California

California

A leading consumer group is proposing a policyholder rights initiative that would require insurers to offer coverage to California homeowners who fireproof their homes - or lose the right to sell home or auto insurance in the state for five years. The Insurance Policyholder Bill of Rights was filed with state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta's office last week by Consumer Watchdog, the Los Angeles advocacy group whose founder Harvey Rosenfield authored Proposition 103, the 1988 initiative that governs California insurance law.

Arrests were made quickly in the shooting that occurred last Tuesday night inside a parking garage on Salvio Street in Concord, and three men suffered injuries in the incident that they are expected to survive. All were taken to John Muir Medical Center last Tuesday, and it's unclear if any remain hospitalized. Little information was initially released, but we're now learning, via KTVU, that police were able to quickly gather information about the suspects and their vehicle,

For the first time in nearly two years, a homicide had been reported in Walnut Creek. Howard Wang, 43, is currently being held without bail at the Martinez Detention Facility after being arrested on suspicion of a double homicide on Friday, according to a news release from Walnut Creek police. Homicides are rare in Walnut Creek, with the last reported homicide occurring in November 2023, according to the police department's crime statistics.

Mr. Sertich knows CalHFA and, even more importantly, knows the state's housing finance ecosystem from nearly every perspective, CalHFA Board Chair Jim Cervantes said in a statement. With CalHFA and its sister agencies moving into a new era under the umbrella of the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, Mr. Sertich's experience and expertise will be invaluable. Per a release from the agency, CalHFA helped 7,000 first-time and first-generation homebuyers in the last fiscal year.

There was a small 2.6M aftershock following Monday's early morning 4.3M earthquake in Berkeley, which occurred just after 8 am. The chance that the earlier quake was a foreshock to a much larger earthquake is less than 1%. [Chronicle] After their remarkable fallout in June, Elon Musk was back kissing the ring of Donald Trump Saturday at the Charlie Kirk memorial, and apparently the two appeared to be getting along. [New York Times]

The blaze scorched swaths of Napa County last month and appears to have started on or near the company's land, according to Cal Fire's incident page. In a letter described by company spokesperson Sam Singer, attorneys for Hundred Acre asked investigators to examine a damaged battery inside a trailer at the location that we understand Cal Fire has identified as the possible ignition site of the fire.

One person died and another was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence following a two-car crash on a Bay Area freeway early Sunday, the California Highway Patrol said. The crash about 4:45 a.m. on eastbound Interstate 580 happened just west of the Grant Line Road exit and killed a 66-year-old Tracy man. Authorities did not identify him immediately, pending notification of relatives.

In a letter described by company spokesperson Sam Singer, attorneys for Hundred Acre asked investigators to examine a damaged battery inside a trailer "at the location that we understand Cal Fire has identified as the possible ignition site of the fire." Singer said the battery was "partially melted." Singer previously confirmed company representatives have been speaking with and cooperating with Cal Fire during its ongoing probe.

Ever since the county of Los Angeles purchased one of downtown L.A.'s tallest skyscrapers, questions have mounted over whether the building could be vulnerable to major damage in the event of a massive earthquake. County officials agreed to study the matter. But officials are now refusing to disclose a preliminary report that could shed light on the seismic safety question of whether the county should embark on costly retrofits to make it more reliable after a big earthquake.

AB 715, introduced by Democratic Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles and Dawn Addis of San Luis Obispo, seeks to reign in antisemitism in schools by establishing a new Office of Civil Rights to work directly with schools on addressing incidents of discrimination and hate. The new department would be administered by the state's Government Operations Agency, and its director would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.

It's the city that's proved irresistible for Chappell Roan and marked the finish line for fictional character Forrest Gump. Santa Monica easily sits among the pantheon of iconic Southern California communities due to its combination of weather, beach backdrop, energy and friendliness. Yet, that lore has been chipped away by sexual scandal, stagnation and, more recently, by another bubbling calamity.

Nestled at the base of the soaring Sierra Nevada mountains, the small town of Bishop, California, has autumn views that rival leaf-peeping destinations the world over. This rugged little mountain town is located in Owens Valley on Highway 395, near landmark destinations such as Death Valley National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Mount Whitney (the tallest point in the contiguous United States).

At a police commission meeting last month, leaders warned this would be the necessary course of action. "We have to be able to answer 911 calls. That's the bare minimum. Everything else is a luxury. We don't like it. I'll tell you right now, the chief is not happy that he has to do it. We have to do this," said Deputy Chief Lisa Ausmus.

