It might not superbloom this year

Author

Carly Heltzel
February 27, 2025

Good morning. It’s Thursday, and I’m reading about the Bay Area’s anti-AI, murderous cult that just got busted. Onto the five Cal Poly, SLO and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Two years ago, the SLO County wildflower superbloom could be seen from space. Last year, there were widespread shocks of yellow covering the hills once again. But now experts are preparing Californians for a springtime disappointment. Carrizo Plain, where the space-bloom happened, has seen just 3 inches of rain this season and its conservancy’s president said the soil is looking “dry as a bone.” Across California there’s been a dry trend, with 58% of the state said to be in ‘abnormally dry’ conditions, potentially staving off a wider bloom as well.

2.

A former Cal Poly student, who fired a gun on campus multiple times, will stand trial starting April 22 after he was formally read his charges yesterday. Charles Hojaboom, 20, did not enter any plea, meaning a jury will decide his fate. Prosecutors guessed it would take about a week and a half to present all evidence before a jury comes to a verdict. While his lawyer at first suggested April 21, Hojaboom interrupted and asked for it to be moved back one day. “It’s my birthday on the 21st,” he said to the judge. 

3.

Morro Bay just pushed pause on approval for battery plants in the city after a Monterey plant caught fire and exposed nearby residents to health risks. One company has been twiddling their thumbs since 2020 waiting for a green light to build one on the city’s former power plant site (i.e. the three stacks). Morro Bay says the new 45-day extension on a two-year hold will allow time to research the public health and safety risks of the plants. Battery plants are largely used to store renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to create a more consistent grid.

4.

National Parks don’t have to accept your cash. A judge just all but threw out a case suing the parks for going cashless for their entry fees, claiming they were required by law to accept U.S. currency. In 2023, the National Park Service realized it took more money to process the cash than was actually generated in cash-based revenue and eliminated cash entry fees. At Death Valley, the $22,000 in cash collected in 2022 ended up costing more than $40,000 to process. The judge said the people suing failed to show that they lacked access to other methods of payment. 

5.

Why go to a store when you can go to an immersive consumer experience? That’s what big-buck retailers are hoping you’ll ask yourself before pulling up to their “experiential retail” aimed at drawing customers back to malls. That, and that you got so bored from the pandemic’s “collective time-out corner” that you’ll come running back to community spaces. While hardly a new idea to combine industries, hybrid restaurant-bar-art-studio-pickle-ball-courts are now seeming more possible, and common, than ever. One retailer said people want “things they can do and put on Instagram and have fun with their friends.”