Category Archives: California

Nearly a million across US without power as wild winter storm hits

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Firefighter killed in Michigan by power line, while 13 million people under winter weather advisories across the country

Nearly a million people across the US were without power on Thursday afternoon as a powerful winter storm brought bitter cold, stirred up gusty winds and pounded several states with blizzard conditions from coast to coast.

Michigan bore the brunt of power outages on Thursday with more than 820,000 homes and businesses left cold into the evening, as the state faced one of the worst ice storms seen in decades. DTE, one of the largest power providers in the state, reported “extreme amounts of damage” to power infrastructure after ice roughly three-quarters of an inch thick accumulated in some areas.

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Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 16 additional years for LA rape conviction

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Disgraced producer was previously convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York and is serving a 23-year term

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 16 additional years in prison on Thursday, three months after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles.

The disgraced film producer, whose pattern of predatory behavior galvanized the #MeToo movement, was previously convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York in 2020 and is currently serving a 23-year prison term. The new sentence nearly doubles the 70-year-old producer’s remaining prison time.

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Huge winter storm closes US highways and prompts rare southern California blizzard warning

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Hundreds of thousands lose power and thousands of flights canceled as weather takes toll across northern and western states

A brutal winter storm closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming on Wednesday, trapped drivers in cars, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the first blizzard warning in southern California in decades – and the worst won’t be over for several days.

Meanwhile, pockets of the south-east will be cooking, with record-breaking warmth expected to stretch into the mid-Atlantic spiking temperatures more than 40F warmer than normal and creating weather that feels more “like June than February”, according to the National Weather Service.

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Los Angeles Jewish community shaken after two alleged antisemitic shootings

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Suspect Jamie Tran was arrested in nearby Riverside county after two men were wounded in separate shootings last week

Los Angeles was left reeling after alleged antisemitic hate incidents in which two Jewish men were shot and wounded as they left synagogues in the city last week.

Law enforcement say that over the course of two days Jaime Tran, 28, shot two men who were wearing black coats and head coverings identifying their faith. Both men survived the shootings. Tran, who had a “history of antisemitic and threatening conduct”, allegedly targeted the victims in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood because they were Jewish. He has been charged with federal hate crimes.

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Catholic bishop David O’Connell shot dead near Los Angeles

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Killing in Hacienda Heights being investigated as homicide, LA county sheriff’s department says

A Catholic bishop in southern California who was hailed as a “peacemaker” was shot and killed on Saturday blocks away from a church, stunning the Los Angeles religious community.

Detectives were investigating the death of Bishop David O’Connell as a homicide, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department said.

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California senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, announces she will not seek re-election

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Feinstein, who has sat in US Senate since 1992, sets off race among Democrats to succeed to vacant seat

Dianne Feinstein , the 89-year-old senator from California who has served in the chamber for three decades, said she will not seek re-election in 2024.

“I am announcing today I will not run for re-election in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein said in a statement.

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United flight from Hawaii plunged to within 800ft of Pacific Ocean

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Plane heading for San Francisco took steep dive shortly after takeoff in dramatic incident in mid-December

A United flight from Maui to San Francisco plummeted to less than 800ft above the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff in December, an apparent near crash and previously unreported safety incident revealed by airline industry publication the Air Current.

Flight tracking data analysis revealed that the Boeing 777-200 had reached an altitude of roughly 2,200ft when it began a steep dive, descending at a rate of about 8,600ft a minute. After dipping below 775ft, the flight recovered altitude and traveled to San Francisco without further issue.

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Outcome of Julian Sands search ‘may not be what we would like’, police say

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California authorities ‘remain hopeful’ of finding British actor who was reported missing on Mount Baldy last month

Authorities in southern California have said they are still “hopeful” of finding Julian Sands, but that the outcome of searches for the British actor “may not be what we would like”.

San Bernardino county sheriff’s department said conditions in the area remained dangerous, but that ground searches were planned for the future.

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California dialysis clinic workers push to unionize over short-staffing and low pay

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Employees say they want to improve both working conditions and patient care but ‘the companies are not doing anything’

For 29 years, Guadalupe Tellez, a registered nurse, has worked in the kidney dialysis industry and currently works for the Fresenius Kidney Care in the city of Ventura one of several dialysis clinics where workers are currently pushing to unionize in California.

“We want to improve our wages, benefits and patient care overall. There’s a lot of issues in dialysis that need improvement and it’s been years and years and years, and it seems like the companies are not doing anything to improve any of it,” said Tellez.

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Celebrities and scientists mourn mountain lion P-22 at sold-out memorial

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City’s most famous feline was euthanized last year after being hit by vehicle, but his legacy lives on with a highway wildlife crossing

On a sunny Saturday in Los Angeles, a packed outdoor crowd of 6,000 people at the Greek Theater cried, sang and swayed together as they bid adieu to one of the city’s most treasured residents: a mountain lion known as P-22.

