Category Archives: California

Coronavirus US live: Trump says he’s ‘not determined’ to open the country in May

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What does protest look like under a stay-at-home order?

This evening, activists are lighting a candle in solidarity with more than 90,000 people typically incarcerated in state prisons and jails in New York state, as coronavirus threatens to turn crowded, unsanitary prisons into death traps.

Lighting a candle for all incarcerated people tonight in solidarity with #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth pic.twitter.com/fzWJZ8O7Yj

It is inhumane to let people die in cages. That has always been true, and it is especially true now in the midst of a global pandemic.

6 y/o and I are joining the @FreeThemAll2020 campaign in calling on @NYGovCuomo to #FreeThemAll4PublicHealth. pic.twitter.com/vrAjImhUAe

#FreeThemAll4PublicHealth #FreeThemAll because people don't belong in cages pic.twitter.com/bWZGnmQQar

Advocates have been pleading for weeks that San Francisco move people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms, given that the conditions inside these facilities are often unsanitary and crowded, making it easy for a virus to quickly spread.

Now, there has been a major coronavirus outbreak inside a homeless shelter in San Francisco: nearly 70 residents at MSC South have tested positive, which is roughly half of all the people who were tested.

After 70 residents of a San Francisco homeless shelter test positive for Covid-19, advocates say others are trapped in lockdown in shelters with restrictions. "Telling them they cannot leave is not protecting them"-@Leahfsw. "People need to be moved to hotels, not just locked up" pic.twitter.com/YTfxVaMIGg

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Drone footage shows San Francisco deserted under coronavirus lockdown – video

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The effect of the three-week-long lockdown on daily life in San Francisco is revealed in drone footage showing empty streets and deserted landmarks. The city was the first in the US to announce a 'stay-at-home' order on 16 March, restricting all but essential activities

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Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge in Los Angeles

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Prosecutors accuse film producer, serving 23-year sentence in New York, of sexual battery by restraint in 2010 incident

Los Angeles prosecutors have filed a new sexual assault charge against Harvey Weinstein, the film producer serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for rape.

The LA district attorney’s office, which filed its original case in January, announced on Friday that Weinstein was facing a new felony charge of sexual battery by restraint, stemming from an incident at a Beverly Hills hotel on 11 May 2010.

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Coronavirus US live: Donald Trump predicts ‘a very, very painful two weeks’

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Dr. Fauci said “I believe we acted early,” in response to a question about whether the US could have done more, earlier. But he conceded that earlier action could have helped.

Dr. Birx, as well, evaded the question, asserting that it remains to be seen whether the disease was spreading through the US in February or earlier.

Fact check: Hydroxychloroquine cure

Trump once again touted hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure, asserting that it won’t kill people because it has already been used to treat other conditions. But the drug can have serious side effects even when it is used as recommended, to treat malaria, as well as lupus and arthritis.

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Socially distanced street parade greets US teenager after cancer treatment – video

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A group of neighbours in Los Angeles threw a socially distanced welcome-home party for a teenager after she finished chemotherapy. Courtney Johnson, 15, was diagnosed with cancer in June and was receiving treatment at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The video was shared by her mother on social media

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California scrambles to avoid Covid-19’s worst-case scenario: ‘It will take a heroic effort’

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State has more than 2,500 cases and faces a shortage of protective equipment and hospital beds

Leaders in California are scrambling to prepare the state amid a shortage of hospital beds, limited access to masks and ventilators and a patchwork approach to testing, as a surge of cases in New York provides a warning of how quickly the coronavirus crisis could spiral out of control.

The number of cases in New York state had soared by Tuesday morning, with 25,665 confirmed infected and 210 deaths. “We are now, in New York City, the epicenter of this crisis in the United States of America,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. “The worst is yet to come.”

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California results: follow the primary votes live

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There are 415 pledged delegates up for grabs in California’s Democratic presidential primary vote on Super Tuesday, more than any other state. Income inequality, homelessness, healthcare, immigration, climate change and the economy are some of the key issues for Democratic voters in the state. Hillary Clinton won the state convincingly in the 2016 US election.

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California street shut down after 40,000 bees swarm from hotel

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Several people hospitalized in Pasadena after Africanized bees emerge from hotel’s eaves: ‘Something set them off’

A swarm of as many as 40,000 Africanized bees sent several people to hospital and closed a street in California, after swarming from the eaves of a Howard Johnson Inn.

Related: Ursus urbinus: 'elderly' 400lb bear spotted roaming Los Angeles suburb

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Queer activists escorted out of Pete Buttigieg event in San Francisco – video

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Queer activists were met with chants of ‘Boot-Edge-Edge’ after they disrupted a private fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg in San Francisco on Friday evening. The activists, escorted out of the event, reflected unease among the LBGTQ+ community over the Buttigieg campaign

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Kobe Bryant: NBA legend dies in helicopter crash aged 41

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The NBA, and much of America, was in shock on Sunday after Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players in history, died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.

