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Tag: friend

  • Why Casio Just Launched an AI-Powered Emotional Support Guinea Pig

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    There’s a new AI companion hitting the U.S. market, and this one comes in an irresistibly cute package.

    Casio’s AI-powered emotional support robot, Moflin, launched in the U.S. on Wednesday after taking Japan by storm. The small furry robot, which is roughly the size and shape of a small guinea pig, responds when touched or spoken to. It coos and squeaks, nuzzles and shakes its head. Casio says Moflin can learn the voice of its primary user, and over time will develop one of 4 million possible personalities, depending on how the user interacts with it. 

    Moflin may look and sound like a toy, but at $429, it costs as much as some wellness wearables like Oura Rings or Apple Watches. (A real guinea pig costs about $57 at PetSmart.) That’s no mistake—the robot was designed for wellness applications.

    “Moflin is there to reassure you and to comfort you throughout any stage of life, and to be there through all the hard times,” Cecilia Lederer, manager of strategic communications and influencer engagement, said during a Wednesday launch event. “AI is really the power behind Moflin. It’s taking our interaction with it and using that information to respond back to us. And we really believe that this is the future of companionship.”

    Although Casio is perhaps best known for making watches, calculators, and digital pianos and keyboards, it also has a medical device business. President and CEO of Casio America, Yusuke Suzuki, said during a presentation that Moflin both conforms to Casio’s “creativity and contribution” ethos and “opens new possibilities in lifestyle and wellness.”

    Daisuke Tekeuchi, the product manager in charge of Moflin development and marketing at Casio, said during a presentation that the inspiration for Moflin came from a Casio employee, Erina Ichikawa, who was undergoing significant life changes. Rather than solutions, what she really craved was something that could provide low maintenance comfort, he said. Thus, the Moflin was born.

    “Right now, one in eight people globally struggle with mental health problems, especially anxiety, which has increased after COVID-19,” Tekeuchi said. “In this context, mental illness is no longer just a personal issue. It has become a social issue.”

    Moflin was intentionally designed to communicate in sounds, rather than speech, so as to avoid any possible judgmental or negative interactions with users. The device is meant to be used with an app, called Moflife, that tracks user interactions with the synthetic creature over time and can inform a user how a Moflin is “feeling” in real-time. 

    Although a Moflin cannot die from neglect, like the popular 90s-era Tamagotchi toy, its personality is shaped by how a user interacts with it, according to Casio. Moflin responds positively to engagement, including petting, hugging, talking and singing, and negatively to startling or neglect, according to Casio’s website. After a period of 50 days spent with a user, the robot is meant to develop a unique set of traits that range from cheerful or energetic to affectionate or shy.

    In Japan, Moflin has been incredibly popular. Casio sold some 10,000 of its Moflin robots from its launch in Japan in Nov. 2024 through May of the following year, and executives say it sold out quickly after launch. Although they admit they aren’t sure how U.S. audiences will respond to Moflin, research from the rollout in Japan shows that many customers choose Moflin for comfort.

    Suzuki tells Inc. the primary target demographic for Moflin in the U.S. is young women in their 20s and 30s. He also says that the company is also casting a wider net to attract people who may not be able to have pets due to allergies or circumstances, or individuals of any age who struggle with mental health issues.

    “As you can see from Moflin’s appearance, she is very cute and sweet in how she moves so I think that will give comfort,” Suzuki says.

    Moflin is among the latest—but by no means the first—gadget, chatbot, or service to emerge with promises of a simulation of companionship. As far back as 1999, Sony released its immensely popular robot dog, Aibo. The robots were so popular that they were sometimes given funerals by devastated owners after they stopped working. A company called Tombot emerged in 2017 and worked with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to design a realistic dog robot to help patients with health problems like Alzheimer’s. As recently as June, Tombot landed a $6.1 million series A round of funding. At CES in January, Japanese company Mixi debuted a new model of its AI-powered Romi robots; they have expressive faces and are meant to engage in natural conversation to combat loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

    As generative AI technology has improved, people have also turned to chatbots for companionship or even therapy. Reception to these offerings, however, has been mixed. A provocative marketing campaign launched for AI pendant Friend, for example, has been widely defaced across New York City with vandals challenging the assertion that it’s healthy for people to interact with AI the way they might with fellow humans.

    During Wednesday’s U.S. launch event, futurist Anatola Araba spoke, offering a gentler vision of a future in which people formed emotional connections with AI.

    “Moflin represents a quiet revolution in AI human companionship and shows that robotics isn’t just for optimization or productivity, but it’s also for warmth and softness and connection and healing,” she said. “And don’t get me wrong, nothing will replace the bonds that we have with actual human beings or the depth of our relationships with our living pets. But essentially, Moflin is able to expand this spectrum of what connection can look like, and in this sense, democratize what it means, so that everyone can be connected.”

    As of Wednesday, Moflin is available in the U.S., and Casio plans to roll it out to the U.K. starting in late October.

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    Chloe Aiello

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  • Friends of Michigan church shooting suspect say he long carried hatred toward Mormon faith

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    The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and killed four people while setting it ablaze long harbored hatred toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to longtime friends, and told a stranger who showed up at his door days before that attack that Mormons were the “Antichrist.” The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, began making those sentiments known years ago following his return from Utah, where he dated but later broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith, two childhood friends said Tuesday. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.No longer the happy-go-lucky kid who was voted class clown of their graduating class, Sanford routinely spouted off about his grievances against the church, his friends said. The first time they heard it was at a wedding 13 years ago.”We were like, ‘Come on, we don’t want to hear this,’” said Bobby Kalush, who grew up down the road from Sanford. “When he came back from Utah, he was a completely different person.”Just six days before Sunday’s attack, those grudges were still boiling at the surface, said Kris Johns, a city council candidate who described a bizarre brush with Sanford while door-knocking for his campaign.The two were speaking at Sanford’s home in Burton about gun rights when Sanford physically leaned in, Johns said, and asked, “What do you know about Mormons?”For close to 15 minutes, Sanford spoke in controlled and calm tones about the Mormon faith, saying he was concerned about their beliefs while expressing that he was a Christian. Sanford then said he believed that Mormons are the “Antichrist,” according to Johns.”That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.Police have released very few details about Sanford, who died after being shot by officers, and have refused to discuss what might have motivated the attack at the church, which was reduced to rubble in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles north of Detroit.On Tuesday, Sanford’s family released a statement through a lawyer, expressing condolences. “No words can adequately convey our sorrow for the victims and their families,” they said. Sanford served four years in the Marine Corps after enlisting in 2004 and deployed once to Iraq for seven months, according to military records. His commander during the deployment, David Hochheimer, said the unit never saw combat or incoming fire. “It was a relatively quiet time,” he said on Tuesday.Sanford moved to Utah shortly after leaving the military. His friends said they noticed a change after he moved back home, thinking his battle with addiction was to blame. Kalush said his friend was no longer the “short, stocky ball of energy” who once bought dozens of flowers to give out to girls before the homecoming dance.Around bonfires with friends, it wasn’t unusual for Sanford to start talking about how Mormons were going to take over, said Frances Tersigni, who along with his twin brother was among Sanford’s best friends.”It was just so random. It was like, ‘Why Mormons dude?’” Tersigni said. “It’s hard to explain. We didn’t take it serious.” But there were no signs that he was a threat to anyone, Tersigni said. An avid hunter, Sanford was married now and raising a child at home.”He never once, never, said ‘I’ve got to do something,’” he said. “There’s a Jake we all knew, and there was one who was hidden. It wasn’t apparent to us.” Federal investigators remained at the church Tuesday as heavy machinery began moving debris from the church.Authorities have not yet released the names of the four people who died or the eight people — ages 6 to 78 — who were wounded and expected to survive. Among the wounded were a father and his young son, according to a GoFundMe post.One of those who died was being remembered as a grandfather who adored spending time with his family. John Bond, a Navy veteran, was well-known in the community and loved golfing and trains, according to friends organizing fundraising for the family.Another victim was identified online by family as Pat Howard.”Uncle Pat was so many things. … In my mind I see him mid conversation, his eyebrows raised, his eyes bright and a smile just starting to show,” niece Maureen Seliger said on Facebook. Jeffrey Schaub, bishop of the Grand Blanc church, said in a video posted Monday that the attack has left the community reeling.”As you can expect, our members are quite shaken in spirit and in body,” he said. “And it hurts.”There has been an outpouring of support from different faith communities, he said. “It was very humbling to see how much good there is in the world today and that, above all, we are all children of the same Father in heaven,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.Sanford drove his truck into the church’s brick wall while members were gathered inside Sunday morning. He apparently used gas to start the fire and also had explosive devices, said James Dier of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.Flames and smoke poured from the church for hours after the attack.Jerry Eaton, 78, who lives across the street, sheltered seven people who fled the church, including a mother with her four young children. He was watching television when he heard the shooting.”I’ve done a lot of hunting, so I know the sound of gunfire,” he said. “As much as I didn’t want to believe it, that’s exactly what it sounded like.” White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

    GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. —

    The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and killed four people while setting it ablaze long harbored hatred toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to longtime friends, and told a stranger who showed up at his door days before that attack that Mormons were the “Antichrist.”

    The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, began making those sentiments known years ago following his return from Utah, where he dated but later broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith, two childhood friends said Tuesday. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.

    No longer the happy-go-lucky kid who was voted class clown of their graduating class, Sanford routinely spouted off about his grievances against the church, his friends said. The first time they heard it was at a wedding 13 years ago.

    “We were like, ‘Come on, we don’t want to hear this,’” said Bobby Kalush, who grew up down the road from Sanford. “When he came back from Utah, he was a completely different person.”

    Just six days before Sunday’s attack, those grudges were still boiling at the surface, said Kris Johns, a city council candidate who described a bizarre brush with Sanford while door-knocking for his campaign.

    The two were speaking at Sanford’s home in Burton about gun rights when Sanford physically leaned in, Johns said, and asked, “What do you know about Mormons?”

    For close to 15 minutes, Sanford spoke in controlled and calm tones about the Mormon faith, saying he was concerned about their beliefs while expressing that he was a Christian. Sanford then said he believed that Mormons are the “Antichrist,” according to Johns.

    “That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.

    Police have released very few details about Sanford, who died after being shot by officers, and have refused to discuss what might have motivated the attack at the church, which was reduced to rubble in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles north of Detroit.

    On Tuesday, Sanford’s family released a statement through a lawyer, expressing condolences. “No words can adequately convey our sorrow for the victims and their families,” they said.

    Sanford served four years in the Marine Corps after enlisting in 2004 and deployed once to Iraq for seven months, according to military records. His commander during the deployment, David Hochheimer, said the unit never saw combat or incoming fire. “It was a relatively quiet time,” he said on Tuesday.

    Sanford moved to Utah shortly after leaving the military. His friends said they noticed a change after he moved back home, thinking his battle with addiction was to blame. Kalush said his friend was no longer the “short, stocky ball of energy” who once bought dozens of flowers to give out to girls before the homecoming dance.

