Category Archives: Los Angeles

LA mayor ‘terrified’ of tragedy as half-built skyscraper becomes stunt magnet

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Karen Bass fears ‘someone’s going to fall or be pushed’ from Oceanwide Plaza, used by graffiti artists and parachutists

An abandoned high-rise tower in downtown Los Angeles has become a magnet for graffiti artists and parachuting stunts, leaving city officials furious.

“This isn’t art. It’s a crime,” Los Angeles police chief Michael Moore warned on Monday, saying the police were remaining at the site of the half-built development “as the city mobilizes resources to remove the graffiti and fortify the location”.

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LA police arrest two people in spate of graffiti across 30 floors of skyscraper

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Tagging stretches across a large portion of a $1bn unfinished project across from venue of Grammy awards on Sunday

Los Angeles police arrested two people this week in connection with a spate of graffiti on nearly 30 floors of an unoccupied and unfinished downtown skyscraper.

The tagging stretches across a large portion of a tower in the $1bn Oceanwide Plaza, a stalled mixed-use retail and residential project that has sat unfinished since 2019. The site is located just across from the Crypto.com Arena, where this year’s Grammy awards will be held on Sunday.

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Cher denied temporary conservatorship over 47-year-old son Elijah Blue Allman

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The singer argued that receiving payments from the trust of his late father, Gregg Allman, put him in danger due to his substance abuse

A judge has rejected Cher’s request that her adult son be put into an emergency court conservatorship controlling his money.

The Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer and actor had argued in a petition that 47-year-old Elijah Blue Allman’s large payments from the trust of his late father, rocker Gregg Allman, are putting him in danger because of his struggles with mental health and substance abuse.

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Jury to decide fate of LA socialite for fatally striking two kids with her car

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Prosecutors allege Rebecca Grossman, 60, was speeding when she hit brothers Mark Iskander, 11, and Jakob Iskander, eight

More than three years ago, a Los Angeles socialite allegedly fatally struck two young boys as they were crossing the street. Now a jury will decide whether Rebecca Grossman is guilty of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving.

This week jurors heard opening statements in the long-awaited trial of Grossman for the deaths of brothers Mark Iskander, 11, and Jacob Iskander, eight.

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Mia Goth sued by MaXXXine extra, who alleges actor ‘intentionally’ kicked him in the head on set

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James Hunter alleges in a LA court filing that Goth intentionally kicked him while he lay on the ground playing dead

An extra has alleged in a Los Angeles court filing that British actor Mia Goth kicked him in the head on the set of slasher film MaXXXine.

James Hunter, a background actor on the latest instalment in the X series, which follows on from the success of X and Pearl, claims he was covered in fake blood and told to lie in the ground and play dead for a scene filmed in April 2023.

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Sam Haskell, son of top Hollywood agent, pleads not guilty to killing family

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Haskell is accused of murdering and dismembering his wife and parents-in-law in Los Angeles suburbs

The 35-year-old son of a well-known Hollywood entertainment executive pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder on Friday following allegations that he killed and dismembered his wife and parents-in-law in the home they all shared in the Los Angeles suburbs, and then attempted to dispose of their remains in ordinary black garbage bags.

Sam Haskell IV, whose father, Sam Haskell III, was worldwide head of television for William Morris and represented clients including Dolly Parton, George Clooney, and Prince Edward before his retirement 20 years ago, appeared handcuffed and shirtless in court because of official concerns that he might be a suicide risk.

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Former LA sheriff’s deputy gets 30 days in jail for 2019 killing of Ryan Twyman

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Andrew Lyons and another sheriff’s deputy shot at Twyman 34 times while he was inside his car in south Los Angeles

A former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot an unarmed 24-year-old man in his car in 2019 was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Friday.

Andrew Lyons, one of two deputies who fired a barrage of bullets at Ryan Twyman in a parking lot in south Los Angeles, pleaded no contest to assault with a firearm and assault under color of authority, said the district attorney, George Gascón.

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Police killed Niani Finlayson seconds after responding to her 911 call, video shows

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Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watched

The Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.

The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home.

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Former congressman Jeff Fortenberry’s conviction reversed by appeals court

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Republican convicted over false statements about payment from billionaire should not have been tried in Los Angeles, court says

An appellate court on Tuesday reversed a 2022 federal conviction against former Nebraska congressman Jeff Fortenberry, ruling that the Republican should not have been tried in Los Angeles.

Fortenberry was convicted in March 2022 on charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a foreign billionaire at a 2016 Los Angeles fundraiser. He resigned his seat days later after pressure from congressional leaders and Nebraska’s Republican governor.

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‘No Xmas as usual’: pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate in US cities

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Organizers focus on second-most popular shopping day in cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters waved the pan-Arab colors flag and wore the symbolic Palestinian keffiyeh in a series of coordinated “No Xmas as Usual in a Genocide” rallies and marches across the US on Saturday.

Organizers with Shut It Down for Palestine said the organization had focused its protests on the second-most popular shopping day of the year – the day before Christmas Eve – as part of ongoing civic and commercial disruptions. Organizers said they planned to “organize actions to boycott, disrupt and rally at commercial centers”.

