A million good lucks: California family finds over 1m copper pennies

John Reyes and his family were cleaning out his father-in-law’s home when they made the surprise discovery

Cleaning out a house for renovation can oftentimes produce some unsavory surprises, but a family in Los Angeles got lucky – a million times over – with one of their finds.

John Reyes, a realtor in the Inland Empire area, was helping his wife, Elizabeth, clean out her father’s 1900s-era home last year when they discovered more than 1m copper pennies in a cramped crawlspace in the basement, according to KTLA news. The trove has a face value of at least $10,000, but could be worth more than $1m.

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Mercedes-Benz beats Tesla for approval of automated driving tech in California

German carmaker becomes first to gain permit for offering self-driving cars in California, but with strict conditions

The California department of motor vehicles has approved Mercedes-Benz’s automated driving system on designated highways under certain conditions without the active control of a driver.

California is one of Tesla’s largest markets, accounting for 16% of the carmaker’s global deliveries last year, according to Reuters calculations.

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Surviving the smoke-pocalypse 101: Californians offer advice to New Yorkers

Orange smoky skies might be a new phenomenon for those on the east coast, but for the American west, it’s just the average summer

It was a sight all too familiar to Californians: orange skies and thick smoke blanketing the sky, emitting the eerily out-of-place smell of a campfire.

But this time the scenes were in New York City, as smoke from more than 400 wildfires darkened the famous skyline and gave the US its worst day of air pollution in recent history.

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Outrage as anti-LGBTQ+ protest at California school board turns violent

Congressman Adam Schiff condemns ‘acts of violence’ as punches thrown outside meeting about designating June as Pride month

Democratic politicians across California condemned a volatile anti-gay protest outside a suburban Los Angeles school board meeting on Tuesday, as the school board heard public comment on whether to officially designate June as LGBTQ+ Pride month.

Footage from a local television station showed crowds of people shoving, kicking and throwing punches outside a school district building in Glendale, California.

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Florida confirms it was behind flights that left asylum seekers in California

Officials claim the people, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, consented to the travel, refuting allegations from Gavin Newsom

Florida confirmed on Tuesday that it was behind two private jet flights that brought three dozen people seeking asylum from the US southern border to California amid accusations that the individuals were coerced to travel under false pretenses.

The state’s division of emergency management said in a statement that the passengers all went willingly, and refuted allegations from California officials such as the governor, Gavin Newsom, who had threatened Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, with kidnapping charges.

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Family furious after coroner says death of Tasered man is ‘unexplained’

Keenan Anderson’s cousin and BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors disappointed at ‘gaslighting’ from coroner

The Los Angeles county coroner on Friday released the official autopsy of a man who died after being repeatedly Tased and restrained by Los Angeles police officers, declaring the manner of death to be “undetermined”, a conclusion that has sparked outrage from advocates and his family.

Keenan Anderson died on 3 January after LAPD officers held him down while responding to a traffic accident. Anderson was repeatedly Tased, and he yelled “they’re trying to kill me” before he became unconscious. He suffered a fatal heart attack at a hospital four hours later.

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Richer people pay more: California’s dramatic change to electricity bills

Some higher-income residents – who already enjoy subsidies for solar – oppose paying more than low-income households

California will soon become the first state to determine residents’ electricity fees based on their income as part of a new effort to spur households toward full electrification and bring down the state’s soaring electricity costs for low-income Californians.

Electricity bills are made up of fixed costs as well as fees that vary based on the amount of electricity residents use. Last year, the state passed a law giving the California public utilities commission a 1 July 2024 deadline to determine a fixed charge for household electric bills based on people’s income.

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Wolverine spotted for the second time ever in California in the last 100 years

While wolverines are native to California, they’ve been essentially extinct from the state since the 1920s

A wolverine was spotted three times last month in the eastern Sierra Nevada, a rare occurrence for an animal that’s only been seen one other time in California over the last 100 years, state wildlife officials said.

While wolverines are native to California, they’ve been essentially extinct from the state since the 1920s – likely the result of hunting and fur trapping in the decades following the gold rush, though records from the time don’t indicate what exactly caused the population to decline.

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Newsom threatens kidnapping charges after Florida dumps migrants at church

Governor tweets ‘You small, pathetic man … Kidnapping charges?’, directed at DeSantis after migrants left outside Sacramento church

California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, on Monday branded his rightwing Republican Florida counterpart, Ron DeSantis, a “small, pathetic man”, and appeared to threaten kidnapping charges for an episode in which a group of migrants was dumped at a Sacramento church.

Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said in a statement that 16 South Americans abandoned outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on Friday were “in possession of documentation purporting to be from the state of Florida”, and may have been duped into boarding charter flights via New Mexico after entering the US in Texas.

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Directors union reaches tentative deal with Hollywood studios as writers strike

Agreement comes as writers remain on strike and actors are currently holding a strike authorization vote

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) which represents film and television directors announced late on Saturday that it had reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood’s major studios, averting a possible work stoppage.

