Newsletter: Essential California: When it finally snows

Good morning. It is Wednesday, Dec. 30. San Francisco’s most expensive rental could be yours for $29,950 a month. Even at that price, the three-bedroom unit has just one parking space. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Political boss

For 26 years, James Penman was San Bernardino’s city attorney. More important, he was a political boss in the years leading up to the city’s bankruptcy. Penman says he was dedicated to rooting out corruption and holding city officials accountable. But others saw him as an obstacle to reform. Los Angeles Times

Playing in the snow

Five-year-old Savannah Mayorga was born at the start of the drought. This year, good weather allowed her to put on a pink snowsuit and see the snow. “Can you imagine that? We brought her up here one February, to this exact same spot, and there was no snow. None. It was really scary,” said her father, Robert Mayorga. Los Angeles Times

Ships come in

Hear about that massive ship that strode into L.A. harbor this weekend? It’s part of a trend. In an effort to move more cargo on less fuel, ocean freight carriers are in a race to build megaships with much larger capacities than the typical ships calling at U.S. ports. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water plans: The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s plan to purchase five islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is getting more complicated. Water officials recently discovered a 2013 agreement governs the islands. Purchasing the islands could make it easier to dig tunnels under the delta, and those would deliver more water from Northern California to the south. Sacramento Bee

Cold front: Southern California’s cold temperatures will stay through the end of the week. Temperatures are expected to hover around freezing in the early-morning hours of Wednesday and Thursday. “Sea breezes come throughout the day and that can make it feel relatively cooler,” said Emily Thornton, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

Year in review: For columnist Steve Lopez, 2015 is the year of haves and have-nots. ”Who needs a chart on the staggering concentration of wealth when you’ve got someone who’s barely aware of a $90,000-a-year water bill and someone just down the road who uses broccoli-steaming water to flush the toilet?” he writes. Los Angeles Times

Did you feel it? A 4.4 earthquake and its aftershocks in San Bernardino County rattled a swath of Southern California. It jarred nerves and was much tweeted about, but no major injuries or damage was reported. Los Angeles Times

Ticket to ride: Very soon it will be cheaper to ride short distances on Metrolink. Riders traveling just one stop will pay $3 beginning Jan. 1, down from the current average fare of $5.50. “The station-to-station fare is designed to increase ridership by encouraging local trips using Metrolink as an additional transportation option,” said Art Leahy, the railroad’s chief executive. Los Angeles Times

Nobody walks in L.A.: Walking in Los Angeles is apparently so unusual that someone (well, our former book critic) wrote a book on it. 89.3 KPCC

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Voter files: California Secretary of State Alex Padilla is looking into reports that the data of millions of voters may have been posted online. The compromised information may have included names, birthdays, addresses and whether those registered had actually shown up to the polls. Los Angeles Times

No extension: The Palm Springs Planning Commission denied an extension request for a downtown development that has stalled since it was first approved in 2006. Palm Canyon LLC was supposed to build 125 condos along with retail and commercial space at Ramon Road and Palm Canyon Drive. “When you have something drag out for such a long period of time, it’s helpful to re-evaluate the project, relative to the conditions, the context, and things that may have changed,” said Flinn Fagg, director of Palm Springs Planning Services. Desert Sun

CRIME AND COURTS

Gruesome crime: A 51-year-old Pomona man was charged Tuesday with killing the mother of his children by dousing her in gasoline and setting her on fire. Authorities said Clarence Duwell Dear and Dawn Hensley were arguing on Christmas Day when the fight turned physical. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Los Angeles Times

Actor arrested: An actor best known for playing a high school student on “Glee” was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possessing child pornography. Mark Salling, 33, was held on $20,000 bail. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA COMMENTARY

Culture of violence: The San Bernardino shooting was an attack on multicultural California, and, according to Héctor Tobar, the acts “amount to modern-day lynchings.” New York Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Drug culture: Jesus Christ. LSD. California in the 1990s. Boom

Organ donor: An Orange County man will be remembered at the Rose Parade for donating his organs and helping to save the lives of more than 40 people. Tom Zech will be included in the Donate Life parade float, which will feature a total of 60 donors. “He was so selfless till the day he died,” said his 25-year-old daughter. ABC 7

For sale: The onetime home of writer Nathanael West is on the market. The Hollywood Hills property was built in 1924. Los Angeles Times

900-pound jaywalker: Why did the elephant seal cross the road? After the animal, nicknamed Tolay, tried to cross Highway 37 in Sonoma County, it was up to traffic officers to guide her back to safe waters. BuzzFeed

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

San Francisco will have some sun and a high of 51 degrees. In Los Angeles, there will be plenty of sunshine and 63 degrees. Riverside will be sunny but cool at 61. San Diego will be mostly sunny and 62 degrees.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Allen Dull:

“I remember the Fruit Frost Service radio reports on KFI at 8 p.m. through the winters of the 1950s. My father, a weekend lemon grower, listened closely for predictions of a freeze in or near Corona, where he had a small grove. One Christmas morning in Pomona, he returned from lighting smudge pots with the face of a coal miner. Most nights, though, it was just the drone of the radio announcements, for location after location: ‘above 32.’ In the long list of locations, ‘Simi,’ followed by ‘Piru,’ sticks in my memory, though they were as far to the west as Pomona and Corona were to the east. I heard ‘Piru’ as ‘Peru’ and ‘Simi’ sounded even more exotic.”

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 Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.