LAUSD Board Approves Labor Agreement With Teachers On Distance Learning

By CaliNews 48 mins ago

Feds Arrest Owner of LA Investment Firm That Managed Over $1B in Assets

By CaliNews 48 mins ago

Detectives investigating human remains found in Rancho Dominguez area

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

L.A. Mayor Garcetti’s top homeless adviser to resign

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Riverside man convicted of prostituting women across SoCal, raping 2 victims

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Here’s who is running for office in Redlands, Yucaipa, Highland in November

By CaliNews 50 mins ago

Local ballots for the November election are taking shape now that the Friday, Aug. 7, candidate filing deadline is in the rear view mirror. Redlands will get at least one new council member, as Councilwoman Toni Momberger has decided not to seek re-election. She said she joined the council with a vision for city projects and investments, but with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, a different kind of leadership is called for. “What we need is somebody who understands crisis management,” Momberger said, “who has a really good understanding of utilities and engineering, and land use and policy, who has a level head and the skills to manage a fiscal crisis, and that isn’t me.” She said she is giving her leftover war chest from the 2018 election, about $5,000, to Steven Frasher‘s campaign. “He’s what people like about me, but with the skills to respond to where Redlands is today,” she said. Nonetheless, Momberger said she was torn about the decision. “I love Redlands, and I would rather have a good fit in that seat as a resident,” she said. She was…

USPS shipping delays impact local small businesses

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

  This year, small businesses have dealt with COVID-19 related closures and restrictions, and now they’re facing shipping delays. “Things are not right from a shipping perspective, and it’s really, really critical to our business while we can’t have as many clients in the store to be able to ship on time,” said Laurie Molton, founder of House of Lolo, located on El Paseo. With an uncertain retail market, several shops have moved a majority of inventory online. But owners say delays through the United States Postal Service are impacting not only when customers receive their orders, but when stores get their inventory as well. “Being on a website, it’s very important to keep your product fresh and with new things constantly going. So when we have nothing new to put on the website it makes it a little complicated,” said Morgan Rooney, manager of Blonde Clothing Boutique, located on El Paseo. The Post Master General cites operational changes, COVID-19 and financial losses as the reason behind delays. And while the USPS is the leading delivery service for online purchases, they also handle a large…

Actor-Singer Trini Lopez Dies at 83 Due to COVID-19

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

PALM SPRINGS (CNS) – Singer-guitarist Trini Lopez, known for such hits as “If I Had a Hammer” and Lemon Tree and for appearing in the 1967 war film “The Dirty Dozen,” died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications. He was 83. Lopez, who also designed Gibson guitars, died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Palm Springs, where he had lived since the 1960s, his songwriting and business partner Joe Chavira told The Hollywood Reporter. Born Trinidad Lopez III, the son of Mexican immigrants grew up in Dallas, Texas. He formed his first band in the late 1950s at the age of 15. In 1958, his group, the Big Beats, signed with Columbia Records after recording with Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty in New Mexico. Lopez soon left the group to pursue a solo career, and signed with King Records in 1959. After his King Records contract expired in 1962, and without any other offers, Lopez landed a steady gig playing at the nightclub PJ’s in Los Angeles, where Frank Sinatra discovered him in 1963 and signed the singer to his Reprise Records label. Soon after, Lopez released…

COVID Survivor Faces Issues Donating Convalescent Plasma

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Although there is a shortage in the supply of convalescent plasma nationwide, the Coachella Valley is having its own issues. Some locals are not hearing back from the collectors. COVID-19 hit the Mcleroy family hard, infecting Matt and sending his mom, Janet, to the hospital. “They connected me to a doctor that works with the plasma,” Janet said. “However, it never happened and it didn’t happen because they didn’t have any.” Janet was hospitalized about six weeks ago. Luckily, the Mcleroys recovered but Matt felt the calling to roll up his sleeve and help by donating. Plasma is the liquid portion of blood which is rich in proteins and antibodies. It has been used to treat other outbreaks including SARS, MERS, and Ebola. The problem: Matt couldn’t get a call back about donating. “I reached out to Eisenhower, I reached out to the Red Cross, I reached out to Lifestream, I reached out to the Riverside County Public Health,” Matt said. “It seemed like everybody kept directing me somewhere else.” Lifestream is the only collector of plasma in the Coachella Valley, according to CEO, Dr.…

Detectives investigating human remains found in Rancho Dominguez area

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Authorities were investigating the circumstances surrounding human remains found in Rancho Dominguez, an unincorporated area in the Harbor region of Los Angeles County, officials said Tuesday. Homicide detectives responded to the 20200 block of South Santa Fe Avenue around 2:45 p.m. after the remains were found, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. No information was available on who the remains belonged to, where they were exactly found or by whom. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.  To provide information anonymously, call “Crime Stoppers” at 800-222-8477 or visit http://lacrimestoppers.org.

