California Dolphin

A coalition of timber companies has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. seeking roughly $225 million in damages from a 2021 fire sparked by a utility power line. The complaint, filed Wednesday by Oregon-based Collins Pine Co. and six affiliated timber businesses with property in the Collins Almanor Forest in Plumas and Tehama counties, alleges that PG&E failed to properly manage the forest and electrical equipment to prevent the devastating Dixie fire and that the businesses suffered massive financial damages as a result. A 2022 investigation by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection found that the Dixie fire, the second largest in California history, “was caused by a tree contacting electrical distribution lines owned and operated” by the utility company. The timber companies claimed the fire, which burned through nearly 1 million acres in Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen and Tehama counties in the summer and fall of 2021, incinerated approximately 55,000 acres of their property, including “commercial-grade timber, trees of many species and ages (some over 200 years old), roads, structures, bridges, culverts, and many of the research plots.” The

The Kings and Ducks headed in opposite directions when they skated off the ice Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. The Kings are going to the playoffs for a third consecutive season, the team’s longest run of postseason appearances in a decade. The Ducks, meanwhile, will be heading to the golf course again after Thursday’s regular-season finale, having missed the postseason for a sixth straight year, the longest drought in franchise history. Saturday’s 3-1 win was the Kings’ fifth victory in six games. For the Ducks, it was their 50th loss of the season, a first in the 30-year history of the franchise. But the gap between the two is narrower and more fickle than it might appear. “It’s a hard game,” said Kings President Luc Robitaille. “You have to have a plan, you’ve got to stick to it, you’ve got to be a little bit lucky with injuries too.” When that luck runs out, well, then you have the Ducks. “You can look at any team that’s won, and they’ve had a little luck,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “They’ve had a little, now they’re

The Board of Supervisors is the guardian of Los Angeles County’s budget and has oversight over county policies and actions. So it is disappointing, to say the least, that the supervisors asked no questions and engaged in no discussion last week when they signed off on a $25-million settlement for Isaias Cervantes, a Cudahy man who was shot in his home by sheriff’s deputies on March 31, 2021. They were responding to a 911 call by Cervantes’ sister, who advised the dispatcher of her brother’s disabilities and said he had become aggressive with their mother. She asked if deputies could take him to the hospital. When the two deputies arrived, Cervantes was seated inside on a couch. He declined to go outside to speak to the deputies but invited them in. They entered and told him he was not under arrest but they would have to handcuff him. When he resisted, they scuffled, and one deputy said Cervantes tried to grab his gun. The other deputy shot him. It’s not that county taxpayers should begrudge the payment to Cervantes. He was paralyzed in the incident

In watching some of the breathless coverage of Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial, I’m reminded of the 2004 quote from former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that, “You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want.” People want the hush money case to be the big case that can take down Trump because it may be the only one that goes to trial before the election. Special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case pending in Washington is the most important of the Trump cases; it may be the most consequential court case for democracy in the history of the United States. The former president is alleged to have tried to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election through fraud, to turn himself from an election loser into an election winner. Similar damning allegations appear in the Georgia state election interference case. And the charges against Trump in a federal court in Florida for allegedly mishandling and failing to turn over classified documents are quite serious. But the hush money case that opens Monday in New York? I have a

Iran declares its attack on Israel “concluded,” for now – CBS News Watch CBS News Israel’s military says that on Saturday Iran launched more than 200 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles towards Israeli territory, the vast majority of which were intercepted. The assault – a retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus earlier this month – is the most serious escalation in an already unstable Middle East. Correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports the latest from Tel Aviv. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

As JuJu Watkins wiped tears from her eyes with the corner of her jersey after USC’s season-ending loss to Connecticut in the NCAA regional final, UConn coach Geno Auriemma gave Watkins two encouraging pats on the back. He said a few words into the freshman’s ear. What did the legendary coach tell USC’s heartbroken star who set the NCAA Division I freshman scoring record in the crushing defeat? “Go pro,” Auriemma joked later. But even with the legendary coach’s light-hearted encouragement, Watkins probably won’t hear her name called in the WNBA draft until 2027. To be eligible for the draft, domestic players must turn 22 years old during the calendar year of the event or have graduated from a four-year university prior to, or within the three months after, the draft. The age requirement has been included in the league’s collective bargaining agreement since its first deal in 1999 with little challenge. But stars like Watkins are just the first in a wave of players advancing their games faster than ever. The shift in talent could force further examination of the WNBA’s rule. “If these

There are important things teenage athletes never forget when leaving home. Cellphone. Wallet. Bottle of water. For Colin Moore, a junior pitcher at Crescenta Valley High with Type 1 diabetes, he has another must-have item. “I keep a jar of Skittles in my baseball bag every game,” he said. That’s his emergency go-to item if his blood sugar level becomes too low. He wears a glucose monitor and insulin pump on his arm. He monitors everything via his cellphone. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Moore is 6 feet 3, 230 pounds and has come a long way since being diagnosed at age 12, just before the pandemic. “It gave me a lot of time to get used to it and adjust to the new lifestyle I was living,” he said. He entered high school as a freshman and had few problems, but during his sophomore season, “I started getting low on my blood sugar a lot,” he said. “It was super confusing. Something was not right.” He ended up getting an insulin pump to

