Category Archives: West Coast

Las Vegas police arrest suspect in Tesla arson attack

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Paul Hyon Kim allegedly set vehicles ablaze in latest attack on Tesla amid protests over Elon Musk-led budget cuts

Las Vegas police have arrested a man suspected of attacking a Tesla service center earlier this month with molotov cocktails that he allegedly used to set several vehicles on fire.

Paul Hyon Kim, 36, who is in custody at the Clark county detention center, faces multiple felony counts, including suspicion of arson and destroying or injuring real or personal property, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

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California Uber and Lyft drivers push for settlement in wage theft claims

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Ride-share drivers held demonstrations from San Francisco to San Diego amid ongoing negotiations affecting 250,000

Ride-share drivers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego held demonstrations in front of city hall buildings on Wednesday as California state attorney General Rob Bonta, city attorneys and attorneys representing ride-share drivers continue negotiations next week with Uber and Lyft to settle thousands of claims of wage theft for drivers.

At least 250,000 individual ride-share drivers in California who drove for the apps between 2016 and 2020 are estimated to be eligible for the settlement for wage theft claims of tens of billions of dollars, according to Rideshare Drivers United in California.

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Three people die attempting to cross US-Mexico border amid California storm

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Authorities found two men and one woman dead in Otay Mountain wilderness due to harsh terrain and cold weather

Three people died last week as they attempted to cross the US-Mexico border near San Diego, California, amid a storm that brought near freezing temperatures to the challenging mountain terrain, according to the US border patrol.

Border patrol agents responding to two separate distress calls – that came within less than an hour of each other on 14 March – discovered two men and one woman deceased in the Otay Mountain wilderness area, the agency said in a statement. The following evening authorities responded to another call from someone stranded in the mountains with a broken ankle, according to the statement.

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University of California imposes hiring freeze in response to Trump cuts

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President Michael Drake also directs campuses to cut costs, such as delaying maintenance and reducing business travel

The University of California has imposed a system-wide hiring freeze and made additional cuts, its president said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to mitigate the expected impact of sharp cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.

In a letter to staff and students, the school’s president, Michael Drake, said he had also directed all UC locations to implement cost-saving measures, such as delaying maintenance and reducing business travel, to help conserve funds.

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Atmospheric river to wallop California as study finds storms getting worse

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Thunderstorms and high winds forecast for San Francisco Bay while southern California under flood watch

A powerful atmospheric river storm was set to wallop California on Wednesday evening, drenching large swaths of the state with rain and bringing several feet of snow to the mountains – the latest in a wave of intense storms that new research shows are getting worse.

Much of northern California was under a winter storm warning because of the gusty winds and heavy snow in the forecast that the National Weather Service (NWS) said would lead to “difficult to impossible travel conditions”. Severe thunderstorms and high winds were predicted across the San Francisco Bay area, according to reports.

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‘A ribbon dancer’: captive baby sea lion performs acrobatics with artificial kelp

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‘It look so artistic under the water,’ staff at Washington state aquarium says of Pepper

A baby sea lion toting an artificial kelp strip was filmed performing intricate rhythmic gymnastics-style circles through the waters of an aquarium in Washington state.

Although only nine months old and still reliant on her mother’s milk, Pepper has become the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s most acrobatic sea lion, said Noelle Tremonti, a staff biologist for the aquarium.

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Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California

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Look-back window results in nearly 100 allegations against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church.

A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders.

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Pamela Bach, Baywatch actor and David Hasselhoff’s ex-wife, dies

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Actor also known as Pamela Hasselhoff died on Wednesday and the cause is still under investigation, authorities say

Pamela Bach, an actor and the ex-wife of the Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, has died.

The Los Angeles medical examiner’s office reports that she died on Wednesday and the cause is still under investigation. Also known as Pamela Hasselhoff, Bach appeared on The Young and the Restless and met her future husband on the set of his series Knight Rider.

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Trump administration revises directive to fire probationary employees

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It is unclear how the revised guidance will affect probationary federal workers who have already been fired

The Trump administration appears to be walking back its directive to fire probationary employees.

The reversal comes less than a week after a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ordering the US defense department and other agencies to carry out the mass firings of some employees, including probationary employees who typically have less than a year of experience.

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Killer whales amaze Seattle onlookers with rarely seen bird hunt

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Gasps from dockside crowd watching Bigg’s orca pod in event described as ‘once-in-a-lifetime experience’

A pod of orcas swam close to shore and amazed onlookers in Seattle by treating the whale watchers to the rare sight of the apex predators hunting a bird.

The pod of Bigg’s killer whales visited Elliott Bay and were seemingly on a hunt underwater just off Seattle’s maritime industrial docks. The pod exited the bay close to the West Seattle neighborhood across from downtown, where people were waiting to catch sight of them.

