It's Thursday. Lunar New Year is now a state holiday. Plus, California is suing major drug companies that make insulin. |
 | | A Chinese Lunar New Year fair in Chinatown in San Francisco. Li Jianguo/Xinhua via Getty Images |
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This Sunday is Lunar New Year, when the moon will enter a new phase and usher in the Year of the Rabbit. And for the first time in California's history, it's an official state holiday. |
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year declaring Lunar New Year, which typically falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, to be a state holiday — a way to "acknowledge the diversity and cultural significance Asian Americans bring to California," he said in his signing message. |
Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in China, Vietnam, South Korea and other Asian countries, and one of the most widely celebrated among Asian Americans, said Evan Low, a state assemblyman from San Jose who introduced the bill. Recognition by the state "has a lot of significance, because the Asian American and Pacific Islander community is one that has traditionally and historically been overlooked," Low told me. |
But the designation in California is largely symbolic, because the law as enacted didn't make the holiday a paid day off for state employees. Low pared down his proposal last year after state analysts estimated that creating an additional paid day off for state employees would cost the state about $80 million a year in overtime pay and lost productivity. (In California, 11 state holidays now come with a paid day off and four do not, including Lunar New Year.) |
Even so, Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance in Los Angeles, said that California's commemoration of Lunar New Year was meaningful, especially amid a wave of hatred and violence toward Asian Americans that has escalated since the pandemic began. Kulkarni is one of the three activists who co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. |
"It's about the fact that our communities matter," Kulkarni told me. "We are being seen, we are being heard, our issues are being recognized, and hopefully they are being addressed. While it is symbolic, symbolism does matter." |
Asian Americans make up 17 percent of California's population, the highest share of any state other than Hawaii, according to the Pew Research Center. Thirty percent of the nation's 22 million Asian Americans reside in the Golden State. |
For decades, the San Francisco Unified School District has given students the day off for Lunar New Year. Low said that since his bill was signed, he had heard from other school districts, cities and counties that are interested in making Lunar New Year a holiday as well. "I'm hopeful that other jurisdictions will follow in the spirit of the state and make it an official day off," Low said. |
A similar effort is underway at the national level. Representative Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, introduced a bill last year that would have made Lunar New Year the 12th federally commemorated holiday. (The 11th was created in 2021, when President Biden signed a bill establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.) |
Meng's bill stalled, but her spokesman said she planned to reintroduce it on Friday. |
 | | Queen Hollins worked last week to prepare her home in West Long Beach for more rain.Mark Abramson for The New York Times |
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If you read one story, make it this |
 | | The Salton Sea, which shrank drastically during the state's yearslong drought, photographed last year from what was once its shoreline.Mette Lampcov for The New York Times |
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- Solar farms: Converting agricultural fields in the Imperial Valley into solar farms would help relieve pressure on the drought-parched Colorado River and provide more clean energy. But resistance runs deep, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- On-location: Filming on location in Los Angeles took a dive in the fourth quarter as studios pared back movie and TV production, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- It's about the wrist: A recent boom in watch brands small and large opening brick-and-mortar stores is feeding the growth of Los Angeles as a robust watch town.
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- School stabbing: Two people were stabbed outside Fresno High School in an incident involving students, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Fraud: The former president of the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission has pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding clients of $775,000, arranging donations to bribe a city building inspector, lying to the F.B.I. and other charges, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- Rain records: New rainfall totals show that no person alive has experienced a three-week period in the Bay Area as wet as the past 21 days. The last time it happened, Abraham Lincoln was president, The Mercury News reports.
- Transit troubles: A mudslide struck an Altamont Corridor Express train and has forced the cancellation of service until Monday, The Mercury News reports.
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 | | Dane Tashima for The New York Times |
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 | | The Big Sur River at Andrew Molera State Park.mauritius images/Alamy |
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Today's tip comes from Jose Torres, who lives in San Francisco: |
"In early November, I was staying in the Big Sur area and discovered the amazing Bobcat Trail at Andrew Molera State Park. It is right off Highway 1 on the eye-opening Big Sur coastline. The days were sunny and the state park was awash in brilliant fall colors, particularly on the Bobcat Trail. Giant oak trees and other plants were in 'peacock' mode, showing off their incredible variety of autumn colors. The trails were cluttered in thousands of fallen orange, red and yellow leaves and it was enchanting. I thought I was in Vermont enjoying the fall foliage. As an added bonus there is a substantial creek and a nearby trail that takes you to the beach." |
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. |
And before you go, some good news |
Santa Rosa was the longtime home of Charles M. Schulz, creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. There's a museum dedicated to him in town, the local airport bears his name, and around the city there are dozens of larger-than-life statues of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and other beloved characters. |
The latest addition? A statue of Franklin, the first Black "Peanuts" character, installed in the quad of Santa Rosa's Piner High School. |
Terrence Bell, a teacher at the school, remembers when he was a student at Piner in the early aughts. There was an empty pedestal in the center of campus, and it remained empty when he began teaching. |
So he and Jenna Jewell, who teach English classes together, wrote a letter to the Charles M. Schulz Museum, asking if there was a way to create a Franklin statue for their students. |
"Franklin just exemplifies our campus so well," Bell told The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. "He's a minority. He's kind and strong. He's intelligent. All of those things represent Piner to a T." |
No, the museum could not make a Franklin statue. |
Museum officials could do one better: They already had one in storage. |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya |
Briana Scalia and Isabella Grullón Paz contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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