California

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Trump's Claim on Calif. Wildfires 'Boggles the Mind'

No, the state's water is not being dumped in the Pacific, an expert says

(Newser) - President Trump on Sunday addressed the devastation wrought by the latest California wildfires , the Hill reports. "California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized," he tweeted . "...

Last Month in Death Valley Was Hottest Month Ever Recorded on Earth

Average temperature over day and night: 108.1 degrees

(Newser) - Death Valley, well known for its often record high temperatures, has set a new one: Last month in Death Valley was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet Earth. The average temperature—over day and night—was 108.1 degrees, putting July 2018 about a half-degree ahead of July...

Northern Calif. Wildfire 9th Worst in State History

20K flee new pair of wildfires

(Newser) - The explosive wildfire around Redding in northern California is now believed to be the ninth most destructive in state history, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean says. The blaze known as the Carr Fire, which has killed two firefighters and four civilians, including two children , has...

Cops: Murder Suspect Used Dating Sites to Lure Victims

Connecticut's Danueal Drayton says he has killed up to 7 people, though cops are still investigating

(Newser) - He was on probation in Connecticut; eyed as a suspect in a New York murder; and now has been busted across the country for rape and attempted murder. Danueal Drayton offered some other crimes to cops in Los Angeles when he was arrested and charged there last week, per the...

Suspects Accused of Looting Evacuated Homes in California

Carr fire has started to slow down

(Newser) - Authorities in California have arrested two people on suspicion of looting homes that had been evacuated due to an explosive wildfire. The Sacramento Bee reports that 25-year-old Jade Ball and 19-year-old Jack Fannin, of Redding, were found with what police said was evidence tying them to several burglaries. The Carr...

2 Kids, Great-Grandma Die in 'War Zone' of Calif. Wildfire

Flames raced through property while great-grandfather had gone to get supplies

(Newser) - The death count from a Northern California wildfire rose to five Saturday after two young children and their great-grandmother who had been unaccounted for were confirmed dead. "My babies are dead," Sherry Bledsoe said through tears, per the AP . Bledsoe's two children, James Roberts, 5, and Emily...

Revenge-Porn Guy Hit With Huge Payment

California man Andre Pompey is told to fork up

(Newser) - Time to pay, Andre: California man Andre Pompey was ordered this week to pay his revenge-porn victim $5.15 million and fork out an additional $150,000 as punishment, USA Today reports. "She wanted to stand up for herself," says Katrina Saleen, attorney of the 35-year-old woman who...

'Wall of Flames' Hits Northern Calif. City

At least 3 firefighters injured; bulldozer operator killed

(Newser) - An explosive wildfire tore through two small Northern California communities Thursday before reaching the city of Redding, killing a bulldozer operator on the fire lines, burning three firefighters, destroying dozens of homes, and forcing thousands to flee. Scott McLean, a CalFire spokesman for the crews battling the blaze, says flames...

California City Takes a Stand Against Facebook's Free Food

New office can't fully subsidize internal meals

(Newser) - There will be no free ice cream for the 2,000 employees set to fill Facebook's new office in Mountain View, Calif., later this year. Like many other tech companies in Silicon Valley, Facebook fills the bellies of its employees with free food, from oven-baked pizza to hand-rolled sushi....

Alleged Arsonist Arrested After Entire Town Evacuated

California police believe suspect set 5 fires

(Newser) - A fast-moving wildfire—believed to have been sparked by arson—tore through trees, burned five homes, and forced evacuation orders for an entire forest town as California sweltered under a heat wave and battled ferocious fires at both ends of the state. The so-called Cranston Fire, which erupted Wednesday in...

'Poker-Faced' Judges Hear Latest Brock Turner Claim

He only wanted 'outercourse' with his victim, lawyer says

(Newser) - Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer convicted in 2016 of sexually assaulting a woman outside a 2015 campus party, wasn't interested in intercourse but rather "outercourse," his lawyer claims. Eric S. Multhaup—who's hoping to overturn Turner's conviction for the attempted rape of an intoxicated...

Trump's Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame Is Now Rubble

It was basically destroyed, again, by a guy with a pickax

(Newser) - Vandalism has once again hit President Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This time, a man who had a pickax hidden in a guitar case almost completely destroyed the star, reducing it to mostly rubble, NBC Los Angeles reports. The suspect left the pickax at the star...

DMV Worker Literally Slept on the Job for Nearly 4 Years

Auditor's report found she napped for more than 2.2K hours

(Newser) - An employee responsible for logging changes in address and vehicle ownership at the California DMV slept at least three hours a day at her desk for nearly four years—and still has a job. The woman's 2,200 hours spent napping between February 2014 and December 2017 meant she...

Radioactive Particles Found in California Wine

Researchers believe bottles produced after 2011 bear signature of Fukushima fallout

(Newser) - Researchers say remnants of Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown have been detected in California wine. Per CNN , bottles of rosé and Cabernet sauvignon were tested for the radioactive isotope cesium-137, a byproduct of the fission of uranium-235, one of the substances in fuel rods used at the plant when...

The Family Was Gone, the Bed Was Made. That Was Troubling

Stacy Perman revisits the 1982 vanishing of the Salomon family

(Newser) - When an LAPD officer entered the Salomons' Northridge, Calif., home on Oct. 13, 1982, the family wasn't there but all seemed normal, down to the fact that the master bedroom's bed was made. That detail freaked Dorene Laffer out. She was Elaine Salomon's cousin, and the two...

Jockey Thrown After Horse Collapses, Dies on Racetrack

Victor Espinoza was injured but will recover

(Newser) - A famous jockey was injured Sunday after the horse he was riding went into cardiac arrest and died on the racetrack. Victor Espinoza was riding Bobby Abu Dhabi during morning training at California's Del Mar racetrack when the 4-year-old colt fell, dying instantly and throwing Espinoza, who was motionless...

Woman Killed in Hostage Standoff at Trader Joe's

Man in custody after shooting grandmother, car chase, gun battle, taking hostages

(Newser) - A California domestic dispute spiraled out of control Saturday, ending with the death of a complete stranger. Police say that an unidentified 28-year-old male got in a fight with his grandmother, shot her at least seven times, then forced another female into the grandmother's Toyota and fled, reports the...

Plan to Split California in 3 Hits Major Stumbling Block

Measure is kicked off November ballot

(Newser) - Tim Draper's latest plan to split California into multiple smaller Californias has hit a major stumbling block. The plan to create three Californias—Northern California, including the Bay Area and points north; Southern California, from Fresno to the Mexican border; and California, a coastal strip including Los Angeles—was...

Why 2 Friends Spent $1.4M on a Ghost Town

They're hoping to revive California's Cerro Gordo

(Newser) - On Friday, two friends became the proud new owners of a California ghost town. Cerro Gordo , a 300-acre town nestled in the Inyo Mountains not far from Death Valley, has a "Wild West" history thanks to the discovery of silver there in 1865; within four years, mining operations made...

Activist Upsets Feinstein For California Dem Endorsement

The state Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to endorse Kevin de León

(Newser) - A state senator has won an upset over longtime US Senator Dianne Feinstein. On Saturday, the California Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly to endorse Kevin de León instead of the 4-term incumbent after de León, a progressive out of Los Angeles, successfully lobbied party activists, per the AP . In...

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