Category Archives: San Diego

US military identifies Marine Corps pilot killed in San Diego combat jet crash

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Maj Andrew Mettler – known as ‘Simple Jack’ – was a native of Georgia and a leader of the Fighting Bengals squadron

The US military has identified the Marine Corps pilot who was killed on Thursday when his combat jet crashed near a San Diego base during a training flight.

Maj Andrew Mettler was piloting an F/A-18D Hornet when it went down at 11.54pm on Thursday near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the Second Marine Aircraft Wing said in a statement from its headquarters in Cherry Point, North Carolina. He was the only person on board.

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San Diego teens charged in killing of unhoused woman known as ‘Granny Annie’

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Annette Pershal, 68, who was shot multiple times with a pellet gun, was ‘full of love’, said daughter Brandy Nazworth

Two San Diego teenagers have been arrested in the fatal shooting of Annette Pershal, a 68-year-old unhoused woman who had lived on the streets for years and was known to locals as “Granny Annie”.

Pershal was found on the street unconscious on 8 May and taken to the hospital where doctors discovered she’d been shot multiple times with a pellet gun, officials said. She died several days later and her death was ruled a homicide.

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Missing California teen found inside Marine Corps barracks in San Diego

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The 14-year-old’s grandmother had reported the girl’s absence and authorities said a marine had been taken briefly into custody

Two weeks after a 14-year-old girl’s grandmother reported that she had run away in early June, the teenager was found in an unusual location: inside the barracks at a California Marine Corps base north of San Diego.

Federal law enforcement officials said Monday that they are investigating and had taken a marine with the combat logistics battalion 5, 1st marine logistics group into custody briefly for questioning. He has since been released to his command while the investigation continues, said Marine Capt Charles Palmer of the 1st marine logistics group at Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles (65km) north of San Diego.

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Rescued sea lion known for roaming San Diego dies, SeaWorld announces

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Tributes pour in for Freeway, who was named after his rescue from a busy freeway last year

Freeway, the beloved Californian rescue sea lion that would roam around San Diego, has died, SeaWorld San Diego has announced.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share ‘Freeway’, the rescued sea lion, passed away yesterday – surrounded with love from his devoted care and rescue teams. His adventurous spirit won the hearts of all San Diegans and he will be remembered for that and so much more,” the park said in a Facebook post on Friday.

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At least eight dead after boat capsizes in Pacific off San Diego

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Search continues for seven more people after small craft suspected to have been carrying 15 migrants overturned off Black’s Beach

At least eight people were killed when two suspected smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach and one capsized, authorities said. Crews were searching on Sunday for an estimated seven additional victims.

A woman on one of the panga-style boats called 911 late on Saturday to report that the other vessel overturned in waves off Black’s Beach, US coast guard petty officer Richard Brahm said.

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California woman describes harrowing shark attack: ‘I saw it clamp my leg’

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The 50-year-old, who survived the encounter, is being treated for the wounds to her upper right thigh

A California woman has given her first interviews about surviving a shark attack while swimming off the coast of San Diego.

Lyn Jutronich, 50, said she was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water.

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California sheriff’s office stops Black drivers five times more often than white people, data shows

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A new report says sheriffs’ patrols spend more time conducting racially biased stops than they do responding to calls for help

Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by sheriffs for traffic violations, according to a new report on racial profiling across the state.

Records from the county sheriff’s departments of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside show that Black Californians were disproportionately stopped across those regions in 2019, especially for minor infractions.

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Border wall that threatened historic US-Mexico Friendship park halted

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The Biden administration agreed to pause plans that would have destroyed a 51-year-old oceanfront park

The Biden administration has agreed to pause plans for a double border wall that critics say would effectively destroy a 51-year-old oceanfront park that symbolizes friendship between the United States and Mexico.

Chris Magnus, the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said he wanted to hear community concerns before settling on a wall design for Friendship Park, which then-first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated in 1971.

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Beachgoers flee sparring sea lions in viral video: ‘Godzilla is chasing them’

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A TikTok clip showing the panicked frolickers running helter-skelter has nearly 10m views, but experts say it’s common behavior

A TikTok video showing dozens of San Diego beachgoers running and jumping out of the way of two fast-moving sea lions has generated nearly 10m views and sparked conversations about whether the mammals were going after people and reclaiming picturesque La Jolla Cove’s narrow strip of sand.

But sea lion expert Eric Otjen of SeaWorld San Diego said what he saw was normal sea lion behavior for this time of year, when males are sparring as breeding season gets underway.

