California Today Will Soon Have a Different Look

Last spring, I drove along a narrow country road in the Central Valley until the tilled dirt fields on either side of me gave way to a vast, shimmering lake.

The lake had been drained decades ago to make room for farms, but furious winter storms brought it back to life last year. Standing beside my car, I watched an egret flap its snowy white wings on the newly created shores, and felt as if I was peering through time, at a body of water that had disappeared long before I was born.

That day, as I witnessed this once-in-a-generation spectacle, I was overcome with wonder — something I’ve been lucky enough to experience often in this job.

Since I began writing this newsletter three years ago, I’ve pressed my eye up against the most looked-through telescope in the world. I’ve met the oldest woman in America. I’ve stood among the wreckage of a flooded farm town, beside the world’s longest-living aquarium fish, in a busy food bank serving one of the wealthiest counties in the nation.

And all of that, of course, was in California. I hope those tales have better illuminated the state for you, as they have for me.

Starting next week, this newsletter will be a little different. It will still arrive in your inbox every weekday morning, but with a curated collection of New York Times articles about California, instead of my voice guiding you through the news each day.

My California-based colleagues and I will occasionally use this newsletter to explain a big story, and we’re increasingly investing in more in-depth reporting and daily news coverage of the state that you’ll find elsewhere on our website. Many of our readers also receive the Morning newsletter and our California reporters hope to make occasional appearances there to explain our state to a wider audience.

Though the California Today newsletter is changing, The Times remains more committed than ever to covering California. We are hiring another reporter in Los Angeles. And I’ll still be reporting on the Golden State as a national correspondent based in the Bay Area. (Send me your story ideas!)

Thank you for subscribing to California Today, and we hope you continue to enjoy the newsletter in its new format. Your emails — whether about why you moved to California, or your picks for your favorite Golden State song or movie — have been wonderful to receive, and we will take some time this week to celebrate the ideas and observations you’ve sent us.

Please keep in touch at [email protected], and see you around!

The rest of the news

• The Supreme Court’s ruling that allows cities to remove homeless residents sleeping outdoors is already affecting several cities in California as government officials decide how to proceed.

• Large portions of California have been under excessive heat warnings in the past few weeks. And the consequences are increasingly playing out in the nation’s emergency rooms.

• A 59-year-old man was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with a brutal murder that took place in the Sacramento Valley in 1984, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Southern California

• A state investigation has discovered that Cajon Valley Union School District’s sexual health curriculum omits legally required instruction about L.G.B.T.Q. and gender topics, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Central California

• Clovis voters could decide on whether to approve a multimillion-dollar bond measure to potentially pay off construction projects at new school sites, The Fresno Bee reports.

Northern California

• The world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial ferry will start operating on San Francisco Bay and will offer free rides for six months, The Associated Press reports.

And before you go, some good news

What began as an incidental blind date between Joseph Gorman, a lawyer from Syracuse, N.Y., and Matthew Capbarat, a Walnut Creek native who owns an insurance agency, turned into a date making holiday cookies together about a month later. The pair were introduced by their mutual friend, Carrie Lafferty, back in 2019 — Gorman explains that the spark was instant.

The two messaged on Instagram for a few weeks before meeting again at a Christmas party in San Francisco. Their meeting was ideal, even if the cookies they baked together a few days later were not (Capbarat attributed this to the baking soda).

The couple moved into a house together in Presidio, a neighborhood in San Francisco they still live in today, before they became engaged in April 2023. Their wedding at Palisades Resort’s High Camp was on June 29, and Gorman’s older sister was ordained so she could perform the ceremony.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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