Category Archives: Los Angeles

Los Angeles police fatally shoot pet dog of family celebrating Knicks win

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Video taken after the shooting shows a woman sobbing over the pet with nearly a dozen officers standing around

Police in California shot and killed a family’s pet dog wearing a New York Knicks jersey after they were called to a report of a screaming woman who turned out to be celebrating the basketball team’s championship win.

Video of the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting of the two-year-old doodle named Jameson, “the sweetest boy in the world”, according to the dog’s owner, received millions of views on TikTok on Tuesday.

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Spencer Pratt concedes LA mayor race, but declares ‘war’ against advancing candidates

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In video, The Hills actor, who did not contest the outcome of the election, said his campaign to ‘save’ LA was just starting

Spencer Pratt appeared to concede the Los Angeles mayor’s race on Friday in a new video where he says “the campaign portion of my mission to save Los Angeles is coming to a close”, but declares “war” against the two candidates advancing to the city’s general election.

In the video posted on social media, Pratt notably did not contest the results of the election, despite Donald Trump’s repeated, but unfounded claims the race was “rigged”. Trump, who endorsed Pratt, called California’s elections “crooked”.

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US stadium and hotel workers threaten strikes ‘to make things fair’ during World Cup

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Low wages and fears of ICE crackdowns have set workers on edge of strike as thousands set to arrive during World Cup

Hospitality and food service workers in several US cities hosting World Cup games are warning of looming labor disputes and possible strikes as the largest single sport tournament in the world gets ready to kick off on 11 June.

In Los Angeles, California, cashiers, dishwashers, cooks, bartenders, concessions workers and food attendants at the SoFi stadium reached a tentative agreement on Tuesday afternoon, but the union noted it has a contractual right to walk off the job if it determines that federal immigration enforcement is threatening worker safety during the World Cup. The US’s opening match, against Paraguay, is scheduled to take place at SoFi Stadium on 12 June.

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Trial begins for man accused of sparking LA’s deadly Palisades fire

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Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of starting the blaze that became Los Angeles’s deadliest and destructive wildfire

The trial of a 29-year-old charged with sparking a wildfire that went on to become the deadly Palisades inferno, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history, is set to begin on Monday in a case that has gripped the city as Angelenos seek answers more than a year after the deadly fire.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, an occasional Uber driver, is accused of starting a small blaze on New Year’s Day 2025, later dubbed the Lachman fire. Although the Los Angeles fire department extinguished the fire on 2 January, it reignited five days later due to high winds and tinderbox conditions after burning undetected deep in the dry hillsides.

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Fast-growing southern California brush fire prompts evacuation orders

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Fire reported in Simi Valley, north-west of LA, as mandatory evacuation orders were issued for over 20,000 residents

A fast-growing brush fire ignited on Monday morning in southern California, prompting evacuation orders and damaging at least one home.

The Sandy fire was reported just after 10am in Simi Valley, a city in Ventura county about 30 miles north-west of Los Angeles.

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Frontier Airlines plane fatally strikes person during takeoff at Denver airport

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Passengers evacuated safely after person jumped perimeter fence and walked on to runway, airport spokesperson says

A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a person on the runway of Denver’s international airport during takeoff, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate, authorities said.

The plane, headed to Los Angeles, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff” at about 11.19pm on Friday, the Denver airport’s official X account wrote.

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Federal authorities arrest 18 people in Los Angeles raid amid drug crackdown

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Justice department targets MacArthur Park, which has long struggled with fentanyl use, overdoses and homelessness

Federal authorities arrested 18 people in Los Angeles in a crackdown on drugs in MacArthur Park, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

The DoJ said it was targeting an “open-air drug market” in the park near downtown, which has long struggled with fentanyl use and overdoses and has at times had large encampments of unhoused people.

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California seeks millions in penalties from State Farm over alleged claims violations after LA wildfires

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State’s top insurance regulator says insurance company violated law while handling claims from 2025 wildfires

California is seeking millions of dollars in penalties from State Farm after an investigation found the insurance company was slow to investigate and underpaid claims from the 2025 Los Angeles-area wildfires, regulators announced on Monday.

State Farm violated the law hundreds of times in a sampling of 220 cases, the state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, said. The maximum penalty amount allowed by law would be about $4m if State Farm is found to be “willful” in violating state law. Regulators may also temporarily suspend the company’s license, effectively prohibiting the state’s largest home insurer from writing new policies for a year in California.

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Singer D4vd charged with murder of 14-year-old girl found in car

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Musician has been charged after the dismembered and decomposing body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in abandoned Tesla

The singer D4vd has been charged with the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenage girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in the artist’s apparently abandoned Tesla in September.

The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said the 21-year-old, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Rivas Hernandez, who was reported missing by her family in 2024, when she was 13. Authorities say she was 14 when she died.

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Iranian American woman arrested in Los Angeles for alleged arms trafficking

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Federal prosecutor says woman is suspected of dealing weapons to Africa on behalf of Iranian government

A California woman was arrested at Los Angeles international airport after allegedly trafficking weapons on behalf of the Iranian government to contacts in Africa, including Sudan.

Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills was detained on Saturday night by federal agents, according to the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.

