Newsletter: Essential California: Rains end, but flooding dangers are high in the Central Valley

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, May 4, and here’s what’s happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Watch out for that melting snow

The rains that hammered California this winter have ended, but flooding dangers are high, as the massive Sierra snowpack melts. In the Central Valley town of Tranquillity, farmers are worried about a collapsed levee — a disaster that happened a decade ago. Now they hope that the local reservoir has enough space for all that snowmelt. Los Angeles Times

Protesting the protesters in Berkeley

Over the last few months, staunchly liberal Berkeley and the University of California campus have become a national stage for tensions over the Trump presidency. Many residents of the town are unhappy with what’s happening. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin was blunt, saying the city is being used by extremists on both the right and left “to literally fight and challenge each other.” Los Angeles Times

Where the state stands on repealing Obamacare

As President Trump and his allies in Congress try again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the state’s delegation is crucial to this push. Here’s where they stand. Los Angeles Times

Plus: California’s experience with health reform before Obamacare shows how hard it is for even the biggest states to reform the healthcare system on their own. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Refinery explosion investigated: Exxon Mobil’s old equipment and outdated procedures were to blame in a 2015 explosion of a Torrance refinery, a federal agency said Wednesday. The incident endangered 150,000 nearby residents. Los Angeles Times

New roommates! To learn to care for the elderly, students in Los Angeles are moving into retirement homes. The students live and eat for free, and in exchange they spend time with the residents. Stat News

Beware, North Korea: An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile was launched Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base to test the weapon’s reliability and ensure an “effective nuclear deterrent.” Los Angeles Times

IMMIGRATION AND THE BORDER

No more asylum seekers? Increasingly, migrants and their lawyers are saying that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are refusing people who are seeking asylum. New York Times

Interesting place to recruit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection is desperate to bring in new officers, so they recruited at a rodeo and country music festival. Associated Press

Elected officials in the spotlight: Some legislators in California are immigrants too. Here’s how they’re putting their stamp on the Capitol. KQED

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

About Airbnb: Los Angeles has been weighing new regulations on Airbnb, but the budget proposed by Mayor Eric Garcetti relies on not regulating it. The budget for next year includes more than $33 million from Airbnb and any other rental platforms that agree to collect lodging taxes, part of his plan to close an estimated $263-million shortfall. Los Angeles Times

Think-piece alert: A broken-down home in Palo Alto just sold for $2.5 million, and some say it represents how coastal housing policy has gone wrong. Vox

No Confederate flags except in certain places: California officials say the state’s ban on displaying the Confederate flag doesn’t apply to individuals, even if they are on government property. Associated Press

Remembering a union legacy: Hank Lacayo, who died this week at 85, was the president of a United Auto Workers union local in Los Angeles, and he leaves a legacy of empowering others. Ventura County Star

CRIME AND COURTS

Debate over motive: The survivors of a shooting in San Diego over the weekend believe the gunman targeted black people. Police are doubtful. Los Angeles Times

Basketball player shot: Former NBA All-Star Brandon Roy was wounded in a shooting in Compton, police say. Los Angeles Times

Big jury award: A federal jury awarded $620,000 Tuesday to a Long Beach man who says he was beaten, choked and shocked with a stun gun by police officers during a 2011 traffic stop. Los Angeles Times

A lot of long-distance calls: Authorities say an inmate in California was running a large drug distribution operation in Florida from his jail cell. He was reportedly using a contraband phone 18 hours a day to conduct drug operations. Miami Herald

Man shot on Market Street: Police shot and killed a knife-wielding suspect who they said was in the act of stabbing a man on Market Street in San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle

THE ENVIRONMENT

More lemons: The U.S. is ending a ban on importing Argentine lemons, and this is angering California citrus growers. Associated Press

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Get ready for the concerts: The refurbished Los Angeles State Historic Park could become one of the city’s best spots for live music. Los Angeles Times

Scully honored: Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully was back at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday evening to be inducted into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Ring of Honor. Los Angeles Times

A look back: Check out these photos of Los Angeles taken by a tourist in 1894. LAist

Another park! Construction to build Albion Riverside Park in Lincoln Heights will kick off this weekend on the former site of a dairy distribution center next to the Los Angeles River. Curbed LA

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: sunny Thursday, partly cloudy Friday. San Diego and Sacramento: partly cloudy Thursday and Friday. San Francisco area: partly cloudy Thursday, cloudy Friday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory comes from Susan Heiligman:

“I moved to the California desert in the summer of ’84 with my two young sons when I accepted a teaching position with the Coachella schools. We felt like pioneers among the sand and palms settling into a small apartment complex in sparse Bermuda Dunes, where the other occupants were also single moms with young children. The apartment complex was like a kind of sorority for women post-college and post-divorce tackling life while raising kids and holding down jobs. The apartments surrounded a gleaming pool, a place where we all found refuge, a place opening its liquid arms to wrap us in cool comfort and relieve our loneliness. At the pool, my boys played endless games of Marco Polo with the other kids living there, kids who would become lifelong friends. At the pool I sunbathed and commiserated with the other moms on long Saturday afternoons when, after conversation about parenting and dating, we would decide to load up the kids and head out for the mall and early dinner. At the pool we could transcend our troubles with kindred spirits and friendship. Finding our way, years ago, my boys and I had to look no further than out our door. That radiant pool in the desert was a lifeline.”

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.