Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 5.
- Intense deluge engorges Northern California rivers.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom goes to meet with President Trump.
- And L.A. hospital ends hormone therapy for minors.
Statewide
1.
A powerful atmospheric river inundated Northern California with water on Tuesday, flooding low-lying areas and causing multiple waterways to climb to flood stage. Evacuations were ordered along the Russian River in Sonoma County as its level surged above 30 feet, up from roughly 8 feet over the weekend. A mudslide flung an unoccupied house into the river, where it floated downstream through the towns of Guerneville and Monte Rio. Press Democrat | S.F. Chronicle
- See live river levels. 👉 NOAA
- Forecasters said showers would soak Southern California through Friday, but in moderate amounts unlikely to trigger devastating mudslides in burn areas. L.A. Times
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom set off for Washington on Tuesday for meetings with President Trump and members of Congress about federal disaster aid in response to the Los Angeles County wildfires. The trip comes shortly after California’s Legislature approved a $50 million package to “Trump-proof” the state, an effort that has enraged the president. Trump has threatened to withhold aid unless California adopts voter identification laws and changes to water policy. N.Y. Times | Politico
- Why voter ID? Trump claims he would have won California in the November election if not for ballot fraud. So he may punish the state, wrote columnist Mark Z. Barabak. L.A. Times
3.
President Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would open an investigation into California’s high-speed rail project, calling it “the worst managed project I think I’ve ever seen.” Since voters approved the rail link from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2008, the project has been beset by delays, litigation, and cost overruns. Trump, riffing during a news conference, questioned the rationale for wanting rail in the first place. “You take an airplane, it costs you $2. It costs you nothing,” the billionaire said. “And if you have to, you drive.” KCRA | ABC10
Northern California
4.
The Trump administration has told UC Davis that it plans to cut federal funding for efforts to rescue the nearly extinct delta smelt, a fish that has become a symbol of California’s water wars. In recent weeks, President Trump has sought implausibly to link smelt protections to the L.A. wildfires. Davis scientists have aimed to reintroduce captive-raised smelt into the delta, where it was once a primary food source for larger fish. Their success has been limited because the delta — starved of freshwater by upstream diversions — is too unhealthy to sustain them, scientists say. S.F. Chronicle
5.
A Bay Area city is moving to make it a crime to aid or abet illegal homeless encampments, an apparent first amid a series of encampment bans across the state. The Fremont City Council employed broad language in its ordinance, which won initial approval, but claimed it was not meant to target charity workers. That has not eased the fears of homeless advocates. “I can’t imagine doing the hard work that’s both physically and emotionally draining and then also have to be worried about your own legal liability,” said Vivian Wan, CEO of Abode Services. “It’s incredibly frustrating.” CalMatters
6.
Residents packed community meetings in rural Tuolumne County this week to share their outrage after a gay man was physically attacked in what the authorities are investigating as a potential hate crime. The victim, who is in his 20s, was lured to meet his assailants on an app, his lawyer said: “Instead of meeting a potential new friend, he was lured to a location where he was brutally beaten for the sole reason that he is gay.” The victim was left with a broken jaw and a split head, reports said. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Christopher Jacobs, 44, and two juveniles. Union Democrat | Motherlode
Southern California
7.
According to industry standards, old fire hydrants with a single 2.5-inch outlet “are not considered to be suitable for normal fire-protection service.” The standard for modern fire hydrants is to be equipped with a larger outlet for firefighters to draw a greater volume of water. Yet a review found the outdated hydrants throughout the Pacific Palisades, as well as other fire-prone neighborhoods of Los Angeles. “The water and power department declined to discuss the city’s hydrant system in detail,” the New York Times wrote.
8.
NASA released a pair of maps derived from satellite data that illustrate what made Los Angeles so combustible when hurricane-force winds tore through the region in early January. The image above compares vegetation growth during summer 2024 against the historical average. It was unusually abundant thanks to back-to-back wet years. The deeper the green, the greater the anomaly.
The image below depicts soil moisture levels in early January after eight months without significant rainfall. The deeper the reds, the less moisture. According to NASA, it was the second-driest May to January on a record. Scientists call the wet-to-dry phenomenon “hydroclimate whiplash,” and they say it is becoming increasingly common. NASA Earth Observatory
9.
The Tahitian Terrace mobile-home park was a rare affordable beachfront neighborhood on the edge of Pacific Palisades, including a mix of well-off residents, seniors on fixed incomes, and young families. The Jan. 7 wildfire reduced all but one of the 158 mobile and prefabricated homes to ash. “It was like everyone knew it was the best-kept secret to live there,” said Brandon Zamel, 40, who lived on the lot where he grew up. “You had a better view there than any of the multimillion-dollar houses over the hill.” L.A. Times
10.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, home of the country’s largest youth gender clinic, said on Tuesday that it is pausing hormonal treatment for “gender affirming care patients” under the age of 19. The hospital said it was evaluating an executive order from President Trump that threatened to withhold federal funding from hospitals that provide “the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.” Two parents of patients said the hospital cancelled their appointments for gender-affirming care this week. L.A. Times | S.F. Chronicle
11.
The authorities said they arrested a Los Angeles police sergeant after a drunken hit-and-run that left a 19-year-old pedestrian dead over the weekend. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement that alleged behavior by Carlos Coronel, 40, “betrays the trust of the public and the oath we take as law enforcement officers.” The family of the victim, Imanol Gonzalez, was reeling. “He was everything to me. He was my world,” said Gonzalez’s stepfather, Rodeo Carva. NBC Los Angeles | KTLA
12.
Some critics took issue with the many Mexican flags that flew over the protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles over the weekend. Why brandish a foreign flag at a rally for the rights of immigrants without papers to stay in this country? In a column, Gustavo Arellano said he once shared that reservation, but his thinking evolved:
“Waving a foreign flag at protests is good trouble — a sign for the brave to rally together and stand tall against a commander in chief who understands nothing but chaos.” 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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