California Dolphin

Over the last year, the graffiti-pocked husk of the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza skyscrapers have haunted Los Angeles’ skyline, a beacon of disrepair and, for some, artistic expression. On Halloween, the plaza appeared to get up and simply walk away thanks to Xavier Mozejewski, a Hollywood set designer, who designed a wearable costume that looked just like one of the plaza’s three buildings. Xavier Mozejewski in his multistory Halloween costume. (Courtesy of Xavier Mozejewski) “Three days before Halloween I was working a job in Chinatown, driving on the 110 and saw the building and thought, ‘That’s it,’” said Mozejewski about coming up with his costume. “It was all over the internet for months. I think it’s just recognizable to everybody in L.A. In a weird way it’s super niche, but also recognizable. Everyone has had some sort of connection to it in a way.” Mozejewski’s costume represented the latest chapter in the colorful history of the abandoned plaza that many see as symbol of the city’s neglect and stubborn crime problem. In October, a Bankruptcy Court judge granted an extension for the sale of the towers

After all the votes are counted, no matter who wins, the empowering of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Donald Trump will be one of the sorriest legacies of the 2024 election cycle. I had hoped that Trump was merely humoring Kennedy to get the votes of his supporters. As a third-party candidate, Kennedy may not have had a very big slice of the pie, but in a squeaky tight race, every crumb counts. Yet after Kennedy dropped out and endorsed Trump, the former president has said that Kennedy would have an important role in his potential new administration. “I’m gonna let him go wild on health,” Trump told the crowd at his recent Madison Square Garden hatefest. “I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on medicines.” The Washington Post reported that Kennedy could be given “significant control over health and food safety … with discussions about some Cabinet and agency officials reporting to him.” What a joke. Kennedy is an antivax conspiracy theorist who promotes far-fetched health claims. He once wrote that “COVID shots are a crime

“Nervous.” “Emotional.” “Worried.” “Insecure.” Los Angeles-area voters were feeling much like the rest of the country as election day dawned. But with the support of the state’s liberal majority for California-bred candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race all but assured, voters were hoping to affect the downballot measures and races that could have an everyday impact on their lives. Ballot items dealing with housing costs (Proposition 33), retail theft and drug addiction (Proposition 36), schools (Proposition 2) and dozens of local races were driving them to the polls. “That’s a hell no for me,” said Koryn Frye-Fuentes, 30, widening her eyes for emphasis as she panned Proposition 36 outside her polling place at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. Incarceration “doesn’t help people with drug addiction.” The proposition, backed by law enforcement, seeks to impose harsher sentences for retail theft and drug possession. And it hits a nerve in Los Angeles, where certain supermarket aisles are now locked up, shoplifting has increased and people openly use drugs. The measure would roll back Proposition 47, approved a decade earlier to reduce prison overcrowding and

The FBI says bomb threats made in several states have been deemed non-credible and that they came from Russian email domains. The FBI did not identify the states in question, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said earlier Tuesday that the state’s election process had snuffed out some bomb threats that he said came from Russia.Officials in Fulton County, Ga., said they received “multiple calls” and the threats forced a brief closure of two polling places. “I just want to let me make sure everyone understands this, that Georgia is not going to be intimidated. Russia has just decided they picked on the wrong Georgia,” Raffensperger said. “They need to pick on the other one in the Black Sea, because we’re not going to be intimidated.” The bomb threats were among multiple disturbances that U.S. officials are tracking. But Cait Conley, a senior advisor to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters on a call Tuesday there were no national-level security incidents that were threatening to disrupt the election on a wide scale. Officials continue to warn of what they

A Los Angeles County man was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for falsely reporting terrorist attacks targeting Southern California military bases. Daniel Sandoval, a 29-year-old Santa Fe Springs resident, pleaded guilty in February to one count of false information and hoaxes after he submitted eight tips to the U.S. Department of Defense “falsely claiming that certain women were about to perpetrate mass-casualty attacks at U.S. military facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. Between March 21 and 23, 2021, Sandoval submitted eight online tips to the DOD, each time identifying one of several women who purportedly planned large-scale attacks at sites like a U.S. Navy weapons facility in Seal Beach and a military hospital in Bell Gardens. For instance, Sandoval’s first tip told authorities that a woman identified only as “S.C.” in court documents was planning to “[blow] up military vehicles stationed [at the Seal Beach site] and civilian personnel vehicles,” the release said. In his plea agreement, Sandoval admitted that he “substantially disrupted public and government functions and services,”

