Good morning. It’s Monday, Nov. 25.
- Californians pay for green energy that is sent away.
- Lake County may have nation’s slowest elections office.
- And the Channel Islands’ very cute island spotted skunk.
Statewide
1.
California is generating so much solar power that it is sometimes forced to offload excess energy to utilities in other states. That means Californians, whose electric rates are roughly twice the national average, are paying for green energy that is sent away, lowering the bills for residents of other states. Arizona’s largest public utility reaped $69 million in savings last year. “This is all being underwritten by California ratepayers,” said energy consultant Gary Ackerman. L.A. Times
2.
Immigrants in the country illegally are racing to get ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to ramp up deportations starting on Day 1. They’ve been jamming the phone lines of immigration lawyers and packing informational meetings. Silvia Campos, a 42-year-old farmworker, crossed the border 18 years ago and now lives in Riverside County with her husband and three children. “It’s all everyone talks about,” she said. “We have to prepare for the worst.” N.Y. Times
3.
California health officials said they found bird flu virus in raw milk purchased from a store in Fresno on Nov. 21, a development scientists had feared. The virus has been tearing through California’s dairy farms for months, infecting more than 400 herds. Health officials traced the contaminated milk to Raw Farm in Fresno. The health implications of drinking contaminated milk are unknown. “It’s not a good thing,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist. “We surely don’t want to have it happen.” STAT | L.A. Times
- Last week, officials reported that a Bay Area child tested positive for bird flu, the first case of a U.S. child becoming infected. Washington Post
4.
This month, a group of 12 state lawmakers and administration officials spent three weeks traveling in Asia. Another group of legislators flew to Maui, staying at a luxury beachside hotel. Criticized as “junkets,” the trips were bankrolled and attended by special interest groups. “It’s not a good look,” said Sean McMorris, a program manager at the government watchdog Common Cause. Even if no direct lobbying takes place, he said, “it’s also about ingratiating yourself … creating an implicit obligation that I’ve done something for you.” L.A. Times
Northern California
5.
Two people were found dead in Sonoma County’s floodwaters on Saturday after days of pounding rain, authorities said. One man apparently got stuck driving down a flooded road in Guerneville and became submerged in 6 feet of water, officials said. Another victim, described as a man in his 60s, was found in Piner Creek in Santa Rosa. Waterways across the region rose frighteningly fast. “I hike and walk here all the time,” said Allan Johnson, a man walking near the creek. “I’ve never seen water that high.” KGO | S.F. Chronicle
6.
In a state known for its slow vote-counting process, rural Lake County may be the slowest of all. Home to just 38,000 voters, the county still had more than 10,700 uncounted ballots as of Sunday — 19 days after election day. The sluggish pace has been attributed to underfunding and a culture of meticulousness. Maria Valadez, the prickly Lake County registrar, would like everyone to relax. “The state gave us a deadline,” she said. “We meet the deadline.” L.A. Times
7.
For generations, the bucolic North Coast village of Ferndale has celebrated what it calls the lighting of “America’s tallest living Christmas tree,” a 162-foot-tall Sitka spruce at the end of Main Street. But last week, a few towns over in Eureka, the Sequoia Park Zoo announced in a press release that it planned to illuminate the “tallest living Christmas tree in the world.” Asked to confirm the claim, zoo director Jim Campbell-Spickler declined to give the height of the rival tree, a redwood, but said it is “absolutely” taller than the Frendale spruce. “Shots fired,” wrote one local publication. North Coast Journal
- The zoo lights, scheduled to begin Dec. 14, sound very cool. Lights will adorn trees along a skywalk 100 feet off the ground in an old-growth forest.
Southern California
8.
The father of a Hawaiian woman who disappeared in Los Angeles earlier this month jumped to his death from a parking structure near LAX in an apparent suicide early Sunday, his family said. Hannah Kobayashi, 31, vanished during a layover in Los Angeles while en route to New York from Maui. Members of her family, including her father, 58-year-old Ryan Kobayashi, had flown in to help search for her. In a statement, a nonprofit aiding the family said his death “compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.” KABC | KTLA
9.
The remote Mojave Desert outpost of Nipton is a place where people come to try to realize their dreams. In the 1980s, a gold miner bought the town, hoping to turn it into a Mecca for nature lovers. That failed. So did subsequent attempts to turn Nipton into a cannabis wonderland and a testing ground for solar power. The latest dreamers to descend on the town are Ukrainian circus performers. Ross Mollison, the group’s founder, explained the vision: “We’re creating our own little Disneyland.” The Guardian
10.
In 2017, a seminary in Compton invited an urban farming nonprofit, Alma Backyard Farms, to put an empty lot on its property to use. Seven years later, it’s now a lush garden that doubles as a work program for former inmates. “The things we produce are beautiful things,” said James Morgan, who came to Alma after a 24-year stint in prison. “In my prior life, I was doing a lot of destructive things, and this is good for me being part of something so beautiful.” The New York Times published a fantastic photo essay on the project.
11.
The island fox, housecat-sized with a pointy nose and rust-colored fur, has long held the mantle of cutest creature native to the Channel Islands — at least in the public mind. But there’s another contender. The island spotted skunk is even smaller than the fox. They are also nocturnal, which means visitors to the islands almost never see them. The photographer journalist Chuck Graham, recounted a rare encounter a few years ago. “The skunk,” he wrote, “may be cuter than an island fox as it tends to hop around instead of run.” Montecito Journal
Your feedback
12.
Last week, I sent a subset of readers a short survey seeking feedback on the California Sun, which turns 7 years old this week. Nearly 1,700 people responded. Here is a write-up summarizing what they had to say about favored areas of coverage, what they would change about the newsletter, and other topics, along with a few comments from me. 👉 California Sun
Correction:
Friday’s newsletter misstated the city where a City Hall basement was flooded on Thursday. It was in Oroville, not Chico.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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