Category Archives: California

Farm owners in California mass shooting to pay workers $450,000

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Workplace killings in 2023 revealed hazardous working conditions of migrant farmworkers in Half Moon Bay

The owners of two mushroom farms in northern California where a disgruntled employee shot and killed seven people last year will pay a total of more than $450,000 in back wages and damages to 62 employees.

In an announcement released on Monday following an extensive investigation, the US labor department said the payment is an element of administrative settlements reached by the department’s wage and hour division with California Terra Garden and Concord Farms.

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‘P-22’s spirit’: new mountain lion seen in LA over a year after celebrity cougar’s death

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Animal spotted in Griffith Park, where ‘Brad Pitt of mountain lions’ P-22 lived, bringing excitement at possibility of a new cat in area

It’s been more than a year since the death of P-22, a beloved Los Angeles cougar known as the “Brad Pitt of mountain lions” whose passing inspired murals, songs and celebrations across the city.

P-22, who was euthanized in December 2022 due to health issues, was the only known big cat living in the city’s famed Griffith Park. So when residents spied an unidentified mountain lion in the park last week, people were abuzz with excitement at the possibility of another cat, probably a young male, making a home in the area.

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Academic workers at UC Santa Cruz strike over crackdown on Gaza protests

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Union says response of University of California to pro-Palestine demonstrations violates rights of advocates and workers

Academic workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, took to the picket line on Monday morning as part of a rolling strike in protest against the university system’s response to pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The campus is the first in the University of California to do so as part of a systemwide protest against the public university, which union members argue violated the rights of pro-Palestinian advocates and workers.

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Teen who texted 911 rescued after she was trafficked to California from Mexico

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In texts received in Spanish and translated to English, the girl tried to describe her location, though she did not know where she was

Authorities rescued a 17-year old girl after she was trafficked to Ventura county, California, from Mexico two months ago and texted 911 for help.

On Thursday, the Ventura county sheriff’s office announced that on 9 May authorities rescued the girl after she sent messages to 911. The text message correspondence began with a call taker at a 911 communication center, according to the sheriff’s office, which added that the messages were received in Spanish and translated into English.

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University president in California on leave after agreeing to campus protesters’ demands

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Mike Lee told students that Sonoma State would become first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions

A public university in California has placed its president on leave for “insubordination” after he agreed to student demands for an academic boycott of Israel.

Mike Lee was suspended from Sonoma State University following an announcement on Tuesday that the liberal arts college north of San Francisco had agreed with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to become the first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions.

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California: Newsom advances $3.3bn for mental health centers and homeless housing

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Funds from plan, designed to build treatment centers and clinics, made available early as state grapples with homelessness crisis

California governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that $3.3bn would be made available from the state’s new mental health bond ahead of schedule to build more behavioral health treatment centers and homeless housing as the state grapples with a growing homelessness crisis.

It’s the first pot of money from a ballot measure designed to help cities, counties, tribes and developers build or renovate treatment centers and clinics, among other things. Voters passed it by a razor-thin margin in March after Newsom threw all of his political weight behind it, touting it as linchpin of the state’s efforts to reduce homelessness.

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Hundreds of ‘emaciated’ and stranded pelicans turn up along California coast

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State’s department of fish and wildlife says the brown pelicans are showing signs of malnutrition, but that the cause is still unclear

Hundreds of starving and stranded brown pelicans have turned up along the California coast in recent weeks in what wildlife advocates have described as a “crisis”.

In Newport Beach in southern California, lifeguards came upon two dozen sick pelicans on a pier last week. The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, the non-profit caring for the animals, said they had treated more than 100 other birds who were anemic, dehydrated and extremely underweight.

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Shohei Ohtani interpreter to plead guilty to stealing millions from MLB star

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  • Ippei Mizuhara faces long jail sentence after admission
  • Plea deal will absolve Ohtani of any wrongdoing

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani, will face up to 33 years in jail when he pleads guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his former friend.

Mizuhara has admitted to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. As well as a length jail term, he must also pay $16,975,010 in restitution to Victim A, assumed to be Ohtani. Mizuhara will enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks and is set to be arraigned on 14 May, prosecutors said.

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UCLA creates campus safety role amid condemnation of response to mob attack

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University and police denounced as masked group marched on campus and attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators last week

The University of California, Los Angeles, said that it would create a new office dedicated to campus safety following mounting criticism of authorities’ slow response to a brutal attack on pro-Palestinian protesters by a mob of “instigators”.

The school’s chancellor, Gene Block, said on Sunday that urgent changes were needed to “better protect our community moving forward” and announced that a new office of campus safety would oversee the university police department and the UCLA office of emergency management, “effective immediately”.

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Police dismantle Palestinian solidarity encampment at USC

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Officers in riot gear raid encampment at dawn as university warns demonstrators that failure to leave could lead to arrest

Police have dismantled the student-led Palestinian solidarity encampment at the University of Southern California.