    Around bonfires with friends, it wasn’t unusual for Sanford to start talking about how Mormons were going to take over, said Frances Tersigni, who along with his twin brother was among Sanford’s best friends.

    “It was just so random. It was like, ‘Why Mormons dude?’” Tersigni said. “It’s hard to explain. We didn’t take it serious.”

    But there were no signs that he was a threat to anyone, Tersigni said. An avid hunter, Sanford was married now and raising a child at home.

    “He never once, never, said ‘I’ve got to do something,’” he said. “There’s a Jake we all knew, and there was one who was hidden. It wasn’t apparent to us.”

    Federal investigators remained at the church Tuesday as heavy machinery began moving debris from the church.

    Authorities have not yet released the names of the four people who died or the eight people — ages 6 to 78 — who were wounded and expected to survive. Among the wounded were a father and his young son, according to a GoFundMe post.

    One of those who died was being remembered as a grandfather who adored spending time with his family. John Bond, a Navy veteran, was well-known in the community and loved golfing and trains, according to friends organizing fundraising for the family.

    Another victim was identified online by family as Pat Howard.

    “Uncle Pat was so many things. … In my mind I see him mid conversation, his eyebrows raised, his eyes bright and a smile just starting to show,” niece Maureen Seliger said on Facebook.

    Jeffrey Schaub, bishop of the Grand Blanc church, said in a video posted Monday that the attack has left the community reeling.

    “As you can expect, our members are quite shaken in spirit and in body,” he said. “And it hurts.”

    There has been an outpouring of support from different faith communities, he said. “It was very humbling to see how much good there is in the world today and that, above all, we are all children of the same Father in heaven,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.

    Sanford drove his truck into the church’s brick wall while members were gathered inside Sunday morning. He apparently used gas to start the fire and also had explosive devices, said James Dier of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

    Flames and smoke poured from the church for hours after the attack.

    Jerry Eaton, 78, who lives across the street, sheltered seven people who fled the church, including a mother with her four young children. He was watching television when he heard the shooting.

    “I’ve done a lot of hunting, so I know the sound of gunfire,” he said. “As much as I didn’t want to believe it, that’s exactly what it sounded like.”

    White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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  • Photos: Black surfers ride the waves at Huntington Beach

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    1

    2

    Nicole Mitchell, of Charlotte, NC, celebrates with fellow beginners after ride a wave during beginning surf lessons.

    3

    Surf instructors Mike Bennett, left, and Shanden Brutsch, right, cheer on Cassandra Winston as she rides her first wave.

    1. Surf instructors help Candace Chestnut, of Los Angeles, ride a wave for her first time as she takes lessons. 2. Nicole Mitchell, of Charlotte, N.C., celebrates with fellow beginners after riding a wave. 3. Surf instructors Mike Bennett, left, and Shanden Brutsch, right, cheer on Cassandra Winston as she rides her first wave.

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    Allen J. Schaben

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  • AI startup Friend spent more than $1M on all those subway ads | TechCrunch

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    If you’ve been on the New York City subway recently, you’ve probably seen stark white ads promoting a wearable AI device called Friend.

    CEO Avi Schiffman told Adweek that the company spent more than $1 million on a campaign with more than 11,000 cards on subway cars, 1,000 platform posters, and 130 urban panels. Some stations, like West 4th Street, are completely dominated by Friend ads.

    “This is the world’s first major AI campaign,” Schiffman said. (There have been other AI ads of questionable effectiveness, but perhaps not a print campaign of this scale.) He described it as “a huge gamble,” adding, “I don’t have much money left.”

    Friend’s $129 device has been controversial, with Wired writers recently criticizing its constant surveillance and declaring, “I Hate My Friend.” Similarly, some Friend ads have been vandalized with messages calling it “surveillance capitalism” and urging spectators to “get real friends.”

    Schiffman said he’s well aware that “people in New York hate AI … probably more than anywhere else in the country,” so he deliberately bought ads with lots of white space “so that they would socially comment on the topic.”

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    Anthony Ha

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  • Mokelumne River Bridge closed in Rio Vista, Caltrans says

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    The Mokelumne River Bridge on Highway 12 was closed Sunday morning in Rio Vista, Caltrans said. The bridge was closed as of 11 a.m., California Highway Patrol online logs show. It was unclear why the bridge was closed. There is no estimated time for reopening. Drivers should expect delays and seek alternative routes at this time This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    RIO VISTA, Calif. —

    The Mokelumne River Bridge on Highway 12 was closed Sunday morning in Rio Vista, Caltrans said.

    The bridge was closed as of 11 a.m., California Highway Patrol online logs show. It was unclear why the bridge was closed.

    There is no estimated time for reopening. Drivers should expect delays and seek alternative routes at this time

    This content is imported from Facebook.
    You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

    This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.

    See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.

    If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Ricky Hatton, former world boxing champion, dies at 46

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    Former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton, who rose to become one of the most popular fighters in the sport, has died. He was 46.Hatton was found dead at his home in Greater Manchester, Britain’s Press Association reported Sunday.Police said they are not treating the death as suspicious.”Officers were called by a member of the public to attend Bowlacre Road, Hyde, Tameside, at 6:45am today where they found the body of a 46-year-old man,” Greater Manchester Police said in a statement. “There are not currently believed to be any suspicious circumstances.”Police would not reveal the identity of the man, but said they were working with his family to provide a statement for media.Friends of Hatton were quick to pay tribute Sunday morning. “Today we lost not only one of Britain’s greatest boxers, but a friend, a mentor, a warrior, Ricky Hatton,” said another former world champion, Amir Khan on X.”Rip to the legend Ricky Hatton may he rip,” former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury said in an Instagram post, with photos of the pair together. “There will only ever be 1 Ricky Hatton. can’t believe this so young.”News of Hatton’s death comes two months after he announced he would make a return to boxing in December in a professional bout against Eisa Al Dah in Dubai.Hatton won world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight.He rose through amateur and domestic levels and at the height of his career shared the ring with the best boxers of his generation, including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.Hatton’s down-to-earth demeanor also endeared him to fans across the world, and he was open about the mental health issues he endured upon his retirement from the ring.”As fighters, we tell ourselves we’re strong — we train, we sweat, we take hits, we get up. But sometimes the hardest fight happens in silence, in the mind,” Khan added on X. “Mental health isn’t weakness. It’s part of being human. And we must talk about it. We must reach out. We must lean on each other.”Hatton went on to become a trainer, coaching Zhanat Zhakiyanov to a world bantamweight title win in 2017.

    MANCHESTER, England —

    Former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton, who rose to become one of the most popular fighters in the sport, has died. He was 46.

    Hatton was found dead at his home in Greater Manchester, Britain’s Press Association reported Sunday.

    Police said they are not treating the death as suspicious.

    “Officers were called by a member of the public to attend Bowlacre Road, Hyde, Tameside, at 6:45am today where they found the body of a 46-year-old man,” Greater Manchester Police said in a statement. “There are not currently believed to be any suspicious circumstances.”

    Police would not reveal the identity of the man, but said they were working with his family to provide a statement for media.

    Friends of Hatton were quick to pay tribute Sunday morning.

    “Today we lost not only one of Britain’s greatest boxers, but a friend, a mentor, a warrior, Ricky Hatton,” said another former world champion, Amir Khan on X.

    “Rip to the legend Ricky Hatton may he rip,” former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury said in an Instagram post, with photos of the pair together. “There will only ever be 1 Ricky Hatton. can’t believe this so young.”

    News of Hatton’s death comes two months after he announced he would make a return to boxing in December in a professional bout against Eisa Al Dah in Dubai.

    Hatton won world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight.

    He rose through amateur and domestic levels and at the height of his career shared the ring with the best boxers of his generation, including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

    Hatton’s down-to-earth demeanor also endeared him to fans across the world, and he was open about the mental health issues he endured upon his retirement from the ring.

    “As fighters, we tell ourselves we’re strong — we train, we sweat, we take hits, we get up. But sometimes the hardest fight happens in silence, in the mind,” Khan added on X. “Mental health isn’t weakness. It’s part of being human. And we must talk about it. We must reach out. We must lean on each other.”

    Hatton went on to become a trainer, coaching Zhanat Zhakiyanov to a world bantamweight title win in 2017.

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  • Dad of Burning Man homicide victim appeals to Trump and FBI to solve the case

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    Ten days after a Russian man was mysteriously killed among a crowd of tens of thousands at Burning Man, Russian media is reporting that the man’s father has asked President Trump to have the FBI investigate.

    Vadim Kruglov, 37, had been living in Washington state and, according to friends’ Instagram accounts, was making his first pilgrimage to the desert festival. He was killed on Aug. 30 sometime between 8 and 9:30 p.m., his body found “in a pool of blood” around the time the giant wooden effigy of a man was lighted on fire.

    The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over Black Rock Desert where the annual event takes place, is leading the homicide investigation but has made no public comments about what may have happened. The agency has issued public appeals for information about “any person who would commit such a heinous crime against another human being.”

    The agency has also announced that Kruglov’s family has been formally notified of his death, and that “our sincerest condolences from the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office go out to Vadim Kruglov’s family for their tragic loss.”

    Sheriff’s officials declined to comment on reports of the father’s appeal, or his criticisms of the pace of the investigation.

    The Moscow Times reported Thursday that the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a video from Kruglov’s father Thursday.

    In it, Igor Kruglov bemoaned that “ten days have passed” and yet the investigation is “being conducted by one local sheriff.”

    “Evil must be punished,” the father continues, “therefore, I appeal to you, dear Mr. President, and ask you to order the FBI to immediately begin investigating the murder of my son.”

    Kruglov’s friends have been pushing a similar message to their tens of thousands of Instagram followers.

    One post claimed that Kruglov died “from a professional knife strike to the neck — a single fatal blow. This happened in a place where more than 80,000 people from all over the world were gathered.” The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the manner in which Kruglov was killed or say whether the friend’s post was accurate.

    The Instagram post contained several photographs of Kruglov enjoying himself at the festival.

    “A young and talented man, who made a big contribution to this world, has been killed,” the friend wrote. “And the person who did this is still walking free.” The post added: “We strongly believe a federal investigation is needed.”

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    Jessica Garrison

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  • He dreamed of a midcentury haven in L.A. He found it in an iconic rental off Sunset

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    Growing up in a small town outside of Cleveland, Tyler Piña was fascinated by Los Angeles and the glamour of Hollywood.

    “My dad grew up out here, and it’s where my parents met,” says the 33-year-old screenwriter and Emmy Award-winning director of “Next Level With Lauren Goode.” “I remember looking at old Polaroids of them in the ‘80s and seeing how much fun they had.”

    In this series, we spotlight L.A. rentals with style. From perfect gallery walls to temporary decor hacks, these renters get creative, even in small spaces. And Angelenos need the inspiration: Most are renters.

