A closely watched attempt to rein in Big Tech's influence over online marketplaces stalled in the California Legislature this week.

Why it matters: The bill's failure shows the difficulty of translating growing bipartisan concern over Big Tech's power into clear guardrails — leaving startups, consumers and regulators navigating a market largely shaped by the platforms themselves.

Driving the news: The California Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection Committee deadlocked 3-3 Monday on Sen. Scott Wiener's SB 1074, halting what would have been one of the most aggressive state-level efforts to curb how Big Tech platforms operate.

• Wiener, who framed the measure as a long-overdue update to antitrust law, argued federal regulations haven't kept pace with the modern digital economy.

Between the lines: The bill — dubbed the BASED Act — aimed to rewrite the rules for trillion-dollar tech companies that function as both marketplaces and competitors.

• The proposal targeted "self-preferencing," a practice critics say allows companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta to tilt the playing field in their favor by promoting their own products in search results, using third-party data to launch competing services or setting pricing rules that disadvantage smaller players.
• The bill would have created a list of prohibited conduct for the largest platforms with at least $1 trillion in market value and 100 million U.S. users.

Supporters, including Y Combinator, hundreds of startups and consumer advocates, cast the measure as pro-competition and warned the stakes would extend to the AI boom, where access to app stores, search and social feeds could determine which startups survive.

The other side: The opposition argued the bill amounted to a risky rewrite of California's antitrust playbook that moved too far into untested territory.

• That argument was echoed by companies like Apple, which told lawmakers the bill mirrors Europe's Digital Markets Act— a law they claim has led to stifled innovation, weaker user experiences and new privacy risks.

The big picture: California's deadlock mirrors a broader national impasse: Lawmakers increasingly agree that dominant tech companies maintain monopolies by acting as both gatekeepers and competitors, but remain divided on how to curb that power without disrupting the industry's growth or creating unintended economic consequences.

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Nearly two dozen gray whales have washed ashore along the West Coast this year, including eight found this season in the San Francisco Bay alone — a troubling sign some experts say may signal another die-off event.

The big picture: Many whales examined during necropsy appeared to be emaciated from malnutrition, meaning they did not get enough food during last summer's feeding session, Michael Milstein, a spokesperson with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told OPB.

• "If we're seeing this many whales that are undernourished and having trouble this early in the year, what is that going to mean for the rest of the migration?" he said. Gray whales travel roughly 12,000 miles from Mexico to Arctic feeding grounds yearly.

The latest: An eighth whale was reported dead near Alcatraz this week. The Marine Mammal Center plans to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

• Several other gray whales foraging in the Bay this month have died after being struck by vessels, suggesting the animals are again under significant stress this spring as they feed outside their usual habitats, Milstein said.
• 24 whales died in the wider Bay Area region last year, per the Marine Mammal Center.

Gray whale numbers fell from roughly 27,000 to 13,000 between 2019 and 2023 in what biologists called an unusual mortality event, driven by changes in the Arctic that disrupted food supplies and led to widespread malnutrition and deaths.

• Warming waters and melting ice, driven by climate change, leads to less available algae and crustaceans, leaving more whales undernourished.

What's next: A group of California lawmakers introduced the "Save Willy Act" yesterday, which would create a Coast Guard "Whale Desk" for reporting sightings and alerting ships when whales enter the Bay Area to prevent deadly collisions.

🚉 BART's new fare gates have cut cleanup time by 1,000 hours, reduced crime by 41% and boosted projected revenue by $10 million. (The Atlantic)

🎓 Yale University is considering opening a new San Francisco satellite campus. (SF Standard)

🍺 Craft beer bar Toronado is being sold after 39 years to a pair of regulars who plan to keep it largely unchanged. (SFGATE)

• That's welcome news for the Lower Haight.

⚖️ The immigration court on Montgomery Street will close eight months ahead of schedule on May 1. (Mission Local)

⛵The annual Opening Day boat parade — a century-old maritime tradition where boaters decorate their vessels in folklore-inspired themes — sets sail this Sunday. (SF Chronicle)

I'd been wanting to try Nomu Skewers since it opened three years ago, but hadn't managed to make it in time for happy hour — until this month.

• The Japanese izakaya spot in downtown serves, well, skewers, but they also have sushi, donburi and fried dishes.

What to try: I ordered the skewer sampler ($21), chicken karaage ($10) and much-recommended pork belly skewer ($12), glazed with Yakitori sauce and grilled to a satisfying char — hands down my favorite.

• The sampler included tiger shrimp, zucchini, chicken, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. The kaarage was also perfectly crispy, served with a house spicy mayo sauce.

💭 My thought bubble: The happy hour menu alone makes it worth a visit, with the skewers being a standout, though their other dishes were on par in quality too.

If you go: Hours vary, open daily at 580 Bush St.

Meet Issy (short for Isaac) — a true Bay Area adventurer.

• He is happiest outside, whether that's a sunny park, at the beach or on a scenic trail in Marin.
• He has a soft black-and-white coat, big brown eyes and a signature polka-dotted left ear that his owner Carrie S. says "everyone falls for." Hard to argue with that.

📸 Got a pet that deserves the spotlight in our newsletter? Hit reply and send us their name, some cute pics and what they most like and dislike. They might just become our next featured star!