Bay Area Quake Odds Climb Higher

The U.S. Geological Survey now puts the odds of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake striking the Bay Area within 30 years at about 74%.

That is up from 72% in the last study, with the probability increasing as more time passes without a major quake. USGS geophysicist Kevin Milner, who worked on both, said a major earthquake “is going to happen in most of our lifetimes.”

The Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault system, which runs beneath densely populated communities in the East Bay, carries the highest risk at 34.3%. A linked rupture could unleash a magnitude 7.4 quake.

More than 2 million people live on or near the Hayward Fault, one of the region’s most likely to produce a damaging quake. The USGS provides preparedness guidance for Bay Area residents and families.

Federal Review Puts Coastal Role at Risk

The Trump administration has opened a federal review of California’s coastal management program that could strip the California Coastal Commission of its authority to review certain federal offshore and coastal projects.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ordered the review, accusing the state of blocking federal priorities in the name of “environmental extremism.” The probe also weighs California’s handling of pipelines, spaceport launches, and desalination.

Environmental advocates fear the review could end the commission’s role in reviewing certain federal coastal projects, from oil development to rocket launches. Last month, the panel voted to oppose fracking off Ventura County that would more than triple output from 16 wells.

Federal officials cite energy security and jobs. Commission leaders counter that they have concurred with federal agencies in 97% of nearly 3,700 federal consistency reviews over the past 50 years, and a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll found 63% of Californians oppose offshore drilling.

Lucas Museum Unveils Its Galleries

The $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, filmmaker George Lucas’s long-planned home for visual storytelling, opens to the public on Sept. 22 in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park.

The five-story, 300,000-square-foot building broke ground in 2018 near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Its collection reaches well past the Star Wars universe to comic art and works by Norman Rockwell, Jack Kirby, and Frida Kahlo.

Reporters got a first look inside this week, touring more than 30 galleries across 100,000 square feet of gallery space, framed by new public parks and gardens. Adult admission runs $25, and visitors under 18 get in free.

Lucas co-founded the museum with his wife, Mellody Hobson, to honor storytelling through images. More than 1,200 works will be on view at opening, inside a building by architect Ma Yansong that celebrates visual storytelling from prehistoric cave paintings to modern screen art.

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Oakland: A federal judge ordered sensitive evidence unsealed in the corruption case against former Mayor Sheng Thao, ahead of an Oct. 13 trial. Prosecutors allege co-defendant Andy Duong secretly recorded compromising videos of politicians to use as leverage. (More)

➤ Sacramento: The city council approved a plan to expand the Sacramento Zoo at its William Land Park home, potentially adding 5.6 acres and increasing its operating footprint by nearly 40%. Officials caution that groundbreaking could still be 10 years or more away. (More)

➤ San Francisco: Muni will roll out 112 new buses starting in October, each with free USB charging ports. The fleet, delivered through January 2028, includes 94 hybrids and 18 battery-electric buses and adds stroller space, digital side mirrors, and enclosed operator cabs. (More)

➤ Cotati: Ilse Gertrud Meingast, California’s oldest resident and the nation’s oldest immigrant, died Aug. 23 at age 114. Born in Berlin in 1912, she moved to California in the 1930s and was the second-oldest person in the U.S. at the time of her death. (More)

➤ Mendocino: State wildlife officials confirmed a lone gray wolf in the Mendocino National Forest, marking the species’ return to the area after roughly a century. Wolves, wiped out in California by the 1920s, have rebounded to at least 50 across 11 packs since one wandered back from Oregon in 2011. (Read Story)

Enjoy reading The California Flyover? Click here to share with your friends and family.

