Good morning.
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Let\u2019s turn it over to Adam Nagourney , our Los Angeles bureau chief , for today\u2019s introduction.
LOS ANGELES \u2013 And on Thursday, it rained. Again.
The arrival of another winter rain here, a wet end to a week that began with heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada, has begged a welcome question: Is the drought that punished California for six years over?
No question California has turned a corner. There was more rain in Los Angeles in December than since the drought began; for better and worse. The rain this week shut down Laurel Canyon Boulevard after the waterlogged porch of a house collapsed into the roadway, and flash flood warnings were issued in Los Angeles as storms swept back and forth across the area on Thursday evening.
In Northern California, the storms produced extensive flooding in Sonoma County and around Sacramento \u2013 among the hardest-hit parts of the state. Ski resorts reported that 12 feet of snow fell in Tahoe. Mudslides closed Interstate 80 as the storm passed through Sierra Nevada. At least five people have died, officials said.
Reservoirs that were parched last year are close to capacity. The snowpack \u2014 which keeps the water flowing into the early summer as the snow melts \u2014 is 161 percent of normal. The United States Drought Monitor for this week reported that 42 percent of the state was out of drought conditions, compared with 3 percent last year.
\u201cIn terms of surface water, most of California is no longer in drought,\u201d wrote Jay Lund, the director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California in Davis.
Still, winter is not even half over. Many years have started off wet and gone completely dry. Climate change has produced higher temperatures, which could melt away the snowpack before summer. And parts of the state remain dry.
But after six years of mandatory conservation orders, there seems reason for celebration. \u201cThis series of storms has done more than make a dent in the drought, which is a huge relief,\u201d said Felicia Marcus, the head of the State Water Resources Control Board . \u201cBut it\u2019s a little early to have a drought\u2019s over party.\u201d
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
\u2022 Congratulations, Los Angeles, on getting the Chargers. Now you have two terrible football teams. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 The Chargers\u2019 move will add even more money for owners amid growing uncertainties facing the league. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 As rains soak California, farmers are testing how to store water underground. [ NPR ]
\u2022 A landmark study found marijuana to be an effective medicine, but with drawbacks. [ San Francisco Chronicle ]
\u2022 Levi Felix , who wanted people to untangle themselves from technology, died in Pismo Beach. He was 32. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 An innovative development in Orange County will place homeless veterans in repurposed shipping containers. [ Orange County Register ]
\u2022 It\u2019s not just how berries taste, it\u2019s how they\u2019re perceived. A sensory analyst in Watsonville explains. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 No one understands our new era of reality-TV populism better than Bravo\u2019s Andy Cohen. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 In East Hollywood , Virgil Normal is where the cool kids shop. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 A debut novel gets inside the heads of Marin County teenagers who have sharpened their claws on social media. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 The Daily 360 Video : At the border near San Diego, separated family members reunite through the fence. [ The New York Times ]
\u2022 President Obama granted national monument status to 6,230 acres of land in California. [ KPCC ]
\u201c Hello, I\u2019m Johnny Cash .\u201d
That opening line, as if the assembled audience needed any introduction, gave way to a giddy roar and then, one of country music\u2019s great performances.
It was on this day in 1968 that Johnny Cash played his \u201cAt Folsom Prison\u201d concert.
The event was meant to revive Mr. Cash\u2019s career, which had flagged since the 1950s thanks to an out-of-control amphetamine habit.
Executives at Mr. Cash\u2019s record label, Columbia Records, saw him as so unreliable that they kept the planning of the Folsom show a secret from the press, said Robert Hilburn, author of \u201c Johnny Cash: The Life.\u201d They weren\u2019t certain he would show.
Thankfully, he did.
\u201cAnd he was incredible. It was like he sensed this was a moment,\u201d said Mr. Hilburn, who himself attended the concert after hearing about it from a disc jockey.
Mr. Cash tailored his song choices along themes of longing, sin and misfortune, including, of course, his 1955 hit \u201cFolsom Prison Blues.\u201d
Assembled in the heavily guarded Dining Room 2, the inmates couldn\u2019t get enough.
\u201cYou could just sense their spirit rising,\u201d said Mr. Hilburn. \u201cIt was just electrifying.\u201d
The band actually performed twice, in the morning and afternoon, to ensure a good recording.
\u201cAt Folsom Prison\u201d drew largely from the first show and was released four months later. It was a huge success and kicked off a resurgence in Mr. Cash\u2019s popularity. A year later, he did another prison record, \u201cAt San Quentin,\u201d which was also successful.
In the wake of the performances, he became a prominent voice for prisoner rights.
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 \u2014 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>\n

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