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Matthew Perry died of ‘acute effects of ketamine’, autopsy report says

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Contributing factors in Friends star’s death included ‘drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine’

Matthew Perry died of the “acute effects of ketamine”, the Los Angeles county medical examiner said on Friday.

The Friends star was found “unresponsive in the pool at his residence” on 28 October and pronounced dead at the age of 54. The medical examiner ruled that the manner of death was an accident.

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Man flies from Denmark to Los Angeles with no passport or plane ticket

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Sergey Ochigava, who had Russian and Israeli identification, faces felony charges of being an aircraft stowaway

A Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told US authorities he didn’t remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI. He has been charged with a federal crime.

Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on 4 November via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. He initially told authorities he had left his passport on the airplane which he flew on. A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer could not find Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other incoming international flights, according to the complaint filed 6 November in Los Angeles federal court.

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LAPD helicopters cost $50m a year, more than 14 city offices’ entire budget

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City audit says police flights cost $3,000 an hour with unclear benefit, but police chief disputes findings

Los Angeles spends nearly $50m a year on its police helicopter program, or roughly $3,000 for every hour of flight, according to a new audit that raises questions about the financial and environmental impacts of the city’s aerial surveillance.

The LA controller’s report released on Monday suggests the use of LA police department (LAPD) helicopters is nearly constant across the city, and the majority of flight time is not in response to reports of major crimes, but instead for transportation, ceremonial trips or patrols. The flights are a major source of pollution and appear to disproportionately affect some communities of color, the audit said.

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Adele says staying in sunny LA staves off seasonal depression

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Singer, who reportedly bought $58m property last year, says she also gets left alone in Los Angeles

Adele has said she is likely to stick around in Los Angeles because the sunny weather helps her stave off seasonal depression.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she said the California city’s sunny weather was “good for me”. Los Angeles has an average of about 263 sunny days in the year.

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Los Angeles man charged with murder of three men who were unhoused

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Suspect was charged in the fatal shootings of the three men and one suburban resident and also with residential robbery

Prosecutors have charged a Los Angeles man with four counts of murder in the fatal shootings of three men who were unhoused in the city and a suburban resident last month.

Jerrid Joseph Powell was also charged with one count of residential robbery and one count of being a felon with a firearm, the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said in a statement. He also faces special circumstances of committing multiple murders, murder in the course of a robbery, as well as personal use of a firearm allegations, the statement said.

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Suspect arrested in fatal shootings of three unhoused men in LA, police say

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Jerrid Joseph Powell, 33, had already been in custody for the robbery and killing of a fourth man

A Los Angeles man who had already been arrested in another shooting investigation has been identified as the suspect in three recent killings of unhoused men, police said Saturday.

The Los Angeles police chief, Michel Moore, said 33-year-old Jerrid Joseph Powell was identified as the suspect in the three killings after authorities determined that a firearm found in the vehicle he had been driving when he was arrested earlier was linked to the shootings.

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Los Angeles police search for one suspect in murders of three unhoused people

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District attorney George Gascón says police believe the same person shot and killed three victims this week

Los Angeles officials say they think one person has targeted unhoused people after three back-to-back slayings. Although the mayor, police chief and district attorney stopped short of calling the suspect a serial killer, all of the victims were killed by someone who walked up to them during pre-dawn hours as they were sleeping, shot them and walked away.

“These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community and are being singled out – it appears to be – because of their status,” George Gascón, the Los Angeles county district attorney, said during a press conference on Friday.

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Attack on Aipac president’s home in LA investigated as hate crime – reports

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Social media videos show protesters igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood outside Michael Tuchin’s home

A protest outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) president’s Los Angeles home is reportedly being investigated as a possible hate crime after social media videos showed demonstrators igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood.

According to reports by the Los Angeles Times and other news outlets, Aipac president Michael Tuchin’s home in the Brentwood section was vandalized Thursday on Thanksgiving by protesters who also pounded pots in the driveway and held up a sign that read: “Fuck your holiday, baby killer.”

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Tiffany Haddish arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles

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Police said the entertainer was slumped over the steering wheel of a car stopped in the road at 5.45am on Friday

Tiffany Haddish was jailed early on Friday in Los Angeles on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said, marking the second time in less than two years that the actor and comedian has been arrested on such allegations.

Police in Beverly Hills said they found Haddish, 43, while responding to a call to check on a motorist who was stopped in the road at about 5.45am. Officers found Haddish appearing to be slumped over the steering wheel of that car, whose engine was still running.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Video captures California officer fatally shooting aspiring actor on freeway

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Officials launch inquiry as victim identified as Jesse Dominguez, 34, who family says may have been in mental health crisis

A California highway patrol officer fatally shot a man on Sunday during a confrontation in the middle of a Los Angeles highway, state authorities said as they announced an investigation into the incident.

The Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office on Tuesday identified the man as Jesse Dominguez. The 34-year-old was walking along the westbound lanes of Interstate 105 in south Los Angeles county when the deadly encounter unfolded, the California highway patrol said.

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