California

LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A research project led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that neighborhoods in Los Angeles County with poor air quality had the highest death rates from the coronavirus.

The paper, titled "Spatial Analysis of COVID-19 and Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Los Angeles" from the Fielding School of Public Health, was scheduled to be published in the August edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environment International, and is now available online.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Flores was the last person seen with Kristin Smart before she vanished from a college campus on California’s scenic Central Coast nearly 25 years ago and suspicion has followed him ever since.

He went from being a “person of interest” to a “suspect” to “the prime suspect.”

Investigators never had enough evidence to charge him with a crime related to her disappearance until Tuesday when Flores was arrested on suspicion of murder in Smart’s death. His father, Ruben Flores, was arrested as an accessory to the crime.

LOS ANGELES, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in California, the most populous state in the United States, surpassed 3.6 million, showed data released by the state health authorities on Sunday.

The California Department of Public Health reported 4,954 new COVID-19 infections and 105 related deaths in a daily release, pushing its cumulative cases up to 3,600,178 and the death toll to 59,218, respectively.

The state, home to around 40 million residents, has the nation's top case count and highest death toll so far.

LOS ANGELES, Apr 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Three kids were found fatally stabbed, at an apartment in Los Angeles, yesterday, authorities said.

Patrol officers responded to the 8000 block of Reseda Blvd for a radio call, involving a possible death at one of the apartments, at about 9:30 a.m. local time. Police officers discovered three children at the scene, after they went inside, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The three children, all appeared to be under the age of five, were pronounced dead at scene, according to the department.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will authorize $536 million toward forest management projects and efforts to reduce wildfires before the worst of the fire season strikes later this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said Thursday.

That more than doubles $200 million in recent annual spending, advocates said, and wildfire preparedness grants were dropped entirely last year when the state prematurely anticipated a pandemic-driven budget shortfall.

(Reuters) - Bank of America said on Thursday it will deploy $1 trillion for its environmental business initiative to push for green finance by 2030, expanding on the $300 billion it had announced for the same project in 2019. The second largest U.S. bank said the latest announcement puts its total commitment to sustainable finance by 2030 at $1.5 trillion.

The initiative will help the bank’s push for a greener economy through lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services to help low-carbon and other sustainable businesses, Bank of America said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California prosecutor filed 33 criminal charges Tuesday accusing troubled Pacific Gas & Electric of inadvertently injuring six firefighters and endangering public health with smoke and ash in a 2019 fire blamed on its equipment.

The nation’s largest utility denied that it committed any crimes even as it accepted that its transmission line sparked the blaze.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook said Tuesday it has removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to an Iranian exile group and a troll farm in Albania.

The accounts posted content critical of Iran’s government and supportive of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, a dissident group known as MEK. In many cases, the Facebook and Instagram accounts used fake profile names and photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — About 25 million Americans will be eligible for more money in food assistance under a new policy adopted by Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.

The change announced late Thursday also came after the United States Department of Agriculture reached a settlement with two California plaintiffs who sued last year after they were blocked from accessing increased benefits approved by Congress because of the coronavirus pandemic. It could mean increased monthly benefits for roughly 1 million Californians.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California on Friday cleared the way for people to attend indoor concerts, theater performances and NBA games for the first time in more than a year as the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the state nears a record low.