The City of Milpitas has been awarded a $2.77 million grant from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) to support the continuation and expansion of the Milpitas SMART (Simple, Mobile, Access to Reliable Transit) program, an on-demand rideshare service designed to meet the needs of transit-dependent residents. The grant funding comes from VTA's Innovative Transit Service Models Grant Program.

Two suspects are facing criminal charges after a Tuesday night shooting at a downtown Concord parking garage injured three people. Justino Lopez-Perez, of Bay Point, was charged with attempted murder, assault with a firearm, discharging a firearm from within a vehicle and more, according to the Concord Police Department. Erickson Melendez, of Concord, was charged with conspiracy and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

Frogard Schmidt could no longer stand looking at the dry, dilapidated water fountain along her daily walks near Concord's Todos Santos Plaza an eyesore that has bothered the owner of the aRt Cottage since at least 2024. I was tired of looking and picking up garbage around a fountain that's no longer working and being used, for all the wrong reasons, Schmidt said. Someone had to complain about it, so I did and got the ball rolling.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders were negotiating a final state budget last June, they reduced some health and welfare programs to help close a multi-billion-dollar gap between income and outgo. Nevertheless, they agreed to more than double the state's subsidy to Southern California's film and video industry, which enjoys strong political clout, by setting aside $750 million for tax credits, to induce producers to shoot in California rather than in some other state or country.

Correctional officers at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Norco have started writing Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to keep the prison open, presenting it as an option to alleviate the overpopulation in county jails. California began placing some convicted felons in county jails in 2011, after the Supreme Court ruled that the overcrowding in state prisons resulted in cruel and unusual punishment. Now, according to the lawsuit Bonta brought against Los Angeles County on Sept. 8, the county's jails are overcrowded and uninhabitable.

A cataclysmic storm rolled into San Bernardino County on Thursday, trapping highway drivers in mudslides and triggering rescue operations throughout the area, including an ongoing search for a 2-year-old boy. The National Weather Service issued its first flash flood warning for the San Bernardino Mountains, which includes towns like Oak Glen and Lake Arrowhead, at 2:13 p.m. and lasted until 8 p.m., meteorologist Ashley Nickerson told SFGATE.

Matias Augusto Travizano successfully summited the mountain on Sept. 12. But on the way back down, he veered off trail and found himself trapped alongside another hiker on an ice sheet on the northern tip of Wintun Glacier at around 13,500 feet in elevation, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. Realizing they had lost their way, the men attempted a controlled slide down the glacier to the safety of the trail below.

Often officers are required to remain at home during their shift while an investigation takes place. One of the people Corpus sent home is deputies union president Carlos Tapia, who she had arrested on Nov. 12 on what turned out to be false allegations of timecard fraud. He remains at home, nearly a year later, while his internal affairs case is pending. He is suing the sheriff and the county for false arrest, discrimination and retaliation.

Santa Rosa 9-year-old Nicholas Bard is a walking encyclopedia of honeybee facts. A colony needs 30 to 60 pounds of honey to survive each winter. The average lifespan of bees is about two weeks. And individuals hold distinct jobs, from cleaners to foragers, during their life cycle. Nicholas knows how much bees contribute to California's agricultural economy and the alarming rate at which the population is declining.

A 47-year-old Antioch man driving a Toyota Corolla collided with a 47-year-old man traveling northbound on a motorcycle at about 9:23 p.m. at the intersection of 42nd Ave. and International Boulevard, police said Saturday. Police found the Corolla driver unresponsive allegedly with open containers of alcohol and marijuana in the vehicle. He died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to police.

The shooters, who police had not identified by Saturday, shot and killed a man named Jerry Williams, according to authorities. Williams was reportedly walking on Lincoln Avenue when a vehicle approached him and several suspects got out of the car and opened fire at him. At least two dozen shots triggered a Richmond ShotSpotter gunshot detector at about 8:43 p.m. Friday near 8th Street and Lincoln Avenue, according to authorities.

This week we posted three videos on our short video channels, two of which focused on providing less-than-a-minute summaries on two news stories. The other re-debunked some fake news from the summer because the misinformation was repeated this week by President Donald Trump. On Monday, we posted the TikTok version of our legislative update, the text version was also published on Monday.