Tax break sends millions to Central Valley mega-farms // The enchanting river town of Petaluma

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 19.

Tax break sends millions to Central Valley mega-farms.
L.A. mayor says she got no warnings before wildfires.
And a trip to the enchanting riverfront town of Petaluma.

Statewide

1.

In 1965, California enacted the Williamson Act, a tax break for farmers designed to protect their crops from being paved over by encroaching suburban sprawl. In recent decades, however, it has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to mega-farms even as they take home record profits. The beneficiaries are increasingly hedge funds and foreign investors. “The public is effectively subsidizing the region’s wealthiest corporations and families,” a Fresnoland investigation found.

2.

Rep. John Garamendi, who served two terms as California’s insurance commissioner, ripped the fellow Democrat who currently holds the job, Ricardo Lara, over his chummy handling of the insurance industry in a time of crisis. “His regulations and his policies are clearly ones that the insurance industry wants,” Garamendi said. “Your job is to hold the companies accountable, and he seems to be doing the exact opposite.” Lara responded by accusing Garamendi of having “white mansplained” to him. L.A. Times

3.

Forest Service firefighters burned piles of forest debris in the Angeles National Forest in 2023. (Luis Sinco/L.A. Times via Getty Images)

Nearly 60% of California’s forestlands are owned by the federal government, a fact that hasn’t stopped President Trump from blaming the state for wildfires on federal property. Experts say the federal commitment to forest management has been declining for years. Now the Trump administration has halted federal fire prevention work in California — including controlled burns and clearing of overgrowth — as part of broad cuts to government funding. Reuters | S.F. Chronicle

Also stalled: the hiring of seasonal federal firefighters. ProPublica

4.

California lawmakers are pushing a ban on the sale of anti-aging products to children. If approved, stores would have to verify that customers are over 18 years old before selling products with ingredients like vitamin A and alpha hydroxy acids. Toral Vaidya, a dermatologist, said such substances can have desired results for adults. For children, she said, “they actually can wreak havoc on their skin.” The cosmetics industry, which has enjoyed a windfall from the so-called “Sephora Kids” trend, portrayed an earlier version of the bill as overreaching. N.Y. Times | KGO

5.

Latino Republicans in the statehouse announced their own legislative caucus after being excluded from the Democratic-led California Latino Legislative Caucus. The Republicans had grumbled over their exclusion from the older caucus, which is ostensibly dedicated to furthering the interests of all California Latinos. Anthony Rendon, a Democratic former Assembly speaker, said it’s better to have separate groups. “I never understood why they wanted to be part of our caucus other than obstructing us,” he said. “They would just yell, we’d take a vote, and they’d lose.” L.A. Times

Northern California

6.

President Trump promised to deport “millions and millions” of immigrants in the country illegally. Nearly a month into office, that has translated into a handful of arrests in the Bay Area that appeared to target people with existing deportation orders. “There are actually very few non-citizens who have criminal convictions in the country, so the idea that there could be mass deportations of people convicted of crimes is pure nonsense,” said David Hausman, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. “That’s made up.” Mercury News

7.

After Trump’s victory in November, Wall Street heralded the beginning of a pro-business era that would reignite the sluggish initial public offering market. Then came tariff announcements and rapid-fire regulatory changes. Some tech companies have responded by delaying or pulling their listing plans altogether. “The calendar just went from fully booked to being wide open in a span of like three weeks,” said Phil Haslett, a founder of EquityZen. N.Y. Times

8.

“With its downtown anchored by stately 1800s buildings and shops selling seeds and Christmas ornaments year-round — and a folksy/quirky mood that feels like Andy Griffith’s Mayberry filmed by David Lynch — there’s nowhere in the North Bay that I’d rather spend a sunny weekday afternoon.”

The cultural critic Peter Hartlaub wrote about his enchantment with the riverfront town of Petaluma. S.F. Chronicle

9.

“Powell Street, San Francisco.” (Barbara Ramos)

After Barbara Ramos came to San Francisco in 1969 to study photography, she spent years taking photos of the city life only to suddenly quit and take up jewelry design. More than 50 years later, she pulled out the old black-and-white negatives, which are now showcased in a new collection called “A Fearless Eye.” Many of the book’s subjects — from a young Black man watching TV at a bus depot to a barefoot blonde in the rear doorway of a van — seem to share one thing in common, wrote critic Rae Alexandra: they are effortlessly cool. Black & White magazine | KQED

See more of Ramos’ pictures. 👉 @chroniclebooks

Southern California

10.

By Jan. 2, five days before the devastating Los Angeles wildfires erupted, the National Weather Service had begun warning about “extreme fire weather conditions.” For days, news outlets broadcast the warnings in increasingly dire terms. But in an interview aired on Tuesday, Mayor Karen Bass said she was given no warning about the fire threat before leaving Los Angeles for a diplomatic trip to Ghana on Jan. 4. Asked how that lapse could have happened, she answered, “I don’t know. I mean, I think that’s one of the things we need to look at.” FOX 11

11.

Rakim Mayers, known as ASAP Rocky, listened as his verdict was read in Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Daniel Cole-Pool/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the rapper ASAP Rocky was acquitted of charges that he shot a former friend in Hollywood in 2021, capping a monthlong trial that captivated fans and featured appearances by Rocky’s superstar paramour Rihanna. When the verdict was read, Rocky let out a cry and leapt over a courtroom divider to hug Rihanna. Rocky had been accused of shooting the hand of ASAP Relli, a former collaborator since high school, during a fight. Rocky’s lawyers said the weapon, which was never recovered, was a “prop gun” that was only fired in self-defense. L.A. Times | A.P.

12.

Before Palm Springs erected its City Hall in the 1950s, the city manager told the hometown newspaper that it must be “exceedingly attractive” — like everything else in Palm Springs. Three-quarters of a century later, the stylish concrete-and-steel structure is one of many architectural gems that have made the desert city a time capsule of midcentury modernism. The City Hall is featured in a new photo series that highlights the interplay of geometric shapes and bold colors in the architecture of Palm Springs. designboom

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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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