Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 2.
- The case for Kamala Harris to replace President Biden.
- San Francisco is forced to expedite homebuilding.
- And Palmer Luckey’s second act as a military mogul.
Statewide
1.
While some Democrats have floated the names of governors as potential replacements for President Biden should he step aside, Vice President Kamala Harris would be the likeliest alternative, the Wall Street Journal said:
“While that path carries risk because Harris’s poll numbers are roughly as lackluster as Biden’s, she is popular enough among Democrats — particularly among women and Black voters — that casting her aside could cause resentment and division within the party.”
- Columnist Ezra Klein scolded Gov. Gavin Newsom for saying Democrats were duty-bound to support Biden: “What kind of party would be trying to make a change after Thursday night? A party that was doing its job.” N.Y. Times
2.
California’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, skipped a recent series of state hearings on what could be done to solve the insurance crisis, despite seven letters urging him to attend. No explanation was offered, according to Commission Chair Pedro Nava, who said he was “aghast” at Lara’s absence. Gil Garcetti, another commissioner, said he understood that elected officials are busy. “But nevertheless, this was important,” he said. “I’m still dumbfounded by it.” S.F. Chronicle
3.
Tuesday could be California’s coolest day of the foreseeable future, even as much of the state broils in triple digit temperatures. The extreme heat — featuring consecutive days with highs above 110 degrees across the state’s interior — will kick off Wednesday and last into early next week, forecasters said. See how the heat is expected to unfold day by day on the National Weather Service’s HeatRisk map.
- In an ominous sign ahead of July Fourth, illegal fireworks ignited a fire that torched three acres of a San Francisco park. @SFFDPIO | SF Standard
Northern California
4.
“We are truly in a new era.”
San Francisco just became the first California city to officially fail to reach its state-mandated housing goals, making it subject to a new law that eliminates red tape, lawmakers said on Monday. The change is expected to shorten the approvals process from two years — the longest in the state — to less than six months. “No discretionary hearings, no CEQA lawsuits, none of the politics at the Board of Supervisors, you just get your damn permit,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener. “Period.” KQED | SF Examiner
5.
A weekend ransomware attack on Patelco Credit Union, the Bay Area’s third-largest credit union, left customers scrambling to regain full access to their accounts as Patelco shut down its online banking and mobile app functions. The bank, which holds $10 billion in assets and serves half a million members, said that a “serious security incident” had forced the drastic measures. “They are effectively holding us hostage,” said Lee S. Snider, a frustrated member in Roseville. S.F. Chronicle | Berkeleyside
6.
“Sometimes you make a mistake.”
On July 7, 1985, Connie Dahl and her boyfriend Ricky Davis returned home in Placerville to find a houseguest murdered. After manipulative police interrogations, Dahl implicated herself and Davis in the killing, landing them both in prison. In 2020, genetic genealogy proved that someone else committed the murder. Davis was freed, but Dahl had died a convicted killer six years earlier. The reporters Anita Chabria and Jessica Garrison told the maddening story of a grave injustice and the quest to reclaim innocence. L.A. Times
7.
Over the last decade, a Monaco billionaire named Patrice Pastor has spent more than $100 million buying up at least 18 properties in and around Carmel, including the only oceanfront home ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Pastor says he simply loves Carmel. But many locals in the idiosyncratic community have found his attention unnerving. “Every person has the right to do this. But why is he picking Carmel?” said Dee Borsella, who owns a pajama shop in Carmel. L.A. Times
8.
In the 1960s, a drug‐rehabilitation center in a coastal hamlet just north of San Francisco degenerated into an authoritarian cult. The property inside a historic park on Tomales Bay has now been transformed into a luxury hotel called the Lodge at Marconi. It’s a place of captivating history and picturesque vistas, wrote travel journalist Dana Rebmann. Yet, “for decades, countless folks, even Northern California locals, have driven by not realizing what sits at the end of the long winding driveway.” Fodor’s Travel
Southern California
9.
In a glittery presentation in April, the Los Angeles public school superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, promoted a new artificial intelligence platform called Ed that was supposed to be an “educational friend” to half a million students. Two months later, the start-up that built it collapsed, furloughing most of its staff. The district’s ill-fated foray in AI comes as education leaders, parents, and lawmakers are increasingly embracing another goal — reducing children’s screen time. N.Y. Times
10.
Palmer Luckey, the billionaire inventor of the Oculus VR goggles, is now a military mogul in Orange County, perhaps the first whose office uniform includes a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. “We are preemptively being invited to conversations to help solve problems — most companies will just never get that call. It’s the dream come true for someone with my ideological bent,” said Luckey, 31. That bent, in his telling, is “pro-innovation and national security,” and has inspired him to become a major Republican donor. L.A. Times
11.
A developer wants to build a master planned community with nearly 1,700 in the Inland Empire’s Jurupa Valley. But local leaders, who have been amenable to the project, are having second thoughts after a public meeting last week where environmentalists warned that it would imperil one of the world’s treasures: a nearby shrub believed to be at least 13,000 years old. “I think we all need time to process the information we’ve had here tonight,” said Penny Newman, a planning commissioner. L.A. Times
12.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a Republican, withdrew from the race for the district once held by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday, all but ensuring fellow Republican Rep. Vince Fong’s hold on the seat in November. Fong, a McCarthy protégé who was backed by Donald Trump, was already sworn into Congress last month after winning a special election to complete the remainder of McCarthy’s unfinished term. A.P. | Bakersfield Californian
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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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