Advocates Fight To Save Mother Bear And Cub In Lake Tahoe

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 21, 2025…

• In Lake Tahoe, a mother bear and her cub — known as Hope and Bounce — have been breaking into homes. Now, wildlife officials want the mother euthanized, but bear advocates are fighting to save her.
• In California, dozens of stoneworkers have died and nearly 50 underwent lung transplants because of cutting engineered stone, popular in kitchen countertops. Thursday, the state board that adopts workplace safety rules considered next steps.
• East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell is running for California governor.

In Tahoe, A Mother Bear And Her Cub Test The Limits Of Coexistence

In South Lake Tahoe’s quiet neighborhoods, the uneasy balance between humans and bears is being tested by one mother bear and her cub, known affectionately as Hope and Bounce.

For years, Hope has roamed the Tahoe Keys neighborhood, breaking into homes and getting into trash cans in search of food. Her cub, Bounce, born this past winter, is following her lead. Now, California wildlife officials say enough is enough. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has approved a plan to capture and euthanize Hope, citing repeated break-ins and escalating property damage. But local advocates are fighting to save her, arguing that humans are the ones who need to change.

One recent afternoon, a crowd gathered in a Tahoe Keys backyard. High up in a pine tree sat a black bear and her cub — not Hope and Bounce — but a reminder of how common these encounters have become. “They’re up there huffing and puffing,” said Kathi Zollinger, a volunteer with the BEAR League, a nonprofit that educates locals about living safely alongside bears.

Zollinger and her team had rushed to the scene after receiving a hotline call from a homeowner. Her job is to scare the bears away without hurting them, usually with paintball guns, loud noises, or simply waiting them out. “We’re using paintball guns and yelling at them and doing other things to haze them,” Zollinger said. “The goal isn’t to harm them, just to get them back into the forest.”

California has about 60,000 black bears, and as more homes are built in forested areas, the chances of running into one are only increasing. The department plans to euthanize Hope if they are able to safely capture her. Her cub, Bounce, would be taken in and rehabilitated. Many residents don’t agree with that plan.

Regulators Fail To Take Action To Better Protect Stoneworkers

At a meeting this week of the state board that adopts workplace safety rules, they failed to take up the idea of implementing new rules or regulations for workers who cut engineered stone. 

Silicosis cases are surging in California’s countertop fabrication industry. The often deadly lung disease is linked to inhaling toxic dust. Medical and occupational safety experts warn that current regulations won’t protect hundreds more relatively young workers.

Between 1,000 to 1,500 stoneworkers in California could develop silicosis within the next decade, leading to roughly 285 deaths, according to California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA. The state is home to about 5,000 countertop fabrication workers, predominantly Latino immigrants.

Artificial stone in the U.S. market often contains more than 90% pulverized crystalline silica, far more than natural stones such as marble and granite. When workers powercut, polish and grind slabs of the material, tiny silica particles are released. If inhaled, they can lodge in the lungs and cause tissue scarring that progressively impedes breathing. Respirable silica can also lead to lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other illnesses.

East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell Announces Run For California Governor

East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell on Thursday became the latest Democrat to throw his hat in the ring for the 2026 governor’s race — announcing his campaign shortly before a scheduled appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“Our state, this great state, needs a fighter and a protector,” Swalwell told Kimmel. “Someone who will bring prices down, lift wages up.”

Swalwell has been a high-profile critic of President Donald Trump, taking a leading role in Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021 and maintaining a regular presence on cable TV. The former Alameda County prosecutor has raised money and campaigned for Democrats across the country, and he could tap those relationships as he enters what promises to be an expensive campaign for the state’s top job. “I’ve been in these fights as a city councilmember up in Dublin, my hometown, as a prosecutor in Oakland, and taking on the most corrupt president ever in the U.S. Congress,” Swalwell said. “But I’m ready to bring this fight home.”

The race to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom remains wide open less than seven months before the June primary. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla both passed on running, and the special election over Proposition 50 diverted attention and fundraising away from the campaign for governor. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies this month found 44% of voters remain undecided.