It's Tuesday. Why California bans state-funded travel to 22 states. Plus, the Fresno City Council president is charged with extortion. |
 | | North Carolina is one of 22 states that California employees cannot travel to on the state's dime. Charlotte, N.C., above.Travis Dove for The New York Times |
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In 2016, amid national outcry over a North Carolina law preventing transgender people from using restrooms that aligned with their gender identity, California countered with its own legislation. |
California lawmakers banned state-funded travel to any state that enacted anti-L.G.B.T.Q. laws. The boycott was a way to "fight back against the discriminatory policies passed in states like North Carolina," its author, Assemblyman Evan Low, said at the time. |
The law, which applied to four states when enacted, seemed mostly symbolic. It wasn't expected to deal a major financial blow to the banned states, and California doesn't track how much money has been withheld as a result of the law. |
Six years later, as California pushes dozens of other bills responding to anti-abortion and pro-gun legislation being passed elsewhere in the country, this 2016 ban has been thrust back in the spotlight — and seems to be facing some pushback. |
At least partly to blame is a summer vacation that Gov. Gavin Newsom took to Montana, which is on the list of banned states. Personal travel isn't off-limits and Newsom's office says his state-funded security detail doesn't violate the law. But the optics were attention-grabbing, coming right after he railed against Republican-led states for embracing conservative policies. |
The trip also drew attention to just how much the ban has widened since its early days. The law was written so that states would be added to the list if they passed discriminatory legislation in the future. |
And amid a wave of anti-transgender laws in statehouses nationwide, the number of banned states has grown to 22 from four. The latest list was announced last month by Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is required to update the list and who voted for the bill when he was a Democratic assemblyman. |
The newest additions include Indiana and Utah. Louisiana and Arizona will officially be added soon when new laws take effect there. Newsom's vacation spot, Montana, was placed on the list last year. |
The expansive roster shows just how divided states have become in the six years since California enacted its law — and how our blue state is in opposition to nearly half of the country on L.G.B.T.Q. policies. |
Critics say that the ban clearly isn't having its desired impact, given that the list has exploded rather than shrunk. Citing the law's many loopholes and some problems it has created for academics in California, the Los Angeles Times's editorial board last week recommended the law be repealed and a Sacramento Bee columnist said it's pointless. |
"California's laws are for California. As much as we like to impose our values on other states, it just doesn't work that way," the Democratic strategist Steve Maviglio told me. "It's a feel-good measure that really has zero effect." |
But Low, the bill's author and chairman of the California Legislative L.G.B.T.Q. Caucus, said the criticisms missed the mark. The law wasn't intended to be punitive, or to pit states against each other. It was supposed to prevent state workers from having to travel to places where they may be discriminated against, he said. |
These anti-L.G.B.T.Q. measures are "incredibly dangerous laws that are hurting the most vulnerable," he told me, and their spread across the nation only reinforces that California employees shouldn't be required to set foot in those places for work. |
"The fundamental spirit of it is we will not send Californians in harm's way," Low said. |
 | | Skittles are "unfit for human consumption," a new lawsuit says.Bryan Derballa for The New York Times |
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- Skittles: A new California lawsuit says Skittles are "unfit for human consumption," The Los Angeles Times reports.
- National Guard retirement: The head of the California National Guard will retire at the end of the month after 11 years at the helm — a tenure that recently involved aiding Ukrainian forces but also embarrassing scandals in his top officers' ranks, The Sacramento Bee reports.
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- Boyle Heights homelessness: A plan to house up to 10,000 homeless people in a former Sears building has been met with community backlash, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- Covid kerfuffle: The chief medical officer at the Los Angeles County-U.S.C. Medical Center seemed to downplay growing Covid concerns during an internal presentation last week, calling it "media hype" and saying that "a lot of people have bad colds," The Los Angeles Times reports. The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, which oversees the hospital, issued a statement Monday saying that Covid "remains a very serious public health threat."
- 7-Eleven robberies: Prosecutors plan to charge a Los Angeles man in connection with three murders across Southern California as part of a deadly string of robberies last week at a half-dozen 7-Elevens and a doughnut shop, The Associated Press reports.
- Bike lanes: The newly opened Sixth Street Bridge in Los Angeles has bicycle lanes, but they may not be protective enough, LAist reports.
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- Fresno City Council woes: The Fresno County District Attorney's Office on Monday charged the City Council president, Nelson Esparza, with a felony count of attempted extortion, The Fresno Bee reports.
- Missing college student: The trial began Monday for the 1996 murder of a student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, The Associated Press reports.
- Fire: A fast-moving brush fire forced evacuations in Mariposa County on Monday, The Los Angeles Times reports.
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- Cooling off: The Bay Area housing market is starting to slow, with a drop in sales and median prices, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- Shooting: A central California man has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and wounding a San Francisco Bay Area police officer during a traffic stop over the weekend, The Associated Press reports.
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 | | Shawn Bishop |
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For $3 million: A 1923 Mediterranean-style house in Pasadena, a Victorian in Fair Oaks and a Craftsman bungalow in Redwood City. |
 | | A glimpse of the dazzling array of banchan at San Ho Won, which includes many kinds of kimchi and muchim made in house.Aya Brackett for The New York Times |
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 | | Photo by: Prisma by Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images |
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Today's tip comes from Edie Williams, who lives in Auburn, Maine: |
"My very favorite place is Death Valley. I love driving over the mountains and then descending into Death Valley, which is below sea level. The vast expanse of awesome beauty. Many shades of color. Few buildings and few people. So quiet." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
As water restrictions take their toll on Southern California, tell us: What's going on with your lawn? Are you trying to keep your grass green? Or, did the drought prompt you to rip out your grass? |
 | | Shasta Lake now dams the McCloud River in the Winnemem traditional area in Jones Valley near Redding.Max Whittaker for The New York Times |
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And before you go, some good news |
For more than 80 years, California's Chinook salmon hadn't been able to swim in the McCloud River, which had once been their spawning area. The construction of the Shasta Dam blocked their path to the cold mountain waters near Mount Shasta. |
But this month, state and federal wildlife officials collected about 20,000 winter-run salmon eggs and drove them to a campground on the banks of the river. |
Members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who have long sought to return salmon to their ancestral waters, held a ceremony as the eggs arrived in a cooler. |
"This is history for California that we've done this," Caleen Sisk, the tribe's chief and spiritual leader, told The Los Angeles Times. "It's a real blessing." |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya |
Correction: Yesterday's newsletter misquoted Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County public health director. She said, "So no one should go into a space of saying, 'I'm not at any risk,'" not "So no one should not go into a space of saying, 'I'm not at any risk.'" |
Jack Kramer and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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