Good morning. It’s Friday, Dec. 22.
- Retired California cops bring their pensions to Idaho.
- Port Hueneme cleans up after extraordinary rainfall.
- And middle-class Chinese migrants surged into California.
Editor’s note:
The newsletter will be off next week and the following Monday, returning to your inbox on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Thank you so much for your support in 2023 and over the years. You’ve made what began as a hopeful experiment in 2017 into a thriving little newsletter community. Please have a wonderful holiday and I’ll see you in the new year.
— Mike
Statewide
1.
No out-of-state zip code received more California pension payments in 2022 than 83616 in Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise that has been flooded by retired California firefighters and police. Eagle’s latest mayoral election featured two conservative transplants from the Golden State and hinged largely on one issue: Who is the least Californian? Mayor Jason Pierce, an IT professional who arrived in 2003, denounced his challenger, a retired firefighter, as all but socialist. “You find a lot of Californians who move here don’t realize how much [liberal] baggage they’re bringing with them,” he said. L.A. Times
2.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the 12-term Democrat from Burbank, has taken a commanding lead in the race to represent California in the U.S. Senate. A new poll showed 28% percent of likely voters favor Schiff, followed by 19% for Steve Garvey and 17% for Rep. Katie Porter. The strong showing from Garvey, a former Dodger, raised the prospect of a Republican advancing in the March primary, in which the two top finishers advance, regardless of party. That would set up a lopsided red-versus-blue contest rather than a showdown between moderate and progressive Democrats. Politico | The Hill
3.
A tale of corporate sleaze at American Apparel in the early 2000s.
A Stanford professor’s warning on the state’s “math misadventure.”
And the story of how 96% of California’s redwoods fell to the saw.
Podcast host Jeff Schechtman shared his five favorite interviews from 2023. 👉 California Sun Podcast
Northern California
4.
Sophy and Ray Heng, Cambodian immigrant owners of a Petaluma donut shop since 1995, put their life savings in a home safe, a practice that caught on during the era of distrust under the Khmer Rouge. Both in their 60s, they were planning to retire soon. Then on Monday, burglars broke into their home and stole the safe. At her shop on Wednesday, Sophy was inconsolable. “I’m too old,” she said. As of Thursday, a GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $61,000 for the couple. Petaluma Argus-Courier
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5.
“Tacky.”
“Aarrggg.”
“NOOOO.”
A work crew this week ripped out a charming old chain that lined San Francisco’s picturesque Fort Point and replaced it with bland aluminum railings. Outrage spread after pictures appeared on social media. Julian Espinoza, a Golden Gate National Recreation Area spokesperson, told a reporter that the chain lacked historical significance and the railings would improve safety. The question of charm went unaddressed. SF Standard
Southern California
6.
A month’s worth of rain fell in less than an hour in Ventura County early Thursday in what meteorologists described as an exceptionally rare event. “This is likely the heaviest rainfall that has been observed in this area in recorded history and is likely a multi-centennial kind of event,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA. “These are genuinely extraordinary torrential downpours.” Among the hardest hit communities was the beachside city of Port Hueneme, where floodwaters rushed into dozens of homes. L.A. Times | Ventura County Star
7.
“I want freedom and a better life.”
A growing number of middle-class Chinese migrants, on the run from an economic slowdown, are showing up along California’s southern border. “They stand out,” wrote reporter Shawn Donnan, “and not just because they’re Asians in a migration flow made up mostly of people from Latin America. They also appear more affluent than others and more uncomfortable with the desert conditions, particularly when night falls and it’s time to brave the cold.” Bloomberg
8.
In 2022, a Santa Monica man named Demetrious Polychron published a sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic “Lord of the Rings” series, then sued Amazon and the Tolkien estate, accusing them of stealing his ideas in a new TV series. A judge disagreed. Last week, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ordered Polychron to pay $134,000 in lawyer’s fees and immediately destroy all electronic and physical copies of his published work. N.Y. Times | Washington Post
9.
About a third of Los Angeles’s one-year-old 6th Street Bridge, known as the “Ribbon of Light” for its illuminated arches, has gone dark because thieves ripped out the structure’s copper wiring. Copper theft has been a bane of city life for years, as people pilfer the wires from streetlights and rail lines to sell to scrap yards. Pete Brown, a bridge spokesman, said officials suspected the handiwork of a criminal network. “We’re pursuing this aggressively,” he said. L.A. Times | KABC
10.
Last year, a federal judge tossed a lawsuit against Nirvana by Spencer Elden, who claimed to have suffered “permanent harm” after the band featured a naked baby photo of him on the cover of its 1991 album “Nevermind.” The statute of limitations had long expired, the judge ruled. But on Thursday, an appeals court revived the case, finding that each republication of the image reset the statute clock. Elden, who has the word “Nevermind” tattooed on his chest, had long celebrated his connection to the album cover before having a change of heart in his 30s. N.Y. Times | Reuters
11.
More than eight years after Kelly Slater unveiled his surf ranch in the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley, the Palm Springs Surf Club announced that it would open the first wave pool in the desert interior of Southern California on Jan 1. The $80 million facility will create glassy, 10-second rides for between $100 and $200, depending the style of wave, rising as high as 7 feet. Desert Sun | Surfer magazine
- See surf pros testing out the Palm Springs waves. 👉 YouTube
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- Years ago, the photographer Merrick Morton was given unprecedented access to the LAPD’s archive of photographs. The result is a visual record of the gangland murders, bank robberies, and detectives in fedoras that would make L.A. synonymous with noir. Flashbak
- Since 1985, 28 people have died skydiving from just one location outside Lodi. A Sacramento Bee investigation found that the failure to shut the business down could be attributed to one reason: California does not regulate skydiving. Sacramento Bee
- A rarely seen pod of orcas has been dazzling whale watchers off Southern California over the past week. On Monday, Noemi Cabre, with Net Zero Expeditions, caught incredible video of an orca head-butting a dolphin into the air near San Diego. @netzeroexpeditions
- In California, struggling high school football programs are increasingly being forced into lopsided contests. Reporter Albert Samaha wrote a gripping account of what happened when the boys of C.K. McClatchy faced the football juggernaut of Grant Union in Sacramento. Washington Post
- Hours after a five-ton boulder rolled onto Kevin DePaolo’s right leg in the Inyo Mountains, the 26-year-old was delirious with pain. The New York Times recounted how DePaolo came to believe the end was near after the accident on Dec. 5.
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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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