Newsletter
The California Sun gathers all the must-read stories about California in one place.
Good morning. It’s Friday, Feb. 21.
- Trump administration takes aim at bullet train funding.
- Deportation fears grip California farming towns.
- And a profile of the fairy-tale city of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Statewide
1.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday announced a compliance review of California’s high-speed rail project to determine whether it is “worthy” of $4 billion promised by the Biden administration. “We can’t just say we’re going to give money and then not hold states accountable to how they spend that money,” Duffy said during a news conference at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The loss of so much money could strike a crippling blow to the bullet train, which is already facing a funding shortfall. N.Y. Times | A.P.
- The news conference was interrupted by a chorus of boos. See video. 👉 YouTube
2.
“There will be communities that burn.”
“The public needs to know they’re at risk.”
“It’s just going to be a disaster.”
The Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal workforce has gutted the ranks of federal wildland firefighters. Many seasonal fire staffers had job offers rescinded just as they were about to begin training for the 2025 fire season, while the Forest Service fired an additional 3,400 staffers last week. Stateline interviewed key fire professionals from state, federal, and tribal agencies.
3.
While there have been few reports of immigration sweeps in California since President Trump took office, families in farming communities remain gripped by fear over his threats of mass deportation. In Salinas, volunteers have been walking students home from school so parents don’t have to risk going outside. “I’m not worried about going back to Mexico. I’m afraid of being separated from my kids,” one mother said. “My worst fear is that my 6-year-old will end up in a camp.” CalMatters
4.
For Ken Green, 70, a retired Navy dentist and physiologist who lives in California, watching a mob storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was a final straw. He bought his first firearm, a Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter, the following month. “One of the reasons the Holocaust happened is because people allowed it to happen,” Green said. “Not on my watch.” The New York Times ran a multimedia feature on “the tipping point” that led America’s newest gun owners to arm themselves.
5.
Five years after California became the first state to create a reparations task force, Black legislative leaders unveiled a package of bills on Thursday that would give preference to descendants of slaves for university admissions and home-buying assistance. While the caucus said its members were moving “full steam ahead,” they adopted a tactical change: avoiding the word reparations, which most Californians oppose. Until attitudes change, said Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, “We’re going to use language that is less charged and less easy for others to use to divide folks.” Politico
Northern California
6.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi has mostly refrained from criticizing President Trump since he took office in deference to the Democratic leaders who succeeded her. But she let loose her scorn on Thursday after Trump moved to pare back the federal agency that oversees the Presidio park in her hometown of San Francisco. She referred to Trump repeatedly as “what’s his name” and riffed on his declaration that he is a king. “King of what?” she asked. “It’s the emperor who has no clothes, as far as I’m concerned.” N.Y. Times
7.
Merely starting people on the drug buprenorphine can cut their chances of dying from opioid overdose by between 50% and 80% compared with patients receiving talk therapy, research suggests. Yet the drug remains drastically underprescribed. The New York Times Magazine profiled an Oakland clinic that has embraced buprenorphine. Dr. Andrew Herring, a founder of the clinic, said he is on a mission to “free buprenorphine.” The medical profession, he said, “abandoned millions of people. We let millions of people just fall.”
8.
HP, the Silicon Valley maker of computers and printers, deliberately adds 15-minute wait times to telephone-support calls to nudge customers to hang up and try solving their own problems, according to internal memo. Under the policy, which was recently rolled out in European countries, HP’s “interactive voice response” system warns callers of “high call volumes” while urging them to seek help online instead, even when agents are available. The Register | The Telegraph
9.
Carmel-by-the-Sea has the feel of a European village with storybook English cottages and Swiss Alpine chalets. It’s “chill,” “bohemian,” and “quirky,” the Wall Street Journal wrote in a “rich zips” profile of the tiny city on the Monterey Peninsula:
“There are no addresses; people name their houses. … It’s dog-friendly: Some restaurants have canine menus, many shops offer dog biscuits, and Carmel Plaza has a dogs-only drinking fountain called the Fountain of Woof.”
Southern California
10.
On Thursday, San Diego County authorities identified the wife of Cal Fire captain Rebecca Marodi as the suspect in her fatal stabbing on Monday. Deputies asked for the public’s help in locating 53-year-old Yolanda Marodi, also known as Yolanda Olejniczak. She was convicted of felony manslaughter in a 2000 killing, records showed. Despite early indications from law enforcement that the suspect in Marodi’s death was known to her, a rumor spread widely on social media linking the killing to President Trump’s criticism of DEI policies after the Los Angeles fires. S.D. Union-Tribune | CBS8
11.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talked with Dr. Shayan Rab, Los Angeles County’s first street psychiatrist. Rab’s team of psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists has made remarkable inroads among homeless people with mental illness. His approach has rankled some proponents of the “housing first” model of care. But managing housing requires a minimum level of stability that many patients lack, Rab argued: “Treatment must come first for someone to have a rational understanding of what housing means.”
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- After Barbara Ramos came to San Francisco in 1969 to study photography, she spent years taking photos of the city life. More than 50 years later, she pulled out the old black-and-white negatives, which are being showcased in a new collection called “A Fearless Eye.” Black & White magazine | KQED
- There’s a wealthy residential enclave in Palm Springs that is so secretive many locals don’t even know it exists. Smoke Tree Ranch dates to the early 1900s, before the city became a Hollywood playground, and has counted some of America’s wealthiest families among its residents. The Wall Street Journal has pictures.
- A little over two years ago, a 17-year-old motorist decided to race another vehicle in San Carlos. He slammed into a car, killing two parents and leaving their twin 7-year-old girls injured but alive. On Jan. 16, he was released. In time, he’ll be able to get his license back. It all seems deeply wrong to the family of the victims. S.F. Chronicle
- In the Central Valley, early signs of spring come in the form of what looks like a dusting of snow on the valley floor. Closer inspection reveals the white flowers of almond orchards that stretch as far as the eye can see. Self-driving tours through Fresno, Modesto, and Merced counties include farm stands, vineyards, and opportunities to venture into the orchards on foot.
- The Bakersfield Californian shared a gallery of Kern County blossoms photographed this week.
- Save the Redwoods League announced that it had agreed to pay $24 million for more than 1,500 acres of wooded lands near the Russian River, creating new public parkland. The rolling landscape is carpeted with second- and third-growth redwoods, Douglas fir, tan oak, and California bay trees. S.F. Chronicle | Mercury News
- Drone footage of the property looks exquisite. 👉 YouTube
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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