HEMET — A fire tore through a Southern California apartment early Friday, killing two girls and their father, who got out of the apartment but went back inside to try to rescue his children, police said. A boy rescued from the inferno was badly injured. Seven people were in the...
Former CHP Officer Charged With Receiving Child Pornography
REDDING — A retired California Highway Patrol officer from Redding was arrested Monday after being indicted on federal child pornography charges on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Timothy Allen Horwath, 50, knowingly received depictions of children in sexually explicit conduct from February to October of this year, according to...
A Locker, a Chirp: How Tiny Clues Help Solve Child Sex Cases
FAIRFAX, Va. — It was the odd-looking locker handles that caught their eye. Investigators spent hours poring over graphic images of little boys changing in and out of their swimsuits at what looked like a YMCA. They were hunting for any clue to help them identify the location — and...
A Better Way: Let’s Give PG&E's Customers the Reins
“I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the game 'Monopoly.' ”— Steven Wright The light at the end of the utilities’ tunnel has been shut off for the hundreds of thousands of California residents who have recently lost their power, been evacuated from their homes, or worse. The...
Mexico Farm Town Prepares Funerals After 9 Americans Slain
LA MORA, Mexico — With Mexican soldiers guarding the entrance to town, hundreds of people converged on this remote farming community for the first funerals Thursday for the nine American women and children killed in an ambush by drug cartel gunmen. A single, large grave was dug to hold the...
2 Dead, 12 Injured in Shooting at College Party in Texas
GREENVILLE, Texas — A gunman opened fire at an off-campus college party in Texas, leaving two people dead and 12 others injured before he escaped in the ensuing chaos, authorities said Sunday. Authorities believe the shooter may have been targeting just one person at the party of about 750 people...
Law Gives Child Sex Assault Victims More Time to File Suits
SACRAMENTO — California is giving childhood victims of sexual abuse more time to decide whether to file lawsuits, joining several states in expanding the statute of limitations for victims over warnings from school districts that the new rules could bankrupt them. The law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom gives...
Silver Lining in Epstein Saga: New Focus on Victims' Rights
NEW YORK — The Jeffrey Epstein case has brought national attention to victims' rights, from prosecutors shunning Epstein's accusers more than a decade ago to the same women speaking about their suffering at an extraordinary court hearing last month. If there was a silver lining to the saga, attorneys for...
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...
Leaders of California Ministry Charged With Forced Labor
EL CENTRO — A dozen leaders of a California-based ministry were arrested Tuesday on charges that they used homeless people as forced labor, holding them in locked group homes and forcing them to panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days a week, U.S. prosecutors said. The former pastor...