Category Archives: California

Singer Sean Kingston and his mother charged for over $1m fraud

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Two were arrested on Thursday after Swat team raided rapper’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale

Rapper and singer Sean Kingston and his mother committed more than a million dollars in fraud in recent months, stealing money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and furniture, documents released Friday allege.

Kingston, 34, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, have been charged with conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward county, Florida, sheriff’s office.

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‘Psychologically tortured’: California city pays man nearly $1m after 17-hour police interrogation

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Officers threatened to kill the dog of Thomas Perez Jr as they pressured him to falsely confess to killing his father, who was alive

A California city has agreed to pay $900,000 to a man who was subjected to a 17-hour police interrogation in which officers pressured him to falsely confess to murdering his father, who was alive.

During the 2018 interrogation of Thomas Perez Jr by police in Fontana, a city east of Los Angeles, officers suggested they would have Perez’s dog euthanized as a result of his actions, according to a complaint and footage of the encounter. A judge said the questioning appeared to be “unconstitutional psychological torture”, and the city agreed to settle Perez’s lawsuit for $898,000, his lawyer announced this week.

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Cassie shares plea to ‘believe victims’ after Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs assault video

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Statement follows CNN release of 2016 surveillance video, after Cassie sued Combs, accusing him of rape and abuse

Cassie has spoken out following CNN’s release of a 2016 surveillance video that showed her ex-boyfriend and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs violently attacking her in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.

On Thursday, Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, released a statement on Instagram, saying, “Thank you for all the love and support from my family, friends, strangers and those I have yet to meet. The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning.

In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.

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Farm owners in California mass shooting to pay workers $450,000

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Workplace killings in 2023 revealed hazardous working conditions of migrant farmworkers in Half Moon Bay

The owners of two mushroom farms in northern California where a disgruntled employee shot and killed seven people last year will pay a total of more than $450,000 in back wages and damages to 62 employees.

In an announcement released on Monday following an extensive investigation, the US labor department said the payment is an element of administrative settlements reached by the department’s wage and hour division with California Terra Garden and Concord Farms.

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‘P-22’s spirit’: new mountain lion seen in LA over a year after celebrity cougar’s death

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Animal spotted in Griffith Park, where ‘Brad Pitt of mountain lions’ P-22 lived, bringing excitement at possibility of a new cat in area

It’s been more than a year since the death of P-22, a beloved Los Angeles cougar known as the “Brad Pitt of mountain lions” whose passing inspired murals, songs and celebrations across the city.

P-22, who was euthanized in December 2022 due to health issues, was the only known big cat living in the city’s famed Griffith Park. So when residents spied an unidentified mountain lion in the park last week, people were abuzz with excitement at the possibility of another cat, probably a young male, making a home in the area.

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Academic workers at UC Santa Cruz strike over crackdown on Gaza protests

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Union says response of University of California to pro-Palestine demonstrations violates rights of advocates and workers

Academic workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, took to the picket line on Monday morning as part of a rolling strike in protest against the university system’s response to pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The campus is the first in the University of California to do so as part of a systemwide protest against the public university, which union members argue violated the rights of pro-Palestinian advocates and workers.

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Teen who texted 911 rescued after she was trafficked to California from Mexico

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In texts received in Spanish and translated to English, the girl tried to describe her location, though she did not know where she was

Authorities rescued a 17-year old girl after she was trafficked to Ventura county, California, from Mexico two months ago and texted 911 for help.

On Thursday, the Ventura county sheriff’s office announced that on 9 May authorities rescued the girl after she sent messages to 911. The text message correspondence began with a call taker at a 911 communication center, according to the sheriff’s office, which added that the messages were received in Spanish and translated into English.

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University president in California on leave after agreeing to campus protesters’ demands

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Mike Lee told students that Sonoma State would become first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions

A public university in California has placed its president on leave for “insubordination” after he agreed to student demands for an academic boycott of Israel.

Mike Lee was suspended from Sonoma State University following an announcement on Tuesday that the liberal arts college north of San Francisco had agreed with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to become the first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions.

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California: Newsom advances $3.3bn for mental health centers and homeless housing

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Funds from plan, designed to build treatment centers and clinics, made available early as state grapples with homelessness crisis

California governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that $3.3bn would be made available from the state’s new mental health bond ahead of schedule to build more behavioral health treatment centers and homeless housing as the state grapples with a growing homelessness crisis.

It’s the first pot of money from a ballot measure designed to help cities, counties, tribes and developers build or renovate treatment centers and clinics, among other things. Voters passed it by a razor-thin margin in March after Newsom threw all of his political weight behind it, touting it as linchpin of the state’s efforts to reduce homelessness.

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Hundreds of ‘emaciated’ and stranded pelicans turn up along California coast

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State’s department of fish and wildlife says the brown pelicans are showing signs of malnutrition, but that the cause is still unclear

Hundreds of starving and stranded brown pelicans have turned up along the California coast in recent weeks in what wildlife advocates have described as a “crisis”.