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Three people sentenced to jail for bear-suit insurance scam in California

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State investigated claims of bear attacks on cars, unconvincingly backed up by video of person in bear suit

When it comes to the California department of insurance, don’t poke the bear.

That is the lesson three individuals in Los Angeles learned recently when they were sentenced to jail time for an insurance fraud scheme in which they staged attacks on high-end vehicles by having a person dress up in a bear costume – then pretending that person was an actual bear.

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Nathan Martin wins closest-ever Los Angeles marathon in its 40-year history

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The American propelled ahead of frontrunner Michael Kimani Kamau by a fraction of a second

In the final moments of the Los Angeles marathon last weekend, the announcers were already narrating frontrunner Michael Kimani Kamau’s finish when Nathan Martin suddenly propelled forward, shocking newscasters and spectators.

The 36-year-old Martin prevailed in a single stride, stepping across the finish line an almost imperceptible fraction of a second before Kamau and becoming the first Black American to win the contest. He had challenged himself in the final miles of the race to keep putting his all into it, despite physical exhaustion, and finished the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 18 seconds.

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Noma loses major sponsors for Los Angeles events after reports of abuse

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American Express and Blackbird cut ties with restaurant after René Redzepi accused of abusing his staff

After allegations emerged this week that René Redzepi had abused his staff at Noma, once considered the world’s best restaurant, sponsors on Tuesday announced they would end their support for the chef’s upcoming events in Los Angeles.

The New York Times reported that American Express and the hospitality company Blackbird have cut ties with Noma ahead of the Copenhagen restaurant’s four-month pop-up in LA, which was set to kick off this week.

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LA superintendent placed on leave after FBI raid on home and district office

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Trustees unanimously voted to place Alberto Carvalho on leave and appointed Andres Chait in the interim

Two days after the FBI searched the headquarters of the Los Angeles unified school district and the home of its superintendent, the district board of education placed Alberto Carvalho on administrative leave.

The board met in closed session meetings for several hours on Thursday and Friday to discuss Carvalho’s employment with the nation’s second largest school district. The trustees unanimously voted Friday to place Carvalho on paid leave, and appointed another high ranking district official, Andres Chait, to serve as interim superintendent.

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‘Living an American nightmare’: LA hearing details lasting trauma of ICE raids

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Southern California residents shared disastrous effects of Trump’s immigration crackdown at a congressional hearing

The Trump administration’s ICE raids across southern California have had disastrous effects on the region’s immigrants and swept up US citizens in the process, community leaders and residents said at a congressional hearing in Los Angeles on Monday.

Andrea Velez, an American arrested by US immigration officials over the summer, described how she was accosted by masked agents while on her way to work. She said she was charged with assaulting an officer and held for two days in a federal detention center, where detainees had to pay for a cup in order to have water. The charges against her were ultimately dismissed due to what her attorney described as a lack of evidence.

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‘Living an American nightmare’: LA hearing details lasting trauma of ICE raids

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Southern California residents shared disastrous effects of Trump’s immigration crackdown at a congressional hearing

The Trump administration’s ICE raids across southern California have had disastrous effects on the region’s immigrants and swept up US citizens in the process, community leaders and residents said at a congressional hearing in Los Angeles on Monday.

Andrea Velez, an American arrested by US immigration officials over the summer, described how she was accosted by masked agents while on her way to work. She said she was charged with assaulting an officer and held for two days in a federal detention center, where detainees had to pay for a cup in order to have water. The charges against her were ultimately dismissed due to what her attorney described as a lack of evidence.

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First rebuilt home in wake of LA fires celebrated in Pacific Palisades

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Fire-resistant upgrades are included in replacement structure less than a year after fires destroyed 13,000 homes

Less than a year after the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in Los Angeles, the first completed rebuilt home is being celebrated in Pacific Palisades.

In a statement, mayor Karen Bass confirmed that the Los Angeles department of building and safety had issued the certificate on Friday, certifying that the home had passed inspection and was ready for occupancy.

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Child among seven dead after atmospheric river storm drenches California

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Lingering thunderstorms pose risk of mudslides in areas around Los Angeles recently ravaged by wildfires

A powerful atmospheric river weather system has mostly moved through California but not before causing at least seven deaths and dousing much of the state.

Among the dead was a seven-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by waves estimated up to 20ft at a state beach on Friday. The girl’s father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, was killed while trying to save his daughter.

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Nearly 1,500 flights canceled on second day of cuts tied to government shutdown

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Charlotte, North Carolina, has the most cancellations – at 120 – as industry experts say other sectors might also feel effects

US airlines canceled 1,460 flights on Saturday, the second day of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) order to reduce air traffic because of the government shutdown.

So far, the slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports hasn’t caused widespread disruptions. But it has deepened the impact felt by what is now the nation’s longest federal shutdown.

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Armed US immigration agents drive off with toddler after arrest of father

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‘Devastated’ family demands answers after two-year-old driven by armed agents from LA Home Depot parking lot

Masked, heavily armed federal immigration agents arrested a US citizen in the parking lot of a Los Angeles Home Depot store, then entered his car and drove away with his toddler, who is also a US citizen, in the backseat.

The child’s grandmother said the incident had left the whole family shaken. “I am devastated by what has happened to my son and demand an explanation,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.

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