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A massacre that killed 6 reveals the treacherous world of illegal pot in SoCal deserts – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news
A massacre that killed 6 reveals the treacherous world of illegal pot in SoCal deserts – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news
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![Insomniac Wraps Up their 30th Anniversary with Exceptional Edition of Countdown NYE [Event Review] | Your EDM](https://reportwire.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Orhun-Uygur-for-Insomniac-Events-2-1.jpg)
Insomniac Wraps Up their 30th Anniversary with Exceptional Edition of Countdown NYE [Event Review] | Your EDM
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Original Photo by Orhun Uygur for Insomniac Events That’s a wrap on 2023. Insomniac, the foremost promoter of North America West Coast raves, just capped off their 30th anniversary year with Countdown NYE at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino. Featuring incredible performances from Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, Kayzo, Eli Brown, the Chainsmokers, deadmau5, Porter Robinson and many more; all amongst the theme of an impending alien invasion. This year’s Countdown just got even bigger and better, as Insomniac always seems to do.
As per usual Countdown was held at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, so if you’ve been to another Insomniac festival there, it’s a pretty easy place to navigate. Headliners were greeted by a photo opp featuring the invading Lazer Rayz as well as the Ravebots from last year’s edition of Countdown. Insomniac again comes through with a super immersive environment featuring all sorts of alien performers, flying saucers and just a general feeling like you are in the Twilight Zone. It’s all in good fun of course, the main danger is alien probing.
Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events The stages and production were bigger than ever. The main stage at Countdown is the Mothership and it is a gigantic screen in the shape of a flying saucer equipped with a mind-blowing amount of lasers and pyro stacks along the bottom part of the stage. While it would be kinda cool if there was a giant alien behind the stage, like the Grimm at Escape, there’s something to be said for just blowing away the crowd with the maximum amount of lighting, color and lasers.
The second stage was Nebula and it was essentially a mini version of the Mothership. The screen on the stage was more trapezoidal, but it was the same concept, complete with lasers and pyro. The third stage was Area 51 which hosted Bassrush for the weekend. Head bangers were treated to sick stage design featuring screens shaped like capsules with aliens floating in suspension were broadcast on the stage.
One major change from Escape was that the Factory 93/Insomniac Records stage, the Twilight Zone (not the show) got moved indoors to one of the hangars near the south part of the NOS Center. Not only were the vibes on point, but an indoor stage is very welcome when the weather is on the colder side. (Sidenote: This was the best weather I’ve experienced at Countdown in as long as I can remember. See last year’s recap.) A fifth stage, Galactik Gate, was also added. It was an outdoor stage just south of the lagoon, where the Psycho Circus is usually located for Escape. It hosted Space Yacht and Lost in Dreams over the weekend. While I did not catch a set at this stage, it seemed like it was going off whenever I walked by.
Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events As always, the lineup was absolutely stacked. And, heading into 2024, it seemed like all the artists were embracing hard techno and hard dance in general. For Saturday I decided that I wanted to explore as many stages as I could and that I would try and check out some artists whose sets I don’t usually get to catch. I arrived just in time for Morten’s set at the Mothership and met a friend, and just like that, the weekend was off! Morten dropped a bunch of his Future Rave hits and just brought incredible energy.
After that, I knew that I had to get some techno in, so I headed to the Twilight Zone and caught some of Layton Giordani’s set. Like I mentioned before, the indoor stage was such a nice change of pace, and heated too! After that I headed back to the Mothership for Mau P’s set. Hard to believe it’s been a year since the Dutch producer burst onto the scene with “Drugs from Amsterdam.” Fast forward a year later and his set was filled with other hits including “That Bounce” and “Metro.”
Original Photo by Orhun Uygur for Insomniac Events Next, Alison Wonderland took the stage, and this is where the hard techno really took over. She started out with some of her more old school trap stylings and her psychedelic visuals were mind blowing. Eventually though, the thumping kick drums of her hard techno took over. Here’s hoping for more of this from Alison in 2024.
I headed over to the Nebula stage for 4B x JSTJR and they dropped an unrelenting set filled with hard techno. The intro was actually JSTJR’s just released single, “Bassline.” These two understood the assignment and delivered maybe the most energetic set of the weekend.
Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events Although, that honor might go to the man who followed them on the Nebula stage, Kayzo. Kayzo absolutely killed it with an impressive and innovative set of hard dance music. This man dropped everything, heavy dubstep, hardstyle, hard techno, hardcore, Kayzo put on an absolute masterclass.
For Day 2, I pretty much just planted myself at the main stage, the lineup was too stacked. SOFI TUKKER started the night off and they were incredible. They basically went from their hit with John Summit “Sun Came Up” into blistering techno, all the while their backup dancers brought the energy. This was the perfect set to kick things off on New Year’s Eve.
