How a California Disaster Inspired the First Earth Day

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  Happy Earth Day.

As you probably know, April 22 is a day set aside for appreciating the environment and demonstrating support for laws that protect it.

The tradition dates back to the first Earth Day in 1970, which led to the passage of landmark environmental legislation in the United States. It was a momentous event that helped create the modern environmental movement — one whose origins can be traced to the shores of California.

Here’s a little history: Americans in the 1960s were becoming increasingly aware of the ways their behavior could be harming the natural world.

Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” published in 1962, detailed how pesticides hurt the environment. The polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland kept catching fire. The California condor faced extinction. Panic was brewing about a global overpopulation crisis.

But it was a massive oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara that ultimately served as a catalyst for Earth Day.

“Santa Barbara brought it home to people — that this could affect the well-to-do, this could affect the poor and, of course, the natural environment,” said Denis Hayes, national coordinator of the original Earth Day. “It began to weave all of these issues into a common narrative.”

In late January 1969, millions of gallons of crude oil began to pour into the waters off Santa Barbara. It was the biggest oil spill in U.S. history at the time (though not anymore) — and it was televised.

From their living rooms, Americans watched as sandy California beaches turned black and birds’ feathers were slathered in tar. The corpses of seals and dolphins washed in with the tide.

The catastrophe gave Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, the idea to hold a national teach-in about environmentalism. In the fall of 1969, Nelson recruited Hayes, then a 25-year-old graduate student at Harvard, to organize the event, which would eventually turn into Earth Day.

Hayes told me that it has never been entirely clear to him why the oil spill captured the public’s imagination the way it did. “There was something about Santa Barbara that I think no one could explain, except that I think the time was ripe,” he told me.

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Mike Tyson: Water bottle incident behind airplane punch attack

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  Mike Tyson punched a fellow first-class passenger aboard a Florida-bound flight because the “aggressive” man threw a water bottle at him, according to reps for the former heavyweight champ.

Tyson was captured on video pummeling the man on the Wednesday night JetBlue flight from San Francisco to Miami, where he later appeared at a weed conference after party.

Prior to the beat down, the apparent harasser is seen on the video posted by TMZ standing over Tyson’s seat, waving his arms and talking animatedly while the former boxer sits quietly.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” representatives for Tyson said in a statement.

San Francisco police responded about 10 p.m. to a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal, officials said.

“Officers arrived and detained two subjects that were believed to be involved in the incident. One subject was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries. That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation,” police said in a statement.

Both were released pending further investigation, police added.

The viral clip has been shared with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the airport, police said.

Another passenger, Sarah Burchfield, said that before the flight she saw the man at an airport bar, where he was loud and quarrelsome.

“When I boarded the flight, I thought, ‘Oh, no, that drunk guy is on our flight,’” Burchfield told SFGate.

She said that when she boarded, she passed Tyson’s seat in the first class.

“The belligerent guy was sitting right behind him and I saw they were interacting,” she said. A short time later, she said she heard the confrontation.

Meanwhile, on Thursday night, “Iron Mike” was all smiles at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Afterparty, where he appeared with wrestling legend Ric Flair at the Fontainebleu Miami Beach.

“We’re Live At LIV In Miami! WOOOOO!” Flair said in tweet, in which he is seen raising fists with a beaming Tyson.

In another tweet, Tyson is seen in a video apparently toking up.

Tyson was supposed to be the main speaker at the weed industry event earlier, but had to cancel “due to a flight change,” TMZ reported.

On Thursday night, he hit the stage to promote his cannabis brand Tyson 2.0, which offers several strains of cannabis flower, as well as ear-shaped edibles in reference to his infamous 1996 bout against Evander Holyfield, SFGate reported.

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Kamala Harris’ Chief Of Staff Heading For The Exit

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  Vice President Kamala Harris‘ chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, is leaving her position this spring, a White House official told CNN Thursday.

Flournoy is slated to be replaced by Lorraine Voles, the veteran Democratic communications strategist who joined Harris’ office as an adviser last summer. Voles would focus her efforts on “organizational development, strategic communications and long-term planning,” an official told CNN at the time.

In an email to staff obtained by CNN, Flournoy said she was “eternally grateful to the vice president for giving me this amazing opportunity,” and thanked the staff.

“It had been my intention to speak to all of you individually to let you know that I will soon be leaving the Vice President’s Office and my role as Chief of Staff,” she wrote, noting that news of her exit may break before she could do so.

“I will, however, be talking to you in the coming days. I will say then — in much more poetic language, no doubt — that it has been an honor to work for the Vice President and a great joy to get to know Kamala Harris and see first hand the great passion she brings to her job.”

The Washington Post first reported news of Flournoy’s exit.

Flournoy is the latest in a long string of departures from the vice president’s office, which has been shaken up multiple times in recent months. Flournoy’s deputy Michael Fuchs earlier this month announced that he would be leaving the administration. The White House confirmed recently that national security adviser Nancy McEldowney would step down, to be replaced by her deputy Phil Gordon. And Harris’ communication’s team received a nearly full makeover in recent months, after her communications directory Ashley Etienne, chief spokesperson and senior adviser Symone Sanders and deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh all left the office within months of one another other.

Flournoy, who joined the team at the start of the operation, led the office through a rocky summer for the vice president, during which Harris drew criticism after several messaging missteps and staffing issues. Republicans have seized on any apparent missteps, targeting the vice president relentlessly.

