Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Aug. 8
| • | Warming seas put San Diego in line for a hurricane. |
| • | Another Sikh man is beaten by strangers in the Central Valley. |
| • | And a San Diego food joint aims to be the “vegan McDonald’s.” |
The lede
1
What next?
Hurricane Marie, a Pacific storm, created big waves in Malibu in 2014.
Damian Dovarganes/A.P.
The only known hurricane to have directly struck California was in 1858, when San Diego was clobbered by home-destroying winds and rain.
Hurricanes are rare along the California coast because the cool ocean waters suppress their strength. With ocean temperatures now hitting record highs, scientists told NBC San Diego that the potential for a hurricane to slam into Southern California is the greatest it’s been in more than a century.
Read more in NBC San Diego.
Statewide
2
People in Lake Forest watched smoke from a wildfire burning near the Holy Jim area on Monday.
Jae C. Hong/A.P.
Here’s the latest on California’s wildfires:
| • | Holy Jim, a 150-year-old community deep in the Cleveland National Forest, faces the possibility of vanishing forever after a wildfire reduced cabins to ruins in just hours. O.C. Register |
| • | California is choking on wildfire smoke. It’s especially acute in the Central Valley. “One hundred percent of the people I’m talking to are having changes in their symptoms,” a Fresno pulmonologist said. Fresno Bee | SFGate.com |
| • | Scientists say the carbon being spewed by the fires is undoing some of the progress made by the state’s climate policies. Forests expel carbon not only when they burn, but also slowly over years as charred trees decay. CALmatters |
| • | Explore an up-to-the-minute map, with details on the Carr, Mendocino Complex, Ferguson, and other fires. S.F. Chronicle |
3
“Someone has to be held accountable. This is not acceptable.” California lawmakers ripped into the director of the D.M.V. during a public hearing in response to the public outcry over hours-long wait times at the agency’s offices. The D.M.V. claimed wait times are 23 minutes with an appointment. Bogus, one lawmaker said.
4
Protestors blocked the entrance to a building housing I.C.E. offices in San Diego last month.
Gregory Bull/A.P.
The “Abolish ICE” rallying cry has emerged as a mantra for progressive activists. But none of the Democrats running in the 10 most competitive House races in California support dissolving the agency, according to a survey of the candidates. That signals an unease with the party’s bold left turn in deep blue California.
5
A bluff-top boardwalk in Cambria offers spectacular views.
Cambria’s charms go well beyond Hearst Castle. “For starters, everything’s easy,” a travel writer said of the Central Coast town. There’s no traffic, no lines for restaurants, and relatively inexpensive rooms. Stroll the bluffs overlooking the rocky shoreline or visit any of the dozens of Paso Robles wineries just to the east. And definitely pick up a famous olallieberry pie at Linn’s Restaurant.
Northern California
6
A screen grab from video showing two men attacking an elderly Sikh in Manteca.
Manteca Police Department
Another Sikh man was attacked in the Central Valley. In an episode captured on video, the 71-year-old was confronted by two men as he took a morning stroll around a Manteca park. The police say the attackers wanted money. As the victim tried to walk by, one of the men kicked him, sending him to the ground and dislodging his turban. The assailant then kicked the elderly man repeatedly and spat on him.
7
“It’s a shame that people are turning this into a way to prey on other people.” A Sacramento pool hall that hosted players from around the world for decades closed in the face of litigation from a serial filer of disability access lawsuits. Court records showed the plaintiff listed in more than 2,000 federal lawsuits seeking payouts from noncompliant businesses.
8
A free speech rally turned violent in Berkeley last summer.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/A.P.
A liberal explained why he gave up on Berkeley. According to the journalist Alexander Nazaryan, it’s a city now governed almost entirely by its animosities, where the revolution has been on the verge of happening for half a century, and where people who declare themselves immune to critical scrutiny “are so certain they have found the answers, they decline to ask any more questions.”
9
An environmentally conscious teenager has been collecting golf balls from the ocean off of Pebble Beach in Monterey County. In two years, she’s accumulated more than 50,000 balls from her dives. If people could see them, they would be outraged, she said. “But because these golf balls are on the bottom of the ocean and you can’t see them, we just don’t know about it.”
10
The marshmallow-looking home in La Selva Beach has views of Monterey Bay.
Coldwell Banker
One of California’s weirdest houses is on the market for $1.4 million between Monterey and Santa Cruz. Designed in 1969 by a local artist, its odd shape was intended to be “organic.” It’s also small, just 700 square feet on a lot filled with exotic plants. That makes it a staggering $2,000 per square foot.
Southern California
11
Los Padres National Forest includes mountainous terrain between Ventura and San Luis Obispo.
President Trump’s tweet calling for tree-clearing wasn’t just idle talk. His administration is moving to allow commercial logging for the first time in decades in the Los Padres National Forest north of Los Angeles. The U.S. Forest Service says it would reduce fire risk. Conservationists see it as an excuse to plunder forests.
12
U.S.C. President C.L. Max Nikias stepped down as the university seeks to recover from a series of scandals including accusations that a campus gynecologist sexually abused patients for years. Critics have called for a broad cultural change at the campus. Wanda Austin, a U.S.C. trustee and retired aerospace executive, was named interim president.
13
Kathleen Turner in New York in 2015.
Charles Sykes/Invision/A.P.
Kathleen Turner had a lot to say in an interview with Vulture. She bashed Elizabeth Taylor, Nicolas Cage, the cast of “Friends,” and Burt Reynolds. There was also this exchange:
Vulture: What else, aside from luck, has driven your career?
Turner: Rage.
Vulture: What do you mean?
Turner: I’m fuckin’ angry, man.
Vulture: About what?
Turner: Everything.
Vulture: Where does that anger come from?
Turner: Injustice in the world.
14
The residence is very 1970s.
Anthony Barcelo
HGTV bought the “Brady Bunch” house in Studio City, beating out bids from NSYNC’s Lance Bass, among others. The listing claimed the pink ranch-style home is the second-most photographed home in the U.S. after the White House. HGTV’s plan? “Restore it to its 1970s glory.”
15
Customers have been lining up for Plant Power’s vegan fast food burger.
Plant Power
“I’ve never seen such an intense demand for something. We were slammed hour-in, hour-out, every day once we opened our doors.” With two locations in the San Diego area, Plant Power is trying to become the “vegan McDonald’s.” It has plans to open 10 restaurants up and down the California coast in the next few years.
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