Category: Los Angeles

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.

Depending on whom you ask, Chanel Maya Banks is either a missing person who may be in danger or hurt, or she has been located and is safe. The Playa Vista actor known for her work on “Gossip Girl” as the character Sawyer Bennett and “Blue Bloods” as Maria Romano was reported missing on Nov. 8 by her family, according to the LAPD. Her cousin, Danielle Tori-Singh, created a GoFundMe on Sunday. “My cousin Chanel is missing,” wrote Tori-Singh. Tori-Singh said the LAPD performed two wellness checks at Banks’ home and she was not there either time. But on Wednesday, the LAPD told a different story. They reported that Banks had been found safe in Texas on Sunday. Tori-Singh called the report “fake news” and said that her cousin was still missing. She claimed that a woman found in Texas with Banks’ expired New York identification card was not actually her cousin. “I have positively identified that that is not her,” said Tori-Singh in an 8-minute Facebook video recorded from her car. “I’ve known her for 31 years. I know what she looks like.” But

A year ago, Belissa Escobedo would spot the posters of network shows like NBC’s “Lopez vs. Lopez” plastered on gritty subway station walls in New York City. “I wish,” she would tell herself as she made her way to her bartending gig, hoping that one day her face would be featured on them. Working behind a bar counter is a respected rite of passage for any hardworking actor, but for Escobedo, it was a reality that felt dissonant after starring in the 2023 film “Blue Beetle,” a $104-million Warner Bros. project that was supposed to propel her acting career into bigger and better things. But warped as her timeline might have seemed, it wouldn’t be long before her dreams materialized, ironically, in another tavern gig. In “Happy’s Place,” the multi-camera NBC comedy (it premiered Oct. 18) Escobedo plays Isabella, a bubbly college graduate who inherits a Tennessee bar from her recently deceased, and unknown, father. The caveat? Co-ownership with her new half-sister, Bobbie, played by country singer Reba McEntire. Together they journey through the bar’s upkeep and their newly minted sisterhood, often butting against generational

Ben Foster and Laura Prepon just put a big X on their marriage: The “X-Men: The Last Stand” actor and the “Orange Is the New Black” star are divorcing after a yearlong separation. Foster filed for the split last month in Tennessee, where the couple and their two children have lived for two years, formally moving to end their six-year marriage. His complaint, obtained Wednesday by The Times, said that he and Prepon, both 44, had “suffered irreconcilable differences” and “are unable to live together successfully as husband and wife.” The film actor listed their wedding date as May 25, 2018, and date of separation as Sept. 9, 2023, exactly one year prior to his divorce filing. Prepon was served the documents Sept. 13, according to Davidson County court records. Representatives for Foster and Prepon did not immediately respond Wednesday to The Times’ requests for additional comment. Foster, who has starred in “3:10 to Yuma,” “Six Feet Under” and the Disney Channel series “Flash Forward,” asked the court to enforce a 2018 prenuptial agreement that called for an “equitable division” of their marital assets and

“This is a roast-free zone,” clarifies Julie Golden, producer and host of “The Big D: A Comedy Matchmaking Show for Divorced Singles.” “It’s a fun, relaxed hang where you might meet the love of your life. But worst-case scenario, you are definitely going to laugh.” Golden’s reality-TV background and matchmaking insight — she said she’s personally responsible for three successful marriages to date — are behind her new comedy show and divorced singles mixer debuting Saturday night at Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica. As the annual tradition of pre-holidays “cuffing season” begins, “I’m finding people in my generation don’t even know what that is. I’m trying to explain it to them,” she says of the dating trend. A self-described “former film studio executive turned screenwriter turned reality TV producer,” Golden has overseen series at Netflix, Discovery and TruTV. She’s been performing onstage for a year and a half. “The most exciting thing to me about stand-up comedy is no notes from the middle person. It’s you and the audience, and you get the notes right away.” With Dana Weddle, she co-produces and co-hosts the

The holiday travel season is just weeks away, and its been notoriously difficult to navigate major airports like LAX around this time in recent years. This year, things might be even harder as a couple of the most-traveled airlines in the U.S. are reportedly having financial struggles. The first of which, Southwest Airlines, has announced that it is offering an employee buyout program across more than a dozen U.S. airports, including four in Southern California. The airline says the voluntary buyouts will help it “avert overstaffing in certain locations.” In Southern California, the affected airports will be LAX, John Wayne International Airport, Long Beach Airport and Hollywood-Burbank Airport. Those who choose to accept the buyout will finish their jobs by the end of this year. Offers are expected to go out this week. It’s not immediately clear how the downsizing will affect Southwest’s operations. It wasn’t clear if layoffs would be next, after the buyouts. The news was initially reported by airline blogger JonNYC. Victims, suspect in deadly grocery store shooting in Los Angeles are all teenagers: LAPD Another airline in financial turmoil is Spirit

By Carter Evans, Kelsie Hoffman November 13, 2024 / 1:06 PM EST / CBS News Inside L.A.’s legendary Petersen Museum Jay Leno’s rides through 30 years of auto history 04:21 The Petersen Automotive Museum, home to one of the world’s great car collections, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The collection of more than 400 classics at the Los Angeles museum includes Hollywood legend Steve McQueen’s 1956 Jaguar, now worth more than $30 million. “This is probably one of the most popular cars in our collection,” said chief mechanic Dana Williamson, who is one of the only people in the world trusted to drive it. Hollywood legend Steve McQueen’s 1956 Jaguar, now worth more than $30 million. CBS News The museum was founded in 1994 by Robert E. Petersen, a publishing giant who helped to shape American car culture. Comedian Jay Leno is one of the museum’s biggest fans and has had a lifelong love for cars. “I got 208 on the road. It’s a little stupid,” Leno said. “I just never sold anything. I’m what you would’ve called a hoarder in the old days, but

