MERCED — Two men have been arrested on suspicion of shooting a California sheriff's deputy whose protective vest may have saved his life. Javier Delgadillo-Munoz and Paul Glenn, both of Modesto, were arrested Wednesday night after the attack on the deputy, the Merced Sun-Star reported. It wasn't immediately clear whether the...
HUD Reporting 2.7% Percent Uptick in Homeless Population
WASHINGTON — The federal government is reporting a 2.7% increase in the nation’s homeless population driven by a spike in California, according to an annual count that took place in January 2019. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is reporting its third consecutive uptick in its homelessness projection, based on a...
Sen. Feinstein Urges Newsom-Trump Teamwork on California Water
Sen. Dianne Feinstein waded into California's water wars as a peacemaker Thursday morning. Listen to this article: In a letter, the six-term Democrat urged Gov. Gavin Newsom and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to work together to develop consistent standards for water projects in California. Potential for Conflicting Rules "I urge...
Walters: California’s High-Tech FI$Cal Debacle
In 1966, as the United States was wallowing in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, U.S. Sen. George Aiken of Vermont famously suggested that the United States simply “declare victory and get out.” For more than a decade, California’s politicians and bureaucrats have been promising a high-technology system that would...
Judge OKs Nearly $25 Billion for PG&E Fire Victims, Insurers
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved two Pacific Gas & Electric settlements totaling $24.5 billion to help pay the losses suffered by homeowners, businesses and insurers in the aftermath of catastrophic Northern California wildfires that sent the nation’s largest utility into a financial morass. The decision...
Cold Case: Police Seek Thief Who Shoved Frozen Shrimp Down Pants
RIVERSIDE — A thief stuffed a total of 30 bags of frozen shrimp down his pants in back-to-back burglaries of a Southern California grocery store, police said Wednesday. The man took the shrimp from a Vons market in the city of Riverside by entering the store three times in a...
Sanders, Bloomberg Test Different Paths to a California Win
LOS ANGELES — One is spending millions of dollars flooding the airwaves from Los Angeles to Sacramento, highlighting his tenure as mayor of the nation's largest city and commitment to key Democratic causes. The other has hired 80 staff members to knock on doors, organize volunteers and promote his message...
Walters: What Now for PG&E?
Gov. Gavin Newsom says he wants Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to become a “radically restructured and transformed utility that is responsible and accountable…” But how? Newsom, in rejecting the company’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy late last week, once again denounced it for “more than two decades of mismanagement,...
California Freelance Journalists Sue Over New State Law
SACRAMENTO — Freelance writers and photographers on Tuesday filed the second legal challenge to a broad new California labor law that they say could put some independent journalists out of business. The law taking effect Jan. 1 aims to give wage and benefit protections to people who work as independent...
Report: 5th Straight Year With Under 30 Executions in US
WASHINGTON — Fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States and under 50 new death sentences were imposed for the fifth straight year, part of a continuing decline in capital punishment that saw only a few states carry out executions, a new report issued Tuesday said. But even...