In a city more synonymous with billboards than biodiversity, an ageing bachelor puma made tracks into people’s hearts. When he was euthanized at the end of 2022 after being hit by a car, it stung.

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Two men arrested in California shooting that killed a young mother and her baby

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The suspects have been taken into custody – one after a gun battle with federal agents – and charged with six counts of murder

Authorities in California have arrested two gang members suspected in a massacre in central California last month that killed six people, including a young mother and her infant.

The pair were arrested early on Friday, one after a gun battle, the Tulare county sheriff said.

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California gun laws can’t stop mass shootings without federal support

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The Golden State will struggle to stop mass shootings and protect citizens until uniform federal laws on firearms are signed

The recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have brought devastation, outrage and shock to Californians. As the state grieves the loss of 19 residents, one question continues to arise: how could this happen in the state with some of the strongest gun laws in the US?

California’s gun laws include bans on the military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines that have been used in many mass shootings. It is one of just two states, along with New Jersey, to receive an “A” rating from the gun safety group Giffords, based on the strength of its firearm regulations.

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Child released from hospital after mountain lion attack in California

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State department of fish and wildlife is investigating Tuesday’s incident in San Mateo county

A five-year-old boy who was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking in rural northern California with his mother and grandfather has been released from a hospital, authorities said Wednesday.

The boy had raced ahead of the adults on a trail in San Mateo county, south of San Francisco, on Tuesday when the big cat pounced on him and pinned him to the ground, said Capt Patrick Foy, a spokesperson with the California department of fish and wildlife.

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Priscilla Presley disputes validity of Lisa Marie’s will

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Filing in Los Angeles court contests amendment that removed Priscilla as a trustee of her late daughter’s estate

Priscilla Presley has filed a lawsuit disputing the validity of her late daughter’s will, setting up a potential legal battle over Lisa Marie Presley’s estate.

In a filing in Los Angeles superior court, lawyers for Priscilla questioned the integrity of a 2016 amendment which removed her from Lisa Marie’s living trust, a legal document that serves the function of a will if a separate will is not filed.

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Police body-camera video of Paul Pelosi hammer attack released

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Footage shows husband of former House speaker opening door with intruder in home and pair wrestling over hammer

Police body-camera footage released on Friday afternoon shed more light on the brutal hammer attack last October against Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic congresswomen and then House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The shocking video shows officers arriving at the front door of the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and knocking loudly on the door.

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Older suspects in California shootings defy typical mass shooter profile

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Given the rarity of the subjects, researchers know relatively little about the older perpetrators of mass public shootings

As California, and the United States, reel from two devastating mass shootings in three days that have left 18 people dead and many more injured, detectives are combing through the crime scenes in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay in search of motives.

One aspect they will have to grapple with that makes the California tragedies stand out from the grim pack of American gun massacres is the older age of the shooters. In both cases the alleged killers were in their 60s and 70s, placing them in a very rare group.

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Biden once again urges Congress to pass assault weapons ban

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Intervention comes after a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, and a pair of shootings near Half Moon Bay, California

Joe Biden once again called on Congress to pass a bill banning assault weapons, following a string of recent mass shootings in California that in total killed at least 18 people.

“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence,” the president said in a statement released on Tuesday.

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Northern California shooting case of ‘workplace violence’, police say

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Authorities say 67-year-old killed four and wounded one at a mushroom farm then killed three more at a trucking firm

An agricultural worker in northern California allegedly killed seven people as part of a “workplace violence incident”, the state’s third deadly mass shooting in little more than a week.

Police are questioning 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, who they say shot dead four and wounded one more on Monday afternoon at a mushroom farm where he worked in Half Moon Bay, a coastal community 30 miles south of San Francisco.

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Family of Julian Sands thank ‘heroic’ efforts as search enters 11th day

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Statement thanks teams braving dangerous conditions around Mount Baldy in search for actor

The family of Julian Sands have expressed their “heartfelt thanks” and praised the “heroic” efforts of those searching for the British actor, who went missing in southern California over a week ago.

In a statement shared by the San Bernardino county sheriff’s office, the family thanked the authorities involved in efforts to find the 65-year-old actor.

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Monterey Park shooting death toll rises to 11, including dance hall manager

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California officials name two of those killed, while friends and colleagues say much-loved ‘Mr Ma’ was among dead

The death toll in a mass shooting at a ballroom dance studio in California has risen to 11 people, after health officials said that one of the people wounded in the shooting had died.

According to friends and colleagues, the beloved manager of the dance hall was among the 11 victims of Saturday’s gun massacre, which took place during a lunar new year celebration in Monterey Park, a majority Asian American community in the Los Angeles area.

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