Category: Los Angeles

Two attorneys for Danny Masterson and a private investigator could face disciplinary investigations for their conduct toward jurors after the disgraced actor’s rape conviction, a judge ruled Tuesday. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, who earlier this year wrote she was “troubled” to learn members of Masterson’s legal team contacted jurors at their homes and workplaces, said she would refer attorneys Eric Multhaup and Clifford Gardner, as well as private investigator Lynda Larsen, to state regulatory bodies for disciplinary investigations. In a September court order, Olmedo wrote that several jurors had been the subject of “unwanted contact at their homes or work by members of the defense team,” and noted the jurors had asked her to “inquire how the defense team obtained their identifying information.” At the end of Masterson’s trial last year, Olmedo sealed all identifying information about the jurors. But on Sept. 15, “a member of Mr. Masterson’s habeas team” appeared on the lawn of one juror and tried to interview her, according to an email that juror sent to the court. Multhaup told The Times last month that his investigator

A fire damaged a commercial building in the Palm area of Los Angeles Tuesday, but no one was hurt. Firefighters sent to the 3300 block of South Robertson Boulevard at 10:54 a.m. extinguished the flames in the single-story structure in 32 minutes, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a new three-year contract with the union representing Riverside County sheriff’s deputies and District Attorney’s Office investigators, guaranteeing pay increases to members totaling 19% over the duration of the compact. In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board authorized implementation of the $164 million collective bargaining agreement between the county and Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, which takes effect immediately. It will expire on Dec. 9, 2027. Automatic pay hikes are at the core of the contract and apply to members in the “minimum and maximum range of all classifications,” according to the terms. The first across-the-board hike, totaling 9%, will go into effect this week. The next auto hike, totaling 5%, will take effect on Dec. 11, 2025, and the final 5% hike will be added to members’ paychecks beginning Dec. 11, 2026, according to the agreement. The county General Fund will cover roughly half the contract costs, while the sheriff’s departmental budget will cover the other half. More than 1,600 employees are covered under the compact, which is specifically with RSA’s Law Enforcement Unit, encompassing patrol deputies, school resource

A multi-use project development off Froom Ranch Way in San Luis Obispo could now include more housing instead of commercial developments. The project is broken down into 11 lots. Lot seven is up for discussion by the City Council Tuesday night. The space was previously planned as commercial space, but now developers want to use it for 276 apartment units. In documents submitted to the city, the change is being requested due to a decreased interest in commercial properties since the initial plan was adopted in 2018 and an increased need for housing in San Luis Obispo. The SLO Ranch team is partnering with Williams Homes and Peoples Self-Help Housing on the proposal. The city is currently working on an impact fee update, which is expected to go to the council for adoption in 2025. If youd like to comment on the project or learn more about it, the San Luis Obispo City Council will discuss it at its meeting on Tuesday, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

The City of San Luis Obispo welcomed new council members while honoring old ones during a swearing-in ceremony Monday. According to the city’s Facebook page, a special meeting was held to thank outgoing council member Andy Pease for her dedication to the community during her term. New members like Mike Boswell were then welcomed and sworn in, alongside Mayor Erica A. Stewart and council member Jan Marx. The same night, council member Michelle Shoresman was appointed as the city council’s new vice mayor.

Thune elected Senate Republican leader John Thune elected Senate Republican leader as Mitch McConnell steps down 02:39 Washington — Sen. Mitch McConnell, the outgoing Republican leader in the Senate, suffered a fall on Capitol Hill after a lunch with colleagues and suffered minor injuries, his office said Tuesday. “Leader McConnell tripped following lunch. He sustained a minor cut to the face and sprained his wrist. He has been cleared to resume his schedule,” a McConnell spokesman said. The 82-year-old Kentucky Republican is set to step aside from his leadership role next month when the new Congress convenes, clearing the way for Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to take the reins as the GOP assumes the majority.  Thune said McConnell was “fine” and referred further questions to McConnell’s staff. Medical personnel were seen leaving McConnell’s office, and the senator was spotted with a brace on his wrist and a bandage under his eye later in the day, telling reporters he was feeling “good.” This isn’t the first health scare that McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, has had in public.  McConnell was hospitalized in March 2023

