Good morning. It’s Friday, Jan. 13.
- Regulators mull limits on Mono Lake diversions.
- California G.O.P. leader attacked over Sikh faith.
- And Lisa Marie Presley dies in Calabasas at age 54.
Scheduling note: The newsletter will pause for the holiday weekend. Back in your inbox Tuesday.
California storms
1.
☝️ NBC Bay Area captured dramatic aerial footage showing the engorged Salinas River spilling beyond its banks in Monterey County on Thursday, submerging farmland and roadways. According to NOAA data, the river surpassed flood stage late Thursday and was forecast to remain above the threshold until Sunday as more storms pummel the coast. Emergency officials reiterated warnings that flooding could sever the Monterey Peninsula — comprising Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, and Pebble Beach — from the rest of California for several days. NBC Bay Area | Monterey Herald
2.
Other storm developments:
- An updated map from the U.S. Drought Monitor showed California almost totally free of the red splotches that indicate the worst levels of drought. Just 0.32% of the state fell under the category of “extreme drought” or worse, down from 36% two weeks earlier. U.S. Drought Monitor | L.A. Times
- Two men were found dead on Wednesday in a Sea Ranch home where a generator was switched on inside with an empty fuel tank, officials said. Hundreds of homes in the area had gone days without power. Evidence pointed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Press Democrat
- Rain, heavy rain, then more rain. Weekend forecasts:
3.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman chats with Erica Gies, the author of “Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge.” In a recent N.Y. Times essay, Gies argued for a way to ease harms from both both flood and drought, storing California’s runoff in ancient underground riverbeds called paleo valleys. “When we have big floods like this we see that water wants to go where water wants to go,” she said.
Statewide
4.
State regulators agreed to review how much water Los Angeles can draw from Mono Lake, an extraordinary move in one of the most contentious fronts of California’s long-running water wars. Stakeholders say the state could temporarily halt diversions to protect California gulls exposed to predation by the lake’s plunging water level. Fierce resistance from Los Angeles, which has drawn from the lake 350 miles to its north since 1941, is assured. S.F. Chronicle
5.
Over the next five years, California will receive about $25 billion in federal dollars for highways through the infrastructure law enacted last year. Some of it will be used to widen freeways, a strategy for easing congestion that has increasing fallen into disfavor. “While adding lanes can ease congestion initially,” the reporter Eden Weingart wrote, “it can also encourage people to drive more. A few years after a highway is widened, research shows, traffic — and the greenhouse gas emissions that come along with it — often returns.” N.Y. Times
6.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that he’d be open to expunging an impeachment of former President Trump by the Democratic-led House. Asked about interest among rank-and-file Republicans in expungement, the California Republican said, “When you watch what went through, I understand why members would want to bring that forward.” He added: “We’d look at it.” Washington Post | New York Magazine
7.
Some Republicans are raising concerns about the Sikh faith of Harmeet Dhillon, a California G.O.P. leader, as she seeks the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. “People aren’t bigots because they ask questions,” said Chris Horn, a Republican operative from Alabama. “That’s a legit question: Is the Republican Party, or even the Democratic Party ready for someone of the Sikh faith?” Dhillon called the attacks “hurtful.” Politico
Northern California
8.
On Feb. 16, 1973, detectives found the body of young woman lying in the dirt, a floral scarf tightly knotted around her neck, in the wooded hills at Stanford University. The killing of Leslie Perlov, a 21-year-old law librarian, was one of a series that sent a shock wave through the campus and became known as “the Stanford murders.” On Tuesday, after 50 years, a suspect identified through DNA genealogy, 78-year-old John Getreu, pleaded guilty to Perlov’s murder and admitted he had sexually assaulted her. Mercury News | N.Y. Times
9.
Since Jan. 1, gun owners in San Jose have been required to have insurance covering costs related to accidental gunshot injuries or deaths. The law, drafted in response to a flurry of mass shootings, is the first of its kind in the U.S., but a state lawmaker has proposed expanding it statewide. Dave Truslow, a retiree in San Jose who opposes the law, said he declined to get insurance and instead simply began storing his guns out of town. Wall Street Journal
Southern California
10.
Lisa Marie Presley died Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest at a home in Calabasas, northwest of downtown Los Angeles, reports said. She was 54. The only child of Elvis Presley, and a former wife of Michael Jackson, Presley was a singer-songwriter, releasing three albums, but her career was overshadowed by the enormous legacy of her father. She attended the Golden Globes on Tuesday, celebrating Austin Butler’s performance in the biopic “Elvis.” Just days before that she was at Graceland to commemorate what would have been her father’s 88th birthday. A.P. | L.A. Times
11.
A cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors died hours after Los Angeles police used a Taser on him during an investigation of a traffic collision in Venice on Jan. 3. According to newly released body-camera footage, Keenan Anderson, 31, initially cooperated with officers as they sought to ascertain whether he was intoxicated. Then he fled, leading officers to subdue him with physical force and a stun gun in the street. “They’re trying to kill me,” he yelled at one point. Mayor Karen Bass said she had “grave concerns.” Washington Post | LAist
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Dramatic video along the Santa Cruz coast showed storm impacts at the Capitola Wharf, a historic pier in Aptos, and along Soquel Creek.
- As emergency officials warned people to avoid the rampaging Pacific last week, surfers made plans to dance on the waves. Surfline chronicled the action, including photos of massive sets at La Jolla Cove.
- A cartographer created a gorgeous animation depicting the water vapor that swept into California from Dec. 26 to Jan. 11. @scottreinhard
- There was a punk performance on the BART Friday night. What started as a half-joke resulted in unbridled chaos as the San Francisco bands False Flag and Surprise Privilege, along with roughly 100 fans, crammed into a blue line train. KQED
- An unlikely culinary oasis in cow country, black sand beaches at the foot of the King Range, and the only surviving town in the U.S. to have been built by and for Chinese immigrants. The S.F. Chronicle shared a list of 10 California places begging to be explored in 2023.
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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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