Category Archives: Los Angeles

Shooting in Los Angeles park leaves at least two dead

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Seven people taken to hospital after gunfire erupts at informal car show in Peck Park in San Pedro area

At least two people were killed and several others injured in a shooting at a park in Los Angeles, officials said.

Seven people were taken to local hospitals after gunfire erupted at an informal car show at Peck Park in the San Pedro neighborhood on Sunday, the Los Angeles fire department said.

Two of them – a man and a woman – later died of their wounds, department spokesperson Brian Humphrey said.

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Roman Polanski rape case testimony can be unsealed, LA prosecutor says

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District attorney George Gascón says his office has asked to unseal transcripts in effort to re-examine case

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office will no longer object to the release of documents in the 45-year-old rape case against the film director Roman Polanski, the office said on Tuesday.

George Gascón, the Los Angeles DA, said his office had reversed its position and asked to unseal the transcripts of the testimony of the former deputy district attorney Roger Gunson as part of an effort to re-examine the case against the 88-year-old film-maker.

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‘Have you recently had an abortion?’ Australian transiting through US questioned then deported

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Madolline Gourley says she was on her way to Canada for a holiday when US immigration officials intervened

An Australian woman who planned to house-sit in Canada during a holiday has said she was detained, fingerprinted, interrogated about her abortion history and quickly deported during a stopover in the US.

Madolline Gourley, a Brisbane resident, says she was treated like a criminal during her transit through Los Angeles on 30 June, where she was detained at the border due to suspicions about her intention to house- and cat-sit in exchange for accommodation while holidaying in Canada.

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Fears of violence against pro-choice protests intensify amid wave of attacks

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Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple states

Fears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers.

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Mexican megachurch leader jailed in US for more than 16 years for child sexual abuse

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La Luz del Mundo ‘apostle’ Naasón Joaquín García sentenced after admitting three abuse charges in Californian court

The leader of the Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo was sentenced on Wednesday to more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young female followers.

Naasón Joaquín García, 53, pleaded guilty last week in Los Angeles superior court to three felonies on the eve of a long-awaited trial.

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High-stakes California races will decide LA mayor and San Francisco recall

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Analysts watch to see if voters in America’s more liberal cities will address police reform, homelessness and mass incarceration

High-stakes primary races taking place on Tuesday in California are expected to have major consequences for police reform, incarceration and the state’s growing homelessness crisis.

The most closely watched race is the mayor’s contest in Los Angeles, where voters are deciding between a tough-on-crime real estate developer, Rick Caruso, who has already poured nearly $40m of his own fortune into his primary campaign, and the former community organizer and Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass.

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Train to nowhere: can California’s high-speed rail project ever get back on track?

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Despite 14 years of work and about $5bn spent, the 2008 promise of quick transport between Los Angeles and San Francisco has not materialized

In the depths of the 2008 recession, Californians were sold on a beautiful dream: a bullet train that would whisk them between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours.

The project was to be the start of a new era of high-speed rail that would eventually stretch the full length of the west coast, from San Diego to Vancouver, across the desert to Las Vegas, and, eventually, all across the continental United States.

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Sadiq Khan launches commission to examine cannabis legality

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Mayor of London says panel of experts will consider effectiveness of UK policies on non-class A drugs

Sadiq Khan has announced a commission to examine the effectiveness of the UK’s drug laws, with a particular focus on those governing cannabis.

The London drugs commission, to be chaired by Lord Charlie Falconer QC, a former lord chancellor and justice secretary, was one of Khan’s manifesto pledges in his re-election bid last year.

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US to seize $63m Los Angeles mansion it claims was bought with bribe money

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The French Normandy-style estate was bought by Armenian ‘Super Minister’ Gagik Khachatryan with bribes paid by a businessman

The US government wants to seize a mega-mansion in an exclusive area of Los Angeles that it claims was bought with millions in bribe money linked to the former finance minister of Armenia and his sons.

The estate, located near the former Playboy mansion, was renovated in a French Normandy-style and boasts 11 bedrooms and 26 full or partial baths, and includes a pool, wine cellar, home theater and maids’ quarters, according to real estate listings.

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Dave Chappelle attacked by man with replica gun at LA comedy festival

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Incident raises further questions over comedian safety after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at Oscars

The comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked during a performance in Los Angeles, according to witnesses and videos of the incident posted online.

Footage showed someone running on stage and tackling Chappelle during his performance at the Netflix Is a Joke festival at Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night. The incident took place as the comedian was closing the show and thanking earlier performers including Chris Rock, Leslie Jones and Jon Stewart.

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Jury gives sweeping win to Kardashians in $100m Blac Chyna lawsuit

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Los Angeles jury finds Kardashian family did not convince the E! network to cancel Chyna’s reality show Rob & Chyna

A Los Angeles jury has given a sweeping win to the Kardashian family in former reality TV star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against them, finding that none of the Kardashians had defamed Chyna, nor did they interfere with her contract by convincing the E! network to cancel her show Rob & Chyna.

The four Kardashian defendants Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner attended nearly the entire trial, but when the verdict was read all were in New York at the Met Gala.