Trump, Ernst support Hegseth’s push to remain in confirmation process – CBS News Watch CBS News Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst is appearing more comfortable with Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense. CBS News’ Shawna Mizelle has more. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms. Savers can earn a substantial amount of interest by opening a $10,000 CD for 2025. Delphine Poggianti/Getty Images Withdrawing $10,000 from your savings account to deposit it elsewhere isn’t a move that should be taken lightly. It can take an extended period to build up those savings, so accessing those funds should be approached strategically and carefully, particularly in today’s cooling interest rate climate. With inflation dramatically lower than what it was two years ago, the federal funds rate has since been reduced multiple times. The next and final cut of 2024 is widely expected when the Federal Reserve meets again on December 17 and 18. In this climate, then, savers should consider moving $10,000 into a certificate of deposit (CD) account . And they should strongly consider depositing it into a long-term CD, which matures in more than 12 months, specifically. Below, we’ll explain why. See how much more interest you could earn on your money with a long-term CD here. Why you should

What Trump assassination task force learned Trump assassination attempts probe leaders concerned over Secret Service “culture of silence” 12:32 Washington — The House task force investigating the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump released a final report on its probe on Tuesday, presenting a series of recommendations to combat future security failures, including reducing the number of officials it protects during campaign season. “The Task Force found that the tragic and shocking events in Butler, Pennsylvania were preventable and should not have happened. There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former President,” the 180-page report said, noting that “various failures … coalesced to create an environment in which the former President — and everyone at the campaign event — were exposed to grave danger.” The House voted to establish the panel following the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, where a gunman opened fire during a rally and a bullet grazed the former president’s ear. Secret Service snipers shot and killed the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. The Secret Service

A convicted murderer from Los Angeles County may have used a makeshift key to shed his handcuffs and shackles before making a brazen escape last week. According to a report from Kern County radio host Ralph Bailey, Cesar Hernandez may have used a manufactured key to pick the lock of his cuffs during a transport to a courthouse in Delano. “He had a cuff key that enabled him to unshackle himself,” Bailey said, citing law enforcement sources. Additional homemade keys may have also been found in Hernandez’s cell, he added. If accurate, the claim answers a question posed by many after exclusive video obtained by KTLA sister station KGET showed an unshackled Hernandez easily outrunning a trailing guard. Video obtained by KGET shows a prison guard chasing after escaped murderer Cesar Hernandez on Dec. 2, 2024 in Delano. Video obtained by KGET shows a prison guard chasing after escaped murderer Cesar Hernandez on Dec. 2, 2024 in Delano. Video obtained by KGET shows a prison guard chasing after escaped murderer Cesar Hernandez on Dec. 2, 2024 in Delano. While it sounds like something out of

A bicyclist was struck by two cars and killed in Fullerton on Monday night, and while one motorist stayed and cooperated, police are now searching for the other driver involved.  According to the Fullerton Police Department, officers were dispatched to the area of South Euclid Street and West Orangethorpe Avenue regarding a subject down in the roadway just after 8 p.m.  When they arrived, they located a female and a bicycle in the eastbound lanes of Orangethorpe at Jefferson Avenue. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene by Fullerton Fire Department paramedics; her identity has yet to be released by the Orange County Coroner’s Office.  “Preliminary investigations indicate that the female was walking with her bicycle in the number one eastbound lane of West Orangethorpe when she was struck,” Fullerton police said. “During the investigation, [officials] learned the female had been struck by a second vehicle after the initial collision.”  LASD investigating early-morning deputy-involved shooting in East L.A. The 32-year-old Westminster resident behind the wheel of a 2003 Lexus RX 300, which was the first vehicle to strike the woman, remained at the scene

