Category: Los Angeles

Neil deGrasse Tyson on why the moon sometimes looks so big and bright – CBS News Watch CBS News Astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why the moon sometimes appears larger and brighter in the night sky. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

How plastic Starbucks cups end up in trash CBS News investigation finds some Starbucks cups placed in recycling bins end up in landfills 06:23 Many consumers trust that when they toss a plastic cup into a recycling bin at a restaurant or coffee shop, it will be recycled and turned into something new. However, a CBS News investigation uncovered that this isn’t always true. CBS News investigated what happens at one of the largest users of plastic cups that advertises its recycling practices: Starbucks. Reporters placed plastic cold drink cups, embedded with trackers, into 57 labeled recycling bins at Starbucks locations across the country to see where the cups went. Only 36 provided reliable data.  The trackers were superglued between two Starbucks cold drink plastic cups and CBS News monitored each tracker’s location multiple times a day until the trackers stopped moving.  Of the 36 cups CBS News dropped, 32 did not go to a recycling facility. Fourteen cups were traced to landfills, five to incinerators, and thirteen to waste transfer stations, where trash is compacted before being sent to landfills or incinerators. Only four

How to protect yourself from Cyber Monday scams – CBS News Watch CBS News The FBI reported more than $73 million in consumer losses from holiday scams in 2022. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, joins “CBS Mornings Plus” with tips to stay safe while shopping online. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers are expected to spend a record 13.2 billion dollars on Cyber Monday 2024. The day was created in 2005 to promote online shopping, and it worked. Now, it’s synonymous with some of the best deals of the season. This year, the products are in stock and the deals are a-plenty. Follow Rich On Tech for more tech news, helpful tips and gadget reviews! “During the heart of the pandemic, it was really challenging to get deals, and now we’re seeing more deals that are sort of returning to pre-pandemic levels,” explained Annemarie Conte, an editor with the comparison website Wirecutter. “I think the real key is if you see something that you want at the price you want, buy it,” said Conte. This year, a new trend emerged: AI as a helpful shopping companion. If your ChatGPT account has access to the web (it’s mostly paid subscribers right now), it can return key information about which retailer has the best deal on a particular product. Perplexity.AI is also a great resource. It can combine multiple product reviews into one simple

State lawmakers will gavel in a special session Monday focused on a proposed $25-million litigation fund to respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s anticipated attacks on California policies on civil rights, climate change and abortion access. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the Legislature to approve the funding for the Department of Justice and other agencies so the state can file lawsuits against the federal government and defend against litigation from the Trump administration. “California is a tent pole of the country — from the economy to innovation to protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people. We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom said in a statement Sunday. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action. And that is exactly what this special session is about — setting this state up for success, regardless of who is in the White House.” Legislative Democrats have so far responded to Newsom’s request with two bills that will be considered as part of the

Once UCLA lost to USC, erasing the possibility of a winning season and a bowl game, the most important date on the Bruins’ calendar shifted to Dec. 9. That’s the day the transfer portal opens. More than anything else, DeShaun Foster’s success as the coach at his alma mater will hinge on his ability to fill holes on the roster and upgrade talent. UCLA is losing 26 seniors, at least 13 starters — including nine on defense — and maybe a handful of other players via the NFL draft or the transfer portal from a team that finished 5-7 in Foster’s first season. Among other things, the Bruins need a new starting quarterback, a disruptive edge rusher, several offensive linemen, another go-to tight end and an entirely new starting secondary. Will they have the name, image and likeness funds and persuasive recruiting pitch needed to restock their roster? Here are five questions facing Foster and the Bruins going into the most critical offseason of his coaching career: Who will play quarterback? UCLA quarterback Justyn Martin played well in his one college start, a loss at

(Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation) The Rose Bowl is a National Historic Landmark, and maintaining that status is paramount to people associated with the stadium and Pasadena preservationists. Among the signature elements essential to the design are the contiguous oval shape and the gradual slope — also known as the rake — of the seating. There’s logic behind the symmetry of the Rose Bowl. Organizers of the New Year’s Day game wanted to make sure there were no home and visiting teams. Everyone receives the same treatment, has identical locker rooms, etc. So preserving that contiguous shape — as opposed to, say, the asymmetry of SoFi Stadium or the Intuit Dome — took on a different importance. Then there’s the low-slung look of the seating, unlike the vertical prominence of modern stadiums. There are no obstructed-view seats in the Rose Bowl, and the suites and club seats are the farthest from the field, in the Terry Donahue Pavilion. Phase 2 of the Lasting Legacy Campaign includes resizing and improving the stadium seating, something that isn’t scheduled until 2029 at earliest. Instead of clawing into the existing

