Good morning. It’s Thursday, July 13.
- California approves controversial math framework.
- Anchor Brewing plans to shut down after 127 years.
- And a renegade sea otter attacks surfers off Santa Cruz.
Statewide
1.
State education officials approved a 1,000-page overhaul of California’s math teaching guide Wednesday after four years of debate over how to balance educational standards with racial and economic equity. Among the revisions:
- The framework encourages “big-ideas” instruction that steers students toward problem-solving that has relevance to them.
- It embraces the idea of teaching “toward social justice,” encouraging math that examines the world’s inequities.
- And it discourages schools from offering algebra to eighth graders, a strategy meant to prevent tracking, in which some students are relegated to lower-level courses and never catch up.
While the framework incorporated many changes sought by critics, some remained unsatisfied. “The authors give little emphasis to mastery of facts and standard algorithms,” wrote Williamson M. Evers, an education researcher, but instead promote “vague, billowy ‘big ideas.'” EducationWeek | L.A. Times | EdSource
2.
Democratic state lawmakers wary of mass incarceration killed a bill Tuesday that would have classified trafficking of minors as a serious felony. After the vote to block the legislation, which had been expected to face little opposition, someone yelled “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” as trafficking victims sobbed and embraced in front of the dais. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would help revive the measure. “I want to understand exactly what happened yesterday.” he said. A.P. | KCRA
- Emily Hoeven: Some Democrats “are increasingly willing to sacrifice everyday Californians on the altar of ideology.” S.F. Chronicle
3.
California State University, the nation’s largest public four-year university system, named Mildred García as the next chancellor of the 23-campus system. García, the first Latina to lead Cal State, previously served as president of Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Fullerton. She inherits a system in turmoil: a $1.5 billion budget shortfall, student outrage over planned annual 6% tuition hikes, threat of strikes by employee labor unions, and declining enrollment. CalMatters | EdSource
4.
In his ode to the Sierra Nevada, the author Kim Stanley Robinson recognized the range as place of kaleidoscopic beauty, but also as a vantage point upon the heavens:
“You never see anything like it where you live, this I can guarantee. Not one person in 10,000 lives in a place where the stars are visible like they are in the Sierra at night. Dark skies (meaning away from cities), 10,000 feet above sea level: that means thousands of stars. Watch for half an hour and see several meteors streak across the sky, sometimes at cosmological speeds, faster than anything you’ll ever see by day.”
Pictured above, the sky over Sequoia National Park.
- The night sky photographer Jeff Sullivan recommended five stargazing spots in the Eastern Sierra. Mercury News
Northern California
5.
Anchor Brewing, the oldest craft brewery in the U.S. and a cherished San Francisco institution, is shutting down after 127 years. In a statement Wednesday, the company attributed its fall to the pandemic, inflation, and tough competition. “This was an extremely difficult decision that Anchor reached only after many months of careful evaluation,” spokesperson Sam Singer wrote. The beer industry as a whole has been struggling, sliding 3.1% last year. S.F. Chronicle | A.P.
6.
Testing found high levels of lead in Lake Tahoe near locations where AT&T buried underwater lead cables. In Emerald Bay, a sample contained an amount of lead 2,533 times the EPA limit for drinking water. A young child swimming in such water could add 7.4 micrograms per deciliter of lead to his or her blood, more than double the threshold the CDC uses to identify children with lead exposure. The Wall Street Journal published an investigation on how telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of toxic lead cables across the U.S.
7.
California wildlife officials said they planned to capture a renegade sea otter that has been accosting surfers off the Santa Cruz coast and in one case stole a board. Otter 841 at first struck surfers as cute and friendly, but her behavior has grown increasingly aggressive since mid-June. Joon Lee, a novice surfer, said the animal made a beeline for him on Sunday. “I was scared. I was trying to swim away, but before I was able to get far, it bit my leash,” he said. Then it jumped on his board and began biting it. L.A. Times | Mercury News
- See video of an Otter 841 attack. 👉 @NativeSantaCruz
8.
FYI: The time to beat for fastest mile in Death Valley during peak summer heat in a Darth Vader costume is 6 minutes and 13 seconds.
Jon Rice, a cryptocurrency journalist and heat-running enthusiast in Colorado, had the idea for the ludicrously specific challenge in 2010. He’s been returning to the park annually ever since, but has been unable to improve on the record he clinched in 2011. Beer and age — he’s now in his early 50s — could be catching up with him, he told the Sun.
- See Rice’s 2011 run, crewed by Yoda, Jango Fett, and Princess Leia, in 118-degree heat. 👉 YouTube
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Southern California
9.
With a new Hollywood strike looming, actors from “Orange Is the New Black” are speaking out about how they were never fairly compensated for the Netflix hit. “We all took a risk together,” said Alysia Reiner, who played the corrupt warden. “And the reward for Netflix does not seem in line with the reward for all of us who took that risk. I can go anywhere in the world and I’m recognized, and I’m so deeply grateful for that recognition. Many people say they’ve watched the series multiple times, and they quote me my lines. But was I paid in a commensurate way? I don’t think so.” New Yorker
- SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, was poised to strike Thursday after members’ contracts expired. It would be the first double strike, along with the writer’s guild, in 63 years. Hollywood Reporter | L.A. Times
10.
In 1956, the USC fullback C.R. Roberts became one of the first Black college athletes to take the field against white players in Texas — and he was unstoppable. Roberts, born in Los Angeles, ran for a record-setting 251 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Trojans to victory, 44-20, over Austin. Coaches pulled him early for fear of rioting. Back on the USC campus, Roberts was hailed as a hero, a change from initial hostility he faced from many white students. He had a short career in the NFL and in 2007 was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame. Roberts died of natural causes on Tuesday. He was 87. A.P.
11.
Malibu’s Lechuza Beach has been described as a slice of paradise, with gentle waves and gorgeous rock formations. But good luck finding it. Last week, the public agency that owns the beach accused Malibu of tearing down three signs pointing the way to the shore in a bid to repel visitors. The city acknowledged the removals, saying the signs lacked permits. The battle over beach access has roiled Malibu for decades, with homeowners erecting illegal fences and “no trespassing” signs. Malibu Times | SFGATE
12.
Rachel Nafis, a one-woman florist, grows flowers in the yards of eight neighbors who donated their yards to Psalter Farm Flowers, a loose collective of colorful cutting gardens. “All of my gardens are in places where people cannot care for their yards the way they would like,” she said. “I feel I’m adding value to their homes and our neighborhood.” The reporter Lisa Boone told the heart-warming story of how Nafis built a flower farm across a neighborhood in San Diego County. L.A. Times
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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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