Incident commanders involved in the battle against the Franklin Fire in Malibu are offering the public a three-dimensional view of the situation. A 3D map available through Cal Fire’s incident homepage shows the active fire perimeter, the areas under evacuation orders and warnings, and notable roads and structures, including the Pepperdine University campus. Users can rotate, pan, zoom and click on layers to see additional fire and evacuation information. As of midday Tuesday, the Franklin Fire had charred 2,593 acres of dry brush on the east side of Pepperdine’s campus and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains along Malibu Canyon Road and north of the Pacific Coast Highway. Both Malibu Canyon Road and PCH were closed to general travel. Officials could not immediately confirm if any homes had been destroyed. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. No injuries have been reported.

The city of Westminster is suing two sitting City Council members for allegedly disrupting meetings. The city’s suit claims that Councilmembers Amy Phan West and NamQuan Nguyen create a “dysfunctional and raucous” atmosphere that prevents important items from being considered and voted on during meetings, as reported by LAist. “The Mayor has been unable to manage their unruly behavior, and repeated efforts to obtain their compliance have failed,” the lawsuit explains, as reported by the outlet. “As a result, the City Council has ended meetings without accomplishing its business, met late into the night, and generally frustrated those interested in responsible, effective conduct of City meetings.” West was censured by her fellow council members earlier this year for “at least 30 allegations of violating city policy,” the Voice of O.C. reports, with her and Nguyen being the only votes against the measure. The outlet described her response to the censure as combative, with her “calling the council majority ‘Chinese communist dictators’ and calling the discussion a ‘banana republic court.’” “The majority is just trying to silence me,” West said, per the outlet. “You can censor

A Malibu resident declared victory over the Franklin Fire after staying behind despite evacuation orders to keep his property and several others from being destroyed by flames. “When you’re in Malibu and you’ve been through a couple of fires, you know you have to stay because the embers [can] float a mile and land on a roof or a lawn and you can put it out with a garden hose,” Alec told KTLA’s Erin Myers Tuesday morning. The Franklin Fire broke out shortly before 11 p.m. Monday before exploding overnight to 2,200 acres and threatening thousands of homes. “What we do is we get gas-powered water pumps,” Alec said. “We put them in our pool and we super-soak the whole house. We turn it into a tropical rainforest where nothing will catch on fire and then that frees us up to save the other houses. So, we saved five houses.” Alec talks with KTLA on Dec. 10, 2024, after he stayed behind to fight the Franklin Fire in Malibu. (KTLA) Firefighters work as the Franklin Fire burns near a building on December 10, 2024 in

Poet and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni, a prominent figure during the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and ‘70s who was dubbed “the Princess of Black Poetry,” has died. She was 81. Giovanni died “peacefully” Monday with life partner Virginia “Ginney” Fowler by her side, her friend and author Renée Watson said Tuesday in a statement to The Times. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer for the third time, Watson said. “We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” Giovanni’s cousin Allison “Pat” Ragan added in a statement on behalf of the family. Watson and author-poet Kwame Alexander said that they, along with with family and close friends, recently sat by Giovanni’s side “chatting about how much we learned about living from her, about how lucky we have been to have Nikki guide us, teach us, love us.” “We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world,” Alexander said in the statement. Giovanni, born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr., used her voice as

Smoke rises from the Franklin fire in the hills near the Malibu Pier. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Dec. 10, 2024 10:33 AM PT Cellphone service was proving a challenge in Malibu, where the Franklin fire was burning Tuesday. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the fire burned some cell towers in the area, affecting service. It is unclear the scope of the outage, but people in the area reported trouble making calls. There are also several power outages in the area of the fire Tuesday morning — some that were cut off for firefighter safety and some part of widespread public safety power shutoffs, planned electricity cuts to limit potential fire sparks from utility equipment, according to David Eisenhauer, a Southern California Edison spokesperson. He didn’t have details on outages around the fire. Across the region, more than 40,000 customers had their electricity cut for those planned shutoffs due to high winds, about a quarter in Los Angeles County. Another 200,000 were being considered for a shutoff. It wasn’t immediately clear how many such outages were among those in Malibu. Officials