One of the quirks of Countdown is the sometimes strange scheduling, since top tier artists are probably playing multiple shows. That’s why the Chainsmokers took the stage at 6:40 PM and absolutely packed out the Mothership. Having just buzzed his hair, Drew and Alex, unchanged, took the stage and mesmerized the crowd with a set that incorporated all of their classic hits like “Don’t Let Me Down”, “Paris”, “Closer” and “Something Just Like This” with a variety of drops and mashups across the spectrum. Techno, psy-trance, drum & bass, Alex & Drew threw it all down. Oh, and of the course, the lasers.
Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events After that Oliver Heldens took the stage, and he blew the crowd away with a mix of some Oliver Heldens classics, some new Hi-Lo tracks, and everything in between that Oliver always incorporates into his sets. His remixes of “Push Up” and Dua Lipa’s “Let’s Get Physical” were also highlights. Finally, deadmau5 was up on the main stage, and he kept the good times going. Joel opened things up with some dark techno, but eventually he started mixing in all of the deadmau5 classics, from classics like “Some Chords”, “Channel 43”, “The Veldt”, and, of course, “Ghosts N’ Stuff”.
I finally broke from the main stage to check out APASHE’s set at Area 51, and, oh boy, the classically trained trap lord did not disappoint. The Belgian-Canadian producer showed why his blend of classical and electronic is on the cutting edge. It’s all the energy of a dubstep set with the precise musicality and instrumentation of a John Williams’ score. 10/10 recommend checking out APASHE if he visits your town.
From there, there was no question where I was going to ring in 2024. At the Mothership stage with Porter Robinson. This was Porter’s first appearance at Countdown since he closed out 2019’s edition. The fan favorite did not disappoint, dropping some of his classics from his Worlds period, including “Easy” and “Language” at midnight. After that Porter thrilled with some hard dance tunes. At one point, he told the crowd, “I know you like ‘Shelter’ but we’ve got 10 more minutes of rawstyle before that.” What a way to bring in the New Year.
Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events There you have it, Insomniac continues to dominate. Even with no shortage of options on one of the biggest party nights of the year, Insomniac still managed to pull together one of the most impressive lineups of any festival that went on this weekend. Countdown 2023 was business as usual for Insomniac. I’d expect nothing less than excellence in live events in 2024. Beyond Wonderland will be returning to the NOS Events Center in March, and tickets are also available for EDC Las Vegas in May. Keep following Insomniac’s socials for updates on festivals in Southern California.
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Mark Fabrick
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California Pizza Hut franchises to lay off more than 1,100 delivery drivers ahead of wage hike
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Ahead of statewide minimum wage increases for fast-food workers, hundreds of California Pizza Hut franchises announced cuts in their delivery services, laying off more than 1,100 drivers, according to federal and state filings.
The Pizza Hut locations, run by two different franchise operators, reported the change to their business models for restaurants from Orange to Stanislaus counties, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications filed to the California Employment Development Department.
The layoffs of more than 1,100 delivery drivers are expected to go into effect as soon as February, just weeks before the state’s $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers is set to go into effect.
The pay increase is the result of Assembly Bill 1228, which applies to California workers employed by any fast-food chain that has more than 60 locations in the United States. California’s minimum wage is currently $15.50 for all workers. Statewide, the increase is estimated to affect more than 500,000 workers. The legislation also created a council of representatives of workers and employers to partner with state agencies to recommend minimum standards for work hours and other working conditions. Restaurant owners opposed the legislation, arguing they couldn’t bear the increased costs without raising prices for their customers.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the new wage requirements were a factor in the move, but the notifications said the companies “made a business decision to eliminate first party delivery services and as a result the elimination of all delivery driver positions.”
Officials with the two Pizza Hut operators, PacPizza affiliates and Southern California Pizza Company, did not immediately respond to questions from The Times. The PacPizza operators include Southern PacPizza, CalPac Pizza II and Cal PacPizza.
The restaurants affected include those in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Sacramento, Tulare and Kern, among others.
The parent company of Pizza Hut, in a statement to Business Insider, said it was “aware of the recent changes to delivery services at certain franchise restaurants in California.”
“Our franchisees independently own and operate their restaurants in accordance with local market dynamics and comply with all federal, state, and local regulations while continuing to provide quality service and food to our customers via carryout and delivery,” according to the statement.
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Grace Toohey
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New law has Californians with criminal records 'quite hopeful' they'll finally find housing
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In 2021, four years after finishing her last jail term and living in transitional housing in Riverside County, Erica Smith was ready for a permanent home.
