California

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Driver Argued on Phone Before Deadly Limo Fire

Wife says he was distracted, playing loud music

(Newser) - New info from the wife of the limo driver whose car burst into flames in May, killing five passengers, casts more doubt on whether Orville Brown really did all he could to prevent the tragedy, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Rachel Hernandez-Brown says she was arguing with her estranged...

Take It From an Ex-Con: Solitary Confinement Is Cruel

California's striking inmates deserve our attention: Wilbert Rideau

(Newser) - At last count, about 2,500 inmates in California were still taking part in a hunger strike that began on July 8. If corrections officials were smart, they'd pay careful attention to the inmates' complaints, writes Wilbert Rideau in the New York Times . The main one is that prisons...

Saudi Princess Nabbed for Human Trafficking: Cops

Kenyan woman was 'held captive'

(Newser) - A Saudi princess has been arrested after she allegedly held a Kenyan woman "captive against (her) will," requiring her to perform domestic duties some 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for just $220 a month, California prosecutors say. The Saudi woman, Meshael Alayban, 42, has been...

30K California Inmates Join Hunger Strike

Prisoners demand end to indefinite isolation

(Newser) - More than 30,000 inmates in California refused meals yesterday in what could be the start of the biggest prison hunger strike in American history—although corrections officials won't consider it a hunger strike until inmates miss nine consecutive meals. Inmates at more than 20 of the state's...

Calif. Prisons Sterilized Women Without State OK

148 had procedure between 2006 and 2010: report

(Newser) - The California prison system had at least 148 women sterilized between 2006 and 2010—without the state signing off on the move. Another 100 women may have faced the same fate since the 1990s, the Center for Investigative Reporting finds, based on state records and interviews. The inmates were pregnant...

Missing LA Dog Turns Up in Florida—3 Years Later

Microchip, pet detective reunite Bayou with owner

(Newser) - Three years ago, a Los Angeles man lost his pit bull; he thinks an ex-roommate took the dog after she was informed she had to move out. Now, Bayou the dog has reemerged—all the way across the country. What happened in the meantime remains a mystery, but Bayou and...

Judge: Yoga Not a Threat to Church-State Separation

He sides with San Diego County district, says yoga not always religious

(Newser) - San Diego County parents are just going to have to live with their kids being taught yoga in school , thanks to a Superior Court judge's ruling yesterday. The California parents were suing the Encinitas Union School District to stop the practice, arguing that yoga is inherently religious and thus...

Justice Kennedy to Supporters of Prop 8: Um, No

Justice refuses without comment to halt gay weddings

(Newser) - Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has denied a request from supporters of Proposition 8 to halt gay weddings in California . Kennedy turned away the request today with no additional comment. Same-sex marriage opponents asked him to step in yesterday, a day after the federal appeals court in San Francisco allowed...

Prop. 8 Backers to SCOTUS: Stop Gay Weddings

Says Supreme Court's decision isn't binding for 25 days

(Newser) - As wedding bells are ringing for gay couples in California , the group that brought the state Prop. 8 to begin with has filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to stay the unions. It's not terribly likely to happen, reports the LA Times , as one law professor says...

Gay Weddings Resume in California

Prop 8 plaintiffs get the honor first

(Newser) - The first gay weddings in California since the Supreme Court dealt a death blow to Prop 8 are in the books. First up yesterday were two of the plaintiffs in the case, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, who wed in San Francisco, reports the Chronicle . "It has taken us...

After Rulings, Gay Marriage Access to Double

Within a year, it's available to 59M more people: Nate Silver

(Newser) - Nate Silver is illuminating the Supreme Court's gay marriage rulings with his usual statistical wizardry. Some 59 million Americans who lacked access to legal gay marriage last August will have it by the time this August comes around. Early last year, just 35 million Americans lived in regions where...

California AG Wants Gay Marriages to Resume Now

But appeals court might wait 25 days

(Newser) - So when will wedding bells resume tolling in California for gay couples? It typically takes 25 days for a Supreme Court ruling to take effect, explains the San Jose Mercury News . That would take us to July 21, but state attorney general Kamala Harris said today that it's not...

Prop 8 Is Dead: Gay Marriage Legal in California (but Not Nationwide)

Supreme Court avoids sweeping decision on pivotal case

(Newser) - After issuing a sweeping decision on the Defense of Marriage Act , the court effectively punted on its other major same-sex marriage case on the validity of Proposition 8. In another 5-4 decision, the court said that the defenders of Prop 8 didn't have the standing to step in and...

Halle Berry Testifies for Bill to Rein In Paparazzi

Actress says photographers stalk her daughter

(Newser) - Halle Berry testified today for a California bill that would limit the ability of paparazzi to photograph the children of celebrities and public figures. "My daughter doesn't want to go to school because she knows `the men' are watching for her," Berry told an Assembly committee. "...

Calif. Legally Defines 'Hot Dog'

To distinguish them from not-yet-cooked sausages

(Newser) - What is a hot dog, really? You may not know—which is probably a good thing—but in California, at least, the encased meat may soon have a legal definition, the Los Angeles Times reports:
  • "'Hot dog' means a whole, cured, cooked sausage that is skinless or stuffed
...

Santa Monica Shooter Left Apology Note

John Zawahri shows remorse for killing father, brother, but no anger

(Newser) - Santa Monica shooter John Zawahri showed no signs of anger in a three-page, handwritten farewell note found on his body, said authorities at a news conference last night. What it contained: an apology for killing his father and brother, a farewell to friends, and an expression of hope that his...

10 Elderly Women Escape Calif. Limo Fire

Most were in their 90s, used walkers, canes to flee

(Newser) - Authorities say 10 elderly women escaped unharmed when the limousine they were in burst into flames while idling in Northern California. The fire yesterday morning comes a little more than a month after five nurses were killed while trapped inside a burning limousine on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. Fire officials...

1863 Indian Massacre Site Uncovered in California

Now, the Paiutes and DWP are fighting to leave the area untouched

(Newser) - Archaeologists say they've stumbled upon a grim page in American history: the site of the 1863 Owens Lake massacre. The Los Angeles Times provides a history lesson: The Paiute Indians occupied land some 200 miles north of LA that proved desirable to an influx of ranchers in the mid...

School Holds Firearms Buyback ... for Toy Guns

Principal says toy guns desensitize kids to real weapons from a young age

(Newser) - A California school is running a "toy gun exchange" today, offering students a free book and a chance to win a bicycle in if they hand in their plastic pistols, reports the San Jose Mercury News . "Playing with toys guns, saying 'I'm going to shoot you,...

Feds Raid Calif. Capitol for First Time in 25 Years

State senator is target of corruption probe, sources say

(Newser) - FBI agents swooped down on the offices of a California state senator and the Latino Legislative Caucus in the first raid of its kind in the state's Capitol since the "Shrimpscam" corruption scandal 25 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reports. Law enforcement sources say Sen. Ron Calderon—...

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