Good morning. It’s Thursday, May 2.
- Police move to dismantle UCLA protest encampment.
- San Diego judge reprimanded for handcuffing teenager.
- And purple sage creates smell of Southern California.
Campus protests
1.
Police in riot gear massed on the UCLA campus as darkness fell Wednesday and ordered hundreds of demonstrators inside a Palestinian solidarity encampment to disperse. Defiant activists donned helmets, fortified barriers, and taunted the officers with strobe lights and shouts of “LAPD KKK” and “we’re not leaving.” After a tense hourslong standoff, officers began to breach the encampment shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, ripping down the barricade, firing flash-bang devices, and arresting protesters one by one. KABC | L.A. Times
- Students at the UC campuses in San Diego and Santa Cruz became the latest to add protest encampments on Wednesday, bringing the number of camps established across California since April to at least 15. See where they stand. 👉 S.F. Chronicle
2.
The police presence at UCLA on Wednesday stood in contrast to its absence Tuesday night, when pro-Israel demonstrators freely attacked the encampment for several hours with fireworks, sticks, and pepper spray. At least 15 people were injured. The university’s handling of the melee drew condemnation from local and state leaders. “The limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA last night was unacceptable — and it demands answers,” a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. Michael V. Drake, the UC system president, ordered an independent investigation. L.A. Times | Daily Bruin
Statewide
3.
In 2022, California lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a law designed to limit the ability of businesses to sway lawmakers with campaign contributions in what its author called the “most significant political reform” in decades. Two years later, some of those same lawmakers are now trying to gut the measure. Among them is State Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat. Asked why he had a change of heart, he said, “I don’t think anybody really read into the details.” Prompted by a staffer, he tried again: “I don’t think we understood the implications.” CalMatters
4.
California pumps billions of dollars into a sprawling system of services aimed at alleviating homelessness. But new research suggests that simple cash payments could get thousands of people off the streets right away. A policy brief by four Los Angeles academics argued that a monthly stipend of $1,000 would be enough to rescue people who toppled into homeless after an economic setback. And it would actually save money, the authors wrote: “The truth is, we cannot afford not to do better than the current system, which spends a huge amount of money to house a small fraction of those in need.” L.A. Times
5.
A far-right group is hoping to sue California to block certification of the 2024 election results unless the state can prove that ballots were cast only by people eligible to vote. Rather than rely on election law, they plan to invoke the civil-rights laws that helped eliminate poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation at the ballot box 60 years ago. If any votes are found to be ineligible, activist Marly Hornik explained to a group in Sacramento recently, then all voters are being disenfranchised — just like those who couldn’t vote decades ago because of their race. L.A. Times
6.
“This is big for the industry.”
On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is planning to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, downgrading it from Schedule I, alongside heroin and LSD, to Schedule III, which includes ketamine and anabolic steroids. The change won’t legalize marijuana at the federal level. But it would bring one big change to states like California that ended marijuana prohibition: a lighter tax burden for struggling cannabis businesses. L.A. Times | Eureka Times-Standard
7.
For some, the smell of California is that of the minty eucalyptus, or the musty redwood. For many Southern Californians, it’s the aroma of salvia leucophylla, better known as purple sage, the highly fragrant shrub that shows off its colors during spring and early summer along hillsides from the Central Coast to the Baja California Peninsula. Lucas Lagola, an arborist who runs the popular TikTok account Lucas the Lorax, explained what makes it so amazing. TikTok (~3 mins)
Northern California
8.
First, a Silicon Valley congressional primary resulted in a historic tie for the second-place runoff spot: 30,249 to 30,249. Then a recount was triggered that drew accusations of “dirty tricks.” Now we have a clear outcome: Assemblymember Evan Low will advance to the general election showdown against former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, after the recount nudged Low ahead of Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian by just 5 votes. Simitian was gracious in defeat. “The good news is the 16th congressional district’s long painful exercise counting the votes is over!” he said. Politico | Mercury News
9.
To save one kind of owl across Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to kill half a million owls of another sort. The plan has pitted animal lovers against animal lovers. A coalition of 75 wildlife groups called it “colossally reckless.” Karla Bloem, the executive director of the International Owl Center, suggested the ethical questions are not so easy: “The concept of shooting birds is awful — nobody wants that. But none of the alternatives have worked, and at this late date no other option is viable. Extinction is a forever thing.” N.Y. Times
10.
Sea lions are swarming San Francisco Pier 39 in numbers not seen in 15 years. Sheila Chandor, the harbormaster, estimated that more than 1,000 of the blubbery, barking pinnipeds had gathered to fatten up on a large school of anchovy. “It’s really a phenomenon,” she said. “There are also a huge number of pelicans and a lot of anchovy in the bay. It’s like a National Geographic photograph right now.” SFGATE | KGO
- See the Pier 39 sea lions via a live web cam.
Southern California
11.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a highly rare public reprimand against a San Diego judge who handcuffed a 13-year-old to scare her away from drugs. During a February 2023 sentencing hearing for a man who had violated his parole, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez called the man’s 13-year-old daughter to the front of the courtroom and ordered a U.S. marshal to handcuff her. The girl, who had done nothing wrong, began crying. Benitez then warned her to stay away from drugs. “If you’re not careful, young lady, you’ll wind up in cuffs,” he said. S.D. Union-Tribune | S.F. Chronicle
12.
Dan Schneider, a former Nickelodeon producer, filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against the makers of the docuseries “Quiet on Set,” which aired accounts of sexual abuse on Nickelodeon sets in the 1990s and 2000s. Schneider called the series a “hit job” that deliberately conflated him with people convicted of child sex crimes, even though he had no knowledge of their abuse and condemned it once it was discovered. “But for the sake of clickbait, ratings, and views — or put differently, money,” the lawsuit said, the filmmakers “destroyed Schneider’s reputation.” Hollywood Reporter | A.P.
Correction
Wednesday’s newsletter misstated the location of San Diego’s Old Globe Theater. It is in Balboa Park, not La Jolla.
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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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