Jessica Jones and Matthew Ryder grabbed their essentials before the Franklin fire made its way to their home in Serra Retreat. Important documents. Bags of clothes. Three goats. A potbellied pig. Jones and Ryder, both 37, saw the flames coming down a ridgeline overlooking the ranch they rent sometime around 11:30 p.m. Monday. Fleeing a wildfire is stressful enough, but adding livestock to the mix can complicate matters. The goats, kids Willie and Russell and mother Ginger, were easy enough to wrangle into the back of the couple’s pickup truck. But the 1-year-old pig, Penelope, put up a fight when it was time to leave. “She was screaming her head off,” Ryder said. “She doesn’t like to be picked up usually.” The fire reached the property as the couple left around midnight, and they waited on the side of the Pacific Coast Highway to plan where to go next. They slept in their truck in a parking lot for hiking trails and arrived at the Palisades Park evacuation center around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. “It was insane,” Jones said. A hillside burns during the Franklin fire

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court may be about to sharply limit the reach of so-called environmental impact statements, which gauge potential harm caused by new developments and can often block or scale back large projects. For more than 50 years, federal law has required agencies to take a hard and broad look at the “reasonably foreseeable environmental effects” of a building or development project before approving it. The justices sounded ready on Tuesday to reconsider that approach in a case involving a proposed 88-mile railroad line in Utah that would allow crude oil to be shipped to refineries on the Gulf Coast. “Focus on the project,” argued Paul Clement, a Washington attorney representing county governments in support of the project. He urged justices to consider only the direct impact of the rail line’s construction, and not potential secondary impacts that are “remote in time and space.” In their comments and questions, the justices appeared to agree. If so, their ruling could rein in the reach of environmental impact statements, an outcome that would be welcomed by developers and condemned by environmentalists. Three years ago, the Surface

El hecho de que Jay-Z fuera nombrado públicamente como la misteriosa celebridad acusada en una demanda civil anónima de violar a una niña de 13 años con Sean “Diddy” Combs se produjo después de semanas de batallas tras bastidores entre el abogado de la estrella y el abogado de Texas que representa a la mujer. Desde que Combs fue acusado por los fiscales federales en una investigación de tráfico sexual, se han presentado numerosas demandas civiles de personas que afirman haber sido víctimas del artista. También ha habido sugerencias de que otros grandes nombres se verán arrastrados al escándalo. Pero el caso de Jay-Z ofrece una ventana a las maquinaciones y el gran dinero detrás de estos casos que podrían ser un anticipo de las posibles consecuencias de otros litigios civiles que se han presentado contra Combs. En octubre, Jay-Z recibió una carta de demanda del abogado Tony Buzbee, con sede en Texas, en la que se hacían acusaciones de mala conducta y se sugería una reunión. Los expertos legales dijeron que este tipo de cartas son una forma habitual de iniciar las negociaciones para

A second infant has died in an 8-state listeria outbreak related to recalled Yu Shang Food ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, according to federal health officials. The products were sold online and at retail locations nationwide, according to federal health officials. Nineteen cases are confirmed, with 17 hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest update. States with confirmed illnesses include: California, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Tennessee.  Seven of the illnesses are related to pregnancy, the CDC stated. In California, a mother and her twins were sick and both infants died, but because listeria was found only in a sample from the mother and one twin, only the mother and one twin are included in the confirmed cases in the outbreak.  In Tennessee, a mother and her infant were sick and the baby died.  Sick people’s samples were collected from Oct. 24, 2021, to Oct. 28, 2024, the agency said. The outbreak might be higher than reported, the CDC said, because people who have gotten sick may not have gotten tested for listeria. It takes 3

Netanyahu takes stand in corruption trial, lectures on relationships between media, politicians – CBS News Watch CBS News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified in his corruption trial Tuesday, denying any wrongdoing. CBS News foreign correspondent Debora Patta has more. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On