Good morning. It’s Monday, June 3.
- Fire season kicks off with big blaze near Tracy.
- Right-wing provocateur targets San Diego charity.
- And six of the state’s most wondrous swimming pools.
Statewide
1.
Lines stretched around blocks at several Mexican consulates across California on Sunday as people waited for hours to vote in an election that saw two women vying to lead one of the hemisphere’s biggest nations. In Los Angeles, a festive atmosphere took hold as mariachi music blared and a crowd draped in Mexican flags erupted in cheers each time a voter exited the building. “A female president is progress for the country, hopefully for the good of the country,” said Carolina Montemayor, a 21-year-old. L.A. Times | NBC 7 | KFSN
- Claudia Sheinbaum, early results showed, prevailed to become the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico. N.Y. Times
2.
Some Californians bought homes after mortgage rates surged in recent years with hopes of refinancing after rates dropped back down. But that hasn’t happened and isn’t expected to soon. Steven Wolf and his wife stretched to buy a home in Bakersfield in fall 2022 in part because they wanted a yard for their kids. Now they’re stuck, with both taking on extra work to meet their bills. Wolf said he wishes he had sought advice from someone without a financial stake in his home purchase: “I’m not a financial professional. I am an English teacher.” L.A. Times
3.
A bend in the Gualala River through dense redwood forest. A spring-fed pool surrounded by red rock boulders along the Santa Ynez River. And “the most beautiful pool you’ve ever seen” along the Big Sur River.
The New York Times shared six California swimming holes “that exemplify the best of the state.”
Northern California
4.
A wind-driven wildfire marched across 22 square miles along the outer edge of the East Bay over the weekend, destroying at least one home and forcing residents to flee near the city of Tracy. The Corral Fire, the largest blaze of the year, was portrayed as the opening salvo of the 2024 wildfire season. Caitlin Cortez, an evacuee, said things got dicey fast. “My husband came home and basically told me ‘you got five minutes to pack what you need and get the kids and dog and get out,’” she said. KQED | Mercury News
5.
Anchor Brewing will pour again after the billionaire behind the Chobani yogurt brand announced on Friday that he had acquired the 127-year-old San Francisco institution that closed last year amid declining sales. Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant, made an audacious bet 20 years ago when he invested $700,000 in a dairy plant in upstate New York and started producing the yogurt he had grown up eating. It paid off fabulously. He said he intends to work the same magic with Anchor. “Let’s bring it back to life. I don’t want to sit around,” he said. S.F. Chronicle
6.
In the remote landscape surrounding Mount Shasta, several thousand people live in seasonal encampments amid illegal cannabis-growing operations. The black market production has been allowed to thrive, officials say, because fines are too low and law enforcement resources too meager. The consequences for the ecosystem are dire, said Rick Dean, a county official: “We’ve gone down there on the ground and there’s really no wildlife. You’re lucky to find a lizard.” The Guardian
Southern California
7.
A renewable energy company is about to destroy 3,500 Joshua trees, many believed to be more than 100 years old, to clear the way for a 2,300-acre solar farm in the Mojave desert. The project is a stark example of the tradeoffs being made to advance California’s climate fight: toppling an icon of the desert in the name of clean energy. “Let’s destroy the environment to save the environment. That seems to be the mentality,” said Deric English, a teacher in Boron who has fought the project. “It’s hard to comprehend.” L.A. Times
8.
In March, the right wing-provocateur James O’Keefe began posting videos claiming that a Catholic Charities shelter in San Diego was sheltering migrants in the country illegally while speculating that some were trafficked. Since then the 113-year-old faith-based nonprofit has faced a deluge of menacing calls. Some supporters of O’Keefe have shown up in person searching for “smuggled” children. “We had never seen this level of harassment,” said Vino Pajanor, the chief executive of Catholic Charities San Diego. N.Y. Times
9.
Not long after Fontana detectives told Thomas Perez Jr. that his father had been killed and coerced him into confessing to his murder in August 2018, they learned that the father was in fact alive and unharmed. But they didn’t tell Perez. Instead, the officers locked him in a psychiatric ward and ordered staff to block incoming phone calls, Perez said in court filing. He didn’t know his father was alive for days. Even now, the Fontana Police Department says it did nothing wrong. The L.A. Times explored the perfectly legal use of deception in police interrogations. L.A. Times
10.
Officials closed 2 miles of beach along the San Diego County coast after a shark bit a swimmer Sunday morning. The victim suffered bites to his torso, left arm and hand. “There was a lot of bleeding, so they determined it was likely an arterial wound in the left hand and wrist area,” said Jonathan Edelbrock, a lifeguard. “He had significant injuries to his torso for sure.” The attack came a week after a shark knocked a surfer off his board in San Clemente. S.D. Union-Tribune | NBC 7
11.
The magazine shop Hi Desert Times opened on the outskirts of Joshua Tree National Park last year with a risky proposition: to make print cool again. The shop offers a curated selection of more than 100 magazines. Customers who wander in commonly talk about needing a break from their devices, said Liz Lapp, the owner. “Maybe this can only happen in the desert,” she said. “Maybe this can happen in a place where we’re a little less jaded.” Alta
12.
There’s a home in Palm Springs guarded by a 28-foot-tall black widow made from the body of a Volkswagen Beetle. A local welder named Bob Miner created the sculpture to greet customers to his auto shop, which operated between the 1970s and 1990s. After Miner’s death in 2008, his daughter’s family made the property their home, preserving the arachnid as a roadside attraction. Now the spider has become a major consideration in plans for a proposed warehouse on the property. The developer took pains to assure city officials that no matter what shape the project takes, the “iconic” spider stays. Atlas Obscura
- Take a tour of the Spider Car house. 👉 Desert Sun
Correction
Friday’s newsletter included a quote critical of Donald Trump that was misattributed to the comedian Steve Martin. Its author was a different Steve Martin, who identifies as a lawyer and banjo player on X.
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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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