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Los Angeles mortuary owner left bodies to rot in ‘sad and shocking’ case

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Mark B Allen faces 22 counts of misdemeanor for mistreating remains of 11 people, including infants

A Los Angeles funeral home owner illegally left the remains of 11 people, including infants, in stages of decay and mummification and faces more than a decade in jail, prosecutors said Friday.

Authorities opened an investigation into the Mark B Allen Mortuary and Cremations Services Inc., after receiving complaints from families. The mortuary, owned by Mark B Allen, is now closed and phone numbers listed for the business were disconnected.

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Family sues LA Angels after stray baseball fractured boy’s skull

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Bryson Galaz was six years old when ball hit his head, causing brain damage, during warmup at Angel Stadium in Anaheim

The family of a boy who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being hit with a baseball during the warmup for a Los Angeles Angels game has sued the Angels, claiming negligence on the team’s part.

In 2019, Bryson Galaz, who was then six years old, was walking with his father in the first row of Angel Stadium, where players were mingling with fans more than an hour and half prior to the game, the lawsuit said. Bryson was struck on the side of his head when Keynan Middleton, an Angels pitcher who was warming up on the field, threw a ball at a teammate who missed the catch.

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Hollywood Forever cemetery, resting place to the stars, named a historical site

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Los Angeles city council unanimously bestowed the designation to the 123-year-old site where many movie legends are buried

The Hollywood Forever cemetery, the final resting place of stars such as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Burt Reynolds, is now a historic-cultural monument.

The Los Angeles city council unanimously voted this week to grant the designation to the 123-year-old cemetery, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999. An architectural historian who prepared a report on the cemetery for the city found it “exemplifies significant contributions to the broad cultural, economic or social history”.

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California man died screaming ‘I can’t breathe’ as police restrained him, video shows

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Newly released clip from two years ago shows Edward Bronstein being forced to a mat with at least five officers holding him down

A southern California man died nearly two years ago as he screamed “I can’t breathe” while multiple officers restrained him as they tried to take a blood sample, according to records and a video.

Edward Bronstein, 38, was taken into custody by California highway patrol (CHP) officers on 31 March 2020 following a traffic stop. Bronstein died less than two months before George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis as he, too, repeatedly told officers “I can’t breathe.”

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‘It’s not worth it’: rising gas prices force drivers to work for less than minimum wage

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Drivers already hit by low wages and poor working conditions are spending more time driving to keep their wages the same

By Tuesday afternoon, Lyft driver Elida Zabaleta had earned $100 in the five hours she spent ferrying passengers across the city of San Jose. With gas prices in California surging, she’d have to use more than half of that to cover fuel for the day, leaving her with just $45.

The rising cost of gas has made a difficult job all the more difficult, Zabaleta said, forcing her to spend more time behind the wheel to earn enough to afford living in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

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‘Pretty awesome’: celebrity mountain lion’s walkabout excites Los Angeles residents

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P22, known as the Brad Pitt of his species, has been visiting residential neighborhoods and welcomed like a star

On Tuesday night, a quiet street in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles had a rare celebrity visitor. P22, the city’s most famous mountain lion, was spotted around 7pm on Berkeley Circle, about three and a half miles south of his home in Griffith Park. The National Park Service later confirmed his presence through a radio collar.

Residents shared photos from doorbell cameras and grainy pics from inside their homes. “Ultimately, it’s pretty awesome,” one resident told the LA Times. “The whole neighborhood’s excited.”

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Lindsey Pearlman, US TV actor, found dead after being reported missing

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  • Pearlman, 43, appeared in General Hospital and Chicago Justice
  • Los Angeles police said Pearlman had failed to return home

Lindsey Pearlman, an actor known for television series including General Hospital and Chicago Justice, was found dead in Hollywood several days after going missing, authorities and her husband said. She was 43.

“Today around 8.30am, Hollywood area officers responded to a radio call for a death investigation at Franklin Avenue and North Sierra Bonita Avenue,” Los Angeles police said on Friday.

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‘The Brad Pitt of mountain lions’: how P22 became Los Angeles’ wildest celebrity

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Griffith Park’s famous feline – who evades sightings better than any movie star – has inspired murals, songs and even an exhibit on his life

The mountain lion known as P22 has become something of a celebrity in the city of Los Angeles. The big cat resides in Griffith Park, a 4,000-acre park tucked in the Hollywood hills, and has inspired murals, songs and even an exhibit about his life.

This February marks 10 years since scientists first found P22 while setting up camera traps in the area. His discovery was considered jaw-dropping, and scientists say that P22 has come to symbolize something uniquely LA, a city where wild landscapes rub shoulders with dense urbanism.

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Nipsey Hussle’s family to open Marathon store No 2: ‘Fulfilling his dream’

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Samiel Asghedom, Nipsey’s brother, also told the Guardian of plans for a free music program for youth at Crenshaw and Slauson


Nipsey Hussle’s family is planning to open “The Marathon Clothing store No 2” in Los Angeles this year, fulfilling a longtime dream of the late rapper.

Samiel Asghedom, Hussle’s older brother, said his family had purchased commercial property in the Melrose arts district in LA and will open The Marathon store No 2 there for the popular clothing brand.

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