FILE - President Joe Biden listens during an event about high-speed internet infrastructure in the East Room of the White House, Monday, June 26, 2023, in Washington. The Biden administration on Monday, Aug. 21, continued its push toward internet-for-all by 2030, announcing about $667 million in new grants and loans to build more broadband infrastructure in the rural U.S. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

JULIE WATSON

FILE - Cars enter Naval Base Ventura County, Aug. 25, 2005, in Ventura County, Calif. On Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, a U.S. Navy sailor based at California's Naval Base Ventura County was sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. (Dave Getzschman/The Ventura County Star via AP, File)
US Navy sailor sentenced to over 2 years in prison for accepting bribes from Chinese officer
A U.S. Navy sailor has been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to a Chinese government’s intelligence officer.
 
Wooden pallets are stored on a property adjacent to the Interstate 10 in Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Guards hired by California keep eye on sites deemed risky under Los Angeles freeway damaged by fire
Since an arson fire damaged a key Los Angeles freeway, the state has hired security guards to watch out for smoke and other trouble at three other sites deemed equally risky under Interstate 10.
 
FILE - This undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Leonard Francis. Convicted defense contractor Leonard "Fat Leonard" Francis who led a daring escape weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in 2022 made his first appearance in federal court in San Diego on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, after being returned to U.S. custody as part of the Venezuelan prisoner swap. (U.S. Marshals Service via AP, File)
‘Fat Leonard’ seeks new attorneys ahead of sentencing in Navy bribery case, causing another delay
Convicted Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis who led a daring escape weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in 2022 is seeking new defense attorneys now that he is back in U.S. custody after the Venezuelan prisoner swap last month.
 
FILE - This undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Leonard Francis. The United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor Leonard Francis known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery scandal, the Biden administration announced Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (U.S. Marshals Service via AP, File)
‘Fat Leonard,’ a fugitive now returning to the US, was behind one of the military’s biggest scandals
Convicted defense contractor Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis is being returned to U.S. custody as part of the Venezuelan prisoner swap. It’s the latest twist in a decade-long salacious saga and bribery scheme that swept up dozens of Navy officers.
 
Scientific diver Morgan Murphy-Cannella holds bull kelp with a dark patch of reproductive spores as she surveys a reforestation project, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, near Caspar, Calif. Kelp forests play an integral role in the health of the world’s oceans, one of the issues being discussed at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
From urchin crushing to lab-grown kelp, efforts to save California’s kelp forests show promise
After purple urchins helped nearly wipe out 96% of California’s iconic underwater bull kelp forests over a six-year span, biologists say they are seeing promising signs that efforts to save them may be helping.
 
A customer eats tinned fish at the DECANTsf bar, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Canned seafood moves beyond tuna sandwiches in a pandemic trend that stuck
It looks like the U.S. canned seafood industry is moving well beyond tuna sandwiches thanks to a culinary trends that emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Attorney Ron Bamieh, left, listens to his client, Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, a professor of computer science at Moorpark College, during an appearance in Ventura County Superior Court in connection with the death of Paul Kessler in Ventura, Calif., Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. California authorities said Friday they have not ruled out that a hate crime was committed in the death of a pro-Israel demonstrator following a confrontation with Alnaji but so far the evidence only supports the charges of involuntary manslaughter and battery. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Professor’s lawyer says video footage will clear his client charged in death of pro-Israel protester
A California prosecutor says evidence supports involuntary manslaughter and battery charges against a college professor accused in the death of a Jewish protester after an altercation at a demonstration over the Israel-Hamas war.
 
FILE - In this photo provided by JLTV, Paul Kessler attends a demonstration in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Sunday Nov. 5, 2023. California authorities have arrested a man in connection with the death of a Jewish protester during demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war. (JLTV via AP, File)
California professor charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Jewish demonstrator
California authorities have charged a college professor with involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish protester during demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war.
 
Vehicles exit a ramp to the Interstate 10 in Los Angeles Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says a stretch of Interstate 10 in Los Angeles that was burned in an act of arson does not need to be demolished, and that repairs will take an estimated three to five weeks. Newsom announced the finding Tuesday, based on analysis of core samples taken from the freeway, a vital artery used by 300,000 vehicles daily. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California program to lease land under freeways faces scrutiny after major Los Angeles fire
The state of California operates a little-known program to lease land under freeways that is now under scrutiny after an arson fire under Interstate 10 in Los Angeles.
 
