Commentary: For more than 30 years day in, day out he's chronicled California. One paragraph at a time

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SACRAMENTO — Every morning, Jack Kavanagh brews himself a cup of coffee or tea, pads down a short hallway, past the dining room, and turns left into his small home office, where he brings California to the world.It’s been his routine for decades, through all manner of upheaval and events — social, political, natural and man-made.Kavanagh, a somewhat-retired former TV newsman, has documented the policy and personalities behind those developments one curated paragraph at a time, complete with links, so others can follow his trail, feel the pulse of the state and take away what they will.California: Unbiased and unvarnished.What began as a summary for colleagues at a television station in Sacramento has developed a worldwide following, an achievement noteworthy not just for its duration — Kavanagh’s catalog may be the state’s longest-running news aggregator — but for all the things his website is not.There are no flashy graphics on Rough & Tumble.No eyeball-grabbing videos, no partisan commentary or agenda, and none of the edge or snark that greases the gears of the perpetual-political-outrage machine.There are just headlines and short summaries, presented as simply and unadorned as the plain-spoken Kavanagh himself.

“The bottom line,” he said, “is trust” — vouching that an article is credible and worthy of a reader’s time.“It all comes down to that.And now, with the age of AI fakes and all the other social media and stuff like that, it’s even more important.

It’s even more unique.”Odds of the GOP grabbing both slots in the June primary aren’t high, but aren’t zero.Nervous Democrats ponder options like a write-in or independent candidate.Kavanagh, 78, is a New Englander by birth and Californian by choice.He grew up in Providence, R.I., and by his own account was aimless until his 21st year.

One night, in June 1968, Kavanagh watched the s...