Category: Los Angeles

Hardcover fiction 1. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” 2. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books: $40) The fifth book in the bestselling epic fantasy series Stormlight Archive. 3. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $29) Two grieving brothers come to terms with their history and the people they love. 4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $29) A woman upends her domestic life in this irreverent and tender novel. 5. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Grove Press: $20) During the 1985 Christmas season, a coal merchant in an Irish village makes a troubling discovery. 6. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Knopf: $35) The acclaimed writer returns with a love story and ode to books and the libraries that house them. 7. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $30) A seductive and cunning American woman infiltrates an anarchist collective in France. 8. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $30) Two worlds collide when a teenager vanishes from her Adirondacks summer camp.

Driven by fierce Santa Ana winds, the Franklin Fire in Malibu Canyon, in the hillsides near Pepperdine University, grew to more than 3,890 acres Wednesday with about 2,000 structures under mandatory evacuation orders. However, authorities said there was only a “minimal” number of homes destroyed and no injuries reported. The blaze began shortly before 11 p.m. Monday in a Malibu Canyon area where a high volume of dry brush contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze. It erupted in the midst of a rare “particularly dangerous situation red flag warning” issued by the National Weather Service in response to strong wind gusts and dramatically dry conditions. The cause of the fire was still under investigation. At an 8 a.m. multi-agency briefing Tuesday, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone said the fire was listed at more than 2,200 acres, with no reported containment. By late afternoon, Cal Fire put the size of the fire at 2,851 acres. More than 700 firefighters were battling the blaze Tuesday morning, aided by a fleet of water- and retardant-dropping aircraft, including Super Scoopers and eight Cal Fire

Windy and dry conditions are expected to linger Wednesday in Los Angeles County, a day after a round of destructive Santa Ana winds battered much of the region, fueling a massive brush fire in Malibu and raising fears of additional blazes across the Southland. As expected, the winds began whipping Monday night, helping the Franklin Fire in Malibu chew its way into thick vegetation and grow to more than 3,000 acres as of Wednesday. A “minimal” number of homes in the area were destroyed or damaged, fire officials said, although no numbers were immediately available. No injuries were reported, but about 18,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings. According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts approached nearly 50 mph in parts of Malibu during the early morning hours Tuesday. To the north, a gust of 93 mph was reported near the Magic Mountain Truck Trail in the Santa Clarita area. By Tuesday evening, however, conditions were showing signs of improvement, although the wildfire danger persisted. “The strongest winds have passed, however gusty winds are still expected through Wednesday morning, especially in the mountains,”

A hiker was rescued Sunday from an Oregon state park where she had been missing almost two full days, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The 64-year-old woman’s calls for help caught the attention of search and rescue crews that had been looking for her. The woman showed signs of hypothermia and dehydration when a Coast Guard crew and ground search party located her in a remote area of Shore Acres State Park, according to the agency. Whether she suffered additional injuries was not immediately clear.  Oregon State Police asked the Coast Guard for help when the woman went missing Friday evening. She became separated from her group that day without proper survival gear. Members of a county rescue team and regional task force joined the Coast Guard in its search for the missing hiker over the weekend, but their efforts were temporarily stalled by challenging weather that grounded the flight crew. They  were also unsuccessful trying to locate her using a thermal imaging device on one of the Coast Guard helicopters. They later realized the woman was undetectable on infrared cameras, which should be able

We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms. Prospective gold investors should consider making three smart moves now, ahead of the new year. PeilingLeeCopyright/Getty Images The economy has been unpredictable lately, and with a new presidential administration coming in and Federal Reserve policy unclear, that trend seems likely to continue for the foreseeable future. As an investor, that means diversifying your portfolio is more important than ever. If there’s a stock market downturn or the value of one major asset drops, you need protection in other classes to safeguard your wealth.  Gold is often a solid choice when looking to diversify. And in 2024, it even saw massive price gains — something that could continue as we head into 2025. Are you considering diversifying your portfolio with gold before the year comes to a close? If so, it helps to know how experts recommend you do (and don’t) do it. Start exploring your gold investing options online here now. 3 big gold investing moves to make before 2025, according to experts Not sure

