A former FBI agent in Northern California who handled national security issues was convicted Tuesday of accepting at least $150,000 in gifts and cash bribes to provide confidential information to a man with organized crime ties, prosecutors said. Babak Broumand, 56, of Lafayette, was found guilty in Los Angeles...
Police: California Serial Killer ‘on a Mission’ in Slayings
A California serial killer seems to be “on a mission” throughout the fatal shooting of six men and the wounding of one woman dating back to last year. Ballistics tests and some video evidence linked the crimes in Stockton and Oakland, about 70 miles apart, police said. “We don’t...
France: Oscar Winners Cut off Their Hair for Iran Protesters
Oscar-winning actors Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche, as well as other French screen and music stars, filmed themselves chopping off locks of their hair in a video posted Wednesday in support of protesters in Iran. “For freedom,” Binoche said as she hacked a large handful of hair off the top of...
OPEC+ Makes Big Oil Cut; Price at Pump May Rise Further
The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries on Wednesday decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could deal the struggling global economy another blow and raise politically sensitive pump prices for U.S. drivers just ahead of key national elections. Energy ministers meeting at the...
Madera County Might Be Ground Zero in the California Drought
FAIRMEAD — As California's drought deepens, Elaine Moore’s family is running out of an increasingly precious resource: water. The Central Valley almond growers had two wells go dry this summer. Two of her adult children are now getting water from a new well the family drilled after the old...
Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter and Country Queen, Dies
Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died. She was 90. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lynn's family said she...
Retreating Russians Leave Their Comrades’ Bodies Behind
Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow's latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week. Meanwhile, Russia’s upper...
Report: Musk Proposes Going Ahead With Deal to Buy Twitter
Trading in shares of Twitter was halted after the stock spiked on reports that Elon Musk would proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months of legal battles. For a second time, Musk offered to buy the San Francisco company at $54.20. Twitter's stock jumped nearly 13% to $47.93 before...
Newsom Has Mixed Verdict on California Criminal Justice Laws
Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mixed verdict on more than three dozen criminal justice laws before his bill-signing deadline Friday, approving measures to seal criminal records and free dying inmates but denying bids to restrict solitary confinement and boost inmates' wages. Starting in July, one new law will give...
String of Killings of Stockton Men Related, Police Say
Rewards totaling $85,000 have been offered for information leading to an arrest in five fatal shootings since July in Stockton that investigators believe are related, police said. After reviewing surveillance footage, detectives have located an unidentified “person of interest” in the killings, Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden wrote on...