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Walters: California Democrats emulate Ohio GOP on tax limit ballot measure

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

A chess move by California Capitol leadership last week could undercut a pending ballot measure seeking to restrict new taxes. A similar strategy was used by Republicans in Ohio attempting to restrict abortion rights.A couple of weeks ago, Ohio voters rejected a constitutional amendment, proposed by Republican legislators, that would have raised the vote requirement for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%.It was clearly an effort to undermine a pro-abortion amendment on next year’s ballot. The outcome was somewhat surprising in a state that has been dominated by Republicans in recent years. President Joe Biden hailed the rejection, calling it a “blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions.”Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself on abortion rights last year and allowed states to have the last word on the legality of pregnancy terminations, the issue has been fought out s...

Former USC star Reggie Bush sues NCAA, petitions for records restored

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES — On a sparkling corner rooftop of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, former USC star Reggie Bush stood at a podium in front of the media on Wednesday morning and pointed down below – down to the Coliseum seats where red-and-gold banners commemorate the numbers of USC’s Heisman Trophy winners.Down, specifically, to the wide space empty for Bush’s No. 5, the number that birthed Trojan greatness and fame before nearly two decades of legislative battles with the NCAA and Bush’s Heisman being stripped over allegations of accepting improper benefits.“I got dreams of walking back in here, seeing my jersey, my banner right down there next to the rest of the Heisman Trophy winners,” Bush said at a Wednesday press conference.“But I can’t rightfully do that,” he continued, “without my Heisman Trophy.”On Wednesday morning, Bush filed a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA in Indiana’s Marion Superior Court seeking to “hold the NCAA accountable for maliciously attacking the character...

Attorney: Man convicted of Kristin Smart’s murder is attacked in prison

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

COALINGA — The man convicted of killing Kristin Smart, who vanished from a California college campus more than 25 years ago, was hospitalized after he was attacked in state prison, his lawyer said Wednesday.Paul Flores, of San Pedro, was taken Wednesday from Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga to an outside hospital where he was in serious condition, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.This undated photo released by the FBI shows Kristin Smart, the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student who disappeared in 1996. (FBI via AP, File) The department didn’t confirm that Flores had been attacked, with a spokeswoman saying via email that the circumstances surrounding his injury were under investigation and details wouldn’t immediately be released.His attorney, Harold Mesick, said he was notified by corrections officials that Flores was attacked Wednesday, although he didn’t have any details.“I just pray for his recover...

Man charged with kidnapping, attempted rape and killing of 19-year-old California college student

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

A Whittier man was charged Wednesday with abducting a 19-year-old Fullerton College student from a park in Whittier and trying to rape and then killing her.The abduction happened while the victim was with her boyfriend at the park, police said.Police later found the body of Andrea Vazquez of Downey in Moreno Valley.Gabriel Esparza, 20, pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder of Vazquez’s boyfriend, kidnapping to commit rape, kidnapping, assault with intent to commit rape and two counts of attempted forcible rape during his Wednesday arraignment at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.Andrea Vazquez. (Photo courtesy Whittier Police Department) He also pleaded not guilty to the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a kidnapping and murder during the course of an attempted rape as well as the allegation he personally used a rifle while comm...

Seven Oaks woman — and her mobile home — washed away in Hilary flood

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

When Tropical Storm Hilary ripped through the San Bernardino Mountains over the weekend, it took Rachel Hunt’s home — and her with it.Hunt’s mobile home in the Seven Oaks area was lifted off its foundations Sunday, Aug. 20, and washed down the street by flood waters, while she was still inside.“The walls deteriorated and it was struck by another mobile home and I took shelter in the back hall and then kitchen as the back wall tore open,” Hunt said in a news release issued Wednesday, Aug. 23, by GoFundMe.The home is a “total loss,” Hunt’s boss, Randy Lopez said in the release.Hunt on Wednesday declined to be interviewed.A Caltrans truck drives past the washed out section of Hwy 38 which is closed as half the roadway is washed out above the 7,000-foot elevation marker damaged by Tropical Storm Hilary in San Bernardino National Forest on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)A cabin stands with a washed out foundation by flood waters and debris fr...

