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CHP awarded federal grant to crack down on street takeovers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

The California Highway Patrol is receiving additional help from the federal government in its continuing efforts to reduce reckless driving, illegal street racing and street takeovers.The CHP has been awarded a $2 million grant by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which it says will be used to decrease the number of fatal and injury traffic crashes caused by the illegal and dangerous activities.The grant will bolster the more than $5.5 million that the CHP has already been allotted by the state government in these crackdown initiatives.A street takeover is seen in the area of Rosecrans and Atlantic avenues in Compton in 2020. (KTLA) CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee says the grant will be used for community outreach efforts and enforcement measures to "protect the safety and well-being of California’s communities and ensure our roadways remain safe for everyone."In 2021, CHP officers responded to more than 7,300 incidents of illegal street takeovers across the stat...

Athenna Crosby on seeing Matthew Perry a day before his death: 'He seemed completely fine'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

As we near one week since the passing of beloved actor Matthew Perry, one of the last people to see him was Athenna Crosby. Media outlets dubbed her a "mystery woman" after photos were published of her and Perry having lunch at the Hotel Bel-Air a day before his death. The coverage prompted her to take to social media to identify herself. "Once again I never intended to say anything but since I have been identified yes that is me with him this past Friday. I want to emphasize that Matthew was in extremely good spirits and talked to me enthusiastically about the things that he has coming up in his life," she wrote to her Instastory. "He was so happy and vibrant. Please refrain from any speculation surrounding his death and know that the man was on a comeback and truly deserved more time on this earth our entertainment industry has truly lost a legend RIP."Crosby provided more details about her friendship with Sam Rubin on the KTLA 5 Morning News. The model said she first learned of t...

Doja Cat Stuns with Hometown Show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Doja Cat Stuns with Hometown Show: Having kicked off her first ever headline arena tour, The Scarlet Tour, in San Francisco on Tuesday, Doja Cat‘s second date was a hometown show in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.The reports from that first show were promising, but ultimately the proof is in the pudding. Is Doja Cat ready to cement her place as one of the very best hip-hop artists in the game right now? Beyond genres, is she ready to grab this chance to hammer home the fact that she deserves to headline the biggest venues? Is Doja Cat premier league?You’d better fucking believe it!From the opening bars of “WYM Freestyle” (from the deluxe edition of new album Scarlet), Doja strode out looking like she belongs on this stage. There was no surprise, no vibes of “oh shit, look at this.” And for good reason — this is no less than she deserves. Her four albums have seen impressive growth in every respect, and 2018’s Amala deb...

Jayvontia Warren Killed in Pedestrian Accident on Broadway Road [Phoenix, AZ]

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

31-Year-Old Woman Pronounced Dead after Pedestrian Collision near 27th StreetPHOENIX, AZ (November 3, 2023) – Jayvontia Warren died Friday morning in a pedestrian crash on Broadway Road. The incident occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m., near 27th Street on October 27th.Per reports, the driver of an SUV struck Warren as he was crossing mid-block. Paramedics arrived and took 31-year-old Warren to a nearby hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.Meanwhile, the driver of the SUV remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation. Following preliminary duties, officers do not believe that speed or impairment was a factor.At this time, an active investigation is still currently underway. Once available, more details will be provided.The team at Sweet James sends out their heartfelt sympathies to the friends and family of Jayvontia Warren who are grieving over the loss of their loved one.It is important to have strong legal representation on your side when losing a...

How California college admissions are changing after the end of affirmative action

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

BY CAROLYN JONES AND MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN | CalMattersFor students of color, the Supreme Court’s recent ban on affirmative action has left them frustrated but undaunted as they plow through college application season. Some California private colleges, meanwhile, are increasing their outreach efforts to attract more students and send a signal that the end of race-based admissions doesn’t change their belief in the importance of diversity.“I want to go to a college where I feel comfortable and supported and confident. So yes, the ruling has definitely affected what schools I’m looking at,” said Maya Murchison, a senior at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista. “I want to know what colleges are doing to guarantee diversity.”The court’s 6-3 ruling in June prohibits all colleges in the country from using race as a consideration in admissions. California’s public universities have not used affirmative action for almost 30 years, but some of the state’s selective private colleges, and many out-...