The site of a fire is seen under Interstate 10, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles drivers are being tested in their first commute since a weekend fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Fire-damaged Los Angeles freeway repairs will take three to five weeks, California governor says
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says a stretch of Interstate 10 in Los Angeles that was burned in an act of arson does not need to be demolished, and that repairs will take an estimated three to five weeks.
 
In this aerial view, traffic is backed up under a closed interstate 10 in the aftermath of a fire, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles drivers are being tested in their first commute since a weekend fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Arson likely caused fire that damaged vital artery of Los Angeles freeway, governor says
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says arson caused a massive fire that has indefinitely closed a vital section of a freeway in Los Angeles. Engineers have been assessing the situation Monday.
 
Elena Colombo from Synagogue HAMAKOM chalks a Star of David amongst flowers and candles left at a makeshift shrine placed at the scene of a Sunday confrontation that lead to death of a demonstrator Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Paul Kessler, 69, died at a hospital on Monday from a head injury after witnesses reported he was involved in a "physical altercation" during pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations at an intersection in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles, authorities said. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Man involved in confrontation with Jewish protester who died called 911, cooperated with police
California authorities are seeking help as they investigate the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man after a confrontation at a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
 
Acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Troy Miller, center, speaks during a news conference at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in San Diego. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced a new government-wide strategy that will target not only fentanyl but precursor materials used to make the synthetic opioid.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
US government says it plans to go after legal goods tied to illegal fentanyl trade in new strategy
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced a new government-wide strategy that will target not only fentanyl but precursor materials used to make the synthetic opioid.
 
FILE - Evacuees from Afghanistan wait with other evacuees to fly to the United States or another safe location in a makeshift departure gate inside a hanger at the United States Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Sept. 1, 2021. The Afghan man who speaks only Farsi represented himself in U.S. immigration court, and the judge denied him asylum. The Associated Press obtained a transcript of the hearing that offers a rare look inside an opaque and overwhelmed immigration court system where hearings are closed and judges are under pressure to move quickly given the backlog of 2 million cases. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
He spoke no English, had no lawyer. An Afghan man’s case offers a glimpse into US immigration court
The case of an Afghan man who represented himself in U.S. immigration court offers a rare look in that system’s proceedings. Usually, the transcripts aren’t public, and most hearings are closed.
 
FILE - Crews from SoCalGas and outside experts work on a relief well to be connected to a leaking well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, on Dec. 9. 2015. California officials are expected to vote Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, on a proposal to increase storage capacity at the site of the nation's largest-known methane leak. (Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)
California regulators approve more gas storage capacity at the site of the worst US methane leak
California regulators have approved a proposal to vastly increase natural gas storage at the site of the nation’s largest known methane leak.
 
Dorian Padilla sits in his car as he waits for a tow after it got stuck in the mud on a street after Tropical Storm Hilary swept through the area Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Cathedral City, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
California mountain and desert towns dig out of the mud tropical storm
Crews worked to dig roads, buildings and care home residents out of the mud across a wide swath of Southwestern U.S. desert Monday, after a tropical storm to hit Southern California.
 
Firefighters rescue a person from an assisted living center after the street was flooded with mud following Tropical Storm Hilary Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Cathedral City, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Hilary left California desert roads covered in water and mud. Now it’s threatening Oregon and Idaho
Tropical Storm Hilary has drenched Southern California, swept people into swollen rivers, toppled trees onto homes and flooded roads. Crews worked to clear away the debris Monday.
 
FILE - The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. When the most deadly U.S. fire in a century ripped across the Hawaiian island, it damaged hundreds of drinking water pipes, resulting in a loss of pressure that likely allowed toxic chemicals along with metals and bacteria into water lines. Experts are using strong language to warn Maui residents in Lahaina and Upper Kula not to filter their own tap water. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Immigrant workers’ lives, livelihoods and documents in limbo after the Hawaii fire
Foreign workers once benefitted from jobs that were plentiful in Lahaina before fires whipped by hurricane-force winds leveled the Hawaiian town earlier this month.
 