Cook’s Corner adds to Orange County’s history of mass shootings, attacks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

Orange County has been the scene of several mass or spree attacks, including Wednesday’s shooting at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon that left four dead, including the shooter, and six others shot.Before Wednesday, the most recent mass shooting in Orange County at a church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022. One person was killed and five others were shot.David Wenweii Chou is now facing nearly 100 federal hate crime, weapons and explosives counts, the Department of Justice announced nearly a year after the mass shooting.An indictment returned by a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana charged Chou of 45 counts of obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by force, which prosecutors say resulted in one death and attempts to kill 44 others through the use of a gun, explosives or fire.Orange County has been the scene of several mass or spree attacks, including one at a real estate office in Orange on March 31, 2021.Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez was charged with special circu...

Father ‘extremely relieved’ to find daughter transported alive to hospital after mass shooting at California biker bar

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

A Lake Forest man had heard his daughter was killed in Wednesday night’s mass shooting at the Cook’s Corner bar – but was “extremely relieved” to learn she was transported alive to a local hospital.William Mosby of Lake Forest heard the terrible news when he turned on a television newscast.He heard his daughter, Marie Snowling, was murdered, he said, as he walked with a cane to the Emergency Room at Providence Mission Hospital Mission Viejo.“Her friend in the bar said she was shot in the lower jaw.”Mosby learned from hospital staff that his daughter had been brought in alive and was taken to UCI Medical Center.“I’m extremely relieved, what I heard was the worst.”Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Cook’s Corner adds to Orange County’s history of mass shootings, attacks California News | Cook’s Corner, iconic biker bar with non-violent past, is scene of mass shooting California News | At least 9 shot at iconic California biker bar; 4 confirmed...

Cook’s Corner, iconic biker bar with non-violent past, is scene of mass shooting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

If Cook’s Corner is a biker bar – and by all accounts it still is – it’s a biker bar that never lived up to the stereotype, even when biker’s bars were (sort of) common.In the mid-1970s, when Victor Villa and Volker Streicek bought the restaurant and bar from the Cook family, the place was already nearly 100 years old. Under several generations of Cook family ownership the place had served miners and what passed for cowboys in Orange County. And, after World War II, it had become a fun stop for visitors to the county’s still rural canyon areas.RELATED: At least 9 shot at Southern California biker bar; 4 confirmed deadBut Villa and Streicek, who sold motorcycle accessories, saw Cook’s as a biker bar – with a twist.Motorcycle gang members and their loud rides would be welcome. But biker colors – and whatever biker grudges or disputes any patron might have outside the bar – were not. Fights were rare. Violence was frowned upon.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Cook’s Corner ...

At least 9 shot at Southern California biker bar; 4 confirmed dead

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

Deputies and medical personnel rushed Wednesday night to a mass shooting at a bar in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon, with authorities saying four were confirmed dead at the scene, including the shooter.Six more people were taken to hospitals, including five with gunshot wounds, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.In an image from video, authorities work at the scene of a fatal shooting Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at Cook’s Corner, a biker bar in rural Trabuco Canyon, Calif., in Orange County. (ABC7 Los Angeles via AP)Undersheriff Jeff Hallock holds an 11 p.m. press conference in the parking lot at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 to give information about the number of victims in a mass shooting at Cook’s Corner. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)Law enforcement work the scene of a mass shooting at Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon on Aug. 23, 2023. (OnScene.TV)Ryan Guidus of Lake Forest was on the patio of Cook’s Cor...

Build a home with ease of living for all

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:26 GMT

Life at home continues to evolve and redefine itself. And in California, that includes the growing popularity of multigenerational living and the need for flexible floor plans for all types of lifestyles.Builders now provide a variety of options for people of all ages, stages and needs to live comfortably and safely under the same roof. Whether a new-home buyer is purchasing a home to start a family, enjoy their golden years or to accommodate someone with mobility limitations, California’s builders are ready.The accessibility features that builders offer — in their homes and even throughout their communities — provide even more reasons to consider new construction.Some of these features are driven by the California Building Code (CBC), which outlines building standards based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Other accessibility elements extend naturally from contemporary design methodologies builders already practice.Buyers can partner with a builder’s design team before...