Tag Archives: California

From the Justice Department: John T. Earnest, a Rancho Penasquitos man who entered the Chabad of Poway on April 27, 2019, opened fire and killed one woman, injured three others, and attempted to kill 50 others, was sentenced in federal court today to life plus 30 years in prison for his crimes. Earnest previously pleaded guilty to a 113-count indictment …

The Verge reports: The California attorney general and 12 state officials filed a lawsuit against Walmart, saying it allegedly illegally disposed of electronic and hazardous waste, compromising local landfills. California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges in a statement the company violated state environmental laws with their practices, and the waste included materials like lithium and alkaline batteries, insect killer sprays, …

The New York Times reports: Joan Didion, whose mordant dispatches on California culture and the chaos of the 1960s established her as a leading exponent of the New Journalism, and whose novels “Play It as It Lays” and “The Book of Common Prayer” proclaimed the arrival of a tough, terse, distinctive voice in American fiction, died on Thursday at her …

The New York Times reports: California will require health care workers to get booster shots by Feb. 1, officials announced today, as part of a series of measures intended to stave off hospital staffing shortfalls and to keep schools open despite the unsettlingly rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Public health officials said the Feb. 1 deadline …

Politico reports: Rep. Alan Lowenthal will not run for reelection, adding to a generational changing of the guard in California politics. The Long Beach Democrat said in a statement that he would not seek a sixth term in Congress, choosing instead to “pass the baton” and spend time with family. Lowenthal’s current seat is safely Democratic and will likely remain …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: The state of California will once again require that all residents — regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status — wear masks indoors. The mandate will apply to all indoor settings beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 15, and last at least until Jan. 15. Some counties, including San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma and …

The Los Angeles Times reports: After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block a Texas state law that bans most abortions there, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’ll push for a new California law that deters the manufacture and sale of assault rifles in the state. “If states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare …

The Sacramento Bee reports: The head of the California Medical Board says members of an anti-vaccine group known to spread misinformation about COVID-19 treatments targeted her at her home and workplace in Walnut Creek on Monday. Kristina Lawson, president of the state agency that licenses and disciplines medical doctors, first shared the “terrifying experience” on Twitter Wednesday. Lawson, through a …

The Sacramento Bee reports: With more than two dozen states poised to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court gives them the OK next year, California clinics and their allies in the state Legislature on Wednesday revealed a plan to make the state a “sanctuary” for those seeking reproductive care, including possibly paying for travel, lodging and procedures for people …

The Los Angeles Times reports: The caption read “hanging with the homies.” The picture above it showed several Black men who had been lynched. Another photo asked what someone should do if their girlfriend was having an affair with a Black man. The answer, according to the caption, was to break “a tail light on his car so the police …

The New York Times reports: On Monday, Mr. Nunes announced he would resign from Congress at year’s end to lead former President Donald J. Trump’s media and technology company, continuing an unswerving fealty to Mr. Trump that had turned him into a national figure of admiration on the right and contempt on the left. Mr. Nunes was prodded toward that …

The Associated Press reports: Northern California parents knowingly sent their COVID-19 positive child and a sibling to school last month in violation of isolation and quarantine rules, causing a coronavirus outbreak in an elementary school, officials said Saturday. The parents could face a fine or a misdemeanor charge for violating Marin County’s health order, under which people who test positive …

CNN reports: The United States’ first confirmed case of the Omicron coronavirus variant has been identified in California. The World Health Organization designates Omicron a “variant of concern.” In a technical brief released this week, WHO noted that the variant poses a “very high” global risk. The variant was first identified by scientists in South Africa, and has since been …

The Los Angeles Times reports: The COVID-19 surge still affecting Central California is so dire that health officials are pleading with state officials to make it easier to transfer hospital patients to areas like Los Angeles County. “We don’t have enough hospitals to serve the population and the needs,” said Dr. Rais Vohra, the Fresno County interim health officer. Hospitals …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: Money — a lot of it — fell from an armored truck and littered the freeway in Carlsbad on Friday morning, and drivers pulled over and started scooping it up. Cash covered the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Cannon Road starting just before 9:15 a.m. CHP Sgt. Curtis Martin said the truck had been …

The Associated Press reports: A former college professor was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly starting four wildfires in Northern California earlier this year that threatened to trap firefighters as they battled a massive fire nearby, federal prosecutors said. Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count …

Politico Playbook reports: Speaker Pelosi has hinted strongly this will be her last term in the House. And back in her district, buzz is building over her potential successor — and the possibility that her daughter, Christine Pelosi, could make a play for the seat. But the competition will be fierce for a seat that hasn’t been truly up since …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Staples Center is getting a new name for Christmas: Crypto.com Arena. The downtown Los Angeles venue — home of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks — will wear the new name for 20 years under a deal between the Singapore cryptocurrency exchange and AEG, the owner and operator of the arena, both parties announced Tuesday. …

San Francisco’s ABC News affiliate reports: U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier of San Mateo County says she will not be running for re-election to the U.S. House. Speier has served California’s 14th District of San Mateo County and the Peninsula since 2013 as well as the 12th District of San Francisco back in 2008 to 2013. But her career really starts …

Just in via press release: California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a first-of-its-kind stipulated judgment requiring Amazon to end harmful labor practices that concealed COVID-19 case numbers from workers and to provide key information on workplace protections in line with California’s “right-to-know” law, Assembly Bill 685 (AB 685) authored by Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes. Throughout the pandemic, …