    His attraction to Los Angeles, however, was more than just nostalgia. “I was mesmerized by the landscapes and architecture,” he says, noting the Santa Monica Mountains that run alongside the Pacific Ocean and glass-and-steel Case Study Houses such as the Stahl House, perched on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles.

    “I had never seen anything like it in Ohio,” he says. “It felt like another world, so far from reach. Yet it was a life I aspired to live one day.”

    Looking back, he can’t believe he realized his dream of moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco in 2018 and eventually renting a Midcentury Modern penthouse steps from the Sunset Strip.

    A wet bar with copper bar stols
    A bar window surrounded by botanical wallpaper
    Tyler Piña stands at his bar in his penthouse apartment in the Sunset Lanai Apartments

    “A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here,” says Piña.

    “It’s a little bit of a fishbowl,” Piña says, standing inside his living room with views of a Netflix billboard through the unit’s floor-to-ceiling windows. (It’s an ad for “Happy Gilmore 2” that reads “When Life Gives You S— for Breakfast … Go to Your Happy Place.”)

    More than once, Piña has been caught sitting on his couch in his underwear, writing scripts on his laptop, as Hollywood tour buses stop at the traffic light outside.

    In other instances, friends have driven by his building and texted him, “‘Hey, I just drove by and saw you in your living room,’” he says, laughing.

    Tyler Pina stand by a large window in penthouse apartment in the Sunset Lanai apartments.

    Although he feels like he is living in a fishbowl at times, Piña draws energy from the city outside his windows.

    The two-story, 22-unit Sunset Lanai apartment complex, designed by acclaimed midcentury architect Edward H. Fickett and built in 1952 by developer George Alexander, is an oasis in the middle of a bustling part of the city. That is because Fickett designed the West Hollywood apartments to face inward, toward a lush courtyard and swimming pool, avoiding the activity of the Sunset Strip.

    Piña’s penthouse apartment spans almost the entire top floor and boasts many of the architectural touches that Fickett was known for including as an indoor-outdoor floor plan that connects to a lanai, vaulted ceilings, partial walls and lots of glass.

    Over the years, the apartment’s owners and the West Hollywood City Council have debated its relevance as a historic landmark that needs preservation. But talk to Piña, and he’ll tell you it’s special.

    The Sunset Lanai Apartments in West Hollywood

    The Sunset Lanai apartments were designed by noted modernist architect Edward Fickett and constructed by George Alexander in 1952.

    “I walked by the apartment every day before I moved in and was always curious what it looked like inside,” he says. “When I saw the ‘for rent’ sign, I immediately went on a tour. But the price was a little high for me, so I waited.”

    His patience paid off as the apartment stood vacant for seven months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following several price reductions, Piña, his boyfriend at that time and a friend of theirs rented the 2,850-square-foot unit for $5,200 a month in 2020.

    “Right away it felt like home,” he says of the first time he stepped inside. “This was the place I grew up dreaming about.”

    Two people stand in the lanai area of a penthouse apartment.

    Piña, right, and his boyfriend, Vittorio Manole, stand in the lanai in front of the apartment.

    A lanai area with mats, weights and washer and dryer.

    The lanai has enough room for a gym, washer and dryer and a lounge. It also has ample built-in storage.

    Inside, the apartment is a treasure trove of unique features. The expansive living room seamlessly connects to a formal dining room, which in turn leads to an updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances, all with a view of Sunset Boulevard. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, each with more built-in storage than they can use, sit off an intersecting hallway.

    At the center of the living room, a stylish enclosed wet bar, an original design by Fickett, exudes a “Mad Men” vibe. On the wall behind the bar, Piña hung a peel-and-stick wallpaper that he found on Etsy, reminiscent of the iconic banana-leaf wallpaper at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and a yellow neon sign that reads “Lost in euphoria.”

    “There’s something really special about a Fickett building,” Piña says. “A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here.”

    Artworks, plants in a penthouse apartment
    A bookshelf, plant and window overlooking a courtyard

    “In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” Piña says.

    “I tried my best to do this space justice,” Piña says, referring to his frantic two-week effort to decorate the apartment while working on “Comeback Coach” and “Women in Business,” two reality shows sponsored by Verizon. He has also worked on trailers for Amazon, shot and edited commercials for Google, Levi’s and Sephora, edited “Making Emilia Perez” for Netflix and wrote and directed the award-winning documentary “88 Cents.”

    “At my previous place, I slowly decorated over time,” he says. “By the time it finally felt perfect, it was time to move out. In this space, I wanted it to feel lived in right away so I could enjoy it fully for as long as possible.”

    Working until 3 in the morning, Piña sourced Midcentury-inspired furniture from the online retailer All Modern, CB2 and several local vintage shops. He also purchased a variety of furnishings, plants and accessories on Etsy and Offer Up as well as artworks by local artists, photographers and friends.

    Inspired by a print on wood by Australian photographer Sarah Bahbah in his dining room, Piña decorated the living and dining room in a similar color palette. Similarly, copper-colored bar stools he spotted in a small shop in San Francisco inspired the bar area.

    A dark and moody bedroom with large windows.

    The bedroom is dark and moody, with windows that look out over the Sunset Strip.

    Explaining his decorating process, Piña says he likes to start with a statement piece such as an artwork, rug or piece of furniture and then build a story around it. “In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” he says.

    Adding to the spacious floor plan is a lanai, which has enough room for weights, mats and a Peloton, as well as a lounge area, washer and dryer, sink and a huge walk-in storage space. “I have a projector and have hosted movie nights,” Piña says.

    A dining room and wet bar.

    The formal dining room connects to an updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances that faces Sunset Boulevard.

    At night, Piña says his apartment glows from the streetlights and soaks up the energy from the neighborhood. “It’s the best place to have a good cry,” he says. “Because you never feel alone. I put so much love into this apartment. And it’s given me so much back in return. And the tears I cried here, the immense struggles that I faced — a pandemic, losing work from the strikes, multiple relationships that came and went. But even in the hard moments, there was so much beauty. The architecture brings this place to life.”

    But like so many good things that come to an end, Piña recently decided to move out of the apartment after his roommate left.

    Tyler Pina sets on his sofa in his penthouse apartment.

    Piña moves on with nothing but happy memories.

    “I’m ready for the next dream,” he says.

    Last month, Piña sold and donated all of his furniture. He plans to travel to Europe and Asia and work remotely for a while. “Just me and a suitcase,” he says.

    According to the director, he enjoyed selling his furnishings on Facebook Marketplace and plans on using it as a source for his next home. “I met so many cool people from all over the city,” he says. “The whole concept of passing items down versus buying new just makes the home feel more lively in my opinion, like every item comes with its own story and a bit of love — not to mention it’s way more cost-effective.”

    He leaves Los Angeles with his Polaroids, just like his parents.

    “And all the amazing memories,” he says. “Those are coming with me.”

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    Lisa Boone

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  • Man kills his partner, her friend in Orlando shooting, police say

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    Two women are dead after a domestic-related shooting Sunday night in Orlando, the city’s police department said. >> Video above is earlier reportingIt happened at 5 p.m. at Village Springs apartment complex on Cinderlane Parkway north of Lake Orlando. When officers arrived, they found two female victims with gunshot wounds. Both victims were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where they later died, Orlando police said. “Preliminary investigation indicates one of the victims found at the scene was in a relationship with the suspect,” OPD said. “The second victim was a friend of the deceased.”The suspect, Eliette De Jesus Marquez, fled the scene on foot but was eventually charged with two counts of first-degree murder.>> This is a developing story and will be updated

    ORLANDO, Fla. —

    Two women are dead after a domestic-related shooting Sunday night in Orlando, the city’s police department said.

    >> Video above is earlier reporting

    It happened at 5 p.m. at Village Springs apartment complex on Cinderlane Parkway north of Lake Orlando.

    When officers arrived, they found two female victims with gunshot wounds.

    Both victims were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where they later died, Orlando police said.

    “Preliminary investigation indicates one of the victims found at the scene was in a relationship with the suspect,” OPD said. “The second victim was a friend of the deceased.”

    The suspect, Eliette De Jesus Marquez, fled the scene on foot but was eventually charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

    >> This is a developing story and will be updated

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  • House fire reported on 39th Street in Sacramento

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    House fire reported on 39th Street in Sacramento