Financial expert on rising inflation Financial expert on rising inflation 04:53 Inflation rose 2.7% on an annual basis in November, according to the latest government report on the Consumer Price Index, or CPI.  Last month’s CPI was forecast to come in at 2.7%, according to economists surveyed by financial data firm FactSet. The Consumer Price Index, a basket of goods and services typically bought by consumers, tracks the change in those prices over time.  The Federal Reserve has been battling high inflation since 2022, when it began ratcheting up its benchmark rate in order to dampen demand from consumers and businesses. That’s helped lower the inflation rate to its current level from a recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022, yet the last leg of the Fed’s journey to push inflation down to a 2% annual rate is proving elusive.  “This is the second month in a row that the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index has increased. Prices rose by 0.3% between October and November,” noted Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant in an email after the report was released. She added, “Since

A wind-driven wildfire burning in Malibu grew by hundreds of acres overnight and was burning in a southwesterly direction Wednesday morning. The Franklin Fire remains a major threat to homes and prompted the evacuation of the Malibu Beach RV park on the 25800 block of Pacific Coast Highway. As of 4:25 a.m. Wednesday, the fire was mapped at 3,893 acres with no containment. The cause was still under investigation. Firefighters battle the Franklin Fire in Malibu, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Sky5 view of the Franklin Fire in Malibu on Dec. 10, 2024. (KTLA) The Franklin Fire burns in Malibu, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Smoke rises over Malibu as the Franklin Fire burns on Dec. 10, 2024. Photo taken at 7:27 a.m. (AlertCalifornia) A vehicle burns during the Franklin Fire on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer) A firefighter sprays water as the Franklin Fire burns on December 10, 2024 on Malibu, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Firefighters work as the Franklin Fire burns near a building on December

Michael Cole, who starred as one-third of “The Mod Squad,” has died. He was 84. The actor played Pete Cochran in the hit ABC crime show that aired from 1968 to ’73. Cole died Tuesday, his Atlanta-based talent agent Christy Clark confirmed to The Times. On the tail of a decade of civil unrest due to the Vietnam War and the midcentury civil rights movement, “The Mod Squad” made fighting crime cool to the younger generation’s counterculture. Peggy Lipton, left, Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III and Tige Andrews in a scene from the 1960s TV series “The Mod Squad.” (ABC) With “one black, one white, one blonde,” as the show’s tagline, “the rabble on the wrong side of the law was now the law,” said television critic Lorraine Ali in 2018. That same year, Cole authored a memoir that referenced his undercover-cop role titled “I Played the White Guy.” Cole’s nephew, who was named after him, announced his uncle’s death Monday in a post on Facebook. “He was my inspiration to the craft of acting and helped guide me my whole career. He taught me

Updated on: December 11, 2024 / 7:14 AM EST / CBS/AFP More than 200 sentenced in Italy mafia trial More than 200 people sentenced in Italy mafia trial 04:04 Italy’s mafias make more than three billion euros a year from the tourism sector and are primed to pocket even more from large-scale upcoming events, a research institute warned on Tuesday. Organized crime groups preying on vulnerable companies from hotels to restaurants are currently taking home 3.3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) a year and are set to cash in on the Catholic Church’s Jubilee celebrations in Rome and the Winter Olympic Games, the Demoskopika research institute said. “Italian tourism is under attack. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics and the 2025 Jubilee whet the appetites of the mafia,” Demoskopika president Raffaele Rio said in a report. The powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which is rooted in Calabria, alone accounts for half of the entire turnover, the report said. The Campania-based Camorra, the Sicilian Mafia and organized crime groups in the region of Puglia also rake in large amounts of money from tourism. While those mob heartlands are in the south

Updated on: December 11, 2024 / 6:28 AM EST / CBS/AP A southeast Georgia man was arrested and charged in the 1985 killing of a couple at a Black church after the original suspect — who spent 20 years behind bars — was exonerated on DNA evidence, authorities said. Erik Kristensen Sparre, 61, was jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in the killings of Harold and Thelma Swain, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Monday. Sparre was arrested nearly four decades after the couple was fatally shot inside Rising Daughter Baptist Church in coastal Camden County. Sparre became the focus of a renewed investigation into the Swains’ deaths after authorities concluded they had initially prosecuted the wrong man. Dennis Perry was sentenced to life in prison when a jury convicted him in 2003 of murdering the Swains. He spent two decades in prison before a Superior Court judge ordered a retrial in 2020. The judge dismissed all charges against Perry in 2021 after prosecutors asked to drop the case. Dennis Perry spent two decades in prison before a

December 11, 2024 / 6:18 AM EST / AP Protesters in South Korea continue Protests in South Korea calling for impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol 02:28 Seoul, South Korea — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law declaration , officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to submit the new motion on Thursday to set up another vote this Saturday. Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea ‘s state media for the first time reported about the turmoil across the border, but the country hasn’t shown any suspicious activities. Shin Yong Hae, commissioner