The development comes as Hollywood writers are currently on strike and actors represented by the Sag-Aftra union are currently holding a strike authorization vote.

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Protest over Pride month assembly at Los Angeles school turns violent

Reports of fights breaking out over a book reading about inclusive families forced police officers to separate clashing groups

A protest over a Pride month assembly at a Los Angeles elementary school reportedly broke out into fights, forcing police officers to separate groups of protesters and counter-protesters who clashed over the school’s teaching of LGBTQ+ issues.

Tensions at Saticoy elementary school, part of the Los Angeles unified school district, have been rising since last month over the Pride assembly the school has planned to hold on Friday.

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An ‘unbelievable deal’? The $200m mansion reportedly bought by Beyoncé and Jay Z

40,000 sq ft manor overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu is thought to be California’s most expensive home ever

With its steep green cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Malibu is a top contender in America’s ultra-luxury real estate market. Its rise in the rankings of the favorite spots of the super-rich was solidified again in past weeks, with reports that Beyoncé and Jay-Z purchased a 40,000 sq ft oceanfront mansion in the coastal enclave.

TMZ first reported that the star couple had snapped up a modernist mansion designed by the celebrity Japanese architect Tadao Ando. With a sale tag of $200m, the acquisition appears to break the record for the most expensive home in California.

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Meta threatens to pull news content in California if law to pay publishers passes

Proposed bill would require ‘online platforms’ to pay a fee to state news providers whose work appears on their services

Meta is threatening to remove news content from its platforms in its home state of California if the state government moves forward with legislation that would force tech companies to pay publishers.

The proposed bill would require “online platforms” like Google and Meta to pay a “journalism usage fee” to California news providers whose work appears on their services.

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California appeals court votes for parole for Manson follower Leslie Van Houten

Court reverses earlier decision by Governor Gavin Newsom not to free woman convicted of killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca

A California appeals court said on Tuesday that Leslie Van Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson in 1969, should be let out of prison on parole.

The appellate court’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor who rejected parole for Van Houten in 2020. She has been recommended for parole five times since 2016. All of those recommendations were rejected by Newsom or Jerry Brown, California’s former governor.

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Litter of kittens provides hope for Los Angeles mountain lions after dreadful year

Biologists found the three-week-old all-female litter in between the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges

After a devastating year for Los Angeles mountain lions, researchers have made a hopeful discovery in the southern California hills: an all-female litter of kittens.

Biologists found the three cubs last week in what the National Park Service described as a “dense patch of poison oak nestled among large boulders” in between the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountain ranges. The kittens, just over three weeks old and known as P-113, P-114 and P-115, are healthy, the NPS said in a statement.

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Ex-guard accused of sexually assaulting 13 inmates at California women’s prison

Gregory Rodriguez faces 96 counts including rape, sodomy, sexual battery and rape, prosecutors say

A former correctional officer at the biggest women’s prison in California has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting at least 13 inmates over the past nine years, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Gregory Rodriguez, who worked at the Central California Women’s Facility, faces 96 counts including rape, sodomy, sexual battery and rape under color of authority, the Madera county district attorney’s office said in a news release.

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California man fatally hit by vehicle after helping ducks cross the road

Casey Rivara stopped his car at a red light to help the birds to safety, but was struck by another driver as he made his way back

Family members of a California man said it was no surprise his final act was one of compassion, after he exited his car at a busy intersection in order to help a mother duck and her ducklings cross the road but was himself struck and killed.

When he spotted the ducks, Casey Rivara stopped his car at a red light and got out to help them. Rivara made sure traffic in all directions was stopped, witnesses said, then escorted the duck and her babies to the other side of the street around 8.15pm last Thursday in Rocklin, north-east of Sacramento.

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Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say

Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril

A hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.

The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money.

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LA Pride pulls out of Dodgers’ Pride Night after drag nun group is disinvited

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a non-profit order of queer and trans ‘nuns’, were left out after objection from conservatives

LA Pride has pulled out of an annual Pride Night hosted by the Dodgers after the team disinvited a non-profit drag group from the event.

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers rescinded an invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well-known San Francisco order of queer and trans ‘nuns’ that has existed since the 1970s, amid opposition from conservative Catholics. The group, which does does charitable and protest work in addition to its street drag show performances, was set to receive an award during a ceremony before a 16 June game against the San Francisco Giants.

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US airline ‘sincerely apologizes’ to family over Puerto Rico passport error

Spirit Airlines agent refused to let Puerto Rican family board plane from Los Angeles, even though passport is not required

Spirit Airlines refused to allow a Puerto Rican family to board a flight from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico because they did not have a passport for their two-year old child.

Speaking to CBS, Marivi Roman Torres, who was traveling with her husband, Luís, and son, Alejandro, said the problem occurred at the ticket counter.

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