She’d saved enough to cover a security deposit and the first and last month’s rent for an apartment for her and her daughter. But after three months of searching, Smith ran out of money, having burned through $10,000 on stays in motel rooms. She’d never found a place to live.
Smith had a series of drug-related and theft convictions on her record. Numerous cities within Riverside had adopted laws called crime-free housing that aimed to prohibit landlords from renting to tenants with criminal histories.
“It’s just terrible,” said Smith, 54. “Why am I not able to provide a place for me and my daughter to live?”
Soon, Smith will have more opportunities for housing, courtesy of a new state law. Assembly Bill 1418, which takes effect Jan. 1, will ban local governments across California from enforcing crime-free housing policies. Not only do crime-free housing rules stop landlords from renting to those with prior convictions, but many also call for the eviction of tenants based on arrests or contact with law enforcement.
Dozens of cities and counties in California began implementing the laws during the wave of “tough on crime” measures in the 1990s, with local elected officials, police and prosecutors contending they helped keep neighborhoods safe.
But crime-free housing policies have come under increasing criticism as unfair, unforgiving and racially discriminatory. The blanket bans have prevented spouses and children of those convicted from accessing housing and forced evictions of domestic violence victims after police responded to their apartments.
Under AB 1418, local governments will no longer be able to mandate landlords evict and exclude tenants for alleged or prior criminal conduct. It does not prevent landlords from initiating nuisance-related evictions and screening prospective residents based on criminal histories of their own accord.
More than 100 cities passed crime-free housing policies between 1995 and 2020, covering potentially 4.5 million renters, according to a new report by Rand Corp., a Santa Monica-based nonpartisan research institution.
The study found that contrary to proponents’ claims, crime-free housing did not lower crime rates.
“Our overall finding is crime-free housing policies are completely ineffective,” said Max Griswold, an assistant policy researcher at Rand and the study’s lead author.
In contrast, the analysis determined that the rules increased eviction rates on average by about 20%, an effect Griswold called “unexpectedly large.” The study found that cities with crime-free housing policies have a larger percentage of Black residents than those without.
“They’re creating more segregation,” Griswold said of the rules. “At the end of the day, that seems to be their purpose.”
Momentum to curtail crime-free housing laws has grown in recent years.
A 2020 Times investigation found the policies had disproportionately affected Black and Latino renters in California. Last year, the city of Hesperia and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department agreed to pay $1 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice alleging crime-free housing policies targeted Black and Latino residents for removal.
Citing The Times’ story and the Hesperia case, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) introduced AB 1418 in February. Soon after, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta issued formal guidance to local governments urging them to reconsider their programs on racial justice grounds.
“Doing that on the heels of the big Hesperia case put cities on notice that the walls were closing in on them,” said Anya Lawler, a lobbyist representing the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and the National Housing Law Project, two nonprofits that are principal supporters of the bill.
Over the summer, California’s Reparations Task Force, in its recommendations for remedying the legacies of slavery and other more modern government-sanctioned policies that discriminated against Black residents, called for repealing crime-free housing laws.
AB 1418 attracted no formal opposition. It passed both houses of the Legislature without a dissenting vote in a committee or on the Assembly or Senate floors. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1418 in October.
Among the new law’s backers is the California Apartment Assn., the state’s largest landlord organization, which contended that local governments shouldn’t require landlords to exclude or evict tenants.
As AB 1418 made its way through the Legislature, the two largest cities in the Inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino, agreed to repeal their crime-free housing laws. San Bernardino did so as part of a settlement challenging the policy in a case filed by legal aid groups, and joined by Bonta’s and Newsom’s offices, on behalf of low-income residents in the city.
At a hearing on the policy in August, Michael Griggs told San Bernardino City Council members that he’d faced hurdle after hurdle trying to find housing. Griggs served six years in prison for robbery and assault charges related to a crime he committed as a teenager and was released in 2015.
Michael Griggs, 34, is pursuing a master’s in social work at Cal State San Bernardino. Because of his criminal history, he struggled for six months to find housing in the Inland Empire before finding a place.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
While incarcerated, Griggs began taking college classes. He earned a scholarship to Pitzer College and now is pursuing a master’s degree in social work at Cal State San Bernardino.
After his acceptance into graduate school in 2022, Griggs said, he spent six months searching for apartments throughout the Inland Empire only to have landlords reject him because of his criminal history. He said he found a place in Highland, a city with a crime-free housing policy about 10 miles from campus, only because the landlord’s background check did not extend to convictions that occurred longer than seven years prior.
“People want to move forward with their life,” said Griggs, 34. “How can they move forward with their life without having the first fundamental thing, which is housing, a safe place to live?”
Griggs said he’s looking forward to AB 1418 erasing crime-free housing policies on a broader scale.
