California Sun

15/01/2025

Last Friday, two days after flames tore through Pacific Palisades, the inferno turned toward the communities of Encino and Brentwood.

For 24 hours, a squadron of firefighting aircraft launched an all-out attack, with no break.
https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/what-people-lost-in-los-angeles-casino-project-wins-approval-in-sonoma-county/ -2

13/01/2025

Here's a roundup of commentary on LA's wildfires, from publications like the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, and The Atlantic: “A message is once again flashing down from L.A.’s sky, but this time, it is one that the whole world must see.”

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/santa-ana-winds-are-returning-mark-zuckerberg-calls-for-more-masculine-energy/ -6

06/01/2025

The summing up of people, elevation, and years of the Common Era in New Cuyama, a small desert town just over the mountains from Santa Barbara, has long been a source of bewilderment among passing motorists.

In scholarly writings, academics have from time to time cited the sign in service of lofty ideas about the workings of nature and logic. But all evidence suggests that the pranksters of New Cuyama had simpler ambitions: to provoke a chuckle.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/drought-returns-to-southern-california-little-seen-films-win-big-at-golden-globes/ #12

04/01/2025

Nature finds a way: Researchers found that a colony of roughly 120 sea otters in Monterey Bay were eating as many as 120,000 invasive green crabs per year.

The discovery underscored the value of protecting native otters.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/raw-water-devotees-reject-the-tap-justin-baldoni-sues-the-new-york-times/ #1

20/12/2024

Along an interminable stretch of the 101 in Mendocino County, a road splinters off that passes a concrete supplier and meat market before arriving at a golden arched gate. On the other side is the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a monastic community created on the grounds of the decommissioned Mendocino State Hospital in the 1970s.

https://californiasun.co/newsletter/epa-allows-california-to-ban-gas-cars-killer-ground-squirrels/ -7

19/12/2024

There are killer squirrels on the loose in California.

A study reveals the first evidence of California squirrels eating voles. Experts explain why this phenomenon is critical to future behavioral discoveries in animals.

17/12/2024

Marilyn Monroe posed for virtually every major photographer of her day.

But few were able to capture her in unguarded moments like Eve Arnold, Magnum’s first female photographer, with whom Monroe shared a special rapport.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/californias-most-violent-prison-hannah-kobayashi-breaks-her-silence/ -12

16/12/2024

"An estimated 20,000 subscribers dropped The Times after the non-endorsement in the presidential race and its aftermath."

Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong on his plans to shake up the newspaper and build for the future.

13/12/2024

In 2023, the geographer Nat Henry created an interactive map showing the walkability of Seattle neighborhoods to parks, supermarkets, restaurants, and other amenities.

Now he's released a version of his map for the entire U.S.

https://californiasun.co/newsletter/chicos-bidwell-mansion-goes-up-in-flames-meta-gives-1-million-to-trump-inaugural-fund/ -4

12/12/2024

You don’t need to travel to the planet Arrakis to experience the landscapes of “Dune.” Roughly 100 miles east of San Diego is the Algodones Dunefield, California’s largest dune ecosystem spread across an area of roughly 45 miles by 6 miles.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/chicos-bidwell-mansion-goes-up-in-flames-meta-gives-1-million-to-trump-inaugural-fund/ -12

07/12/2024

Around 2020, San Franciscans began to notice a shrill hum emanating from the Golden Gate Bridge every time the wind kicked up. It was reminiscent of “a science fiction film, right before something bad is about to happen,” as one resident described it.

The sound was traced to newly installed sidewalk railing slats that had unwittingly transformed the span into a colossal wind instrument.

Now, after years of investigation, engineers say they finally have a fix.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/california-leaders-denounce-bidens-pardon-point-reyes-tule-elk-to-roam-free/ -8

06/12/2024

For over a decade, Bryan Schutmaat traveled across the American West photographing the hitchhikers, addicts, survivalists, and drifters he met along the way.

"Sons of the Living" blows up some of the mythology of America's western frontier.

https://californiasun.co/newsletter/lake-tahoes-bear-boom-central-coast-restaurants-worth-a-road-trip/ -5

05/12/2024

The startlingly vivid mountain bluebird can be found commonly in mountain meadows of the Sierra and Cascade ranges.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/two-boys-seriously-hurt-in-butte-county-shooting-new-gold-rush-in-the-mojave-desert/

05/12/2024

What infinity pool?

The new must-have home amenity for Southern California’s ultra rich: personal fire hydrants.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/two-boys-seriously-hurt-in-butte-county-shooting-new-gold-rush-in-the-mojave-desert/ -12

02/12/2024

Scientists announced the discovery of a strange new creature in the extreme depths of Monterey Bay. A translucent sea slug with colorful internal organs, it represents a whole new family of living things that reside in ocean’s vast midnight zone.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/judge-halts-oakland-airport-renaming-strange-new-creature-in-monterey-bay/ -9

30/11/2024

In the new book “Didion & Babitz,” author Lili Anolik explores the friendship and rivalry of two literary titans of 1960s and 1970s California. In her telling, it is Babitz, not Didion, who has the rightful claim to California’s greatest chronicler.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/the-san-franciscan-trying-to-buy-infowars-rivalry-of-joan-didion-and-eve-babitz/ -6

28/11/2024

Looking to get outside after the meal or visit a park instead of a store on Black Friday?

The California Sun reached out to leading outdoor experts in each of nine California regions and asked the same question: If you had to name your absolute top 5 not-to-be-missed day outings, what would they be?

Here are their picks, 45 in all, roughly north to south.

https://www.californiasun.co/californias-ultimate-outdoor-bucket-list-wonders/

27/11/2024

The island fox, housecat-sized with a pointy nose and rust-colored fur, has long held the mantle of cutest creature native to the Channel Islands — at least in the public mind.

But there’s another contender: the island spotted skunk, which is even smaller than the fox.

https://www.californiasun.co/newsletter/californias-solar-glut-the-channel-islands-cutest-creature/ -11