Category: Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday the arrest of a homeless man suspected of raping several women, prompting investigators to search for additional victims. Police officials said in a written statement that the suspect, identified as 37-year-old Kenneth Alan Woolfolk, has been linked to a total of at least four rape cases. His arrest comes more than a week after a woman reported to police that she had been raped by a man in a tent near the intersection of 1st and Judge John Aiso streets in Little Tokyo. Police said she described her attacker as an adult male, bald and with brown eyes, standing 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 160 lbs. As part of the investigation, the department said, detectives in the case returned to the area on Oct. 10 when they noticed a man fitting the description of the woman’s attacker. Detectives detained the man, later identified as Woolfolk, and placed him under arrest on suspicion of rape. During the investigation, detectives learned about three previous sexual assault investigations that had identified Woolfolk as a suspect. Police said they’re now

There’s a moment in the middle of “Red One,” the Christmas-themed action-comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, where you witness the movie just roll over and die. Time of death? A slap contest during Krampusnacht, the alternative St. Nicholas Day, in which a bunch of extras wearing rubber monster masks foraged from the set of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” stand around and watch as an unrecognizable Kristofer Hivju (the “Game of Thrones” actor playing Krampus) and Johnson take turns walloping each other across the face. Momentum grinding to a halt, the absurdities and indignities that unfolded before this point are all but forgotten, lost in a swirl of badly rendered pixels. The rest of the film is a limp to the finish line, not that it was all that spry to begin with. But is it sinewy? Yes. “Red One,” with a story by Hiram Garcia (Johnson’s former brother-in-law and producing partner), is a movie premised upon the most trenchant of questions: What if Santa Claus was jacked? J.K. Simmons provides the biceps as the St. Nick in question, a buff Father Christmas. Every

Two years after its launch, Amazon’s free ad-supported streaming service Freevee is shutting down, the company confirmed this week. Shows that play on the app will be available for free on Amazon’s Prime Video service even if a viewer does not pay for a subscription. Freevee, which got its start as Amazon’s IMDb TV but adopted its current name in 2022, is one of a handful of streaming services that rely on ads for revenue instead of paying subscribers. Paramount Global’s Pluto TV and Fox Corp.’s Tubi have similar models. “To deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out Freevee branding,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select Originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST Channels.” The change comes about 10 months after Prime Video launched a lower-cost option for subscribers that included advertisements. For an additional $3 per month

The cell phone ban at the country’s second-largest school district will begin early next year, and now officials are detailing just how the massive change will take effect. The Los Angeles Unified School District voted to ban cell phone use during the school day in June. It’s set to go into effect on Feb. 18, 2025, which is about a month later than the original implementation date. The headliner of the policy: cell phones won’t be permitted to be used on campus from the start of the school day through the end — not even during lunch or scheduled breaks. Bear cub spotted in tree outside Southern California high school The ban applies to all “smart” devices, like watches and tablets that have messaging and internet browsing capabilities. Each individual school will decide how phones are stored or locked up during the school day. Some, for example, may have students to place their phones inside of containers located in each classroom during instruction, while others could require them to be stowed inside of their backpacks. Examples of ways schools could force students to store their phones

Sales of Disneyland Magic Key passes have been paused once again after going on sale on Nov. 6. All four tiers of the annual passes, the Inspire key, the Believe key, the Enchant key, and the Imagine key, are only available for renewal. Disneyland offers specialty ticket deal for Disney+ subscribers The keys give park guests access to the parks on select dates, depending on availability and pass type. Passholders also receive select discounts on food and merchandise, as well as Lightning Lane Multi-Pass+, the park’s paid line-skipping service that replaced the FastPass program. In October, Magic Key prices increased from 14%. Disneyland launched the Magic Key program in August 2021 after retiring the popular annual passports during a yearlong shutdown of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will join forces to lead a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE, for short), President-elect Donald Trump announced. But what will the department do? Named in an apparent nod to the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin, DOGE is not actually a government agency. Instead, it will work outside the government to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement. The specifics of how the department will operate aren’t yet known, but it’s clear its two leads, Musk and Ramaswamy, will wield influence under the Trump administration, partnering with the Office of Management and Budget and advising the president. “It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” Trump said. Could financial struggles for 2 major airlines affect holiday travel? DOGE is on a deadline. It will finish work by July 4, 2026, according to Trump’s statement. “A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence,” he wrote. Musk, billionaire founder of Tesla and