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‘We saved a giraffe’s life’: calf fitted with braces to correct bent legs

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Msituni was born with her front limb bending the wrong way, and her other front limb started to hyperextend

Over the past three decades Ara Mirzaian has fitted braces for everyone from Paralympians to children with scoliosis. But Msituni was a patient like none other: a newborn giraffe.

The calf was born 1 February at the San Diego zoo safari park in Escondido, north of San Diego, with her front limb bending the wrong way. Safari park staff feared she could die if they didn’t immediately correct the condition, which could prevent her from nursing and walking around the habitat.

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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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Californians rush to see rare ‘corpse plant’ that only blooms for 48 hours

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Bloom of the plant, which emits a putrid odor of rotting flesh, began Sunday and quickly drew visitors to botanical garden

The bloom of a giant and stinky Sumatran flower nicknamed the “corpse plant” because it smells like a dead body is drawing huge crowds to a southern California botanical garden.

The bloom of the Amorphophallus titanum plant began Sunday afternoon at the San Diego Botanic Gardens in Encinitas. By Monday morning, timed-entry tickets had sold out, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, and more than 5,000 people were expected to have visited the garden by Tuesday evening.

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Three dead and dozens injured after boat capsizes near San Diego

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  • Officials believe boat was being used to bring migrants into US
  • Commercial boat reported vessel overturning on rocks

The US coast guard has ended its search for survivors after a boat capsized off the coast of San Diego, leaving three people dead and dozens injured.

Officials believe the boat, which had at least 30 people onboard, was being used to smuggle migrants into the US and the man who was captaining the vessel has been taken into custody.

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Gorillas at San Diego zoo test positive for Covid-19 – video

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Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo have tested positive for Covid-19, with the cases believed to be the first outbreak among primates in captivity. 

After showing mild symptoms of the virus including coughing, the presence of Covid-19 was confirmed through faecal testing. 

The animals will remain in their habitat in the park and have been quarantined together, with the zoo hopeful of a full recovery

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Gorillas at San Diego Zoo test positive for Covid in apparent first

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Gorillas are thought to have been infected by wildlife worker in what is believed to be first outbreak among captive primates

Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo safari park have tested positive for coronavirus, with some experiencing symptoms, in what is believed to be the first outbreak among such primates in captivity.

The park’s executive director, Lisa Peterson, told the Associated Press on Monday that eight gorillas who live together at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, confirmed at his Monday news briefing that at least two gorillas had tested positive while three were symptomatic.

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Statue of former California governor Pete Wilson removed in San Diego

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  • Protests highlighted legacy on immigration and gay rights
  • Republican, 87, does not immediately comment

A statue of the former California governor Pete Wilson was removed from a San Diego park after critics said the governor supported laws and policies that hurt immigrants and the LGBTQ community.

The 13-year-old statue near Horton Plaza Park was removed by Horton Walk, the non-profit that owns it, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Horton Walk’s president, Steve Williams, wrote in an email that no decision had been made on whether it will be returned.

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Bioluminescent waves dazzle surfers in California: ‘Never seen anything like it’

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Crowds are coming to see the light show as beaches begin to reopen after an almost month-long closure due to coronavirus

Mother nature has provided a radical gift to nighttime beach-goers in southern California, in the form of bioluminescent waves that crash and froth with an otherworldly light.

Related: California eases Covid-19 restrictions, allowing some businesses to reopen

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Porn site to pay $12.7m to women who didn’t know videos would be posted

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GirlsDoPorn was sued by women who claimed they were coerced into making videos without knowing footage would be online

A US judge has awarded $13m in damages to 22 women who were defrauded by the owners of GirlsDoPorn, a website specialising in “amateur”-style pornography.

Related: Group of US women sue 'amateur' porn producer over 'coercion and lies'

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Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot Robert Kennedy, stable after prison stabbing

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75-year-old killer hospitalised after being wounded in jail in San Diego, government source confirms

Sirhan Sirhan, who has been jailed for more than 50 years for the assassination of Senator Robert F Kennedy, was in stable condition in hospital on Saturday after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison.

Related: James R Leavelle, detective handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot, dies aged 99

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‘She took the bullet for all of us’: rabbi recounts San Diego synagogue shooting

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Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein says worshipper Lori Kaye died protecting him from a 19-year-old man who opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego. Goldstein lost one of his index fingers when he held up his hands in defence as the gunman fired. In an emotional statement, he recalled how Kaye threw herself between the gunman and him. Two others were wounded in the attack

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