Good morning. It’s Wednesday, March 19.
- Nancy Pelosi has sharp critique of Chuck Schumer.
- Hamas flag is hoisted outside Bay Area home.
- And Yosemite is looking glorious after recent snowfall.
Statewide
1.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added to torrent of criticism directed at Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, after he infuriated many Democrats with his vote to back Republican spending legislation last week. “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” the San Francisco Democrat said during a news conference on Tuesday. “I think that’s what happened the other day.” Politico reported her remark this way: “Pelosi shivs Schumer.”
2.
Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new podcast, which has included conversations with right-wing figures:
- “What could have been a show of intellectual confidence on Newsom’s part has turned out to be a demeaning display of submission,” wrote the N.Y. Times’ Michelle Goldberg.
- “No matter how cringe or even appalling these first episodes have been (and oh, have they been appalling), the endeavor is undeniably smart,” wrote the L.A. Times’ Anita Chabria.
- “The reality of Newsom’s latest attempt to position himself for the national stage … is that he’s failing because he’s brought a thesaurus to a gunfight,” wrote the S.F. Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli.
- The Newsom remarks that drew a backlash are not particularly controversial among Californians, wrote Lanhee J. Chen in the L.A. Times: “That California Democrats may be out of touch with many voters in their own state should not be a surprise.”
3.
Elon Musk’s DOGE team is planning to close 22 environmental offices in California, a federal database showed. The targeted lease terminations include facilities that house the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Eureka, the Environmental Protection Agency in Los Angeles, the National Park Service in Ventura, and the U.S. Forest Service in Mount Shasta. Chitra Kumar, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the EPA rollback would be a boon to polluting industries: “I am not sure how the EPA could fulfill its legal mandate of public health protection if this plan goes forward.” L.A. Times
4.
California regulators on Tuesday granted Tesla a permit to begin offering a ride service in the state, a step toward the electric carmaker’s goal of operating an autonomous taxi fleet. Elon Musk has said that one day Tesla owners should be able to rent out their own cars by putting them into self-driving mode, creating a sort of self-driving Uber service. “It’s going to be a glorious future,” he said last fall. Musk’s big bet comes as the public backlash to his role in slashing the federal government has reached a fever pitch in liberal parts of California. Bloomberg | N.Y. Times
5.
Yosemite is looking glorious after recent snowfall. The photographer Andrew Cheng said he needed four-wheel drive and chains to enter the park in stormy conditions last Friday. The following morning was his reward as he wandered Yosemite at its most serene, blanketed in freshly fallen snow. He posted a series of his pictures on Reddit.
Northern California
6.
A Bay Area resident hoisted a Hamas flag on a pole outside his home for several days last week. Pictures of the display in San Carlos circulated online, leading some people to demand that law enforcement get involved. But open support of a terrorist organization, even if noxious, is protected under the First Amendment, experts noted. “There’s nothing illegal about it,” said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. S.F. Chronicle | The Jewish News
7.
After college, Valerie Sobel-Twain found a room in a rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood for a modestly priced $1,250 a month. It was 1994. More than 30 years later, she is still there — and now has the whole place for herself and her 11-year-old son. At $2,211 a month, it’s a steal in a neighborhood where a three-bedroom can rent for more than $6,000. The New York Times
8.
On weekend nights, a hidden outdoor bar rouses to life deep within the old-growth redwood forests of Mendocino County. The Glen Blair Bar — featuring live music, fairy lights, and large fire pits — can only be reached via the Skunk Train, a historic logging railroad. The New York Times included the destination in a recent article on “spectacular North American train trips.”
Southern California
9.
When Tim Thompson started cultivating his church in 2012, it met for a while in a bar. Today, his evangelical 412 Church Temecula Valley has become a major political force across the Inland Empire — and well beyond. Thompson’s rise has been fueled by an unapologetic embrace of political activism from the pulpit. While critics denounce him as Christian nationalist, he doesn’t seem to mind the label. “What is wrong with saying, ‘Hey I want my Christian values to be the law of the land? I don’t want babies murdered,'” he said recently. “What’s wrong with that?” The Press-Enterprise wrote about “the Inland Empire’s direct link to MAGA.”
10.
After a wildfire tore through Altadena in January, thousands of fireplaces stood amid ruins. More than 200 of them were covered in historic tiles by the artist Ernest Batchelder, a leader of the Arts and Crafts movement who was in high demand during Altadena’s building boom of the early 1900s. With federal bulldozers gearing up to clear lots, a ragtag Save The Tiles crew has been scrambling to chisel the treasures loose before it’s too late. The tiles are being stored so homeowners can reclaim them when they are ready. Dwell | L.A. Times
11.
A Los Angeles film director, Carl Rinsch, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of swindling Netflix out $11 million. Though Rinsch had directed only one film, “47 Ronin,” which was a commercial and critical flop, Netflix inked a deal with him to create a sci-fi show during the height of the streaming boom in 2018. But he never produced any episodes. Instead, investigators said, Rinsch plowed the money into cryptocurrency investments and a fleet of luxury cars. He faces decades in prison. N.Y. Times | Variety
12.
JuJu Watkins, positioned to become the face of women’s college basketball, is just 19. She could have played for a traditional powerhouse like UConn, or South Carolina, or Stanford. Instead, she chose USC, down the road from where she grew up in Watts. As her Trojans seek their first national championship since 1984, the New Yorker’s Louisa Thomas expounded on the magnetism that makes Watkins herself “the moment.”
- See Watkins dazzle during USC’s upset of undefeated UCLA last month. YouTube
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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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