    THIS IS KCRA THREE NEWS AT FIVE. WHAT IS A KCRA 3 WEATHER IMPACT DAY TODAY? OUR TEAM IS TRACKING TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES AND THEN SOME. THE AREAS THAT COULD BREAK RECORDS TODAY. CREWS BATTLE A WILDFIRE THAT’S PROMPTING AN EVACUATION WARNING IN EL DORADO COUNTY. THE PROGRESS THEY’VE MADE SO FAR. STATE LAWMAKERS SET TO VOTE TODAY ON LEGISLATION THAT WILL PROMPT A SPECIAL ELECTION ON REDISTRICTING THIS NOVEMBER. WHERE THINGS STAND RIGHT NOW. WELL, TODAY IS A KCRA 3 WEATHER IMPACT DAY, AND THIS MORNING WE’RE BRACING FOR A STRETCH OF TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES IN OUR FORECAST. AND THAT’S EXPECTED TO LAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. GOOD MORNING AND THANKS FOR BEING WITH US. I’M MELANIE WINGO IN FOR DEIRDRE FITZPATRICK AND I’M TEO TORRES. LET’S HEAD RIGHT NOW TO METEOROLOGIST TAMARA BERG. YOU’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR DAYS, TAM. YEAH. THE HEAT IS BUILDING, AND YESTERDAY WE GOT A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT TO EXPECT. HERE’S A LIVE LOOK OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW IN DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO. EVEN OUR MORNING TEMPERATURES ARE FEELING A BIT UP A LITTLE BIT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE AN EARLY RISER AND THIS IS YOUR TYPICAL WAKE UP TIME IN THE 5:00 HOUR. YOU MAY STEP BACK THAT WARM COFFEE AND SAY, ALL RIGHT, I’M GOING TO PUT IT OVER ICE AT THIS POINT BECAUSE IT IS A MILDER START TO THE DAY. THE HEAT WILL BUILD TODAY WITH VALLEY HIGHS 100 TO ABOUT 105 IN THE FOOTHILLS, EYEING MID AND UPPER 90S. I’M ALSO GOING TO BE WATCHING FOR SOME INCREASING CLOUD COVER AS MONSOON MOISTURE STEERS INTO OUR NECK OF THE WOODS STARTING THIS AFTERNOON. RIGHT NOW, 65 DEGREES OUT THE DOOR IN SACRAMENTO, 63. AS YOU’LL NOTICE IN FAIRFIELD. WELL, YOU HAVE JUST A TOUCH OF A DELTA BREEZE. THERE’S NO COOL AIR THAT’S COMING IN ON TOP OF IT. 62 RIGHT NOW. STOCKTON 66 FOR YOUR START TO THE DAY IN MODESTO. WE’RE IN THE LOW 70S IN AUBURN AND PLACERVILLE AND HANGING ON TO LOW 40S UP AT THE TOP IN TRUCKEE AND TAHOE, WHERE THERE’S NOT MUCH WIND. IN FACT, THE AIR ACROSS THE REGION IS PRETTY STAGNANT FOR THE MOST PART. NOT MUCH OF A BREEZE IN STOCKTON MODESTO. AND THERE’S THAT SOUTHWEST WIND AT NINE IN FAIRFIELD. BUT AS I MENTIONED ALREADY, NO COOL AIR ON TOP OF IT AS WE’RE JUST NOT SEEING THE MARINE LAYER. IT’S REALLY KIND OF SQUASHED DOWN FOR THE MOST PART ALONG THE COAST. SO THE DAY AHEAD, PLAN FOR THE HEAT AND HAVE A HEAT PLAN, ESPECIALLY AS THE KIDS ARE BACK IN THE CLASSROOMS, BACK TO SCHOOL AND YOU’RE HEADING INTO THE OFFICE, TRY TO DO ANY STRENUOUS ACTIVITY BEFORE LUNCHTIME WHEN THOSE TEMPERATURES ARE IN THE 70S TO LOWER 80S, AND THEN WE GET BEYOND LUNCHTIME, WE START TO REALLY HEAT UP WITH THOSE HIGHS AGAIN IN THE VALLEY FEATURED 100 TO AS HIGH AS 105 IN A FEW SPOTS IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FORECAST DIALED INTO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. IT’S 502 RIGHT NOW. GOOD MORNING BRIAN, WHAT ARE YOU TRACKING FOR EARLY COMMUTERS? WE’RE GOING TO START HERE ALONG INTERSTATE 80. AS YOU MAKE YOUR WAY INTO THE SPLIT. AND IF YOU’RE HEADING OFF TO SACRAMENTO OR OFF INTO WEST SACRAMENTO, ALL CLEAR ON THAT STRETCH OUT THROUGH THE CAUSEWAY AND BEYOND, THROUGH TO THE BAY AREA. INTERSTATE 80 OUT OF ROSEVILLE. ALSO CLEAR AND 50 OUT OF FOLSOM. NO PROBLEMS HERE. WE’RE LOOKING AT I-5 NOW AND 99 FROM ELK GROVE. A LOT OF GREEN ON THE MAP. NO DELAYS HERE FOR STOCKTON. ALSO INCIDENT FREE ACROSS HIGHWAY FOUR AND 12. HEADING OFF INTO THE DELTA. EARLIER HIGHWAY FOUR A LITTLE BIT FURTHER DOWN THERE WAS A FIRE NEAR A BART STATION, BUT THAT SO FAR IS OUT, NOT CAUSING ANY DELAYS ON THE FREEWAY, BUT IT WAS PUTTING SOME SMOKE UP FOR A LITTLE BIT. 205 OVER TO 580 A MINOR DELAY ACROSS THE TOP RIGHT NOW, JUST BREAKING INTO THE RED AT 25 MINUTES ON THE TRACY TRIANGLE. 580 OVER THE ALTAMONT PASS, 26 MINUTES. 12 MINUTES BETWEEN MODESTO AND MANTECA HERE IN SACRAMENTO. NINE MINUTES OUT OF ROSEVILLE ON 80. 15 MINUTES OUT OF FOLSOM ON 50. 99 IS A NINE MINUTE RIDE I5 11 MINUTES COMING IN FROM ELK GROVE. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU SO MUCH, BRIAN. SO WE’RE FOLLOWING BREAKING NEWS RIGHT NOW OUT OF EL DORADO COUNTY THIS MORNING. AN EVACUATION WARNING IS IN PLACE DUE TO THE COYOTE FIRE. THAT FIRE STARTED JUST AFTER 2:00 YESTERDAY AFTERNOON NEAR CEDAR CREEK ROAD AND COYOTE HILL LANE. IN THE SOMERSET AREA. SO HERE’S SOME VIDEO OF THE FIRE FROM OVERNIGHT. THIS IS FROM AN ALERT WILDFIRE CAMERA. AS OF THE LATEST UPDATE FROM CAL FIRE. THE FIRE HAS BURNED JUST OVER 550 ACRES. NO CONTAINMENT ON THIS ONE JUST YET. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE IS UNDER INVESTIGATION. AND THE FLAMES ARE TRIGGERING THAT EVACUATION WARNING WE TALKED ABOUT. AND THAT MEANS PEOPLE LIVING IN THE AREAS SHADED HERE ON THIS MAP SHOULD BE PREPARED TO LEAVE AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE. THAT WARNING IS WEST AND SOUTH OF OMO RANCH ROAD AND NORTH OF THE AMADOR COUNTY LINE. AUTHORITIES SAY THE BEST WAY OUT IS MOUNT AUKUM ROAD. MEANTIME, A PART OF HIGHWAY 108 IS CLOSED THIS MORNING AFTER A FAST-MOVING GRASS FIRE DESTROYED ONE BUILDING AND DAMAGED THREE OTHERS. THE FIRE SPARKED AROUND 4:00 YESTERDAY NEAR THE COMMUNITY OF RIVERBANK. HIGHWAY 108 IS CLOSED BETWEEN SLOUGHHOUSE AND SNEDEGAR ROADS. FIRE CREWS SAY THE FLAMES JUMPED HIGHWAY 108 DUE TO STRONG WIND. AT ONE POINT, THERE WAS ABOUT 40 FIRE ENGINES FIGHTING THE FLAMES. WE SPOKE TO A NEIGHBOR WHO JUMPED IN TO SAVE HIS OWN HOUSE. MY SISTER, SHE CAME INTO MY ROOM SCREAMING LIKE, HEY, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. SO ME, I’M THE BIG BROTHER OF THE HOUSE. SO I JUMP INTO SURVIVAL MODE, GRABBED THE WATER HOSE AND I RAN OUTSIDE TRYING TO SPRAY THE FIRE UNTIL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS HERE. HE SAYS HE AND HIS FAMILY ARE THANKFUL THE CREWS ARRIVED IN TIME, AND THAT THEIR HOME WAS SPARED. FIRE IS NOW FULLY CONTAINED. IT BURNED 10 TO 15 ACRES. THE CAUSE IS. IT DID CAUSE A POWER OUTAGE. WE UNDERSTAND RIGHT NOW ABOUT 200 CUSTOMERS ARE STILL IN THE DARK. THEY EXPECT TO RESTORE POWER BY 6:00. THE MODESTO FIRE DEPARTMENT SAYS CREWS ARE KEEPING AN EYE OUT FOR ANY FLARE UPS HERE. NO WORD ON HOW IT STARTED. RIGHT NOW, PEOPLE IN EL DORADO COUNTY AND AMADOR COUNTY ARE ASKED TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR AN AT RISK MISSING PERSON. TAKE A LOOK. THIS IS 85 YEAR OLD GEORGANN WILMOT. OFFICIALS SAY SHE’S BEEN MISSING SINCE 7:00 LAST NIGHT. AND SHE WAS LAST SEEN IN PLACERVILLE WEARING A LIGHT BLUE LONG SLEEVED SHIRT AND BLUE JEANS. SHE’S BELIEVED TO BE DRIVING A BLUE 2013 TOYOTA PRIUS WITH THE LICENSE PLATE NUMBER THAT’S ON YOUR SCREEN. IT’S SEVEN C 512. IF YOU SEE HER, CALL 911. NOW TO A LIVE LOOK AT THE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING. AND STATE LAWMAKERS ARE EXPECTED TO VOTE TODAY ON LEGISLATION THAT COULD LAUNCH A STATEWIDE SPECIAL ELECTION ON REDISTRICTING. DEMOCRATS ARE PUSHING FOR A SPECIAL ELECTION IN NOVEMBER SO CALIFORNIANS CAN VOTE ON NEW MAPS TO POTENTIALLY SEND FIVE MORE DEMOCRATS TO THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. A BILL WAS INTRODUCED MONDAY. IT WILL BE VOTED ON LATER TODAY. LAWMAKERS WILL HEAR ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES BEGINNING AT 9 A.M. MEANTIME, CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REJECTED A REQUEST FROM REPUBLICANS TO FREEZE THE EFFORT TO REDRAW CALIFORNIA’S CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. REPUBLICANS FILED AN EMERGENCY PETITION EARLIER THIS WEEK. THEY CLAIMED CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS VIOLATED THE STATE CONSTITUTION BY NOT WAITING 30 DAYS BEFORE TAKING ACTION ON REDISTRICTING LEGISLATION. THE CHIEF JUSTICE WROTE THAT REPUBLICANS FAILED TO MEET THEIR BURDEN OF ESTABLISHING A BASIS FOR RELIEF. AT THIS TIME. FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS BACKING GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S REDISTRICTING MAP. HE GAVE IT THAT ENDORSEMENT WHILE HE SPOKE AT A FUND RAISER FOR THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE. THAT’S A GROUP THAT WORKS TO FIGHT GERRYMANDERING. OBAMA SAYS IT WOULD BE HIS PREFERENCE TO NOT HAVE POLITICAL GERRYMANDERING. BUT HE SAYS HE SUPPORTS CALIFORNIA’S EFFORT, GIVEN THAT EFFORT IN TEXAS THAT’S GOING ON RIGHT NOW TO APPROVE NEW MAPS THAT WOULD TURN OVER FIVE CONGRESSIONAL SEATS TO REPUBLICANS THERE. HE CALLS CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS STANCE A, QUOTE, RESPONSIBLE APPROACH. MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS, THE STATE’S LOWER HOUSE APPROVED THE REDISTRICTING BILL THAT’S DESIGNED TO SEND FIVE MORE REPUBLICANS TO CONGRESS. THIS IS THE BILL THAT SPURRED GOVERNOR NEWSOM’S PUSH FOR CALIFORNIA’S REDISTRICTING PLAN. THE TEXAS SENATE IS EXPECTED TO TAKE UP THE BILL IN COMMITTEE THIS MORNING, AND TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT IS POISED TO SIGN IT QUICKLY AFTER THE SENATE APPROVES IT. MORE SEMIFINALISTS FOR THE JOB OF SACRAMENTO CITY MANAGER WILL INTERVIEW FOR THE ROLE NEXT MONTH. A COUNCIL MEMBER, RICK JENNINGS OFFICE SAYS 94 PEOPLE APPLIED FOR THE POSITION. A SMALLER POOL OF APPLICANTS MADE IT TO THE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS, THE FIRST OF WHICH WERE ON WEDNESDAY. THE NEXT WILL BE SEPTEMBER 2ND. AFTER THOSE TWO INTERVIEWS, SESSIONS WRAP UP, A HANDFUL OF CANDIDATES WILL ADVANCE TO THE ROUND OF FINALISTS. JENNINGS OFFICE SAYS CITY LEADERS HOPE TO HAVE A DECISION ON THE NEXT CITY MANAGER BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT MONTH. WELL, AS WE TALKED ABOUT AT THE TOP OF THE NEWSCAST TODAY IS A KCRA 3 WEATHER IMPACT DAY, AND WE’RE EXPECTED TO HIT TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES LATER TODAY. THE HEAT IS PROMPTING SEVERAL WEATHER RESPITE CENTERS TO OPEN IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY. THAT INCLUDES THE WARREN E THORNTON YOUTH CENTER. IT WILL BE OPEN FROM TODAY AT ONE AND STAY OPEN UNTIL TEN MONDAY MORNING. THE OUTREACH ENGAGEMENT CENTER ON AUBURN BOULEVARD WILL BE OPEN FROM 10 A.M. TOMORROW TO 8 A.M. SUNDAY. THE SAM AND BONNIE PARNELL COMMUNITY CENTER WILL ALSO OPEN TOMORROW FROM 8 A.M. TO 8 P.M. CALL 211. BEFORE YOU GO TO CHECK CAPACITY THERE, FLIERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR FREE SAC RT BUS RIDES TO THOSE CENTERS ON ANY DAY THAT HITS 100 DEGREES. CITRUS HEIGHTS POLICE WILL OPEN THEIR LOBBY ON FOUNTAIN SQUARE DRIVE FROM NOON TO EIGHT. AND ELK GROVE, THE WACKFORD COMMUNITY COMPLEX, WILL OPEN AS A COOLING CENTER FROM 1 TO 8 P.M. BOTH TODAY AND TOMORROW. OKAY, AT 509, WE’RE GOING TO TURN THINGS OVER AGAIN TO TAMARA BERG AND TAMARA. I THINK IT ALWAYS BEARS REPEATING WHEN WE TALK ABOUT A HEAT WAVE, THAT MEANS SORT OF A CHUNK OF TIME WHEN WE HAVE TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES, YOU KNOW, PROLONGED HEAT, ESPECIALLY INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS. NOW, TODAY IS GOING TO MARK ANOTHER DAY OF HOT TEMPERATURES. YESTERDAY WE KIND OF STARTED THINGS OUT. WE HAD A HIGH OF 100 AND SACRAMENTO. YOU LOOK AT THE SATELLITE LOOP FOR THE MORNING, WHAT’S INTERESTING IS THERE’S NOT A LOT OF DETAIL TO SHOW YOU. TYPICALLY, MOST MORNINGS I TALK ABOUT THE MARINE LAYER, BUT IT’S JUST KIND OF SQUASHED OUT OR GONE IN MOST SPOTS. THERE’S SOME PATCHES OF FOG ALONG THE WATER THERE IN SAN FRANCISCO DOWN TOWARDS MONTEREY, BUT THAT’S ABOUT IT. YOU CAN ALSO SEE A FEW HIGH CLOUDS HERE OVER PARTS OF THE DESERT, AND EXPECT THAT SOME OF THESE CLOUDS WILL KIND OF FAN THEIR WAY INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA DURING THE AFTERNOON. RIGHT NOW, 62 DEGREES, ONE OF THE COOL SPOTS IS STOCKTON. GOOD MORNING FAIRFIELD HEADING OUT THE DOOR TO 63 AT 65 RIGHT NOW IN SACRAMENTO. 70 FOR YOU IN AUBURN AND WAKING UP TO 41 IN TRUCKEE. I DO EXPECT TODAY IN THE MOUNTAINS. WHILE THOSE CLOUDS WILL BUBBLE UP ALONG THE CREST OF THE SIERRA, NOT EXPECTING THUNDERSTORMS IN TRUCKEE OR TAHOE BASIN, IT’S GOING TO BE A HOT DAY TODAY. PLAN FOR THAT IN QUINCY WITH A HIGH OF 198 FOR YOSEMITE FOOTHILLS PLANNER TODAY. EXPECTING MID AND UPPER 90S FOR 98. IN SONORA TO 97 IN PLACERVILLE. MID 90S TODAY IN GRASS VALLEY AND NEVADA CITY. WE’LL BE IN THE UPPER 90S AROUND LAKEPORT WITH THOSE INCREASING CLOUDS IN THE AFTERNOON HUNDRED TODAY IN FAIRFIELD, NOW CLOSER TO THE WATER, YOU GET SOME RELIEF FROM THE TRIPLE DIGITS AT 78 TODAY IN SAN FRANCISCO. IT’S HOT TODAY. LODI MAKE A PLAN FOR THE HEAT 101 STOCKTON STEPPING UP TO AS HOT AS 105 TRACY 102 MODESTO AT 102. AND TODAY IN SACRAMENTO, IF WE HIT THAT 103 MARK, WE’RE GOING TO BE TYING THE RECORD ON THIS DAY. BROKEN BACK IN THE 1960S. ALL THE CLOSER LOOK AT HOW LONG NUMBERS LIKE THIS WILL STICK AROUND FOR COMING UP IN TEN MINUTES. IT’S 511. BRIAN, WHAT ARE YOU TRACKING FOR OUR COMMUTERS? EASY DRIVING HERE IN THE SACRAMENTO AREA AT THE MOMENT. AS YOU’RE HEADING OUT ON TO THE CAUSEWAY FROM WEST SACRAMENTO, OUT TOWARDS DAVIS. NO PROBLEMS HERE. EAST AND WESTBOUND. AND THEN ALSO LOOKING AT 80 COMING IN FROM ROSEVILLE. STILL ALL CLEAR. HIGHWAY 50 CLEAR OUT OF FOLSOM AS YOU MAKE YOUR WAY IN AND I 99 NORTHBOUND OUT OF ELK GROVE. NO DELAYS THERE THROUGH STOCKTON HIGHWAY 12 OUT OF LODI, ACROSS 99. ALL CLEAR THERE. AS YOU CAN SEE ACROSS THE MAP, JUST A WHOLE LOT OF GREEN THERE. WHERE WE DO RUN INTO SOME RED IS ACROSS THE TOP OF THE TRACY TRIANGLE THAT IS BUILDING NOW AT 27 MINUTES FROM I-5 TO FIVE 8580 OVER THE ALTAMONT PASS, A 26 MINUTE RIDE AS YOU MAKE YOUR WAY FROM 205 TO 680. 99 FROM MODESTO TO MANTECA A 12 MINUTE RIDE, NO DELAYS ON 120. AND HERE IN SACRAMENTO, 80, 50, 99 AND I-5 CURRENTLY RUNNING AT THE SPEED LIMIT. BACK TO YOU. GOOD DEAL. THANKS, BRIAN. YOUR TIME RIGHT NOW. 512. VOTING AS MANY STATES KNOW, IT COULD SOON CHANGE. PRESIDENT TRUMP IS LOOKING TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU CAST YOUR BALLOT. I’M RACHEL HERSHBERGER AT THE WHITE HOUSE WITH HOW A POPULAR WAY OF VOTING

