It has been a weird four years for California’s technology sector. It boomed early in the Covid-19 pandemic as people in the US and around the world geared up for remote work and directed their spending to online services (games, streaming, spin classes, etc.) they could consume without leaving home. But that rise in remote work, combined with highest-in-the-nation real estate costs, strict pandemic rules and other factors, also led to something of an exodus from the state’s coastal cities, with high-profile departures of tech leaders in 2020 and 2021 and even occasional claims that the San Francisco Bay Area’s reign as global tech capital was ending.

A few high-profile departures are still taking place, with Elon Musk announcing this month that he will be moving the headquarters of two more of his companies — X, the former Twitter, and SpaceX — from California to Texas, where he moved Tesla Inc.’s headquarters in 2021. But there have also been stories of tech leaders returning and San Francisco beginning a resurgence, with the boom in generative artificial intelligence — the biggest story in tech now — very much concentrated around the San Francisco Bay. My fellow Bloomberg Opinion columnist Conor Sen thinks it might even be a good time to buy some slightly marked-down San Francisco real estate.

STORY: :: Aerial video shows a massive fire at a Los Angeles car scrap yard

:: July 25, 2024

:: Local media say no injuries were immediately reported

:: Los Angeles, California

Firefighters seen working to extinguish the flames. Helicopters were used to drop fire retardant over the blaze.

According to local press, no injuries were immediately reported. It is unclear whether any hazardous materials were burning.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering California officials to dismantle homeless encampments across the state via an executive order.

Newsom announced the initiative on Thursday, with his office stating that the governor has ordered “state agencies and departments to adopt clear policies that urgently address homeless encampments while respecting the dignity and well-being of all Californians.”

“This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” Newsom said in a statement.

HOMELESS PERSON ALLEGEDLY ABDUCTS 4-YEAR-OLD AT CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT AMID UPTICK OF CRIME

“The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets,” he added. “There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”

The order is expected to affect tens of thousands of homeless Californians who have set up long-term encampments and occupied entire city blocks with open-air drug use.

The governor’s office has emphasized that individuals living in targeted encampments will be notified ahead of time.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigns for President Biden at a county Democratic Party event in South Haven, Michigan. (Chris duMond/Shutterstock)

The statement from Newsom’s office said that the executive order “directs state agencies and departments to adopt humane and dignified policies to urgently address encampments on state property, including by taking necessary and deliberate steps to notify and support the people inhabiting the encampment prior to removal.”

The governor claims that this initiative was spurred by the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson last month, which found laws restricting sleeping in public areas did not violate the constitutional restriction against “cruel and unusual punishment.”

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Homeless encampments line the streets in Oakland, California. (DWS for Fox News Digital)

The decision, which is expected to facilitate other anti-encampment policies in cities across the country, was made by a 6-to-3 vote along ideological lines.

Newsom had encouraged the Supreme Court to take up the case, claiming court decisions preventing the government from punishing vagrants occupying public spaces had created an “unsurmountable roadblock” to addressing the crisis.