California

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Boeing is initiating a voluntary layoff (VLO) plan to try to stem the financial strain from the COVID-19 pandemic, Dave Calhoun, the company's president and CEO, said in a letter to employees on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A train engineer intentionally drove a speeding locomotive off a track at the Port of Los Angeles because he was suspicious about the presence of a Navy hospital ship docked there to help during the coronovirus crisis, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The locomotive crashed through a series of barriers and fences before coming to rest more than 250 yards (230 meters) from the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Mercy on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release.

Nobody was hurt.

1 April 2020; AFP: Xerox on Tuesday dropped its unwelcomed bid to buy computer and printer maker HP for about $36 billion, blaming market turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The end of the hostile takeover campaign came less than two months after the imaging and copying giant upped by about 10 percent a bid rejected by the HP board of directors last year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California nursing home has been hit hard by the coronavirus, with more than 50 residents infected — a troubling development amid cautious optimism that cases in the state may peak more slowly than expected.

Los Angeles, Mar 30 (PTI) Veteran Japanese comic Ken Shimura, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week, has died at the age of 70.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor was hospitalised in Tokyo on March 20 after developing a fever and being diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Shimura tested positive for COVID-19 on March 23.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles recorded its first case of coronavirus five weeks before New York City, yet it’s New York that is now the U.S. epicenter of the disease.

Public health officials are keeping a wary eye and warning that LA could end up being as hard hit as New York in coming weeks, in part because a planned increase in testing may uncover a dramatic surge in cases. Testing in Los Angeles County is expected to increase from 500 per day to 5,000 by the end of the week.

LOS ANGELES, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned on Tuesday that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic was still to come and local residents should prepare for more loss of life.

Garcetti noted at the daily press conference that the city could see a situation similar to the outbreak in New York City in the coming six to 12 days, saying, "The peak is not here yet. The peak will be bad. People will lose their lives."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric will plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for a swath of death and destruction left behind after its fraying electrical grid ignited a 2018 wildfire that destroyed three Northern California towns and drove the nation’s largest utility into bankruptcy.

LOS ANGELES, March 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has approved California's request for a presidential Major Disaster Declaration to bolster the most populous U.S. state's COVID-19 emergency response efforts, California Governor Gavin Newsom said Sunday.

The announcement came hours after Newsom sent a letter to Trump to request the action in response to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s 40 million residents should stay home indefinitely and venture outside only for essential jobs, errands and some exercise, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, warning that the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm the state’s medical system.

The move, the most sweeping by any state so far, was an exclamation point at the end of a week of increasingly aggressive moves meant to keep the virus in check by forcing people to stay away from each other as often as possible.