Newsletter: Essential California: After the terror

Good morning. It is Saturday, Dec. 12. I’m Nita Lelyveld, writer of City Beat features, filling in so that Alice Walton and Shelby Grad can stop staring at their screens for a bit.

In a column called Brevities in this newspaper on this day in 1889, the following warning was issued: “The parties who borrowed a fox from a fox-culture establishment in this city are informed that the slightest bite or scratch from the animal will produce hydrophobia and nostalgia in its most virulent form.”

Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend informed:

TOP STORIES

Immune no more

For a long time, Californians may have felt themselves immune to the terrorist attacks that hit cities elsewhere in the U.S. and in Europe. San Bernardino changed that — though the state always was vulnerable, whether residents acknowledge it or not. Perhaps in feeling safe, we let our guard down. L.A. Times

Faraway family

“It’s a disaster for our lives,” says Tashfeen Malik’s brother, who lives in Riyadh. His family is devastated by the deadly San Bernardino rampage carried out by his sister and Syed Rizwan Farook, he said. They also are grieving. “We are crying for more than one week now.” L.A. Times

Muslim fears

Many Muslims in the Inland Empire have lived in fear since the San Bernardino massacre amid the heated anti-Muslim rhetoric that has come in its wake. Some say they’re too scared to go out alone. They’re worried too that even people they’ve known for years now will look upon them with suspicion. L.A. Times

The whole story

The ongoing investigation. Memories of the victims. We’ve collected it all for you here.

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Pummeled pier: Strong surf damaged the 143-year-old Ventura Pier and flooded some nearby streets Friday. L.A. Times

Mapping the Mojave: A California nonprofit called Blueprint Earth is “cataloging all the rocks, animals, insects, streams, plants, bacteria and weather of one square kilometer in the Mojave Desert,” says KPCC’s Sanden Totten. Think of it as a blueprint to rebuild if climate change wreaks havoc on the sensitive ecosystem. 89.3 KPCC

L.A. AT LARGE

Rodeo real estate: French luxury retailer Chanel recently bought the Rodeo Drive building it has been leasing for $152 million. At $13,217 per square foot, that’s a record price for retail space in California. L.A. Times

Perking up Pershing: Poor Pershing Square has spent so many years paved over and walled off from the surrounding streets. A new design competition aims to turn it into a more inviting gathering space. Take a look at early ideas here and tell Pershing Square Renew (pershingsquarenew.com) which ones you like. The four most popular teams will go on to present detailed proposals. Curbed LA

Bold belly? If so, read on. Jonathan Gold’s list of 10 best dishes of the year doesn’t favor the bland. Have you tried foie gras funnel cakes? How about Noorook, which he describes as “a pink, creamy plate of mold”? L.A. Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Caliphate comments: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is doing damage control after she told Larry King that “anywhere between 5% and 20%” of Muslims “have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible.” The Santa Ana Democrat sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Armed Services Committee, and is running for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat. L.A. Times

Firing lines? Los Angeles County's former top attorney, Mark Saladino, has filed a $1.5-million claim as a precursor to a potential lawsuit over his alleged ouster from the position. He says he was fired and forced to write a false press release saying he was departing voluntarily. L.A. Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Speedy exit: For scaling a construction crane and shooting off fireworks as a act of protest against SeaWorld, "Jackass" star Steve-O spends only about 8 hours of a 30-day sentence behind bars. He has jail overcrowding to thank. L.A. Times

CALIFORNIA COMMENTARY

Open arms: The Syrian refugee crisis seems an appropriate time to remember Luis Olivares, the charismatic Roman Catholic priest who 30 years ago declared La Placita Church downtown a sanctuary for Central American refugees. L.A. Times

Grabbed guns: Robin Abcarian says San Francisco is looking to regulate how guns are stored in vehicles after a spate of incidents in which firearms (including those owned by law enforcement) found their way into the wrong hands. She says she’s “on the side of demanding that people who own and carry guns do everything in their power to make sure their weapons are safely stored.” L.A. Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Small clunkers: Did you know that California’s Lemon Law applies to most household electronics that sell for more than $100? Manufacturers are supposed to provide spare parts, David Lazarus explains. L.A. Times

Look up! It’s time for Geminids, one of the best meteor showers of the year. Peak viewing time: Sunday and Monday nights — when the moon will be a waxing crescent and the dark sky should provide excellent viewing. L.A. Times

Joplin’s joy ride: Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a psychedelic Porsche? Janis Joplin’s custom-decorated 1965 Porsche 356C 1600 Cabriolet just sold for $1.76 million, more than anyone expected. (The New York Times, in her obituary wrote: “With the same abandon that she sang, she drove her Porsche through the hills of San Francisco, a fast looking car, decorated with psychedelic butterflies.”) SFGate

Christmas cacophony: A look at the Tom & Jerry House, San Francisco’s most over-the-top annual yuletide display. Its centerpiece is the live Norfolk Island Pine that Tom Taylor and Jerry Goldstein — together 43 years — bought at a nursery in 1970. SFist

Walt’s footsteps: Check out the slideshow of Disneyland images by Renie Bardeau, who took hundreds of thousands of photos of the park as a staff photographer. Some of them, including “Footsteps,” of Walt Disney leaving Sleeping Beauty Castle one morning in 1964, have become very well known. OC Register

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.