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Arrest made in South L.A. hit-and-run that killed bicyclist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

A suspect has been arrested in connection with a gruesome hit-and-run that killed a man who was riding a bicycle in South Los Angeles on Tuesday.Felipe Avalos, 66, was taken into custody in Compton and booked on a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter, according to LAPD.The collision happened at about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday morning in the area of Broadway and 117th Street.Investigators say the driver of an older model Chevy van ran over the bicyclist and dragged him for approximately one mile before the victim became dislodged at the intersection of Broadway and El Segundo Boulevard. The driver of the van kept going.The crime scene at 117th & Broadway after the fatal collision. Oct. 24, 2023. The victim became dislodged from the van at El Segundo Boulevard and Broadway, LAPD said. Oct. 24, 2023. The LAPD provided this photo of a van believed to be involved in an Oct. 24, 2023, hit-and-run.The crime scene at 117th & Broadway after the fatal collision. Oct. 24, 2023. The LAPD prov...

Study: 3 SoCal cities among top 10 for most self-employed women

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

Although the growing trend of women joining the labor force was stifled during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study shows that the number of self-employed women has grown significantly. According to a study by business research firm ChamberofCommerce.org, more than 6 million women across the U.S. are self-employed, and several of the nation's 170 most populous cities – including three in Southern California – are now emerging as hotspots for independent female workers. The top four locations for self-employed women are all in South Florida, the study showed. Coming in at number one is Miami, followed by Fort Lauderdale and the cities of Pembroke Pines and Hialeah.Over 15% of female workers in those cities are self-employed, data shows. Actors strike continues, but resumed talks bring hope of deal America’s second most populated city landed seventh on the list; out of the 913,185 employed women in Los Angeles, 128,713 of them – or 14.1% – are self-employed, according to U.S. Census B...

Disneyland announces opening date for Adventureland Treehouse after extensive refurbishment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

The Adventureland Treehouse, formally known as Tarzan’s Treehouse, will be open to guests beginning on Nov. 10, Disneyland announced Wednesday.The reimagined attraction pays homage to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, the original theming of the treehouse, and will include new rooms based on different family members. Disneyland announces opening date for new Pixar-themed hotel The new areas will be the “mother’s music den, the young sons’ nature room, the teenage daughter’s astronomer’s loft, the father’s art studio, and an ingenious kitchen and dining room,” Disneyland officials previously announced.The Adventureland Treehouse inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson will return in a fresh, new way in 2023. (Artist Concept/Disneyland Resort)The reimagined attraction pays homage to The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, the original theming of the treehouse, and will include new rooms based on different family members. (Disneyland) While exploring the attraction, guests wi...

Austin Buckley Dead, Ruben Ysasi Arrested after DUI Accident on East State Highway 1 [Austin, TX]

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

27-Year-Old Driver Pronounced Dead after DUI Collision near Highway 183AUSTIN, TX (October 25, 2023) – Austin Buckley lost his life in a fatal collision early Thursday morning, caused by DUI on East State Highway 1. Around 4:44 a.m., law enforcement arrived at the 1500 block of Highway 1 near Highway 183.According to reports, 44-year-old Ruben Ysasi was operating an SUV heading westbound when he veered into the eastbound lanes, colliding with another SUV. Subsequently, a third SUV rear-ended the second one, which Buckley was driving.Paramedics later pronounced 27-year-old Buckley deceased due to the severity of his injuries. Following initial investigative procedures, authorities determined that Ysasi had been driving while under the influence.Consequently, officers arrested him on charges of intoxication manslaughter and causing an accident resulting in a fatality. Currently, the investigation is ongoing, and any witnesses with information about this incident are urged to con...

Miho Hazama takes her chamber jazz into orbit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

After months of pandemic confinement, Miho Hazama needed to soar.Largely unknown to California jazz fans, she delivered an ecstatic apogee at the 2021 Monterey Jazz Festival with her commission, “Exoplanet Suite.” While the festival’s programming was sharply curtailed and the fairgrounds were rife with Covid anxiety, Hazama and the chamber jazz group she calls her m_unit swept the arena audience into celestial realms with a performance that earned a rapturous standing ovation. That’s how you make a memorable first impression.Only 34-years-old at the time she made her West Coast debut, Hazama seemed to revel in her ensemble’s nimble navigation on an extraterrestrial sojourn marked by a steadily shifting blend of strings, brass and timpani.“That was part of my intention after being stuck in a tiny apartment in New York City for all those months,” said the Tokyo-reared composer. “Now we could get together with 13 people and create a sound together in the same space. I’d missed it so mu...