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Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe says he was fired from coaching job after Maga protest

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  • 43-year-old was arrested at city council meeting
  • Former player was coaching local high school

Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe says he has been fired from his job as a high school football coach after his protest at a city council meeting in California.

Kluwe was arrested at the Huntington Beach city council meeting last week, at which he spoke out against the decision to erect a plaque at a local library. The plaque features the words “Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing and Adventurous” and the city commission confirmed it was a reference to Maga. The former Minnesota Vikings player then made critical comments about the Trump administration before saying he would “engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience” and walked on to the meeting’s stage. He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for disrupting an assembly.

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Newsom orders parole board to assess public risk if Menendez brothers freed

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California governor’s intervention could offer avenue of freedom for siblings jailed over 1989 LA killing of parents

The California governor has ordered the state parole board to examine whether the Menendez brothers would pose a risk to the public if they are released from prison – which could offer an avenue to freedom for the siblings who have been behind bars for almost three decades.

Attorneys for Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, reported on Wednesday that the board will complete a “comprehensive risk assessment” to determine if the brothers have in fact been rehabilitated since the 1989 killing of their parents.

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Wildfire debris washes up on LA beaches after major rainstorm

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Beaches in southern California littered with timber, twisted metals, charred silt and urban runoff from Palisades fire

Los Angeles county beaches are contending with the aftermath of recent wildfires and winter storms as debris from the Palisades fire and urban runoff are carried to the shoreline.

After last week’s major rainstorm, beaches in southern California have been littered with timber, twisted metals, construction materials and charred silt and sediment originating from the Palisades fire in January. That blaze, along with the Eaton fire, killed at least 29 people.

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Newsom threatens to pull funds unless California cities crack down on homelessness

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‘We’re not going to fund failure,’ says governor, who warned local authorities they could lose out on millions of dollars

California’s governor warned cities and counties that they could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they do not make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.

Gavin Newsom’s comments on Monday, while announcing $920m in funding to address the crisis, come as he escalates efforts to push local governments to take greater action. Last summer, Newsom told counties he could withhold state support if they failed to do more homeless encampment sweeps.

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Mass firings hamstring federal land agencies and wildfire response

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Concerns are mounting that depleting already thinned ranks will only hamper extreme weather response efforts

Federal agencies that play crucial roles in administering conservation, recreation and resource development across roughly than 640m acres of the nation’s public lands were thrust into a state of chaos this week after the Trump administration fired thousands of federal workers, leaving key operational gaps in its wake.

The agencies are also on the frontline of mitigating the escalating effects from the climate crisis and concerns are mounting that the depletion of already thinned ranks will only hamper efforts to respond and recover from extreme weather events.

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Doubts raised over US travel system during 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics

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  • US will host 2026 tournament with Canada and Mexico
  • Report raises concern about visas and infrastructure

The United States is unprepared for the burdens placed on its air travel system when the country hosts the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The US Travel Association, a non-profit that represents the travel industry, commissioned a report written by former government officials and industry experts. The report raises concerns about visas, creaking infrastructure and poor security technology.

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‘It’s definitely not moving’: another bear makes evacuated LA home its own

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Black bear weighing 500lb found in crawlspace in Pasadena, two weeks after Altadena man discovered unfamiliar tenant

Two 500-plus pound black bears have laid claim to homes evacuated during the destructive Eaton fire in southern California.

Last month, when Samy Arbid returned to his Altadena home, he found “Barry” – a 525lb black bear – living under the house. This week, another Californian reported a different unexpected visitor living in his house’s crawlspace in neighboring Pasadena: another 500 to 600lb bear.

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US Forest Service and National Park Service to fire thousands of workers

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Agencies say Trump’s latest push to trim government could impede firefighting efforts and create crises at national parks

The US Forest Service is firing about 3,400 recent hires while the National Park Service is terminating about 1,000 workers under Donald Trump’s push to cut federal spending and bureaucracy, according to a report on Friday.

The terminations target employees who are in their probationary employment periods, which includes anyone hired less than a year ago, according to Reuters, and will affect sites such as the Appalachian trail, Yellowstone, the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr and the Sequoia national forest.

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Storm-fueled mud submerges roads in California town hit by LA wildfires

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Residents in Sierra Madre begin cleanup effort after strongest storm of year sweeps through southern California

Residents of a southern California mountain community near the Eaton fire burn scar dug out of roads submerged in sludge on Friday after the strongest storm of the year swept through the area, unleashing debris flows and muddy messes in several neighborhoods recently torched by wildfires.

Water, debris and boulders rushed down the mountain in the city of Sierra Madre on Thursday night, trapping at least one car in the mud and damaging several home garages with mud and debris. Bulldozers on Friday were cleaning up the mud-covered streets in the city of 10,000 people.

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California insurance plan asks private insurers for $1bn after wildfires

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Private plans, such as State Farm, required to give to Fair plan so all residents have access to fire insurance

California’s home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims.

All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 – more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for “total losses”.

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