Category: Los Angeles

Kratom products draw criticism from health experts Kratom products continue to draw criticism from health experts 03:05 When Jasmine Adeoye, an account manager based in Austin, Texas, decided to stop drinking in June 2022, she turned to a kratom beverage advertised as an alcohol alternative. Within a year and a half, Adeoye said she was addicted to the drink, “Feel Free Classic,” lured by what she calls the company’s deceptive marketing tactics. The 29-year-old account manager based in Austin, Texas, said her favorite podcasters promoted the drink, which the company Botanic Tonics manufactures and sells, as “a miracle” beverage that could help people trying to overcome addiction and embrace sobriety. Having struggled with binge drinking in the past, Adeoye was intrigued. Jasmine Adeoye, an account manager based in Austin, Texas, said she became addicted to kratom drink “Feel Free Classic,” after she sought an alcohol alternative. Jasmine Adeoye She said she was unaware the drink contained kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia that can produce feelings of energy, ease anxiety and reduce pain— but carries a risk of addiction, seizures, and very rarely, death.

How to prevent cardiovascular disease Tips on how to prevent cardiovascular disease 03:18 When Chris Abrunzo was in his early 20s, his father was struck by the kind of heart attack known as a ” widow maker .” The severe cardiac events are often fatal, and while Abrunzo’s father survived, it inspired him to take his heart health seriously, since family history is one of the strongest indicators for developing heart disease later in life.  Abrunzo started getting regular cardiac checkups  and he made sure to work out frequently and eat well. As the years passed, tests continued to show he was in great health except for some elevated cholesterol that he treated with medication. He had no symptoms of heart disease . In 2023, a family friend told him about a newer, more detailed test that offered a view of the arteries without any invasive procedures.  “I go in thinking I’m going to get a scan and be told ‘You’re doing a great job,'” Abrunzo recalled. “Well, I get scanned, and the scan reveals that I had areas of plaque buildup, many of which

Eye Opener: Rescue operations continue in Spain after flooding – CBS News Watch CBS News Rescue operations are continuing in Spain after flash flooding killed over 200 people. Meanwhile, the 2024 race for the presidential election is coming to a close. All that and all that matters in today’s Eye Opener. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

How migrant children are using soccer to connect – CBS News Watch CBS News Immigration is ranked as one of the top issues for voters in the 2024 presidential election. Since spring 2022, New York City has taken in more than 200,000 asylum seekers, primarily families with children. For those kids, the journey can be arduous. One Brooklyn teen came up with a plan to ease their journey with a ball and a field. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Updated on: November 2, 2024 / 8:10 AM EDT / CBS/AP Over 200 dead after floods in Spain Over 200 dead after floods in Spain, search for bodies continues 01:56 Spain is sending 5,000 more soldiers and 5,000 more police to the eastern region of Valencia after deadly floods this week that killed more than 200 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Saturday. So far, 205 bodies have been recovered — 202 in Valencia, two in neighboring Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia, in the south — in Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory. People’s belongings sit in the mud after floods in Massanassa, just outside of Valencia, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. Alberto Saiz / AP Rescuers were still searching for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings on Saturday, four days after the monstrous flash floods that swept away everything in their path in the east of Spain. An unknown number of people remain missing. Thousands of volunteers are helping to clean up the thick mud that is covering everything in streets, houses and businesses in the hardest-hit towns. At present

Inside the high-stakes race for a Montana Senate seat – CBS News Watch CBS News It’s not just the presidency that will be decided on Election Day. Voters will also decide which party controls the Senate. Right now, Democrats hold a one-seat edge, but the party is defending 23 seats. The seat most at-risk is that of Montana Democrat Jon Tester, who is facing a stiff challenge from Republican Tim Sheehy. Here’s what to know about the race. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Ed O’Keefe, Scott MacFarlane on the state of the race – CBS News Watch CBS News CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe and CBS News Congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane have covered some of the biggest stories of this election cycle. Now, with just three days before Election Day, both give their opinions on the state of the race. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Harris and Trump campaign in battleground states in election’s final stretch – CBS News Watch CBS News Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are both campaigning in battleground states as the 2024 presidential election approaches. Both will head south today, with Harris holding events in Georgia and North Carolina and Trump holding events in Virginia and North Carolina. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Book Review Letters By Oliver SacksKnopf: 752 pages, $40If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. There are those who can write, and those who can’t not write. Oliver Sacks fell into the latter category. A neurologist by trade, Sacks was insatiably curious and wrote ceaselessly and joyfully about anything that caught his interest, which was just about everything. Readers get a new glimpse into his mind this year, nearly a decade after his death, thanks to a handsome new collection of the doctor’s letters compiled and annotated by his longtime editor, Kate Edgar. (Knopf) To read these letters is to be reminded of the deeply felt humanism and ebullience that Sacks brought to his prose: They include condolences, replies to fans and long scientific musings that read like dry runs for his books. There isn’t a shred of cynicism or pessimism to be found here, only delight in sharing ideas and enthusiasms with friends, family, colleagues and fans. Sacks did his level best to respond to every letter that found him

The Uplift: Trooper the dog – CBS News Watch CBS News An abandoned dog, left behind ahead of Hurricane Milton, is rescued by a trooper and given a second chance at life. Ukrainian ballet dancers use their strength and grace on and off the stage. Plus, a school custodian receives a big honor from the community. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

