San Francisco's biggest mall gives up // A laid-back wine region

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Good morning. It’s Tuesday, June 13.

A 14-year-old is set to graduate college and join SpaceX.
San Francisco’s biggest mall bails on downtown property.
And a bucolic wine region along the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Statewide

1.

Kairan Quazi at Santa Clara University last week. (Shae Hammond/Mercury News via Getty Images)

Some young people putting us all to shame this graduation season:

Kairan Quazi, a soft-spoken 14-year-old, is about to become the youngest graduate in the history of Santa Clara University. And he’s already got a job lined up: software engineer at SpaceX. Mercury News | L.A. Times
Tanishq Mathew Abraham, of Sacramento, finished high school at 10 years old and college at 14. On Thursday, at age 19, he’ll collect a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from UC Davis. Sacramento Bee
Rigoberto Rodríguez just graduated high school in Madera while living apart from his parents in Mexico. He worked in the fields between classes, sending money to Mexico. “Every time they call me, they say, ‘We love you,'” he said. “And they tell me to go for something big.” His plan: to become a CHP officer. Fresno Bee

2.

Gov. Gavin Newsom faced questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Monday night. Here are a few of his responses.

On the situation in San Francisco: “Certain parts are bad, and we own that. I just put the National Guard and the CHP down there.”
On whether President Biden is “cognitively strong enough” for the job: “Look what he just did to McCarthy. Kevin got played by the president of the United States.”
On whether he would do a two-hour debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “Make it three. Do it with one-day notice with no notes, I look forward to that.” A.P.

● ●

Political writer Joe Garofoli: “It was a chance to see how California’s governor would deal with something he’s rarely faced: Republican pushback.” S.F. Chronicle

3.

Rep. Pete Aguilar at the Capitol on May 16. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The veteran political reporter Jonathan Martin said Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from San Bernardino County, could be the future of the Democratic Party. Aguilar was elected mayor of Redlands at 31 and sent to Congress at 36. Now 43, he’s the third-ranking House Democrat. With Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s turn to emeritus status, Aguilar is making clear he’d like to step into her position. Politico

4.

“We’re sending a clear message that we’re not going to let our public transit system crater.”

California lawmakers agreed on a plan to provide a $3.1 billion lifeline to the state’s ailing mass transit systems. The bailout is designed to prevent service cuts as agencies such as BART face falling ridership and the expiration of pandemic-era subsidies. It’s unclear whether Gov. Gavin Newsom is on board with the plan. The state is about $32 billion in the red. Bloomberg | S.F. Chronicle

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Northern California

5.

Westfield San Francisco Centre is going bust. (Thomas Hawk/CC BY-NC 2.0)

The owner of San Francisco’s biggest mall is surrendering the property to its lender in another blow the city’s beleaguered downtown. In a statement, Westfield attributed the pullout to the “challenging” conditions in the city’s downtown, where it operated for 20 years. Dozens of retailers have vacated San Francisco since 2020 as foot traffic has remained stuck well below pre-pandemic levels. S.F. Chronicle | Wall Street Journal

6.

Harmeet Dhillon spoke to reporters during a Republican National Committee meeting in Dana Point on Jan. 27, 2023. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

An analysis of financial disclosures found that a nonprofit run by Harmeet Dhillon transferred $1.3 million to the San Francisco attorney’s legal firm, Dhillon Law Group. Dhillon, who recently ran a failed campaign to lead the Republican National Committee, has waged culture-war battles through the Center for American Liberty, which bills itself as a defender of civil liberties. The disclosures also showed that she has taken a $120,000 annual salary from the nonprofit for a two-hour-a-week work schedule. The Guardian

7.

A Bay Area man identified as a “person of interest” in a shooting that wounded nine people in San Francisco last Friday is also wanted in connection with a shooting in Oakland in January that left an 18-year-old dead and four others injured, law enforcement sources said Monday. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Javier Campos, who they said has ties to the Sureño gang. As of Monday, his whereabouts were unknown. Mercury News | S.F. Chronicle

8.

Rows of grapevines appear beyond the redwoods. (Windy Oaks Estate Vineyard & Winery)

In the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, a patchwork of quaint wineries are serving prize-winning wines far from the tourist-clogged Sonoma and Napa Valleys, writes Laura M. Holson:

“There is a bucolic charm in these less-traveled byways. Local beekeepers sell honey out of the backs of their pickup trucks. Bags of Meyer lemons, $5 apiece, are stacked in self-service roadside cubbies. Goats graze just about everywhere.” N.Y. Times

Southern California

9.

Time-lapse video showed planes arriving at San Diego International Airport. (Forrest Brown)

The Bankers Hill neighborhood in San Diego is walking distance from Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, and the city’s lively downtown. It’s also directly under the flight path to San Diego International Airport. That means 280 times a day — or about once every three minutes — a jet swoops overhead with an ear-piercing roar. All that noise, experts say, could take years off your life. An eye-opening investigation on the health harms of noise focused on Bankers Hill and other loud places across the U.S. N.Y. Times

10.

Family members gathered at a vigil for Quincy Reese in Los Angeles on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi/L.A. Times via Getty Images)

“He just had a good spirit.”

Quincy Reese was a star basketball player at Crenshaw High School with a 3.4 grade point average, college scholarship offers, and what many people believed was a bright future. On Saturday night, the 16-year-old was shot and killed while attending a party with friends in South Los Angeles. Police said a dispute occurred before the shooting but that Reese was believed to be a bystander. They released no information on a possible motive or suspect. L.A. Times | KTLA

11.

Rick Warren rose to prominence by building a church for people turned off by church. His book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” became one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. Saddleback Church in Orange County, where he was pastor, drew 57,000 congregants. While he mostly steered clear of cultural war politics, on Tuesday the evangelical star plans to challenge the Southern Baptists over ordaining women. “I believe millions of Southern Baptist women’s talents and spiritual gifts are being wasted,” he said. Washington Post

12.

Travis Michael Leake, an American musician who has lived and worked in Russia for more than a decade, was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, Russian news agencies reported over the weekend. News outlets in Bakersfield on Monday identified Leake as a Bakersfield native who graduated from the city’s West High School in 1989. His mother, Glenda Garcia, who still resides in Bakersfield, said she was in shock: “I Just pray that he’s treated humanely.” KERO | Bakersfield Californian

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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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