What to know about Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead FBI – CBS News Watch CBS News Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump announced loyalist Kash Patel is his pick to lead the FBI if current FBI director Chris Wray, who has three years left on his term, resigns or is fired. Patel, who would need to be confirmed by the Senate, was an active promoter of Trump’s false stolen election claims. CBS News’ Nancy Cordes has the latest. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Cyber Monday expected to break online shopping records – CBS News Watch CBS News Some retailers are offering their lowest prices of the season with the holidays in full swing. According to Adobe Analytics, on Friday alone consumers spent nearly $11 billion online, up 10% from last year. Consumers are expected to spend $13.2 billion on Cyber Monday, which is expected to be the biggest online shopping day ever. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Travelers return home from Thanksgiving amid winter storm – CBS News Watch CBS News Nearly 80 million Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday. Snow made driving conditions heading home treacherous in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and the upper Midwest. Kris Van Cleave shows how the storm impacted travelers by air and car. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Police are searching for a suspect who used a rock to shatter a window in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles Monday morning. The incident was captured on surveillance video just after 1 a.m. Monday at the Corner Grille Korean Fusion restaurant on Ventura Boulevard near Topanga Canyon. The video shows a rock being thrown at the business, partially shattering the window. A shattered glass is seen outside the Corner Grille Korean Fusion restaurant in Woodland Hills on Dec. 2, 2024. (KNN) The suspect then used a pickaxe to try and break the glass further. Despite the damage, nothing was reported stolen from the business. No description of the suspect was available.

A small dog was left behind by a motorist who slammed into a wall and then ran away in the Mission Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles early Monday morning. The crash was reported shortly before 1 a.m. in the 11300 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Brand Boulevard. Area residents heard the crash and came running out to find the four-door pickup truck had crashed through the wall before stopping in a backyard. A dog is found after a pickup truck slammed into a wall in Mission Hills on Dec. 2, 2024. (KNN) The driver had fled the area but an abandoned chihuahua was found inside the truck. Neighbors covered the dog with a blanket until police officers arrived at the scene. No description of the hit-and-run driver was available. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident.

They were children when their families’ Palm Springs homes were bulldozed and burned as part of the systematic destruction of a community. Now they’re in their 60s or older, and their loss is finally being acknowledged. The mostly Black and Latino families affected had found a haven on a 1-square-mile tract of land known as Section 14. Located adjacent to downtown Palm Springs, the land is owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, but the federal government had forbidden them to lease it long-term. Instead, from the 1930s into the 1960s, the tribe rented parcels to people with few housing options, particularly Black and Latino residents who worked in the city as housekeepers, carpenters, gardeners and more but were prevented from living in most of Palm Springs by discriminatory housing practices. Utilities were meager in Section 14, and residents often built their own modest homes. Though they didn’t own the land underneath, they created a community. Until it was ripped out from under them. What the city characterized as “slum clearance” in the 1950s and ’60s forced residents to flee their homes on

Updated on: December 2, 2024 / 6:39 AM EST / CBS/AP Bob Bryar, a former drummer with My Chemical Romance who played on the band’s career-defining rock opera, “The Black Parade,” has died, according to the band. He was 44. “The band asks for your patience and understanding as they process the news of Bob’s passing,” a spokesperson for My Chemcial Romance said in a statement Sunday The statement did not include any additional details. Bryar replaced drummer Matt Pelissier in 2004, but in 2006 he suffered third-degree burns in an accident while on the set of a music video in 2006, the BBC reported. Bryar went on to face multiple complications from the injuries, and was hospitalized for a staph infection. In 2010, the band posted a statement that Bryar had left, calling it a “painful decision,” the BBC reported. Bob Bryar of My Chemical Romance performs at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio, Texas as part of the Projekt Revolution tour on Aug. 3, 2007. Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic via Getty Bryar moved on from the music business and later auctioned off

Updated on: December 2, 2024 / 6:22 AM EST / CBS/AP 10 bodies found in Mexico amid cartel violence 10 bodies found in Acapulco, Mexico, amid cartel violence 04:06 Eight people are dead and two others are wounded after gunmen pulled up to a roadside stand in north-central Mexico and opened fire on customers and bystanders, authorities reported Sunday. Prosecutors in the  cartel-ravaged state of Guanajuato said the shooting occurred late Saturday in a busy commercial area with food and refreshment stands in the town of Apaseo el Grande. Eight men died just outside the stand, which was selling a traditional type of milk-based fudge. Another man and a woman were wounded in the attack, but there was no immediate report on their condition. Officials said two firefighters died in the shooting and local media reported that a paramedic was one of those killed in the shooting. The state ambulance and paramedic agency said an emergency medical technician had died late Saturday, but did not confirm whether he was one of those killed in the attack. Video posted on social media showed men’s bodies with

