Good morning. It’s Friday, Aug. 30.
- An “extraordinary” wave of corruption across California.
- Inside Kamala Harris’ life in Los Angeles.
- And a father’s quest to rescue his son from the streets.
Please note: The newsletter will pause Monday for Labor Day. Back in your inbox on Tuesday.
Statewide
1.
Over the past decade, 576 public officials in California have been convicted on federal corruption charges. The wave of bribery and influence-peddling has engulfed not just lawmakers but a larger circle of staff aides, fund-raisers, political consultants, and developers. Analysts attributed the cases in part to the nature of one-party rule. “When a political party enjoys that much uncontested power, there’s no penalty for stepping over ethical or legal lines,” said Dan Schnur, a former head of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. N.Y. Times
2.
Three years ago a former state employee sued state Treasurer Fiona Ma, accusing her of exposing herself when they shared a hotel room. On Thursday, both parties confirmed that the woman, Judith Blackwell, had dropped the case and would receive $350,000 as part of a settlement agreement. Ma’s attorney, Ognian Gavrilov, said the outcome was a “complete victory for the treasurer.” He added: “The plaintiff clearly did not want a trial.” KCRA | Politico
3.
Political reporters seemed to agree on Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ first major interview since President Biden dropped out of the race yielded little in the way of substance. Her answers, wrote the New York Times’ Reid J. Epstein, evoked a top seed in the early rounds of the U.S. Open, “trying to hold serve, survive, and advance to the next round.” A few takeaways:
- Harris said she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet. “I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion,” she said.
- She brushed off Donald Trump’s claim that Harris decided in recent years “to turn Black.” “Same old, tired playbook,” she said when asked about it by CNN’s Dana Bash. “Next question, please.”
- And she addressed criticism that her positions have shifted on major issues, such as fracking and the border, since her 2020 presidential primary bid. “My values have not changed,” she said, repeating the line several times. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
4.
At her party’s convention in Chicago, Kamala Harris offered a biographical sketch that focused on her life in the Bay Area. But her adopted hometown is Los Angeles, where she moved to live with husband Doug Emhoff in 2014. Last year, she spent 59 days in L.A., an analysis found. “Now that she is running for president, the neighbors and friends Harris met after moving to Los Angeles one decade ago have been recast as the power brokers and donors she needs to win the White House,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.
5.
In 2022, the federal government reported that the average levels of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, had more than tripled in 25 years. At dispensaries, products promise ever higher concentrations of THC that can trigger dread, paranoia, and even bouts of psychosis: “One of the basic premises of the legalization movement is that marijuana, if not harmless, is pretty close to it … But much of the weed being sold today is not the same stuff that people were getting locked up for selling in the 1990s and 2000s.” The Atlantic
6.
In California’s so-called age of fire, the nascent “fire tech” sector is growing fast. San Francisco’s Pano AI uses AI-powered cameras to detect ignitions early. Rain, based in Alameda, makes autonomous firefighting aircraft. And BurnBot, in San Francisco, is offering a tank-like robot that scorches dry brush. Like tractors tilling a field, the remote-controlled robots eliminate the need for heavy manpower to do controlled burns — fighting fire with fire. Bloomberg
Northern California
7.
San Francisco State announced that it had pulled investments from three weapons companies after months of pressure from pro-Palestinian activists. Noam Perry, a researcher who advised protesters at San Francisco State, said he believed it was the most significant act of divestment that a college has taken over the past year. “It’s more than a commitment,” Perry said. “It’s actually that we see the implementation happening.” EdSource | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Bay Area university students kicked off the fall semester with fresh protests, but they adhered to new zero-tolerance regulations adopted by the UC and Cal State systems. L.A. Times
8.
“Buried in the earth, almost too small to see, seeds have long been underestimated — dismissed as mere inert specks, barely even considered alive.”
The Washington Post published a delightful multimedia feature on the work of Northern California ecologists trying to uncover the hidden world of seeds lurking below fields of native wildflowers. It’s a world of beings, wrote reporter Sarah Kaplan, “that are just as beautiful, dynamic and inspiring as the blooms above.”
9.
A wave of Chinese tech investors and entrepreneurs is moving to Silicon Valley. With China’s economy in a slump and the government clamping down on private companies, many are seeking opportunities outside their home country. “A generation of investors who spent two decades cultivating start-ups and shaping tech development have nowhere to apply their expertise,” wrote tech columnist Li Yuan. “The problem for China’s displaced investors is that the United States isn’t exactly a welcoming land.” N.Y. Times
Southern California
10.
Bob Garrison, 70, had once been close with his son, Robert. From the time he was small, they would camp under the stars, talking about time and the cosmos. But in Robert’s 30s, a switch seemed to get flipped. He heard voices. He became withdrawn, muttering Bible verses. Then he vanished into the world of homelessness in Southern California. Journalist Shawn Hubler spent months reporting the heartbreaking story of a father’s quest to find his son. N.Y. Times
11.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman talked with Patt Morrison, the veteran Los Angeles journalist. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discussed what it means to be an Angeleno, the decline of local newsrooms, and the enigmatic Los Angeles River. “In a park-hungry city like Los Angeles, here was this land that we turned into a garbage chute,” Morrison said of the river. “And we had wasted water; we had made sure that we used it to get rid of water at a moment when the city needed it.”
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- OpenTable gave its picks for the 13 most beautiful restaurants in Los Angeles. Among them: West Hollywood’s ADKT, pictured above, which is “sexy and glamorous without taking itself too seriously.”
- The final pieces of four dams along the Klamath River were to be demolished this week. It’s a long-delayed milestone for the “salmon people,” as local tribes call themselves, who link the decline of the river’s fish to myriad social and health problems. N.Y. Times
- See aerial views of the dam removal project.
- A Silicon Valley school district spent $315,000 over three years for an “energy healer” to lead district leaders in guided meditations. When a group of parents learned about the spending, they were livid. S.F. Chronicle
- The Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race has been called an ultramarathon of the sea. Athletes paddle 32 miles from Catalina to Manhattan Beach. In the latest race, held Sunday, Jack Bark shattered the record to earn first prize. See video highlights. 👉 @catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace
- Wildsam Magazine named the nation’s 27 greatest “road hotels,” which it defined with three criteria: retro aesthetics, boutique amenities, and a roadside location beyond the city.
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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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