About 4am on Saturday, as many as 100 Los Angeles police officers in riot gear raided the encampment at dawn as anti-war student demonstrators slept in the tents. In a series of tweets during the raid, the university warned demonstrators to leave the area, adding that “people who don’t leave could be arrested”.

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More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses

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Police arrest more than 200 students at UCLA as law enforcement clears camp at Dartmouth, arresting more than 90 students

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses in recent weeks.

Police arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, pushing the total past 2,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

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UCLA students describe violent attack on Gaza protest encampment: ‘It was terrifying’

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Slow response from authorities left students shocked as people wearing white masks attacked pro-Palestine protesters

When Meghna Nair, a second-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles, saw a masked group of people headed toward the pro-Palestine encampment on campus late on Tuesday evening, she expected trouble.

“I knew where they were going. I had an idea what they planned to do,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

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Crackdowns intensify on pro-Palestine campus protests as hundreds arrested

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Tensions continue after night of unrest at UCLA and Columbia, as New York mayor blames ‘outside agitators’ for escalation

Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after protest hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about “outside agitators” driving escalation.

The number of arrests of student protesters had exceeded an estimated 1,300 by Wednesday afternoon since the start of the latest bout of protests two weeks ago, as more students were detained. This added to tallies by the Associated Press and Axios earlier on Wednesday, across more than 30 campuses, coast to coast and north to south.

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Workers accuse Google of ‘tantrum’ after 50 fired over Israel contract protest

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Tech giant fired number of people who protested against $1.2bn Project Nimbus, which supports Israeli military and government

Google has been accused of throwing a “tantrum” after sacking more than 50 workers in response to a protest over the company’s military ties to the Israeli government – firings that have shone a light on a controversial project and long-simmering tensions between staff and management.

The workers were sacked following protests at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, organized by No Tech for Apartheid – an alliance of Google and Amazon workers who have been protesting against a $1.2bn contract with the Israeli government called Project Nimbus that they claim will make it “easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land”.

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Columbia University calls for inquiry into leadership as student protests sweep 40 campuses

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Professors at Emory University arrested as campuses follow Columbia’s lead in demanding ceasefire and divestment

At least 40 pro-Palestine protest camps have arisen across US campuses following Columbia University’s example earlier this month, as the New York school’s senate called for an investigation into its leadership, the New York Times reported.

While many remain provocative though peaceful, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment by their institutions from companies with ties to Israel, hundreds of students and outside protesters have been arrested, and there have been some fierce clashes with police.

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Crews battle fire threatening longest wooden pier on US west coast

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Over 100 firefighters, 30 lifeguards and 32 police officers called to help as flames tore through restaurant at end of California pier

A historic southern California pier caught fire on Thursday, burning for several hours until firefighters battling the blaze from boats were able to extinguish the flames.

Flames tore through a restaurant at the end of the Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the US west coast, and heavily damaged the closed diner and a neighboring business.

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Harvey Weinstein: what does ruling mean for California rape conviction?

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Mogul’s lawyers say decision in New York will strengthen appeal in Los Angeles but victims confident guilty verdict will be upheld

Harvey Weinstein was already expected to spend the remainder of his life in prison for crimes in New York when a Los Angeles jury found him of guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022 and he was sentenced to an additional 16 years.

But on Thursday New York’s top court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for two sex crimes and found he should receive a new trial, and the California case has taken on even greater significance.

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USC cancels main commencement ceremony amid Gaza protests

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Move made after more than 90 demonstrators arrested on campus and university cancels pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speech

The University of Southern California (USC) has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony, citing new safety measures as student protests over the Israel-Gaza war have surged on the campus.

USC is one of many campuses across the country that have become hubs for student demonstrations against the war, with hundreds of arrests nationwide as tensions escalate. Police arrested dozens of students and activists at USC this week on trespassing charges.

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Suit says California fertility clinic implanted destroyed embryos in patients

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Lawsuit claims that clinic staff mistakenly cleaned incubator with lethal solution, destroying embryos before implanting them

Several couples are suing a southern California fertility center over claims that the facility staff destroyed their embryos in a “toxic incubator” and later implanted these embryos into the women who sought their services. So far 11 couples have sued Tennessee-based Ovation Fertility’s Newport Beach office, with more lawsuits expected to come down the line.

Ovation clinic staff is alleged to have mistakenly cleaned an incubator that held the embryos of dozens of patients awaiting implementation with hydrogen peroxide instead of the usual sterile solution. The use of peroxide created a “toxic incubator” that killed the embryos that were then transferred into the plaintiffs between 18 January and 30 January, none of whom became pregnant.

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Relief as San Francisco public toilet finally opens – and not for $1.7m after all

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Bathroom in Noe Valley neighborhood, which became focus of ire for reported $1.7m cost, actually came in at about $200,000

San Francisco made international headlines in 2022 when news broke that a project to build a public restroom in a town square would cost $1.7m. This weekend the toilet affair finally came to an end as the city celebrated its newest lavatory.

Residents gathered for a toilet-themed party in the Noe Valley town square on Sunday that was designed to poke fun at the whole saga and celebrate the long-awaited bathroom, which ended up costing far less than the initial price tag.

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