A high school in Orange County closed Wednesday following an “unspecified threat,” and now school officials are looking for information surrounding it.  According to a release sent out to parents of students at Brea Olinda High School in Brea, the school stated that officials were first notified of the threat on Tuesday evening.  The threat, which was circulating on social media, contained an image of two firearms and the following text on the image: “look out for tomorrow, @bohs,” school officials said.  The school and district immediately reported the threat to local law enforcement, who have since launched an investigation.  Victims, suspect in deadly grocery store shooting in Los Angeles are all teenagers: LAPD “Ensuring the safety and well-being of students, staff and the community is the school’s highest priority,” BOHS said in their release, which was issued the same day as officials learned of the threat. “As a precaution, and since the threat could not be [immediately] confirmed as non-credible or credible, officials have made the decision to cancel all classes and school activities at BOHS scheduled for Nov. 13.”  No other schools in

By Nikki Nolan Updated on: November 13, 2024 / 4:17 PM EST / CBS News What the models agree on for November’s next tropical storm What the models agree on for November’s next tropical storm 03:34 The last day of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season is Nov. 30, but as we near that finishing line, the Caribbean has other thoughts in mind, with a potential tropical system brewing.   The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday afternoon that Potential Tropical Cyclone 19 has formed in the western Caribbean. If it reaches tropical storm strength, the  next name on the list  is Sara.  Hurricane hunters took off from Biloxi, Mississippi, at 12 p.m. ET Wednesday en route to investigate this area and determine the strength and structure of the developing weather system. Another flight is scheduled for Thursday morning for additional monitoring.  Map shows area in the western Caribbean with a 90% chance of tropical weather formation in the coming days, as of Nov. 13, 2024. CBS News With the low pressure system in place in the western Caribbean, conditions were favorable for the formation of a tropical

We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms. A HELOC allows homeowners to access their home equity at today’s lower interest rates. AnastasiaNi/Getty Images If you were looking to access your home equity in recent years, you may have steered clear of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) . And the reasoning was clear: HELOCs have variable interest rates subject to change for borrowers every month. That’s an advantage when interest rates are cooling but a distinct disadvantage when they’re on the rise, as they were for much of 2022 and 2023.  But as inflation cooled and other economic factors improved, interest rates came down again. The Federal Reserve issued its first cut to the federal funds rate in more than four years in September with a larger-than-anticipated 50 basis point reduction. And they issued another cut in November , albeit in a smaller 25 basis point amount. Expectations are also high that they’ll continue to cut rates in December, assuming this week’s inflation report was an outlier instead of the first of

The science behind our tears Why we cry when we’re sad, happy or stressed 05:08 Why do we weep? There are actually some good reasons for it — and an explanation for why a little blubbering can make us feel better.  On “CBS Mornings Plus” Wednesday, Dr. Gail Saltz, an associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, shared there are actually different types of tears, which serve different purposes.  Some tears cleanse your eyes and keep them moist.  “Those are ophthalmological issues, and they’re very different from emotional tears — social-emotional tears — which can be related to sadness, stress, anxiety, but also overwhelming joy, something that’s poignant.” Those social-emotional tears, she said, “have to do with deep brain structure, emotional intensity and subsequently this release of tears, and they contain different compounds like stress hormones, like cortisol and endorphins.” These types of tears are helpful because they provide an emotional release — what some refer to as  “a good cry.” “Those risen hormones that make you so stressed and so upset, they decrease after the cry, so

November 13, 2024 / 3:03 PM EST / CBS/AP Idaho women denied abortions testify in trial Idaho women denied abortions testify in trial 02:10 Four women suing over Idaho’s strict abortion bans told a judge Tuesday how excitement over their pregnancies turned to grief and fear after they learned their fetuses were not likely to survive to birth — and how they had to leave the state to get abortions amid fears that pregnancy complications would put their own health in danger. “We felt like we were being made refugees, medical refugees,” said Jennifer Adkins, one of the plaintiffs in the case. The women, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, aren’t asking for the state’s abortion ban to be overturned. Instead, they want the judge to clarify and expand the exceptions to the strict ban so that people facing serious pregnancy complications can receive abortions before they are at death’s door. Currently, the state’s near-total ban makes performing an abortion a felony at any stage of pregnancy unless it is “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.” Adkins’ fetus had a severe