“It’s hard work to do this at the city level,” he said. “I’m happy that the state is stepping up.”
Local officials in Riverside and San Bernardino said they had already scaled back enforcement of crime-free housing programs. Ryan Railsback, a spokesperson for Riverside city police, said the department stopped dedicating an officer to overseeing crime-free housing rules in 2020 because of staffing shortages that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In San Bernardino, the discussions at the state and local levels about potential harms caused by crime-free housing rules led city leaders to reconsider them after three decades on the books, said Jeff Kraus, a city spokesperson.
“The nature of crime has changed,” Kraus said. “The laws have changed. People’s opinions have changed. It’s probably a good time to review them now.”
For Smith, who remains homeless and living in her car with her 12-year-old daughter, AB 1418 represents another chance. She’s protested crime-free housing policies alongside advocacy groups locally and at the state level, and recently obtained a federal Section 8 housing voucher that would subsidize her rent.
Smith has yet to find a landlord that will accept the voucher, but she is counting on that to change.
“I’m excited and quite hopeful that because I’ve been dutiful in opposing these crime-free rules that part of the reward will be that housing for us is coming very soon,” Smith said.
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Liam Dillon, Ben Poston
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![Insomniac Outdoes Itself for the Biggest and Best Escape Halloween to Date [Event Review] | Your EDM](https://reportwire.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Ivan-Meneses-for-Insomniac-Events-3-2-1.jpg)
Insomniac Outdoes Itself for the Biggest and Best Escape Halloween to Date [Event Review] | Your EDM
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Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events It’s been a week since Escape Halloween took over the NOS Events Center for its 12th edition, and like most things Insomniac, the festival just got bigger and better. Featuring mind-blowing production, sick attention-to-detail, immersive Halloween experiences, blistering sets, immaculate vibes, and plenty of space to move and groove to; Insomniac pulled out all the stops for the largest Halloween festival on the continent.
It was our first time back at the NOS Events Center since last year’s Countdown and our first Escape since 2019! One of the things that definitely stood out is how wide open and easily accessible everything was. Insomniac has definitely taken steps to make it easier to access all of the vast NOS Events Center where their events take place. At no point at all did I deal with bottlenecks or crowd congestion.
The other thing that, of course, stands out upon entering the Escape festival grounds is just how immersive it is. With the exception of EDC, (the flagship festival) Escape has without a doubt the highest production values, the most performers, the most Easter Eggs to explore for. Escape is simply massive, and, if you ask me, is the best of Insomniac’s Southern California festivals. It certainly didn’t hurt that the weather was absolutely perfect for the weekend too.
Original Photo by Jake West for Insomniac Events I’m not wrong when I say that this was the biggest Escape to date, they actually added a fifth stage inside the Citrus building, Wicked Woods. Crazy Town, which ostensibly serves as Downtown Escape, is a perfect meeting spot. Its location is easily accessible from all stages, and its landmarks are unmistakable. The fire organ is a sight to behold and always has a performance popping off, it’s the perfect place to sit and take in the splendor of the festival grounds. The Crazy Town fountain is also a perfect spot to reunite with your crew and figure out the next move. Oh, and of course, they’re all great photo ops too.
As far as the stages go, they were all top notch. The main stage is, of course, The Grimm, a massive cloaked skeleton with its two hands stretched out clutching two spherical stones. Again, outside of EDC, this has to be the best Insomniac stage around. The lasers got major reinforcements and the huge video panels lining the ceiling of the mega-structure helped to create an even more immersive experience. Even if you were seated on the fake grass or at the tables outside of the mega-structure, you still felt like you were immersed in the stage. Sound and video production were A+ this weekend.
Original Photo by Jamal Eid for Insomniac Events The second stage was Feeding Grounds, also inside a mega-structure. This stage’s theme was a massive spider web. White canvas adorned the ceiling of the mega structure and instead of a disco ball, there was a massive black widow spider hanging above the stage in its place. The third stage was Sanitarium, a slightly smaller mega-structure, its rectangular video panels would play macabre and disturbing images of a mad surgeon conducting unsound experiments.
The stage that probably got the best treatment of all though was Sewer District, the Factory 93 stage. When I went to Escape in the past this was not a stage I gave much thought to. I figured let the techno snobs hang in the back. Well, techno has now permeated the mainstream and I was keen to check out a set at Sewer District. Insomniac fully leaned into shipping trailers and an underground warehouse type of vibe. The light panels were just right and the sound was pitch perfect. I talked to several headliners who said that Sewer District had some of the best sets of the weekend.