Los Angeles Unified School District has said it is removing race as a factor for determining which students will be helped by its Black Student Achievement Plan. The move comes after a federal civil rights complaint about the program was filed by a conservative group in Virginia in 2023. The group charged that the plan was unconstitutional because it targeted support for students based solely on race. We have consulted with LAUSD on the Black Student Achievement Plan since its inception. It was established in 2021 after efforts by parents and community activists drew attention to the district’s dismal track record serving its Black students. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the school board voted to direct a portion of its funding for school policing to an improvement plan for the academic experiences and outcomes of Black students. We supported this decision then and think its results show the plan should remain in place without removing race as a consideration factor. Not only has it helped Black students in Los Angeles, but Black student achievement programs generally help all the students in schools that

California’s coastal areas are obviously at highest risk from an incoming tsunami. But how far inland does the threat extend? The answer might surprise you. Tsunami hazard areas can be quite large depending on the location, and in some cases, they are home to large numbers of people. A large swath of Venice and all of Marina del Rey are in a tsunami hazard area. So are wide sections of Long Beach, including Belmont Shore, Naples Island and the city Convention Center. Significant segments of Orange County are also at risk. They include Newport Beach’s Balboa Island and Balboa Peninsula, as well as neighborhoods in Sunset Beach and Seal Beach. Even where tsunami hazard zones are relatively narrow, many Californians may not have the instinct to get to higher ground after the ground shakes. The Malibu Village mall is separated from the coast by two rows of houses, a golf course and Pacific Coast Highway, yet is still at risk because of its proximity to not just the ocean but also Malibu Lagoon. And the risk can vary. The tsunami hazard area in Manhattan Beach

Harmeet Dhillon — one of California’s most prominent Republican Party operatives, a cultural crusader against “woke” politics and a fervent champion of President-elect Donald Trump — was named Monday by Trump to a top civil rights post in the U.S. Department of Justice. If confirmed, Dhillon would be the second woman to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, following President Biden’s choice of longtime civil rights lawyer Kristen Clarke. The office is tasked with enforcing federal civil rights laws across a wide swath of American life. A frequent commentator on conservative media, Dhillon has long been one of the most charismatic figures in the California GOP. She made an unsuccessful but closely watched play for Republican National Committee chair in 2023. “Harmeet Dhillon is very conservative and hardly a champion of civil rights as it is generally understood,” legal scholar and UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said by email Tuesday. “She was very active in challenging COVID restrictions. She has filed suits when conservatives claim their speech was restricted. She has challenged protection of transgender students. But there is nothing in

A chilling scene in the new movie “Wicked” sums up what’s wrong with President-elect Donald Trump’s view of immigrants. The two witches, Elphaba and Glinda, have traveled to the Emerald City to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Wizard explains to them that he plans to consolidate power over his restive land by demonizing its animals, who not only have the power of speech but are also the equals of human beings. He will strip them of the ability to speak and confine them to cages. But why would you do such a thing, asks the tender-hearted, green-skinned Elphaba, whose horror at his plan will eventually turn her into the Wicked Witch of the West. “The best way to bring folks together,” the Wonderful Wizard of Oz tells the women, “is to give them a really good enemy.” That is the essence of Trump’s immigration policy. Trump told Kristen Welker of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he plans to keep his campaign promise to deport millions of people. “You have no choice,” he said. “First of all, they’re costing us a fortune.

California’s electric vehicle ambitions are facing a reality check. Sales growth has stalled as potential buyers balk at high sticker prices and unreliable public charging. The EV market will take an additional hit if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on vows to scuttle federal EV tax credit subsidies for buyers and slap tariffs on automobiles made in Mexico, driving prices higher. The headwinds are fueling fresh doubts about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate that all new cars sold in California by 2035 be zero-emission vehicles. The first big test for the governor’s edict comes next year, when 35% of new vehicles sold must be zero-emission, up from 26.4% now. To hit that mark, EV sales would have to skyrocket 33%. “I have not seen a forecast by anyone that that number is achievable,” Toyota North America Chief Operating Officer Jack Hollis said on a conference call with reporters last month. “Demand is not there.” Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds, was only slightly less skeptical. “It’s definitely a challenge,” she said. It’s so much of a challenge, state officials have changed the way they talk about

