Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 22.
- Scarlett Johansson debacle exposes the hubris of OpenAI.
- Prosecutors botch Fat Leonard bribery cases.
- And counties where homes sell for under $400,000.
Statewide
1.
Vince Fong, a Republican state assemblyman backed by Donald Trump, won a special election Tuesday to complete former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s term, which runs through January. In early returns, Fong led Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, also a Republican, by 20 percentage points, positioning Fong as the favorite in November’s contest for a full two-year term. Political writer Jeremy B. White said the outcome was also a win for McCarthy, who has boosted Fong and other establishment Republicans as part of his retribution campaign against the dissidents who pushed him from power. Politico | A.P.
2.
“I ran into her yesterday.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been strangely uninterested in the doings of Nicole Shanahan since announcing the 38-year-old patent attorney as his running mate in March, the Washington Post reported:
“The public disconnect between Kennedy and Shanahan lends heft to a theory percolating in political circles: that while Shananan’s money may be incredibly valuable to Kennedy’s quixotic bid for the White House, the woman herself is a bit extraneous.”
3.
As California’s median home price surpassed $900,000 for the first time in April, the Sacramento Bee ran an article highlighting the counties with the lowest prices. They tended to share a few traits: northern locales, remoteness, sparse development. Another commonality: exquisite natural beauty. Here are four counties where at least half of the homes sold in April went for less than $400,000:
Lassen County ($205,000) — Home to Lassen Volcanic National Park, a place Sunset Magazine once called “the West’s most beautiful, least visited wonderland.”
Humboldt County ($400,000) — A luxuriant coastal landscape that arguably offers the most breathtaking display of giant trees in the world.
Trinity County ($212,000) — Home to the Trinity Alps, a rugged wilderness where it’s not unusual to arrive at stunning vantages and find that you’re the only one there.
Plumas County ($320,000) — A Northern Sierra landscape of gorgeous lakes, brilliant autumns, and the steep-walled Feather River Canyon.
- See full list of median home prices by county. 👉 CAR.org
Northern California
4.
Charlie Warzel on OpenAI’s Scarlett Johansson debacle:
“Hubris and entitlement are inherent in the development of any transformative technology. A small group of people needs to feel confident enough in its vision to bring it into the world and ask the rest of us to adapt. But generative AI stretches this dynamic to the point of absurdity. It is a technology that requires a mindset of manifest destiny, of dominion and conquest. It’s not stealing to build the future if you believe it has belonged to you all along.” The Atlantic
5.
In late April, Terry Williams, a Black dog walker near San Francisco’s Alamo Square, started finding packages containing blackface dolls in front of his home. “They said they’re going to exterminate me, eradicate me,” Williams told KQED, describing the messages. On Tuesday, his home went up in flames. Williams said was unsure what triggered the blaze, which injured his parents, but couldn’t help linking it to the racist threats. “I’m just worried about my parents, their house and everything,” he said. “I feel like I let my parents down.” SF Standard | S.F. Chronicle
6.
The New Yorker on the A’s “Kafkaesque” effort to relocate to Las Vegas:
“The A’s wanted the state of Nevada to invest hundreds of millions in land development and infrastructure as part of the stadium project. In order to demonstrate that this would be financially worthwhile, the team projected that a new thirty-thousand-seat stadium would draw two and a half million people a year. Then it was pointed out that this projection could not be met even if every seat for every game was sold. In response, the team announced that the stadium would seat thirty-two thousand instead. It’s easy to add two thousand seats when they’re entirely theoretical.”
7.
Some Native California tribes were said to desensitize themselves to poison oak by ingesting the plant. Modern authorities frown on such methods. “Eating a poison ivy leaf can cause death,” reads one fact sheet. But Jeff Horwitz, a nature lover whose Northern California home is surrounded by the plant, was desperate. He started with poison oak smoothies and salads, eventually working his way up to eating leaves by the handful: “And a week later, I rubbed a leaf on my arm, to no effect.” Wall Street Journal
Southern California
8.
Since 2017, nearly a third of the people shot at by Los Angeles police were believed to be experiencing mental health issues. Despite growing attention to deescalation training, the number of such shootings has remained high, an analysis found. The shooting of a schizophrenic woman named Jessica Brown last summer was emblematic. Officers had responded to 911 calls that reported a woman assaulting people with a metal pipe. When Brown moved toward them, an officer fired within seconds, killing her. LAist
9.
In the 1960s, a neighborhood of Black and Latino residents in Palm Springs was razed to make way for commercial development. The former residents of the tract known as Section 14 are now seeking reparations for what they say was a racially motivated attack. The city apologized for its part and, in April, offered damages of about $4.3 million. Complicating matters is the role of the landowner: the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which sees Section 14’s transformation as a milestone in tribal sovereignty. It has declined to publicly address either the evictions or the question of compensation, the N.Y. Times wrote.
10.
A former Navy commander, Stephen Shedd, was among those most entangled in the sprawling “Fat Leonard” military corruption case. He acknowledged leaking military secrets in exchange for $105,000 in bribes and prostitutes from the Malaysian contractor Leonard Francis. Yet on Tuesday, a San Diego federal judge dismissed all charges against Shedd, along with those against four other retired military officers. Explaining her decision, the judge cited a litany of prosecutorial errors, including the withholding of information from defense lawyers. S.D. Union-Tribune | A.P.
11.
In 2022, there were 14 suicides among the Border Patrol’s 25,000 agents. That’s more than double the percentage of suicides across all law enforcement. “We are meant to serve a law enforcement purpose,” said a retired agent. “That’s what we signed up for and are trained for. But suddenly, we’re now expected to act as a humanitarian relief agency, which requires an entirely different set of skills, expectations, resources, and responsibilities.” The Free Press opened a window onto the morale crisis at the border.
12.
The Los Angeles police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have opened an investigation into how the actor Matthew Perry obtained the ketamine that killed him, the police said Tuesday. Perry had undergone ketamine infusion therapy more than a week before he was found face down in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28. But the medical examiner said the treatment wouldn’t explain the levels of ketamine in his system. Perry had no other drugs in his system and had been sober for more than a year, the autopsy report said. TMZ | L.A. Times
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