Bomb cyclones, and 17 hours stranded in a car
Bomb cyclones, snow, rain: Travel remains a nightmare from coast to coast. On the other hand, rain is helping firefighters contain the Santa Barbara Cave Fire ... it's just that now there are concerns about debris flows.
It's day-before-Thanksgiving news for Wednesday.
Arlene Martínez writes In California, a daily roundup of stories from newsrooms across the Paste BN Network. Sign-up here and tell a friend!
The travel suggestion of the day: 'Stay put'
Two powerful winter storms hammered the West Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, shutting down highways and snarling travel plans on one of the year's busiest travel days. Hundreds of stranded cars were removed from Interstate 5 headed north from California into Oregon in the aftermath of the storm that dumped snow and created whiteout conditions on both sides of the border. Drivers reported being stuck for 17 hours, though by Wednesday afternoon I-5 north of Redding had reopened. Down south, up to two feet of snow could fall in the San Gabriel Mountains, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned.
But what is a bomb cyclone? It's defined as a barometric pressure drop of 24 millibars in 24 hours. In our case, the pressure dropped at least 24 millibars in 12 hours. "It's one of the lowest pressures to land on our coastline in history," said Shad Keene, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Medford, Ore., near where the cyclone made landfall. "So yeah, you're feeling the effects of it for sure. This storm is having widespread impacts."
Cave Fire retreats in the rain
The rain that dropped on California's Central Coast helped firefighters begin to contain the Cave Fire, which started Monday afternoon in the Santa Barbara hills. That's the good news. The bad news? Now there's fear of debris flows. The Cave Fire, by the way, is named for the site of paintings done by the Chumash some 700 years ago. California State Parks staff put heat-resistant blankets outside the cave's opening. Go to vcstar.com for the latest fire updates.
Map: See the evacuation areas for the fire and debris flow.
A break in the bustle
Aerial dancers, a five-piece brass ensemble, mariachis, art exhibits: California airports and beyond try to ease travel stress.
Check out 5 of the best hikes in and around Palm Springs
Can you guess the side dish Californians Googled the most? Answer's at the bottom.
For braceros, a 70-year wait for back wages
In the 1940s, Oscar Serna picked oranges and grapefruit in California and Texas farm fields. He'd arrived in the country as a bracero, one of about 4.5 million Mexicans who worked the railroad and farm fields during and after World War II. Each week, 10% of braceros' paychecks were taken and put into a "savings fund" — many never knew of the deduction. A court settlement 21 years ago mandated the workers be paid back, but Serna, now 90, and thousands of others have never seen a cent. And time is running out.
Valley fever, help for the homeless and E. coli
Valley fever, a hard-to-diagnose infection, is reaching more people in California, and its spread may be driven by wildfires and climate change.
Homeless people across the U.S. are, per tradition, welcomed warmly and fed on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, cities will return to the business of getting them out of sight (and hopefully, into housing).
Hold the salad: Another 27 people were infected with a strain of E. coli linked to Salinas-grown romaine lettuce, the CDC said Tuesday.
SAT, ACT scores punish the poor, group says
A coalition of advocacy groups is expected to file a lawsuit against the University of California, demanding that its nine undergraduate campuses stop requiring applicants to submit SAT or ACT results. The longstanding aptitude tests, the group contends, are inherently biased against the poor. “These tests are incredibly sensitive to socioeconomic status and race, and have nothing to say about the individual,” says Alisa Hartz, an attorney with Los Angeles-based pro bono firm Public Counsel, which plans to file the suit on behalf of groups that work in low-income neighborhoods. If the University of California, with its 280,000 students, were to go down this road, other large state systems could follow, those involved hope.
Western Town set to return to the Santa Monicas
The white chapel seen in the HBO hit Westworld made it through, and so did a replica train station. Otherwise, the 2018 Woolsey Fire left little standing at Paramount Ranch, a popular destination in the Santa Monica Mountains. It even burned down Western Town. But there's good news on the horizon: The National Park Service has secured funding to clean up the charred site and has contracted with a design firm to rebuild the faux town.
A quick history nugget: The Paramount Raceway, remnants of which you can still see at the ranch, used to draw racers from 'round the world. The track was a figure 8, and if that sounds dangerous, it was. In 1957, a racer died when he misjudged a turn. A day later, so did another racer and that was the end of the raceway.
I'll leave you with this column that feels appropriate for the day before Thanksgiving. When his new neighbor came knocking, Joe Mathews didn't want to answer. She'd been too friendly when her family moved in and anyway she kept calling him the wrong name. Could a Californian, who polls show are less likely than other Americans to work with neighbors to improve the community, be open to getting to know her and the rest of his neighbors? The ending may leave your heart warm, as it did mine.
In California is a roundup of news compiled from across Paste BN Network newsrooms. Contributing: La Opinión and the California Divide, Zócalo Public Square, ABC 7, the Los Angeles Times.
Answer to the Golden State's most Googled side dish: Macaroni and cheese.