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Chasing a lost ship in the desert

Arlene Martinez   | Paste BN

Beneath the desert, a hunt for a ship spans decades and borders. A SoCal congressman says he'll plead guilty to one count of misusing campaign funds — he's been charged with 60. And Trump again adapts immigration policy (spoiler: it doesn't help many of them).

It's news for Monday. 

And later, I talk to Louisville Courier Journal investigative reporter Jonathan Bullington about his newsroom's investigation into a Mexican drug cartel with global reach, and why he ended up in Los Angeles. 

Arlene Martínez writes In California, a daily roundup of stories from newsrooms across the Paste BN Network. Sign up here and tell a friend!

A hunt for treasure, deep in a California desert

Note: This story is for Desert Sun subscribers only. Consider Cyber Monday'ing a subscription to the Desert Sun or your local outlet. 

There's a legend in the California desert: A long-lost treasure ship lays buried beneath the sand. Some say it's a Viking knarr, a merchant vessel, abandoned by Norse explorers who veered far south after navigating the Northwest Passage. Others think it's a Spanish galleon, full of black pearls, that made its way up the Gulf of California during the era of conquistadors. There are reports of sightings around the Salton Sea and Imperial Valley, extending as far south as Mexico’s Baja peninsula, though firsthand accounts are rare. Most historians and archaeological experts are skeptical. To naysayers, it’s simply a myth passed down through oral and literary tradition. But just because a ship hasn’t been found doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. At least that’s what the believers say. 

For non-subscribers: 

On donors' dime: A trip to Italy, dental work and a guilty plea

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) said Monday he will plead guilty in the federal case regarding his alleged misuse of campaign contributions on personal expenses, including a trip to Italy and family dental bills. The change of heart follows a year-plus of Hunter denying any wrongdoing and claiming the charges were politically motivated. In August 2018, federal prosecutors charged Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter, with 60 counts of wire fraud and campaign finance law violations that included allegedly spending more than $250,000 on non-campaign related expenses. “The plea I accepted is misuse of my own campaign funds, of which I pled guilty to only one count,” Hunter told local television station KUSI.

Free med school, L.A. homelessness and the impact of power shutoffs

DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen is paying for 414 high-performing students to go to UCLA medical school.

The "face of bad news" — or,  Los Angeles' homeless czar — will step down. Under his tenure, homelessness increased 33%. 

Using Medicare data, the San Francisco Chronicle estimated how recent PG&E shut-offs affected people who depend on electric medical equipment.

Who said Trump doesn't like immigrants? 

The Trump administration is proposing to raise the naturalization application fees by 60% and eliminate fee waivers for low-income applicants. Other new and higher fees would impact asylum seekers and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients. In a statement, Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the increases were needed to support an “overextended system” with a deficit of more than $1 billion. Melissa Rodgers, director of programs at the San Francisco-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said the changes were part of an effort to manipulate the system to one that favors the wealthy. The proposed changes were published on November 14 by the Federal Register and have a month-long comment period.

What we're talking about

A stranded sperm whale had 220 pounds of trash in its belly, and through his/her death I learn 90% of plastics aren't recycled. 

Oh, good. Firefighters save boa constrictors, lizards and dozens of other scaly critters from fire.🦎 😳🐍

The first theater for talkies, on Catalina Island, is closing and locals aren't happy. It's hard though, a town of 4,000 making a theater of 1,000 seats work.

Skipping online shopping to buy and ship gifts yourself? Here are tips to make sure packages arrive safe and on time. 

A Q&A about a Mexican cartel's global reach

Through brutality and terror, a relatively new Mexican cartel has set up shop in dozens of small towns and cities across the country. The Louisville Courier Journal newsroom spent most of 2019 looking into the operations of Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, run by a man they call El Mencho. The project brought them to Los Angeles, where investigative reporter Jonathan Bullington met the family of Oscar Macias, believed to have been killed after he got caught up in CJNG's business. Bullington spoke to me via email about the series and story.

How did the Courier Journal, a paper in Louisville, Kentucky, get onto the story of a Mexican cartel based in Jalisco?

The story started with investigative reporter Beth Warren. In 2017, she told the story of Adam Wade Cooley, a 27-year-old Louisville man who died of an overdose hours before he was supposed to enter rehab. Cooley’s parents asked Beth about the source of the drugs that killed their son. That took Beth down a path that led her to CJNG.

How did you end up focusing on Oscar Macias?

As Beth pieced together evidence of CJNG’s U.S. network, she found Oscar’s name in federal court filings out of Tacoma, Washington, and the case of convicted CJNG manager Jesus Enrique Palomera. Those court documents gave us a glimpse into Oscar’s brief involvement with the cartel. So, when editors added me and colleagues Chris Kenning and Kala Kachmar to this series, they asked me to dig into Oscar’s story to highlight an example of cartel violence spilling across the border.

I got the sense from reading the story Oscar didn’t understand what he was getting involved in. He just wanted a job.

That’s my sense as well, in talking with his family and federal authorities. As I wrote in the story, Oscar’s life had unraveled. He needed a job. He needed money. He needed to pay down his child support debt and see his youngest daughter again. All that left him vulnerable to the risky proposition presented to him. It’s unclear how much he knew when he said yes to it.

I kept thinking about Oscar Macias’s mom, looking at the faces of men she passes. What was talking to her like, knowing the odds of her son still being alive are remote, at best?

It was a tough interview process. The Macias family was rightfully cautious when we first talked about me doing this story. But when I met them in person, they were incredibly kind and generous with their time. Of course, the pain of Oscar’s disappearance is still very fresh for them and the interviews were emotional for everyone. But I think they wanted Oscar’s story to be told.

What was reporting the story like, knowing how dangerous the cartel is?

I honestly didn’t think much about that. My focus was squarely on Oscar’s story and doing right by his family. They trusted me with something that’s important to them, and I didn’t want to let them down.

From what you’re seeing in your communities, do people realize drugs are coming in through this vast criminal network?

My sense is they had some idea but they, like me, didn’t realize the full extent of CJNG’s network. That, to me, is what was so impressive about Beth’s work, the way she pulled on threads that led her to more CJNG operations.

What kind of response have you and the other reporters who were part of this series gotten?

The response has been pretty positive, thus far. I think people were impressed with the reporting that went into the series. My hope is it pushes the conversation forward and helps bring about solutions that help families and communities hurt by addiction.

What do you think can be done or needs to be done to help contain the proliferation of drugs making their way into communities across the country?

That’s a big question. I wish I knew the answer. Addiction is an issue that touches on a lot of areas — poverty, education, inequality, unemployment, trauma, to name a few. I think the advocates I’ve spoken to over the years would say that finding solutions takes a holistic approach.

Why the Courier Journal did it: A note from editor Richard A. Green.

In California is a roundup of news compiled from across Paste BN Network newsrooms. Also contributing: Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, CalMatters. 

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