Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 7.
- State reparations panel collides with political reality.
- San Francisco’s downtown crisis engulfs major hotels.
- And the most spectacular view in the Channel Islands.
Statewide
1.
After days of silence, the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday acknowledged having orchestrated the travel of two groups of migrants to Sacramento but said they had gone “voluntary.” The 36 asylum seekers were picked up in El Paso, Texas, then taken to New Mexico and put on charter flights to the California capital after a Florida contractor told them they would find work there, according to State Attorney General Rob Bonta. “It was a lie,” he said. “It was false. You can’t consent based on deception.” DeSantis avoided reporters during a bill signing on Tuesday. N.Y. Times | A.P.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom wants DeSantis charged with “kidnapping.” That could prove challenging. CalMatters
2.
Even before a state reparations panel has presented its final recommendations, the idea of offering direct compensation to descendants of slaves is colliding with political reality. Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have poured cold water on the idea. A new poll out this week found that just 39% of likely California voters favor the state having a reparations task force. “California is not as liberal as people want us to believe,” said state Sen. Steven Bradford, pictured above. Politico
3.
Few people go there, but it’s said to be the prettiest view in the Channel Islands. On tiny Anacapa Island, which is really three islets, Inspiration Point looks out over a spectacular tableau of jutting volcanic rock surrounded by sea and swooping gulls. At the moment, it’s also adorned with wildflowers. Getting there is a matter of an hourlong boat ride ($63 roundtrip) followed by a walk along a 1.5-mile figure-eight loop. Outside magazine included Inspiration Point in a listicle on the best view in every national park.
Northern California
4.
On San Francisco’s deepening downtown crisis:
- The owner of two of San Francisco’s biggest hotels — Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 — said it halted payments on a $725 million loan and would give up both properties. “Now more than ever,” REIT Park Hotels & Resorts said in a statement, “we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges — both old and new.” S.F. Chronicle | SF Standard
- Last summer, Wells Fargo listed its 13-story office tower on California Street for $160 million. This week, reports said, the bank agreed with a mystery buyer on a price of roughly $43 million, less than half what Wells Fargo paid in 2005. SF Standard | Real Deal
- Video captured from a cable car route on Powell Street showed the bleakness of the retail exodus. 👉 Reddit
5.
“It’s the worst thing that could have happened to us.”
In January, the only general hospital in Madera County closed after years of financial distress, becoming the latest of nine rural hospitals to be shuttered in California since 2005. For the roughly 160,000 people who live in the county straddling the eastern San Joaquin Valley — where the poverty rate is nearly double that of the state — the loss of health care is giving way to harrowing stories: a woman forced to give birth alone, a cancer survivor struggling to find care, a diabetes patient who can’t get medication. L.A. Times
6.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the founder of an “orgasm workshop” in San Francisco with exploiting her followers and living off of their forced labor. Nicole Daedone claimed her company OneTaste, featured in a Netflix documentary, could help people recover from past trauma. Instead, prosecutors said, she subjected them to “economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse, surveillance, indoctrination and intimidation.” A.P. | Daily Beast
- A 2009 N.Y. Times article described OneTaste’s central ritual: “… about a dozen women, naked from the waist down, lie with eyes closed in a velvet-curtained room, while clothed men huddle over them …”
7.
California spent $17 billion combating homelessness in the past four budget years. It isn’t working. Talya Husbands-Hankin, an activist who delivers food to homeless people in Oakland, said the authorities are stuck in a cycle of clearing encampments and scattering its residents to other places. “Money is being wasted consistently pushing people around,” she said. A Wall Street Journal report on the clearing of the Wood Street encampment in Oakland includes powerful photographs.
8.
Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted his condemnation of a Ugandan law that imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” Blake Dyer, a professional fisherman from the Bay Area, responded: “With Uganda on this one.” By Monday, after days of outrage on social media, Dyer was dropped by one of his sponsors, Canyon Club Brewery. He deactivated his Twitter account and made his Instagram account private. Newsweek | Boing Boing
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Southern California
9.
Punches flew outside a school board meeting in Glendale on Tuesday as hundreds of demonstrators contested how schools teach gender and sexuality, leading law enforcement to declare an unlawful assembly. In a tense face-off, protesters opposed to the board’s gay and transgender policies chanted “leave our kids alone,” while counterprotesters waved Pride flags. Three people were arrested, officials said. L.A. Times | KTLA
- See video of the melee. 👉 @DowntownLAScan
10.
More on what Semafor has called the “Pride Month war”:
- “It’s a distraction.” Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to ban Pride flags on county buildings, allowing only government and military banners. Voice of OC | O.C. Register
- Citing bias against gay and transgender people, L.A. County supervisors voted on Tuesday to establish an LGBTQ+ Commission that would ensure the board is doing everything it can to be “inclusive of all.” L.A. Times | Whittier Daily News
- The Temecula Valley school district rejected a new social studies curriculum because it referred to Harvey Milk. “Why even mention a pedophile?” board president Joseph Komrosky said of the San Francisco gay-rights leader who was assassinated in 1978. Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted in a tweet, calling Komrosky “an ignorant person.” S.F. Chronicle | O.C. Register
- On Monday, the California Assembly held a Pride Month ceremony that honored Sister Roma, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Republicans walked off the floor in protest. Sacramento Bee | KGO
11.
Last year, the Los Angeles insurer Farmers Group told employees that most of them would be allowed to remain remote. Some responded by moving closer to family; others expanded home offices or sold their cars. Then a new CEO took over and reversed the policy. Employees went into revolt: “This is seemingly a power move that is frankly disgusting,” one worker wrote on an internal social network. “So sad that I made a huge financial decision based on a lie.” wrote another. Wall Street Journal
12.
Jeff Bridges, an actor who has spent much of his life on set, has been taking pictures between scenes since the 1970s. He said the hobby began as a way to keep a personal archive. But he eventually began sharing little photo books for the casts and crews. Then in 2003 and again 2019, he published formal volumes of his favorite pictures. They are compelling for their access and intimacy, but the Washington Post writer Kenneth Dickerman said the images are also “superbly wrought” and “almost like small movies.” See a couple online collections. 👉 Lens Culture | Hollywood Reporter
- More at JeffBridges.com.
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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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