Good morning. It’s Thursday, Nov. 30.
- Debate day for Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis.
- Elon Musk tells brands fleeing X to “go fuck yourself.”
- And Art Deco hotel evokes old Hollywood in Santa Monica.
Statewide
1.
After months of cross-country taunts, Govs. Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis are scheduled to face off on Fox News tonight. If it’s a real debate, rather than scripted mudslinging, the 90-minute meeting could illuminate genuinely different visions for the future of the country. “In a nutshell,” wrote economics columnist Peter Coy, “California has the edge in median incomes, research universities and tech. Florida has cheaper housing, lower taxes, lower unemployment, a growing population and less violent crime.” A pair of debate cheat sheets. 👉 CalMatters | N.Y. Times
- Columnist Matt Bai on Newsom’s shadow campaign for U.S. president: “As the governor of one of the nation’s largest states, he’s got every right to position himself as a fallback. Someone has to.” Washington Post
- The debate begins at 6 p.m. Pacific on Fox News, which requires a cable subscription. You can also listen live on Fox News Radio.
2.
Newsom, constantly asked to answer for addiction and disease on California’s streets, has embraced an overhaul of mental health in the state that includes new ways to compel people into care. He has framed the approach as a course correction decades after Ronald Reagan emptied psychiatric facilities without ensuring the patients received the care they needed. The plan, wrote reporter Rachel Bluth, amounts to “a striking tack to the center for California Democrats.” Politico
3.
Multiple Republican lawmakers expect former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to step down from Congress before the end of the year, Axios reported. The Bakersfield Republican privately told donors he is looking to “get the hell out,” a source told the outlet. When asked about his plans during a conference in New York on Wednesday, McCarthy was noncommittal. “I have another week or so to decide because if I decide to run again, I have to know in my heart I’m giving 110%,” he said. Axios | Roll Call
4.
Common gigs include yard work, painting, and demolition. But the immigrants who stand on street corners and outside California’s home improvement stores are also sometimes recruited for jobs that are exploitative or just plain weird, such as waiting in line for tickets, sex, and, in a recent case, disposing of human body parts. Brittny Mejia wrote about what the state’s day laborers do. L.A. Times
Northern California
5.
Asked about the brand exodus from X, Elon Musk on Wednesday lashed out at the roughly 200 advertisers who have stopped spending on the platform since he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. “I hope they stop,” he told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin during the Dealbook Summit in New York. “Don’t advertise. If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” N.Y. Times | Wall Street Journal
- Former associates of X CEO Linda Yaccarino said her high self-regard led her to think she could manage Musk. “It was a level of ego and hubris that you rarely see,” one said. Hollywood Reporter
6.
A decade after planning began for a wind farm in Shasta County, officials said on Tuesday that the county is joining with the Pit River Tribe in a lawsuit to halt the project. In 2021, the county rejected the Fountain Wind project, which would include 48 turbines between Redding and Burney, only to see their decision overruled by the state earlier this year. In filing the new suit, county officials portrayed the project as the latest example of state overreach that has estranged Sacramento and California’s rural north. Record Searchlight
7.
Around 15 million years ago, a great eruption of lava filled a river valley in Northern California. Over time, the valley walls washed away, leaving behind a flat-topped mesa that rises hundreds of feet above the edge of what is now the Sacramento Valley. During rains, the park known as the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve transforms into a waterfall wonderland as pools overflow and cascade over the cliffs. Outdoors writers say it is among the prettiest natural displays in all of California. Hike Mt. Shasta | Live and Let Hike
8.
A dog walker in San Francisco has become a hit on social media with his group portraits of surprisingly well-behaved dogs on outings around the city. The photos are the work of Joshua J. Hursman, the long-time proprietor of Runaround Hound. See his photos. 👉 @runaround_hound
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Southern California
9.
In 2018, Orange County prosecutors stood before cameras and accused reality-TV surgeon Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend of being sexual predators with possibly dozens of victims. The saga that played out for years on tabloid pages ended quietly on Wednesday with Robicheaux, 43, pleading guilty to possession of a gun and psilocybin found during a search of his home. He was sentenced to probation and community service. The plea deal amounts to vindication, Robicheaux’s lawyer said: “His reputation is forever done, and it’s sad to see what an allegation can do, regardless of what the ultimate outcome is.” L.A. Times | O.C. Register
10.
A homeless woman entered a home in Los Angeles Monday evening and fatally shot a man in the head in what was believed to be a random act of violence, law enforcement sources said. The victim, Michael Latt, 33, was the chief executive of Lead With Love, an organization focused on elevating Black creatives in Hollywood. Neighbors were in shock. “He is a super sweet guy,” Avarie Shevin said. “He and his girlfriend lived there with a dog and a cat. … I can’t wrap my brain around what could’ve happened that caused him to be shot and killed.” KTLA | L.A. Times
11.
Mike Cirone, a farmer near near San Luis Obispo, grows apples without irrigation — and they’re delicious. It’s called dry farming, relying on rainfall and moisture stored in the ground. The Cirone family, wrote reporter Ian James, “are showing how, in the right places, agriculture can be done differently, with a lighter touch on the environment than the many large-scale industrial farms that draw heavily on the state’s limited water supplies.” L.A. Times
12.
The luxurious Art Deco Georgian Hotel opened along Santa Monica’s waterfront in defiance of the Great Depression in 1933. It would count Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Charlie Chaplin among its guests, who gathered in the hotel’s basement speakeasy during prohibition. The Georgian reopened this year after a renovation aimed at reviving its former glory, including rooms with pink sofas and Champagne call buttons. The speakeasy, now called the Georgian Room, also reopened for the first time in more than 60 years with dim lighting, velvet curtains, and live jazz that ooze old Hollywood. Eater Los Angeles | World of Interiors
Clarification
Wednesday’s newsletter mischaracterized the number of vehicles registered in the U.S. There are fewer than 300 million, a tiny share of which are electric.
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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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