Newsletter
The California Sun gathers all the must-read stories about California in one place.
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, April 1.
- Silicon Valley tells workers on visas not to leave U.S.
- The secretive billionaire who controls most of Irvine.
- And Sacramento hosts first Major League Baseball game.
Statewide
1.
In 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law designed to punish oil companies for fleecing motorists at the pump. “All I’m asking for is don’t rip us off anymore. Don’t take advantage of people,” he said at the time. Two years later, the state has leveled no penalties, having failed to prove any allegations of price gouging. It even stopped publishing the earnings data that refineries were required to report under the law. Catherine Reheis-Boyd, an industry spokeswoman, said that’s because the numbers showed losses. Sacramento Bee
Northern California
2.
Police Chief Christian Sachs of Marysville, a city of about 13,000 people in the Sacramento Valley, lashed out at the state Legislature on Monday following the March 26 shooting death of an officer on his force. Osmar Rodarte, 30, was killed by a repeat criminal offender while executing a search warrant, officials said. “Hopefully they wake up in Sacramento and they just figure it out someday, right?” Sachs said. “Get some folks in there that actually want to make it better for our communities and have those harsher penalties.” Sacramento Bee | Appeal-Democrat
3.
In a predawn raid last week, San Francisco police arrested 40 people on a corner known for hosting an open-air drug market. The department posted video of the crackdown on social media, where it was touted by Mayor Daniel Lurie. “We will be relentless in dismantling drug markets,” he declared. Of the 40 people arrested, however, none were charged as prosecutors cited insufficient evidence. Everyone was promptly released. As for the drug market, it migrated to a new spot 100 yards away. Mission Local
4.
Silicon Valley companies, long reliant on immigrant workers, are telling employees on visas not to leave the country out of concern that the U.S. might bar their return. “What we’re seeing right now is just a lot of worry and panic,” said Malcolm Goeschl, whose San Francisco law firm focuses on business immigration. “It seems like [the administration is] just getting more and more momentum, and we don’t know what’s around the corner.” Washington Post
5.
The top White House communications official is a 42-year-old Sacramento native who previously worked for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. President Trump is said to refer to Steven Cheung, who is rotund and bald, as “my sumo wrestler.” While soft-spoken and even pleasant in person, Cheung’s public persona is relentlessly hostile. He’s called Bob Woodward a “washed-up fiction writer,” Kamala Harris a “stone-cold loser,” and Ron DeSantis a “desperate eunuch” who walks like a girl. The Atlantic profiled “the voice of Trump.”
6.
Companies are spending nominal amounts to advertise on X to stay on owner Elon Musk’s good side, executives told the Financial Times. Musk has sued several brands over accusations that they illegally boycotted his platform. “It’s whatever amount is enough to stay off the naughty list,” one consultant said. “It’s not because the brand safety risk has gone away. But the far greater risk is that a comment [from Musk] in the press sends your stock price tumbling, and instead of a multimillion-dollar risk you’re facing a multibillion-dollar risk.” Ars Technica
7.
In the Bay Area, the elastic schedules of hybrid work have upended the old paradigm of a morning and evening commute. Now, the freeway gridlock lasts all day long, the San Francisco Chronicle reported:
“On the roads, it feels like Bay Area traffic has reached a stage of permanent nuisance. It’s relentless but unpredictable, swelling at random times. Still, the jams are not bad enough to nudge more people onto mass transit.”
8.
Sacramento finally got to host a Major League Baseball team on Monday, as the Athletics began their temporary stay in the state capital after a bitter breakup with Oakland. The only catch: The A’s refused to adopt the city’s name. They are simply the Athletics. Not everyone is on board. Sacramento’s mayor, Kevin McCarty, said he planned to get a Sacramento A’s hat. “They’re not going to call them that, but we can call them that,” he said. During the game, fans chanted “Let’s go Oakland!” and “Sell the team!” A.P. | N.Y. Times
Southern California
9.
A month after a cellphone ban took effect across Los Angeles Unified School District, reactions among students were mixed. Many have struggled to adapt to the change, they said. Yet they seemed to acknowledge that it was for the best. Still, some are finding ways around the ban:
“Indeed, students spoke furtively of the dark arts of circumvention. Some have simply told school officials they don’t have a mobile phone. Others find decoys to place in their pouches, pocketing their real devices for surreptitious use throughout the school day.” L.A. Times
10.
In Irvine, the incessantly neat master-planned community in Orange County, just one landlord owns roughly 75% of all apartments — along with every shopping center, a golf course, and the community newspaper. That level of control would be notable enough in a small town. But Irvine is home to roughly 300,000 residents, making it larger than Pittsburgh or St. Louis. Bloomberg Businessweek did a deep dive on Donald Bren, the secretive billionaire developer who operates his empire “like a one-man homeowners association.”
11.
In recent weeks, hundreds of sea lions, dolphins, and other sea creatures have turned up on the beaches of Southern California dead or seriously ill. Scientists have linked the deaths to algal blooms, possibly intensified by runoff, that release a neurotoxin called domoic acid into the food chain. The scale of the die-off has shocked researchers. A New York Times photographer tagged along with a sea-mammal rescue team.
12.
Among the villains to emerge in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires is one of the city’s most enduring emblems: the palm tree. While palms have historically evoked a land of sunshine that would lure Americans west, they are not native to Los Angeles. In the age of megafires, they have become a dangerous menace, acting as “fuel ladders” that allow flames to climb high into the air. “When we’re talking about the functional value that trees give us, it just doesn’t make sense to plant these species en masse,” said Bryan Vejar, a Los Angeles arborist. Washington Post
Correction
Monday’s newsletter misstated the location of a cake picnic in San Francisco. It took place at the Legion of Honor museum, not Golden Gate Park.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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