Good morning. It’s Thursday, July 18.
- Rep. Adam Schiff tells President Biden to “pass the torch.”
- Bitwise co-founders plead guilty to fraud in Fresno.
- And UCLA plans garden for taking psychedelic drugs.
Statewide
1.
As doubts over President Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November intensified, Rep. Adam Schiff became the 23rd congressional Democrat — and the most prominent — to call on him to quit the race on Wednesday. In a statement, the frontrunner in California’s Senate race said he has “serious concerns” about the electability of Biden, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. “I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said. L.A. Times | Washington Post
2.
Other 2024 election developments:
- Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told Biden that polling showed he could not win, sources said. Biden was said to get defensive, disputing her analysis. CNN | Politico
- Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of Hollywood’s political kingmakers, told Biden on Wednesday that donors’ patience was wearing thin. Bloomberg
- James Carville, the Democratic campaign veteran, echoed that assessment. “Donors in revolt,” he said. Semafor
3.
In 2016, Stockton elected not only the city’s first Black mayor but also its youngest in Michael Tubbs, then 26. His personal story — the child of a teenage mother and an incarcerated father who went on to graduate from Stanford — made him an instant media darling. Eight years later, Tubbs on Wednesday announced his bid for California lieutenant governor, a traditional stepping stone to governor or national office. In his campaign announcement, Tubbs cited the fading California dream. “We need a bold vision for the future,” he said. L.A. Times | A.P.
4.
California has allowed doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives since 2016. But families still face hurdles that complicate an already harrowing process, wrote Trudy Pachon, whose husband suffered painful cancer: “His oncologist didn’t support medically assisted death, saying his type of lymphoma would take him so quickly that he wouldn’t need it. Reflecting now on her lack of compassion and care still upsets me.” CalMatters
Northern California
5.
A year after the collapse of Bitwise Industries, a coding academy that once symbolized the revitalization of Fresno’s downtown, its two co-founders pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Wednesday. Prosecutors said Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. led investors and workers to believe Bitwise was financially solvent when it was in fact spiraling into debt. The plea deal calls for at least five years in prison. Jenn Guerra, a former worker, said that seemed lenient. “Nine hundred families they messed with and lied to,” she said, referring to Bitwise’s workforce. Fresnoland | Valley Public Radio
6.
A former Santa Clara County sheriff’s captain, James Jensen, was convicted of felony bribery and conspiracy on Wednesday for his role in currying favors for gun permits. Under the scheme, the security company AS Solution Inc. donated as much as $90,000 to the reelection campaign of former Sheriff Laurie Smith, prosecutors said. In return, the firm got coveted concealed gun licenses for its bodyguards. Smith was found guilty in a civil corruption trial and barred from public office. Jensen, 47, faces up to four years in prison. San Jose Inside | East Bay Times
7.
On any given day on San Francisco’s sidewalks, scores of fentanyl users stand bent over at seemingly impossible angles. “What you’re witnessing is the balance point between passing out … versus some small remnant of consciousness that is keeping the person upright,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, an addiction specialist. A fentanyl user, Jeff Barlow, said it was like a dream state. “You don’t even know you’re like that.” The San Francisco Chronicle tried to understand what causes the “fentanyl fold.”
8.
We’re used to talking about heat in terms of air temperature. But surface temperatures play a critical role in how hot the surrounding area gets. The New York Times mapped surface temperature in Sacramento, along with two other U.S. cities, during the most recent heat wave. Notably, it lines up neatly on an income map of the capital city, as poorer neighborhoods contend with less tree cover and green space. N.Y. Times
- Another heat wave is coming. Forecasters said inland temperatures would again soar into triple digits toward the end of the week. Weather Channel | L.A. Times
9.
Eighty years after an explosion at a military port on Suisun Bay, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet, the Navy on Wednesday exonerated 256 Black sailors who were court-martialed for refusing to immediately return to work. The Port Chicago Navy Yard disaster on July 17, 1944, killed 320 men, most of them Black. When ordered to continue loading ammunition the next day, surviving sailors objected. They were subjected to threats of execution and a sham trial. President Biden said clearing their names “is righting an historic wrong.” Washington Post | A.P.
Southern California
10.
After a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. at an elementary school in Orange County a few years ago, a first-grader drew the picture above and gave it to a Black friend, who brought it home, where her mother saw it. The mother emailed the school, demanding they “address the issue,” according to court records. School officials responded by telling the 7-year-old that her drawing was “racist,” that she couldn’t draw at school anymore, and that she was banned from recess for two weeks. A lawsuit over the incident is now headed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. S.F. Chronicle
11.
UCLA is planning to transform a building rooftop into a garden filled with birds and butterflies where people can take psychedelic drugs under the supervision of mental health professionals. The “living laboratory” would be the first of its kind, school officials said. Dr. Helena Hansen, director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said the project represents “an audacious vision that many of us have for reinventing biomedicine.” SFGATE
12.
A mother who ran a retail theft ring from her mansion in suburban San Diego has pleaded guilty to charges of organized retail theft. Prosecutors said Michelle Mack employed around a dozen women to pilfer cosmetics from Ulta Beauty and Sephora stores for resale on Amazon. Between 2012 and 2023, she was said to sell nearly $8 million in cosmetics, earning rave reviews from customers for her discounted prices. Mack’s husband pleaded guilty in the same scheme. The Guardian
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