BONN, Germany (AP) — Movie star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants environmental activists to give more attention to immediate health hazards like air and water pollution. Schwarzenegger spoke Sunday at a global climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, where diplomats from around the world are discussing implementing the Paris climate accord. He said: “It’s … Continue reading
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Snipers perched on rooftops. Police helicopters and drones hovered overhead. Officers in riot gear lined the streets. White nationalists and counterprotesters screamed at each other from fenced-off pens, but the tactics employed by law enforcement at the “White Lives Matter” rally last month in Tennessee might have prevented the kind of … Continue reading
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A man who barged into his child’s Southern California elementary school and allegedly held a 70-year-old teacher hostage for nearly seven hours was shot by police who forced their way into a classroom and rescued her Tuesday. A SWAT team entered the room at Castle View Elementary School, east of Los … Continue reading
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — With the winds dying down, fire crews gained ground as they battled wildfires that have devastated California wine country and other parts of the state over the past week, and thousands of people got the all-clear to return home. While the danger from the deadliest, most destructive cluster of … Continue reading
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — Search-and-rescue teams, some with cadaver dogs, started looking for bodies Thursday in parts of California wine country devastated by wildfires, authorities said, sounding a warning that more dead were almost sure to emerge from the charred ruins. At least 24 people have died and at least 3,500 homes and businesses have … Continue reading
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A carelessly discarded cigarette, a downed power line, a car’s backfire or a chainsaw’s pull. Just about anything could have started any one of the wildfires now tearing through Northern California, authorities said. “Every spark is going to ignite a fire,” said Ken Pimlott, the state’s top firefighter. He said the … Continue reading
Rising sea levels and fierce storms have failed to stop relentless population growth along U.S. coasts in recent years, a new Associated Press analysis shows. The latest punishing hurricanes scored bull’s-eyes on two of the country’s fastest growing regions: coastal Texas around Houston and resort areas of southwest Florida. Nothing seems to curb America’s appetite … Continue reading
MENIFEE, Calif. (AP) — Lottery officials on Monday gave a ceremonial million-dollar check to the owners of a Southern California liquor store that sold the winning $447.8 million Powerball jackpot ticket and said whoever bought it has still not come forward to claim the prize. At the busy store right off the freeway in the … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California law enforcement officials objected Wednesday to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed streamlining of the state’s marijuana regulations, saying his plan could endanger public safety. Brown’s administration released documents late Tuesday outlining proposed changes to square the state’s new recreational pot law with its longstanding law on medical marijuana. But the California … Continue reading
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Pope Francis said that “no people is criminal and no religion is terrorist” in a welcome letter read aloud at a conference on economic inequality that opened Thursday, February 16, in the small farming city in California. The gathering of Catholic clergy and activists in Modesto, California, came as the world … Continue reading
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown forcefully defended California’s efforts to curb global warming, protect immigrants and expand health care, vowing in his State of the State address Tuesday, Jan. 24, to fight the Trump administration if it tries to roll back the state’s accomplishments. “California is not turning back. Not now, not ever,” … Continue reading
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — California water agencies that spent more than $350 million in the last two years of drought to pay property owners to rip out water-slurping lawns are now trying to answer whether the nation’s biggest lawn removal experiment was all worth the cost. Around the state, water experts and water-district employees … Continue reading
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Black Panthers emerged from this gritty Northern California city 50 years ago, declaring to a nation in turmoil a new party dedicated to defending African-Americans against police brutality and protecting the right of a downtrodden people to determine their own future. In the group’s short life, it launched an ambitious … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 