Category: Los Angeles

Students are elated and parents are relieved as dozens of L.A. Unified elementary and early-education campuses reopen after pandemic shutdown.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Paul George continued to dominate his former team by scoring 36 points on Tuesday night, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 126-115 victory at Indiana. The Clippers have won six straight and 12 of 14 overall. George also had seven rebounds and eight assists while improving to 4-0 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse since being traded by the Pacers to Oklahoma City in July 2017. He has topped the 30-point mark in each of the Clippers’ last four games, the last two without All-Star teammate Kawhi Leonard, who sat out with a sore right foot. Indiana was led by Malcolm Brogdon’s 29 points. Caris LeVert scored 26 as the Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak. It sure didn’t look as if the game would be lopsided after a topsy-turvy first half, which included a 15-point first quarter from George amid a chorus of boos as the Clippers led 67-65. And Los Angeles still was clinging to a 100-97 cushion after an equally entertaining third quarter. But George made two of the first three baskets in the fourth quarter to spur 8-0 run…

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 101-93 win against a Charlotte Hornets team missing five of its top six scorers on Tuesday night. Dennis Schroder added 19 points and Andre Drummond chipped in with 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who closed out a seven-game road trip with a 4-3 record to remain in fifth place in the Western Conference. Devonte Graham led the Hornets with 19 points. Caleb Martin had 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Lakers held the Hornets to 43.4% shooting overall and 25.7% from 3-point range. The game was largely a battle of backups, with the Hornets missing four starters due to injury and the Lakers three. Charlotte was missing more than 72% of its scoring with Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington joining LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk on the bench. The Lakers, who are still without All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, were missing Markieff Morris due to a sprained left ankle. The Lakers built a 10-point lead in the closing seconds of the third quarter behind…

INGLEWOOD (CBSLA) — Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium will play host an all-star concert that will be broadcast and streamed worldwide as part of a global effort to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, organizers announced Tuesday. Selena Gomez will host the event, which will include performances by Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, the Foo Fighters, J Balvin and H.E.R. “As a global community, we are in a race against time and the key to coming back together is the vaccine,” Global Citizen co-founder/CEO Hugh Evans said in a statement. “We need to build vaccine confidence in the U.S. and globally, and encourage people to take the vaccine as quickly as possible. “There is a light at the end of this tunnel, but getting vaccines to everyone, everywhere regardless of who they are or where they are from, is key to ensuring the end of this pandemic around the world,” the statement continued. “We must all unite to get back on track to eradicating extreme poverty.” The broadcast will encourage donations with the goal of ensuring vaccines can be administered to 27 million healthcare workers worldwide, including…

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — The Long Beach Public Library announced Tuesday it is launching Tech To-Go, a Chromebook and Mifi hotspot lending service. “The past year highlighted the importance of access — not only to traditional library services but also to supporting our day-to-day technology needs,” Mayor Robert Garcia said. “Providing Chromebooks and hotspots are essential to ensuring no one in our community is left behind.” Starting Thursday, full-access library cardholders 18 years and up can schedule requests for devices online or by calling the library directly. Starting April 20, the Chromebook or MiFi hotspots can be picked up, though reservations must be made at least one day in advance. Library staff will be available for assistance Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The devices may be loaned for two weeks at a time. Parents or guardians must use their library card to borrow the devices for residents who are under 18. The Tech To-Go service will be available at all LBPL To-Go locations:  Billie Jean King Main Library, 562-570-7500; Bay Shore, 562-570-1039; El Dorado, 562-570-3136; Bret Harte, 562-570-1044; Los Altos, 562-570-1045;…

A decade after prison crowding forced California to realign its criminal justice system, the population in what once was the nation’s largest state correctional system has shrunk to the point where officials announced Tuesday they will close one of two inmate firefighter training centers. The California Correctional Center in Susanville will close by July 2022, officials said, the second such prison closure announced in recent months. The changes have inmates’ attorneys worrying that crowding could eventually again become a problem. The 58-year old prison, one of two in rural Lassen County in northeastern California, trains inmate firefighters who staff 14 firefighting camps in Northern California. The number of lower-level inmates eligible for the camps has been dwindling for years because of changes in state law and most recently the pandemic. After the prison closes, all firefighter training will be at the Sierra Conservation Center in Jamestown, east of Stockton. Minimum security facilities at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi and the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad will also close by July 2022 due to a reduced inmate population, state corrections officials said. They announced in…

Serena Williams has signed a deal with Amazon Studios under which she will create scripted and non-scripted programming, including a docuseries that follows her exploits on and off the court, the tennis star said Tuesday. Williams made the announcement during a conversation with actor Michael B. Jordan that was part of a charitable event organized by Vanity Fair magazine. The 39-year-old Williams, who ranks second all-time with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, said she hopes to “bring really special stories to film, and to people’s homes.” Williams, who has limited her schedule in recent years because of injuries and the birth of her daughter, has not played since she lost in the Australian Open semifinals in February to Naomi Osaka, who went on to win the title. Exclusive: Serena Williams announces a forthcoming docu series on “yours truly” and a first-look deal with Amazon @PrimeVideo Studios. “For me, it’s really about telling great stories that are either untold or unseen or missed.” #vfchlive pic.twitter.com/nKM9XeumeR— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 13, 2021

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The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday gave top LAPD officials two weeks to consolidate three recent reports on the department’s handling of last summer’s protests into a single plan of action that identifies top reform priorities, estimates associated costs and sets a timeline for implementation.

