Category Archives: West Coast

Boeing workers walk off the job after vote to strike and rejecting pay deal

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US Pacific north-west region workers voted 96% in favor of the strike and walked off the job early on Friday

Tens of thousands of Boeing workers walked off the job early on Friday after voting overwhelmingly to strike for higher pay, halting production of the planemaker’s strongest-selling jet as it wrestles with chronic output delays and mounting debt.

The company said on Friday it was ready to talk and “get back to the table to reach a new agreement” as striking workers picketed.

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Los Angeles hit by double whammy of wildfires and earthquake

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Residents were rattled by a 4.7 magnitude quake while firefighters are trying to put out blazes east of the city

Millions of residents in the Los Angeles area were rattled by a 4.7 magnitude earthquake that hit early on Thursday morning and came as the region continues to battle multiple wildfires that yet to be brought under control.

The quake’s epicenter was 4 miles north of Malibu, according to the US Geological Survey. The tremor unleashed boulders on to a Malibu road, visibly shook Santa Monica’s historic 1909 wooden pier and jolted people from bed. No injuries or damages were immediately reported.

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Wife of California prisoner wins $5.6m after ‘egregious’ prison strip-search

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Lawyers for Christina Cardenas say she was sexually violated during search when she tried to visit husband

The wife of a California prisoner will receive $5.6m after being sexually violated during a strip-search when she tried to visit her husband in prison, her attorneys said Monday.

After traveling four hours to see her husband at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, California, on 6 September 2019, Christina Cardenas was subject to a strip-search by prison officials, drug and pregnancy tests, X-ray and CT scans at a hospital, and another strip-search by a male doctor who sexually violated her, a lawsuit said.

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Thirteen people including firefighters injured in ‘hellish’ California wildfires

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Several blazes ravage state after record-breaking heatwave last week with temperatures topping 100F

As least 13 people have been injured in three major southern California wildfires that broke out this week during a scorching heatwave. Firefighters battling the blazes, already stretched to the limits by a challenging summer, were among the injured.

The Bridge fire in the Angeles national forest, located north of Glendora, exploded from about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) on Tuesday to 34,000 acres that evening, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Fast-spreading wildfire east of LA forces thousands to flee amid fierce heatwave

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California’s Line fire, only 3% contained, has charred more than 21,000 acres as temperatures soar into triple digits

Thousands of people east of Los Angeles have been ordered to flee their homes from an out-of-control wildfire that has burned through a large area of forest.

In southern California, currently in the grip of a ferocious heatwave, the so-called Line fire has burned areas around San Bernardino national forest, about 65 miles (105km) east of Los Angeles.

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Heatwave across US west breaks records for highest temperatures

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Hottest summer on record continues, with millions from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Seattle under heat alerts

An intense heatwave across the US west has brought unusually warm temperatures to the region – some of the highest of the season – and broken heat records.

Millions of Americans from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Seattle are under heat alerts. Even before this latest bout of extreme weather, which began on Wednesday and is expected to last through the weekend, summer 2024 was already considered the hottest summer on record.

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Hunter Biden offers unusual guilty plea in tax case in surprise back-and-forth

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US president’s son, who previously pleaded not guilty, seeks new plea deal wherein he would not admit to allegations

Hunter Biden offered to plead guilty to federal tax charges but avoid admitting any wrongdoing, in an unusual, last-minute legal maneuver that federal prosecutors quickly opposed.

The surprise back-and-forth unfolded on Thursday morning as the president’s only surviving son entered a Los Angeles courthouse for the start of his tax-avoidance trial.

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California man charged with murdering two neighbors in nudist community

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Michael Royce Sparks was arrested last week after he was found under a home at Olive Dell Ranch

A southern California man has been charged with the murder of two of his neighbors in a local nudist community.

Michael Royce Sparks, 62, was charged on Tuesday with two counts of murder with special circumstances in the deaths of Stephanie Menard, 73, and her husband, Daniel, 79, court records show.

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Oregon: drug possession to be a crime again as decriminalization law expires

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First-in-nation trial comes to an end, as new law gives those caught with hard drugs option of charges or treatment

Oregon’s first-in-the-nation experiment with decriminalizing drugs will expire on Sunday as a new law taking effect will once again make it a crime to possess small amounts of hard drugs.

The new recriminalization law, HB4002, will give those caught with illicit drugs – including fentanyl, heroin and meth – the choice to either be charged with possession or treatment, which includes completing a behavioral health program and participating in a “deflection program” to avoid fines.

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Three people dead after small plane crashes in Oregon town

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Officials say two people on board Cessna plane that struck row of townhouses, displacing families and causing fire

Three people were dead after a small plane crashed into a row of townhouses on Saturday morning in a neighborhood east of Portland, setting the homes ablaze, authorities told KATU-TV.

Officials earlier in the day had said the plane was carrying two people and that at least one resident had been unaccounted for.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that a twin-engine Cessna 421C came down at about 10.30am local time near the Troutdale airport.

