Hollywood, Homelessness, and Hogwash

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Have we got a California cocktail for you this week! Voters are seriously fed up with homelessness, pig poop is fueling bogus climate wins, and Hollywood’s crown is slipping — one cheap Hungarian grip at a time. Meanwhile, CalAIM funding is in peril, Oakland’s twee Children’s Fairyland turns 75, and California snags two big-time rankings — one impressive, the other decidedly less-so.

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Buckle up…

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NEW POLL: CALIFORNIANS’ FRUSTRATION WITH HOMELESSNESS IS BOILING OVER

Even Californians have their breaking point, it appears. A recent POLITICO/UC Berkeley poll shows 37% of voters now back arresting homeless people who refuse shelter, with another 24% ready to sort-of support it. The poll found that addressing housing and homelessness was far and away the biggest shortcoming of state government — and the most pressing issue facing California in the eyes of its residents. As tent cities proliferate and billions in federal, state and local dollars vanish into the void, voters are done playing nice — and the divide between the electorate and many lawmakers has never looked wider.

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🤫 Everything you should know

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🐷 💩 💰  -  PIG POOP PROFITS  — A Washington Post investigation shows how California’s attempt to fight climate change with methane credits has (at least in one high-profile case) backfired spectacularly, turning into a cash cow for massive hog farms outside California. Thanks to a regulatory loophole, companies like Smithfield are getting rich by trapping pig-poop gas — while trashing rural towns with vast lagoons of porcine sewage. Locals get the stench and water pollution; Smithfield gets California’s blessing and millions in credits. And those climate benefits? Largely a pig in a poke.  —  Washington Post

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🧑‍⚕️ 🏥 🙅  -  APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DR. AWAY? —  California’s attempt to treat poverty as a health condition — via CalAIM’s rent aid and food prescriptions — is now on life support. With Trump on the warpath and Mehmet Oz steering Medicaid, Washington is pulling the plug on anything that smells like social services. Future funding for California’s “health care but make it housing” experiment is circling the drain, with federal officials clutching their pearls about "mission drift." The state’s CalAIM waiver expires at the end of 2026, and another similar waiver that supports California’s efforts to improve behavioral health care expires in 2029.  —  CalMatters

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📽️ 🌎 💸  -  LIGHTS, CAMERA, PASSPORT  — Don’t call it an exodus, but there’s been a steady drip, drip, drip of movie and TV production away from California in recent years. With labor costs in the Golden State soaring and alternative shooting locations as far afield as Australia and the Czech Republic offering a host of attractive incentives, Hollywood is struggling to retain its crown. In many cases, it’s a numbers game. The cost of a seven-person set operations team in Budapest is about $59,000. Because of health care, pension and other expenses, it costs about $53,000 to employ just one senior-level grip in Los Angeles for the same time frame.  —  NY Times

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🎧 🔊 🎧 ON THE POD: POLITICAL BREAKDOWN

Brought to you by seasoned KQED political reporters Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos, the Political Breakdown podcast hit the scene in January, just before Donald Trump reclaimed the Oval Office and began training his sights on California. The popular co-hosts go behind the headlines for candid conversations with politicos, pollsters and pundits of every stripe, bringing their uniquely California perspective to the biggest political issues of the day. - Political Breakdown

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🎡 🧚 🐉  - CHILDREN’S FAIRLYLAND TURNS 75

In 1950, Oakland’s Fairyland opened as America’s first storybook theme park, a whimsical brainchild of nursery owner Arthur Navlet. Built for kids, not crowds, it predated Disneyland (and inspired Walt himself) and helped invent family entertainment as we know it. Decades later, it’s still a Bay Area institution — serving up screen-free magic, cultural storytelling, and stubbornly defending childhood like it’s a sacred art form. The Oakland Museum highlights the whimsical park’s 75-year anniversary with a spring installation titled Fairyland @ 75: A Legacy of Magic.  —  Oakland Museum of California

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🏃‍♂️ 💨 ✋ FAST FIVE

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1. 🐟 Trump’s ‘tiny’ fish, a ‘giant faucet’ and ‘beautiful water flow’  - Washington Post
2. 🙂 California is now the 4th largest economy in the world - CA Governor’s Office
3. ☹️ California ranks No. 2 for housing costs in the U.S. - SiliconValley.com
4. 🤖 A California Museum Weighs the Promise and Perils of Tech - NY Times‍
5. 💧 Stanford engineers unlock valuable resources in wastewater - Stanford