Original Photo by Marlene Sanchez for Insomniac Events Speaking of the sets, let me tell you about them. Every single DJ absolutely brought it this weekend. Everyone’s got to go a little bit deeper, a little bit darker, especially the closers, to match that Halloween vibe, and that’s exactly what we got. Friday night really didn’t get going until I watched AFROJACK’s set at the Grimm. The Dutch legend did not disappoint, dropping a massive set that ignited the crowd. This was the set that truly set the night off as AFROJACK took full advantage of the Grimm’s production capabilities.
After that I caught a little hardstyle over at Sanitarium, then headed back to the Grimm for Above & Beyond. Much like AFROJACK’s set, the crowd packed in the stage to overflow capacity. Jono & Paavo threw down a captivating set that had the crowd enraptured. Above & Beyond always strives for “moments like these” and they certainly achieved it at Escape.
After A&B, I headed over to Feeding Grounds, which was hosted by Bassrush for the night, to have my face just melted off. ATLiens were well into their set of wonky dubstep, rap mashups and trap beats. It’s always nice to see the different vibes at different stages, but aside from the Grimm, the Basscon stage was bringing better vibes than the Bassrush stage. Zomboy followed up ATLiens and also proceeded to ignite the crowd.
Original Photo by Felicia Garcia for Insomniac Events I proceeded back over to the Grimm, but I made a quick stop at the new stage, Wicked Woods. I’m always a sucker for an indoor stage, and Insomniac made the most of the space they were given. Setting up a mini forest behind the DJ booth as well as a circular video board, Wicked Woods was a huge come up if you happened upon it. Not too crowded, but still stellar production. I watched a little bit of K?d’s Throwback Set and I wish I had caught more.
Finally back to the Grimm, Kaskade closed the night with an incredible set that saw him lean into the REDUX sound and turn the Escape mainstage into an underground club. The lasers and stage production could not have been more on point.
We got there nice and early on Sunday. As I mentioned before I started things out at Sewer District and caught Charles D. Despite the early time slot and smaller crowd, the vibes were on point for Sewer District. I was now prepared for techno on Halloween weekend. I flitted between stages and sets checking out TOBEHONEST at Sanitarium, Ship Wrek at the Grimm, who drew a massive and rowdy crowd for such an early time slot, and Rossy at Feeding Grounds, who killed it with her blend of bass house and trap.
Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events After that, it was back to the Grimm for Matroda’s massive house set. Along with the permeation of techno into the mainstream, the re-eruption of house music has to be noted too. My god, people absolutely love house music. I didn’t recognize a single song Matroda dropped, but it was still a dope set and the vibes were unmatched. Tchami came on next and dropped a set for the ages. Opening with the AC Slater x Chris Lorenzo (Fly With Us) track “Seismic”, Tchami’s mix of French house was absolutely perfect. The lasers and pyro also started taking over.
DJ Snake took the stage next and turned the Grimm into an absolute trap house. The beats were coming hard and fast with DJ Snake, and the packed crowd was more than ready for all of his hits. “Southside”, “Trust Nobody”, “Lean On” and he even dropped Knock2’s “dashstar”. A memorable set indeed.
Zedd was up next and he thrilled the crowd by opening with his “Where You Are” remix. The packed out crowd was chanting along with the lyrics. Zedd was also one of the few DJs to dress up for Halloween as he sported a Super Saiyan outfit (from Dragonball Z). Zedd dropped a masterful set consisting of his hits like “I Want You to Know” and “Stay the Night” on top of his energetic live edits and some EDM classics like Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me”.
Original Photo by Ivan Meneses for Insomniac Events Finally, Armin van Buuren closed out the weekend. Armin perfectly blended trance and techno for the best Halloween set imaginable. Armin maintained his signature sound while seamlessly blending in some dark techno beats that were perfect for the spooky season.
It was an absolute joy to be back at Escape after three full years away, the longest drought we’ve had between Insomniac festivals. The Pandemic denied headliners festivals in 2020. I didn’t get to Escape in 2021 because there was the Fall Edition of EDC a week before. I could have gone in 2022, but I didn’t. I’m elated to have made it back in 2023. Although no announcement has been made, I would expect Escape to return for its spookiest 13th edition next year.
Original Photo by Scott Hutchinson for Insomniac Events [ad_2]
Mark Fabrick
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Insomniac Unveils Out of this World Lineup for Countdown 2023 | Your EDM
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Original Photo Courtesy of Insomniac Alienz are planning another invasion of Rave Land in Southern California for New Year’s weekend. The human overlords have finally unveiled the massive lineup that will be taking over the NOS Events Center as they try to mount their defense against the Lazer-Rays, massive flying space mantas that are bringing some of the most powerful lasers Earth has ever seen.
