Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Oct. 18.
- Governor announces plan to end coronavirus emergency.
- Christians seek school board seats in Riverside County.
- And Orange County exhibit rejects painting over swastikas.
Statewide
1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that California’s coronavirus emergency will officially end in February, three years after the pandemic began its deadly march across the country. The decision means little for most residents given that nearly all of California’s pandemic-related orders have already been lifted. But it does signal an end to the broad powers assumed by Newsom that had become a rallying cry among his critics. CalMatters | A.P.
California coronavirus tracker. 👉 Covid19.ca.gov
2.
California can’t force insurers to offer coverage in areas prone to fire. But it just announced new requirements that insurance companies reward homeowners who protect their homes against wildfires with measures such as clearing vegetation and installing fire-resilient roofs. Under the framework, the first of its kind in the nation, insurers must also give consumers the right to appeal their home’s assigned “wildfire risk score.” L.A. Times | Sacramento Bee
3.
The Texas journalist Richard Parker on the California-to-Texas migration:
“Yes, California’s population is declining, losing about 1.7 million residents since 2010. The Golden State’s pricey housing market too often pushes out low- and middle-income people. At the same time, for a decade and a half, Texas has been losing many of its youngest, best-educated — and richest — to California.” L.A. Times
4.
Mountain lions have discovered a new meal in the California desert: wild donkeys. Scientists say it’s a good thing. While the donkeys are nonnative, the region hosted different horse-like species before the last Ice Age. Mairin Balisi, a paleontologist, said evidence of a developing relationship between the cougars and burros amounts to the “return of an extinct interaction.” L.A. Times
5.
California is home to America’s biggest alpine lake, permanent Monopoly game, terrestrial slug, lava dome, and raisin box. Among the newest additions to the list: corn maze. The labyrinth at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon measured 60 acres in 2014 when it was verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. This year’s is smaller — 43 acres — but it remains the biggest in the country, according to the owners. One reviewer recommended carrying a flare gun. The Reporter | Atlas Obscura
Northern California
6.
San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, the primary distributor for struggling residents in San Francisco, released data showing that 62% of its participants are Asian, many of them seniors. When Michelle Liu, 65, immigrated from China in the 1980s, she thought she’d be free of hunger. But she wouldn’t know how to feed herself without a free bag of groceries every week, she said: “Everything now is so expensive. I have to save money on everything.” SF Standard
7.
A couple days before Christmas in 2016, Joseph Nevis got drunk after his construction shift and ended up asleep on the pavement with his legs draped over railroad tracks in Marysville, about 30 miles north of Sacramento. Testifying in a lawsuit against Amtrak and others last week, Nevis said when he awoke his legs were gone and the pain was “off the scales, I couldn’t even put a number on it.” Then he realized no one was coming to help. Sacramento Bee
8.
On Fridays, the workers at an Oakland ramen shop dress as Power Rangers. They were in their colorful costumes last week, according to a witness, when a woman rushed into the restaurant followed by a man who put her in a chokehold. The Rangers sprang into action. The yellow Ranger blocked a punch from the suspect and dragged him outside while the victim hid in the kitchen, the witness said. KGO
9.
Deep in the redwoods of Sonoma County, you can hear mortal screams echoing through the trees. They are the sounds of people flying along steel cables at speeds of up to 30 mph. The zipline at Sonoma Zipline Adventures is unlike others: Riders must warm up on smaller ziplines before embarking on the big ride, which is so long you can’t see the end from the where you start. “It’s a total rush,” the travel blogger Josh McNair wrote. California Through My Lens | Sonoma Magazine
Southern California
10.
More than a week after the racist audio leak, the Los Angeles Councilmembers Kevin De LeĂłn and Gil Cedillo are clinging to their seats in defiance of virtually the entire local political establishment. But the council’s acting president, Mitch O’Farrell, on Monday did what he could unilaterally: He stripped the members of their committee assignments, essentially barring them from the daily work of the council. “These members have lost all credibility, all standing,” O’Farrell said. L.A. Times | A.P.
11.
Seven Christian conservatives are running to oust school board members in Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, and Temecula. Backed by a conservative political action committee, the candidates say they want to combat what they see as sexual and racial indoctrination in the classroom. “This is all for the safety of children,” candidate Courtney Cooper said in an interview with a church pastor. “Sexual indoctrination is pedophilia. It really is.” Press-Enterprise
12.
For a prestigious exhibition, the Orange County Museum of Art curated artworks that would encapsulate the spirit of California. The highlight, according to one curator, would be the multipanel painting “Comparative Religions 101” by Ben Sakoguchi, an 84-year-old artist and former prisoner during Japanese internment. But then “questions” were raised about the work’s use of two swastikas, both in the historical context of World War II. Less than a month before the show’s Oct. 8 debut, Sakoguchi learned his invitation was rescinded. He and others are calling it an act of censorship. Hyperallergic | L.A. Magazine
See “Comparative Religions 101” in detail. 👉 Sakoguchi.info
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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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