Nearly 120 million people in US exposed to unhealthy levels of soot and smog – report

American Lung Association’s study also found great disparity between coasts, with 10 of 11 most polluted counties in California

The climate crisis has upended progress on improving air quality, with one in three Americans currently living in areas with harmful levels of pollutants known to increase the risk of medical emergencies, pregnancy complications and premature death, new research reveals.

Almost 120 million people in the US are still exposed to unhealthy levels of soot and smog, according to the annual report by the American Lung Association (ALA), which found that people of color are almost four times more likely to live in the most polluted places than white Americans.

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Colorado River snaking through Grand Canyon most endangered US waterway – report

Unique ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to climate crisis and mismanagement, says conservation group American Rivers

A 277-mile stretch of the Colorado River that snakes through the iconic Grand Canyon is America’s most endangered waterway, a new report has found.

The unique ecosystem and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon is on the brink of collapse due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures and outdated river management, according to American Rivers, the conservation group which compiles the annual endangered list.

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California’s ‘big melt’ has begun and could bring perilous flooding with it

The snowpack contains enough water to fill downstream reservoirs ‘multiple times over’, which could mean a rapid runoff

Spring has offered California a welcome reprieve from the record rains and historic snowfall that hammered the state in recent weeks, but a new danger wrought by the warming weather looms large. The state’s enormous snowpack will soon begin to melt – and communities are bracing for waters to rise yet again. Trillions of gallons of water packed within the record level of snow blanketing the Sierra Nevada range are expected to rush into rivers and reservoirs as the weather heats up, heightening flood risks in areas already saturated by the state’s extremely wet winter.

The snowpack, which stands at 233% of the 1 April average, contains enough water to fill downstream reservoirs “multiple times over”, said climate scientist Daniel Swain in an online briefing this week. “That’s a big deal,” he added.

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Bob Lee’s killing was ‘planned and deliberate’, prosecutors say

Nima Momeni, who appeared in court, is suspected of stabbing the Cash App founder with a kitchen knife and leaving him to die

The killing of the Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco last week was a “planned and deliberate attack”, prosecutors in the case said in a court document on Friday.

Officials allege Nima Momeni, a 38-year-old tech consultant, brought Lee to a secluded spot and stabbed him three times with a kitchen knife over an argument related to the Momeni’s sister.

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Suspect arrested in killing of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco

Nima Momeni, 38, appears to work in tech industry and reportedly knew Lee who was found with stab wounds on Tuesday

San Francisco police have made an arrest in the killing of the tech executive and Cash App creator Bob Lee, who was fatally stabbed last week in a crime that sent shock waves through the city and the tech industry.

Law enforcement officers made an arrest early Thursday morning in nearby Emeryville, officials confirmed at a press conference Thursday afternoon. The suspect in the case, Nima Momeni, knew Lee, officials said, and appears to work in the tech industry.

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Dianne Feinstein vows to return to her post as Democrats call for her to resign

Representatives Ro Khanna and Dean Philips tweet echoing sentiments as ailing senator has missed 60 of 82 votes taken so far

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the upper chamber of the US Congress, said she plans on serving out her term despite growing calls for her to resign.

Feinstein, 89, has not voted in Congress since February, and has been away from Capitol Hill after being hospitalized for shingles treatment in March. “I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel. In the meantime, I remain committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco,” she said.

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Elizabeth Holmes to begin 11-year prison sentence at end of month

Federal judge denies Theranos founder’s request to remain free while she appeals her conviction of fraud and conspiracy

Elizabeth Holmes must begin her more than 11-year prison sentence on 27 April after a federal judge denied the disgraced Theranos founder’s request to remain free while she appeals her conviction.

Holmes, who was convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the failed blood-testing startup in January 2022, is “not likely to flee or pose a danger” to the public, US district court judge Edward Davila wrote in his ruling. However, the San Jose-based judge found that her appeal was unlikely to result in a reversal of the verdict or a new trial – a requirement for a defendant to remain free post-conviction.

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San Jose police union director fired over attempted opioid import charges

Joanne Segovia, 64, dismissed following internal investigation into charges filed against her

The director of the San Jose police union who was charged with attempting to import synthetic opioids has been fired from the organization.

On Friday, the San Jose Police Officers’ Association fired Joanne Segovia after it completed the first phase of the internal investigation that it launched into the charges filed against her.

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Scant details emerge on fatal stabbing of Cash App founder amid safety concerns

San Francisco police have not confirmed the circumstances of Bob Lee’s death nor arrested a suspect

Details of how the tech executive Bob Lee came to be fatally stabbed in downtown San Francisco remained scant on Friday, as those who knew the Cash App founder mourn his death and others voiced frustration with public safety.

San Francisco police found Lee, 43, on the sidewalk in front of a condominium building with stab wounds shortly after 2.35am on Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. Details about the attack remain thin; surveillance footage released this week reportedly shows Lee stumbling along a sidewalk and seeking help in the aftermath, but police have not confirmed the circumstances of the attack or arrested a suspect.

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Coolio died from fentanyl overdose, manager says

Grammy-winning rapper was found dead six months ago at friend’s home in Los Angeles

Grammy-winning rapper Coolio died from a fentanyl overdose, his manager said on Thursday, six months after the musician was found dead at a friend’s home in Los Angeles at the age 59.

