California

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Calif. Bank Hostage Freed After Shootout

Suspect, 3 officers injured

(Newser) - A woman taken hostage by a bank robber in California escaped unharmed after a shootout that injured the robber and three SWAT team members. During an hours-long standoff at the Orange County bank, the suspect freed six other employees, but refused to let the female bank manager leave. Bullets started...

Skier Critically Injured in Tahoe Avalanche

Ski partner flees for help

(Newser) - Rescuers found a critically injured skier trapped in an avalanche yesterday near a Lake Tahoe ski resort. The unidentified man was one of a group of three skiing in northern California back country near the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort when the avalanche hit. One of the skiers was able to...

Stephen Hawking Over the Moon About Sex Club?

Cambridge admits astrophysicist visited Southern California hot spot

(Newser) - Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking doesn't only have his head in the stars. He's also a sex club fan, reports Radar . And now even Cambridge University is admitting it, notes the Daily Mail . The 70-year-old astro-philosopher has visited a Southern California swingers and sex club with his assistants and...

Girl's Death From School Fight Ruled a Homicide

Joanna Ramos of Long Beach, Calif., was struck in an after-school fight

(Newser) - A coroner ruled today that the death of a 10-year-old Southern California girl in an afterschool alley fight is a homicide, the AP and Long Beach Press-Telegram report. Joanna Ramos of Long Beach apparently faced an 11-year-old girl in a fight without any weapons Friday, and never fell down—but...

Elementary Kids Expelled for Trying to Poison Teacher

Teachers, parents think the punishment doesn't fit the crime

(Newser) - Three students who admitted putting rat poison in their teacher's coffee are being punished ... by being sent to other schools. The 10- and 11-year-old kids are accused of putting poison in the coffee as well as in the icing of a cupcake in December at California's Balderas Elementary...

Officials Find 50K Abandoned Chickens

A&L Poultry apologizes for leaving chickens on farm

(Newser) - An animal rights group is seeking criminal charges after officials discovered nearly 50,000 dying chickens abandoned on an egg farm near Modesto, Calif., MSNBC reports via the Modesto Bee . Most of the birds were euthanized due to illness, but about 2,000 are being treated at sanctuaries and will...

Calif. Gay Marriages on Hold as Opponents Appeal

Prop. 8 backers ask appeals court to review its decision

(Newser) - Legal wrangling has once again put gay marriage on hold in California. A federal appeals court panel's 2-1 decision to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage would have allowed gay marriages to resume as soon as next month, but the sponsors of Proposition 8 have asked the...

Yosemite Waterfall to Turn to 'Fire' This Week

Horsetail Fall blazes in winter sunset

(Newser) - A confluence of just-the-right weather conditions at the perfect time of day—and year —can turn a Yosemite waterfall into a cascade of fire—at least, that's what it looks like. Sometime in mid-February the setting sun lights up one of the waterfalls of the national park in...

Fighters Intercept Pot Plane in Obama Airspace

Cessna strays too close as Obama heads to LAX

(Newser) - What were they smoking? A four-seater Cessna plane hauling marijuana yesterday strayed into restricted airspace designed to protect President Obama, who was flying on Marine One; the small plane was intercepted by fighter jets. The incident occurred as the president was traveling in the helicopter from Orange County to Los...

Calif. Cat-Eater Busted
 Calif. Cat-Eater Busted 
Feb 16, 2012 12:34 AM CST

Calif. Cat-Eater Busted

Man arrested after neighbors report screeching, smelling 'awful meat'

(Newser) - Disgusted cops in Bakersfield say they've arrested a man on suspicion of cooking and eating cats. Jason Louis Wilmer was charged with animal cruelty and using a pet or domesticated animal for food after neighbors heard cats screeching at his house and called police, AP reports. "I heard...

Even Mendocino Crumbling to Feds on Pot

County shutting down innovative sheriff-supervised grower program

(Newser) - The US county with one of the highest concentrations of pot farms—and tokers—is finally caving in to pressure from the feds. California officials in Mendocino County are snuffing out an innovative medical marijuana program that put pot growers under the supervision of the county sheriff. The program was...

'Speed Freak Killer' Got $33K to Tell Where Bodies Were

Wesley Shermantine, partner killed up to 20 in decade-long murder spree

(Newser) - A serial killer on Death Row is giving up the locations of the bodies of up to 20 people he killed—for the tidy sum of $33,000, reports the LA Times . Convicted murderer Wesley Shermantine drew maps of two dumping grounds after he was paid by a Sacramento bounty...

Californian Busted for Lucrative Illegal Gold Mine

Sierra Nevada digger hit with environmental charges

(Newser) - California authorities aren't buying landowner Joseph Hardesty's excuse that he is merely running a gravel business from a Gold Rush-era mine in a gold-rich part of the state. Authorities in El Dorado County say he is running one of the most blatantly illegal gold-mining operations ever seen in...

'Poster Couple' for Gay Marriage Divorcing

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson married in California in 2008

(Newser) - Two women in California who became what MSNBC calls the "poster couple" for gay marriage are getting a divorce. Robin Tyler and Diane Olson were the first women to legally marry in Southern California in June 2008, right after the state Supreme Court swept away a law banning same-sex...

Supreme Court&#39;s Move on Gay Marriage? Maybe Not
Supreme Court's Move on
Gay Marriage? Maybe Not
Prop 8 reaction
Feb 7, 2012 4:38 PM CST

Supreme Court's Move on Gay Marriage? Maybe Not

Prop 8 ruling is limited to California, providing a potential reason to skip

(Newser) - Kevin Drum at Mother Jones thinks today's court decision declaring California's ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional is "great news" for sure, but he's not getting too excited just yet. Most people think this one is headed to the Supreme Court, where it looks like...

Court Blocks California's Ban on Gay Marriage

Declares Prop 8 unconstitutional, paving way for Supreme Court decision

(Newser) - A big win for gay rights in California, at least for now: In a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court ruled that the state's ban on gay marriages is unconstitutional. Supporters of Proposition 8, which limits marriage to a man and a woman, plan to appeal, paving the way...

Court to Rule on Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Today
 Court to Rule on Prop 8 Today 
Feb 7, 2012 4:58 AM CST

Court to Rule on Prop 8 Today

Decision can still be appealed to larger panel, Supreme Court

(Newser) - Californians are awaiting a ruling today on whether the state's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage is constitutional. A three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide if the law, passed by referendum in 2008, violates equal protection and due process. A lower court shot down...

Calif., NY May Sign On to Robo-Signing Settlement

Obama administration nearing deal for mortgage relief

(Newser) - California and New York are close to signing on to the Obama administration's multibillion dollar mortgage robo-signing settlement, significantly expanding the deal, the New York Times reports. If California signs on, the settlement total will jump from $19 billion to $25 billion. In exchange, the states want measures to...

Homeless Killer Suspect Accused of 2 More Murders

Itzcoatl Ocampo to be charged with stabbing Raquel Estrada, Juan Herrera

(Newser) - Authorities believe Itzcoatl Ocampo, the 23-year-old Iraq veteran charged with stabbing four homeless men to death in California, also killed two other people—ones that he knew. Ocampo will be charged today with the murders of Raquel Estrada, 53, and her 34-year-old son, Juan Herrera, the mother and brother of...

Cop Suspected in Sex Crime Dies in Shootout

California cops suspected him of sexual misconduct with teenager

(Newser) - A California policeman yesterday shot and killed a fellow officer suspected of sexual misconduct, the AP reports. Police in Santa Maria learned of his alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl and confronted him in the wee hours yesterday morning on duty at a DUI checkpoint. The officer resisted arrest and...

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