Good morning. It’s Monday, Dec. 2.
- Insatiable bears and careless humans in Lake Tahoe.
- The story of an I.V.F. mix-up and an intolerable choice.
- And 15 Central Coast restaurants worth a road trip.
Statewide
1.
It was once assumed that the Republicans’ push in the 1990s against unauthorized immigrants had delivered California’s Latino voters to the Democratic Party for good. But for the first time in 20 years, Latino-majority Fresno County supported a Republican for president this election. Among the Donald Trump supporters was José Pérez Gómez, 49, who arrived from Mexico more than 25 years ago. “Suddenly in one year, millions of people come in with all the rights without having contributed anything to the country,” he said. “So a lot of people feel defrauded.” N.Y. Times
- In California, the rightward swing in the presidential race wasn’t so much because more people voted for Donald Trump. Rather, far fewer voted Democratic. S.F. Chronicle
2.
As lawmakers prepared to begin a special session on “Trump-proofing” California on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to tone down the California-vs.-Trump narrative he set in motion. “It’s not a resistance brand,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s around pragmatism. It’s about preparedness.” A Republican political consultant said the shift reflects a reckoning within the Democratic Party over its estrangement from working Americans. L.A. Times | A.P.
- Sen. Alex Padilla said on Sunday that Trump “has made it no secret that he has it in for California.” CBS News
3.
In recent weeks, state wildlife officials confirmed the presence of two new gray wolf packs in Northern California, bringing the total number of packs to nine. There are now at least 70 of the endangered predators roaming the state, up from 44 last year. Axel Hunnicutt, the state’s gray wolf coordinator, suggested the wolves that once thrived in California before being driven to local extinction in the 1920s had reached an “inflection point” in their recolonization. L.A. Times
4.
In Cambria, an old-school oyster bar offers sunset views that are nothing short of spectacular.
In Santa Barbara, a 138-year-old hillside tavern could double as a museum.
And in Nipomo, a steak house makes one of the best burgers anywhere in the state.
The California food writer Mona Holmes named 15 restaurants along the Central Coast that are so good they’re worth taking a road trip to get there. Eater
5.
For more than a decade, the photographer Bryan Schutmaat traveled across the American West photographing the hitchhikers, addicts, survivalists, and drifters he met along the way. The historian Frederick Jackson Turner theorized that the country’s democratic culture was forged from its pacification of the western frontier. Schutmaat’s project, called “Sons of the Living,” blows up that mythology with a vision of “wilderness steadily reasserting itself over a crumbling human presence.” The Atlantic
- See more images from “Sons of the Living.” 👉 BryanSchutmaat.co
Northern California
6.
For years, roughly 1,000 feral chickens have roamed the streets and yards of Yuba City, and locals aim to keep it that way. How the renegade fowl became established in the small Sacramento Valley city is uncertain, but many trace their origins to a carelessly run livestock auction in the 1950s. Some residents see the birds as a clucking, pooping menace. Others are fierce defenders. “Everybody goes bananas here,” said Mary Thompson. “And you better not run over one or touch one or do anything to one or people will hunt you down.” Sacramento Bee | CBS News
7.
“I’ve seen them go in through a skylight. Dropped 20 feet through the house, then ransacked it, and broke a window to get out. Like, how’d they not break a leg with that?”
— Ryan Welch, founder of a Tahoe bear-deterrent company
As the human population of the Tahoe Basin has boomed in recent years, so have encounters with black bears. The hulking animals once lived on mostly grasses, berries, and insects. They’ve now learned to open cars, front doors, and even jars. They hardly hibernate anymore — there’s food everywhere. The New Yorker wrote about “Lake Tahoe’s bear boom.”
8.
While camping as a child with his parents in Humboldt County, Michael Rugg claimed to see bigfoot himself. His parents told him he was imagining things. But Rugg couldn’t shake the memory. Years later, after earning a Stanford degree and losing his job during the dot-com bust, he decided to make a career change, opening the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in the Santa Cruz Mountain town of Felton in 2004. Now, after 20 years of beckoning believers and skeptics alike, Rugg has decided to close the museum. “It’s just time,” he said. KSBW | SFGATE
9.
On tiny Angel Island, campers are surrounded by some of the most spectacular views of the surrounding Bay Area. Maire Farrington, 62, began camping there annually 31 years ago with a group of friends. Over time, the group dwindled until she was the only one left. So for last decade, she’s carried on the tradition solo. The highlight, she said, is when the moon rises, the city lights come on, and the owls start hooting. “I don’t do devices or find out what’s going on in the world,” she said. “I just love the silence.” Mission Local
Southern California
10.
In “Erin Brockovich,” Donna Jensen, a resident of the Mojave Desert community of Hinkley, wins $5 million after Pacific Gas & Electric is accused of dumping chromium-6 in the water. But the movie didn’t show what happened next. Roberta Walker, the woman on whom Jensen was based, said she received less than $1 million and suffered numerous health problems. Testing continues to detect chromium-6 in the water. “Everybody thinks Hinkley got rewarded and saved. But in reality, that was the start of the fall,” said John Turner, one of Hinkley’s few remaining residents. Washington Post
11.
In the days after giving birth via in vitro fertilization in 2019, Daphna Cardinale and her husband were nagged by doubt. Their baby, May, looked nothing like their family. Finally, a DNA test confirmed what was fairly obvious to others: The baby was not theirs. Daphna recalled the moment her lawyer told her that the real parents had been located near their home in suburban Los Angeles. “So I just lost my baby,” Daphna replied, holding May in her arms. “I just lost my baby, right?” The New York Times Magazine told the story of “an I.V.F. mix-up, a shocking discovery, and an unbearable choice.”
In case you missed it
12.
A quick catch-up on headlines you may have missed from the past week:
- Daniel Andreas San Diego, an animal-rights activist who made the F.B.I.’s most-wanted terrorists list after being accused of two Bay Area bombings in 2003, was caught in rural Wales after more than two decades on the run. BBC | The Guardian
- Derek Tran, a first-time Democratic candidate, narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Republican Rep. Michelle Steel in a battleground Orange County district. While Republicans seized the House, Democrats picked up at least two seats in California. Politico | L.A. Times
- Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would provide $7,500 electric-vehicle rebates if President-elect Donald Trump dismantles a federal rebate — with one twist. Elon Musk’s Tesla would be excluded from the program. Bloomberg | Reuters
- Three people who died in a Tesla Cybertruck crash in the Bay Area on Wednesday were identified as college students who knew each other from high school and were back in town for the holidays. S.F. Chronicle
- A Lassen County woman hadn’t seen her brother in 25 years after he vanished “with no trace,” she wrote. Then she saw a picture of him in a news article. The siblings were set to reunite, the sheriff’s office said. N.Y. Times | CBS News
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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