L.A. Mayor Garcetti’s top homeless adviser to resign

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s top advisor on homelessness has told her colleagues she will be resigning at the end of the month, The Times has learned. This comes as the number of people living on the streets continues to grow and more money than ever is being spent to house people and keep them from returning to the street. To help respond to the pandemic, the city is awash in federal dollars that are being directed towards homelessness. Deputy Mayor Christina Miller has been Garcetti’s point person on the subject since she was appointed in December 2018. She was the first person to hold the title of deputy mayor for homeless initiatives. She had previously worked on homelessness issues for Garcetti as a senior project manager for homeless strategies and before that at Los Angeles International Airport. Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Riverside man convicted of prostituting women across SoCal, raping 2 victims

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Taiwan Reed is seen in a booking photo released May 24, 2018, by the Riverside Police Department. A Riverside man has been convicted of coaxing women into prostitution, taking their belongings and raping two of the victims, prosecutors said Tuesday. A jury convicted 36-year-old Taiwan Orran Reed on Monday of two counts of rape by force or fear and one count each of pimping, procuring for prostitution and human trafficking, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Investigators believe he’d been working as a pimp for more than a decade, starting when he lived in the Compton area and continuing after he relocated to Riverside. Reed allegedly used existing victims to find new ones. Once he met the women, he would take personal belongings like their cellphones and ID cards, according to prosecutors. If a women tried to leave, he would threaten her and her family, officials said. After Reed was arrested by Riverside police in May 2018, investigators allegedly found he had previous human trafficking victims in three states. In the Riverside County case, two victims were forced into prostitution…

Trini Lopez, singer mentored by Frank Sinatra, dies from COVID-19 complications

By CaliNews 51 mins ago

Trini Lopez, a singer and guitarist who gained fame for his versions of “Lemon Tree” and “If I Had a Hammer” in the 1960s and took his talents to Hollywood, died Tuesday. He was 83. Filmmaker P. David Ebersole, who just finished shooting a documentary on Lopez with Todd Hughes, confirmed that Lopez died from complications of COVID-19 at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. Business partner and musician Joe Chavira said he and Lopez just finished recording a song “If By Now,” a tune meant to raise money for food banks during COVID-19. “And here he is dying of something he was trying to fight,” Chavira said. Lopez crossed over into acting, appearing in the World War II drama “The Dirty Dozen,” the comedy “The Phynx” and credits on television’s “Adam-12.” He also designed guitars that became a favorite of Dave Grohl and other rock stars. Mentored by Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra, Lopez became an international star while performing in English and Spanish. Unlike Mexican American singers such as Ritchie Valens, Lopez rejected advice to change his name and openly embraced his…

Gabe Kapler explains what Kai Correa is doing to improve Giants’ dreadful defense

By CaliNews 52 mins ago

There’s no question that bench coach Kai Correa has his work cut out for him as he tries to help the Giants solve their woes on defense. The Giants entered Tuesday’s game with the Houston Astros 30th and last in Major League Baseball in both errors (21) and fielding percentage (.967). The Giants committed three errors in their 6-4 loss to the Astros on Monday, with two coming in an unsightly third inning as Houston took a 5-0 lead. Playing third base for Evan Longoria, Donovan Solano committed two errors Monday. Solano, who owns a 15-game hitting streak and a .458 batting average, missed Tuesday’s game with abdominal soreness, although manager Gabe Kapler said he did not feel the injury affected his defense. Solano will be reevaluated Wednesday when the Giants finish their three-game series at Minute Maid Park. Correa, in his first season with the Giants, is trying some unique fielding drills in an effort to help. In spring training, the Giants were using what Kapler called a high velocity training drill. Correa uses a fungo bat to hit tennis balls in close proximity…

