Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 28.
- San Francisco’s woes spur others to tackle housing.
- Heat wave poised to roast the state through weekend.
- And a dispatch from cowboy country in Shasta County.
Statewide
1.
Officials in Washington state and Vermont effectively banned single-family housing zoning this year. The new laws were part of a wave of actions by municipal and state leaders across the country who have been jolted into action by reports of urban squalor in California. “Every state in the country other than California is saying, ‘I don’t want to become California,’ and every other city is like, ‘I don’t want to become San Francisco,'” said Jenny Schuetz, a public policy expert at the Brookings Institution. Politico
2.
Calls are rising to preserve Tulare Lake rather than allow it to be drained again to reestablish agriculture. Members of the local Tachi Yokut Tribe say they’re sensitive to those who are coping with losses, but they also note how the ancestral lake once sustained their people before it was obliterated to serve lucrative farmland in the southern San Joaquin Valley. “All we want is balance,” said Robert Jeff, vice chairman of the Santa Rosa Rancheria tribal council. “This land needs that lake.” L.A. Times
3.
In an interview with CNBC Tuesday morning, Speaker Kevin McCarthy questioned whether Donald J. Trump was the Republican presidential candidate best positioned to prevail in the 2024 election. But hours later, amid outrage from Trump supporters, the Bakersfield Republican scrambled to walk back his remarks, underscoring his fear of alienating the former president. He called Trump to apologize, sources told reporter Annie Karni. And he reached out to Breitbart News, declaring that Trump was, in fact, the
“strongest political opponent” against President Biden. N.Y. Times
4.
It’s about to get hot.
Forecasters said the first major heat wave of the season would envelop California between Thursday and Monday, peaking on Saturday with temperatures in the 90s near the coast and as high as 115 degrees in the interior valleys and deserts. The mercury may not rise into record territory, but officials warned residents to brace for a jarring swing, as the scorching conditions bring an end to weeks of cooler-than-average weather. S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Times
See forecast outlooks:
- The North Coast
- The Sacramento Valley
- The Bay Area
- The Central Valley
- The Central Coast and L.A. area
- San Diego and southeastern California
Northern California
5.
British journalist Samuel McIlhagga visited Shasta County and interviewed residents convinced that a civil war is coming. Carlos Zapata is a restaurant owner and member of the Cottonwood militia, a group that counts roughly 1,000 business owners and ranchers among its ranks. “Covid was like this Great Awakening,” he told McIlhagga. “People started showing up to protest in droves — they wanted to join something because they thought we were going to civil war against the opposition. Do we need a civil war? I’d hate to think we’d need a civil war, but how do we get past this?” Unherd
6.
Pamela Price, the Alameda County district attorney elected in November on promises to disrupt the status quo, is facing growing anger from the families of homicide victims who say she has been too lenient on perpetrators of violence. A rally in Oakland over the weekend was attended by relatives of Manase and Suiti Mesui, ages 20 and 24, who were fatally shot outside their home in 2021. Prosectors reduced charges against the gunman to voluntary manslaughter. “It feels like we’re reliving their deaths again,” said Nakisha Mesui, a cousin. Berkeley Scanner
7.
Parrots, common in tropical rainforests, are an odd sight in the brisk streets of San Francisco. The colorful birds arrived in California via the pet trade as far back as the 1940s, historians say, and were subsequently let loose into the wild. San Francisco’s parrots won so many hearts that supervisors on Tuesday named them the city’s official animal. The birds, the resolution noted, are “raucous and noisy, wild and free … much like their human San Franciscan counterparts.” S.F. Chronicle
8.
Yosemite National Park limits how long people can camp to 30 days a year. But so-called “dirtbags,” ascetics who dedicate their lives to rock climbing, stay for months, and some don’t pay. Reporter Ashley Harrell visited hallowed ground in the climbing world, Camp 4, ensconced beneath a towering granite cliff in the heart of Yosemite Valley. “I just don’t pay to camp here because I think it’s ridiculous,” climber Zach Dreher told her. SFGATE
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Southern California
9.
As San Diego weighed a controversial ordinance to crack down on homeless encampments, Mayor Todd Gloria, a strong proponent, told a room full of reporters that the city had increased shelter bed capacity in the city by 70% since 2021. City Council members narrowly approved the measure on Tuesday. But Gloria’s claim was dubious at best. According to city data, the number of beds has grown 28%. That’s not nothing, but it’s not 70%, and it’s far short of what would be required to bring the city’s homeless indoors. Voice of San Diego
10.
The remains found Saturday in the San Gabriel Mountains have been identified as those of the British actor Julian Sands, who disappeared during a hike in January, officials said Tuesday. In a 2020 interview, Sands said some people assume mountain climbers are driven by ego. “But actually, it’s the reverse. It’s about supplication and sacrifice and humility, when you go to these mountains. It’s not so much a celebration of oneself, but the eradication of one’s self-consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony, hopefully with your environment.” Sands was 65. A.P. | L.A. Times
- “With his blond locks and blue eyes, Mr. Sands could appear unconventionally handsome or icily sinister.” Read the Washington Post’s obituary.
11.
The Western Joshua tree will receive permanent protections under a bill passed on Tuesday as part of the state’s budget deal. Environmentalists have fought for years to safeguard the gangly plant, which abounds in the Southern California desert, arguing that climate change poses an existential threat. Local officials have resisted, saying protections would thwart efforts to build homes. The new law is said to be the first in California to protect a species on the basis of threats from climate change. Desert Sun | Courthouse News Service
12.
Officials said three of the five victims killed in a horrific car crash on a Long Beach freeway early Monday were teenagers. They were identified as Angel Sextos, 18; George Dobbs, 15; and Ariahh Slemaker, 15. The two others weren’t identified, and a sixth person was hospitalized. Dash-cam video showed the vehicle racing down the freeway shortly after 4 a.m. before striking an impact attenuator, a road safety device. Kevin Guerrero, an uncle of Slemaker, said the family was reeling. “No one should ever have to go through that pain,” he said. “Especially when you go to bed knowing your child is asleep in the bedroom, and you wake up and she’s gone.” KABC
Scheduling note
I’ve got as pileup of commitments coming up that will make publication a bit spotty in July and August. There will be no newsletters on the crossed-off days:
A reminder: The Sun is built by a single person (with editing help from a part-time contractor). So when I’m off, the newsletter is too. I appreciate your understanding.
— Mike
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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