A Lancaster teenager pleaded guilty Wednesday to making hundreds of “swatting” calls targeting religious institutions, schools and government officials with false threats of mass shootings, bombings and other violent crimes. Alan Filion, 18, entered his plea in federal court in Miami, Florida to four counts of making interstate threats to injure another person, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. “For well over a year, Alan Filion targeted religious institutions, schools, government officials, and other innocent victims with hundreds of false threats of imminent mass shootings, bombings and other violent crimes,” Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “He caused profound fear and chaos and will now face the consequences of his actions.” Filion faces up to 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. According to his plea agreement, Filion admitted making more than 375 threatening calls from August 2022 to last January, including calls in which he claimed to have planted bombs and/or would conduct mass shootings at the locations. Filion was 16 at the time he placed the majority of the calls, prosecutors said.

Former Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, edged ahead of state Sen. Richard Roth in the race to fill the soon-to-be-vacant seat on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, turning the contest into a dead heat as thousands of ballots remain uncounted. Medina and Roth are contending for the District 1 seat up for grabs with the year-end retirement of decade-long Supervisor Kevin Jeffries of Lakeland Village. Roth, D-Riverside, had enjoyed a nearly 10% margin over Medina on election night last week, but that spread compressed daily until the latest vote tabulation published Tuesday night by the Office of the Registrar of Voters showed Medina out front by roughly 350 votes, or .3%. An estimated 105,000 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots have yet to be tabulated. The next update on the count is slated for Wednesday night. Roth, who will term out of the state Senate in December, was an Air Force major general stationed in the area before entering politics. He spotlighted as accomplishments since 2012 securing funding for the UC Riverside School of Medicine and funds to increase the number of judicial officers countywide. “I’m running

Supporters and critics of a Moreno Valley history teacher who was placed on leave after a profane anti-Trump rant in class clashed over his fate at Tuesday’s Moreno Valley Unified District board meeting. The Valley View High School teacher called the president-elect a “rapist draft-dodging coward” during a lecture for his AP history students on Nov. 6. He told them Black and Latino voters didn’t support Kamala Harris because she has a “vagina and uterus,” and claimed that Latino voters who support Trump want to be white. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation, according to a Moreno Valley Unified School District spokesperson. Tuesday’s board meeting reached a fever pitch as some parents demanded that he be fired, while multiple students asked the district to consider their teacher’s character and not judge his entire career on one incident. “I believe that the way he approached it was a little unprofessional,” student Ezell Moreno said before the board meeting. “I believe that he had good faith, but is he going to be fired for one incident when he’s done

Canadian health officials announced Tuesday that a teenager infected with H5N1 bird flu from an unknown source is in critical condition. According to British Columbia Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry, the child is suffering from acute respiratory distress and was hospitalized on Friday. The teen is the first presumptive case of H5N1 bird flu in Canada. “Our thoughts continue to be with this person and their family,” said Henry. Authorities believe the virus was acquired via an animal source; however, the teen was not on a farm nor near any known wild birds or backyard poultry — common reservoirs for the disease. According to a CBC interview with Henry, the teen did not have any contact with birds but did interact with a variety of other animals — including a dog, cats and reptiles — in the days before becoming ill. Testing on those animals has so far been negative. The health authorities are also tracing people the teen was in contact with, and so far have not identified other infections. The situation is “horrifying,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown

John Krasinski’s coronation as People’s Sexiest Man Alive on Tuesday included a celebratory cover story, a glamorous photo shoot — and the promise of more domestic duties. The 45-year-old “Office” heartthrob and “Jack Ryan” actor joked that his wife and “A Quiet Place” co-star Emily Blunt has plans to keep him humble as he joins the ranks of honorees including Patrick Dempsey, Chris Evans, Michael B. Jordan, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. “I think it’s going to make me do more household chores,” Krasinski cracked in his cover story. “After this comes out, she’ll be like, ‘All right, that means you’re going to really earn it here at home,’” he added. Krasinski and the “Devil Wears Prada” alumna married in July 2010 and share two young daughters. While the Hollywood power couple has previously poked fun at their romance, Krasinski got candid about their marriage, telling the magazine he is “so lucky.” He also said it’s a “beautiful thing” to grow and evolve alongside the Oscar-nominated “Oppenheimer” star. Beyond the additional house chores, Krasinski said Blunt had joked about another way to celebrate his new