Seal Beach resident Tom Ostrom walks past a home protected with sandbags in Seal Beach, Calif., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, as residents prepare for an approaching storm. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico’s Baja. Rare tropical storm watch issued for California
Hurricane Hilary is churning off Mexico’s Pacific coast as a powerful Category 4 storm threatening to unleash torrential rains on the mudslide-prone border city of Tijuana before heading into Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years.
 
CORRECTS TO 37 INTEAD OF 30 SACRAMENTO PERCH California Fish and Wildlife biologist Matt Lucero releases some of the 37 Sacramento Perch juveniles in Lindo Lake County Park in the Lakeside suburb of San Diego, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. Lucero brought the fish from Bridgeport reservoir, a picturesque body of water surrounded by snow-capped mountains that has become a bottleneck for the fish's genes because the isolated population cannot migrate. (AP Photo/Julie Watson)
California aims to introduce more anglers to native warm-water tolerant sunfish as planet heats up
California’s only native sunfish, Sacramento perch, was once so abundant it was a regular staple in San Francisco’s markets.
 
U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested and accused of providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, Naval operations and critical technical material, federal officials said Thursday. (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
US Navy sailor’s mom encouraged him to pass military details to China, prosecutor says
A federal prosecutor has told a judge that the mother of a U.S. Navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China encouraged him to cooperate with a Chinese intelligence officer. Assistant U.S.
 
U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California, center, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in San Diego. Two U.S. Navy sailors have been arrested and accused of providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, Naval operations and critical technical material, federal officials said Thursday. (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
2 US Navy sailors charged with providing sensitive military information to China
U.S. officials say two Navy sailors have been arrested on charges related to national security and ties to China.
 
FILE - Large waves crash into a seawall in Pacifica, Calif., on Jan. 6, 2023. Giant waves, measuring as high as 13 feet, are becoming more common off California's Pacific coast as the planet warms, according to new research that used a unique approach to gather historical data over the past 90 years to track the increasing height of the surf. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Big waves becoming more common off California as Earth warms, new research finds
New research shows winter waves off California’s Pacific coast are swelling in size as the planet warms.
 
People, who are homeless, try to cool down with chilled water outside the Justa Center, a day center for homeless people 55 years and older, Friday, July 14, 2023, in downtown Phoenix. Phoenix marked the city’s 15th consecutive day of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) or higher temperatures on Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Vegas could break heat record as tens of millions across US endure scorching temperatures
Air-conditioned casinos offer a welcome respite for people visiting Las Vegas as the city is hit by an intense heat wave that’s put nearly one-third of Americans under heat advisories and warnings.
 
FILE - Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a deadly crash in Holtville, Calif. A federal judge on Thursday, July 13, 2023, sentenced the man who coordinated stashing nearly two dozen migrants into a Ford Expedition that crashed into a tractor-trailer killing 13 people. Jose Cruz Noguez was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to charges stemming from the March 2, 2021, crash near the California desert town of Holtville. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
Man convicted of setting up smuggling trip that killed 13 in California gets 15 years in prison
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the man who coordinated stashing nearly two dozen migrants into a Ford Expedition that crashed into a tractor-trailer, killing 13 people.
 
Film review test : Cops took 5 hours to warn that dance hall shooter was loose
A five-hour police delay in alerting the public that the California dance hall killer was on the run is throwing a spotlight on the nation’s flawed, patchwork system for warnings of mass shooters at large.
 
★★★★
Judge urges US to help find parents deported without kids
A federal judge is urging the Trump administration to do more to help court-appointed researchers find hundreds of parents who are still separated from their children three years after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
 
Navy removes 116 from hospital ship after virus infects 7
The Navy has removed 116 medical staff members from its hospital ship docked off Los Angeles after seven of them tested positive for COVID-19. The personnel from the USNS Mercy were taken to a nearby base and remain under quarantine. Lt.
 
Navy cancels review for SEALs after firing of Navy secretary
The acting Navy secretary has canceled a peer-review process for three Navy SEALs who supervised a fourth SEAL convicted of posing with a dead teenage prisoner in Iraq.
 
‘Frogman against frogman’: Case against SEAL sparks debate
The war crimes case against a Navy SEAL not only cost the Navy secretary his job. It dragged an elite military force known for quiet professionalism into a political firestorm.
 
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