Strong winds hamper crews battling Los Angeles area’s first major fire of the year

The Post fire, which grew to more than 14,600 acres, is one of nearly a dozen wildfires actively burning in California

Firefighters in California are battling blazes in challenging conditions after several wildfires broke out over the weekend, forcing evacuations and consuming thousands of acres of land.

Los Angeles county is dealing with its first major wildfire of the year after a blaze dubbed the Post fire swiftly grew to more than 14,600 acres (5,900 hectares). The fire, which broke out on Saturday, is burning through the mountains along the major Interstate 5 highway, fueled by strong winds that are pushing the flames through dry brush.

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California wildfire forces 1,200 people to evacuate and burns over 16 sq miles

Cause of blaze, named Post Fire, unknown as two buildings damaged and nearby valley and lake reservoir close

A wildfire that forced the evacuation of at least 1,200 people in southern California has burned more than 16 sq miles, officials said Sunday.

The blaze, named the Post Fire, started Saturday and was burning near the Interstate 5 freeway in Gorman, about 62 miles (100km) north-west of Los Angeles, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection.

California state park services evacuated 1,200 people from the Hungry Valley recreation area in Gorman and both Hungry Valley and the Pyramid Lake reservoir were closed as a result of the fire threat, the Los Angeles county fire department said.

The flames broke out at around 1.45pm, authorities said. The cause isn’t known.

No homes were threatened by the fire but two commercial buildings have been damaged, the Los Angeles county fire department said Sunday.

The fire was moving south-east toward Pyramid Lake and crews were constructing perimeter fire lines while aircraft worked against limited visibility to stop the fire’s progress, the fire department said. Fire lines had been built around 2% of the perimeter as of Sunday morning, the Los Angeles county fire department said.

Strong winds will impact firefighting efforts, especially after 8pm, the department said.

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Democrat Khanna: Biden is ‘running out of time’ with young voters over Gaza war

Representative Ro Khanna says he will skip Netanyahu’s address to Congress and that young people want war to end

Progressive California Democrat Ro Khanna warned Sunday that Joe Biden is running out of time to win over young voters opposed to his administration’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict and that he will not attend Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress next month.

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Representative Khanna said the erosion of support that the US president is seeing among young voters is a “challenge for our party” and the Democrats could be “running out of time” to restore support with “more people dying” in the conflict.

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University of Miami president tapped for chancellor role at UCLA

Dr Julio Frenk to succeed Gene Block amid scrutiny of university’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests

The president of the University of Miami was chosen Wednesday to become the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, where the retiring incumbent has faced widespread scrutiny over his handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests.

Dr Julio Frenk, a Mexico City-born global public health researcher, was selected by regents of the University of California system at a meeting on the UCLA campus, where there was a swarm of security officers.

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‘We’re not backing down’: US grocery workers take on Kroger with strike vote

Food 4 Less workers to vote on action if new deal is not reached, as employees say wages and benefits lag behind

About 6,000 grocery store workers are set to vote on strike action after the expiration of their union contract with the Kroger-owned Food 4 Less chain.

The contract with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) expired on Saturday. Members are voting on whether to authorize a strike if a new deal is not reached, and results expected late on Friday.

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University of California workers ordered to end strike over Palestine protest response

Thousands of academic workers returned to the job after weeks-long strike and vowed more actions to come

Thousands of University of California academic workers who went on strike across six campuses protesting administrators’ response to pro-Palestinian protests returned to the job on Monday under court order, but their union vowed more protests to come.

An Orange county superior court judge late on Friday granted a temporary restraining order sought by the university, which asserted that the walkout stemmed from non-labor issues and that it violated the no-strike clause in the union’s contract.

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Stranded California kite surfer rescued after writing ‘help’ with rocks on beach

Rescue helicopter hoists man to top of cliff after a private helicopter spots sign in remote area and alerts authorities

A kite surfer was rescued after using rocks to spell out the word “help” when he became stranded on a northern California beach last weekend, authorities said.

The kite surfer got stuck Sunday on a narrow beach at the base of towering bluffs with the tide coming in, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection’s Santa Cruz unit.

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Man who killed unhoused woman with pellet gun gets five years in prison: ‘Her life mattered’

William Innes, 19, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2023 death of Annette Pershal in San Diego

A 19-year-old who fatally shot an unhoused woman with a pellet gun in southern California was sentenced to five years and eight months in state prison on Thursday.

William Innes pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the killing last May of Annette Pershal, 68, who was living on the streets of San Diego and nicknamed “Granny Annie”. The case sparked national outrage after prosecutors reported that Innes had texted a group chat saying he was going “hobo hunting”.

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UC Berkeley gets go-ahead to build housing at People’s Park after years-long battle

California supreme court greenlights project that protesters say will add noise pollution to already dense historic park

A California supreme court ruling will allow student housing at University of California, Berkeley, to be built at the historic People’s Park.

The court on Thursday ruled that a new law enacted in 2023 invalidates the claims by two local organizations that sued the school, saying students living in downtown Berkeley would add noise pollution to an already dense area. The project set off years of protests over the park – a landmark that is a touchstone of counterculture.