By Beth Lawrence, Asal Rezaei Updated on: April 14, 2024 / 7:48 AM EDT / CBS Chicago Girl killed, 10 other people wounded in Chicago mass shooting Girl killed, 10 other people wounded in Chicago mass shooting 01:51 CHICAGO (CBS) — One child was killed and ten other people, including three other children, were injured in a shooting in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood Saturday evening, police said. The shooting happened around 9:20 p.m. near West 52nd Street and South Damen Avenue, Chicago police said. The victims were at a family gathering when the shooting happened.  Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of 18 rounds fired and found multiple people shot on the block, police said. Officers then began providing life-saving care, including tourniquets and chest seals, according to Chicago Police Area One Deputy Chief Don Jerome.  An 8-year-old girl was shot in the head and died, police said. Her name was not immediately released.   A 1-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy were each shot multiple times and were in critical condition Saturday night. A 9-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to his

By Graham Kates April 14, 2024 / 7:24 AM EDT / CBS News Potential witnesses in Trump trial Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen among potential witnesses in Trump “hush money” trial 04:11 When former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial begins in New York on Monday, it will mark the culmination of a yearslong investigation and open a new chapter of a story that goes back even further, to an alleged affair in 2006. It’s a tale that weaves together presidential politics, tabloid headlines and the mundane intricacies of corporate ledgers. The trial will feature a unique cast of characters, some of whom are already household names, while others are stepping into the spotlight for the first time. These are some of the key figures to know as the first ever criminal trial of a former president begins. The defendant and key witnesses Donald Trump Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the hallway outside a courtroom at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on March 25, 2024. Brendan McDermid/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images Trump, who has locked up the Republican presidential nomination once again, is

The reaction was thunderous and effusive. Colleagues and competitors, team officials, longtime readers and even some critics all celebrated when the Associated Press Sports Editors announced this past week that Times columnist Bill Plaschke won its prestigious Red Smith Award. It is widely considered the highest sports journalism honor a writer can earn. Plaschke, 65, is the third Times journalist to win the top prize, following legendary columnist Jim Murray (1982) and former sports editor Bill Dwyre (1996). “When I heard that Bill won the Red Smith Award, my initial reaction was, ‘Well deserved! And long overdue,’” veteran Times sports reporter Gary Klein said. The sentiment was shared by many others, including droves of journalists he mentored and leaders of organizations Plaschke volunteered to assist through the years. “Whoever said you don’t want to meet your heroes has never met Bill,” Times reporter Thuc Nhi Nguyen said. “He’s not only absolutely deserving of this award that honors his incredible work and career, but he’s also a Hall of Fame person and the best teammate you can ask for.” Plaschke has earned numerous top journalism awards

Earlier this spring, California dairy farmers noted a puzzling drop in milk production in Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, Ohio, Kansas and Michigan. Weeks later, news broke that several herds in these states, as well as North Carolina, had been diagnosed with avian influenza — the same strain that has devastated bird populations across the globe and shown a troubling ability to jump to mammals. In an effort to prevent local herds from infection, officials in California and elsewhere have imposed restrictions on cattle imports from the affected states, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has urged livestock managers to minimize the movement of cattle as much as possible. Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the current risk for the general public is low, the development has left dairy farmers reeling. Never before have U.S. dairy cows been infected with H5N1 bird flu viruses. “Nobody saw this coming,” said Michael Payne, a researcher and outreach coordinator at the Western Institute of Food Safety and Security at UC Davis. Scientists and health agencies across the globe have been tracking the spread of the

Right place, right time, with an eye for opportunity, a commitment to economic growth for all, and a will to get things done. That’s entrepreneur Kameale Terry, co-founder of ChargerHelp, a Los Angeles startup. She’s tackling a modern problem — the sorry state of electric vehicle public charging stations — while training an often-overlooked workforce for jobs in a growing sector of the economy. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. Billions of dollars are flowing into building out a national EV charging network, with billions more in California. Outside of Tesla’s supercharging network, however, the equipment deployed by several charging companies has proven unreliable, with more than 20% of chargers overall out of order at a given time. Without reliable public chargers, persuading people to buy EVs to fight climate change and cut pollution will be tougher. Charger companies say they’re working hard to fix the reliability problem, boosting their own repair and maintenance capabilities, doing more training, and turning to third-party companies like ChargerHelp. The charger sector is overflowing with young companies hoping to score in a fast-growing

Dear Liz: My wife and I plan to leave our house to our four children. My concern is that one may want to sell and split the proceeds; another may want to keep the house, rent it and divide up the income; and of course there’s always the real possibility that one may want to move in and live in it (we live in a nice community in California). My goal is to prevent doing anything that drives a wedge between them. Any advice on how best to approach this issue short of requiring the house be sold? Answer: You’ve identified some of the complicating factors of leaving property to multiple heirs. There are many others, including changing circumstances and inclinations. The one who now wants to move into the property may be nicely settled elsewhere when the time comes. Or the one who’s keen on creating a rental may decide that screening tenants, collecting rent and fielding 3 a.m. calls about plumbing problems is too much hassle. Some of the heirs may be in a better position than others to absorb the ongoing costs