All hijinks aside, Insomniac has dropped an insane lineup for this year’s edition of Countdown NYE. Highlights include the Chainsmokers, Tiësto, deadmau5, Porter Robinson (DJ Set), Nero (DJ Set), Alison Wonderland, FISHER, Oliver Heldens and much, much more. If you made it to this past weekend’s ESCAPE Halloween, you know that the much hyped lasers will not leave you disappointed.
If you’re in Southern California for New Year’s weekend, Countdown is the place to be. Ring in the new year with some of the most dynamic acts in dance music. You might even get abducted at midnight; you might be a little sore the next morning, who knows? Get your tickets for Countdown NYE here.
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Mark Fabrick
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At least 13 people are dead as severe storms bring tornadoes and flooding to South, now sweeps across Northeast | CNN
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CNN
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At least 13 people have died in multiple states due to severe weather across the country as a powerful storm system that brought golf ball-sized hail and tornadoes to the South continues to march Saturday across the Northeast.
The storm spurred wind gusts strong enough to topple tractor-trailer trucks, leaving more than 1 million people without power and threatening to bring more torrential rain, tornadoes and heavy snow.
The storm system is the same that dumped feet of snow across parts of California, leaving some trapped in their homes with snow piled as high as second-story windows and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in 13 counties. Many of those affected are now bracing for another round of snow and rain on Saturday from a new system.
At least five Kentuckians have died in connection with the severe weather that hit the area Friday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news briefing on Saturday.
CNN previously reported four deaths across the commonwealth in Edmonson, Simpson, Logan and Fayette counties. The additional death being reported was an 84-year-old man in Bath County, Beshear said.
Beshear said it will take days to restore power in some places, and that as of 11:11 a.m. ET Saturday, 396,517 Kentuckians were without power. He said 1,874 Kentuckians are under a boil water advisory with five water districts working under limited operations.
In Tennessee, two people died. A man was killed after a tree fell on the vehicle he was riding in, the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency told CNN via email. An elderly woman in Hendersonville died after a tree fell on her while she was walking with a neighbor Friday, according to a news release from the City of Hendersonville.
A high school student in Sumner County, Tennessee was critically injured Friday by a tree that fell during severe storms and is not expected to survive, local officials said Saturday. According to Liberty Creek High School, Brooks was being kept on life support until Sunday. “Even in her passing, she will give back to others by being an organ donor,” the school announced. “Please join us in praying for this family and all who were fortunate enough to know her.”
Three other people died in Alabama, one in Arkansas, one in Mississippi and one in California, according to officials.
Nearly 15 million people were under winter weather alerts as of 8:45 a.m. ET Saturday along the West Coast and in New England, with another 25 million under wind alerts.
According to PowerOutage.us, about 1.2 million customers were without power Saturday, with Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia reporting the most outages.
Heavy snow is forecast through Saturday afternoon in northern New England, according to the National Weather Service, with a rain/snow mix in Massachusetts.
“Storm total amounts of 6 to 12 inches looks to occur within much of the Mohawk Valley, Adirondacks, Lake George Saratoga Region and southern Vermont,” the National Weather Service in Albany, New York, wrote.
A tornado was confirmed at 11:12 a.m. CT Friday just south of Reidland, Kentucky, moving northeast at 55 mph.
Flash flood warnings at one point stretched about 400 miles across portions of Missouri and Indiana.
Meanwhile, more than 300,000 people remain under flood watches from Arkansas to Ohio.
In Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, the storms damaged homes and businesses and caused flight disruptions at airports Thursday.
Six tornadoes were reported during Thursday’s storms, including five in Texas and one in Louisiana, where dozens of homes were damaged in the city of Shreveport. Across Texas and Oklahoma, there were 18 hail reports, with the largest hailstones reportedly 1.75 inches in diameter, or roughly the size of a golf ball.
After a brief reprieve from back-to-back winter storms that have brought unseasonably cold temperatures and prompted rare blizzard warnings in parts of California, snow is again forecast in the higher elevations along the West Coast.
“An additional several feet of snow will be possible in these areas, with the heaviest of these totals likely in the northern Sierra Range. On Sunday, precipitation will spread inland, with heavy snow possible in the higher terrains of the Intermountain West,” the weather service explained.
By the end of the weekend, 1 to 5 feet of snow is possible across some northern areas, including the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
But many communities blanketed by the last round of snow have yet to recover as snowfall blocked critical roads, trapped them in their homes and damaged vital businesses such as grocery stores.
An 80-year-old woman, Lois Barton, died in a “weather-related” incident in Placer County, sheriff’s office spokesperson Angela Musallam told CNN. She did not share the circumstances of the death, though where the incident occurred saw heavy snow and temperatures around freezing on Tuesday, CNN meteorologists said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency in 13 counties this week, including hard-hit San Bernardino County where the National Guard arrived Thursday to assist with rescues of snowbound residents and shovel snow off the roads and from rooftops.
