Southern California braces for blizzard // Riverside County sheriff faces inquiry

Good morning. It’s Friday, Feb. 24.

Severe wind, rain, and snow set to pummel L.A. area.
Stanford professors fight anonymous bias reports.
And Riverside County sheriff faces state inquiry.

California storms

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A frigid winter storm dumped snow across much of the state Thursday, dusting beaches along the North Coast, blanketing low-lying foothills, and causing whiteout conditions in the Sierra. But the main event, forecasters said, would be Friday and Saturday, when the storm was expected to bring blizzard conditions to the mountains of Southern California. Forecasts called for wind gusts of 55 to 75 miles per hour and up to 7 feet of snow. Torrential rain in the Los Angeles basin threatened severe flooding. The climate scientist Daniel Swain said the storm was not to be taken lightly: “This well may be the largest single-event snowfall in some parts of Southern California since the 1980s.” Accuweather | L.A. Times

See updated satellite imagery of the storm. 👉 NOAA.gov

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Snow mixed with the sand in Crescent City on Thursday. (@geogjourneys)

California social media lit up Thursday with snow photos and videos. Here are 10 highlights:

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As you hunker down for more snow, consider what life was once like in Bodie, California’s quintessential ghost town. If there wasn’t nearly $100 million in gold to be torn out of the hills on the eastern side of Sierra, no one would have chosen to live there. It was not only one of California’s remotest mining towns, it was among the coldest places anywhere in the country. In winter, snow would bury homes made of thin wooden boards, sometimes up to the roofs. Hundreds died from exposure and disease. Yet Bodie boomed, hosting as many as 8,000 residents along with more than 60 saloons to wash their worries away. In 1884, a local newspaper editor summed up the recipe for survival. “Winter is here,” he wrote, “the snow part at least. A nice little cabin on Wood street. A winter’s supply of grub; a few books, including a pack of cards; and half a barrel of whiskey will carry a person through until spring.”

Below, a few views of Bodie from the archives.

Bodie after a snowfall in an undated photo. (Huntington Digital Library)

Men stood on the roof of a store in 1911. (California State Library)

Bodie homes buried in snow. (via Bodie Foundation)

A view of Bodie’s Main Street in an undated photo. (California State Library)

Northern California

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The Stanford University campus in Palo Alto. (David Madison/Getty Images)

In 2021, Stanford introduced a system that allows students to anonymously report classmates for behavior perceived as discriminatory. A group of professors is now fighting to have it repealed. The backlash began last month when a student was reported for reading “Mein Kampf,” triggering what was described as “swift action” by administrators to repair the “harm” caused. Stanford said there was no punishment. But the professors say the intervention itself is chilling to free speech. “I was stunned,” said Russell Berman, a professor of comparative literature. “It reminds me of McCarthyism.” Wall Street Journal

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The man who was dubbed “Evil Elmo” after he dressed up as the “Sesame Street” character and harassed tourists in San Francisco has turned up again in Santa Cruz, costumed this time as Cookie Monster, police said. He apparently hasn’t changed his ways. Police said they received multiple reports of the googly-eyed monster harassing people around the Santa Cruz Wharf. “We advise the public to not engage with this individual,” Santa Cruz police spokesperson Joyce Blaschke said. Lookout Santa Cruz | KRON

6.

Vikrum Aiyer at an event in New York last fall. (Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit)

A tech executive nominated by San Francisco Mayor London Breed to sit on a key commission lied on federal expense reports and inflated his education credentials. While serving as chief of staff at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office between 2014 and 2016, Vikrum Aiyer put fictitious names on receipts, a review found. He also falsely claimed to have a postgraduate degree. Aiyer chalked it all up to youthful folly, but former colleagues called the behavior deliberate and fraudulent. SF Standard

7.

On this week’s California Sun Podcast, host Jeff Schechtman chats with Lila Lahood, publisher of the San Francisco Public Press. She talked about the unusually vibrant new ecosystem of San Francisco, where a mix of for-profit and grant-funded organizations vie for readers’ attention. “This is a fascinating time for journalism in San Francisco,” she said.

Southern California

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened a civil rights investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday after deaths in county jails hit a two-decade high last year. Bonta said the “patterns-and-practices” investigation would look into allegations of inhumane jail conditions and excessive force. Sheriff Chad Bianco, who supports the “constitutional sheriffs” movement, said he would cooperate with the investigation, but dismissed it as a “stunt” and a “witch hunt.” Desert Sun | Press-Enterprise

9.

Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles court on Oct. 4, 2022. (Etienne Laurent-Pool/Getty Images)

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Thursday after a Los Angeles jury convicted him of the rape and sexual assault of an Italian actress. The sentence, to be served consecutively with the 23 years he received for a similar conviction in New York, all but assured the 70-year-old would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Sitting in a wheelchair and wearing jail attire, Weinstein appealed directly to the judge, saying: “I maintain that I’m innocent.” His victim sobbed in the courtroom as he spoke. N.Y. Times | A.P.

10.

More than 80 detainees at two for-profit immigration detention centers in Kern County have refused to eat any meals for about a week, according to detainees and legal aid groups. The detainees in Bakersfield and McFarland say they are forced to work for a dollar a day and eat expired food while being denied showers and medical attention. A spokesperson for the GEO Group, which operates the facilities, said the strike was a “choreographed effort by outside groups” aimed at abolishing ICE. KQED | Fresno Bee

11.

A formerly submerged boat at Lake Mead last summer. (Roger Kisby for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

John Fleck, a water policy expert, on what he described as California’s bid to “hoard” the Colorado River:

“As climate change shrinks the river, California argues, it’s Arizona that should take the biggest cuts. If the water in Lake Mead dips below 1,025 feet above sea level, California’s proposal would cut Arizona’s allocation in half, but California’s share, which is already larger, would be cut only 17 percent. That would mean central Arizona’s cities, farms and Native American communities would suffer, while California’s farmers in the large desert agricultural empire of the Imperial Valley — by far the region’s largest agricultural water user — would receive more water from Lake Mead than the entire state of Arizona.” N.Y. Times

California storms

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Northern California

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Southern California

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In case you missed it

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