Category Archives: California

Weather tracker: tropical storm makes landfall in California for first time in 84 years

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Storm Hilary expected to cause severe flooding, as other parts of US and Mexico put under extreme heat warnings

For the first time in 84 years, a tropical storm has made landfall in California. Tropical Storm Hilary, with maximum sustained wind gusts of 130mph (210km/h) and a central air pressure of 943mb, advanced towards the Baja California peninsula this weekend as a category 4 hurricane, before arriving as a tropical storm in southern California late on Sunday. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in southern California was in 1939, when it flooded Los Angeles and killed nearly 100 people.

Hilary triggered California’s first ever tropical storm warning, extending from the Mexican border to just north of Los Angeles amid rainfall totals estimated to have reached 70-150mm (3-6in) across southern California. This amount of rainfall is expected to cause life-threatening flooding, and would amount to more than a year’s worth of rain across parts of California and Nevada.

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California shop owner shot dead over LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed at store

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An man made comments about flag at Laura Ann Carlton’s store in Cedar Glen and killed her before being shot and killed by police

A business owner in California was shot and killed after a dispute over a LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed outside her store, authorities said.

Officials from the San Bernardino county sheriff’s office said Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting on Friday night.

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Hurricane Hilary approaches California amid warnings of ‘serious threat’

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‘Catastrophic’ flooding expected despite weakening to category 1 cyclone after wildfires in Maui and Washington state

Hurricane Hilary was closing in on southern California on Sunday as federal emergency officials, stretched by deadly wildfires in Maui and Washington state, warned of a “serious impact and threat”.

Despite weakening to a category 1 cyclone, the storm was still packing winds of 80mph as it approached Mexico and the south-western US, with “catastrophic” flooding expected to follow landfall.

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Hurricane Hilary downgraded amid warnings of ‘catastrophic’ flooding

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Drowning reported in Baja California peninsula ahead of storm’s arrival on Saturday night before hitting southern California on Sunday

Hurricane Hilary was downgraded to a category 1 storm as it moved towards the Baja California region on Saturday evening, amid warnings of deadly flooding.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory on Saturday night that “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” was still likely and that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 90mph (145km/h).

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Cruise agrees to cut fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half after crashes

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State DMV asks for reduction after autonomous Cruise vehicle collided with unspecified emergency vehicle

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.

The state department of motor vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.

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Lawsuits from two Michael Jackson accusers can move to trial, court rules

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Wade Robson and James Safechuck detailed allegations that singer sexually abused them as children in HBO documentary

Lawsuits from two men who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were children can move forward to a jury trial, a California appeals court ruled on Friday.

The two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, were featured in the 2019 HBO documentary series Leaving Neverland that detailed their allegations against Jackson, who died in 2009.

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As Hurricane Hilary prepares to land, California and Mexico brace for impact

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Southern California gets first tropical storm warning as conditions could potentially affect Baja California peninsula late Friday

Hurricane Hilary, which quickly grew to category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast, whipping up 145mph winds, could become the first tropical storm to hit southern California in 84 years.

As the hurricane barrels northward, officials have issued the first ever tropical storm watch for the US west coast. Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings have also been issued for parts of Baja California and mainland Mexico, where fierce winds and rain could cause flooding and landslides.

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FBI arrest California police officers involved in racist text messages scandal

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A grand jury had indicted officers from Antioch and Pittsburg for a wide range of offenses, including criminal conspiracy

The FBI arrested nine current and former California police officers on Thursday as part of a major criminal investigation into racist text messages of dozens of law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.

Early-morning federal raids, first reported by the Bay Area News Group, rounded up officers from Antioch and Pittsburg, two cities east of San Francisco, after they were charged in four grand jury indictments.

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‘Out of reach’: median home price in Los Angeles nears $1m

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House prices have increased more than 30% in five years in the state’s largest city, which has at least 50,000 people living outside

The median price for a home in Los Angeles, California’s largest city, will soon hit $1m, as skyrocketing housing costs fuel a humanitarian crisis that has left at least 50,000 people living in the streets.

In the past five years, the median listed home price in the Los Angeles area has increased more than 30%, according to estimates from the real estate company Zillow. As of late July, the median price for homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area was estimated at $992,300.

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California judge charged with murder texted ‘I shot my wife’, prosecutors say

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Court filing alleges Jeffrey Ferguson, accused over death of wife Sheryl earlier this month, texted court clerk to say ‘I just lost it’

A southern California judge accused of killing his wife during an argument while drunk texted his court clerk and bailiff afterward to say he had shot her, prosecutors said Friday as they charged him with murder and sought new bail conditions.

