Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 3.
- Davis on edge after three stabbings in less than a week.
- More businesses plan exit from downtown San Francisco.
- And geologic artistry in the desert north of Barstow.
Statewide
1.
“ChatGPT will see you now.”
UC San Diego Health and Stanford Health Care are using artificial intelligence to read patient messages and draft responses from their doctors. The pilot program has overworked healthcare providers buzzing, said Marlene Millen, a San Diego physician: “Doctors are so burnt out that they are looking for any kind of hope.” ChatGPT has dazzled computer scientists with its skill in responding to medical queries — but it’s also been known to make things up. Wall Street Journal
2.
A California bill that would force digital giants like Facebook and Google to pay publishers for news content cleared an important Assembly committee with bipartisan support on Tuesday. Supporters of the novel measure say a “journalism usage fee” would hand the industry a lifeline after years of plummeting advertising revenue forced the closure of dozens of California newspapers. Critics, including some newsroom leaders, say it won’t pass constitutional muster. A.P.
Northern California
3.
A woman sleeping in a homeless encampment was critically injured in a stabbing attack in Davis late Monday, making her the third person to be stabbed in the college town in less than a week. The first two victims — a 50-year-old man and a 20-year-old undergraduate — died. The attacks have rattled the normally quiet community west of Sacramento, where the last reported homicide was in 2019, prompting an all-out manhunt for the suspect. “The attacks were particularly violent and brazen,” Police Chief Darren Pytel said on Tuesday. Sacramento Bee | A.P.
4.
Students have been occupying the anthropology library at UC Berkeley for days after university announced that it would shutter the 67-year-old institution to save money. The protest comes as Berkeley is building a new 367,270-square-foot data sciences building at a cost of more than half a billion dollars. For student protesters, the library occupation is about more than one library: It’s about preserving knowledge of the social sciences in a world obsessed with virtual experiences. N.Y. Times
5.
Nordstrom announced on Tuesday that it would close its sprawling store in the heart of downtown San Francisco after 35 years, in another blow to the city’s beleaguered core. In recent weeks, Office Depot, Anthropologie, Saks Off 5th, and Whole Foods have all announced plans to pull out of downtown. Nordstrom cited dwindling foot traffic for its decision not to renew its lease at the Westfield mall. The mall owner attributed the closure to “the deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco.” SF Standard | SFGATE
- State Sen. Scott Wiener: “Current conditions are untenable for SF’s future success.”
6.
In 2020, the Bay Area’s Marathon oil refinery shut down, a casualty of the declining demand for gasoline. A groundbreaking study has now revealed what became of the laid-off workers. More than a year after the closure, their median hourly wage had plunged from $50 to $38. One in five remained unemployed. As the shift away from fossil fuels puts many more people out of work, Annie Lowery wrote, the story of the Marathon workers offers a reminder that “the green revolution will not be painless.” The Atlantic
7.
An aerospace engineer named Ben Howard, with the help of two friends, built an animatronic puppet and piano robot that plays “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton, then filmed it cruising around San Francisco, collecting many smiles along the way. “It seemed like something that should exist,” Howard explained. Watch for the little girl in the pink sweater at about the 1:50 mark. 👉 bendhoward/YouTube (~4 mins)
Give something they’ll open every day.
Give the gift of the California Sun.
Southern California
8.
“The night air crackled with the anticipation that gunfire might erupt from any oncoming car.”
The reporter Matthew Ormseth wrote a gripping account of a gang leader’s murderous reign in the San Fernando Valley community of Panorama City. When Ezequiel Romo returned home in 2014 after 18 years in prison, he said he was going to clean house, ridding the neighborhood of rivals, informants and do-nothings. Eight people were killed. L.A. Times
9.
On May 11, the pandemic health order known as Title 42, which has been used to turn away millions of asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, will expire. That’s expected to set off a rush toward the border from Tijuana, where roughly 16,000 immigrants are now waiting to enter the U.S. On Tuesday, the Biden administration said it was sending 1,500 soldiers to provide support. The move “signals rising anxiety within the White House over the political backlash that would come with a surge of illegal crossings,” the N.Y. Times reported.
10.
All of the top late-night talk shows moved to begin airing reruns as the union representing television and movie writers began striking for better pay Tuesday. Weekly shows including “Saturday Night Live,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” also made plans to go dark. Picketers who gathered outside more than a dozen studios offices across Los Angeles said they were prepared to strike for as long as it takes. Among the signs: “You want pages? Give us better wages” and “Nice Tesla! (You’re welcome…).” Hollywood Reporter | L.A. Times
- The New Yorker on why writers are so miserable: “Last month, ‘The Bear’ won the W.G.A. Award for Comedy Series. [Writer Alex] O’Keefe went to the ceremony with a negative bank account and a bow tie that he’d bought on credit.”
11.
In the battle over California’s finest waves, the bodysurfers won a landmark victory in 1993. That was when Newport Beach passed an ordinance banning surfboards from the famed Wedge surf break between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from May through October so bodysurfers could ride in peace. A flag emblazoned with a black ball signaled the no-board hours. Three decades later, bodysurfers celebrate each May 1 in a ceremonial planting of the flag. Lance Jencks, who attended the event on Monday, compared his relationship with bodysurfing to a love affair. “It lasted longer than my first marriage,” he said. O.C. Register
12.
About 10 miles north of Barstow, the rocks rise from the desert floor in a flourish of wild colors and shapes. Long ago, Rainbow Basin Natural Area was at the bottom of a lake. Over the millennia, intense geologic activity folded and faulted the sedimentary rock, exposing layers of pink, white, orange, brown, red, black, and green. The area is on BLM land, which means you can camp there and get a second show at night, when the stars pop against the black desert sky. DesertUSA | Atlas Obscura
Scheduling note:
There will be no newsletter this Friday or the following Monday.
Correction:
Tuesday’s newsletter misstated the name of a children’s book. It’s “Jack and the Beanstalk,” not “Jack in the Beanstalk.”
Get your California Sun T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, and mugs.
Thanks for reading!
The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
Make a one-time contribution to the California Sun.
Get a California Sun mug, T-shirt, phone case, or hoodie.
Forward this email to a friend.
Click here to stop delivery, and here to update your billing information or cancel your support.
The California Sun, PO Box 6868, Los Osos, CA 93412
Wake up to must-read news from around the Golden State delivered to your inbox each morning.