Endless Summer

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California’s stuck in a strange in-between: job growth is crawling, the unemployment rate is climbing, and yet the tech elite are riding an AI-fueled rocket to the stratosphere. Our climate? Also off-kilter. Summer now lasts two months longer in some parts of the state, even in places like fog-bound Eureka. Meanwhile, EVs are having their influencer moment with flashy expos and big promises. Down south, raw sewage is poisoning the air in South San Diego, while up in Fresno, a podcast quietly dismantles every lazy stereotype coastal Californians have ever told themselves. Plus: eye-popping Bay Area salt ponds, redistricting goes to court, and yet another fantasy where the state splits in two. Welcome to the week. It's a mess. But it’s our mess.

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Let’s do this…

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SLOUCHING TOWARD STAGNATION

The numbers are out, and California added a lukewarm 15,000 jobs in July — just enough to avoid embarrassment, but not enough to suggest momentum. The state still trails its pre-pandemic July job count by 7,600, which…isn’t great. Unemployment ticked up to 5.5%, the highest in the nation, and job openings remained mostly flat, leaving roughly three unemployed Californians scrapping over every available position. Average hourly earnings climbed 3.8% year-over-year, but with total hours worked declining again, the paycheck bump is mostly cosmetic. Meanwhile, labor force participation has stagnated, suggesting many simply gave up looking. Onlookers could be forgiven for experiencing a split-screen picture: on the one hand, California’s innovation economy, driven by a breakneck AI boom, has arguably never looked brighter. On the other, recent college graduates and a host of other eligible job seekers are seeing their options dwindle.

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🤫 Everything you should know

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☀️ 🥵 🫠 - SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT— If you feel like summer is lasting a lot longer these days, you’re right. A new tool produced by the Washington Post based on research conducted by climatologist Brian Brettschneider allows you to see exactly how much longer summer has grown over the past 30 years. In some places, the Golden State’s climate isn’t shifting — it’s sliding off its axis. In San Francisco, summer now lasts 59 days longer than it did 30 years ago. Even Eureka, the poster child for cool coastal calm, has tacked on 36 extra days of not-quite-sweater-weather. Summers are arriving earlier, overstaying their welcome, and reshaping what it even means to live here. The rhythms Californians relied on — foggy Julys, crisp Octobers — are being erased by a warming world, one day at a time. — Washington Post

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🔌 🚗 🎪  - ELECTRIC SLIDE?  — California’s EV push is no longer niche — it’s a lifestyle expo with a merch tent. At Electrify Expo, thousands lined up to test-drive their electric future while CEO BJ Birtwell made bold declarations about EV’s mainstream arrival. “EVs can live on their own merit,” he boasted. “The government just needs to get the hell out of the way.” Meanwhile, Sacramento is cooking up billions in subsidies, infrastructure and rebate programs to speed up adoption in the face of mounting rollbacks from the federal government. But are we solving emissions or just electrifying sprawl? Building a ton of new housing near job centers and established public transit would also drive down emissions. (Just saying.) — SF Public Press

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💩 🚣 🤢  - A RIVER RUNS POO IT — It turns out the stench in South San Diego isn’t just offensive — it’s toxic. A new peer-reviewed study links sky-high levels of hydrogen sulfide and other nasty gases directly to raw sewage flowing into the Tijuana River from south of the border. Peak levels hit 70 times the California regulatory limit, confirming what locals have been gagging over for years. The kicker? This isn’t just a local crisis — scientists warn it's a global wake-up call: your river might be poisoning your lungs. — San Diego Union Tribune

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🎙️ 💬 🎧 - ON THE POD: FRESNO’S BEST

To the refined elites of the Bay Area and greater Los Angeles, Fresno’s a gas stop with agriculture. Fresno’s Best is an antidote to all that smug ignorance. Host Jordan Mattox spotlights the weird, driven, and quietly brilliant locals who give the city its characteristic grit and soul. Turns out, culture exists beyond overpriced toast and startup decks. Who knew? — Fresno’s Best

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🧂 💧 📸  - PHENOMENAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Photograph: Jassen Todorov/2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

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Picked from a record 60,636 entries, the first images from the London Natural History Museum’s wildlife photographer of the year competition have been released. Among them, “Clouds of Gold,” which shows the salt ponds that border San Francisco Bay. Taken from his light aircraft by Jassen Todorov, it reveals how the South Bay salt pond restoration project has removed artificial dykes to recreate tidal marsh habitats, allowing salt-tolerant plants and wildlife to flourish once more. Take the time to check out his photo (and all the others). — The Guardian

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🏃‍♂️ 💨 ✋ FAST FIVE

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1. 🙄 CA Assembly Republicans offer very serious plan to cut state in two. SF Standard
2. 💰 “AI-Native” graduates landing six — and seven — figure salaries. Wall Street Journal
3. 👔 Employees are back, bosses say. In California, not so much. LA Times
4. 💸 Feds give beleaguered CA High-Speed Rail another haircut. SF Chronicle

🧑‍⚖️ CA Supreme Court rules on Republicans’ second redistricting case. Sacramento Bee