Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 22.
- President Trump enters state’s water wars.
- Forecast calls for rain in Southern California.
- And hotel booking sites overcharge Bay Area residents.
Statewide
1.
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that directs agencies to divert “more water” from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to “other parts of the state.” The order, titled “Putting People over Fish,” was welcomed by some Central Valley farmers who have long bristled over the unreliability of their water supplies. But Jon Rosenfield, science director for the San Francisco Baykeeper, said imprecise language and false premises in the directive made it difficult to interpret. “It shows an incredible lack of understanding of how California water works,” he said. CalMatters | KQED
2.
During a news conference Tuesday, Trump defended the delta order by repeating a series of bizarre falsehoods about California water. He said the state had rejected his advice to turn a “valve” that would deliver “massive amounts of water” from the Pacific Northwest to Los Angeles. As a result, he said, the city was left primed for wildfire. “They either have a death wish, they’re stupid or there’s something else going on,” he offered. Water experts have noted there is no valve that fits Trump’s description, and Los Angeles’ water supplies were at historic highs when the wildfires erupted. ABC7 | Washington Post
3.
Attorneys general from California and a coalition of other states sued Trump on Tuesday to block his attempt to end birthright citizenship, which guarantees citizenship for children born on U.S. soil regardless of their parents’ legal status. Legal scholars said the order flies in the face of more than a century of legal precedent and is unlikely to pass constitutional muster. California Attorney General Rob Bonta called it “quite frankly un-American.” He added: “I have one message for President Trump: I’ll see you in court.” L.A. Times | Washington Post
4.
On Monday, staff removed the portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris from the entrance of the White House, bringing an end to the only time that a woman’s face had hung there. Azza Cohen, Harris’ official videographer, reflected on her four years trailing the Bay Area Democrat in an essay for Slate:
“Vice President Harris never called a little girl cute or commented on her outfit; instead, she’d say, ‘You look like the smartest person in your class.’ The vice president would say, ‘Let me hear you say, I am a leader,’ and even the youngest girls would say it back.”
5.
Since it was first identified in the high Sierra in the early 1900s, the elusive Mount Lyell shrew was never photographed — until now. In November, three young researchers captured the first-ever pictures of the tiny creature with beady eyes and a pointy snout. Vishal Subramanyan, 22, Prakrit Jain, 20, and Harper Forbes, 22, set out on an expedition to find the shrew after learning that it was the only known mammal in California never caught on camera alive. In quick order, they lured one into a plastic cup filled with cat food and mealworms. SFGATE
Northern California
6.
Davin Cole, a police lieutenant hooked on painkillers for a decade, needed more pills. He considered looking on Craigslist but worried about getting pills laced with fentanyl. So he made up his mind: He’d drop off his daughter, then take a gun into a pharmacy. In the fall of 2021, that’s what Cole did. If the police caught him, he told himself, he’d use the gun on himself. The San Francisco Chronicle told the moving story of a police officer who carried a dark secret that nearly killed him.
7.
Hotel booking websites are charging people browsing from the Bay Area far higher prices than people from other places. Tech writer Keith A. Spencer conducted an experiment to see what variables might affect prices on sites like Kayak, Priceline, and Orbitz. The main conclusion, he wrote: Geography trumps everything. In one test, San Francisco users were offered a room in a Manhattan hotel for $423 a night. For people querying the site from Kansas City, the same room was $234 a night; for Phoenix users, it was $181 a night. SFGATE
Southern California
8.
After months of dryness and weeks of wildfire, rain is finally coming to Southern California between Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. The amounts are expected to be modest but could help dampen the Los Angeles wildfires, if not snuff them out altogether. It could also clean the air and help settle toxic dust left by thousands of incinerated structures. The precipitation is expected to be too light to trigger landslides, but Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ordered the shoring up of burn areas to reduce that risk. Accuweather | L.A. Times
9.
“We have surpassed the point of what human resources and technology allow for fighting the most extreme blazes, and all we can do is get people out of the way.”
Stuart Palley, a photographer who has been documenting the state’s wildfires since 2012, has been sharing extraordinary images and commentary on the Los Angeles disaster on his Instagram account. @stuartpalley
10.
Phillip and Claire Vogt spent the last decade building one of the most fire-resistant homes in the country, a Spanish-style estate in the Santa Monica Mountains. As wildfires swirled around them this month, Phillip assured Claire: “We prepared for this.” The home had heat-resistant windows, a fireproof clay roof, concrete walls, and vents stuffed with steel wool to keep embers from flying into the house. It worked. But the next disaster was coming, wrote the N.Y. Times.
11.
Other wildfires developments:
- Strong winds propelled three new blazes in San Diego County early Tuesday, forcing evacuations and school closures. Officials said they had the blazes under control by nightfall. S.D. Union-Tribune
- Two years ago, a parcel of land in Altadena was returned to the Tongva tribe. They promptly removed 97 fire-prone eucalyptus trees and nurtured 50 full-grown oak trees. They credited the work with preventing serious damage during the Eaton fire. L.A. Times
- Eight people have been arrested for arson since Los Angeles’ fires began on Jan. 7. Investigators said arsonists strike during disasters because they think crews will be tied up. One woman explained that “she enjoyed causing chaos and destruction,” said Police Chief Jim McDonnell. CNN
- President Trump said he would come to Los Angeles on Friday. “We’re going to get some of the best builders in the world,” he said. “We’ll get it moving back.” Politico
12.
Hope turned to despair outside a series of north Mexico border crossings on Monday as President Trump ended a government program that had allowed migrants to use an app to secure appointments for admission into the U.S. After months of waiting, roughly 30,000 migrants who had existing appointments saw them wiped out. Tears streamed down the face of Nidia Montenegro when she saw the message at a Tijuana migrant shelter. “My spirit is on the ground,” she said. “We’re in limbo now. What’s going to happen to us?” S.D. Union-Tribune | A.P.
- Huntington Beach declared itself a “non-sanctuary city” on Tuesday, aligning itself with Trump’s deportation plans. Fox 11 | KABC
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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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