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89 arrests made so far by LASD's new retail crime task force

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

Organized retail theft is hitting businesses hard, and Steve Craig, owner of Citadel Outlets, knows firsthand."A few months ago, several ladies walked into Lululemon with 55 gallon trash bags, loaded them up as full as they could and ran out the door with them," Craig said. "They're organized; these products end up in other places, and it's for profit."It's something that authorities and store owners say is becoming all too common, and on Thursday, Los Angeles County officials held a press conference at the popular outdoor shopping mall in Commerce to provide an update on the progress being made in the ongoing campaign against thieves.L.A. County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis joined Sheriff Robert Luna to discuss the progress made so far by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Organized Retail Theft Task Force."In the first five weeks of the task force, our teams have made 89 arrests for retail-related thefts, recovered six firearms, and executed 52 search warrant...

Man incarcerated in California reentry program reported missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

Authorities are searching for an inmate who walked away from a reentry program in Kern County Thursday morning.Demetrius Branson, 50, was reported missing from the Male Community Reentry Program facility around 11 a.m. after he apparently removed his GPS monitoring device while visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles.According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Branson was moved to the reentry program in April to serve the remained of a four-year, eight-month sentence for corporal injury, grand theft, vehicle theft and failure to appear. He's described as being 5 feet 11 inches, 181 pounds with brown eye and black and gray hair. He was last seen wearing black gym shorts, a black t-shirt and a black stocking hat.Anyone who might know his whereabouts is urged to call 911 or local authorities.The Male Community Reentry Program allows people incarcerated in state prison to serve the end of their sentences in a reentry center. The program is supposed to mak...

Police search for driver, passenger who fled fatal crash in Pasadena

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

Police in Pasadena are searching for a driver and passenger who ran away from a crash that killed two people Wednesday night.The violent two-vehicle collision happened at around 9:15 p.m. near the intersection of North Raymond Avenue and East Penn Street. Authorities say the suspects were driving a stolen Lincoln Navigator when they ran through a stop sign and slammed into a Nissan Versa carrying two people. The Navigator careened into a parked vehicle at which point the driver and passenger got out of the car and ran away, police said.Damage sustained to a vehicle during a fatal hit-and-run in Pasadena on Oct. 18, 2023. (RMG News)First responders on the scene in Pasadena after a fatal hit-and-run on Oct. 18, 2023. (RMG News)A male victim in the Nissan was pronounced dead at the scene. An Altadena woman in her 30s died at a hospital, police told KTLA's Sara Welch. Their names were not released.No descriptions of the suspects were available.

Mich. AG drops charges against fake elector who will cooperate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

By Marshall Cohen | CNNOne of the pro-Donald Trump fake electors charged in Michigan has agreed to cooperate with state prosecutors in exchange for getting his case dismissed.James Renner, 76, is the first defendant to strike a deal with prosecutors. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, charged the group of 16 fake electors earlier this year.This is the most significant development in the case since Nessel filed the charges in July. She was the first prosecutor in the nation to charge anyone in connection with the Trump-backed fake elector scheme.As part of the deal, Renner agreed to provide “complete and truthful testimony whenever called upon” by prosecutors, at any hearings or trials related to the 2020 fake electors, according to court filings. This includes describing what happened in the room where he and others signed the sham certificate in December 2020.Like all of the other defendants, Renner originally faced eight felony charges, including forgery and conspiracy to p...

Letters: Undergrounding bill | Human rights | Peace process

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.PG&E should foot billfor undergroundingRe: “Urge CPUC to support PG&E undergrounding” (Page A6, Oct. 12).If PG&E wants to underground lines then they should do it at their expense. Their profits-over-safety policies have cost too many lives and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to the citizens of the state.Pacific Gas & Electric’s gross profit for the 12 months ending June 30, 2023, was $17.225 billion, a 1.47% increase year-over-year.They can afford to pay for the undergrounding themselves at their own expense. No more rate increases. It’s time they paid for their own sins instead of passing it on to the consumer.Jim WissickSan JoseStalled peace processplays role in conflictThe ultimate cause of the horrific bloodletting that began with the savage slaughter of Israelis on Oct. 7 and continues with the merciless bombardment of the Palestinians in Gaza is t...