Bryant was on board the helicopter with eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles north-west of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no survivors. Bryant, who lived in the area for most of his life often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic, and on Sunday he was taking Gianna to play in a basketball game at his academy outside the city.

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Kobe Bryant: NBA legend dies in helicopter crash at age of 41

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Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.

Bryant was on board the helicopter along with four others when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no reported survivors, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, is also believed to have died in the crash. Bryant had lived in the area for most of his life and often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic.

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Why are California’s mayors lining up to endorse Mike Bloomberg?

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London Breed, San Francisco’s first black female mayor, joins campaign following support from Stockton and San Jose mayors

There’s nothing surprising about a billionaire winning the support of the mayor of San Francisco, a city flush with tech wealth and new money.

But when the billionaire is Mike Bloomberg – and the endorsement is the latest from a string of California mayors he mentored and supported – the vow of support raises some eyebrows.

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Mothers who occupied vacant Oakland house will be allowed to buy it

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Intervention of California governor helps Moms 4 Housing group score victory in fight against state’s homeless crisis

The homeless mothers who took over a vacant house in Oakland, California and occupied it for almost two months will be allowed to purchase the property – a major victory in a movement working to keep such homes out of the possession of speculators.

The group Moms 4 Housing entered the house on Magnolia Street on 18 November with the intent to stay. The house had sat vacant for more than two years before it was purchased in July at a foreclosure auction for $501,078 by Wedgewood Properties, a real estate investment company with a history of buying up foreclosed-upon houses cheaply, evicting the tenants, renovating the homes and then putting them back on the market at much higher prices.

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Yosemite national park: 170 recent visitors suffer norovirus symptoms

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Two cases of upset stomach and diarrhea confirmed as norovirus, as park says it is undertaking ‘extensive cleaning’ efforts

Roughly 170 people who have visited Yosemite national park in recent weeks have suffered upset stomachs and diarrhea, symptoms that park officials say are consistent with norovirus.

Two of those cases have been confirmed as norovirus, park officials say. The park spokesman Scott Gediman issued a written statement that most of those who fell ill had spent time in Yosemite Valley around the first week of January.

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Plane dumps fuel on LA schools before emergency landing – video

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A jet with an engine problem dumped fuel to reach a safe landing weight before making an emergency return to LA international airport. The vapour from the fuel fell on five elementary schools and caused minor skin and lung irritation to more than 50 children and adults, officials said

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Plane dumps fuel on Los Angeles schools before emergency landing

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Forty children and adults suffer minor irritation after incident as plane makes return to airport

Fuel dumped by an airliner making an emergency return on Tuesday to Los Angeles international airport due to an engine problem fell on to three schools, causing minor irritation to 40 children and adults, officials said.

The incident occurred around noon in the Cudahy area of south-eastern Los Angeles county, about 13 miles (21km) east of the airport.

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Changing violence requires the same shift in understanding given to Aids

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Violence is a contagious and epidemic health problem and those exposed to it deserve treatment, compassion and care, writes Gary Slutkin

When the Aids epidemic first hit in the early 1980s, I was beginning my career in epidemiology at San Francisco general hospital. There was fear everywhere, especially in cities with large LGBT populations such as San Francisco. People didn’t understand what was happening and where Aids would strike next.

Today, Aids remains a major public health threat, but anxiety over the spread has largely abated. The thing that made the biggest difference in getting us here was the shift in how the world looks at people affected by Aids: from immoral people or bad people, to people with a contagious health problem who deserve to receive compassion and care.

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‘Like sending bees to war’: the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession

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Bees are essential to the functioning of America’s titanic almond industry – and billions are dying in the process

Dennis Arp was feeling optimistic last summer, which is unusual for a beekeeper these days.

Thanks to a record wet spring, his hundreds of hives, scattered across the central Arizona desert, produced a bounty of honey. Arp would have plenty to sell in stores, but more importantly, the bumper harvest would strengthen his bees for their biggest task of the coming year.

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Harvey Weinstein hit with new charges in Los Angeles during New York trial

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Movie mogul charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another over two days in 2013

Los Angeles prosecutors have announced criminal charges against Harvey Weinstein on Monday, following the start of the disgraced movie mogul’s rape trial in New York.

Weinstein was charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013, officials said on Monday. The felony charges include forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.

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Hikers find skeleton of Japanese American who left internment camp

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Remains found in October identified as Giichi Matsumura, who died in a freak snowstorm after he apparently stopped to paint

A skeleton found by hikers near California’s second-highest peak was identified on Friday as a Japanese American artist who left an internment camp to paint in the mountains in the last days of the second world war.

Related: Headless torso found in cave identified as murderer who escaped jail in 1916

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