A court filing from prosecutors says Orange county superior court judge Jeffrey Ferguson texted: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”

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Ski season finally ends at California’s Mammoth Mountain resort

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It was one of the longest seasons in resort’s 70-year history, helped out by a colossal snowpack from an extreme weather winter

After a historic amount of snowfall, a popular California resort is ending its second-longest ski season. The ski lifts at Mammoth Mountain, in the eastern Sierra Nevadas, have been open since early November and, up until 5 August, remained available well into summer.

While it is not unusual for people to powder-surf on the Fourth of July at the resort, the sheer amount of snow the mountain saw made this season exceptional and one of the longest in the resort’s 70-year history, according to NPR.

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Senator Dianne Feinstein hospitalized after falling in her home

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California senator, 90, was only in hospital for ‘an hour or two’, spokesperson told the Chronicle

The California US senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, was hospitalized on Tuesday evening after suffering a fall in her home, a spokesperson said.

“Senator Feinstein briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “All of her scans were clear and she returned home.”

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Tory Lanez sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

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Canadian musician was found guilty last year for three felonies related to the shooting which injured the rapper in the foot

Musician Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for the shooting of fellow artist Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was found guilty in December 2022 of three felonies related to the shooting, which left his fellow artist injured in the foot.

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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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California judge pauses sweeping of homeless encampments amid heatwave

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Order was issued against the city of Sacramento after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order

Amid a heatwave that is sweeping through parts of the American west, a federal judge in California has placed a temporary ban on sweeps of homeless encampments.

US district court judge Troy L Nunley issued the order against the city of Sacramento on 3 August, after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order by sweeping an encampment during a time of excessive heat, which is anything over 90F.

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Five-hundred-pound bear ‘Hank the Tank’ caught after home break-ins in Tahoe area

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Bear was not, as initially thought, solely responsible for all instances of property damage – there are ‘other Hanks’

A notorious, “extremely food-habituated” 500lb female black bear known as Hank the Tank has been detained in the Lake Tahoe area of California more than a year after the wildlife equivalent of an APB was issued by the state’s wildlife authorities.

Hank, who was initially misgendered as a male, was matched by DNA to more than 21 home break-ins and other instances of property damage in the Lake Tahoe region since 2022. She was “safely immobilized” by tranquilizer dart and apprehended Friday morning, according to state officials, and will now be moved to a sanctuary in southern Colorado.

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US scientists achieve net energy gain for second time in a fusion reaction

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The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility achieved the feat using lasers to fuse two atoms

US scientists have achieved net energy gain in a nuclear fusion reaction for the second time since a historic breakthrough in December last year in the quest to find a near-limitless, safe and clean source of energy

Scientists at the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory repeated the breakthrough in an experiment in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on 30 July that produced a higher energy yield than in December, a Lawrence Livermore spokesperson said.

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California judge arrested on suspicion of killing wife

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Jeffrey Ferguson, 72, arrested in connection with death of Sheryl Ferguson, 65, discovered at home with at least one gunshot wound

A southern California judge has been arrested in connection with the killing of his wife, authorities said Friday.

Jeffrey Ferguson was arrested late Thursday after police received reports of a shooting in an Anaheim Hills home and found the judge’s wife, Sheryl Ferguson, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, Anaheim police said.

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US navy sailors arrested on charges of passing sensitive material to China

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Jinchao Wei, 22, and Wenheng Zhao, 26, accused in separate cases of ‘violating commitments they made to protect the United States’

Two US navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, US officials said on Thursday.

Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on Wednesday on a charge related to espionage involving conspiracy to sending national defense information to Chinese officials. In a separate case, the justice department charged Wenheng Zhao, 26, for allegedly collecting bribes in exchange for giving sensitive US military photos and videos to a Chinese intelligence officer.

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White supremacist Robert Rundo extradited from Romania to US to face charges

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Rise Above Movement co-founder to face charges in Los Angeles in relation to violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters in 2017

Robert Rundo, the influential American neo-Nazi and co-founder of the now-defunct Rise Above Movement, is to face charges in Los Angeles in relation to violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters in 2017.

Rundo was extradited from Romania to the US on Tuesday, after being apprehended in a Bucharest gym in late March on an American warrant.

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