A number of structure fires in San Bernardino County appear to be storm-related, the county fire department told CNN. The department said the number of fires is “atypical” but did not provide an exact number.
Gas leaks are believed to be responsible for several house fires in the mountain communities, according to Fire Chief Dan Munsey. Many of them are in areas with unpassable roads. Firefighters are responding to homes using snowcats and often drudging in by foot with shovels and hoses and digging hydrants out of the snow to extinguish flames, Munsey said.
CNN has reached out to Southern California Gas Co., a major provider in the area, on reports of gas leaks.
In the San Bernardino community of Crestline, residents have been immobilized by the copious snowfall and have started to become worried about access to supplies as their sole local grocery store has closed after its roof caved in from heavy snow, resident Paul Solo told CNN.
Emergency crews are still out in force in the snow-laden mountains, eager to clear roads and reach isolated residents with food and supplies.
Rescuers are supplied with meals-ready-to-eat to distribute with those unable to get food, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a press conference on Friday. First responders will be setting up food distribution points and a convoy with food and other supplies to restock supermarkets will be escorted up the mountain, he added.
Nearly 100 inches of snow have fallen on Crestline and nearby Lake Arrowhead in recent days. Aerial footage from CNN affiliate KCAL shows neighborhoods with indiscernible streets and homes with snow piled to second-story windows.
The only way to get around is by shoveling walkways for emergency exits, Solo said. He added, “Everyone every day has been shoveling, and then it’ll snow another two feet.”
Solo believes it could be another week or two before the snow is cleared.
“Until then, we are trapped in our house. We couldn’t even leave if we wanted to.”
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California declares state of emergency in 13 counties after brutal winter storm traps residents | CNN
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CNN
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Some California residents remain trapped inside their homes after a winter storm dumped feet of snow across the Golden State, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue a state of emergency in 13 counties, including hard-hit San Bernardino County.
Authorities there had conducted almost 100 rescues by Wednesday evening, San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey said in a news conference, though authorities have not learned of any serious injuries or deaths.
“We’re responding to medical calls. We’re responding to fires in these trapped vehicles. We are going to people’s houses where they’ve had trees through their houses or some sort of roof collapse and we are evacuating them to our evacuation shelters,” Munsey said.
Just over 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power early Thursday, days after the first round of winter storms hit California, according to PowerOutage.us. And while the state is getting a brief reprieve from the snow through the end of the week, another system is expected to move into Northern California this weekend.
Newsom declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County and 12 others – among them Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties – late Wednesday, with his office saying in a statement that a significant number of state personnel had responded to support San Bernardino County.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has been working to bring additional snow plows and road crews to the county, and personnel from Cal Fire and the California National Guard “are readied to support operations.”
It could take a week to 10 days to dig out the mountain communities hampered by the heavy snow, officials warned in a news conference Wednesday. Mountain residents were still unable to access roads Wednesday, per fire department spokesperson Eric Sherwin. The county has about 500 miles of tight, winding roads throughout the mountain areas that need to be plowed, county Public Works Director Brendon Biggs said.
Many parts of California were buried under a significant amount of snow in recent days, and some places received more than 100 inches in the last week, according to the National Weather Service, leading authorities to warn residents about possible avalanches. Residents in a three-story apartment building in Olympic Valley had to be evacuated after it was struck by an avalanche Tuesday evening, engulfing the bottom two stories, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. The building’s occupants were uninjured.
Huntington Lake in the Sierra Nevada saw 144 inches of snow, per a report from the Fresno County Office of Emergency Services, which reported 10 to 12 feet of snow near China Peak, leading to the closure of Highway 168.
In Southern California, 106 inches of snow were recorded since February 22 at Mount Baldy, outside of Los Angeles. Of that 106 inches, 29 fell in the past two days, according to CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward, while the other 77 inches fell late last week and through the weekend.
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So long, California: Major county votes to study secession
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RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — The November elections saw Californians continue to embrace progressive leadership, but voters in one of the state’s most populous counties are so frustrated with this political direction that they voted to consider seceding and forming their own state.
An advisory ballot proposal approved in San Bernardino County — home to 2.2 million people — directs local officials to study the possibility of secession. The razor-thin margin of victory is the latest sign of political unrest and economic distress in California.
This attempt to create a new state — which would be the first since Hawaii in 1959 — is a longshot proposition for the county just east of Los Angeles that has suffered from sharp increases in cost of living. It would hinge on approval by the California Legislature and Congress, both of which are highly unlikely.
