Category Archives: California

Former county sheriff Jim McDonnell named new Los Angeles police chief

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McDonnell will head force of nearly 9,000 officers amid rising discontentment over public safety among residents

Former Los Angeles county sheriff Jim McDonnell will lead the Los Angeles police department (LAPD), taking charge of the force of nearly 9,000 officers as discontent grows among the city’s residents over public safety even as violent crime numbers drop, the mayor announced on Friday.

Mayor Karen Bass, who had the final say after a civilian board of Los Angeles police commissioners vetted McDonnell, said her selection of a veteran law enforcement officer was based on a need to reduce crime and make every neighborhood safer. Bass met with hundreds of LAPD officers and community leaders before making her decision.

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Country music star Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault in civil lawsuit

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Brooks, who previously filed lawsuit against hair and makeup artist, calls allegations false and intended to extort

A hair and makeup artist has accused the country singer Garth Brooks of sexual assault and battery in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, claims the musician has strongly denied.

The anonymous accuser, referred to in the complaint as “Jane Roe”, alleges that Brooks raped her during a work trip to Los Angeles in 2019, and that he repeatedly groped her and made sexually explicit comments while she was doing his hair or makeup throughout 2019.

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San Francisco sees hottest day of 2024 as heatwave scorches US south-west

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Excessive heat warnings bring elevated wildfire risk, potential for power outages and rising death toll

San Francisco recorded its hottest day of the year on Tuesday, and Phoenix set a record for the hottest 1 October on record, as the National Weather Service predicted record-high fall temperatures across the south-western US.

With temperatures hitting 100F (38C) or higher in many places, officials and local media outlets issued warnings that the heat posed “a significant threat to property or life”. Excessive heat warnings were in place across the region, bringing with it warnings about elevated wildfire risk, the potential for sweeping power outages in California and a rising toll of heat-related deaths, a particularly deadly risk for unhoused people and the elderly.

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Viral Hollywood Hills mansion covered with graffiti closed down after arrests

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Two arrested in connection with vandalism in abandoned home owned by the son of Philadelphia Phillies co-owner

Two people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with vandalism in an abandoned Hollywood Hills mansion owned by the son of a Philadelphia Phillies co-owner.

John Powers Middleton, a film producer, owns a property that has long been left vacant and become a popular target for graffiti artists and squatters.

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‘Can’t afford health insurance’: California CVS workers take strike vote

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More than 7,000 workers to hold strike vote this week amid accusations of staff shortages and expensive healthcare

More than 7,000 workers at CVS stores across California are holding a strike vote this week after accusing the US’s largest pharmacy chain of shortchanging staff and failing to provide affordable healthcare.

CVS and its union remain far apart in negotiations on a new contract. Their current union contract expired on 30 June 2024.

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California’s Gavin Newsom signs law banning all plastic bags at grocery stores

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State had already banned thin plastic shopping bags, but new measure bans all plastic bags starting in 2026

“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed on Sunday by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that bans all plastic shopping bags.

California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.

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Former CIA officer sentenced to 30 years for sexually assaulting scores of women

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Brian Jeffrey Raymond of California was found guilty of drugging and raping women in his government apartments

A former CIA officer who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced.

Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 48, of La Mesa, California, drugged more than two dozen women and performed nonconsensual sexual acts or made sexual contact with at least 10 women, the justice department said in a press release.

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US cannabis company Eaze pays supervisors less than those they oversee, workers say

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Shift supervisors unable to unionize are left in limbo, despite workers claiming low pay and lack of authority

The largest cannabis delivery service in the US faces a growing backlash in southern California from shift supervisors who said they are paid less than the workers they supervise, struggle to make ends meet on low and stagnant wages, and are at odds with the company over their right to form a union.

Nearly 600 delivery drivers at Eaze in California voted to unionize in 2023 with the United Food and Commercial Workers, and secured a first contract earlier this year after threatening to strike in April.

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Mother of man accused in California wildfire says ‘he did not light that fire’

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Arson charges filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg in San Bernardino county, which has burned 38,000 acres

The mother of the 34-year-old man accused of starting the Line fire in southern California – which has scorched at least 38,000 acres (15,378 hectares) and destroyed one home – has spoken out in defense of her son, telling the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that “he did not light that fire”.

Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the San Bernardino county blaze on 5 September. He is due to be arraigned on Monday according to the San Bernardino county district attorney’s office.

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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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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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More than 10,000 US hotel workers strike on Labor Day weekend

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Staff demand wage increases and reversal of pandemic-era cutbacks that impose ‘painful’ working conditions

Thousands of US hotel workers went on strike on Sunday for improved pay and conditions in a dispute likely to disrupt many Labor Day weekend holiday travelers, amid union warnings that industrial action could escalate.

More than 10,000 workers walked off the job at hotels in Boston, Seattle, Honolulu, Kauai and Greenwich, Connecticut, as well as the Californian cities of San Francisco, Sand Diego and San Jose after contract talks with the establishments’ owners collapsed.

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‘Written in the stars’: Norwegian princess and California shaman tie the knot, with Netflix in waiting

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Unconventional marriage of Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Vellet celebrated with three-day schedule of events and a documentary to follow

She is the clairvoyant daughter of one of Europe’s longest-serving monarchs; he is a self-styled sixth-generation shaman from California. The wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway to Durek Verrett on Saturday on Saturday afternoon wasn’t your conventional royal affair, but that didn’t stop spectators lining the overcast streets of Geiranger in the hope of catching a glimpse of the bride.

The eldest daughter of Crown Prince Harald and Queen Sonja, 52-year-old Märtha Louise is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne. She married Verrett, 49, in a traditional church of Norway ceremony attended by royals and celebrities at the four-star Hotel Union in a small village beneath the Geiranger fjord.

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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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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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