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Two man enter not-guilty pleas in slaying of man found burning in rural Bay Area field

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

Two West Sacramento residents charged with the murder of a Sacramento man, whose burned body was found in rural Vacaville last month, pleaded not guilty to the charge and denied all enhancements during an arraignment Monday in Solano County Superior Court.Attorneys for Emmanual Reginald Justin, 39, and Wendy Sue Warren, 38, shackled and clad in striped jail jumpsuits, entered the pleas on their behalf during the brief afternoon proceeding in Department 11 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.Chief Deputy Public Defender Oscar Bobrow represented Justin and Deputy Alternate Public Defender Paula Hensley represented Warren. Chief Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn appeared on behalf of the Solano County DA’s Office.After hearing the defendant’s pleas, Judge William J. Pendergast assigned the case to himself and ordered Justin and Warren to return to Department 11 at 8:30 a.m. April 24 for a preliminary hearing setting.As previously reported, Justin and Warren were arrested on March 28 ...

Repairs to a storm-battered Scenic Road in Carmel are almost done, county says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

CARMEL – Repairs on a section of Carmel’s main waterfront drive – which was damaged during January’s parade of winter storms – are nearing completion, according to the County of Monterey.For months, a quarter-mile stretch of Scenic Road has been closed to the public while infrastructure battered by heavy rain and high surf earlier this year underwent emergency restoration. Repairs began on Feb. 14 and are expected to finish on Friday.“We worked (on this project) in 10-hour shifts, six days a week for the past two and a half months,” said Enrique Saavedra, Monterey County Chief of Public Works, explaining that “time was of the essence.”Damages were primarily caused by storm surge. Saavedra previously told the Herald that severe weather at the start of the year brought repeated bouts of large waves to the beachfront slope that Scenic Road runs along. With the waves came erosion, exposing utilities housed in the road’s supportive slope while causing asphalt to crumble. The damage force...

Could sightings of jelly-like creatures on California beaches signal El Niño on the horizon?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

Jim Serpa was like a giddy school kid exploring Mother Nature’s classroom as he scanned the sand.“There’s one … there’s another,” Serpa exclaimed as he walked along the damp high-tide line in north San Clemente on Monday, April 10.Dotting the shore were hundreds of “by-the-wind sailors,” jelly-like creatures known for their beautiful blue hues that get pushed to Southern California from tropical waters by wind and ocean currents.Thousands of the creatures were spotted Friday, April 7, about two miles from shore and by the weekend many had washed up at various beaches between the South Bay, Huntington Beach, Crystal Cove and San Clemente.A “by-the-wind sailor” lies washed up on the Crystal Cove State Beach in Laguna Beach, CA on Monday, April 10, 2023. The jelly-like creatures are known for their blue hue when in the ocean. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)Several “by-the-wind sailors” lie washed up on the Crystal Cove State Beach in Laguna Beach, CA on Monday, A...

Fake food deliveries, drones and lax security: how drugs get into L.A. County’s juvenile halls

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

Two Los Angeles County juvenile facilities have such lax security that illicit substances and other contraband are thrown over fences, dropped by drones and even delivered by fake DoorDash drivers and others who walk through security without ever being searched, according to a new report by the county’s watchdog office.An investigation by the Office of Inspector General, submitted to the Board of Supervisors on Friday, April 7, cited a troubling lapse at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall as an example of the security issues at the juvenile halls. Two detainees overdosed, including a teen who was hospitalized twice in a two-day period, before the staff at Nidorf conducted a search of the unit where the teens lived. Both teens were saved using Narcan, which reverses opiate overdoses.The K-9 search of that single unit on March 1 — two days after the first overdose — uncovered 11 fentanyl pills, two unknown pills, large bindles of what appeared to be more fentanyl, a crushed pill on a windo...

California woman says she unwittingly was drawn into plot to kidnap Iranian opposition activist

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

When Niloufar “Nellie” Bahadorifar moved to Orange County from Canada in 2011, she appeared to be starting what could become a positive new chapter in what had, until then, been a difficult life.Years before, when she was 19 years old, Bahadorifar fled her home country of Iran. After ending up in Canada, she wed her husband in an arranged marriage, only to later suffer physical abuse at his hands, according to court documents.Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad gestures as she speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Despite that, Bahadorifar had managed to build a career as an elementary school teacher and raise her young son. By 2011, she had divorced her first husband and was headed to California to be with her new husband.Just three years later, however, Bahadorifar would start corresponding with an old family friend in Iran. The messages between them would, by 2023, ultimately land her in prison, the o...

