Category Archives: California

Oak fire remains uncontained as Al Gore warns ‘civilization at stake’

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Blaze exploded on Friday and quickly grew to 11,900 acres in size as Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency for Yosemite area

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency for an area close to Yosemite national park, mobilizing thousands to tackle a wildfire that exploded on Friday, grew to more than 15,600 acres and on Sunday remained entirely uncontained.

Discussing the ferocity and fast-growing nature of the blaze, the former vice-president Al Gore, long a campaigner for action on the climate crisis, warned: “The survival of our civilization is at stake.”

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Inside the remote California county where the far right took over: ‘Civility went out the window’

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In Shasta county the pandemic intensified political divisions, and many officials quit or were pushed out amid bitter tensions

At some point in the last two years, Janine Carroll started avoiding certain grocery stores in her hometown of Redding, California. The retired grandmother could hear the taunts people made to those like her who chose to wear a face mask to fend off Covid-19. “You never know anymore what the atmosphere is going to be when you walk into any given place,” she said.

Masks are just one symbol of the divisions gripping Shasta county, a remote, heavily forested region in far northern California that has long considered itself an outlier in a deep Blue state.

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California governor signs gun control law modeled after Texas anti-abortion measure

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Law allows people to sue anyone who distributes illegal assault weapons, parts used to build weapons or .50 caliber rifles

California punched back Friday against two recent landmark US supreme court decisions as the state’s governor signed a controversial, first-in-the-nation gun control law patterned after a Texas anti-abortion law.

The action by Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, comes one month after conservative justices overturned women’s constitutional right to abortions and undermined gun control laws in states including California.

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California police fatally shot 23-year-old Black man as he ran away, video shows

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Footage shows victim fleeing after police arrived in unmarked car and drew their guns

Police in San Bernardino, California, fatally shot a 23-year-old man on Saturday as he was fleeing, according to surveillance footage that shows an officer firing just seconds after arriving in an unmarked vehicle.

Security camera footage from a parking lot in San Bernardino, a city an hour east of Los Angeles, shows two officers driving up in an unmarked car about 8pm as Robert Adams stood in the lot. As soon as two officers exited the car, Adams turned away from them and ran. It appeared that roughly five seconds after they had stepped out of the car, one of the officers fired at Adams from a distance, seeming to hit him and causing him to collapse to the ground.

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Yosemite wildfire continues to grow as it pushes east into Sierra national forest

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Giant sequoias still safe as firefighters face challenges from the warm and dry conditions fueling the blaze

The wildfire sweeping through Yosemite national park swelled to more than 4,375 acres (1,770 hectares) by Thursday morning, and is now pushing east into the Sierra national forest.

Raging across steep and rugged terrain, firefighters have faced challenges battling the blaze, which has exhibited extreme fire behavior, officials said. Warm and dry conditions as well as dried out vegetation have upped the intensity, spurring flames that, in some areas, stretched high into the canopies of the tall trees and produced large plumes of smoke that billowed into the sky.

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Nevada man charged with 1982 killing of five-year-old girl using DNA evidence

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Robert John Lanoue was charged last week in killing of Anne Pham who disappeared while walking to kindergarten in California

A 70-year-old Nevada man has been charged in the 1982 killing of a five-year-old girl who disappeared while walking to her kindergarten class in California after detectives solved the case using DNA evidence, authorities said.

Robert John Lanoue, of Reno, Nevada, was charged last week in the killing of Anne Pham.

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Beachgoers flee sparring sea lions in viral video: ‘Godzilla is chasing them’

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A TikTok clip showing the panicked frolickers running helter-skelter has nearly 10m views, but experts say it’s common behavior

A TikTok video showing dozens of San Diego beachgoers running and jumping out of the way of two fast-moving sea lions has generated nearly 10m views and sparked conversations about whether the mammals were going after people and reclaiming picturesque La Jolla Cove’s narrow strip of sand.

But sea lion expert Eric Otjen of SeaWorld San Diego said what he saw was normal sea lion behavior for this time of year, when males are sparring as breeding season gets underway.

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Two killed in shootings at four 7-Eleven stores in southern California

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Attacks appear to have occurred after robberies or robbery attempts on day store is marking 95th birthday

Two people were killed and three were wounded in shootings at four 7-Eleven locations in southern California early on Monday morning, authorities said, in a series of attacks that police believe may be connected.

The shootings appear to have occurred after predawn robberies or attempted robberies at the four convenience stores on July 11, or 7/11 – a day when the national 7-Eleven brand is celebrating its 95th birthday by giving out free Slurpee drinks.

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California wildfire forces partial closure of Yosemite national park

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Washburn fire is burning near southern portion of the park, Mariposa Grove, home to over 500 mature giant sequoias

Yosemite national park has been partially closed as firefighters try to contain a wildfire that has now stretched across more than 60 acres.

The Washburn fire is burning near the southern portion of the park, Mariposa Grove, which is home to more than 500 mature giant sequoias in the park, officials said.

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Former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani convicted of 12 counts of fraud

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The decision by California jurors brings to close a 13-week trial of Elizabeth Holmes’ former lover and business partner

The former Theranos executive Sunny Balwani has been convicted on all 12 fraud charges brought against him for his role at the now-defunct blood testing company.