San José-reared author Viet Thanh Nguyen honors his late mother’s ‘epic’ life in his new memoir

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Since winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2016, San Jose-reared novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen has become one of the leading voices of the Vietnamese diaspora in the United States. But he didn’t think his own story — about fleeing Vietnam when he was 4 and growing up in Silicon Valley in the 1980s — was compelling enough when it came time to write his memoir.So the author broadened the focus of “A Man of Two Faces” (Grove Press, 2023) to encompass the “epic” life of his late mother, Linda Kim Nguyen. She was born in a northern Vietnamese village during French colonial rule, came of age amid an escalating war that ravaged her homeland and scrambled to get her young sons onto a boat during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Her last decades were spent working “relentlessly” long hours in her family’s SàiGòn Mới grocery store in San Jose’s pre-gentrified downtown.Author Viet Thanh Nguyễn and his mother, Linda Kim Nguyen, in Vietnam, before they left in 1975. (Courtesy of Viet...

David Mitchell dies; his little Point Reyes newspaper exposed Synanon cult

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

David Mitchell, a muckraker whose tiny California newspaper challenged the violent drug rehabilitation cult Synanon and, as a result, became one of only a handful of weeklies to win a Pulitzer Prize, died Oct. 25 at his home in Point Reyes Station, California, in Marin County. He was 79.His wife, Lynn Axelrod Mitchell, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.A gangly, grizzled former literature teacher, Mitchell also figured in a retaliatory libel suit by Synanon, the results of which advanced the rights of investigative reporters. In 1984, the California Supreme Court ruled that in certain cases they could keep the names of confidential sources secret without forfeiting their defense in libel and other civil cases.Mitchell’s newspaper, the Point Reyes Light, was struggling financially, and the strain of keeping it afloat ultimately cost Mitchell his second marriage; his wife at the time, Catherine Mitchell, was co-publisher with him.But the seven news articles and 1...

Supreme Court to rule on ban of rapid-fire gun bump stocks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

By Mark Sherman | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether a Trump era-ban on bump stocks, the gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, violates federal law.The justices will hear arguments early next year over a regulation put in place by the Justice Department after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.Federal appeals courts have come to different decisions about whether the regulation defining a bump stock as a machine gun comports with federal law.The Supreme Court already is weighing a challenge to another federal law that seeks to keep guns away from people under domestic violence restraining orders, a case that stems from the landmark decision in 2022 in which the six-justice conservative majority expanded gun rights.The new case is not about the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms,” but rather whether the Trump administration followed federal law in changing the bump stock regulati...

Ivanka Trump mocked for saying she can’t testify during ‘the school week’: ‘Find a babysitter’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

Ivanka Trump was mocked online for her failed attempt to argue that she should be spared having to give midweek testimony in her father Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York because she is a busy mother of school-aged children in Florida.An appeals court curtly denied Ivanka Trump’s request to delay her testimony, which is scheduled for next Wednesday, The Guardian reported. Meanwhile, people online used the “school week” argument to criticize the former White House senior adviser for either thinking she’s above the law or to show that she’s “privileged” and out of touch with the daily challenges of regular people, Newsweek said.“Ivanka has to find a babysitter,” MSNBC host Katie Phang wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Don’t look now, but someone’s privilege is showing,” Phang added.“As always, Ivanka has her finger on the pulse of the hardships faced by America’s working men and women,R...

Berkeley police release video of fatal police shooting at Toyota dealership in September

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:31 GMT

(KRON) -- The Berkeley Police Department released critical incident video Friday related to a police shooting that occurred during an active shooter situation in September. Graphic videos from officers' body cameras and surveillance footage detail Berkeley PD officers responding to a report of an active shooter at a Toyota dealership on the Albany border just before 11:15 a.m. on Sept. 21.Officers were dispatched to the Toyota of Berkeley Service Center at 1025 Eastshore Highway in Albany after a 9-1-1 call came in reporting an active shooter. According to the caller, a man entered the service center and shot a woman.In the video, which you can watch here (warning, graphic video), the initial 9-1-1 call reporting the active shooter can be heard. Surveillance video released by BPD appears to show the suspect, 24-year-old Lamar Walker, entering the second floor of the service center, retrieving a handgun and firing at the victim, identified as 24-year-old Alonna Gallon. Gun store o...