Still, it’s significant that the vote came from a racially and ethnically diverse county that is politically mixed, as well as the fifth-most populous in the state and the largest in the nation by area. San Bernardino’s 20,000 square miles (51,800 square kilometers) is comprised of more land than nine states.
The votes speaks to the alienation that some voters feel from a statehouse long dominated by Democrats who have made little progress on the growing homeless crisis, soaring housing costs and rising crime rates while residents pay among the highest taxes in the country.
There is “a lot of frustration overall” with state government and how public dollars are spent — with far too little coming to the county, said Curt Hagman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors that placed the proposal on the ballot. The county will look at whether billions of dollars in state and federal funds was fairly shared with local governments in the Inland Empire.
From record inflation to friction over long-running state pandemic policies, “it’s been a rough few years” for residents, Hagman said.
Kristin Washington, chair of the San Bernardino County Democratic Party, dismissed the measure as a political maneuver to turn out conservative voters, rather than a barometer of public sentiment.
“Putting it on a ballot was a waste of time for the voters,” she said. “The option of actually seceding from the state is not even something that is realistic because of all the steps that actually go into it.” In San Bernardino County, Democratic voters now outnumber Republicans by 12 points. Still, in November Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom lost in the county by 5 points. He easily defeated a recall last year driven by opposition to pandemic health orders that shuttered schools and businesses. California was among the first states to close schools and turn to online learning, and also among the last for students to return to in-person teaching.
Democrats dominate the California Legislature and congressional delegation, and the state is known as an incubator of liberal policy on climate, health care, labor issues and immigration, and the vote could be seen as partly a reaction to the state’s priorities. Once solidly Republican terrain, with recent population growth San Bernardino County has become more diverse and Democratic, similar to changes in neighboring San Diego and Orange counties.
Throughout its 172-year history, California has weathered more than 220 failed attempts to dismantle the state into as many as six smaller states, according to the California State Library. Earlier breakaway efforts sought to carve out a new “State of Jefferson” from nearly two dozen Northern California counties, though they were largely rural, conservative-leaning and sparsely populated.
Competition between mining and agricultural interests, as well as opposition to taxation, have driven some of these secession efforts. There have been proposals to divide the sprawling state into north and south sections, as well as splitting in lengthwise to create separate coastal and inland regions.
“Everybody outside this county thinks we are the wild, wild West,” Mayor Paul Leon said, who backed the measure. Despite the county’s size, he said it “gets a pittance” when it comes to state and federal aid for roads, courthouses and transit.
The city of San Bernardino, population about 220,000, anchors the third largest metropolitan area in the state, behind L.A. and San Francisco. Beyond the urban centers, its communities range from placid suburbs crisscrossed by freeways, mountain towns framed by towering pines and isolated desert havens like hippie Joshua Tree. Inflation and economic stress are challenging many communities. Before the pandemic, the county’s unemployment rate was already 9.5% in 2019, with 12.2% of households living below the poverty line.
“I tend to be very skeptical of these secession maneuvers,” said William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
“The state’s problems are not likely to be addressed by the jurisdictional chopping block,” Deverell said in an email. He’s wary of the “hubris” of: “If only this part of the state could go its own way, as we aren’t the root of the problem.”
Since the proposal passed, the county’s next step is to form a committee — likely comprised of public and private sector members — that will conduct an analysis of funding that will compare San Bernardino to other counties.
Many Inland Empire communities are struggling financially even though California’s economy — by itself — may soon become the fourth largest economy in the world, up from fifth. The state announced last month it had recovered all of the 2.7 million jobs it lost at the start of the pandemic. However, there are projections for a $25 billion budget deficit next year and signs of an unsteady economy, as even the historically powerful tech industry has seen layoffs.
From 2018 to 2021, 352 companies moved their headquarters from California to other states from California, according to a Hoover Institution study. After decades of growth, the state population of 39 million has been shrinking, partly because residents are leaving for states that offer affordable housing and lower taxes.
Because of decreased population, the state is even losing a congressional seat in 2023, dropping from 53 to 52.
Housing prices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other metropolitan hubs frequently top $1 million and are sharply increasing. Billions of dollars in spending statewide has made no visible difference in the homeless crisis in many cities. This has all fueled a reckoning with the direction of the state, which has long been mythologized as a land of opportunity.
“A lot of Californians are unhappy in many ways,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney, citing record gas prices, the rising cost of living, and real estate prices that make home ownership unattainable for many working-class families.
“The vote on secession was like smashing the china. It’s a way of getting attention but in the end it doesn’t accomplish much,” Pitney said.
Even Hagman said he doesn’t want to see his home state broken apart, though he sees approval of the measure as an important statement on frustration with Sacramento.
“I want to remain part of California right now,” he said. “I’m proud to be a Californian.”
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