17.
- Refinery announces closure days after oil law signed.
- L.A. Archdiocese to pay $880 million to abuse victims.
- And U.S. zoos are implicated in flawed panda program.
Statewide
1.
Phillips 66 announced plans to shut its oil refinery near the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, citing uncertainty about its sustainability. The closure knocks out roughly 8% of the gas supply in a state that barely produces enough to meet demand. The move came two days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation aimed at curbing gas prices over fierce industry objections, though Phillips 66 said the announcement was not a response to the new law. Still, critics were quick to connect the events. “Great work, Gavin,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said. Politico | L.A. Times
2.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed a federal lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday, accusing regulators of “naked political discrimination” after they rejected a request to increase rocket launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base. During a hearing last Thursday, members of the panel took issue with what they called Musk’s “bigoted beliefs” and “political falsehoods.” “Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company” for the views of its CEO, the lawsuit said. Wall Street Journal | L.A. Times
3.
Northern California is expected to get its first major Diablo wind event of the fall between Thursday and Saturday, intensifying fire danger and prompting PG&E to warn of potential power outages. The utility said more than 30,000 customers could face shutoffs across Northern and Central California to mitigate risks of electrical equipment sparking fires as dry winds whip across the region. For parts of the state, climatologist Daniel Swain said on Wednesday, “this may be highest fire risk period of year so far.” Fox Weather | S.F. Chronicle
4.
Wonders of earth and space coincided this week in Southern California as Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS streaked across a clear night sky above glowing bioluminescent waves. The photographer David Carstens captured the amazing view from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa del Rey Monday night, pictured above.
- Californians have just a few more days to catch a glimpse of the comet before it vanishes for another 80,000 years. S.F. Chronicle
Northern California
5.
San Francisco argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in a case brought by the city against an unlikely adversary: the Biden administration. San Francisco, one of the nation’s greenest cities, argued that federal environmental rules on sewage discharges into the Pacific Ocean are so vague they can’t be followed. As a result, the city faces $10 billion in fines, officials say. The court’s conservative majority appeared to side with San Francisco, wrote Supreme Court reporter Abbie VanSickle. N.Y. Times | CNN
6.
Fentanyl deaths in San Francisco fell to a four-year low in September, new figures showed. Twenty-three people died from fentanyl last month, compared with 52 a year earlier. To date in 2024, fentanyl deaths are down 32% compared with the same period in 2023. In a San Francisco Standard report last month, a number of Tenderloin drug users said they were turning away from fentanyl because of increased law enforcement and a supply that has become too diluted. The weakened drug has a new nickname, they said: “soap.” S.F. Chronicle
7.
A day after the San Francisco Chronicle endorsed a rival of Mayor London Breed, her campaign sent an email to supporters with the subject line: “SF Chronicle Endorsement: Breed is the safe choice for mayor.” While the editorial did call Breed safe, it continued: “But if you think S.F. needs change, only one candidate fits” — referring to challenger Daniel Lurie. A Breed spokesman, Joe Arellano, said he didn’t see the problem: “Our campaign email used the Chronicle’s own words, directly from the endorsement.” S.F. Chronicle
Southern California
8.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 victims of clergy sexual abuse in what experts said is the highest single payout by a diocese, it was announced Wednesday. The settlement brings Los Angeles’ cumulative payout in sex-abuse lawsuits to more than $1.5 billion. Unlike Los Angeles, several other California dioceses facing sex-abuse cases have filed for bankruptcy protection. “L.A.,” noted victim advocate Dan McNevin, “is a vastly rich archdiocese.” N.Y. Times | Pasadena Star-News
9.
The exchange program that recently brought two pandas to the San Diego Zoo was created in the 1990s with the goal of saving a beloved endangered species. Foreign zoos would breed pandas, which China would someday release to repopulate the wild. Instead, more pandas have been removed from the wild than freed, according to an investigation suggesting that America’s zoos have chased prestige and merchandise sales at the expense of pandas’ well-being. Read the New York Times report: “The Panda Factories.“
10.
More than 20 relatives of Erik and Lyle Menendez gathered Wednesday outside the Los Angeles courthouse where the brothers were sentenced to life without parole for killing their parents and pleaded for the men’s release. Fighting tears, the brothers’ aunt, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, said she spent years coming to terms with what happened. “It was a nightmare none of us could have imagined,” she said. But it became clear, she continued, that the killings “were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father.” Washington Post | L.A. Times
11.
Vem Miller, the man arrested on gun charges near a Donald Trump rally in the Coachella Valley, sued Riverside County’s sheriff for defamation on Tuesday, accusing him of falsely portraying Miller as a would-be assassin. Miller, a staunch Trump supporter, said he has been in hiding since Sheriff Chad Bianco told reporters on Sunday that he believed his deputies “prevented another assassination attempt.” In the lawsuit, Miller’s lawyer says Bianco “maliciously” disregarded the truth to cast himself as a hero. Asked for comment, Bianco said he has no regrets. Press-Enterprise | N.Y. Post
12.
The columnist Gustavo Arellano’s editors suggested he go on a road trip across the Southwest and ask Latinos whom they plan to pick for president. He initially rolled his eyes. The “Latino vote” is a myth, he said. He headed out instead to ask about their hopes, fears, and dreams in this election year. “I found humor, I found grit. I found hope. I found a people thriving — and mostly ambivalent about this country’s partisan divide,” Arellano wrote. L.A. Times
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