Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m watching a replay of Katy Perry kissing the ground after being sent to space with six other women. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

A homeless man in SLO literally won the lottery. He is cashing in on a $1 million scratch-off he bought from Sandy’s Deli-Liquor downtown — the chances of a $1 million prize on that ticket were one in over 2 million. The owner of Sandy’s said he’s well-deserving and even offered to drive the man out to Fresno to get his cash rather than have him risk it by mail. Thrifty Beaches’ owner posted a video saying how the man had always been good to him. The man then said “I just can’t wait to get off the streets.”

Kaytlyn Leslie / The Tribune

2.

If you get seeds in the mail, don’t plant them, but don’t throw them away either: They could be invasive or contain pathogens. Instead, report it to the county’s agriculture department. Some California counties have reported their residents receiving mystery seeds that appear to be sent from China or other foreign countries, and officials warned that SLO might be next. The harms of letting these seeds take root in SLO include “impacting native ecosystems, damaging crops and potentially poisoning livestock,” one agriculture official said.

Stephanie Zappelli / The Tribune

3.

SoCal got a jolt yesterday, with a 5.3 magnitude earthquake shaking out from Julian, an old mining town 40 miles northeast from San Diego. There was no major damage due to the remoteness of the quake, but it was enough to make liquor bottles fall of their shelves closer to the epicenter. At the San Diego Zoo, elephants formed a circle around their young for the 30 second shake. In San Diego, the shaking was “light” and in LA it was “weak.” “It was pretty scary,” one resident of Julian said.

Rong-Gong Lin II and Grace Toohey / Los Angeles Times

4.

California might be slipping into another drought, particularly in the south part of the state. While SLO has remained in the “abnormally dry” classification following this sporadic rain year, Santa Barbara, and below, is already at “severe” levels, with some southeastern sections of the state qualifying as “extreme drought.” By summer, the drought is expected to spread upwards to the rest of the state. These labels can help farmers apply for assistance, but it also means we’re in for a potentially brutal fire season.

Farley Elliott / SFGate

5.

The SF activist behind the “Downtown is for drug users” campaign just died of an overdose. They’re idea was to provoke city leaders into questioning the widespread anti-drug policies and attitudes in the city. The slogan first came about on the steps of City Hall in 2023 before they spread it on posters throughout the Tenderloin advocating for the decriminalization of drugs. “People who use drugs are not morally corrupt,” the activist said before their death. The family they left behind are torn between their mission and the chance to save someone else. 

David Sjostedt / The San Francisco Standard