    A house fire was reported Thursday morning in south Sacramento.Fire crews were dispatched around 6:38 a.m. to a property on 39th Street south of 14th Avenue in the South Oak Park neighborhood. It was unclear what caused the fire, if anyone was injured or the extent of any damage. This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    A house fire was reported Thursday morning in south Sacramento.

    Fire crews were dispatched around 6:38 a.m. to a property on 39th Street south of 14th Avenue in the South Oak Park neighborhood.

    It was unclear what caused the fire, if anyone was injured or the extent of any damage.

    This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.

    See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.

    If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • ‘I thought I was going to die there’: Voices of migrants deported to a Salvadoran prison

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    CARACAS, Venezuela — In March, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to declare Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang a foreign terrorist group.

    Shortly after, the U.S. sent more than 250 Venezuelans who it said were a part of the gang to El Salvador, where they were jailed for months in one of the country’s most notorious prisons, the Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT.

    Many of the men insist that they have no ties to the gang and were denied due process.

    After enduring months in detention, the men were sent home in July as part of a prisoner exchange deal that included Venezuela’s release of several detained Americans.

    Venezuela’s attorney general said interviews with the men revealed “systemic torture” in the Salvadoran prison, including daily beatings, rancid food and sexual abuse. The men have been adjusting to life back in Venezuela, which most fled because of their home country’s political and economic instability.

    The Times photographed four of the Venezuelans — Arturo Suárez, Angelo Escalona, Frizgeralth Cornejo and Ángelo Bolívar — as they got reacquainted with their families and life outside prison.

    A man with a dark beard, wearing glasses, headphones and a dark ballcap, sings

    Arturo Suárez records a song at a studio in Caracas’ Catia neighborhood. He composed the song in prison in El Salvador.

    Arturo Suárez, 34

    Suárez, a musician, was detained in North Carolina while gathered with friends to record a music video. Ten people were arrested that day. Inside the Salvadoran prison, he said, music was forbidden and guards beat him repeatedly for singing. But he refused to stay silent. From his cell, he wrote a song that spread from cell to cell, becoming an anthem of hope for the Venezuelans imprisoned with him.

    “From Cell 31, God spoke to me,” the lyrics go in part. “He said, son, be patient, your blessing is coming soon…. Let nothing kill your faith, let nothing make you doubt because it won’t be long before you return home.”

    1

    A brown-colored handmade heart displayed on an open palm

    2

    A dark-bearded main with a tattoo of a bird on his neck

    1. Suárez holds a heart he fashioned in prison out of tortillas and toothpaste, with letters made from threads of the white shorts he wore. 2. This tattoo of a bird enabled his family to identify Suárez in videos released by the Salvadoran government.

    A man with dark hair, seated under a hand-drawn sign and a cluster of red and purple balloons, looks at his phone

    Suárez checks his phone beneath a poster welcoming him home in Caracas.

    I thought I wasn’t going to make it out of there. I thought I was going to die there.

    Posters depicting individual people line a fence near a street vendor selling watermelons

    Posters depicting Suárez and other Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador are seen in Caracas’ El Valle neighborhood.

    Angelo Escalona, 18

    Escalona had turned 18 just three months before Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him in the same raid that swept up his friend Suárez, the musician. His dream was to become a DJ, and Escalona had saved up to buy equipment that he showed Suárez just before they were arrested. He had no tattoos, no criminal record and was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, he said.

    When the deportation flight landed in El Salvador, he and the other Venezuelans tried to resist being taken off the plane. “We all fastened our seat belts because we’re Venezuelans — we weren’t supposed to be there” in El Salvador, he said. “But the Salvadoran police boarded the plane and started beating the people in the front.”

    1

    A young man with dark hair, in a dark T-shirt, stands for a portrait with arms crossed

    2

    A hand-drawn poster on a rack with items on different shelves

    3

    A woman with glasses, holding a large white hand-drawn poster with words and a photo of a young man

    1. Angelo Escalona said that the other Venezuelan prisoners called him “El Menor,” or the minor, because at 18 he was the youngest of the deportees.
     2. A poster family members held during protests demanding his release says, “Your family has not abandoned you.”
     3. Escalona’s aunt displays a poster with a letter his mother wrote to him upon his release. “Son, I love you,” it says in red.

    When we arrived [at the prison], they told us, ‘Welcome to the real hell — no one leaves here unless they’re dead.’