Travis Kelce sets the record straight on his NYC weekend with Taylor Swift

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

By Lisa Respers France, CNN(CNN) — At least we can now definitely say Travis Kelce has been going out on dates with Taylor Swift.In the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast with his brother Jason Kelce, Swift and Travis Kelce’s weekend in NYC came up, of course.Jason Kelce asked his brother about the conversation over video circulating online that showed Travis and a member of Swift’s security team as she excited a car.“I didn’t push him. I placed my hand on the gentleman’s back to let him know I was behind him,” Travis Kelce said. “If I would’ve pushed him he probably would’ve turned around and tased me.”He and Swift appeared – separately – on “Saturday Night Live” and later out and about in the city holding hands.Travis Kelce declared that Swift’s security team is “great.” His brother asked if he’s felt the need to enact any security protocol of his own in order to protect Swfft.“I feel like whenever I’m on a date I’m always having the sense of like, I’m a man i...

Single-family home sells in Fremont for $1.7 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

2359 Lockwood Avenue – Google Street ViewA 1,146-square-foot house built in 1960 has changed hands. The property located in the 2300 block of Lockwood Avenue in Fremont was sold on Sept. 12, 2023, for $1,715,000, or $1,497 per square foot. The layout of this single-story house consists of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In addition, the home features a garage.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:A 1,670-square-foot home on the 41600 block of Joyce Avenue in Fremont sold in March 2023, for $1,720,000, a price per square foot of $1,030. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Joyce Avenue, Fremont, in November 2022, a 1,698-square-foot home was sold for $1,665,000, a price per square foot of $981. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In September 2022, a 1,232-square-foot home on Valorie Street in Fremont sold for $1,557,000, a price per square foot of $1,264. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. 

Letters: Water conservation | Only conflict | GOP vocabulary | E-file plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Time to start tough taskof water conservationRe: “State water conservation idea raises uneasiness” (Page B1, Oct. 18).Apparently measures to conserve water enacted by the Legislature might actually have some teeth. How do we know this? Water providers across the state complain that “steep cuts to outdoor water use” would be required; “it’s awkward”; “we won’t be able to convince our customer base to participate.”Nobody said this was going to be easy. “It takes decades of time, a significant investment of resources, as well as a population and a culture that want to participate,” according to Santa Rosa’s water efficiency supervisor. Well then, we had better get started now, hadn’t we?Mother Nature’s turning off the tap and turning up the heat, and she doesn’t care how difficult that makes life for us. This notion that we can’t do things because they might be difficult flies in the face of eve...

Man who crashed into Chinese Consulate in San Francisco was armed with knife, crossbow, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police said Thursday that a man killed by a sergeant after intentionally crashing a car at the Chinese Consulate earlier this month was armed with a knife, and a crossbow and arrows, offering the first official details of the attack.San Francisco Police Acting Commander Mark Im said at a virtual town hall that Zhanyuan Yang stood against a wall hiding a knife in his right hand. He said Yang then rotated toward a police sergeant and a security guard, exposing the knife, and made “multiple, rapid, downward swinging motions with the knife" in the direction of the sergeant and the security guard. Silicon Valley tech executive sentenced to prison for COVID testing fraud The sergeant then opened fire after Yang failed to comply with orders to get on the ground. Yang was taken to a hospital, where he died.Yang, a 31-year-old San Francisco resident, rammed a car into the visa office of the consulate on Oct. 9. Investigators so far haven’t released a poss...

Victims robbed at gunpoint in downtown Walnut Creek

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:24 GMT

(KRON) -- Two people were robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night after leaving dinner in downtown Walnut Creek, the Walnut Creek Police Department said. According to police, the robbery happened at about 9:30 p.m. near the intersection of Botelho Drive and Locust Street, which is in the area of Broadway Plaza. Two women arrested for stealing $1900 of merchandise at Great Mall in Milpitas Two men approached the victims. One pointed a handgun at them and demanded they give up their belongings. Nobody was injured. The suspects were described as Black men in their late teens or early 20s. They wore sweatshirts with hoods and masks. Two other associates were standing near a white sedan nearby. Police said that after the robbery the suspects got into the car, which was driven towards Broadway Plaza. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call WCPD at (925) 943-5844 or its anonymous tip line at (925) 943-5865.