In Newport Beach in southern California, lifeguards came upon two dozen sick pelicans on a pier last week. The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, the non-profit caring for the animals, said they had treated more than 100 other birds who were anemic, dehydrated and extremely underweight.

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Shohei Ohtani interpreter to plead guilty to stealing millions from MLB star

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  • Ippei Mizuhara faces long jail sentence after admission
  • Plea deal will absolve Ohtani of any wrongdoing

Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani, will face up to 33 years in jail when he pleads guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his former friend.

Mizuhara has admitted to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. As well as a length jail term, he must also pay $16,975,010 in restitution to Victim A, assumed to be Ohtani. Mizuhara will enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks and is set to be arraigned on 14 May, prosecutors said.

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UCLA creates campus safety role amid condemnation of response to mob attack

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University and police denounced as masked group marched on campus and attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators last week

The University of California, Los Angeles, said that it would create a new office dedicated to campus safety following mounting criticism of authorities’ slow response to a brutal attack on pro-Palestinian protesters by a mob of “instigators”.

The school’s chancellor, Gene Block, said on Sunday that urgent changes were needed to “better protect our community moving forward” and announced that a new office of campus safety would oversee the university police department and the UCLA office of emergency management, “effective immediately”.

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Police dismantle Palestinian solidarity encampment at USC

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Officers in riot gear raid encampment at dawn as university warns demonstrators that failure to leave could lead to arrest

Police have dismantled the student-led Palestinian solidarity encampment at the University of Southern California.

About 4am on Saturday, as many as 100 Los Angeles police officers in riot gear raided the encampment at dawn as anti-war student demonstrators slept in the tents. In a series of tweets during the raid, the university warned demonstrators to leave the area, adding that “people who don’t leave could be arrested”.

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More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses

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Police arrest more than 200 students at UCLA as law enforcement clears camp at Dartmouth, arresting more than 90 students

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses in recent weeks.

Police arrested more than 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, pushing the total past 2,000, according to an Associated Press tally.

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UCLA students describe violent attack on Gaza protest encampment: ‘It was terrifying’

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Slow response from authorities left students shocked as people wearing white masks attacked pro-Palestine protesters

When Meghna Nair, a second-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles, saw a masked group of people headed toward the pro-Palestine encampment on campus late on Tuesday evening, she expected trouble.

“I knew where they were going. I had an idea what they planned to do,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

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Crackdowns intensify on pro-Palestine campus protests as hundreds arrested

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Tensions continue after night of unrest at UCLA and Columbia, as New York mayor blames ‘outside agitators’ for escalation

Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after protest hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about “outside agitators” driving escalation.

The number of arrests of student protesters had exceeded an estimated 1,300 by Wednesday afternoon since the start of the latest bout of protests two weeks ago, as more students were detained. This added to tallies by the Associated Press and Axios earlier on Wednesday, across more than 30 campuses, coast to coast and north to south.

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Workers accuse Google of ‘tantrum’ after 50 fired over Israel contract protest

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Tech giant fired number of people who protested against $1.2bn Project Nimbus, which supports Israeli military and government

Google has been accused of throwing a “tantrum” after sacking more than 50 workers in response to a protest over the company’s military ties to the Israeli government – firings that have shone a light on a controversial project and long-simmering tensions between staff and management.

The workers were sacked following protests at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, organized by No Tech for Apartheid – an alliance of Google and Amazon workers who have been protesting against a $1.2bn contract with the Israeli government called Project Nimbus that they claim will make it “easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land”.

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Columbia University calls for inquiry into leadership as student protests sweep 40 campuses

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Professors at Emory University arrested as campuses follow Columbia’s lead in demanding ceasefire and divestment

At least 40 pro-Palestine protest camps have arisen across US campuses following Columbia University’s example earlier this month, as the New York school’s senate called for an investigation into its leadership, the New York Times reported.

While many remain provocative though peaceful, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment by their institutions from companies with ties to Israel, hundreds of students and outside protesters have been arrested, and there have been some fierce clashes with police.

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Crews battle fire threatening longest wooden pier on US west coast

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Over 100 firefighters, 30 lifeguards and 32 police officers called to help as flames tore through restaurant at end of California pier

A historic southern California pier caught fire on Thursday, burning for several hours until firefighters battling the blaze from boats were able to extinguish the flames.

Flames tore through a restaurant at the end of the Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the US west coast, and heavily damaged the closed diner and a neighboring business.

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Harvey Weinstein: what does ruling mean for California rape conviction?

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Mogul’s lawyers say decision in New York will strengthen appeal in Los Angeles but victims confident guilty verdict will be upheld

Harvey Weinstein was already expected to spend the remainder of his life in prison for crimes in New York when a Los Angeles jury found him of guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022 and he was sentenced to an additional 16 years.

But on Thursday New York’s top court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for two sex crimes and found he should receive a new trial, and the California case has taken on even greater significance.

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