Good morning. It’s Thursday, April 20.
- Study finds steep decline in violence at California schools.
- San Francisco sees startling rise in fentanyl deaths.
- And former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan dies at 92.
Statewide
1.
While mass shootings have contributed to the perception that school violence is on the rise, a new study found massive drops in day-to-day violence at California middle and high schools. Analyzing data from 2001 through 2019, UCLA researchers discovered a 56% drop in reports of physical fights, a 59% drop in students being threatened by weapons, and a 70% decline in gun possession. “Contrary to popular belief, the downward victimization trends are wide, deep, systemic, and pervasive,” wrote Ron Avi Astor, a study author. EdSource | CNN
2.
“California-style” has lately become a sort of epithet for housing policies that favor single-family zoning and default toward delaying new construction. But the writer Jerusalem Demsas noted that pretty much every place embraces those policies. As of 2019, more than 80% of Charlotte, North Carolina; Seattle; and Arlington, Texas, were zoned solely for detached single-family homes. What has made California the worst in the country for housing is not uniquely bad policy, Demsas wrote. It’s standard-issue bad policy running up against the fact that way more people are trying to live there. The Atlantic
3.
Newly released satellite images revealed the dazzling spring transformation of California’s landscape as white gives way to green in the mountains and a kaleidoscope of colors spreads out across the foothills and valleys.
The photo below, captured on March 24, showed abundant snowpack in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and San Jacinto mountains:
On April 8, just a couple weeks later, much of the snow was gone:
Normally golden brown, Central California’s Carrizo Plain was a medley of yellows and greens on April 6:
Southern California’s Antelope Valley, captured on April 7, 2023, was overtaken by a parade of orange poppies:
Northern California
4.
Jay Caspian Kang offered a smart analysis of what public perceptions of crime mean for the progressive-district-attorney movement in the Bay Area. He noted how prosecutors had fixed their ire on a local TV news reporter, Dion Lim. “One can feel however one wants about the salaciousness of Lim’s reporting,” Kang wrote, “but it is unusual for two separate district attorneys to single out a reporter, question her integrity, and accuse her of trying to sabotage their mandates. One television reporter should not be able to derail a progressive prosecutor’s entire office.” New Yorker
5.
Officials in San Francisco had hoped the waning of the coronavirus pandemic would lead to falling overdose death rates. Instead, the opposite has happened. New data showed that overdoses killed 200 people in the city from January through March — with the vast majority attributed to fentanyl — a 41% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. “That’s an enormous rise,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a UCSF professor. “And it shows an utter lack of adequate public policy.” S.F. Chronicle
6.
Before Google launched its AI chatbot, Bard, to the public in March, it asked employees for feedback. Many found the tool egregiously wrong on simple queries. One employee said Bard’s suggestions for landing a plane would lead to a crash. Others called it “a pathological liar” and “cringe-worthy.” Another worker wrote: “Bard is worse than useless: please do not launch.” Yet Google, scrambling to keep up with rivals, overruled those doubts and told its ethics team to stay out of the way, a Bloomberg investigation found.
7.
The outdoors writer Tom Stienstra has likened walking through the Marble Mountain Wilderness to stumbling into the Garden of Eden. The remote region between Yreka and the Pacific in far northern California has nearly 90 lakes, waist-deep wildflowers, vivid white cliffs, and a warm pine scent known to imprint itself permanently in the minds of visitors. While hikers have said the beauty of the wildlands rivals that of the Sierra Nevada, it differs in two significant ways: The elevations are more modest, meaning spectacular summit views are easier to reach, and humans are more scarce. “There are far more bears than people,” Stienstra wrote, “and it is 350 miles from San Francisco. Perfect.” SFGATE
Southern California
8.
Richard Riordan died. The affable businessman became the last Republican mayor of Los Angeles in the 1990s on promises to create a cleaner, safer, better-functioning city, goals he largely realized by the time of his exit after eight years. He was credited with shepherding the city’s rebound from the 1992 riots, expanding its police force, and overseeing its recovery from the Northridge earthquake. He was 92. L.A. Times
9.
“What is justice in a case like this?”
On June 16, 2021, a 17-year-old texted his girlfriend, telling her he needed to kill her dad. He then headed to the apartment complex where the girl lived and repeatedly stabbed a janitor named José Tomás Mejía, a Salvadoran immigrant. The youth, who is now 18 and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, admitted to the killing. But he will probably be released when he’s 25. For Mejía’s loved ones, it’s an outcome skewed by race, class, and privilege. Mejía is Latino, his killer white. L.A. Times
10.
Law enforcement officials on Wednesday provided more details in a man’s deadly rampage across southern Ventura County, calling it a senseless act. In the span of an hour on Tuesday, the suspect, Austin Eis, 24, pepper-sprayed and stabbed a worker at a WalMart then assaulted and tried to kidnap another female worker. He fled and later showed up at his family residence, where he threatened multiple occupants with a knife and firearm, officials said. Finally, Eis intentionally plowed his vehicle into a group of teenagers at a bus stop, killing Wesley Welling, 15. L.A. Times | KTLA
- “Everybody loved him.” Welling was remembered as smart, playful, and kind. Ventura County Star | KTLA
11.
Jonathan Majors, a rising star in Hollywood, has seen his career seemingly crater in a matter of weeks after being charged with assault in what New York police described as a “domestic dispute.” He was dropped by his publicists and management teams as well as multiple upcoming projects, including the movie “The Man In My Basement” and a biopic of Otis Redding. On Tuesday, an attorney for Majors, who has strenuously denied the charges, submitted security-camera images to the court that showed his accuser unhurt and clubbing after the alleged attack, said the L.A. Times, which reviewed the evidence. A day later, Variety reported that additional women had come forward with accusations. L.A. Times | Variety | The Cut
12.
Millions of unusual blue creatures have been washing up on Southern California beaches. They are known as Velella velellas — or “by-the-wind sailors” — which usually live on the surface of the ocean. Scientists say the creatures washed ashore in a mass stranding likely caused by powerful winds. They pose no harm to humans. Anya Stajner, a Scripps researcher, said they have much in common with San Diegans: “They spend a lot of their time in the sun and they go wherever the breeze blows them.” S.D. Union Tribune | FOX 5 San Diego
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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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