For firefighters, rain is a welcome guest
People on the Central Coast are praying for rain as a fire rages in their backyard. The rest of the country is praying for clear skies. And animals are playing starring roles in Tuesday's news.
But first, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti promised to make city employees pay at least some of their healthcare costs. Now that he's in office, eh, never mind.
Arlene Martinez writes In California, a daily roundup of stories from newsrooms across the Paste BN Network. Sign-up here.
A good time for rain in Santa Barbara ...
With winds subsiding on Tuesday, authorities are lifting some evacuation orders for a Santa Barbara fire that has scorched more than 4,000 acres with no containment in sight. The Cave Fire started Monday afternoon in the San Marcos Pass area above Santa Barbara, threatening homes and causing nearly 5,500 residents to evacuate. Rain headed that direction should help the effort. Get real-time fire updates at vcstar.com.
... But not the best time for powerful storms
While Santa Barbarans welcome rain, thousands of travelers stranded in airports or running into impassable roads probably aren't as grateful. Pre-Thanksgiving storms are dumping snow from the Rockies to the Great Lakes, and heavy winds in the northeast could stop balloons from flying in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In California, a historic "bomb cyclone" was expected to crash into the Northern California-Southern Oregon coast; before it even arrived, it was bringing shockwaves of rain, snow and strong winds that shut down highways and unleashed havoc on roads (Interstate 5 north of Redding was closed.) In Southern California, mountain roads could "close without notice" in the Inland Empire, travelers were warned.
Animals in the news
Getting the heartbeat of an animal that weighs 441,000 pounds and swims in the sea was never gonna be easy. But researchers just pulled it off.
Santa Cruz area coastal mountain lions have three times as much mercury as their inland brethren, and fog may be to blame.
Northern California firefighters rescue a sleepy baby seal — he goes by the name of Santos — from a parking garage. (Video)
A peaceful pumping place
Breast pumps, many mothers are certain, were created by men. They wheeze loudly with each uncomfortable suck and aren't particularly efficient. What makes the thrice-daily experience worse is when you're forced to do it in a bathroom or in your car because your workplace doesn't provide a place to do it. That'll change on Jan. 1, when new rules will require employers to provide mothers a secure and private space close to their workstation, a place for their pumping equipment, access to electricity and a cool location to store the milk.
What we're talking about
On Thursday, don't forget to toast the state that gives so much to the nation's Thanksgiving bounty.
Ghosts may be haunting a Ventura restaurant, no matter what that psychic feels.
San Diego hires an immigration affairs manager to help better integrate immigrant and refugee populations, and she's a Chula Vista native.
Trump: A month for Native Americans and American Founders
As many in the nation talk about ways of reframing Thanksgiving to better reflect the reality of Native American-European relations in those ugly, early days, one man has a slightly different take. That would be President Donald Trump, who last month declared November to be not only Native American Heritage Month, but also American History and Founders Month. Several Native American historians have expressed objections to the dual proclamations. "This is an attempt to try to erase the indigenous footprint here on this land and the importance of the native people to the American people as a whole," says Sean Milanovich, a Ph.D candidate at the University of California, Riverside, who is studying Native American history.
The first Thanksgiving: Rethinking the feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts, nearly 400 years ago.
Serve me another: The Visalia Costco will sell $385,000 in pies by Thursday.
Owl be back...for the rodents
In a dense part of Salinas, where hundreds of people live close together in encampments, rodents are chronic, unwanted visitors. A 16-year-old student saw an opportunity to help get rid of them while at the same time completing his Eagle Scout project. The result is six owl boxes Dino Lazzerini and his fellow Boy Scouts built and placed around Salinas. The hope is that owls who feast on mice and rats will help reduce the population and also enjoy hearty meals.
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In California is a roundup of news compiled from across Paste BN Network newsrooms. Contributing: Orange County Register, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, California Healthline and Los Angeles Times.