Good morning. It’s Wednesday, March 5.
- Farmers brace for higher costs from tariffs.
- California’s big bet on shelter beds is not working.
- And state officials want you to eat more swamp rats.
Statewide
1.
After six weeks in office, President Trump delivered a relentlessly partisan speech to Congress on Tuesday during which he lauded his blitzkrieg of executive actions, taunted his political rivals, and declared “America is back.” “And we are just getting started,” he said. The reaction from California’s delegation mirrored the national split:
- Among Republicans, Rep. Vince Fong celebrated Trump’s “common sense vision”; Rep. Doug LaMalfa praised his “strong and optimistic message”; and Rep. Kevin Kiley called the speech “very refreshing.”
- Among Democrats, Sen. Alex Padilla called the speech “a disgrace”; Rep. Eric Swalwell said Trump “is ready to burn it all down”; and Rep. Brad Sherman highlighted “lies” after “lies” after “lies.”
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Read takeaways by the New York Times and Washington Post.
2.
The leaders of China, Mexico, and Canada vowed retaliation Wednesday after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from their countries. A few developments reverberating in California:
- China announced tariffs on agricultural goods that could hit California farmers hard. That may be the point, said Lynn Kennedy, a professor of agricultural economics. “Rural areas tend to be politically a lot more conservative,” she said. N.Y. Times | Desert Sun
- Republicans said they were confident President Trump would find a way to compensate farmers for losses. “I’m a farmer in real life, too,” said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, of Butte County. “It is something we’ll all have to weather.” Politico
- Experts said Californians should expect to see higher prices at the grocery store. “We import so much fruit from Mexico,” said Caroline Chen, an associate professor at San Jose State. “That means all of your strawberries, your raspberries, your avocados, all of that.” SFGATE | L.A. Times
3.
During a town hall in Yucca Valley last month, Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte was drowned out by boos as he tried to defend mass firings of federal workers. In reference to President Trump, people shouted: “No king! No king! No king!” Similar scenes played out at meetings across the country as lawmakers returned home to tout the new administration’s accomplishments. The National Republican Congressional Committee chief responded on Tuesday with a directive to the party’s rank-and-file: Stop having in-person town halls. L.A. Times | Politico
4.
Columnist Matthew A. Winkler on how “California keeps making the U.S. great”:
“It should go without saying California is critical to U.S. economic dominance globally, accounting for more than 14% of U.S.’s $28 trillion of GDP as measured by the World Bank and more than 50% greater than the next largest state by the size of its economy — Texas. Among the many superlatives that can be assigned to the Golden State, consider that there isn’t a major industry in any of the other 49 states that comes close to overtaking its California counterpart.” Bloomberg
5.
A CalMatters investigation found that California’s doubling of shelter beds since 2018 has amounted to, in the words of one official, “a very expensive merry-go-round” that has failed to move meaningful numbers of people into permanent housing. The effort was doomed from the start, said Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania social scientist: “The shelters are not a solution. We have every reason to believe that if we scaled up income support and provided rental assistance, we would probably see the homeless numbers cut in half.”
- A study found that 37% of people living on California’s streets are regular drug users, far less than the stigma of homelessness would suggest. L.A. Times
6.
California wants you to eat more swamp rats. No one knows how the giant bucktooth rodents known as nutria got into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but the invasive creatures are multiplying rapidly and chewing up endangered wetlands. A dedicated corps of nutria killers has been working to eradicate them for years, but it’s not fast enough. So state officials are seeking help from Californians with an adventurous palate. They’ve even rolled out a slogan: “Save a Swamp, Sauté a Nutria.” L.A. Times
Northern California
7.
Early vote results showed an overwhelming majority of support for the removal of San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus. In November, county supervisors took the dramatic step of scheduling a public vote that would empower them to fire the elected sheriff after she was accused of fostering a climate of intimidation and dysfunction in her office. At the time, Corpus dismissed it a “coup.” As of late Tuesday, 85% of voters supported the measure. Mercury News | S.F. Chronicle
8.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with San Francisco in a strange case that pitted one of the nation’s greenest cities against the Environmental Protection Agency. San Francisco sued over federal environmental rules on sewage discharges into the Pacific Ocean that it argued were too vague to follow. In a 5-4 ruling, the court’s conservative justices agreed that the EPA cannot impose generic prohibitions against violating water quality standards. Washington Post | S.F. Chronicle
9.
In its 24 years, Wikipedia has managed to adhere remarkably well to a neutral point of view through the efforts of thousands of volunteers who write, edit, and fact-check the site, which is headquartered in San Francisco. Elon Musk hates it. “Stop donating to Wokepedia,” he urged his more than 200 million followers on X in December. The journalist Margaret Talbot investigated what his problem is:
“It seemed to be an ego thing at first. But lately Musk’s beef has merged with a general conviction on the right that Wikipedia … is biased against conservatives.” New Yorker
Southern California
10.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 13 to 2 against reinstating the city’s sacked fire chief, Kristin Crowley, on Tuesday, despite her strong support from the firefighters’ union. Crowley rebutted Mayor Karen Bass’ claim that she inadequately prepared for the Los Angeles wildfires, arguing that her dismissal was instead a form of retaliation for her complaints about lack of resources. The vote amounted to a much-needed political victory for the mayor, who faced criticism for being in Ghana when the fires erupted. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
- Newly obtained correspondence showed that more than a dozen aides to Bass received a warning about high fire danger before she left for Ghana. Bass has said she was given no warnings before fires. L.A. Times
11.
Nicole Shanahan, a former running mate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is backing the effort to recall Mayor Karen Bass, a disclosure on the campaign’s website revealed. Shanahan could bring serious financial firepower to the fight: She has a fortune of roughly $1 billion that stems largely from her divorce with Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder. “Nicole Shanahan is dedicated to restoring California to its former greatness and made a generous contribution to help launch this effort,” said Gerald Sirotnak, a consultant for the recall. Politico | N.Y. Times
12.
In 2013, the artist Jack Pierson unveiled a sculpture of 14-foot-tall silver letters that spelled “THE END OF THE WORLD,” a riff on the Hollywood sign that cut diagonally across an entire gallery. Years later, the artwork found a fitting home on a lonely patch of sand in the Mojave Desert, where it assumed a fresh meaning: proof of a destination reached. The photographer Tim Walters went to see what was on the other side, pictured above. Roadside America
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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