Kirk Franklin leads powerhouse gospel lineup into the Bay Area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

Kirk Franklin is heading back to the Bay Area.Yet, he’s not coming back alone. Instead, he’s bringing a cast of amazingly talented friends — including Israel Houghton, The Clark Sisters, David & Tamela Mann and Tye Tribbett — to the Oakland Arena on Nov. 5 as part of the Reunion Tour.Franklin, of course, is one of contemporary gospel music’s most highly decorated artists, having won 19 Grammys and even more Dove Awards.Related ArticlesMusic | Last KISS: Saying farewell to band with a look back at its biggest moments Music | Rapper Drake will give away free Dave’s Hot Chicken sliders on his birthday Music | Bad Bunny’s Most Wanted Tour visits San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento Music | One of the year’s very best concert tours is coming to San Francisco Music | Sax star Wayne Escoffery needs no introduction — but here’s one anyway The Texa...

AI is causing panic for authors. Now the courts are involved

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

By Brian Contreras, Los Angeles TimesWhen novelist Douglas Preston first started messing around with ChatGPT, he gave the AI software a challenge: Could it write an original poem based on a character from some of his books?“It came out with this terrific poem written in iambic pentameter,” Preston recalled. The result was impressive — and concerning. “What really surprised me was how much it knew about this character; way more than it possibly could have gleaned from the internet,” Preston said.The adventure writer suspected that the chatbot had somehow absorbed his work, presumably as part of the training process by which an artificial intelligence model ingests lots of data that it then synthesizes into seemingly original content.“That was a very disturbing feeling,” Preston said, “not unlike coming home and finding that someone’s been in your house and taken things.”Those worries led Preston to sign on to a proposed class acti...

Trump’s comment outside court draws judge’s attention again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

By Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz | Associated PressNEW YORK — Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Wednesday in his ex-boss Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial as the former president’s defense team tried to undermine the credibility and question the motives of his onetime personal attorney turned adversary.Outside the courtroom, Trump’s commentary led the judge to weigh whether Trump had violated a limited gag order imposed earlier in the case.With Trump at the defense table, his lawyer Alina Habba confronted Cohen with comments he had made praising Trump, before turning on him when Cohen’s legal problems started in 2018.Habba tried to suggest that Cohen had angled unsuccessfully for a job in Trump’s White House — Cohen insisted he never sought one — and asked whether he had “significant animosity” toward Trump.“Do I have animosity toward him? Yes I do,” Cohen replied.“You have made a career out of public...

San Jose declares homelessness emergency with hopes to cut red tape on shelter construction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

In a move aimed at quickly expanding interim shelters in San Jose, the City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed an emergency declaration that will allow tiny homes to be built more rapidly by removing bureaucratic red tape.In passing the declaration, the city will now eliminate barriers that have slowed down development, including land use provisions, building codes and procurement decisions — potentially cutting down the construction of interim sites in half from up to two years to a year.“What this allows us to do is it sort of opens up the top of the funnel,” said Deputy City Manager Omar Passons during Tuesday night’s meeting. “Instead of looking at this many sites, all of a sudden we get to stretch that out and look at a bunch more.”Under the changes made by the council on Tuesday, the city will be able to consider sites that don’t have running water. The sites, however, will be supplemented by portable toilets and mobile showers. In ...

White House releasing $3.7 billion in home heating aid. See if you’re eligible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:50 GMT

By Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll CallWASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday announced the release of roughly $3.7 billion in funding to help lower-income households afford their home heating costs.The funding, according to a senior administration official, represents 90% of the allocated funding for the program known as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for fiscal 2024, with the balance being held back in case there is a budgetary adjustment in the final full-year appropriation for the program, which is run by the Department of Health and Human Services.“We’ve got news because the president worked so hard to get a bipartisan infrastructure law passed,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on a call with reporters. “We know that in the next several weeks — we’re beginning to figure out how people need to be able to stay warm.”Six million families were reliant on LIHEAP for heating or cooling last year, the secretary said. The funding largely comes from regular appropriations th...