Good morning. It’s Monday, Sept. 9.
- New wildfires menace communities across California.
- The story of the “palace coup at the Magic Kingdom.”
- And Oceanside surfer becomes youngest champion.
Statewide
1.
New wildfires tormented the state over the weekend:
- In the San Bernardino Mountain foothills, the Line fire exploded in size to more than 32 square miles as of Sunday night, feasting on dry vegetation with such intensity that it created its own storm clouds. Fire officials said more than 36,000 structures were at risk, especially in mountain communities such as Running Springs and Arrowbear Lake. San Bernardino Sun | LAist
- The Boyles fire raced through the town of Clearlake, in Lake County, on Sunday, destroying about 30 structures, officials said. The blaze measured only 90 acres, but windblown embers made the spread erratic. “There were literally hundreds of spot fires coming off of this,” said William Sapeta, chief of the Lake County Fire Protection District. ABC10 | Press Democrat
2.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday vetoed a controversial bill that would have made immigrants in the country illegally eligible for interest-free home loans of up to $150,000 under a state program for first-time buyers. The move eliminated a potential flash point in the presidential election as former President Trump tries to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to liberal policies in her home state, whether she played a role in them or not. In his veto message, Newsom cited budget constraints. Politico | N.Y. Times
3.
Near the end of the 2016 U.S. Senate debate between Loretta Sanchez and Kamala Harris, Sanchez closed her remarks with a dab, the once-popular dance move. Harris pressed her lips together, raised her eyebrows, and let the silence linger. “So there’s a clear difference between the candidates in this race,” she said. Harris won the election by a 23-point margin. In Tuesday’s presidential debate, the Washington Post wrote, Harris will look to make a similar argument about Donald Trump, whom she has described as “an unserious man.”
- See the “dab” moment. 👉 @AdrianNBCLA
4.
The former chief of staff for state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil filed a lawsuit accusing the Central Valley Republican of pressuring him into performing oral sex on her and then firing him when he began to resist her advances. Chad Condit alleged that Alvarado-Gil started “grooming” him after his hiring, sharing intimate details about her personal life. Over time, he said, she created a “dominant-submissive relationship.” Alvarado-Gil called the claims “outlandish.” KCRA | Politico
5.
As Southern California suffers through its hottest weather in years, fall has begun making its debut in the Eastern Sierra. In recent weeks, the longer and cooler nights have triggered some trees to start swapping their summer greens for yellows, oranges, and reds. The site California Fall Color shared pictures of burgeoning transformation around Mammoth Lakes.
Northern California
6.
In early 2023, Margarita Solito and her family fled violence and poverty in El Salvador, making the 3,200-mile journey to start a new life in San Francisco. Solito said she was drawn in part because she heard it is a “sanctuary city,” believing that would include a physical home, not just legal protections. They spent months sleeping on the floor of a school gymnasium. The New York Times featured the Solito family in a photo essay on the crisis of family homelessness in San Francisco.
7.
Bloomberg on how Apple rules the world:
“Apple Inc. is worth $3.4 trillion, more than any other company in the world. Its 2023 revenue (almost $400 billion) makes it about as big as the entire economy of Denmark or the Philippines. And though most of the business, as you’d expect, revolves around selling iPhones, it’s also grown far broader. Last quarter, Apple’s sales from digital services alone reached $24.2 billion, more than the combined revenue of Adobe, Airbnb, Netflix, Palantir, Spotify, Zoom and Elon Musk’s X. Amazingly, these figures understate the company’s influence and power.”
8.
A man wearing a wingsuit died after leaping from a mountain near Mammoth Lakes, the authorities said on Saturday. Leonardo Durant, an experienced wingsuit jumper, had been reported missing after his leap from 12,240-foot Mount Morrison on Aug. 31. His body was recovered days later after being spotted in rugged terrain from a helicopter. SFGATE | KOLO
- Durant’s Instagram account shows him flying down mountains around the world. 👉 @machgzus
Southern California
9.
Extreme heat caused tens of thousands of power outages across Southern California over the weekend. In the San Fernando Valley, where indoor temperatures were said to hit 100 degrees, some booked their families into hotel rooms. Janisse Quiñones, the head of Los Angeles’ main utility, said the problem was not power supplies, which were flush, but rather subpar equipment, comparing the malfunction to an overheated iPhone that shuts off. “That’s exactly the same thing that’s happening to our equipment,” she said. “It gets to a level of temperature that it’s dangerous for it.” LAist | S.D. Union-Tribune
10.
When Bob Chapek succeeded Bob Iger as chief executive of Disney, it was under an unusual arrangement: Chapek would still report to Iger, who decided to stay in the same office he occupied as the top boss. Chapek was relegated to smaller quarters nearby. Before long, the reality of the situation dawned on Chapek: Iger was still in charge. In an investigation based on scores of interviews, the New York Times told the story of the “palace coup at the Magic Kingdom.”
11.
Caitlin Simmers, an 18-year-old from Oceanside, won the World Surf League finals Friday, making her the youngest surfer to win a world championship. To win the competition, held just south of San Clemente, Simmers had to best Caroline Marks, the defending champion and Paris Olympics gold medalist. “I literally was going through every single emotion today, and it just feels crazy,” she said. Reuters | Surfline
- See highlights from the competition. 👉 YouTube/WSL
California the beautiful
12.
A few years ago, a startup released a mapping tool that uses AI and satellite imagery of forested land to help predict wildfires. The California Forest Observatory also offered another benefit for nature lovers: it revealed where the state’s tallest trees cluster. Some of the stars of California’s forestland leap off the map — such as Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and the Giant Forest — each bathed in deep green to indicate trees at least 80 feet tall. But the map also draws attention to lesser-known concentrations of tall trees. See five of them below, and explore the map for yourself here.
The Red Buttes Wilderness, located along the California-Oregon border, is not redwood country. But it’s home to some of the oldest sugar pine trees on the West Coast, growing well over 100 feet.
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The Marble Mountain Wilderness is filled with madrones, Douglas firs, and mountain hemlocks that scrape the sky within Northern California’s Klamath Mountains.
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Van Damme State Park is a natural paradise two hours north of Santa Rosa that includes redwood groves, riotous ferns, beaches, and the gorgeous Little River.
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Mountain Home Grove, encompassing Balch Park and a unit managed by Cal Fire in the southern Sierra, is home to several of the world’s largest trees by volume. John Muir once called it “the finest block of sequoia” in the area.
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The Silver Peak Wilderness rises steeply from the sea along the Big Sur coastline. The world’s southernmost naturally occurring redwood stand is said to be hidden within one of its isolated canyons.
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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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