    A view of homes covering a hillside, with dark clouds overhead

    A view of Caracas’ Antímano neighborhood, where Frizgeralth Cornejo lived with his family before traveling north to the United States.

    Frizgeralth Cornejo, 26

    In mid-2024, Frizgeralth Cornejo made the long trek through the Darién Gap, the dangerous jungle separating Central and South America and made his way north with three friends. Hoping to obtain asylum in the United States, he had applied for an appointment with immigration officials through Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app.

    But when Cornejo, 26, presented himself at the border, officials accused him of gang affiliation because of his tattoos. Everyone else in his group was allowed through, but not him.

    1

    Two men and a woman seated at a table inside a home

    2

    Two men walk near other people. Behind them are buildings

    1. Cornejo has lunch with his mother, Austria, and his brother, Carlos, in Caracas’ Antímano neighborhood. 2. Cornejo walks with his brother, Carlos, in the neighborhood of Sabana Grande in Caracas.

    A man in a dark ballcap, with tattoos, kisses the top of a brown-haired woman's head

    Cornejo kisses his mother, Austria.

    1

    A bearded man in a cap, with a rose tattoo on his neck

    2

    A man lifts his shirt to show a tattoo of an angel carrying an assault weapon and a rose

    1. Cornejo shows the neck tattoo that allowed his family to identify him in videos released by the Salvadoran government. 2. U.S. authorities claimed this tattoo linked him to the Tren de Aragua gang.

    I never imagined being imprisoned just for getting tattoos.

    A view of people near vehicles, one riding a bicycle, on a street near buildings

    A view of the neighborhood where the family of Ángelo Bolívar lives in Valencia.

    Ángelo Bolívar, 26

    Bolívar was living in Texas when he was arrested by ICE agents and sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. His many tattoos are part of a family legacy, one he shares with his mother, Silvia Cruz. His late father was a tattoo artist. His tattoos led to his imprisonment, he said, because authorities saw them as proof of membership in the Tren de Aragua gang. He is now back in the city of Valencia, about 80 miles east of Caracas.

    They said I was a gang member because of my tattoos — because I had a watch and a rosary. Even though the ICE agents had tattoos of roses and watches too.

    A blond woman covered in tattoos holds the face of a young man, with her other hand over his

    Bolívar and his mother, Silvia Cruz, in Valencia.

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    Kate Linthicum, Gabriela Oráa

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  • Person taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot multiple times

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    Person taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot multiple times in Sacramento

    BOTH SIDES. SACTOWN DEPUTIES ARE NOW SEARCHING FOR THE GUNMAN WHO CRITICALLY INJURED SOMEBODY. THIS IS HAPPENING IN A SOUTH SACRAMENTO NEIGHBORHOOD OFF OF 39TH STREET, NORTH OF 39TH AVENUE. THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS THE PERSON WAS SHOT SEVERAL TIMES. KCRA 3’S CAROLINA ESTRADA JOINS US LIVE NOW FROM THAT AREA. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LEARN? RILEY EDIE. WE KNOW THE MAN THAT WAS SHOT RIGHT NOW IS FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE AT THE HOSPITAL. HE’S IN CRITICAL CONDITION. ACCORDING TO WHAT DEPUTIES TELL US OUT HERE IN SOUTH SACRAMENTO, WE ARE RIGHT NOW ON 39TH STREET AND MASCOT AVENUE. THIS IS WHERE IT ALL UNFOLDED, WHERE THE SHOOTING HAPPENED AND HAS NOW TURNED INTO A CRIME SCENE. LET ME GIVE YOU A LOOK AT WHAT WE’RE SEEING OUT HERE. FIRST, I WANT TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THAT TREE THAT YOU SEE THERE, WHERE THE DEPUTIES ARE ALL SURROUNDED. THAT’S THE AREA WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN FOCUSING THEIR INVESTIGATION. THAT’S BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE MAN WAS WALKING MINUTES BEFORE HE WAS SHOT. THAT’S WHERE THAT SHOOTING TOOK PLACE. DEPUTIES TELL US THEY HAVE FOUND SEVERAL SHELL CASINGS HERE IN THE AREA. ACTUALLY, IF YOU TAKE A LOOK OVER ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD HERE, YOU CAN SEE SOME GREEN MARKERS THERE ON THE GROUND. THOSE ARE MARKING WHERE THE SHELL CASINGS HAVE BEEN FOUND SO FAR. SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES TELL US THEY FOUND AT LEAST A DOZEN SHELL CASINGS. NOW, WHAT DO WE KNOW EXACTLY ABOUT WHAT UNFOLDED OUT HERE TODAY? SO WE KNOW SEVERAL CALLS CAME IN AT AROUND 430 FROM NEIGHBORS REPORTING SOUNDS OF A SHOOTING. AND THEY WHEN DEPUTIES ARRIVED, THEY FOUND A MAN WITH SEVERAL GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE ARM AND THE TORSO AREA. THAT’S WHEN HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL. HOWEVER, SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES TELL US THEY WEREN’T ABLE TO TALK TO THE MAN BEFORE HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS. NOW THEY’RE OUT HERE GATHERING EVIDENCE, PHOTOGRAPHING THE SCENE, TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER EXACTLY WHAT UNFOLDED. WE SPOKE TO SOME NEIGHBORS THAT ARE OUT HERE. AS YOU CAN SEE, IT’S A VERY RESIDENTIAL AREA. THEY TELL US THEY HEARD AT LEAST THREE GUNSHOTS FIRED, AND THAT’S WHEN THEY CALLED 911. NOW IT IS UNKNOWN IF THIS MAN LIVES IN THIS AREA, BUT THEY ARE TALKING TO WITNESSES THAT WERE HERE AT THE TIME WHEN ALL OF THIS HAPPENED, TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER EXACTLY WHAT UNFOLDED RIGHT NOW. BUT AGAIN, WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT MAN RIGHT NOW AT THE HOSPITAL, FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE IN CRITICAL CONDITION AS INVESTIGATORS ARE OUT HERE GATHERING INFORMATION TO PIECE TOGETHER WHAT HAPPENED. NOW, NO INFORMATION ABOUT A SUSPECT OR SUSPECT HAS BEEN RELEASED SO FAR. BUT OF COURSE, WE’LL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THIS STORY AND BRING YOU THE LATEST. LIVE IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY

    Person taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot multiple times in Sacramento

    Updated: 6:07 PM PDT Aug 19, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A person has been taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot multiple times Tuesday afternoon, according to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office.Video Above | Morning headlines from KCRA News 3Deputies responded to the report of a shooting around 4:30 p.m. in the 5900 block of 39th Street.Deputies arrived to find one man with several gunshot wounds in his arm and torso, officials said. He was taken to an area hospital and is in critical condition.It is unclear what led to the shooting.KCRA is working to learn more information. Stay tuned for updates.This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk. If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    A person has been taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot multiple times Tuesday afternoon, according to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office.

    Video Above | Morning headlines from KCRA News 3

    Deputies responded to the report of a shooting around 4:30 p.m. in the 5900 block of 39th Street.

    Deputies arrived to find one man with several gunshot wounds in his arm and torso, officials said. He was taken to an area hospital and is in critical condition.

    It is unclear what led to the shooting.

    KCRA is working to learn more information. Stay tuned for updates.

    This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.

    If this story happened near you or someone you know, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they know what is happening near them. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Woman found dead in trash can in Costa Mesa, was killed by a friend, police say

    Woman found dead in trash can in Costa Mesa, was killed by a friend, police say

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    A 38-year-old woman was found dead in a backyard trash can in Costa Mesa on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

    A man was arrested in Glendale on suspicion of murder. Police said he was a friend of the woman.

    The victim, whose identity was not released pending notification of her family, was found around 2:27 p.m. at a home in the 1900 block of Maple Avenue, according to a news release.

    As Costa Mesa police conducted an investigation Tuesday, the home was cordoned off with crime scene tape. In interviews, neighbors described the area as safe and the incident as shocking.

    “Never a problem, never had any type of violence or anything like that, any disturbance,” said a neighbor who gave only her first name, Sherri.

    No further details were available.

    Anyone who may have additional information is asked to call Det. K. Moore at (714) 754-4986.

    OnScene.TV contributed to this report.

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • Slain couple found under neighbor’s home died from blunt force trauma to head, coroner says

    Slain couple found under neighbor’s home died from blunt force trauma to head, coroner says

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    A Southern California couple whose bodies were found under their neighbor’s home after being reported missing died from “blunt force trauma to the head,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

    Daniel Menard, 79, and his wife, Stehanie Menard, 73, had been reported missing in late August from their home on a nudist ranch in Redlands, sparking a search by police and concerns by their friends and family.

    Less than a week later, police were tipped off that their neighbor, Michael Royce Sparks, 62, in Olive Dell Ranch had admitted killing the couple to a family member and was threatening to harm himself. Police surrounded the home and took him into custody Aug. 29 and discovered the couple’s bodies in a concrete bunker under the home.

    Sparks was charged with two counts of murder Sept. 3. The couple’s cause of death was confirmed this week by the county coroner.

    The Menards and their pet shih tzu, Cuddles, were reported missing by a friend after the couple missed a church service. Their car was found unlocked down the road from their home, and Stephanie Menard’s purse and their cellphones were found inside their home.

    A neighbor told local TV stations that Sparks hated the couple and that they feuded over a tree between their properties. The Redlands Police Department gave no comment when asked for an update on a possible motive Tuesday.

    At a candlelight vigil for the couple, friends and neighbors gathered under an Olive Dell Ranch sign with candles, flowers and music to celebrate the Menards’ lives.

    “It’s disheartening, it’s uncomfortable,” one neighbor said of the killings. “In a week, we as a community of Olive Dell Ranch lost three members of our family.” He characterized Stephanie Menard, whom he played bingo with, as a spitfire. “She knew what she wanted, she meant what she said, but she always did it caringly.”

    Olive Dell Ranch is a residential RV park and “the ideal spot to enjoy the nudist/naturist lifestyle whether visiting for a day or an overnight stay,” according to its website.

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • Pasadena reels from Tesla crash that left 3 dead, 3 injured

    Pasadena reels from Tesla crash that left 3 dead, 3 injured

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    Pasadena is reeling from a violent car crash over the weekend that left three young adults dead and three other young people badly injured.

    The victims, whose ages range from 17 to 22, all had roots in the City of Roses.

    A memorial of flowers and candles assembled near a ruined building in east Pasadena marked the spot where the car’s driver crashed his Tesla after hitting a nearby curb at more than 100 mph just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

    The driver and two passengers died in the crash, and three more passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to authorities.

    By Monday morning, the memorial outside the unoccupied building on East Foothill Boulevard was replete with votive candles, a soccer ball and shoe, flowers and a pair of leather notebooks in which friends and family members could leave messages.