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Missing couple from nudist community in California presumed dead

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Neighbor, 62, held after disappearance of Stephanie and Daniel Menard, 73 and 79, from resort in Redlands

A couple living in a southern California nudist community who were reported missing earlier this week are presumed dead, police said on Friday, and a next-door neighbor had been arrested.

On Friday, police used a tank-like vehicle with a battering ram to smash into a home where they believed the bodies of Stephanie Menard, 73, and her husband, Daniel, 79, would be be found, said Carl Baker, spokesperson for the Redlands police department.

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Doctor charged in Matthew Perry death appears in court after reaching plea deal

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Mark Chavez, 54, to turn over medical license as lawyer says client is ‘incredibly remorseful’ for role in star’s death

One of two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry’s death made his first appearance in a federal court in Los Angeles on Friday after reaching a deal to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.

Dr Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine. He is the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the Friends star’s fatal overdose last year.

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Woman’s death on first day of Burning Man festival under investigation

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Authorities look into what happened to Kendra Frazer, 39, who was found unresponsive at the Black Rock desert event

Authorities are investigating the death of a woman identified as 39-year-old Kendra Frazer who was found unresponsive on the opening day of Burning Man, the event held annually in Nevada’s Black Rock desert, about 100 miles (160km) north of Reno.

Hours after the festival officially began on 25 August, emergency personnel were called according to officials with the Pershing county sheriff’s office, after teams affiliated with the non-profit that runs the event attempted life-saving measures and were unable to revive the woman.

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California sees ‘winter wonderland’ in summer for first time in 20 years

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Unusually strong and rare snow system dusted Sierra Nevada mountain range early Saturday

This summer, Californians have had to endure blistering heatwaves, raging wildfires – and now snow.

An unusually strong and rare snow system dusted California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range early Saturday, the first time snow has fallen in August in the so-called Golden State in more than 20 years.

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US pilot who took magic mushrooms and tried to cut engines says behavior ‘unfathomable’

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Joseph Emerson charged with 83 counts of reckless endangerment over incident on flight to San Francisco

An Alaska Airlines pilot who attempted to shut off the engines of a passenger plane mid-flight after ingesting magic mushrooms said his actions were “unfathomable”, in some of his first public remarks after he was indicted on 83 counts of reckless endangerment.

In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Joseph Emerson described the events of 22 October as “30 seconds of my life that I wish I could change, and I can’t”.

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Meth worth nearly $6m found in fake watermelons at US-Mexico border

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Imitation fruits and vegetables are the latest ‘sophisticated’ tactic for Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs into the US

Everyday fruit and vegetables are some of the latest methods Mexican cartels are using to smuggle drugs into the US, recent seizures of methamphetamine suggest.

Around 2 tonnes of the powerful stimulant known colloquially as crystal meth was discovered recently in packages designed to look like bright green watermelons at the San Diego, California, port of Otay Mesa, according to US Customs and Border Patrol Protection officials.

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‘They want to slime him’: Hunter Biden lawyer attacks prosecutors in tax case

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Mark Geragos says special counsel guilty of ‘character assassination’ by trying to bring salacious details into trial

An attorney for Hunter Biden has accused prosecutors of wanting to introduce salacious details about partying and spending by Joe Biden’s son to smear his character in front of jurors at his upcoming trial on federal tax charges.

During a lengthy hearing in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter Biden’s lawyer said special counsel David Weiss’s team was intent on “character assassination” by seeking to bring in evidence of spending on things like strippers in the case alleging a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4m in taxes.

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‘Strange and mysterious’: rarely seen, 12ft-long oarfish found in waters off San Diego

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Group finds elusive deep sea fish that has washed up in California only 20 times since 1901

A group of people kayaking and snorkeling off the San Diego coast made an unusual discovery when they came across an oarfish, a rarely seen deep sea fish that has washed up in California only 20 times in over a century.

The 12ft-long silvery fish was found floating dead in the water last weekend. The group, along with marine experts, helped bring the creature ashore for study.

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Los Angeles police arrest four suspects over killing of actor Johnny Wactor

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General Hospital star, 37, was shot dead in downtown LA in May after interrupting men taking car’s catalytic converter

Police have arrested four suspects in the fatal shooting of Johnny Wactor, the actor best known for his role on General Hospital.

The four suspects were arrested in Los Angeles, and range in age from 18 to 22. Three of the suspects were booked on arrest warrants for murder and the fourth was booked as an accessory.

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Gun owned by infamous LA officer found amid $1m robbery investigation

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Two men charged with robbing luxury watch had firearm of Christopher Dorner, who killed four people and died in 2013

Authorities are investigating how a gun registered to an infamous Los Angeles police officer ended up at the Airbnb of two men recently charged in the robbery of a $1m watch in Beverly Hills.

Investigators discovered the weapon earlier this month after they connected the Airbnb to a vehicle involved in another Beverly Hills theft, authorities said. The weapon was registered to Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles police department (LAPD) officer who killed the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiance as well as two others over nine days in 2013 before dying in a dramatic standoff with law enforcement. Dorner had felt he had been wrongly fired by LAPD, and accused the department of racism and corruption.

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