Born Artis Leon Ivey Jr, Coolio was best known for his 1995 single Gangsta’s Paradise, from an album of the same name.

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California: stunning shift as parched reservoirs replenished by storms

Reservoirs whose water levels had plummeted during punishing drought have recovered – but officials warn of ‘weather whiplash’

Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California’s drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom lake.

Those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end – mostly – to the state’s three-year drought.

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Cash App creator Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco

Death confirmed by Lee’s family as they and tech colleagues remember a ‘force of nature’

Bob Lee, the creator of the payment platform Cash App, was killed in a stabbing in San Francisco early on Tuesday morning.

Lee’s death was confirmed by his father on Facebook, who said he and his son had recently relocated to Miami from the Bay Area.

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Drought-ravaged California sees one of the largest snowpacks on record

Experts think snowpack will be either the first or second biggest documented in 70 years after winter of extreme storms

California’s winter of extreme storms has brought the drought-ravaged state one of the largest snowpacks on record, with officials saying on Monday that they expect it could be the greatest documented in 70 years.

As of Monday the state’s snowpack stands at 237% of the annual average, the department of water resources (DWR) announced at a press conference.

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A rare parasite is killing California sea otters – is cat poop runoff to blame?

The bodies of four furry swimmers tested positive for a strain of toxoplasmosis first seen in mountain lions

Scientist Melissa Miller was seeing something in California sea otters that she had not seen before: an unusually severe form of toxoplasmosis, which officials have confirmed has killed at least four of the animals.

“We wanted to get the word out. We’re seeing something we haven’t seen before, we want people to know about it and we want people working on marine mammals to be aware of these weird findings,” said Miller, a wildlife veterinarian specialist with the California department of fish and wildlife (DFW). “Take extra precautions.”

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Black Californians may be owed $800bn in reparations, economists tell state

Taskforce says it will not take a stand on how much compensation residents should receive

The leader of California’s first-in-the-nation reparations taskforce on Wednesday said it would not take a stance on how much the state should compensate Black residents whom economists estimate may be owed more than $800bn for decades of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination.

The $800bn is more than 2.5 times California’s $300bn annual budget and does not include a recommended $1m per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average lifespan. Nor does the figure count compensating people for property unjustly taken by the government or devaluing Black businesses, two other harms the taskforce says the state perpetuated.

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Powerful storm brings more wind, rain and snow to California

Onslaught has brought severe damage, including buildings crushed by snow, flooding and homes threatened by landslides

A powerful weather system from the Gulf of Alaska brought more wind, rain and snow to northern California, reeling a state already battered by months of storms.

The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to pull a plume of Pacific moisture into California as it tracked south, but the rainfall was not expected to be as intense as the atmospheric rivers that impacted the state in recent weeks.

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Los Angeles hit by strongest tornado in three decades: ‘It got very loud’

Violent funnel with gusts reaching up to 110mph ripped through roofs and scattered debris high into the air

The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed that the violent funnel of swirling winds that ripped through roofs and scattered debris high into the air near downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday was indeed a tornado – and the strongest one the area has seen in more than three decades.

It was the second tornado to touch down in southern California this week in an area unaccustomed to facing that particular kind of extreme weather. “It’s definitely not something that’s common for the region,” said NWS meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld, noting that the last time the weather service’s LA office sent out tornado assessment teams was in 2016.

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California storm siege leaves five dead amid reports of tornadoes in some areas

Pacific storm brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated state, as heavy rain and snowmelt could cause flooding

The start of spring offered little reprieve for California as another atmospheric river doused the saturated state with more rain and snow. Five deaths have been linked to the storm across the Bay Area, after thrashing winds toppled trees and branches and thousands were left in the dark across the state due to widespread power outages.

California’s unexpected siege of wet weather after years of drought has loaded mountains with so much snow that roofs have been crushed and crews have struggled to keep highways clear of avalanches. Tuesday’s storm, which came on the first full day of spring following the state’s extraordinary winter, was the result of a Pacific low pressure system interacting with California’s 12th atmospheric river since late December, according to the National Weather Service, which warned that flood risks remain across the region into Wednesday.

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Elena Rybakina overwhelms world No 1 Iga Swiatek to set up Indian Wells final with Aryna Sabalenka

  • Kazakhstan’s Rybakina beats Swiatek 6-2, 6-2 in semi-final
  • Belarusian Sabalenka cruises past Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3

Elena Rybakina has knocked out defending champion Iga Swiatek with a 6-2, 6-2 semi-final victory at Indian Wells on Friday to set up a clash against Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Two months after Rybakina knocked Swiatek out of the Australian Open in the fourth round, the Wimbledon champion once again put in an impressive display against the world No 1.

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Billionaire Peter Thiel claims he has $50m of his own money stuck in SVB fall

In the wake of the bank’s crisis, venture capitalists have been trading accusations over who is responsible for the collapse

Facing heat for his investment fund’s role in triggering the run on the Silicon Valley Bank last week, billionaire Peter Thiel told the Financial Times that he had $50m of his own money “stuck” in the bank when it collapsed.

Even as Thiel’s Founders Fund was advising companies to move their money from the bank, a decision that has been widely blamed for precipitating its failure, Thiel said that he kept a portion of his own $4bn personal fortune in the bank.

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