➤ Stockton: Former City Council candidate Desiree Lynch was arraigned on six felony counts, including perjury and election-related charges, after prosecutors said she used addresses where she didn’t live to qualify for a district she didn’t reside in. Investigators also seized a rifle, leading to a weapons charge. (More)

➤ Monterey County: Officials said the northern Highway 1 closure was set to lift early Thursday after favorable weather and reduced activity around the Timber Fire improved conditions. The southern closure remained in place, while Caltrans crews worked to clear dead trees and rocks from the highway. (More)

➤ Dinuba: A farmer’s quick photos helped Tulare County deputies crack a vineyard grape heist, capturing the suspect’s license plate and a distinctive scorpion tattoo. Investigators used the images to identify Elena Meras, who was arrested on a felony grand theft of fruit charge. (More)

➤ Madera County: Dove season opened Tuesday, and the Madera County Sheriff’s Office reminded hunters to carry a valid 2026 license, hunt only in designated areas and never fire from a public road. The Mendota and Los Banos wildlife areas are two Central Valley options. (More)

➤ Sanger: Roughly 20 peacocks have taken to strutting through yards and across streets, with Rainbow Road among their favorite haunts, and the city is asking wildlife rescue groups for help. Sanger’s animal control doesn’t handle peafowl, so officials are urging residents not to feed, chase, or crowd the birds. (More)

Enjoy reading The California Flyover? Click here to share with your friends and family.

➤ Southern California: Hurricane Marie, churning in the Pacific well off Mexico, could send high surf and rip currents to SoCal beaches over the Labor Day weekend. Forecasters expect big waves and possible coastal flooding on south-facing shores, though most models keep the storm offshore. (More)

➤ Los Angeles: Podcaster Benjamin Azariah Southworth was arrested Thursday after being indicted for allegedly threatening to kill President Trump. Federal prosecutors say he posted videos calling for Trump’s assassination and published personal information about the family of Trump’s attorney. (More)

➤ Ramona: Yolanda Marodi, 54, was sentenced to 36 years to life after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the February 2025 stabbing of her wife, Cal Fire Capt. Rebecca “Becky” Marodi, a firefighter for more than 30 years, at their home. Marodi fled to Mexico but was arrested weeks later. (More)

➤ Vernon: Former accounting manager Donna Faye Bui is accused of stealing about $2.56 million from women’s clothing company Karen Kane over nearly a decade. Prosecutors say she moved the money through hundreds of transactions, failed to report the income and now faces 106 felony counts. (More)

➤ Montclair: Pabst Blue Ribbon is offering up to $5,000 to recover more than 1,600 cases of beer stolen Aug. 17, with the reward rising to $20,000 after Sept. 9. The 40,000-pound haul is worth about $70,000. (More)

Enjoy reading The California Flyover? Click here to share with your friends and family.

➤ Stanford and No. 14 USC will each look to improve to 2-0 tonight, with the Cardinal hosting ACC foe and reigning national runner-up No. 7 Miami, and the Trojans welcoming Fresno State. (See Schedule)

➤ Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett was voted No. 1 on the NFL’s Top 100 Players list after setting the league’s single-season sack record last year. Quarterback Matthew Stafford ranks No. 4. (More)

➤ Russell Westbrook has joined Project B, a new global basketball league launching in January 2027, as co-founder and chief strategy officer. (More)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: US Open | MLB | NCAAF | Soccer

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Embarrassing Toenails? This breakthrough gadget is fixing them. Tired of thick, yellow, stubborn nail fungus that never seems to go away? FungaBeam’s breakthrough laser technology blasts fungus at the source… fast, pain-free, and right from home. No creams. No pills. Just visibly clearer, healthier nails in weeks, not months. Learn More

➤ Defense contracts won by Los Angeles County companies more than doubled over the past decade, reaching $15 billion last year after adjusting for inflation. Startups building drones, missiles, and surveillance satellites are gaining ground, while 10 LA-area startups topped $1 billion in value in 2025, most in aerospace or defense. (See Report)

➤ Uber will cut about 3,300 salaried jobs, roughly 10% of its workforce, in the San Francisco company’s largest round of layoffs since the pandemic. Drivers aren’t affected. Uber said it’s consolidating management to cut costs while committing $10 billion to robotaxi partnerships. (More)

