California Dolphin

Dozens of horses seized during a neglect investigation in the San Jacinto Valley, where more than 40 dogs were impounded as a result of the same investigation, came up for adoption Friday, though authorities cautioned that only experienced equestrian handlers would be able to manage the steeds. “We are at a point in this on-going investigation where we are able to reach out to residents and rescue groups that would want to help rescue or adopt and care for these animals and give them the quality of life that they deserve,” Riverside County Department of Animal Services Director Erin Gettis said. According to agency spokesman Lt. James Huffman, the 60-plus horses and nearly four dozen canines were seized on March 28 from two different properties operated by the same individual, whose name was not disclosed. Huffman told City News Service that the seizure stemmed from an 18-month investigation that has not yet led to the filing of criminal charges. No one has been arrested in connection with the neglect case. According to officials, most of the horses are untamed, so they will require breaking in

An Orange County man was sentenced Friday to three years’ probation and time already served for attempting to run endangered “good luck” songbirds into Los Angeles from Vietnam. Quang Truong, 54, of Westminster, pleaded guilty in 2017 to a federal conspiracy charge after his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport. When LAX screeners checked Truong’s luggage following the 8,000-mile journey, they found more than two dozen birds in suitcases rigged to include hidden cages. The tiny Chinese hwamei songbirds — which can cost a few dollars apiece in Southeast Asia — fetch up to $1,000 when sold illegally at certain Chinese markets in Southern California and are thought to bring good luck. Truong had been detained five months before the LAX arrest by Vietnamese officials on suspicion of attempting to smuggle the high-value birds, prosecutors said. Truong was going to be paid $2,000 for smuggling the songbirds into the United States, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court. A co-conspirator, Sony Dong, 61, of Garden Grove, was sentenced in 2018 to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle the songbirds into

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli dies at 83 – CBS News Watch CBS News Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has died at 83. Cavalli became famous in the early 1970s for his animal prints and bold and sensual styles. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

More than 1,000 pages of confidential documents from a federal criminal investigation into the Los Angeles city attorney’s office and the Department of Water and Power will be unsealed, a federal judge signaled Friday. The Times and Consumer Watchdog had requested the documents to better understand the government’s criminal case and whether former City Atty. Mike Feuer bore any culpability for a scandal involving a sham lawsuit and an extortion plot. Feuer has long denied wrongdoing. In a tentative ruling, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. said the documents, which consist mainly of dozens of search warrants filed during the government’s investigation, will be unsealed, with personal data redacted. The names of public officials, along with individuals who are “wrongdoers,” will not be redacted, Blumenfeld said at a hearing Friday — a blow to prosecutors who had sought to keep the officials’ names from the public. The Times and Consumer Watchdog are expected to work with the U.S. attorney’s office to ready the documents for release in the coming weeks. Much of Friday’s hearing centered on Feuer and whether an FBI agent’s alleged assertions that

The city of Lancaster has sued Los Angeles County, saying the Sheriff’s Department is raking in an “illegal profit” of more than $10 million by overcharging dozens of cities for its policing services. Like more than 40 other cities in the county — including Palmdale, Compton, Carson and West Hollywood — Lancaster pays for sheriff’s deputies to police its area. But amid a staffing crisis, the Sheriff’s Department isn’t assigning as many deputies to Lancaster as the city has paid for, says the suit, which was filed in March. Instead, existing deputies are working more overtime to make up for it. But more overtime costs less than more deputies, and the county allegedly isn’t passing along the savings, according to the lawsuit. Attorneys for the city filed the case as a proposed class-action on behalf of all 42 of the county’s contract cities, pending the court’s approval. Mayor R. Rex Parris said Lancaster’s lawsuit aims to hold the county accountable, but stressed that the city still supports the sheriff’s deputies who patrol its streets. “Let me make this crystal clear: Our deputies are our community’s

A man injured by a falling street lamp part will receive a settlement of up to $21 million from the city of Los Angeles. In November 2020, Ismael Soto Luna was at the corner of Roscoe Boulevard and Noble Avenue in Van Nuys when a two-pound metal cap from a street lamp struck his head, knocking him to the ground, according to a lawsuit he filed against the city. The impact fractured his skull, and three months later he was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury, the lawsuit said. His condition progressively worsened, and in 2023 he was diagnosed with dementia, according to the lawsuit. City regulations require a street lamp cap “to be secured in place such that the regular forces of nature would not cause it to become loose and fall,” the lawsuit said. Ivor Pine, a spokesperson for the city attorney’s office, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The City Council approved the settlement Friday. The council also approved other settlements, for a total of more than $40 million. A man who alleged that an LAPD officer in a

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — During the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Americans sought medications south of the border in cities such as Tijuana, according to activist Marck Rivera García. He says the pattern continues to this day, but now people from north of the border are seeking cheaper narcotics that are more potent and readily available in Mexico. “Addicts from the United States are crossing the border motivated by the lower cost of drugs,” Rivera García said. “When they come here, they stay for about a week, then they go home for more money only to return to Tijuana for more drugs.” He says some never go back to the U.S., only to end up homeless on the streets of Tijuana. Rivera García works with Tijuana’s homeless and drug users in the Zona Norte, an area that requires only a short walk from the San Ysidro Port of Entry. It’s also a neighborhood notorious for drug use, strip joints and prostitution. “We try to support them with food, keep them from wasting their money on drugs. Some require counseling, a shower or help in

Billy Joel plays 100th show at Madison Square Garden – CBS News Watch CBS News Billy Joel is marking his 100th show of his record-breaking residency at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. He’s played the famed arena since 1978, and Sunday night you can watch his first-ever show to be broadcast on television on CBS. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

House Speaker Mike Johnson visits Trump at Mar-a-Lago – CBS News Watch CBS News House Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Mar-a-Lago Friday, where he met with former President Donald Trump. Johnson is hoping to get some public support from Trump amid ongoing criticism from some Republicans who claim he is not delivering, and a threat to his speakership from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Robert Costa reports from Palm Beach. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On