California's financially battered restaurants filed government claims Monday to recover more than $100 million in fees for liquor and health permits and tourism charges that they say were assessed even though their businesses were shuttered or only partially operating under long-running coronavirus orders. The owners contend they have been being...
Unemployment Debit Cards Frozen Over Fraud Concerns in California
SACRAMENTO — At least 350,000 debit cards filled with money for unemployment benefits in California have been frozen because of suspected fraud, state officials said, revealing how prevalent the problem has become now that the state has paid more than $105 billion in benefits since March. The Employment Development Department...
California Court Says Uber, Lyft Drivers Are Employees
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court on Thursday upheld an order requiring Uber and Lyft to treat their California drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, less than two weeks before voters will be asked to exempt the ride-hailing giants from the state's gig economy law. The decision won't...
Judge Throws Out Extortion Charges Against Megachurch Leader
LOS ANGELES — Citing insufficient evidence, a judge on Wednesday threw out extortion charges against the leader of a Mexican megachurch but left in place accusations of child rape and human trafficking. The California attorney general's office failed to show that Naasón Joaquín García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz...
Cut San Quentin Prison Population by Half, Court Orders
SACRAMENTO — A California appeals court has ordered state corrections officials to cut the population of one of the world's most famous prisons to less than half of its designed capacity, citing officials' “deliberate indifference” to the plight of inmates during the coronavirus pandemic. State prison officials said Wednesday that...
Watchman Could Have Saved Lives in California Boat Fire, Probe Finds
LOS ANGELES — The lack of a required night watchman aboard a scuba dive boat delayed the detection of a fast-moving fire that trapped and killed 34 people below deck as the vessel was anchored off the Southern California coast last year, federal investigators said Tuesday. The predawn fire aboard...
Becerra Wants State GOP to Turn Over Private Ballot Box User Names
SACRAMENTO — California's Democratic attorney general asked a judge Tuesday to make the state Republican Party hand over the names and contact information of every person who used one of the GOP's unofficial ballot drop boxes to vote. State officials had ordered the party last week to remove every unofficial...
Woman Missing for 2 Weeks Found Safe in Zion National Park
SPRINGDALE, Utah — A California woman who was missing for about two weeks in Zion National Park in Utah has been found and left the park with her family who had feared the worst, authorities said. Holly Suzanne Courtier, 38, of Los Angeles, was found Sunday by search and rescue...
California Jobless Rate Dips as Jobs Added Despite Pandemic
SACRAMENTO — California has regained more than a third of the 2.6 million nonfarm jobs the most populous state lost to the coronavirus pandemic in March and April, state officials said Friday. The leisure and hospitality sector accounted for half the overall gain of 96,000 jobs, after experiencing the largest...
Creek Fire Won’t Get Federal Disaster Aid as Trump Administration Denies State Request
SAN FRANCISCO — President Donald Trump's administration this week rejected California’s request for disaster relief funds aimed at cleaning up the damage from six recent wildfires, including the Creek Fire, among the siege of deadly and destructive blazes that have scorched the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom formally submitted a...