The San Francisco district attorney has alleged Nima Momeni planned to kill Lee and left him to ‘slowly die’
The man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Nima Momeni, 38, was arraigned on Thursday in a San Francisco courtroom on a single murder charge in Lee’s death last month.
Continue reading...Trevor Jacob, 29, faces up to 20 years in prison after purposely destroying wreckage of small plane that he crashed in 2021
A YouTuber accused of deliberately crashing his plane to get a boost in views has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, the US Department of Justice announced.
Trevor Jacob, 29, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he purposely destroyed the wreckage of the small single-engine plane that he crashed in California’s Los Padres national forest in 2021, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office.
Continue reading...First-of-its-kind committee gives final approval to long list of proposals including cash to descendants of enslaved people
A California taskforce on reparations voted this weekend to approve recommendations on how the state may compensate and apologize to Black residents for generations of harm caused by discriminatory policies.
The committee, the first of its kind in the United States, gave final approval to a hefty list of proposals, including cash payments to descendants of enslaved people.
Continue reading...The city has evicted all the residents from Wood Street amid the worst housing and homelessness crisis ever
The Wood Street encampment in Oakland, once northern California’s biggest, has been shut down, with officials on Wednesday removing the last handful of residents who remained as the city’s plan for a phased eviction comes to an end.
Only months ago, the encampment spanned several city blocks under the off-ramp of the 880 interstate in West Oakland. In April, the city started a protracted eviction that swept through and scattered those who were living there. Up until last week, a dozen or so residents remained at the camp in what they called “the Commons”: the heart of a thriving community of outcasts. They saw themselves participating in a radical experiment in how to rethink helping the unhoused.
Continue reading...David Breaux would lend an ear to people over the years, asking for their insights into what compassion means
Residents of the California university town of Davis are mourning the loss of a man they say was known for spreading compassion and love to anyone he came across.
David Breaux, dubbed “Compassion Guy” by his neighbors, was stabbed to death on the morning of 27 April on the same park bench he sat on for years, lending an ear and his heart to people who would talk with him.
Continue reading...Dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer and air pollution are often found in cosmetics, personal care products and cleaners
Some of the most common consumer products probably release 5,000 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in American homes annually, new research on the dangerous class of chemicals finds.
The research, which analyzed ingredient lists across dozens of product categories, found the most concerning levels in general purpose cleaners, art supplies and laundry detergents, while the individual product that emitted the most VOCs was mothballs.
Continue reading...Rudy Lazo, who immigrated to the US from El Salvador in the 1980s, would regularly deliver clothes, food and toys to Tijuana
A 79-year-old American man who transported clothes, food and toys into Mexico to donate to the poor was beaten to death during a delivery trip in Tijuana, family members and authorities said.
Rudy Lazo’s killing during an apparent robbery in mid-April happened a couple of months after the US state department warned Americans to avoid Mexico, citing elevated kidnapping and homicide risks in areas including Baja California, the state Tijuana is in.
Continue reading...Police chief denounces ‘violent and brazen attacks’ as student, 20, and unhoused 50-year-old man killed
A northern California university town is on edge after a series of “violent and brazen” attacks in which three people were stabbed within a week – two fatally.
Authorities said they could not reveal whether they are searching for one or multiple suspects in the attacks, which began late last week. One of the victims who died was unhoused, and the other who died was a college student. In the most recent attack, an unhoused woman was injured after reportedly being knifed several times through her tent.
Continue reading...Deadline of Sunday set for companies such as JPMorgan Chase to table offer for California bank whose shares have plummeted
US regulators are racing to secure the sale of California bank First Republic, which is on course to become the third American lender to fail this year, a sequence of collapses that has drawn uncomfortable parallels with the 2008 global financial crisis.
Half a dozen US banks are in the running to take over stricken First Republic, according to reports over the weekend, with leading bidders including JPMorgan Chase, Citizens Financial and PNC Financial Services.
Continue reading...The move to a costly and experimental hand-count system comes as half the workforce is readying to strike over wages
In Shasta county, a deep red enclave in far northern California, officials are intensifying their push to replace voting machines with a costly and experimental hand-count system that could cost an additional $4m over two years.
