Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 21.
- Russia arrests Los Angeles woman on treason charges.
- Monaco billionaire buys up prized properties in Carmel.
- And newspapers back proposition to tackle homelessness.
Statewide
1.
Legislation to allow psychedelic drug therapy has become a rare example of bipartisan agreement in California. Democratic support could be taken largely for granted. But it’s more surprising to see Assemblymember Marie Waldron, a Republican, pushing the measure. Waldron represents a San Diego district known for its military presence. She said it was veterans who brought psychedelics to her attention. “They were saying … how it changed their life and actually ended their desire to commit suicide, restored their family,” she said. CalMatters
2.
Before being forced from their lands, Native Americans in the Sierra lit fires to stimulate growth of favored plants, such as berries and acorns. The practice, counterintuitively, also coaxed water back to the land. In 2003, a ranger invited the North Fork Mono Tribe to perform burns in an ancestral meadow that was overrun by pines after decades of fire suppression. “Freed from thirsty conifers, the meager spring began gushing through the summer. Within a few years, [tribal leader Ron] Goode says, these five verdant acres were once again worthy of the label ‘meadow,'” bioGraphic wrote.
3.
In 1960, California embraced a higher education plan with three systems. The University of California and California State systems would offer undergraduate and advanced degrees, while community colleges would be limited to two-year degrees and vocational training. Rivalries developed. When community colleges sought permission to offer some baccalaureate degrees, the CSU system resisted. But a pilot program has been a clear success, wrote columnist Dan Walters: “It now appears that community colleges’ expansion into four-year degrees is a permanent phenomenon. If anything, it’s long overdue.” CalMatters
4.
Latest California developments connected to the Middle East crisis:
- Calls for cease-fire resolutions continue to roil local governments across California. Last week, Madera became the first Central Valley city to endorse a cease-fire. In Ojai, where a protester smeared in fake blood recently writhed on the City Council floor, lawmakers declined to take up a resolution. Fresnoland | L.A. Times
- A group of artists defaced their own works at a San Francisco arts center last Thursday to protest the institution’s “silence on the genocide of Palestinians.” A spokesperson said the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts was committed to a diversity of views. KQED | Hyperallergic
- Pro-Hamas graffiti was found at several sites around Oakland’s Lake Merritt on Sunday. Among the messages: “Long live Hamas,” “Fuck Israel,” and “Kill Biden.” Vandals destroyed a menorah at the lake in December. KRON | KTVU
Northern California
5.
On Feb. 8, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced plans to transform a hotel on the edge of Chinatown into a facility to help people recovering from addiction, the latest push to fight a widening drug crisis. Less than two weeks later, after enormous community backlash, she scrapped the idea on Tuesday. Breed, who is facing a tough reelection battle, “learned her lesson,” said Edward Siu, president of the Chinatown Merchants United Association. S.F. Chronicle
- San Francisco’s Asian Americans, who played a crucial role in ousting progressives officeholders in 2022, are increasingly going Republican. Party officials said the number of Chinese immigrant Republican voters has surged 60% since the pandemic. SF Standard
6.
A Monaco billionaire named Patrice Pastor has quietly bought up more than a dozen prized properties in Carmel over the past decade, including a rare Frank Lloyd Wright home, pictured above. The buying spree has rattled some residents in the tiny seaside village of 3,000 residents. “We’re handing over our town to one person who’s doing what he wants to do,” one longtime resident said. In a profile in the publication Air Mail last May, rivals described Pastor as a hard-charging developer who wins contracts not for money, “but to crush everyone.” SFGATE
Southern California
7.
Russia said Tuesday that it had arrested a Los Angeles woman on treason charges, accusing her of sending aid to Kyiv. Ksenia Karelina, a 33-year-old dual American Russian working as an aesthetician at a Beverly Hills hotel, had traveled to Moscow around the New Year to see family members she had left more than a decade ago to start a new life in America. The charges appeared to stem from an apparent $52 donation to a Ukrainian charity. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
8.
Los Angeles authorities released video on Tuesday from a Feb. 3 fatal police shooting of a man on Skid Row that ignited outrage after an incident report indicated that he had been armed with a white plastic fork. A few days after the shooting, Police Chief Michel Moore told reporters he had “concerns” about the use of force. The video shows 36-year-old Jason Lee Maccani lunging with the fork and grabbing an officer’s beanbag shotgun, at which point another officer was said to open fire. ABC News | NBC Los Angeles
- Family members said Maccani struggled with mental health, but was a beloved brother, son, and husband. “Jason was the human equivalent of sunshine,” his wife said in an emotional interview. L.A. Taco
9.
A Temecula Valley school board member is waging a campaign to rid the district of cell phone towers, which he says pose risks of cancer, infertility, and other problems. “We live in an electromagnetic sea of radiation,” Joseph Komrosky explained. But a study commissioned by the board just found that emissions from the towers fell well within safe limits. A technical fellow for radar manufacturer Raytheon told the board that the decision to do the study was “asinine.” Komrosky made headlines last summer when he fought to scrub textbook references to gay rights leader Harvey Milk. Press-Enterprise
10.
The reporter Irina Aleksander delivered an engrossing profile of Tom Sandoval, a regular person from Missouri who lived out much of his adult life on reality TV, then became “the most hated man in America.”
“I asked Sandoval why he thought the scandal got so big. ‘I’m not a pop-culture historian really,’ he said, ‘but I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?'” N.Y. Times Magazine
Election 2024
11.
Steve Garvey has campaigned very little for someone who appears poised to capture one of two November runoff spots in the race to succeed the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. Running as a Republican, the former Dodger has been a serial no-show at community events and has avoided reporters after televised debates. Shawn Hubler resorted to catching him at the mailbox of his Palm Desert ranch house. He said he was engaged “in arguably the most difficult race in America” before heading back up his driveway. Garvey spokesman Matt Shupe later informed Hubler that she had “crossed a line.” N.Y. Times
- In a final debate before the March 5 primary, Rep. Katie Porter sought to goad frontrunner Rep. Adam Schiff into a fight on Tuesday. It worked. Politico
12.
In recent weeks, the editorial boards of California newspapers have been taking positions on two primary ballot contests of significance to every Californian: the race for U.S. Senate and Proposition 1, which would borrow $6.4 billion to increase housing and treatment for people with mental health and addiction challenges. The California Sun tallied up the endorsements of eight outlets — the San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times, Bakersfield Californian, Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and Sacramento Bee — to create a scorecard of support and opposition.
- Proposition 1
- Yes: 7 (Union-Tribune, Times, Californian, Mercury, Chronicle, Press Democrat, Bee)
- No: 1 (Register)
- U.S. Senate primary
- Adam Schiff: 2 (Times, Californian)
- Barbara Lee: 1 (Bee)
- Katie Porter: 1 (Chronicle)
Note: The San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Mercury News, and Santa Rosa Press Democrat made no Senate endorsements.
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- See what’s on your ballot.
- Find key dates and polling locations.
- And explore local guides: San Diego County | Orange County | Los Angeles | San Joaquin Valley | San Francisco Bay Area | Sacramento County
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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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