Tag Archives: California

NPR reports: Utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric announced a $13.5 billion settlement agreement to resolve all claims associated with several Northern California wildfires that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of businesses and homes. The wildfires have been tied to the company’s equipment. “We want to help our customers, our neighbors and our friends in those impacted areas …

The Sacramento Bee reports: President Donald Trump won’t have to release his tax returns to get on California’s 2020 primary ballot following a unanimous ruling from the state Supreme Court on Thursday that invalidated a new state law. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 27 into law in July to compel presidential and gubernatorial candidates to release five years of …

NBC News reports: Multiple people were injured, at least two of them critically, in a shooting at a Southern California high school on Thursday morning, officials said. About an hour and a half after the shooting was reported at about 8 a.m. at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, sources said the suspect was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. …

NBC News Los Angeles reports: Authorities are responding to a report of a shooting at a high school in Santa Clarita. Police and firefighters responded to Saugus High School, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. At least six people were shot, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Details about the victims’ conditions were not immediately available. It …

The Hill reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday accused Apple of “throwing pennies at a housing crisis” that it “helped create” after the tech giant announced it will spend $2.5 billion on affordable housing in California. The presidential candidate released a statement ripping Apple’s “hypocrisy” and saying he would require large companies to pay “their fair share” in order …

Axios reports: Apple CEO Tim Cook, unveiling a $2.5 billion plan to help alleviate California’s housing availability and affordability crisis, told Axios in an interview that Apple feels “a profound responsibility” to the region where it was born and thrived.  “It’s just unsustainable,” Cook said. “This problem is so big that the public sector cannot do it alone.” Many teachers …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Sunday ripped Governor California Gov. Gavin Newsom as wildfires ravage the Golden State, saying the Democrat has done a “terrible job of forest management” and threatening to withhold federal financial aid. The tweets come as several wildfires burn in Northern and Southern California. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Kincade fire north of …

ABC News reports: A wind-whipped fire erupted in San Bernardino, forcing mandatory evacuations and ravaging several homes in the area, as the blaze quickly grew to 200 acres early Thursday morning. The blaze, called the Hillside Fire, was burning at a rapid rate of spread and quickly expanded to 200 acres by about 2:30 a.m., officials said. Six homes were …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Even after several years of devastating wind-driven fires in Southern California, forecasters fear that the next two days could bring new levels of danger. “Extreme” fire weather began in the Los Angeles area at 11 p.m. Tuesday and was expected to persist for 30 hours, bringing isolated gusts of up to 80 mph. It’s an …

Raw Story reports: Convicted former Donald Trump advisor George Papadopoulos has filed paperwork to run for Congress in California as a Republican. Papadopoulos is running for the state’s 25th congressional district, which will be an open seat following the announcement by Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) that she will not run for re-election after being targeted with revenge porn. Los Angeles …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A growing brush fire was threatening thousands of homes in Brentwood and other Westside hillside communities, burning several homes and prompting widespread evacuations early Monday. The Getty fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. along the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center and spread to the south and west, rapidly burning more than 500 acres …

CBS News reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency as wildfires and extreme weather conditions forced almost 200,000 people from their homes. He said in a statement Sunday that officials are deploying “every resource available” to respond to the wildfires, including a large blaze in Northern California’s wine country driven by powerful winds. Smoke from a second …

NBC News reports: Two massive wildfires are flanking Northern and Southern California, as power outages expand, almost two hundred thousand people are under evacuation orders, and tens of thousands of acres burn. North of San Francisco, new evacuation warnings were issued early Sunday as the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County scorched 30,000 acres and remains only ten percent contained. The …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Massive blackouts affecting more than 2 million people are expected this weekend throughout the Bay Area, Northern California and Central California, the third time this month that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will have turned off power to avert catastrophic wildfires. PG&E said about 850,000 homes and businesses in its service territory might start losing …

Courthouse News reports: California Governor Gavin Newsom excoriated the state’s largest utility provider Friday after touring the charred remnants in the path of an uncontrolled wildfire that many suspect was started by equipment negligence. Newsom said greed, decades of mismanagement and a continual prioritization of executive bonuses and shareholder dividends over the safety of PG & E’s grid has led …

The Associated Press reports: California’s biggest utility admitted its electrical equipment may have ignited a ruinous wildfire spreading across the state’s wine country Friday, despite blackouts imposed across the region to prevent blazes. The disclosure came as firefighters simultaneously battled flames in both Northern and Southern California: the fire amid Sonoma County’s vineyards, and a wind-whipped blaze that destroyed homes …

NBC News reports: Hundreds of thousands of residents of Northern California whose power will be shut off in the next two days got even worse news Wednesday: Another, even larger, blackout is likely over the weekend. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., or PG&E, began shutting off electricity to nearly a half-million people Wednesday afternoon, the second …

Law & Crime reports: Police in California say a man sprayed other people with bear repellent at an event on Saturday afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier. Video purportedly of the event shows a man in a red “Make America Great Again” hat using a spray at the confrontation. At least one witness at the incident described this as “pepper …

NPR reports: Scientists cannot yet predict when the next deadly earthquake will strike, but emergency response authorities in California plan to unveil the first statewide quake warning system Thursday, which marks the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The warnings will be issued in two ways: a cellphone app called MyShake and the more traditional wireless notification system …

The Sacramento Bee reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed new gun control laws that expand the availability of gun violence restraining orders and place stricter limits on the number of firearms Californians can buy each month. Starting in July 2021, Californians will be allowed to purchase one long gun per month. People younger than age 21 won’t be allowed …