    It’s where 20-year-old Sergio Nava laid a bouquet of flowers for his friend Stephan Michael “Mike” Pfeiffer, whom he met in middle school at Marshall Fundamental Secondary School in Pasadena. They talked almost every day, and Nava thinks that if the circumstances were different — if maybe Nava hadn’t been scheduled to work Saturday at a local Ralphs supermarket — he could have been in the car with his friend.

    “I know he’s in a better place now and he’s looking down on us,” Nava said, placing the flowers.

    Pfeiffer, 20, was from Pasadena, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office. The other two persons killed were a man in his 20s, whose name has not been released pending notification to his family, and Mohed Reda Samuel, 22, from Pasadena.

    Samuel was the driver of the white, 5-seat Tesla Model 3 that was heading west on Foothill Boulevard when it appeared to have lost control navigating a bend in the road. It hit a curb and launched into the air, according to Lt. Anthony Russo with the Pasadena Police Department.

    The car probably soared more than 130 feet before it collided with a utility pole and the building, Russo said.

    The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but based on preliminary information, it does not appear that the vehicle malfunctioned, according to Russo. The county medical examiner’s office will perform a toxicology test to determine if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash.

    Samuel and the passenger in the front seat died at the scene, while three out of the four rear passengers were thrown from the vehicle during the crash, Russo said. The fourth passenger remained in the vehicle because they were wearing their seat belt.

    One of the passengers thrown from the vehicle died, and two others were transported to a local hospital along with the survivor who remained in the vehicle’s back seat, Russo said. All three passengers are expected to survive, according to authorities.

    Maranatha High School in Pasadena released a statement about the crash because some of the victims involved were students at the private Christian school. Grief counselors were being made available to the school and community, according to the statement posted to Facebook on Sunday.

    The school asked the public to respect the privacy of the families whose loved ones were involved in the crash.

    “We are deeply saddened by this weekend’s tragic car accident that claimed precious young lives. We mourn this immense loss and extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those affected,” the statement said. “During this difficult time, we turn to our faith in Christ Jesus for comfort and strength and ask others to join us in praying for all who are suffering due to this tragedy.”

    On Monday morning, a student wearing a Maranatha sweater approached the memorial and left flowers. Pieces of the Tesla remained strewn about the street and sidewalk.

    A large gash in the sidewalk spoke of where the vehicle went airborne, and another large scratch on the ground at a nearby corner showed where the Tesla eventually came to rest.

    Among the items at the memorial was a skateboard propped on the handles of the ruined building’s door with the name “Mike” scratched onto the board’s deck.

    “He was a humble guy and he didn’t like to show off. He was just very sweet to his grandfather and grandmother,” Nava said. Pfeiffer had taken care of his grandfather until his grandfather’s death, and was living with his grandmother at the time of the accident, according to Nava.

    Nava said his friend was a skateboarder who studied kinesiology at Pasadena City College. Pfeiffer had planned to change his major, but remained undecided about what to study next.

    “I guess we’ll never know,” Nava said as he picked up one of the notebooks to write a message for his friend. Pfeiffer would have been 21 this July, according to Nava.

    A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help pay for Pfeiffer’s funeral services.

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    Nathan Solis

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  • Henry Cervantes, Mexican American farmworker turned WWII fighter pilot, dies at 100

    Henry Cervantes, Mexican American farmworker turned WWII fighter pilot, dies at 100

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    Henry Cervantes was a Fresno-born, 19-year-old son of Mexican farmworkers when the Navy told him in 1942 that he could not fight for his country.

    An enlistment officer sent him home, saying the Navy didn’t take Mexicans, Filipinos or Black people. In an interview with the American Patriots of Latino Heritage, Cervantes said he directed a couple of choice epithets at the officer and declared, “I’ll prove you wrong,” before running out the door.

    He found a spot instead in the Army and the Army Air Force, where he flew more than two dozen missions as part of the “Bloody 100th” Bomb Group. He later served as a test pilot and flight instructor, among other roles, before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force in the mid-1960s.

    Cervantes lived to see his 100th birthday before his death on April 7 at his home in Playa Vista. The centenarian is remembered by his friends as a man with “impeccable diction” and gentle spirit, but he was no shrinking violet.

    Cervantes was born on Oct. 9, 1923, to a young Mexican couple, María Rincón and Pedro Cervantes. But his father left days after Cervantes was born, and his mother eventually married his stepfather, Ignacio Gutierrez, a Mexican farmhand.

    When he was growing up during the Great Depression, his family was so poor they lived in a tent with a dirt floor, he said in an interview with the National WWII Museum. He couldn’t even afford shoes with intact soles. On one occasion, in fact, he was sent home from school with bleeding feet.

    His family moved to Pittsburgh in 1934, but times were still tough. Cervantes resorted to stealing a quarter from a stash of tips collected by a nearby market, using the money to buy new shoes — which turned out to be two sizes larger than his feet; 77 years later, he reached out to Times columnist Steve Lopez, whose family owned the market, to repay the debt.

    Henry Cervantes takes part in the 440-yard dash in GI shoes at the Santa Ana Army Air Base in California in 1943.

    (Courtesy of Frederick Aguirre)

    But racism and poverty did not stop Cervantes from ascending the ranks of the military. The Army drafted him six months after he was rejected by the Navy, and during basic training at the Presidio in Monterey, he took and passed a test for prospective pilots. He went on to fly B-17 Flying Fortress bombers as one of the few Latinos in his cohort.

    “During his training, he was called a dirty Mexican,” said retired Judge Frederick Aguirre, who met Cervantes in 2002 at a veterans event and grew close to him through Aguirre’s work documenting the lives of Latino War War II veterans. He recalled that his friend had faced trouble earning the respect of his white subordinates, and there was “a lot of discrimination against dark-skinned Mexican persons” at the time.

    Cervantes survived 26 missions during World War II as part of the 100th Bomb Group, which flew over the English Channel and Holland into German skies. Its combat missions were dramatized in the TV miniseries “Masters of the Air,” executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Cervantes told the WWII Museum that he also flew humanitarian missions to bring food and supplies to Holland, but the bombers still had to survive attacks from German fighter planes — one of which rammed Cervantes’ B-17, which somehow made it back to base and successfully crash-landed.

    Six men, including one using a walker and another holding a cane, pose for photographs

    From left, Tom Hanks, Henry Cervantes, John Luckadoo, Robert Wolff, James Rasmussen and Gary Goetzman attend the premiere of the Apple TV+ “Masters of the Air” miniseries at the Regency Village Theater on Jan. 10, 2024, in Los Angeles.

    (Eric Charbonneau / Getty Images )

    Cervantes also set records as a test pilot for the initial jets that were being integrated into military flight craft in 1945. By the time he retired in 1965, the Air Force had advanced from the B-17 to the B-58s, the first bombers to fly at twice the speed of sound.

    Life didn’t stop moving for Cervantes, who detailed his life before and after the military in his memoir, “Piloto: Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot.” Cervantes went on to work for the Los Angeles office of Defense Contract Administration Services and for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, managing Hispanic affairs.

    Among other hobbies, Cervantes, who had been a track-and-field athlete in high school, became an official for USA Track and Field and a officiant at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He would often volunteer his services to the L.A. Special Olympics.

    Cervantes is survived by his sister, Jennie Gonzalez, several nieces and nephews, and his longtime partner and friend of more than 60 years, Nancy Kahn. The couple first dated in 1964 when they met in the Air Force, staying together for 10 years before they broke up. Cervantes remained single his whole life.

    “He used to say he was married to the military,” Kahn said. When the two reconnected after the death of Kahn’s husband in 2014, she was 75 and he was 90.

    A smiling man in a military pilot's cap and uniform stands near a plane

    Henry Cervantes is shown getting ready to fly his first mission out of England.

    (Courtesy of Frederick Aguirre)

    “We did everything together,” said Kahn of the last decade of their rekindled friendship. They took care of each other and enjoyed the mundane things after a long and exciting life. Hank, as Kahn calls him, was spry and agile even in his last decade.

    But his health started to decline after he developed vascular dementia from a stroke five years ago. He was hospitalized after a second stroke in early March of this year and sent home on hospice care after he lost the ability to swallow.

    Kahn said Cervantes died on the same date, April 7, as he’d escaped death 79 years previously when German pilots tried to ram his B-17 bomber out of the sky.

    A memorial service for Cervantes will be held Monday at 1 p.m. at Holy Cross Chapel in Culver City.

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    Jireh Deng

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  • Redondo Beach mayor dies at 65 of lung cancer

    Redondo Beach mayor dies at 65 of lung cancer

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    Bill Brand, the mayor of Redondo Beach, died Friday evening of lung cancer, according to city officials. He was 65.

    Brand had been battling cancer for more than four years, but his health took a “sudden turn” for the worse in recent days, according to a city statement. Brand’s wife and other family and friends were by his side in the end.

    Brand was serving his second term as Redondo Beach’s mayor, after previously serving two terms on the City Council. He had remained in office despite undergoing intense treatments and being hospitalized several times.

    Bill Brand

    (City of Redondo Beach)

    Brand was born in Texas, but had lived in the South Bay since moving there as a child in 1966. “Finding the Seaside Lagoon, he thought that he had found heaven,” the city’s statement said.

    Other officials in the region took to X, formerly Twitter, to mourn Brand’s death.

    “Bill Brand was my dear friend and even though we knew this day would be coming, it hurts to say goodbye,” wrote L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

    “Elected office can be a challenge, but being Mayor of Redondo Beach came naturally to Bill. He embodied the South Bay,” Hahn wrote. “He was passionate about his work as Mayor, fighting corporate developers to preserve the beach community he loved, but he also made time for surf breaks.”

    County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath wrote that Brand had made “a lasting impact on the community [and] all who knew him.”

    County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell wrote that Brand “was a fighter who kept showing up to serve” even while battling cancer. “We have lost a leader who loved the South Bay and fought with all his heart to protect our environment.”

    Mitchell cited in particular Brand’s role in the recent closure of the AES Redondo Beach power plant, which she said was “just one example of Bill’s lasting impact.”

    Brand got involved in politics first “as a concerned resident, then as a champion for open space,” creating the nonprofit South Bay Parkland Conservancy, the city’s statement said. Only then did he run for office.

    Living to see the closure of the AES plant, which he had fought so hard for, “was an accomplishment of which he was extremely proud,” the city statement said.

    In lieu of flowers, Brand’s family asked for donations in his memory to the conservancy, or to Cancer Support Community South Bay.

    Flags at Redondo Beach City Hall were to fly at half-staff in Brand’s honor. Information on services were not provided.

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    Kevin Rector

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  • Defiant after impeachment vote, Mayorkas tells The Times the effort ‘does not rattle me’

    Defiant after impeachment vote, Mayorkas tells The Times the effort ‘does not rattle me’

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    WASHINGTON — 

    This isn’t the kind of history Alejandro Mayorkas wanted to make.

    The son of immigrants who fled Cuba and settled in Beverly Hills when he was a child, Mayorkas was tapped in 2021 by President Biden to become the first Latino head of the nation’s Department of Homeland Security.