California man charged on suspicion of acting as an insurance agent without a license, pocketing premiums

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

A Fullerton man was charged on Monday, April 10, for his suspected role in acting as an insurance agent without a valid license and pocketing unearned premiums from cancelled policies.Gregory Magedman, a formerly licensed insurance agent, was charged in Orange County Superior Court with one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement after he allegedly secured insurance for a consumer and failed to give the payment to the insurance company, the California Department of Insurance said in a news release. He is suspected of keeping the money from the payments for personal use and leaving the consumer uninsured.In November 2011, Magedman, 77, was issued a suspension order by the Department of Insurance because of a criminal investigation. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to one count of grand theft and his insurance license was revoked by the state insurance agency.The most recent embezzlement charge stems from a 2018 investigation into Magedman after the department received a complaint allegi...

California startup wants fuel cells to power next generation of carbon-free jet travel

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

Beyond a splashy paint job that included a big “H” on the tail, the 40-passenger turboprop jet that took off mid-morning March 2, from a small airport in central Washington, looked like any other regional airliner.But with that 15-minute demonstration flight, with two test pilots and one flight crew member onboard, a three-year-old startup in Hawthorne made history while providing a glimpse of a potential future with quieter, carbon-free air travel.Universal Hydrogen, which counts Harrison Ford as a hangar neighbor at Hawthorne Municipal Airport, replaced the jet’s right turbine engine with a 1-megawatt powertrain fueled entirely by a hydrogen fuel cell. Fuel cells operate similarly to electric batteries but are much lighter, which is key for flight. And rather than needing to be recharged, fuel cells are fed energy-rich hydrogen gas to generate electricity, emitting only water vapor along the way.The company’s March 2 test flight broke records for the largest plane to ever take to ...

Gov. Newsom, AG Bonta strike back at California city’s decisions to reject housing plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a court order punishing Huntington Beach for its two-time vote rejecting a state-required housing plan, calling for the suspension of the city’s authority to issue building permits and a court order giving the city four months to adopt a housing plan.The state motion filed Monday, April 10, amends a March 8 lawsuit over previous city actions barring duplexes and secondary housing units (called in-law units or ADUs) in single-family neighborhoods. The City Council since rescinded those bans, rendering the state lawsuit moot.However, the council voted at its last two meetings to reject its own 1,164-page “housing element,” a state-mandated plan for construction of 13,368 new homes, including 5,845 affordable housing units. The plan is nearly 18 months late.City officials have objected to the state’s 53-year-old housing element law as meddling in its local affairs, with Councilmember Casey McKeon urging city leader...

Miss Manners: He walked out of our first date after just minutes. Was I in the wrong?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: After chatting online with a man for several days, we agreed to meet for coffee. Within a few minutes of meeting face-to-face, this man informed me that he was going to ask me several political questions, and that if our political opinions didn’t match, there would be no second date.I told him I had come for what I hoped would be a promising date, not a political discussion or test. When I refused to participate, he declared the date to be over and left.Was there a better way to handle this?GENTLE READER: No; it did the trick, which was to rid you of an unpleasant interrogator who hadn’t decided whether you were worth getting to know. (Anyway, Miss Manners thought that people put that sort of requirement in their dating profiles to save themselves fruitless encounters.)DEAR MISS MANNERS: Our son is getting married soon, and there won’t be a rehearsal dinner for my spouse and me to host. (We’re helping to pay for the wedding, along with the ...

Dear Abby: I can’t help being rattled by my nitpicking boss

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:07:24 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I need help. For 10 years I have worked in the deli department at a grocery store and try my very best to get things done. My problem is my boss.She nitpicks and criticizes me to the point that I get so frustrated and angry I can’t focus on work.Abby, I have Asperger’s syndrome, so it’s tough to socialize with customers I don’t know. Half the time when she starts in on me, I become so rattled I can’t finish my task. She accuses me of wearing clothes that aren’t clean even though I wash them every day.I don’t want to do anything I’m going to regret later. Any advice you can give me will be appreciated.LOSING IT IN HAWAIIDEAR LOSING IT: Because you feel you are being discriminated against by the person who heads your department, make an appointment to talk privately with the store manager to discuss what’s going on.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: My dad says he had no choice but to cheat. I’m not buy...