McCaul: Afghanistan investigation will continue after election Rep. Michael McCaul says Afghanistan investigation will go on “well after the election” 08:07 Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to testify Wednesday before the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has long sought to question him over the deadly evacuation from Afghanistan.  Blinken’s testimony comes nearly three months after the committee voted along partly lines to recommend that the nation’s top diplomat be held in contempt of Congress amid a standoff over his appearance before the panel to discuss its investigation into the 2021 withdrawal.   The committee and State Department had been at odds for months, leading Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the Republican chairman, to issue multiple subpoenas for Blinken to testify in September. McCaul said Blinken’s appearance was important as the committee considers “potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal.”  Republicans on the committee released a lengthy report in September that detailed their yearslong investigation into the chaotic exit from Afghanistan and accused the Biden administration of misleading the public about the end of the 20-year

By Duarte Dias, Ramy Inocencio December 11, 2024 / 5:04 AM EST / CBS News Cork’s role in fighting climate change How cork — the same material used to seal wine bottles — could save the planet 06:02 Lisbon, Portugal — The sound of a cork popping out of the end of a bottle is known across the world. It often precedes moments of celebration, a shared meal or simply the quiet enjoyment of a glass of wine. But many who’ve taken part in the simple ritual may not realize that it’s also a synonym for sustainability, natural wonder, and even human ingenuity. Cork, the humble material used for centuries to seal bottles, is a unique product not only for the way it’s grown, but also for the plethora of inventive uses people have found for it — which go far beyond the ubiquitous bottle stoppers. Cork is used in everything from the building of spacecraft to the insulation of homes, and it can replace rubber or plastic on just about anything that needs protection from heat or vibration. Thanks to the unique, delicate conditions in

Aunque los cines están muy concurridos en este momento, con “Wicked” y “Moana 2″ atrayendo a multitudes de espectadores, ha sido un año bastante duro para el cine. Entre los éxitos de taquilla, sin embargo, el desafío de no sólo captar la atención del público, sino simplemente llegar a la pantalla, parece difícil que nunca. El año estuvo marcado por cineastas que apostaron todo, desde un montón de 120 millones de dólares, como Francis Ford Coppola con “Megalopolis” (“Megalópolis”) hasta su vida como el cineasta disidente iraní Mohammad Rasoulof con “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (“La semilla de la higuera sagrada”). Considerando los caminos de “The Apprentice” (“El Aprendiz”), sobre el ascenso de Donald Trump en Nueva York, o el documental sobre la ocupación israelí “No Other Land” (que aún carece de distribuidor), la pregunta sobre qué se estrena fue un refrán común y escalofriante. Eso también hizo que las películas que lograron abrirse camino —aquellas que contaron historias urgentes o deslumbraron con originalidad en una época de dominio de secuelas— fueran aún más dignas de celebración. A continuación, la selección de los críticos

Residents along five streets in Paso Robles will see road repairs starting mid-next year. And because nothing beneath the surface needs to be upgraded, construction is expected to take up to a year. Other current projects, such as the Creston Road Corridor Project on the east side of the city, need upgraded sewer mains, fire hydrants, conduit, and more, construction is expected to last two years in total. The city will be taking bids during the early part of next year to fix 16th, 18th, 32nd, and 36th streets. Combined, the total project will cost more than $4 million. For longtime residents like Victoria Barron, it is a relief now that downtown has seen its improvements. “Now they’re slowly working their way this way to improve our roads over here,” Barron said. “So, I knew it was a matter of time. I’m just really grateful that it’s finally happening. Barron says she’s seen a horrible accident because of the unkept roads. The beginning of the street actually had such big potholes that a guy beefed it on his bike and then got ran over,” Barron

Are you doing your holiday shopping in person or online this year? While online shopping has grown tremendously, in-store purchases still dominate with Americans spending about $7 trillion in retail stores compared to $1.2 trillion online last year, according to Capital One Shopping. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way consumers find the perfect gifts and score the best deals. AI can offer personalized recommendations, price comparisons, and savings opportunities. Unlike generic gift guides, AI tools like Cheerful, co-founded by UC Santa Barbara graduate Ben Revzin, craft highly tailored suggestions based on recipients ages, interests, preferences, and price points then show you links to purchase them. Basically for Cheerful specifically, AI is taking the interests that you write, its like a recipe for a cake,” Revzin explains. You throw in the interests, you throw in how old your gift recipient is so your parents’ age or your friend’s age, whatever it is, and then it’s basically creating and thinking up, in real-time, gift ideas for that person. So AI is making it all happen. Its kind of like the oven. If saving money is