➤ Nvidia is buying AI startup Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, a major bet on open-source AI by the Santa Clara chipmaker. Hugging Face, which hosts open AI models for millions of developers, drew attention recently after OpenAI models went rogue during a test and hacked the platform. (More)

➤ Halloween candy sold in California is being recalled over an undeclared milk allergen. Crystal Temptations pulled its Chocolatey Eyeballs, sold at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and Sierra Trading Post across 13 states, after a milk derivative went unlabeled. No illnesses have been reported. (More)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ STOP ignoring yellow stains, weak enamel, or bad breath…If your smile isn’t as bright as it used to be thanks to coffee, wine, or time, it’s not your fault. And thankfully there are ways to get back that bright smile you used to love. But painful whitening strips and harsh mouthwashes aren’t your only options. Learn More

Flying together with our sponsor

How Solving Camping’s Biggest Problem Earned $150M+

Most people love the idea of being outdoors. Almost nobody loves what it takes to get there.

Campsites book months in advance. Gear’s expensive and collects dust. RV ownership’s a financial and logistical burden. Hotels are comfortable, but lose the very thing people were chasing in the first place.

AutoCamp solves all that. Guests arrive with a suitcase, check in like a hotel, and wake up at an iconic outdoor destination like Yosemite or Joshua Tree. But instead of hard ground and outhouses, they have a boutique room or custom-designed Airstream trailer with a spa-inspired bathroom.

And travelers can’t get enough, with 1M+ happy campers so far. That’s earned $150M+ in location revenue for property owners operating with the Company’s Brands since inception. 

Now you can invest as AutoCamp works to scale from 9 locations to 100+.

➤ A dime minted in San Francisco in 1894 sold at auction this week for more than $1.2 million. Only nine of the 1894-S Barber dimes are known to exist, from a run of just 24 struck at the San Francisco Mint during a currency slump. (Read Story)

➤ A rare Frank Lloyd Wright house in Los Angeles is crumbling. The 1939 Sturges House, a landmark Usonian design and the only one of its kind in the city, is facing warnings of “demolition by neglect” as its redwood structure warps and rots and neighbors report wild animals getting inside. (Read Story)

➤ Joro spiders, the large, golden-web-spinning arachnids whose young drift on silk, have turned up in California. The first sighting west of the Great Plains was a lone female in Santa Barbara County, and experts say the potentially invasive but nearly harmless spiders are no cause for panic. (Read Story)

➤ A 1946 photograph offers a peek at postwar Pacific Beach: six women seated under hooded dryers at Barrett’s Beauty Parlor on Garnet Avenue. The image, from the San Diego History Center’s Rozelle Collection, captures the everyday storefronts that turned Garnet into the neighborhood’s commercial heart. (See Photo)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ The Smart Way to Get GLP-1s Online – Our 2026 Editor’s Picks. GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are changing everything. This complete guide explains the medications people are using, how online providers work, and which options offer the best mix of results, convenience, and cost in 2026. Learn More

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes. 

➤ The U.S. military destroyed another vessel accused of refueling drug traffickers off the coast of South America. (Full Story)

➤ Popular baby wipes have been recalled after federal testing revealed bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in infants. (Hear Details)

➤ The nation’s largest school district has pulled the plug on artificial intelligence for most of its students. (Listen Now)

College football is back. Stanford, USC, and Fresno State all take the field tonight. Will you be watching this season?

1. Every week
2. Just my favorite team (tell us who)
3. Just the big games
4. Prefer the NFL
5. Not for me

Yesterday’s Results:

Which classic cartoon rivalry is your all-time favorite?

1. Coyote vs. Road Runner: 38%
2. Bugs vs. Elmer: 25%
3. Tom vs. Jerry: 16%
4. Sylvester vs. Tweety: 12%
5. Other: 9%

Only a handful of downtown San Francisco buildings survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. One of them safeguarded $200 million in gold reserves and became the devastated city’s key financial depository. Which landmark was it?

Show me the answer