California Today: The Tale of the Laguna Beach Jumper
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Before disaster struck, Anthony Booth Armer had an epic summer.
It started one day last June, during his shift as a server at a Laguna Beach restaurant. He had a flash of insight, he said — he needed a change.
“And I got my stuff, walked out and just said: ‘I’m going to push it in what I love 100 percent. And that’s all I’m going to do.’”
That’s the moment the Laguna Beach jumper was born.
Over the next months, Mr. Armer, 28, became an internet sensation by filming himself making dozens of heart-stopping leaps into water from structures across the region.
He seemed to flirt with death, rocketing within inches of rocks and ledges.
His YouTube videos have raked in more than 23 million views and drawn attention from around the world. Comedy Central’s “Tosh.0” ran a segment.
Much of the online reaction has been withering, with some people criticizing Mr. Armer’s judgment and predicting a bad end.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, and it happened. Launching himself from a rooftop, he struck the edge of a swimming pool and badly shattered both of his feet.
Now, a gambit that seemed to be going so well has turned his life upside down.
Doctors told him he may not be able to run again. Mr. Armer faces trespassing and other charges. His family is angry with him, he said. And an anticipated windfall from his YouTube channel never came. (He said he’s made roughly $6,000.)
Asked if he harbored regrets, he said: “I mean, you could think of it in that way. I think of it as paying dues. I felt like I was in debt with the universe, so to speak.”
He added, “I think that this is just a lesson to show that I need to be more respectful.”
And after he heals up?
He’s eyeing wingsuits, he said.
California Online
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
• George Lucas’s new museum picked Los Angeles as its home over San Francisco, ending a monthslong competition. [The New York Times]
• A police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in El Cajon last September will not face criminal charges. [The New York Times]
• A new study raises questions about the effectiveness of the minimum wage at helping the working poor. [The New York Times]
• Just who is counted as a gang member? The A.C.L.U. is suing over sweeping gang injunctions issued in Los Angeles. [The New York Times]
• A legal battle is flaring over a new law that requires IMDb to comply with requests to unpublish actors’ ages. [Variety]
• Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan are adding political muscle to their philanthropic work. [The New York Times]
• Marijuana is legal in California. So why are people still getting busted in Yosemite? [McClatchy]
• Evacuations and an avalanche — rain and snow continued to pummel Northern California. [Sacramento Bee]
• Scientists say the storms are putting a major dent in California’s drought. [San Francisco Chronicle]
• For the first time, the Sundance Film Festival will put a spotlight on one theme: global warming and the environment. [The New York Times]
• Video: A Caltrans crew exploded an old bridge in Shasta County. [KRCR]
And Finally ...
At a confirmation hearing on Tuesday for Representative Xavier Becerra, who has been nominated to be California’s next attorney general, the big question on Democrats’ minds was hard to miss.
How would Mr. Becerra handle the incoming Trump administration?
Democratic members of a special Assembly committee made clear that they expected Mr. Becerra, a son of immigrants, to be a bulwark against any federal challenges to California’s stands on immigration, the environment and civil rights.
Some of the remarks:
California is going to have to show a lot of the rest of the country how to govern. Not long ago, California was seen as ungovernable. I think we’ve turned that around.— Assemblyman Mark Stone
We in California face a hard, cold reality that reflects both unprecedented uncertainty and conceivably a looming, long and ferocious and hard-fought legal war with bloodshed stretching from the Golden State to Washington D.C. The reason: Trump.— Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer
Everyone — and I mean everyone — who plays by California’s rules deserves to know: We’ve got your back. The new landscape that we face in 2017 could be challenging. The headwinds from outside of California could threaten the basic rights of so many families, like the one I grew up in.... If confirmed, I will use the law to make sure we don’t go back to the days when homes were callously foreclosed, when people’s retirement security was washed away, and when people like my father could not walk into a restaurant because of the signs that read no dogs or Mexicans allowed.— Mr. Becerra
The panel voted along party lines, 6 to 3, to support Mr. Becerra. The Republicans said he failed to assuage their concerns on issues including public safety and religious freedom.
Next up, the nomination goes before the full chamber.
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.
The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.
P.C: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/california-today-laguna-beach-jumper.html?_r=0
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