The decision closes the final chapter of Theranos’ legal saga, nearly eight years after serious concerns were raised about the startup’s blood testing technology. The conviction of Balwani, who at one point oversaw the Theranos lab and put millions of his own fortune into the company, also marks a more severe judgment than that of his former lover and business partner Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of only four of 11 of the same charges in January.

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Tourist rescued after mission to investigate California family’s hiking deaths

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Michigan man entered area marked closed, reportedly saying he found official explanations of the deaths ‘odd’

A Michigan man who is said to have traveled to California’s Sierra national forest to investigate the heat-related deaths of a young family on a hiking trail last year had to be rescued last month, according to the Mariposa county sheriff’s office.

The tourist, whom authorities have not named but said is in his mid-60s, reportedly traveled to the area to research what happened to Ellen Chung, 30, her husband, Jonathan Gerrish, 45, their one-year-old daughter, Miju, and their dog, Oski, who all died on a hike last August.

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Newsom airs Florida ad urging people to fight for freedom – or move to California

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‘Freedom is under attack in your state,’ California governor says in ad paid for by his re-election campaign that aired on Fox News

Governor Gavin Newsom of California has aired a commercial in Florida over the Fourth of July holiday weekend urging residents there to fight for freedom, or move to his state in order to find it.

The ad – which pits blue state California against currently red state Florida – exemplified the growing divides in the US as Republican-led state legislatures have pursued rightwing policies on a slew of issues from banning abortion to attacking LGBTQ+ rights and voting issues.

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Brand new bang: Lake Tahoe resort scraps July 4 fireworks for drones

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Pyrotechnic displays pose a heightened fire risk in a time of intense drought and cause distress to wild animals

Lake Tahoe’s north shore is breaking with tradition and will replace its Fourth of July fireworks celebration with a colorful light display of an entirely different nature.

The tourist town on the Nevada side of the storied lake will offer a night-time drone light show, a display officials at the Incline Village Crystal Bay visitors bureau said carries less danger in a parched landscape primed to burn.

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‘I won’t survive’: queer California man facing deportation after 44 years in US

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Salesh Prasad could be sent to Fiji, where he fears anti-LGBTQ+ violence, with California law enforcement aiding his detention

A 50-year-old California man who was born in Fiji but has lived in the US since he was six years old is facing deportation to a country where he has no family and is at risk of violence and abuse as a queer person.

Salesh “Sal” Prasad was detained by federal authorities after he was granted parole from state prison, where he had been incarcerated for years. His case has sparked outrage among human rights activists and local lawmakers who say it highlights the cruelty and expansive reach of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) under a Democratic president who has promised a more humane approach and in a state that claims to be a sanctuary for immigrants.

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Fears of violence against pro-choice protests intensify amid wave of attacks

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Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple states

Fears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers.

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California to vote on adding abortion rights protection to state constitution

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The amendment added to this year’s ballot is part of Democrats’ aggressive strategy to expand access to abortion

California voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.

The court’s ruling on Friday gives states the authority to decide whether to allow abortion. California is controlled by Democrats who support abortion rights, so access to the procedure won’t be threatened anytime soon.

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Three killed as Amtrak train collides with car at ‘dangerous’ crossing in California

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The crossing at the rural site did not have guard rails or a train signal and neighbors had complained of safety issues in the past

An Amtrak train in California collided with a vehicle at an unprotected crossing along a rural dirt road on Sunday, leaving three people dead and at least two others injured.

Authorities said the passenger train was traveling westbound when it struck a sedan crossing the tracks near Brentwood, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, around 1pm. The crash sent the vehicle into a parked SUV roughly 60ft away, the East Bay Times reported.

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California’s largest reservoirs at critically low levels – signaling a dry summer ahead

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Images from Lake Oroville and Lake Shasta compiled by the state show ‘a shocking drop in water levels’ compared to years past

California’s two largest reservoirs are at critically low levels, signaling that the state, like much of the US west, can expect a searing, dry summer ahead.

This week, officials confirmed that Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, was at just 55% of its total capacity when it reached its highest level for the year last month. Meanwhile, Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, was at 40% capacity last month – after the state endured its driest start to a year since the late 19th century.

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Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually abusing minor at Playboy Mansion

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Jurors at the civil trial ruled in favor of Judy Huth who accused the comedian of forcing her to perform a sex act in 1975 at 16 years old

Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, jurors determined on Tuesday after a nearly month-long civil trial.

Jurors in Los Angeles county ruled in favor of Judy Huth, who is now 64, awarding her $500,000 in a legal defeat for the once-beloved comedian and star of The Cosby Show.

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California Taiwanese church shooting suspect charged with hate crime for May attack

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David Wenwei Chou, 68, is accused of opening fire on a gathering at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian church and killing one person

Authorities in California have added hate crime allegations to attempted murder charges filed against a 68-year-old who opened fire at a Taiwanese American church luncheon last month, killing one person and wounding five.

The gunman, David Wenwei Chou, is accused of attacking a gathering of members of the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods in May. A 52-year-old doctor who took his mother to the event was killed.

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