First poll closing times approach Latest news as Election Day 2024 as some poll closing times approach 15:04 Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group had an eventful Election Day 2024 , with its DJT stock halted three times after the shares suddenly plunged. At the end of the trading day, the Truth Social owner released its third-quarter earnings, showing a continued decline in revenue.  The company’s third-quarter results, disclosed in a U.S. Securities & Exchange filing, shows that the fledgling social media business continues to lose money, while its revenue slipped 5.6% compared with a year earlier. Still, that marks an improvement from the prior quarter, when Trump Media’s sales tumbled 30% .  Donald Trump’s stake in DJT DJT stock has been on a rollercoaster since going public in March, with the shares surging or falling in line with news about Trump, its largest shareholder, with about 57% of the company’s shares. The erratic fluctuations of the shares have prompted comparisons with so-called meme stocks, which trade on social media buzz rather than the fundamentals that investors prefer, such as revenue and profitability growth. 

First poll closing times approach Latest news as Election Day 2024 as some poll closing times approach 15:04 If history is any guide, one stock market gauge suggests that Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race .  In all but two elections since 1944, the party in the White House has retained power when the U.S. stock market advances before Election Day, or the period between the end of July and Halloween, according to an election predictor devised by Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania.  In 2020, the S&P 500 fell 0.04% from July 31 to October 31, with then-President Donald Trump losing the election to President Joe Biden. While the outcome in the 2024 election is not yet known, the S&P 500 rose 3.3% during that three-month span this year. To be sure, many other factors can influence a presidential race, and Wall Street is no stranger to making wrong predictions, ranging from the direction of the stock market to election outcomes. And betting markets that allow average investors

Senate elections live balance of power for 2024 There are 34 Senate seats up for election in 2024, and Democrats are facing strong headwinds as they seek to defend their narrow 51-49 majority. Heading into Election Day, Republicans appeared to have an edge in several races that could determine control of the Senate. Senate elections live results map for 2024  Democrats are facing a particularly difficult map this cycle, fighting to hold seats in two states Trump won in 2020. In another six states, Democratic incumbents are in tight races, while only two Republican-held seats are considered possible pickup opportunities for Democrats.   Updated 15m ago What’s at stake in Senate elections Control of the Senate is up for grabs as Democrats look to defend their narrow majority, facing serious headwinds with few pickup opportunities — and ample room for the GOP to grow.  Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the chamber. But Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision to leave Congress all but guaranteed Republicans will flip his seat in deep-red West Virginia, and Republicans have opportunities in several other states that will determine control

House elections live balance of power for 2024 All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot on Election Day, and whichever party wins control of the House will likely have a slim majority, making every seat crucial to a majority. The balance of power is likely to come down to the results in about 40 races, according to the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis site.  Republicans currently have a narrow majority in the House, with 220 seats. Democrats control 212 seats. There are three vacancies.    Updated 1m ago Hakeem Jeffries could make history if Democrats retake majority House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York could make history as the first Black speaker if Democrats win the majority.  It wouldn’t be the first time he’s made history. Jeffries became the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress when he was elected minority leader in January 2023, succeeding former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the top Democrat in the lower chamber. His election also made him the first House Democratic leader to be born after the

A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a man’s first-degree murder conviction for shooting rapper Nipsey Hussle outside the musician’s South Los Angeles clothing store. Eric Ronald Holder Jr., now 34, is serving a 60-years-to-life state prison sentence for the March 31, 2019, killing of the 33-year-old rapper, whose real name was Ermias Joseph Asghedom. In its 25-page ruling, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s challenge to Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke’s decision to sustain the prosecution’s objection to a portion of the closing argument by Holder’s trial attorney that purported to describe what the defendant was thinking and feeling before the shooting. “Appellant did not testify, and no other evidence about what appellant was thinking or feeling prior to the shooting was presented to the jury,” Presiding Justice Elwood Lui wrote on behalf of the panel. “Thus, the inferences about appellant’s specific thoughts and feelings that defense counsel purported to draw were not based on the evidence, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in limiting that portion of counsel’s argument.” The panel also