Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Feb. 18.
- Thousands of protesters gather to reject “king” Trump.
- Figures linked to cultlike vegan group are arrested.
- And portraits of what was lost in the Los Angeles fires.
Statewide
1.
Thousands of people rallied in cities across California on Monday in a nationwide “No kings on Presidents Day” action to denounce President Trump and Elon Musk. Sizable crowds gathered in San Diego, Long Beach, San Francisco, Berkeley, Fresno, Redding, and other cities. Xochil Pasillas, a first-generation U.S. citizen who said she had fallen out with Trump supporters in her own family, was overcome by emotion when asked why she joined the protest in Sacramento. “He’s trying to tear up families,” she said. “Instead of making America great, it’s tearing us apart.” Sacramento Bee
2.
The Education Department on Friday threatened to rescind federal funding for any school or college that continues to consider race in scholarships, hiring, and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.” In a letter, the department specifically called out graduation ceremonies that honor racial groups, a widespread practice in California that has included, for example, UCLA’s LatinX Graduation and Cal Poly’s Black Commencement. These ceremonies are “shameful,” the agency said. Institutions have two weeks to comply with the order. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
3.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco kicked off his bid for California governor on Monday, making him the first major Republican to join the race. Dressed in Wrangler jeans with a gun on his hip, Bianco told supporters in Riverside that Democrats had made a mockery of California. “What is it they have given us?” he said. “Rampant crime, higher taxes, the highest cost of living in our nation, tent encampments in every major city, more fentanyl deaths, catastrophic fires, a broken home insurance market, and people across our state are struggling to afford groceries and gas. Californians deserve better.” Desert Sun | Politico
- Other Republicans considering bids: Richard Grenell and Steve Hilton.
Northern California
4.
Three former Bay Area residents believed to be affiliated with the Zizians, a fringe vegan group linked to multiple killings, were arrested Sunday in Maryland, reports said. Michelle Zajko, 32, Daniel Blank, 26, and their alleged leader, 33-year-old Jack LaSota, who is also known as “Ziz,” were charged with trespassing and obstruction. Blank’s parents said their son vanished in 2022 after sending them one final message. “Look what you’ve done,” it read, with a link to a video of farm animals being slaughtered. “He went under the influence of the cult,” Alexander Blank said. S.F. Chronicle | Open Vallejo
5.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is escalating her campaign to force Google to restore the name Gulf of Mexico in its maps. In a news conference on Monday, she shared a letter from a Google executive who said the move reflected an official government update. “But this is incorrect,” Sheinbaum said, noting that the U.S. only lays claim to less than half of the gulf. “As I have said many times, President Trump’s decree only changed the name within his own continental shelf.” She said she would await a response from Google. “If not, we will proceed to court.” A.P. | NPR
6.
A little over two years ago, a 17-year-old motorist decided to race another car along a road on the San Francisco Peninsula. He topped out at somewhere between 99 and 122 mph, then slammed into a car, killing two parents and leaving their twin 7-year-old girls injured, but alive. Their grief has been all but unbearable. The 17-year-old went to juvenile hall, where he completed high school and had access to yoga and guitar lessons. On Jan. 16, he was released. In time, he’ll be able to get his license back. It all seems deeply wrong to the family of the victims. S.F. Chronicle
7.
The former Sonoma State Hospital served people with developmental disabilities for more than a century before closing in 2018. Officials now want to build roughly 1,000 homes on the property nestled against the western hills of Sonoma Valley. But plans to demolish an 1897 Victorian structure known as the Sonoma House has drawn fierce resistance from preservationists. The developer, Keith Rogal, has cited the hospital’s dark history to justify the proposal: The superintendent who lived in the home was a eugenicist and leader of the forced-sterilization movement. Press Democrat
Southern California
8.
On April 23, 2024, a powerful Kern County supervisor was accused of sexually assaulting his preteen daughter before being stabbed by another of his children trying to defend his sibling. Ten months later, on Friday, state prosecutors announced that Zack Scrivner, who has since resigned, had been charged with five felony child-abuse and weapons charges. They said Scrivner had taken drugs and “got into bed” with a child whom he touched inappropriately. Scrivner’s attorney said his client would be exonerated: “He is innocent of these charges.” KGET | Bakersfield Californian
9.
Thousands of troops have been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Trump’s effort to halt what he called an “invasion.” But the surge of migration during the Biden administration had largely subsided by the time Trump took office. Adam Isacson, a border security analyst, estimated that there is now roughly one Mexican or American soldier for every migrant trying to cross each month. As a result, bored troops are standing watch and reinforcing barriers, while nonprofits that once aided migrants are shifting their resources to partners in Mexico. Washington Post | S.D. Union-Tribune
10.
Architectural Digest asked 77 Angelenos to pay tribute to the places lost in the Los Angeles wildfires. The respondents mentioned architecturally significant structures, like Ray Kappe’s Keeler House, but also lesser-known anchor points for communities: a pizza place, a pharmacy, a church, a hardware store. The watercolor artist Samantha Hahn brought the structures to life in buoyant illustrations, such as the Pasadena Waldorf School, above. Architectural Digest
- See a gallery of Hahn’s L.A. illustrations. 👉 Facebook
11.
“The question I’m being asked but don’t quite know how to answer is when does the pain become enough that we actually have a serious conversation and address the fundamental issues … I would like to think that these recent fires might be horrific enough to serve as a catalyst, but I’ve thought that for a couple of decades as urban conflagrations have built up in magnitude and damages.”
The L.A. Times interviewed two leading wildfire researchers who argued that Los Angeles’ destruction didn’t have to be as bad as it was.
12.
In the mid-1970s, the photographer John Humble moved out to Los Angeles from the East Coast thinking he would stay for a year. He never left. With funding from a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he sought out parts of the metropolitan landscape that L.A.’s boosters would prefer stay hidden, he once told the L.A. Times — “which is most of L.A.” His work has since been celebrated for capturing the collision of squalor and beauty that was 1980s Los Angeles. You can see 50 of his works in the Getty’s online collection.
- A series of Humble’s L.A. pictures is currently on view at Laguna Art Museum.
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