    Decades earlier he made a reputation as the country’s youngest U.S. attorney in 1998, leading the Central District of California based in Los Angeles at 38.

    In recent months, however, Mayorkas, 64, has found himself in a far less flattering historical spotlight: targeted to become the first U.S. Cabinet official impeached in nearly 150 years.

    “I knew I was entering an extraordinarily polarizing environment, an environment where norms were in jeopardy, where civility was not always respected,” he said of his mind-set when he became secretary. “I didn’t assume this. It doesn’t rattle me, though.”

    House Republicans, eyeing chaos at the border as a path to regain control of the White House and Senate, say Mayorkas’ failure to prevent record arrivals of migrants meets the constitutional bar for impeachment of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

    Democrats call the impeachment effort a vast, politically motivated overreach, characterizing Mayorkas as a committed government servant being used as a pawn in the 2024 presidential race.

    To the surprise of many, the embattled secretary on Tuesday narrowly escaped impeachment by the House when three GOP lawmakers — including one from California — broke ranks with their party and joined all Democrats to vote no.

    But House Republican leaders have vowed to try again, perhaps as soon as next week, even though the Democratic-controlled Senate is certain not to convict and remove him from office.

    In his first extensive, sit-down interview since the vote, Mayorkas told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that he did not watch the impeachment proceedings. Instead, he was in a meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area discussing the agency’s prioritization of artificial intelligence. He broke away for a call and was informed the vote had failed.

    Mayorkas, who insists he will not resign even if impeached, says he inherited a broken and outdated immigration system that can’t adequately respond to what has become a global migration crisis brought on by violence, poverty, authoritarian regimes and climate disasters.

    He called the impeachment proceedings baseless, the accusations false and blamed Congress for failing to allocate enough funding to address the issue.

    After devoting his life and career to public service and law enforcement, Mayorkas said the threat of impeachment, one of the rarest, most shameful rebukes a government official can face, is disappointing but has not shaken his commitment.

    Respect for the law and service to democracy are themes that run deep in Mayorkas’ upbringing.

    As a boy in Los Angeles, Mayorkas recalls his mother encouraging him to approach police officers in uniform, extend his hand and thank them. After escaping Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, American police were, to her, a symbol of safety and the rule of law.

    Mayorkas was born in Havana. His Jewish Cuban father owned a steel wool factory; his mother, a Jewish Romanian, narrowly survived the Holocaust when her family caught one of the last ships to Cuba.

    In Beverly Hills — where his parents were drawn because of the education system — the family lived in a two-bedroom apartment before later moving to a modest home, where Mayorkas shared a bedroom with his two younger brothers. They attended a local synagogue twice a year for High Holy Days and frequented El Colmao, a Cuban restaurant in Pico Union.

    Mayorkas attended Beverly Hills High School, UC Berkeley and Loyola Law School.

    As a promising young federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Mayorkas pursued the death penalty against members of the Mexican Mafia, brought organized crime charges against a Los Angeles street gang and prosecuted Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss for tax fraud and money laundering.

    Time in the courtroom, where he said defense attorneys lobbed heated verbal missiles at him, prepared him for what was to come.

    “When I was in the courtroom, and the arrows are flying, what one is representing is the truth,” he said. “To have to fight to have that truth prevail is, I thought, what a privilege. And the arrows? Let the arrows come. We will deflect them, and break them.”

    David Lash, then-chief executive officer of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm in Los Angeles, remembers consulting with Mayorkas on a series of fraud cases targeting elderly people. “Ali,” as Mayorkas is known to friends, was instrumental in the success of those cases, Lash said.

    Lash and Mayorkas, who lived five blocks from each other, had children around the same ages. They became close friends, getting together for backyard barbecues over the years.

    Mayorkas helped recruit Lash to the pro bono program at O’Melveny, the Los Angeles law firm Mayorkas joined after President Clinton left office in 2001.

    Just walking to lunch might take 20 minutes, Lash recalled, because Mayorkas seemed to know every third person on the street, and would stop to shake their hands and ask how their families were doing.

    “I think that comes from himself being an immigrant and working in the public interest,” Lash said. “It’s so important to him that he’s just imbued with this respect for people who are everyday folks working to make a life.”

    President Obama appointed Mayorkas to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2009. There he led implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the program that offered work permits and deportation protections to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the country as children.

    Four years later, Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate as deputy secretary of DHS. He led the agency’s response to the Ebola and Zika virus epidemics, built up the agency’s cybersecurity capabilities and targeted drug cartels.

    His tenure wasn’t without controversy. A 2015 DHS inspector general’s report accused Mayorkas of creating “an appearance of favoritism and special access” for politically connected businesses under a visa program that provided a path to citizenship for wealthy foreign investors.

    Mayorkas returned to private practice during Trump’s administration as a partner at WilmerHale. But he appeared, to his friends, unsatisfied.

    “He felt like there was unfinished business there, and that he could get the job done,” said Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police. He and Mayorkas have been friends since Mayorkas led the citizenship services agency.

    Pasco said Mayorkas has a real reverence and affinity for law enforcement.

    “His whole worldview, his whole approach to life was really imprinted on him in his early childhood and early adulthood,” Pasco said. “His family, particularly his mother, and his father, were very, very patriotic and raised him to be patriotic and appreciative of the things that the government did for them and the things that [it] protects them from.”

    Mayorkas returned to the Homeland Security Department with Biden’s administration, faced with the challenge of undoing many of Trump’s policies, including travel bans for people from certain Muslim-majority countries, and with the aftermath of others, such as the separations of migrant children from their parents.

    Mayorkas was quickly overwhelmed with the unprecedented arrival of migrants at the southern border, not just from Central America but now also in greater numbers from places like China, India and Afghanistan. Republicans quickly put him, and his impeachment, in their sights after taking control of the House in 2023.

    Rhetoric against Mayorkas has turned ugly at times. The morning of the impeachment vote, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) behind closed doors called Mayorkas a “reptile with no balls” because he has refused to resign, according to Politico.

    The attacks against Mayorkas have led even some conservatives to come to his defense.

    Pasco’s organization, the Fraternal Order of Police, sent a letter to Congress just before the House vote Tuesday praising Mayorkas and the partnership between the DHS and local law enforcement to combat the fentanyl epidemic and violent crime. The FOP, the country’s largest police union, endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020.

    Trump’s impeachment lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, urged Republicans not to “apply a double standard” by impeaching Mayorkas.

    In a letter to his colleagues Tuesday morning, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) said Mayorkas’ policies have damaged the country, but malpractice is not an impeachable crime. Homeland Security Committee members, he said, “stretch and distort the Constitution in order to hold the administration accountable for stretching and distorting the law.”

    Three former Homeland Security secretaries, from Democratic and Republican administrations, said the impeachment jeopardized national security and undermined the department’s mission, including counterterrorism efforts.

    And groups on the left, some of which have stridently criticized policies under Mayorkas, extended olive branches in support of the secretary, one of the highest ranking Latinos in government.

    A coalition of 18 Latino-led civil rights and advocacy groups, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday calling the impeachment effort a sham.

    “While not all his decisions have been met with unanimous approval, including from the signers below and other voices within our community, we strongly urge Congress to redirect their efforts to working in a bipartisan manner toward humane and effective immigration reform that helps move the American people forward,” the groups wrote.

    At the same time the House was advancing impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas, the Senate released a bipartisan $118-billion border and foreign aid bill, supported by Biden and which Mayorkas consulted on.

    “The irony is not lost on me,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who opposed the bill, in part because it failed to include a legalization component for immigrants including so-called Dreamers, as previous negotiations have. “Republicans can’t have it both ways,” he said.

    Nonetheless, Padilla said running Homeland Security is one of the toughest jobs in America, made even tougher when Congress plays politics.

    Republicans, he said, “can’t bring forward meaningful solutions — so they pivot to trying to scapegoat somebody through the impeachment process.”

    Times staff writer Sarah D. Wire contributed to this report.

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    Andrea Castillo

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  • Palworld’s breeding system is my friend group’s new obsession

    Palworld’s breeding system is my friend group’s new obsession

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    A player can find tons of cute or capable Pals on a tour through Palworld’s Palpagos Islands, but in order to fill out their Paldeck, they’ll need to dabble with breeding. Breeding is a surprisingly deep part of Palworld, and it’s quickly become a rabbit hole — or a Caprity hole, if you will — for my group on our shared server.

    Once I got past the original hook of “What if survival game, but Pokémon?” in Palworld, I was surprised to find that I was still engaged. I’m on a server with my friends, and we all handle different roles. I pump up my carry weight and bring Pals who could help haul, and I’m constantly loading up with tons of ore to smelt into valuable ingots. My buddies Jake and Matt pitch in, too; Jake is a forward scout, whereas Matt runs what we politely call “Pal Resources.”

    Pal Resources is the name for our breeding camp. Now that we have the ability to build ranches and bake delicious cakes, Matt is off to the races. It’s entirely possible to just casually dabble in breeding, but we are now entirely engrossed by the process. There are three main reasons to breed. The first is that by combining two seemingly unrelated Pals, a third Pal can be born. If you want to fill out your Paldeck and be a proper collector, breeding is essentially mandatory.

    But while creating new Pals was a fun trick, what really snagged us was perfecting our existing roster. For instance, the Relaxaurus is an adorable dope of a dinosaur — but with the power of Pal Resources, we were able to create an electric variant who keeps our infrastructure running. Breeding can create new elemental types of existing Pals.

    Image: Pocketpair

    Sometimes, this offers utility. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have a little bit of variety in my life. Why roll around with one bouncy, cuddly Kingpaca like an absolute fool when I can have two Kingpacas, one of which is an Ice type?

    Matt also discovered that you can breed two of the same Pals together, and their traits will pass down to their offspring. This is the third, and arguably the most potent, reason to get into breeding. Sometimes, the process doesn’t work out — nobody needs a pyromaniac Pal running around endangering the whole base. But if you have a diet-loving, burly-bodied workaholic Pal — boy howdy, you don’t even need to get on the platform and cruelly command your Pals to get to work.

    Our bases are now staffed by a set of Pals, all several generations deep into breeding, who tend to our every need. Have a large work order to complete? Don’t even bother; Anubis will run over and finish that for you in seconds. Hungry? Why not go into the fridge, chilled by a tiny hedgehog, and grab yourself 500 omelets? Such a bounty is nothing to us.

    Pal breeding reminds me of the Chao Gardens from Sonic Adventure 2, which served as a place to bring and hatch eggs, and then raise the ensuing Chao. What is meant to be a side thing has now become a full game in and of itself, where we dutifully bake cakes and cart massive eggs to and fro, all in the service of building our empire on the Palpagos Islands. As for the Pals that don’t make the cut — don’t worry about it. We’ve found a big, open field where they can run, and play, and definitely don’t get put into the Goodbye Tube to get turned into meat sluice to strengthen our A-team. That simply doesn’t happen! It’s fine.

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    Cass Marshall

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