By Annabelle Allen November 2, 2024 / 7:00 AM EDT / CBS News Sneak peek: Fatal First Date Sneak peek: Fatal First Date 03:36 Leslie Reeves and Chris Smith were shot during their first date. Only Smith survived. A look at how he defied the odds to make a remarkable recovery. The scene of the crime The exterior of Chris Smith’s Farmersville, Illinois, home. Illinois State Police On the night before Thanksgiving 2021, Smith went on a first date with a woman named Leslie Reeves. The morning after, first responders found Smith in his Farmersville, Illinois, home with a bullet lodged in his brain. Reeves was dead. Shooting victim in a coma Chris Smith was placed in a medically induced coma after brain surgery. Chris Smith EMTs rushed Smith to a hospital where he underwent brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma. A bullet lodged in his brain An X-ray shows a bullet fragment in Chris Smith’s brain. Chris Smith Fragments of the bullet remained in Smith’s brain. His doctors say that to retrieve the bullet could risk causing further damage.  Family

As a devoted Republican who runs a cattle ranch and proudly talks about owning a gun, Shasta County Supervisor Mary Rickert is an unlikely progressive icon. But that is exactly what the 72-year-old devout Catholic and grandmother has become to some in this northern California county — which has been convulsed by conspiracy theories about voter fraud and other extremist ideologies over the last three years. Rickert is still a staunch conservative. But she has also emerged as an often lonely voice on the Board of Supervisors against a far-right insurgency that has roiled her county. (Shasta County) After an ultra-conservative majority took over in 2022, the board voted to dump Dominion voting machines in favor of hand-counting ballots. The supervisors passed a measure to allow concealed weapons in local government buildings in defiance of state law. And they explored hiring a California secessionist leader as the county’s chief executive. Rickert, whose personal style tends toward feathered blonde hair and flowy scarves, argued against much of what they did. On Tuesday, voters in her district, which stretches from Redding into the waterfalls and mountain peaks

It was a classic fall Saturday in L.A. — sunny and 75 degrees — but about 30 Angelenos were glued to their screens. Actor Bradley Whitford was Zooming in from New York to address members of Swing Left Los Feliz, a local chapter of the national progressive advocacy organization. The topic of the former “West Wing” star and vocal Democrat’s remarks: Election anxiety. Concern over the outcome of the upcoming Nov. 5 vote is inevitable. The question is how to minimize the stress. For some people, that looks like long yoga sessions, activating airplane mode and lots of hot tea. For others, talking it out is the best approach. In Los Angeles, there are many characteristically creative options to help stave off the existential despair, such as self-tapping workshops, guzzling cold-pressed juices and special taco deals. Many of those who tuned in to see Whitford speak have been furiously phone-banking and knocking on doors for the Harris-Walz campaign and down-ballot Democratic candidates, hoping they can help turn the electoral tide blue. The alternative — a red wave that carries former President Trump back to the

Less than six months ago, the oldest sitting president in U.S. history appeared so befuddled during a debate that his barely younger, twice impeached, convicted felon predecessor — a man who stands federally accused of orchestrating a complex criminal scheme to violently cling to power the last time he lost it — seemed poised to reclaim the White House with ease. Within weeks, things had changed. Former President Trump had survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally, President Biden had dropped out of the race, and Democratic party officials had nominated Vice President Kamala Harris to run in Biden’s place as the first woman of color to ever top a major party ticket. Now, with just days left to go, Trump and Harris are locked in an incredibly close race, with polling showing them within striking distance of each other in seven battleground states. It has all made for one of the most astonishing presidential election cycles in modern American history, full of unprecedented political moments, bizarre politicking and endless messaging designed to elicit outrage, fear, hope, bigotry and bitter, biting partisanship. Former President

If the new apartment tower had been planned for another plot of land, chances are good the concrete plant in the middle of the city would have helped build it. But, as it happens, the century-old facility on La Brea Avenue that has provided concrete for buildings and roads across the Los Angeles region sat where the tower is to go up. Now, the West Hollywood facility has ceased operating in order to make way for a new apartment tower. A worker sprays water to keep dust down at the Cemex concrete plant in West Hollywood. A 34-story apartment building is being planned for the site. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The mixing plant that routinely filled fleets of trucks with ready-to-pour concrete stood out as an urban oddity in its final years, a dusty, noisy industrial yard on busy La Brea Avenue near Santa Monica Boulevard, across the street from a shopping center with a Target store. Straddling the border between West Hollywood and Los Angeles, it backed up against L.A.’s burgeoning Sycamore District that includes upmarket stores, restaurants and art

In the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election, a measure that would double the county’s quarter-percent homeless sales tax was closing in on the majority it needs to pass, a new poll of likely Los Angeles County voters found. Half of those surveyed said they would vote for Measure A, or already had done so, in the poll taken by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times. That was a gain of one percentage point over the previous IGS poll in September and three percentage points above its August poll. Thirty-four percent said they would vote no, or already had, up from 33% in September but down from 36% in August. Sixteen percent remained undecided, did not vote either way on the measure or could not recall how they voted. “These numbers are very stable,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “It’s close.” The survey, conducted Oct. 22 to 29, had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, making it impossible to say whether the 50% support means the measure is winning

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A shark bit a Maui surfer Friday and severed his leg, authorities said. The man, 61, was surfing off Waiehu Beach Park Friday morning when a shark bit him. Police officers who arrived to the scene first tried to control the bleeding with tourniquets. His right leg was “completely severed just below the knee,” Maui County said in a news release. The man was alert while being treated on shore and then taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in critical condition. The man said he did not see the shark approach, authorities reported. The incident prompted officials to close the beach park. Officials warned people to stay out of the water in the area. The public warning to stay out of the water for a mile in each direction of the incident will be in effect until at least noon Saturday. The warning will be extended if there is a shark sighting in the area. Maui fire and ocean safety officials were patrolling the waters using rescue watercraft and a drone. State officials provided shark warning signs and helped with cordoning