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Guy Lafleur, five-time Stanley Cup champion with Montreal Canadiens, dies at 70

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  Montreal Canadiens legend Guy Lafleur has died, the team announced Friday. He was 70.

No cause of death was given, but Lafleur had announced his most recent right lung cancer diagnosis in October 2020. He had previously had a cancerous lobe removed from his left lung in 2019.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Guy Lafleur," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said in a statement. "All members of the Canadiens organization are devastated by his passing. Guy Lafleur had an exceptional career and always remained simple, accessible, and close to the Habs and hockey fans in Quebec, Canada and around the world. Throughout his career, he allowed us to experience great moments of collective pride. He was one of the greatest players in our organization while becoming an extraordinary ambassador for our sport."

The winger affectionately known as "The Flower" and "The Blond Demon" played 14 seasons with Montreal (1971-85) and was a cornerstone of five Stanley Cup-winning teams, including in 1977, when he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Lafleur was electric on the ice, becoming the first player in league history to produce six consecutive seasons with 50-plus goals and 100-plus points (1974-80).

During the height of his career in the 1970s, Lafleur was a three-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL's points leader, a two-time Hart Trophy winner as league MVP and a three-time winner of the Lester B. Pearson Award (now known as the Ted Lindsay) as most outstanding player according to the NHL Players' Association.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman honored Lafleur's unmistakable flair as a player.

"You didn't need to see Guy Lafleur's name and number on his sweater when 'The Flower' had the puck on his stick," Bettman said in a statement. "As distinctively stylish as he was remarkably talented, Lafleur cut a dashing and unmistakable figure whenever he blazed down the ice of the Montreal Forum, his long blond locks flowing in his wake as he prepared to rifle another puck past a helpless goaltender -- or set up a linemate for a goal."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a noted Canadiens fan, said Lafleur was "unlike anyone else on the ice."

"His speed, skill, and scoring were hard to believe," Trudeau said in a statement. "... My thoughts are with all who are mourning this tremendous loss -- in Quebec, across Canada, and around the world. We'll miss you, Number 10."

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Biden White House stands behind Title 42 decision amid party revolt

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  Facing a growing rebellion from within the Democratic Party, the White House is standing behind its decision to end on May 23 a Trump-era deportation policy for migrants encountered at the southern border.

That decision to end the use of the public health order known as Title 42 has placed President Joe Biden in a political bind. The president is attempting to balance his long-standing promise to revoke the policy — which, under the banner of fighting the Covid pandemic, justified the immediate expulsion of migrants without due process — right as Republicans weaponize immigration before the midterms and as a growing number of Democratic senators want restrictions to remain in place for fear that the administration is not prepared for a summer surge of migrants to the border.

“It’s not like we’ve been hiding the ball on this,” a White House official said, speaking freely about the state of play on condition of anonymity. “This is not a policy to applaud or defend or anything. It simply is a public health directive on whether there is a public health risk associated with processing migrants or not. The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] made a determination that there wasn’t and that we’re OK to move forward with lifting it on May 23.”

In interviews with POLITICO, immigrant advocates, lawmakers and former administration officials urged the White House to stay the course and to better communicate its plan to lawmakers and necessary stakeholders along the border. Several urged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to go to the border ahead of the May 23 policy change to demonstrate the coordinated response being prepared by government agencies.

The White House is “definitely not going to reverse their decision on Title 42,” said Kerri Talbot, deputy director of the advocacy group Immigration Hub. “We would really urge them, instead, to more clearly roll out their border plan. There’s really a communications issue here where they have detailed plans, but they just haven’t really concretely laid them out for Congress.”

There had been internal divisions within the White House over whether the Title 42 authority should have been ended. And questions about whether the administration would reverse itself emerged in recent days amid reports from Axios that it was considering a delay of the May 23 deadline and that officials were worried about being overwhelmed by a spike of migrants at the border. The White House has suggested to lawmakers that they pass legislation to change the CDC’s authority on the public health order themselves if they were inclined to. But a court injunction could end up, at least for a time, solving the Catch-22 for Biden. Earlier this month, a number of Republican-led states sued the administration to prevent the termination of Title 42, and a hearing is expected before the end of May.

“The little secret here is they don’t think they’re actually going to have to end Title 42,” said an immigration advocate familiar with the White House’s thinking. “They’re expecting to lose a lawsuit that’s going to force them to keep it in place.”

Prior to the CDC’s announcement that the use of Title 42 was no longer warranted, Republicans sought to label Biden as a proponent of open borders. Vulnerable Senate Democrats were quick to distance themselves from the White House, too, with at least nine publicly calling for an extension of the Title 42 authority, which has been used since early 2020. Democrats have accused the White House of moving forward without a plan to handle expected seasonal increases of people at the border, and Senate Democratic aides say the administration hasn’t provided concrete details.

The White House official pushed back on these accusations, referring to the DHS fact sheet that was released last month, calling it “comprehensive.” The official reiterated that it was up to the CDC to make that determination down the road but that at this point, the CDC was moving forward with lifting TItle 42.

“It all depends on the public health risk, that’s up to them to decide. What is the public health risk associated with X, Y and Z?,” the official told POLITICO. “That authority lives with the CDC. I recognize that there are people in our party that want to extend it. That’s great. If they think that the CDC shouldn’t have that authority, there’s a legislative mechanism to do that.”

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