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California woman, 71, mauled to death in state’s first fatal black bear attack

Patrice Miller was found dead in her home in what authorities confirm is first known attack of its kind

A 71-year-old woman was mauled to death by a black bear in a Sierra Nevada community in 2023 in what is believed to be California’s first fatal black bear attack, the state department of fish and wildlife confirmed this week.

Patrice Miller was found dead in her Downieville home in November by a Sierra county sheriff’s deputy who was called to the residence to check on the senior after she had not been seen for several days, KCRA3 reported.

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Rock climber sentenced to life in prison for Yosemite sexual assaults

Charles Barrett was accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure victim to park and later making threatening phone calls to her

A professional rock climber who assaulted a woman three times during a weekend hiking trip to California’s Yosemite national park in 2016 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Charles Barrett, 40, had been accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure the woman to the park, and then making hundreds of threatening phone calls against her and his other victims after he was arrested and placed in custody.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Biden’s migrant order is recipe for chaos at US border: ‘It will only cause suffering’

With high levels of people seeking asylum, and after failed attempts to pass reforms, Biden has presented his most aggressive restrictions yet

Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an aggressive new immigration order suspending asylum rights, signalling that “securing the border” was a central tenet of his re-election bid.

At the southern US border, the policy is set to cause chaos and hardship for those seeking the protection of the United States.

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San Francisco police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters occupying Israeli consulate building

Authorities confirmed 70 people were taken in to custody, cited for trespassing and released after they ‘refused to vacate’ the premises

Police on Monday arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied the lobby of a San Francisco building that houses the Israeli Consulate.

Associated Press journalists saw police zip-tie the hands of about 50 people. Officers then put them in police vans and drove them away. San Francisco police later confirmed that 70 protesters were arrested and cited for trespassing after they “refused to vacate the building”. They have since been released from San Francisco county jail.

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California firefighters contain 75% of state’s largest wildfire so far this year

Fire east of San Francisco was significantly surrounded after reportedly scorching more than 22 sq miles over the weekend

California’s largest wildfire so far this year was significantly surrounded on Monday after blackening a swath of hilly grasslands between San Francisco bay and the Central valley.

The Corral fire was 75% contained after scorching more than 22 sq miles (57 sq km) over the weekend, the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire, said. One home was destroyed and two firefighters were injured.

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College students leave behind hoard of trash at California’s Shasta Lake

Despite being asked to clean up after themselves, about 3,000 students celebrating Memorial Day weekend left piles of debris

College students celebrating Memorial Day weekend by California’s Shasta Lake left behind hoard of trash, according to US Forest Service officials.

Last weekend, approximately 3,000 students from the University of California, Davis and the University of Oregon partied at Shasta Lake, a 30,000-acre reservoir in the golden state, and left piles of debris cluttered around the lake.

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California firefighters battle wind-driven wildfire near San Francisco

Two fire workers injured after Corral Fire, which began Saturday afternoon, spread overnight east of San Francisco

California firefighters aided by aircraft battled a wind-driven wildfire that began Saturday and continued burning early Sunday morning in an area straddling the San Francisco Bay Area and central California, authorities said.

The Corral Fire began Saturday afternoon near the city of Tracy, 60 miles (96km ) east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire.

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Beloved surfboard-stealing otter seen in California after disappearing for months

Photos of otter 841, who gave birth to a pup last year, show her floating over holiday weekend in popular Santa Cruz surfing spot

Otter 841, who shot to international fame last year for her surfboard-stealing interactions with northern California surfers and kayakers, has been spotted recently after disappearing for several months. Over Memorial day weekend, photos of the now six-year-old otter posted to social media showed her floating on her back at Steamer Lane, a popular surfing spot in Santa Cruz. She was identified by her signature blue tag attached to one of her flippers.

Otter 841 began making waves last summer after Mark Woodward, a local photographer, began posting images and videos to social media of her biting and commandeering surfboards. People were captivated by her fearlessness when interacting with humans and quickly projected human motivations to her behavior.

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‘Serial slingshot’ suspect who terrorized California neighborhood arrested

‘We’re not aware of any kind of motive other than just malicious mischief, say police, of 81-year-old man who was arrested

An 81-year-old man who investigators say terrorized a southern California neighborhood for years with a slingshot has been arrested, police said.

While conducting an investigation, detectives “learned that during the course of 9-10 years, dozens of citizens were being victimized by a serial slingshot shooter”, the Asuza police department said in a statement.

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How Oregon’s right-to-die law has inspired other US states and countries

More than 3,000 people have used the law, inspiring legislation in Australia and Canada and debate in the UK, France and Japan

It’s three decades since Ann Jackson voted against the first assisted-dying law in the world.

But after watching two partners succumb to cancer, and fearing the prospect of a lingering death herself as she grapples with autoimmune diseases, Jackson is now a vigorous proponent of the Oregon legislation used by thousands of people to end their own lives, and providing a blueprint for other US states and countries considering similar laws, including the UK.

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California hospital hosts wedding so ailing dad can walk daughter down aisle

Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and family not sure he would make it to ceremony – until hospital intervened

Hospital staff in California helped a dying man fulfill his wish of walking his daughter down the aisle by hosting the pushed-up wedding ceremony in the facility’s chapel.

Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year ago, and his condition worsened in recent weeks to the point his family members were not sure he would make it to the planned date of his daughter Brittny’s marriage to her fiance, Alan Tran, on 28 June.

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