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Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Aug. 15.
- Proposed caste law divides South Asian diaspora.
- Wind project stirs hopes of revival in Humboldt County.
- And “the Black Godfather” Clarence Avant dies at 92.
Statewide
1.
In California, passage of a bill is often the start, not the end, of a fight. The oil industry’s bid to overturn a law banning oil wells near homes is one of the latest examples of big business using a statewide ballot initiative to block, or at least stall, a policy it couldn’t stop at the Capitol, reporter Jeremy B. White wrote: “Like never before, the business of lawmaking in Sacramento is intertwined with a ballot initiative industry that churns through hundreds of millions of dollars each cycle — and policy battles loop from the Legislature to the streets back to the Legislature again.” Politico
2.
The fight against a California measure that would outlaw caste discrimination has combined the politics of the Hindu Right with the conservative war on “wokism,” wrote reporter Sonia Paul. Opponents say the bill, which has wide support in the Legislature, would have the opposite of the intended effect, reinforcing divisions that they claim are negligible within the South Asian diaspora. Richa Gautam put the argument this way: “They’re seeding caste consciousness in the sense that people are more apt to see each other differently.” Mother Jones
3.
When researching how 96% California’s old-growth redwoods fell to the saw, Greg King identified an unexpected collaborator in the destruction: Environmentalists. Early members of the venerable Save the Redwoods League, he wrote, covertly worked to further industry interests, buying up “beauty strips” of old-growth redwoods alongside roadways that hid the sight of the other trees being liquidated. “The league gave industrialists exactly what they wanted,” wrote Robert Moor in a review of King’s new book, “The Ghost Forest.” “It mollified public outcry while simultaneously guaranteeing industry’s access to nature’s riches.” The Atlantic
- Hear Greg King on the California Sun Podcast.
4.
Summer, one could argue, is just getting going for many Californians. In the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological summer falls in June, July, and August because those are the three warmest months. But that definition doesn’t hold along the much of the Pacific coast, where cool ocean breezes toy with the weather. In cities such as Eureka, Santa Barbara, and San Diego, the warmest quarter of the year is July through September, according to average monthly temperatures. In areas especially prone to marine fog in the lead-up to fall, including Shelter Cove, San Francisco, and Morro Bay, summer, you could say, only started this month.
- The climatologist Brian Brettschneider once explored the idea of fine-tuning the seasons at a local scale. Brian B.’s Climate Blog
- Find your city’s average monthly temperatures. 👉 NOAA
Northern California
5.
California is planning a renewable energy project in Humboldt County at a scale never before attempted. Officials have envisioned an offshore wind farm nearly 10 times the size of Manhattan populated by dozens of turbines twirling blades as long as a football field. They just need to convince residents in a region scarred by the gold, timber, and cannabis rushes of the past that this economic boom will be different. “This is a generational project,” said Jeff Hunerlach, a union leader. “I could work 20 years on this project and my kid could work 20 years on this project.” Politico
6.
San Francisco’s London Breed is the most generously compensated mayor in California, earning about $350,000 a year. But last fiscal year, she still didn’t make anywhere near as much as Police Sgt. Frank Harrell, one of more than 150 fire and law enforcement employees who out-earned the mayor. According to a new data analysis, Harrell took in $587,060, including a whopping $356,000 in overtime pay, which has ballooned in recent years as a result of rising attrition and retirement. S.F. Chronicle
7.
The developer of a $1.2 billion skyscraper in San Francisco has halted construction, citing poor market conditions, the journalist Laura Waxmann reported Monday. One of the city’s only big building projects, the 47-story Hayes Point tower that includes a mix of residential and office space, had been a rare bright spot in a district that has seen an exodus of office and retail tenants. The developer said the project would restart if it can bring in early tenant commitments. San Francisco has one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country, at roughly 32%. SF Standard | Real Deal
- With real estate prices sinking in San Francisco, landlords are demanding lower property assessments — and tax payments. Bloomberg
8.
Charlie Warzel on the ridiculousness of the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg rivalry, or what he calls “Schrödinger’s Cage Match”:
“From the standpoint of being a human, the Musk-Zuck cage match is an offensive waste of time — the result of a broken media system that allows those with influence and shamelessness to commandeer our collective attention at will. Musk and Zuckerberg have generated a pseudo event that bolsters their own relevance.” The Atlantic
Southern California
9.
State lawmakers have approved dozens of laws designed to incentivize housing proposals and force local governments to approve them. That caught the attention of a novice developer named Akhilesh Jha, who spent years mastering state laws and city zoning codes. When he proposed a plan to replace a single-family home with a seven-story apartment complex in Los Angeles’ Harvard Heights, neighbors were apoplectic. Planning commissioners ordered him to scale it down. He refused, cited the law, and forced them to approve it. “I’m offended by it,” said Samantha Millman, a commissioner. “But I have no choice but to vote for it.” L.A. Times
10.
Clarence Avant, a record executive who earned the nickname “the Black Godfather” after shaping the careers of Sarah Vaughan, Bill Withers, Whitney Houston, and many others died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. Born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina in 1931 and educated only through the ninth grade, Avant started out managing a nightclub in Newark in the late 1950s. He became a man of influence, he said, by minding advice from a mentor: Never let on how much you know, and ask for as much money as possible, “without stuttering.” Avant was 92. A.P. | L.A. Times
11.
A Los Angeles software developer just launched an app called “Text With Jesus” that lets users trade messages with biblical figures as impersonated by the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT. Asked about homosexuality, A.I. Jesus replied, “Ultimately, it is not for me to condemn or condone individuals based on their sexual orientation.” Pay for the premium service, and you can also chat with Adam and Eve, Mary Magdalene, and even Satan. Critics are calling it blasphemous. Religion News Service
12.
Fun fact: Los Angeles once had lane-specific speed limits on the highway: 60 m.p.h. for left lanes, 55 m.p.h. in the middle, and 45 m.p.h. on the right. The system was introduced in 1966 along the city’s Harbor Freeway, now Route 110, along with three other freeways in Northern California on the theory that traffic would move faster if you could get the slowpokes to move out of the way. It failed. Many motorists ignored the signs. And rather than nudging drivers to use the right lanes, the signs led more vehicles to drift left, creating even more congestion. The Drive revisited the failed experiment.
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