How Trump and Biden’s meeting started at the White House – CBS News Watch CBS News President Biden welcomed President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House during a meeting to ensure a smooth transition before the January inauguration. CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes has more. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Jay Leno’s rides through 30 years of auto history – CBS News Watch CBS News Cruising through Los Angeles in an open-top sports car epitomizes the California dream. That’s why LA naturally became home to one of the world’s finest car collections, the Petersen Automotive Museum, now marking its 30th anniversary. For car enthusiast Jay Leno, it’s a beloved destination. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

John Driskell Hopkins on ALS diagnosis Zac Brown Band’s John Driskell Hopkins on fighting ALS through music 06:11 Grammy winner John Driskell Hopkins , known as “Hop” from the Zac Brown Band, is turning his personal battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, into a mission to help others.  After he was diagnosed with the disease in 2021, Hopkins and his wife, Jen, founded the “Hop On A Cure” foundation to raise awareness and funds. This year, they plan to donate $3 million for grants and research, he announced on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday.  He is also releasing a new single, “Each Other,” which ventures into his journey since the diagnosis.  “When you’re given a life-threatening diagnosis, you really start to focus on things that matter,” he said.  In 2019, Hopkins said he began noticing his right hand was “slowing down.” It took two years to receive an ALS diagnosis. ALS is a nervous system disease that can cause loss of muscle control and worsens over time, according to the Mayo Clinic. He pointed out that ALS cases can differ significantly, with his own

Michael Strahan says he wasn’t trying to make a statement when he stood without his hand over his heart while the national anthem played during a “Fox NFL Sunday” broadcast at Naval Base San Diego. He simply got “caught up in the moment.” The Hall of Fame defensive end and current TV personality offered that explanation about Sunday’s viral and controversial moment in a video posted to his Instagram account Tuesday night. “Everyone thought, ‘He’s protesting. He’s making a statement,’ which is so far from the truth,” Strahan said. “I have nothing to protest. I have no statement to be made. The only statement that should be made that I want to make is I love the military, I’ve always loved the military and I will always love the military. “I do so many programs to help veterans and soldiers. I grew up on a military base with a father who was a major in the Army. My brother, my sister, my cousins, they all served in the military. I’m a military brat. And so the fact of somebody saying that, you know, I’m unpatriotic

Two thrillers with literary antecedents — “Cross” on Prime Video and “The Day of the Jackal” on Peacock — premiere Thursday. Each series is a cat-and-mouse story, with the hero and the villain identified from the beginning, though exactly who is the cat and who the mouse is an evolving, revolving situation. Based on a character created by James Patterson (and featured in 32 volumes so far, three of which have been made into movies), “Cross” is a serial-killer tale set in Washington, D.C., with detective (also Dr.) Alex Cross, the dedicated lawman. “Jackal,” from the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel (his first), twice adapted for the big screen, is set all across Europe and into western Asia and has little to do with the source material other than featuring a master assassin as its code-named eponymous villain. Their plots are essentially straightforward — somebody wants to kill somebody, somebody else wants to stop them — but stuffed with complications and characters that can at times muddy specific goals and motivations. You may want to take notes. That “Cross” is a serial-killer series is not out

“Full House” star Dave Coulier, who played the Tanner family’s zany Uncle Joey, has cancer. The 65-year-old publicly disclosed his diagnosis Wednesday, telling People and appearing on NBC’s “Today” to confirm that he was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma five weeks prior. Representatives for Coulier did not immediately respond Wednesday to The Times’ requests for comment. The “Fuller House” actor said he was diagnosed with the blood cancer in October after contracting an upper respiratory infection that caused major swelling in his lymph nodes. The swelling increased quickly and a node in his groin swelled to the size of a golf ball, he said. He asked his doctors to remove it and conduct a biopsy, which came back cancerous. “[M]y doctors called me back and they said, ‘We wish we had better news for you, but you have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it’s called B cell and it’s very aggressive,’” he told People. “I went from, I got a little bit of a head cold to I have cancer, and it was pretty overwhelming.” Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma develops in B-lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s

The driver of a coupe was injured and the passenger riding alongside them was killed in a high-speed crash in Riverside Tuesday evening.  Riverside Police Department officials released a news brief stating that officers were dispatched to the corner of Sycamore Canyon Boulevard and Cottonwood Avenue at 6:15 p.m. on a call for service referencing a traffic collision.  Upon arrival, first responders located a single vehicle – a 2017 Nissan 370Z – that had collided with a tree.  “The preliminary investigation revealed that a 29-year-old motorist was driving the Nissan southbound on Sycamore Canyon Boulevard at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle and collided into the tree,” Riverside police said. “The two occupants were trapped in the vehicle.”  1 dead, 1 hospitalized after fight at L.A. grocery store escalates into shooting After being extricated from the wreckage, both people inside the vehicle were taken to a local hospital, where the passenger succumbed to their injuries.  They were only identified as a Moreno Valley resident; their name will not be released pending the coroner’s investigation.  The 29-year-old driver, also of