The arrest comes nearly 25 years after Smart vanished while walking back to her dorm at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

SAN LUIS OBISPO (CBSLA) – Authorities have arrested a San Pedro man in connection with the 1996 San Luis Obispo disappearance of 19-year-old Kristin Smart. An undated photo of 19-year-old Kristin Smart. (CBS News) Forty-four-year-old Paul Flores was taken into custody Tuesday on suspicion of murder, authorities said. His father, 80-year-old Ruben Flores, was also booked Tuesday morning on felony suspicion of accessory after the fact, according to San Luis Obispo County jail records. CBSLA cameras caught footage of investigators searching Flores’ San Pedro home Tuesday morning. However numerous searches have not yet led authorities to Smart’s remains. “We have not recovered Kristin,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said at a news briefing. “We will continue to focus on finding her remains, regardless of any court action. So we will continue the process of finding out where Kristin is.” Over the last decade, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department has served 41 warrants and performed physical searches at more than a dozen locations in an attempt to solve the case. Parkinson, acknowledging that mistakes have been made, confirmed that the most recent…

Erik Denton was supposed to see his three young children last Sunday, the one day every other week that he was allowed to be with them. Three-year-old Joanna, her 2-year-old brother, Terry, and 6-month-old sister, Sierra, had been staying with their mother — Denton’s ex-girlfriend — in the Reseda section of Los Angeles. Fearful for their safety, their father had petitioned the court for custody March 1, alleging their mother, Liliana Carrillo, was delusional and had taken the kids and refused to tell him where they were. Carrillo, in turn, filed a restraining order against him and claimed Denton was an alcoholic who may have sexually abused their eldest child. As the case wound through family courts in Tulare and Los Angeles counties, the parents traded accusations in dozens of pages of documents. Police were called, social workers were consulted, alarming text messages and Facebook posts were saved as legal exhibits. A week ago, a Los Angeles judge agreed to move the case to Tulare County, where a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday. It would be too late. The children were found dead Saturday by…

A man was taken into custody Monday after allegedly stabbing a Chihuahua to death in Thousand Palms, officials said. Alfredo Leon Ruiz, 37, was arrested on suspicion of felony animal cruelty, the Riverside County Department of Animal Services said in a news release Tuesday. An investigation found that the dog, a tan male estimated to be about 10 months to about a year-and-a-half old, had been tossed over a fence and into the backyard of a property on Arbol Real Avenue. The owner of the property did not know about the dog until informed by a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy. The dog was already dead from severe injuries. A witness told the deputy that a man waving a knife appeared to be bashing the dog against an object, Sgt. Miguel Hernandez of Animal Services said. The man also allegedly made death threats to a neighbor. “The dog was covered in blood and appeared to have large lacerations on its head and chest that appeared to be inflicted with a sharp object,” Hernandez said. The dog was transported to the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand…

California lawmakers Tuesday rejected a bill that would have banned fracking in the state, succumbing to pressure from the powerful oil and gas industry and their labor union allies who warned the bill would have cost good-paying jobs. The bill was inspired in part by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year announced the state would ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars by 2035. He also called on the state Legislature to ban new permits for fracking, a technique to extract oil and gas embedded in rock deep beneath the surface. Two Democratic state senators — Scott Wiener from San Francisco and Monique Limón from Santa Barbara — introduced legislation earlier this year that would have banned fracking by 2027. They later changed the bill to ban fracking by 2035. But it wasn’t enough to win over some of their Democratic colleagues, who could not muster enough votes on Tuesday to advance the bill out of committee. The bill needed five votes to advance, but it only got four. Democratic Sen. Susan Eggman of Stockton joined two Republicans in voting against the bill,…

At a time when multiplying tent camps are making homelessness appear to be an ever-worsening fact of life in Los Angeles, a sign of hope has arisen in Hollywood, historically among the region’s magnets for those living on the fringe. Last year, contrary to what many residents and homeless advocates alike perceived, the number of people sleeping on Hollywood’s streets declined by 12%, reversing an upward trend of several years. That’s the finding of an unofficial count of the unsheltered population conducted by a coalition of Hollywood businesses, churches and nonprofit groups that stepped up to fill the void when this year’s countywide count was canceled due to the coronavirus. The survey, released Tuesday, found homelessness down 12% on average in the 40 census tracts that make up Hollywood and East Hollywood. But the change was markedly uneven across that area, a phenomenon that helped explain how the total could be down even as some homeless camps were growing larger. Read the full story on LATimes.com.

The arrest comes nearly 25 years after Smart vanished while walking back to her dorm at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

A proposal to outlaw hydraulic fracturing and ban oil and gas wells from operating near homes, schools and healthcare facilities failed in the California Legislature.

Colleagues of Aguilar, who died Saturday at age 46, remember the “Simpsons” veteran as a warm and generous friend with a wicked sense of humor.