Author: Artificial Intelligence

Almost a week after Election Day, votes are still being counted in California, creating an agonizing wait for the nation to find out who will be the next leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s no surprise that California is taking its time reviewing, processing, and counting the ballots of its more than 22 million registered voters. For the record: Nov. 13, 2024 9:52 a.m. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of undecided House district races as of Tuesday. There were nine races that were undecided. While some may see this delay as a problem,…

A 23-year-old man accused in an online sextortion scheme in the San Fernando Valley is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to distributing explicit images of minors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Tuesday. Confirmed.Alejandro Garcia Aranda, of Sylmar, was charged with three federal counts of promoting and distributing more than 600 images and videos containing child pornography through the Instagram handle “valleyhoezzz818,” which he created around May 2020. He was charged and arrested in July.Authorities say the suspect used the image to humiliate the female student and then blackmailed the high school victim by threatening…

It was just last month that 63-year-old Fernando Valenzuela, the popular pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who sparked Fernandomania, passed away from a mysterious illness.A newly released copy of his death certificate dispels much of the mystery. According to the document, Valenzuela’s underlying cause of death may be related to liver disease and liver failure. The certificate, first reported by TMZ, lists septic shock, decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis as underlying causes. The certificate also suggests that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease may have also contributed to his death. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare and fatal brain disease that causes changes…

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees this week, Director Laurie Leshin said in a memo sent to staff Tuesday afternoon.La Cañada Flintridge Research Institute plans to lay off about 325 employees across the organization, or about 5% of its workforce, on Wednesday, according to the memo.“Based on the reduced budget and anticipated work ahead, we have had to tighten up across the board,” Lesin wrote. “This is a message I wish I didn’t have to write.”This is the third reduction in personnel at JPL this year, driven primarily by significant budget cuts to the…

When the rangers aren’t there, the cubs play, but the cubs remain confined to the school.At least that’s what happened in La Crescenta on Tuesday, when law enforcement and wildlife officials spent the afternoon monitoring a bear cub hanging out in a tree in front of Crescenta Valley High School. could not be forced to return home.Glendale Unified School District officials ordered the high school and nearby La Crescenta Elementary School to evacuate everyone in place as authorities determined their response. School district spokeswoman Kristin Nam said classes were held as scheduled at each campus, but students were not allowed…

A rare sandstorm caused a multi-vehicle crash on Monday, knocking out power to Central Valley residents.Emily Wilson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, said the so-called haboob hit the valley between 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Monday.Several people were injured in the California 99 crash, and Pacific Gas & Electric reported that about 15,000 Fresno County residents were without power as unusually strong winds kicked up dust into a deadly cloud.”The last few months have been unusually dry,” Wilson said, adding that the low pressure “kicked up all the dust and carried it throughout the valley.”In Madera,…

We tell ourselves stories in order to live, Joan Didion famously wrote, and Proposition 187 is what California Democrats have been repeating for decades.Californians of a certain age can recite this. The 1994 ballot initiative aimed to make life miserable for illegal immigrants, with supporters arguing that illegal immigrants were destroying the Golden State by straining social services and changing the demographics of cities. He claimed that there was. The bill passed with a nearly two-thirds majority, despite opponents calling it racist and protests attended by hundreds of thousands of people across the state. It was darkness before light for…

Adlin Nazarian won the race to represent the San Fernando Valley region on the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, and Heather Hutt retained her seat to be appointed in 2022.Isabel Jurado, who represents downtown and parts of the East Side, defeated incumbent Kevin de Leon, giving the city a majority of women for the first time. Hutt sent an email to his supporters Tuesday thanking them for choosing him to represent the district, which stretches from Koreatown to the Crenshaw Corridor. Hutt, 65, was first appointed to the post by council in 2022 after then-council member Mark Ridley-Thomas was…

A Los Angeles Unified School District teacher left her husband because of her obsession with a middle school student accused of sexual abuse, calling the boy her “meth” and saying she was going to “go to jail for him.” Prosecutors said in court Tuesday.Colleen Jo Matarico, 43, was arrested last week and charged with seven counts of molesting a boy she met when she was 12 years old, authorities said. The alleged sexual abuse continued for more than a year, according to the criminal complaint. Matariko is also suspected of giving the boy marijuana. Los Angeles police said last week…

People go to great lengths to support their favorite sports teams. Some people have lost their jobs because of this. A Los Angeles Dodgers fan claims he was fired after he called in sick for work and was spotted at the team’s World Series victory parade. The fan, who has not been identified, shared his story on social media, saying he was fired by his employer for misconduct. KTLA legal expert Alison Tristle said the firings hold important lessons for people who try to sneak away for truancy. “If you’re going to play hooky, don’t do it with cameras and…