Scientists uneasy as Russia claims it has a vaccine

By CaliNews 52 mins ago

By Vladimir Isachenkov and Daria Litvinova | Associated Press MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people. President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry’s approval and said one of his two adult daughters already was inoculated. He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to the coronavirus, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness. “I know it has proven efficient and forms a stable immunity,” Putin said. “We must be grateful to those who made that first step very important for our country and the entire world.” However, scientists in Russia and other countries sounded an alarm, saying that rushing to offer the vaccine before final-stage testing could backfire. What’s called a Phase 3 trial — which involves tens of thousands of people and can take months — is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.…

Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi could soon be first and second in line for president. How did Bay Area politics manage that?

By CaliNews 52 mins ago

One is a seasoned politician, long considered one of the most powerful people in Washington. The other is a rising star, a trailblazer accustomed to breaking barriers. Both have deep Bay Area ties. And to many in the rest of the country who see the region as a left-leaning outlier, this may be hard to imagine: If the Democrats take the White House and maintain control of the House this fall, arguably the two most politically powerful women in the history of the United States — number one and number two in line for president — would hail from the Bay Area. Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s pick for his vice presidential running mate, was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley. And while Nancy Pelosi — the first female Speaker of the House — is originally from Baltimore, she has called San Francisco home for more than half a century. “It makes sense that some of the first women who have achieved a lot of power in American politics might come from the Bay Area,” said Kimberly Nalder, a Sacramento State University…

Brazil’s president denies existence of Amazon fires

By CaliNews 52 mins ago

By Jake Spring and Maria Carolina Marcello | Reuters BRASILIA – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday angrily denied the existence of fires in the Amazon rainforest, calling it a “lie,” despite data produced by his own government showing that thousands of fires are surging across the region. Bolsonaro last year similarly denied a spike in fires that provoked a global outcry, with the right-wing populist trading barbs with French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders. The president’s comments on Tuesday come even as Reuters witnesses in the remote Amazon town of Apui observed smoke blanketing the horizon in all directions during the day and large fires setting the sky aglow at night. Fires in Brazil’s Amazon for the month of August hit a nine-year high in 2019 and this month so far looks even worse. More than 10,000 fires have been recorded in the first 10 days of August, up 17% from the same period a year ago, according to data from the country’s national space research agency Inpe. But in a speech to other South American leaders on Tuesday, Bolsonaro challenged foreign…

Coronavirus: Pac-12 cancels nonconference basketball games

By CaliNews 52 mins ago

Pac-12 men’s and women’s basketball will not include nonconference games this season, the conference said Tuesday. “We know that this is a difficult day for our student-athletes, and our hearts go out to them and their families,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “We have made clear that all of their scholarships will be guaranteed, and that as a conference we are strongly encouraging the NCAA to grant them an additional year of eligibility.” On the same day the league announced college football season would be postponed until spring because of medical concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, athletic directors also opted to push back the start of the college basketball season by eliminating non-conference travel and games. No games will be played in 2020, according to Oregon president Michael Schill. “All of the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors understand the importance of this decision, and the disappointment it will create for our student-athletes, the coaches, support staff and all of our fans. Ultimately, our decision was guided by science and a deep commitment to the health and welfare of student-athletes. We certainly hope…

Family Of Woman Whose Corpse Was Allegedly Molested By LAPD Officer Sues City, Officer

By CaliNews 53 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The family of a woman whose corpse was allegedly molested by a Los Angeles police officer in 2019 filed suit Tuesday against the city and the officer. David Rojas, 27, pleaded not guilty in January to a felony count of having sexual contact with human remains without authority. (CBSLA) According to the LAPD, 27-year-old David Rojas and another officer were investigating the overdose death of Elizabeth Baggett near Skid Row last year. Prosecutors allege Rojas attempted to turn off his body camera and groped the dead woman’s breasts, unaware that the camera was still recording. The woman’s mother, Janet Baggett, was joined Tuesday by attorney Gloria Allred in announcing the suit. “I am infuriated that this man had so little respect for another human being, our Elizabeth, for not having the thought that she was someone’s daughter, granddaughter and mother,” Baggett said. “We, her family, have sleepless nights, if we are able to sleep. I personally wake in sweats from the nightmares that haunt me about the events of Elizabeth’s death. Days are not much better.” Baggett’s family is suing for…

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!