California

LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Xinhua) -- In recent weeks, the United States has experienced an unprecedented surge in union activities and strikes, as workers across multiple industries take matters into their own hands. Existing labor concerns combined with the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a tsunami of industrial action not seen in decades.

Hollywood actors and screenwriters, hotel workers, postal workers, automakers, and others are either actively on strike or poised to initiate action, making the current nationwide heatwave even hotter as sparks fly.

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI) A prominent Indian-American Dalit activist fighting against the recent caste discrimination bill in California Assembly died of a heart attack as he passionately spoke against it at a city council meeting in Cupertino, sending shock waves amongst the Hindu American community in the country.

Milind Makwana, according to his close friends and family, spoke at the City Council meeting on July 18 against SB403, the anti-caste discrimination bill in California State Assembly.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A highly technical process began Thursday in Los Angeles to put NASA’s retired Space Shuttle Endeavour on permanent display in the vertical launch position complete with external tank and two solid rocket boosters.

Workers used a crane to hoist the bottom segments of the boosters into the California Science Center’s future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which is currently under construction in Exposition Park.

(AP) --- Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half.

In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”

“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded.

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons.

Even as the already extreme temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.

Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — After a historically wet winter and a cloudy spring, California’s summer was in full swing Thursday as a heat wave that’s been scorching much of the U.S. Southwest brings triple digit temperatures and an increased risk of wildfires.

Blistering conditions will build Friday and throughout the weekend in the central and southern parts of California, where many residents should prepare for the hottest weather of the year, the National Weather Service warned.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Throughout the various crises in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first term — devastating wildfires, the bankruptcy of the nation’s largest utility, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic — the state’s record-smashing budget surpluses were always there to smooth things over.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 14-year-old girl was found in the barracks at a California Marine Corps base last month, two weeks after her grandmother in San Diego reported she had run away from home, and a Marine was detained for questioning, officials said Monday.

The Marine has since been released to his command while federal law enforcement officials investigate, said Marine Capt. Charles Palmer of the 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of San Diego.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The lengthy process of putting the retired space shuttle Endeavour on display in the vertical launch position will begin this month in Los Angeles.

The California Science Center announced Thursday that the six-month process will get underway July 20 at the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center currently under construction in Exposition Park.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Would-be homebuyers are willing to take on sharply higher mortgage payments, even as home prices have begun to pull back this year.

The median monthly payment listed on applications for home purchase loans jumped 14.1% in May from a year earlier to an all-time high $2,165, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The May figure also represents a 2.5% increase from April.