The soft-spoken 18-year-old had run out of food for his three younger siblings. He told the Canoga Park High School counselor that his mother was disappearing for days at a time, leaving him and his siblings, ages 11, 3 and 1, with hardly anything to eat. He filled his stomach with water to stave off the hunger. The senior, Alvondo Williams Jr., was sent home May 6 with a cooler filled with bread, milk, sandwich meat and cereal. The counselor then called the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services hotline to report possible neglect in a home with “more condiments than food.” Over the next two days, an LAPD officer and then a DCFS social worker toured the family’s Canoga Park apartment. Both took the full refrigerator — stocked with food the school had just provided — as a sign the children had enough to eat, according to DCFS records obtained by The Times. Despite receiving several reports this spring about a family with an absent mother and gnawing hunger, the DCFS never opened a case — even after another school counselor

For British director Steve McQueen, the past isn’t worth dramatizing unless it can illuminate the present, so when he makes films steeped in history — whether it’s “12 Years a Slave” or his World War II epic “Blitz” — he’s asking audiences to judge where we are now in relation to what’s happened before. “You measure yourself on where we’ve been, where we are and how far we need to go,” says McQueen. “It’s also, for me, who’s left out of these stories, and who has the upper hand to tell these stories.” It’s why “Blitz,” set in London during Nazi Germany’s cataclysmic bombing of the city, centers on the perspective of a munitions factory worker (Saoirse Ronan) and her mixed-race son (newcomer Elliott Heffernan), rather than a man on the front lines or in the corridors of power. While conducting research for “Small Axe,” his 2020 anthology of films about resilience in the city’s West Indian community, McQueen had come across a photograph of a Black boy on a train station platform awaiting evacuation during the Blitz. “I thought, ‘That’s an in,’” he recalls.

It was on a spontaneous trip to the movie theater that James Young took a chance on “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Same with 2004’s “Garden State.” And the quirky “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” They weren’t movies he had on his radar, but he enjoyed them — and “Eternal Sunshine” is now one of his favorite films . These days, however, the 47-year-old computer engineer hasn’t felt the same drive to go to the theaters and discover something new. Films are now in theaters for shorter amounts of time, meaning Young doesn’t happen upon as many movies as he used to. “They’re out of theaters by the time I would have turned around and gone to look for it or showed up at the theater,” said Young, a Morrisville, N.C., resident. “That’s what I miss. Being surprised by movies.” He isn’t alone. Casual moviegoing — when people show up to the theater on a whim and watch whatever is available — has been decreasing, particularly since the pandemic. Not only are there not enough movies bringing people in

State-ordered environmental testing has uncovered elevated levels of cancer-causing radiation at a popular spot for hikers and dog walkers in the Bay Area, according to a new report. Over the summer, the city of Albany hired hazardous waste specialists with Cabrera Services Inc. to survey for the presence of radioactive waste at the Albany Bulb, a former municipal landfill for construction debris that now features scenic hiking trails and a sprawling collection of outdoor art. State regulators ordered the investigation after discovering a 1980 archival document that suggested a former Richmond chemical plant dumped 11,000 tons of waste at the former Albany and Berkeley landfill from 1960 to 1971. The document indicated the waste may have included alum mud — a potentially radioactive sludge and byproduct of aluminum processing. After surveying the city-owned portion of the peninsula, Cabrera Services found 10 areas with elevated levels of gamma radiation — powerful electromagnetic energy that can penetrate human tissue and damage cells. Cabrera technicians are recommending that Albany conduct soil sampling in three places, where it determined alum mud or a radioactive object may be buried. Nearly

When Shiori Ito alleged at a 2017 news conference that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent TV journalist and friend of Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, had two years earlier drugged and raped her in a Tokyo Sheraton hotel, she hoped the revelation would spark media interest in her case. But instead, the young journalist was subjected to online trolling and so many threats that she vacated her apartment, eventually retreating to London. There, in the company of Hanna Aqvilin, a Swedish producer-director she’d met only via Skype, Ito’s determination resurfaced. “I started feeling like maybe I needed to do something, my own investigation as a journalist but also as a survivor,” she says while sitting in a cushioned alcove at the Four Seasons Hotel. “People in London said, ‘I want to make your documentary.’ And I didn’t want them to. I wanted to tell my own story.’” She wrote a memoir about the trauma, which some credit with starting Japan’s #MeToo movement, and worked on her documentary, pursuing legal cases against Yamaguchi for much of that intervening period. In “Black Box Diaries,” Ito uses everything she

How a fake wedding was used to sneak hundreds of Afghans to safety | 60 Minutes – CBS News Watch CBS News In the years since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. veterans and citizens have fought to help Afghans left behind, even hatching a daring fake wedding plot to help hundreds escape. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On