Agency hopes sketches by Samuel Little, who has confessed to killing 90 women, may help solve dozens of homicides
The FBI has released sketches made by a serial killer of his alleged victims, in the hope that they may help solve dozens of unsolved homicides.
The agency released the drawings and other information on a string of cold-case homicides that investigators say Samuel Little has admitted to having carried out.
Continue reading...Family of Willie McCoy allege racial profiling after Vallejo police fire ‘multiple rounds’ at man
California police officers fatally shot a 20-year-old rapper who was sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell, authorities said.
Six Vallejo officers fired “multiple rounds” at the man, identified by family as Willie McCoy, police said. McCoy had a handgun on him when the officers fired out of “fear for their own safety” on Saturday night, according to the department. The family of McCoy, whose rapper name was Willie Bo, said Tuesday that police had racially profiled the young black man and that there was no justification for using deadly force against someone who was sleeping and not a threat.
Continue reading...Communities around tech-rich Cupertino – teased they would pay for a wall – say city’s lack of affordable housing means they already subsidize it
A Donald Trump joke usually lands well in the heart of Silicon Valley. But when the mayor of Cupertino wisecracked in his state of the city address that he wanted to build a wall around the city where Apple is headquartered – and make the surrounding communities pay for it – he ignited a fury among local housing advocates, for whom the farce veered too close to reality.
Mayor Steven Scharf made his speech on 30 January, but it drew little attention until it was tweeted by venture capitalist and housing advocate Kim-Mai Cutler. Leading up to remarks on traffic, Scharf pulled up a PowerPoint slide titled, “Securing Our Borders With The Cupertino Wall” that showed a map of the city with the border marked in black.
Continue reading...Five people died after a small plane crashed into a house, setting it on fire. A spokesman with the National Transportation Safety Board said the twin-engine Cessna 414A crashed on Sunday shortly after taking off from a nearby airport. Lt Cory Martino, from Orange County Sheriff Office, said the pilot and four occupants of the home in Yorba Linda died, while firefighters planned to search for additional victims
Continue reading...Bureau spied on California activists, citing potential ‘conspiracy’ against the ‘rights’ of neo-Nazis
The FBI opened a “domestic terrorism” investigation into a civil rights group in California, labeling the activists “extremists” after they protested against neo-Nazis in 2016, new documents reveal.
Federal authorities ran a surveillance operation on By Any Means Necessary (Bamn), spying on the leftist group’s movements in an inquiry that came after one of Bamn’s members was stabbed at the white supremacist rally, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. The FBI’s Bamn files reveal:
Continue reading...National park saw ‘irreparable’ damage including vandalism, ruined trails and trees cut down, says former superintendent
The former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park has said it could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever government shutdown.
“What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” Curt Sauer said at a rally over the weekend, according to a report from the Desert Sun. Sauer retired in 2010 after running the park for seven years.
Continue reading...Kamala Harris drew a bigger crowd at her presidential campaign launch in Oakland than Barack Obama did when he launched his run for president in Illinois in 2007. At least 20,000 people turned up to hear the California senator outline her plan for winning the White House in 2020, according to an estimate from local police. She would be the first African American woman and first South Asian American to be chosen as a presidential nominee
Continue reading...If estimates are correct, Kamala Harris drew a bigger crowd at her presidential campaign launch in Oakland than Barack Obama did when he announced his run for president in Illinois in 2007.
Harris, the second African-American woman elected to the US senate, has drawn comparisons to Obama since early in her political career. And on Sunday, at least 20,000 people flooded the streets of downtown Oakland to hear the California senator outline her plan for winning the White House in 2020, according to an estimate from local police. Obama’s 2007 campaign launch attracted an estimated 15,000 people.
Continue reading...Nevada City is seeking to raise $30,000 to acquire goats to munch through acres of vegetation that could fuel wildfires
A California town threatened by the sort of wildfires that recently wiped out a neighbouring community is appealing for an unusual type of help: a crack team of goats.
Related: The US won't be prepared for the next natural disaster
Continue reading...California youths traded racist and violent messages in county called ‘hotbed for white supremacists’
A group of California junior high students were caught forming a swastika with their bodies on school grounds and exchanging racist and violent messages on a group chat, administrators said.
The scandal at Matilija junior high school, which culminated in an emotional meeting with parents and school officials Monday night, has sparked intense debate in a region that has experienced a sharp increase in reported antisemitic incidents.
Continue reading...The Guardian travelled to five border locations to discover how Trump’s rhetoric jars with the reality on the ground
Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” has become the trademark of his presidency. It is the promise that more than any other has energized his base, and riled his opponents, and his dogged attachment to it has now brought a large part of the US government to a historic 25 days of partial shutdown.
Continue reading...He criticized the state for ‘forest management’, a claim that was debunked and admonished the last time he made it
Donald Trump’s latest threat to cut relief funds for California areas impacted by deadly wildfires has left state lawmakers and residents baffled.
“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen [sic]” he tweeted, correcting the spelling of “forest” from a previous and identically worded tweet that has since been deleted. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”
Continue reading...Gavin Newsom mostly managed to stay on script as his two-year-old son refused to leave the stage
It’s normal for politicians to pose for pictures with their spouse and children after giving a momentous speech. But on Monday night Gavin Newsom, who was being sworn in as the 40th governor of California, discovered his family was to be the main event.
While Newsom was giving his inauguration speech, his two-year-old son, Dutch, wandered on to stage. Newsom swooped him up in his arms joking, “this is exactly how this was scripted,” before continuing to read from the teleprompter.
Continue reading...A fight at a bowling alley in California turned deadly on Friday night, police said. Three men were killed and four injured.
Shortly before midnight, police in Torrance, a coastal city about 20 miles from Los Angeles, responded to calls of “shots fired” at the Gable House Bowl. Multiple victims were found with gunshot wounds inside the building, which is described on its website as a gaming venue that offers bowling, laser tag and a full arcade.
Continue reading...Most popular mobile weather app misled users who shared location information, say Los Angeles prosecutors in lawsuit
People relied on the most popular mobile weather app to track forecasts that determined whether they chose jeans over shorts and packed a parka or umbrella, but its owners used it to track their every step and profit off that information, Los Angeles prosecutors said Friday.
The operator of the Weather Channel mobile app misled users who agreed to share their location information in exchange for personalized forecasts and alerts, and they instead unwittingly surrendered personal privacy when the company sold their data to third parties, the city attorney, Michael Feuer, said.
Continue reading...