What Should We Cover in 2020?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/us/what-should-we-cover-in-2020.html

Version 0 of 1.

Good morning.

(If you don’t already get California Today by email, here’s the sign-up.)

Well, at long last, it’s Friday, the end of what has felt like a monthslong first week of 2020.

For me, the past year — my first as your California Today correspondent — has been a whirlwind, getting reacquainted with my home state. In part, that’s meant diving headfirst into big, intractable problems and major breaking news.

But one of my favorite things about writing this newsletter each day has been exploring all the other stories of the state, and sharing them with you.

After growing up knowing his face, I finally talked with James Saito, a Japanese-American actor, about Asian representation onscreen. I went to see the Super Bloom in the desert, and I wrote about what it took to catch a glimpse of Lori Loughlin in court. I learned about how reviving indigenous food practices could help fight hunger in the Klamath River Basin.

A professor told me about how a deadly explosion in the Bay Area during World War II set off a chain of events that would push the military to desegregate, and a bar owner told me about the nuances of efforts to preserve San Francisco’s L.G.B.T.Q. spaces. I looked at Smokey Bear’s legacy on his 75th birthday and raided a trove of old ads to mark the occasion.

With your help, we made a California playlist on Spotify, and I got to talk about it in real life with an inveterate New Yorker, Jon Pareles (who is also The Times’s chief pop music critic).

I mention all this because, now, we want to check in with you: What do you want to know more about in the coming year? What kinds of stories do you like reading? Are there issues, places or communities you’d like to see covered in California Today?

Let us know at CAToday@nytimes.com.

Better yet, if you know about something you think other people should know about too, send us a tip.

And thank you, again, for reading and sharing with us. We appreciate it.

We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times coverage, but we also encourage you to support local news if you can.

Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles endorsed Joe Biden for president on Thursday. [The Los Angeles Times]

Why it matters: Mr. Garcetti, who considered running himself, was heavily courted by the candidates looking for a high-profile boost in California. And as my colleague Jonathan Martin noted on Twitter, Senator Bernie Sanders is counting on the Golden State, where he has campaigned heavily. And Michael Bloomberg has been looking for support among his fellow mayors.

Tom Steyer became the sixth candidate to qualify for next week’s Democratic presidential debate when two Fox News polls released on Thursday showed Mr. Steyer at 12 percent support in Nevada and 15 percent in Carolina. The results were surprising, given other polls. [The New York Times]

Also: Here’s a conversation with Mr. Steyer, who was the only Californian onstage in the last debate. [The New York Times]

“I begin fulfilling my promises today.” Chesa Boudin, the former public defender whose childhood visiting his parents in prison shaped his views on criminal justice, was sworn in as San Francisco’s 30th district attorney on Wednesday night. [Mission Local]

Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to propose that California become the first state in the country to start making its own generic drugs in a bid to lower costs. [CalMatters]

After a gruesome murder in Yuba City, police officers extracted a confession from a young, troubled neighbor. But DNA and physical evidence didn’t line up. So who was the real killer? Here’s a long read about the saga, which unfurled over years. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

It’s not just California: Growth in states across the country has slowed to historic lows, while some states are shrinking. In the Golden State, the slowing has been driven by an exodus to other states. [The New York Times]

And it’s not the wealthy who are leaving. It’s middle- and lower-income Californians who are seeking opportunities elsewhere. [The Salinas Californian]

Read more about why California’s population growth has stalled. [The New York Times]

Facebook said it wouldn’t back down from its policy allowing politicians to lie in ads, defying pressure from Congress. [The New York Times]

Uber is giving drivers more control over rides and making its pricing more transparent in a bid to shield it from the provisions of the new gig economy law. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

A Tahoe Vista man had a destructive bear killed. Then, he said, the harassment started. The move riled a vocal group of area residents who believe that run-ins with bears are the cost of living near wildlife. [The Sacramento Bee]

Peak TV has hit a new peak: Last year, there were 532 scripted television shows in the U.S. Of course, Amazon, Netflix and Apple were all major contributors. [The New York Times]

One of San Francisco’s famous “Painted Ladies,” the colorful row of homes on Alamo Square, is up for sale. The asking price is $2.75 million, but the last time one sold, in 2014, it went for $3.1 million. [Curbed San Francisco]

Waves more than six feet high may crash into the North Coast this weekend in the first of the year’s king tides. [The Press Democrat]

If you grew up in Orange County, you probably knew someone who worked at Disneyland in some capacity. And you know that those “cast members” are keepers of critical wisdom: They can tell you, often in exacting detail, how to milk your ticket for all it’s worth. (A lot.)

It’s easy to forget, then, that millions of people flock to the park every year, and many of them are flying blind, but for the internet.

That’s where the Disney Parks Moms Panel comes in, Disney told my colleague Tariro Mzezewa.

It’s essentially a Disney-sponsored Quora for Disney trip planners — often mothers who, like the panelists, aren’t paid for their work.

Still, as Tariro reported, 10,000 superfans applied for one of the 14 panelist jobs. And they are compensated with free trips.