Good morning. It’s Friday, Aug. 26.
- A seven-year sentence for former top official in San Francisco.
- San Diego football players are named in alleged gang rape.
- And racist text exchanges between Torrance police officers.
Statewide
1.
On California’s audacious plan to phase out sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035:
- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said his state would follow California’s lead. “This is a critical milestone in our climate fight,” he said. Seattle Times | Axios
- Automakers were already moving aggressively toward electric vehicles, but they cautioned that the 2035 deadline would be a challenge. Ford said just 50% of the raw materials needed to meet industry targets were actually available. N.Y. Times | Wall Street Journal
- Also needed: Fifteen times more vehicle chargers statewide, a more robust energy grid, and vehicles that people can afford. “You can’t just wave your wand, you can’t just adopt a regulation — people actually have to buy them and use them,” said Daniel Sperling, a transportation expert. A.P. | L.A. Times
2.
On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman chats with Severin Borenstein, the director of UC Berkeley’s Energy Institute at Haas. Borenstein discussed “tremendously exciting” battery technology, the mysterious 30-cent surcharge on California gas, and why banning new gas stations is a mistake.
3.
Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist who directs the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan, on the West’s water crisis:
- “I don’t think we’re talking about sustainability. I think we’re talking about managed depletion. Because it’s impossible to keep growing the food that we grow in California.”
- “My fear is that groundwater will, as usual, be left out of the discussion — groundwater is mostly unprotected, and it’s going to be a real shit show.”
- “You’re not going to get any hope out of me. … The best you’re going to hear from me is that we need to do the best we can now to slow down the rates of warming that directly impacts the availability of water. We’re talking about the future of humanity.” ProPublica
4.
“These should have never come on the marketplace.”
Spent gas canisters left piled up around dumpsters in Yosemite became such a problem that the park stopped selling them in stores two years ago. Now state lawmakers have sent Gov. Gavin Newsom the nation’s first ban on the sale of single-use propane cylinders. Campers would have to rely instead on refillable tanks, similar to the sort used in backyard barbecues. S.F. Chronicle
Northern California
5.
Mohammed Nuru, the former head of San Francisco Public Works, was sentenced on Thursday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge. Judge William Orrick said he had dealt with murderers, gangsters, and drug dealers. “In many ways, what you’ve done is at least as reprehensible,” he said. Among Nuru’s alleged rackets: taking bribes from the city’s waste management company in exchange for letting them overcharge customers. S.F. Chronicle | SFist
6.
Work on a student housing project in Berkeley’s People’s Park was only supposed to stop for a few days after protesters toppled fences and sparred with police on Aug. 3. But the group fighting construction won a court stay until at least October. A reporter went to the park and found At Atmaa Das, 28, strumming a guitar on construction equipment now splattered with obscene graffiti. “I came here looking for the promised land and reckon I found it,” he said. A.P.
7.
Sourdough starters have a nearly 6,000-year history. But according to Michael Gänzle, a food microbiologist who studies the science of sourdough, there are only two credible reports for sourdoughs that are more than 100 years old. One is in Germany. The other is San Francisco’s Boudin Bakery, opened in 1849 by the Frenchman Isidore Boudin. His “Mother Dough” is still used today, kept alive by adding water and flour to the mixture daily, offering a taste of the Gold Rush in every loaf. BBC
8.
A pair of filmmakers spent six months embedded with seniors at Paradise High School after their town burned down in the deadliest fire in California’s history. “Last Days at Paradise High” is a story of young climate refugees in search of home after it’s gone. “I’ve come to the conclusion that nothing is permanent,” said Anthony Hearn, sounding older than his years. “My town, I loved it. But it’s gone.” Vimeo (~17 mins)
Southern California
9.
Matt Araiza, a punter for San Diego State who was drafted in April by the Buffalo Bills, and two of his former Aztecs teammates were accused in a civil lawsuit Thursday of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl last year. The complaint says Araiza, 22, had sex with the inebriated high schooler outside a house party, then brought her to a room where she went in and out of consciousness while being raped by other men, identified as Zavier Leonard and Nowlin Ewaliko. Araiza’s lawyer called the lawsuit a “shakedown.” Lawyers for the other men declined comment. L.A. Times | ESPN
10.
When protesters gathered after the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell by Torrance police in 2018, officers discussed the situation over text. “Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” one wrote, according to court documents. On a separate occasion, an officer shared pictures of tiny coffins intended for Black children they would “put down.” Another officer described how he would handle suspects: with “a noose and shot in the back of the head 8 times each.” L.A. Times
11.
You can experience a slice of Bryce Canyon in San Diego County. A surprising slot canyon in Solana Beach, known to locals as the Mushroom Caves, has sheer sandstone walls that narrow as you advance then open up to a coastal lagoon with sweeping views of the Pacific. The S.D. Union Tribune recommended finishing off a visit with a beer at Lost Abbey Confessional just up the way. Nature Collective | HikingGuy.com
In case you missed it
12.
Five items that got big views over the past week:
- The director Adam Warmington made a gorgeous little film about the surfing journey of a kid named Anthony Stepney from Hunter’s Point, one of the last predominantly Black neighborhoods in San Francisco. Vimeo (~4 mins)
- A billionaire is building the nation’s largest wind farm in Wyoming cattle country. The state’s half-million residents don’t need all that energy, but California’s 40 million do. So he is also building a 732-mile power line to ship electricity here. L.A. Times
- Jake Ricker has been photographing the Golden Gate Bridge with his Leica film camera nearly every day since 2017. While he began the project with artistic goals, he found a larger purpose as he encountered people on the bridge who were in despair. LensCulture
- The artist Michael Heizer is known for his monumental artworks. Now he has unveiled his magnum opus: an astonishing megasculpture of dirt mounds, buttes, and other forms that evoke an ancient city in the high Nevada desert. N.Y. Times
- For years, an Oakland librarian has been collecting the ephemera nestled between the pages of returned books. She scans and posts the items online, where they have attracted a following of people charmed by the forgotten finds. Washington Post | Hyperallergic
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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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