The decision of the far-right majority on the region’s governing body, the Shasta county board of supervisors, to press ahead with the controversial plan comes as half the county’s workforce is preparing to strike over wages. Officials on the board recently said the county did not have enough money to pay requested wage increases for workers.
Continue reading...Advocates say it will cast welcome attention on a system mired in scandals of prisoner mistreatment and racial injustice
A United Nations human rights group is touring Los Angeles county jails on Friday, bringing international scrutiny to a detention system criticized for overcrowding, mistreatment and abuse of people with mental illnesses, and conditions described by civil rights groups as “barbaric”.
A panel of experts appointed by the UN human rights council and formed after the murder of George Floyd is visiting LA as part of a two-week trip to cities across the US examining racial justice and police violence. In California, the investigators will meet with families of people killed by police and formerly incarcerated people. They will also enter the LA county jail system, the largest in the country, which is run by the LA sheriff’s department (LASD).
Continue reading...The 41% spike comes as the city closed an outreach center that stocked Narcan and allowed supervised drug use
Drug-related deaths surged by 41% in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year – with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage the US west coast.
San Francisco saw 200 people die of overdoses in the past three months compared to 142 in the same months a year ago, according to reports by the city’s medical examiner.
Continue reading...While seasonal floods aren’t unusual for the national park, this spring could see a deluge from winter snowpack melt
Most of Yosemite valley – the tourist center of the famed national park – will close this weekend as warming temperatures threaten the region with a surge in snowmelt that’s expected to push the Merced River beyond its banks. Forecasters have warned that runoff from California’s historic snowpack, set high along the peaks of the Sierra Nevada range, could cause widespread flooding.
“Downslope there will be problems,” said the National Weather Service meteorologist David Spector, adding that the area around the Pohono Bridge just east of the park’s central entrance would reach flood stage by Friday. “Only parts of the valley are expected to be impacted for now,” he said. “But it may become worse by Sunday or Monday.”
Continue reading...Spectacular conflagration prompts evacuation of Tom Sawyer Island at California resort but no injuries reported
A 45ft-tall Disneyland dragon caught fire late on Saturday during a show in Anaheim, California, causing those in attendance to flee, local media and officials said. No injuries or deaths were reported.
“The dragon’s head started to glow, and I see fire and kind of smoke coming out,” Elaine Gilmer, who was at the event, told ABC News.
Continue reading...Tributes pour in for Freeway, who was named after his rescue from a busy freeway last year
Freeway, the beloved Californian rescue sea lion that would roam around San Diego, has died, SeaWorld San Diego has announced.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share ‘Freeway’, the rescued sea lion, passed away yesterday – surrounded with love from his devoted care and rescue teams. His adventurous spirit won the hearts of all San Diegans and he will be remembered for that and so much more,” the park said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Continue reading...US supreme court has preserved access to mifepristone for now, but blue states announce plans to safeguard abortion rights
Despite a reprieve by the US supreme court, a growing number of Democratic states are stockpiling abortion pills as the legal fight for access to the abortion drug mifepristone is set to continue.
On Friday, the supreme court decided to temporarily block a lower court ruling that would have significantly restricted the availability of mifepristone, an FDA-approved abortion medication.
Continue reading...Employees were informed via email that a ‘significant’ number would lose their jobs to cut costs and bring fares in line with Uber
The ride-hailing service Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after its new CEO, David Risher, began steering the company with an eye toward driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber.
Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed Lyft’s workforce of more than 4,000 employees in an email posted online on Friday that a “significant” number of them will lose their jobs. The message came at the end of his first week as Lyft’s CEO.
Continue reading...Shocking messages about beating suspects and making up evidence were found when Antioch officers were investigated
Amid outrage over text messages showing police officers in northern California using racist slurs and bragging about making up evidence and beating suspects, city officials voted to audit the troubled department.
The FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney’s office discovered the shocking messages while investigating officers within the Antioch police department suspected of crimes. Officials have named 17 officers who sent texts, including the president of the Antioch police union, but nearly half the department was included in the messages.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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