LOS ANGELES — A short walk from police headquarters in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, a cluster of bustling shops are openly selling packaging and hardware that can be used to produce counterfeit marijuana vapes that have infected California’s cannabis market. Bootleggers eager to profit off unsuspecting consumers are...
Protest Likely to Greet Trump Fundraising Trip in California
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — President Donald Trump is making a rare visit to California, a Democratic stronghold where he is expected to rake in millions of dollars during a series of fundraisers for his reelection effort that are almost certain to be met with jeering protests. Trump has routinely mocked...
Behind Newsom's Break with Democrats on Environmental ‘Trump Insurance’ Bill
In a break with the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Gov. Gavin Newsom sided with farmers and water agencies Saturday by rejecting legislation aimed at blocking the Trump administration from rolling back endangered species protections. Over Newsom’s objections, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins pushed forward with votes on what is the most...
CA College Students Shell Out $2K a Month for Housing, Books, Food Alone
The price of college has become a hot-button issue at both the state and national level, but data has been scarce about how much, beyond tuition, California students actually spend on the housing, food, textbooks and other non-tuition items that they also need to earn a degree. On Thursday, a state survey offered some...
Walters: Housing Action Just Half-a-Loaf
Gavin Newsom’s first legislative session as governor began with promises to vigorously confront California’s huge and ever-growing housing shortage. “If we want a California for All, we have to build housing for all,” Newsom told legislators in his State of the State address in January, pledging to crack down on cities that...
Meet California's Most Unlikely Philanthropist: 18-Year-Old Fabiola
This spring — as federal prosecutors announced charges against wealthy Californians, who paid bribes to get their kids into elite universities — a poor kid from a poor California town faced her own dilemma: How could she help others go to college? Fabiola Moreno Ruelas, an 18-year-old from the Salinas...
California Lawmakers May Trim Repeat Offenders’ Sentences
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are on the verge of approving legislation to trim prison sentences for repeat nonviolent felonies. Current law adds an additional year to offenders' sentences for each previous prison or jail term. The bill approved by the state Assembly on Thursday would remove the mandatory one-year enhancement....
Snoozing Crew Raises Specter of Criminal Charge in Boat Fire
LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators identified a violation of Coast Guard regulations that could trigger criminal charges in the California dive boat disaster that killed 34 people. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that all crew members on the boat Conception were asleep when the pre-dawn fire broke out...
PG&E Reaches $11B Deal With California Wildfire Insurers
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric and a group of insurers announced Friday they reached an $11 billion settlement to cover most of the claims from Califonria's wildfires in 2017 and 2018. The utility said in a statement the tentative agreement covers 85% of the insurance claims from fires...
Marijuana Seized From Building Co-Owned by Ex-Congressman Denham
Turlock police have seized nearly 4,000 illegal marijuana plants inside a building co-owned by former U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham. The Modesto Bee says police raided the industrial building Wednesday, arresting five people and seizing guns, pot, and other drugs. Denham belongs to the limited liability corporation that owns the building, according to...