California's Democratic leadership has once again executed a dramatic policy reversal following intense public backlash, this time on legislation concerning sex trafficking of minors, San Francisco Chronicle reports. Assembly Democrats initially opposed strengthening penalties for adults who purchase 16- and 17-year-olds for sex, stripping Assembly Member Maggy Krell's bill (AB379)...
Fresno Police Activity Shuts Down Stretch of Blackstone Avenue
Update on May 14, 2025 at 10:18 a.m. The Fresno Police Department reported that the suspect was arrested and that the road closure will open up soon. Original Story A portion of Blackstone Avenue is closed Wednesday for an active call involving a wanted suspect believed to be contained in...
Tulare County Authorities Seeks Suspects in Armed Carjacking
Deputies are searching for two suspects involved in an armed carjacking early Wednesday in Poplar, authorities said. Just before 12:30 a.m., Tulare County sheriff’s deputies responded to the 14600 block of Road 190 for reports of a carjacking. According to investigators, the victim told deputies two suspects wearing all black...
Trump Tariffs, Rising Health Care Costs Knock CA Budget Back Into Deficit
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Facing a long horizon of budget deficits, California officials stretched and scrimped and massaged the numbers to stabilize the state’s finances last year. But an unforeseen economic downturn, spurred by President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs strategy, has knocked...
Waymo Recalls 1,200 Self-Driving Vehicles After Minor Collisions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alphabet's Waymo is recalling more than 1,200 self-driving vehicles to update software and address risks of collisions with chains, gates and other roadway barriers after U.S. auto safety investigators opened a probe last year. The recall affects 1,212 Waymo vehicles operating on the company's fifth-generation automated driving...
How Ancient Reptile Footprints Are Rewriting the History of When Animals Evolved to Live on Land
WASHINGTON — Scientists in Australia have identified the oldest known fossil footprints of a reptile-like animal, dated to around 350 million years ago. The discovery suggests that after the first animals emerged from the ocean around 400 million years ago, they evolved the ability to live exclusively on land much...
Cassie Details Her Hotel Hallway Beating by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ at His Trial
NEW YORK — The R&B singer Cassie returned to the witness stand Wednesday in ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs' sex trafficking trial and described a vicious beating he gave her that was caught on surveillance video at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. The video showed Combs hitting, kicking and attempting...
Pope Meets Sinner: World No. 1 Gives Tennis Fan Pope Leo XIV Racket
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has made peace with Jannik Sinner. The top-ranked tennis player visited the new pope on Wednesday, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, during an off day for Sinner at the Italian Open. Leo, the first American pope, is an avid tennis...
Ford to Recall More Than 273,000 Vehicles
(Reuters) - Ford Motor is recalling 273,789 vehicles in the United States as a loss of brake function may increase the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Wednesday. The recall affects certain 2022-2024 model Navigator and Expedition vehicles, NHTSA added. Brake fluid in the...
Trump’s Middle East Visit Comes as His Family Deepens Its Business, Crypto Ties in the Region
WASHINGTON — It’s not just the “gesture” of a $400 million luxury plane that President Donald Trump says he’s smart to accept from Qatar. Or that he effectively auctioned off the first destination on his first major foreign trip, heading to Saudi Arabia because the kingdom was ready to make big investments in...