A study from Forbes found that California is home to some of the nation’s healthiest cities. The study’s methodology looked at the 46 most populous cities in the country and compared the following metrics: heart disease deaths, opioid deaths, the percentage of adults with diabetes, high blood pressure, or obesity. The criteria also considered the percentage of adults who reported binge drinking, smoking, or lack of physical activity in the past 30 days. San Jose ranked as the healthiest city in the country, according to the report, with low rates of opioid overdoses and obesity. Tips to beat holiday stress and boost gut health San Diego ranked fourth, San Francisco ranked sixth, Oakland ranked 13th, Los Angeles ranked 15th and Long Beach ranked 17th. Though California cities mostly landed near the top of the list, Bakersfield was listed as the 11th unhealthiest population and had the highest rates of heart disease per 100,000 residents. Fresno and Sacramento also ranked low on the list. Detroit, Michigan, which had the highest rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, ranked as the least healthy city in the

Fernando Valenzuela, the legendary Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, died of septic shock according to TMZ. Septic shock, which was listed as the 1981 NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award winner’s death certificate, is described by the Mayo Clinic as a “dramatic drop in blood pressure that can damage the lungs, kidneys, liver and other organs,” when the body responds improperly to an infection. FILE – Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela throws the ceremonial first pitch during the MLB All-Star baseball game, July 19, 2022, in Los Angeles. Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born phenom for the Los Angeles Dodgers who inspired “Fernandomania” while winning the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, has died Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File) Also listed on the certificate as underlying causes is decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis. The medical examiner believes he may have suffered from a rare brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which causes rapid mental decline. Valenzuela died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Oct. 22 at the age of 63. The Mexican-born pitcher inspired “Fernandomania” when

A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday morning.  According to a Los Angeles Fire Department emergency alert, the blaze was reported shortly before 10 a.m. in the 1400 block of North Palisades Drive.  Video from Sky5 shows several hot spots and plumes of smoke rising into the morning sky; the fire was preliminarily estimated at five acres, LAFD Public Information Officer Margaret Stewart confirmed to KTLA.   Fire engines and firefighting helicopters were seen dumping water on the hot spots as the blaze went through heavy brush adjacent to the Santa Ynez Reservoir. A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned a hillside in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Sky5) A vegetation fire burned

After 36 years Robitallies Fine Candies is closing its doors. In the final weeks of business, customers share their appreciation. Saira Bellamy, 10, and her brother, Oliver, have been coming to Robitaille’s since she was a baby. “We just have a lot of memories here,” she says. “It brightened all of our trips, and we just felt really comfortable and warm,” Oliver Bellamy added. Longtime customer Linda Reimel says the store on Linden Avenue in downtown has been a staple for her family and the community for years. “It’s going to be missed. Yeah, it’s a big part of Carpinteria,” Reimel said. Store owner Tami Robitaille told Carpinteria community reporter Juliet Lemar that shes seen generations of customers coming in every year, sharing their lives with the store. “We’ve had people take wedding pictures here, engagement pictures, family photos for Christmas time every year in the shop,” Robitaille said. Now, after 36 years of serving the community chocolates, candy and other tasty treats, Robitailles Fine Candies will be closing its doors permanently. “We hope to get more back into the community, volunteering and spending more

A driver was taken to the hospital after crashing off Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo Wednesday morning. San Luis Obispo police say just before 7 a.m., the driver of a car was heading southbound on the highway when they left the road and almost hit a box truck before crashing in front of the Tesla dealership located on the 1300 block of Calle Joaquin. Police say the car did hit a water back flow device located in front of the dealership, causing a release of water in the area. DUI is not suspected. The crash remains under investigation. No word on the extent of any injuries to the driver.