Let's catch up...
Sanctuary Cities: What You Need to Know About Trump's Executive Order, Curbed
According to statements from a press conference that concluded earlier this afternoon, President Trump is expected to sign two executive orders about immigration today: one, putting plans in motion to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico, and two, taking action against sanctuary cities—municipalities that have refused to crack down on illegal immigration—that would strip them of federal funding.
It's part of a wider rollout of immigration policy this week expected to address border security and refugee programs.
With many of the country's major urban centers adopting sanctuary city policies, and the new administration threatening to withhold federal funding for those that don't assist in federal immigration enforcement, the issue has repercussions beyond the immigration status of the roughly 11 million undocumented in the United States. Read more.
Doomsday Prep For the Super-Rich, New Yorker
In private Facebook groups, wealthy survivalists swap tips on gas masks, bunkers, and locations safe from the effects of climate change. One member, the head of an investment firm, told me, "I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time, and I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system." He said that his preparations probably put him at the "extreme" end among his peers. But he added, "A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. That's not too rare anymore." Read more.
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
San Francisco Asks: Where Have All the Children Gone?, New York Times
A few generations ago, before the technology boom transformed San Francisco and sent housing costs soaring, the city was alive with children and families. Today it has the lowest percentage of children of any of the largest 100 cities in America, according to census data, causing some here to raise an alarm.
"Everybody talks about children being our future," said Norman Yee, a member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. "If you have no children around, what's our future?" Read more.
Should California Drought Rules Be Lifted? State Ponders Question as Storms Roll In, Sacramento Bee
With rivers roaring and more rain coming, California's drought cops are wrestling with a complicated question: Should they keep patrolling the beat?
A chorus of urban water districts Wednesday urged the State Water Resources Control Board, California's chief drought regulator, to allow the state's emergency conservation rules to expire.
At a lengthy hearing in Sacramento, representatives of the water districts said the state board is losing credibility by insisting the drought still exists when residents can see how much conditions have eased. Read more.
USA Wins Gold Medal at 2017 Bocuse d'Or, Food & Wine
It's the first time in the competition's 30 year history Americans have won.
Food & WinePer Se executive sous chef Mathew Peters and commis Harrison Turone won gold today in the Bocuse d'Or, the prestigious biannual gastronomic competition founded in 1987—often referred to as the "culinary Olympics"—that takes place at the SIRHA International Hotel in Lyon, France.
This year's competition featured 24 chefs from all over the world culled from regional qualifiers—the Bocuse d'Or Europe, the Bocuse d'Or Asia Pacific and the Bocuse d'Or Latin America. Countries represented on the final day of competition included Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, Estonia, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Morocco and Guatemala. The Norwegian team, led by Chef Christopher William Davidsen, earned the silver; and the Icelandic team, led by Chef Viktor Andresson, won bronze. Read more.
San Francisco To Launch Pilot Basic Income Program, Hoodline
San Francisco's Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) is developing a $5 million pilot program to give a group of city residents a basic income—and is hoping to convince a city in the South Bay to join in the experiment.
Like other basic income programs, the pilot would be designed to provide a steady income to participants, with no requirements as to how the money is spent. Read more.
