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Tag: size

  • ‘Definitely rattling’: Fishermen encounter humpback whales up close

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    Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel. Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.”Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.”Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said. The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size. “That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said. The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away. “It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said. Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.”You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor. Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.

    Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.

    An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel.

    Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.

    “Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.

    Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.

    “Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said.

    The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size.

    “That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said.

    The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away.

    “It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said.

    Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.

    “You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”

    While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.

    Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.

    Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor.

    Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.

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  • L.A. congressional Democrats demand answers on Border Patrol force outside Newsom event

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    Two weeks ago, scores of masked, gun-toting federal immigration agents assembled in front of the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles.

    Inside the museum, Gov. Gavin Newsom was surrounded by nearly every powerful Democrat in California, preparing to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans with a special election campaign. Outside, Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino was flanked by dozens of agents who looked ready for battle.

    Now, a number of Southern California members of Congress are demanding answers about the enforcement action outside Newsom’s news conference — and the decision-making process behind it — in a letter sent Tuesday to Department of Homeland Security leaders.

    “We just wanted to get some questions answered,” said Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who spearheaded the letter. “I was at Newsom’s press conference. It was really shocking to have as many as a hundred federal officers in tactical gear just appear.”

    The letter was sent to Bovino, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and White House border advisor Tom Homan. It was signed by at least 12 other congressional Democrats, including Sen. Alex Padilla and Reps. Judy Chu (Monterey Park), Gil Cisneros (Covina), Robert Garcia (Long Beach), Luz Rivas (North Hollywood), Ted Lieu (Torrance), Nanette Diaz Barragán (San Pedro) and Brad Sherman (Sherman Oaks).

    The letter requests that answers to a number of questions be provided in writing by Sept. 4.

    The group asked who originally made the request to deploy agents outside the Japanese American National Museum on Aug. 14; whether the subject matter of Newsom’s news conference was a consideration in the decision to deploy federal agents; and whether the size of the force was standard; and what operational criteria were used to determine the size and composition of the force deployed.

    As the agents massed outside the building, Newsom was announcing a plan to counter a Republican-led redistricting push by redrawing California’s own congressional districts to favor Democrats. Last week, the California Legislature approved a November special election where voters will decide the fate of the measure.

    The letter also asks for details about the two arrests made during the Little Tokyo operation and whether Homeland Security knew those individuals would be present when it decided to conduct its immigration enforcement action. One of the individuals arrested happened to be delivering strawberries as the agents convened at the museum. He now faces deportation to Mexico.

    “It was outrageous that Trump and his supporters called ICE on us as we were conducting our redistricting press conference,” Chu said. “It was clearly an attempt to intimidate us and to send a political message that he would use his law enforcement capabilities to make us feel afraid.”

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    Julia Wick

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  • Check your tickets! Powerball numbers drawn for $700 million jackpot

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    Check your tickets! Powerball numbers drawn for $700 million jackpot

    THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY? TONIGHT’S POWERBALL JACKPOT IS UP TO A WHOPPING $526 MILLION. THAT’S A CASH VALUE OF 241 MILLION. HERE TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS IS DOCTOR VARSHA RADHAKRISHNAN FROM TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER. GOOD TO SEE YOU, DOCTOR. GOOD TO SEE IT. YOU KNOW, THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY ON THE LINE, RIGHT? BUT THE ODDS OF WINNING IF WE’RE BEING REAL OF THE GRAND PRIZE IS 1 IN 292,000,000. SO, IN YOUR VIEW, WHAT DRAWS PEOPLE TO GAMES LIKE THIS? WELL, PEOPLE ARE DRAWN TO GAMES LIKE THIS, ESPECIALLY WITH THAT ANTICIPATION, THE EXCITEMENT THAT WHAT IF FEELING WHAT IF I’M THAT ONE PERSON WHO WINS? EVEN IF THE ODDS OF WINNING ARE ASTRONOMICALLY LOW. BUT GAMES LIKE POWERBALL, THEY ACTUALLY ACTIVATE OUR BRAIN’S REWARD PATHWAY THROUGH THROUGH ACTIVATION OF A NEUROTRANSMITTER CALLED DOPAMINE. SO THAT’S ACTUALLY PART OF OUR PLEASURE AND REWARD SYSTEM. AND SO I THINK IT REINFORCES THINGS LIKE GAMBLING THAT THAT ADDICTION THAT CAN COME UP SOMETIMES. YOU KNOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN GAMBLE FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. BUT SOME PEOPLE DO STRUGGLE. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SIGNS THAT CERTAIN BEHAVIOR MAYBE HAS CROSSED INTO A PROBLEM TERRITORY? YEAH, AND I KIND OF ALLUDED TO IT, BUT WHEN DOES IT BECOME MORE OF AN ENJOYABLE ACTIVITY VERSUS ADDICTION? AND SO WARNING SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS REALLY ARE, ARE MORE RELATED TO THAT NEED OR DESIRE TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT YOU’RE EXPENDING. THAT FEELING OF IRRITABILITY OR RESTLESSNESS WHEN CUTTING BACK, BEING UNABLE TO STOP DESPITE WANTING TO CONSTANTLY THINKING ABOUT GAMBLING, CHASING LOSSES, OR EVEN LYING ABOUT GAMBLING SO THAT WHEN THEY’RE STARTING TO, YOU KNOW, HAVE IMPACTS ON RELATIONSHIPS OR WORK, THAT’S WHEN WHEN THOSE BEHAVIORS BECOME VERY CONCERNING. YEAH, THAT’S THE SIGNS THERE. OKAY. SO THERE ARE SOME BENEFITS THOUGH TO THROWING YOUR HAT IN THE RING FROM TIME TO TIME. OH YEAH. THERE’S THERE’S ALWAYS THAT THAT THOUGHT IN THE BACK OF OUR MIND. IT’S IT’S ALSO FUN. OF COURSE IT CAN BE A THRILLING FEELING. PARTICIPATION. AND IN SOME OF THESE THESE TYPES OF GAMES CAN BRING THAT SENSE OF EXCITEMENT AND HOPE. ALSO JOINING SOMETHING THAT INVOLVES OTHER FOLKS AT WORK, FOR EXAMPLE, OR FRIENDS, FAMILY, IT CAN BE A SOCIAL ACTIVITY TOO. YEAH, I KNOW THERE’S A POOL GOING AROUND HERE IN THE NEWSROOM, SO IT CAN BE, BUT YOU DEFINITELY NEED TO BE MINDFUL OF THOSE SIGNS YOU MENTIONED. DOCTOR RADHAKRISHNAN, WE

    Check your tickets! Powerball numbers drawn for $700 million jackpot

    Updated: 8:06 PM PDT Aug 23, 2025

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    Feeling lucky? Here are the winning Powerball numbers for Saturday night: 11-14-34-47-51 Powerball 18The Powerplay Multiplier was 2xVideo above: Odds of winning Powerball slim, but why do we play?After no one won the big prize on Wednesday night, the jackpot grew to $700 million (estimated cash value of $316.3 million), according to the Powerball website.Preliminary data from the Multi-State Lottery Association, which helps facilitate the Powerball lottery, shows Powerball sales are 40% higher than they were at this point last year.”As the jackpot increases, we expect ticket sales to increase,” the association said.While the size of the jackpot and the ticket sales have risen, the odds of winning the top prize have not. The chances of winning the jackpot stand at about 1 in 292 million.

    Feeling lucky? Here are the winning Powerball numbers for Saturday night:

    11-14-34-47-51 Powerball 18

    The Powerplay Multiplier was 2x


    Video above: Odds of winning Powerball slim, but why do we play?

    After no one won the big prize on Wednesday night, the jackpot grew to $700 million (estimated cash value of $316.3 million), according to the Powerball website.

    Preliminary data from the Multi-State Lottery Association, which helps facilitate the Powerball lottery, shows Powerball sales are 40% higher than they were at this point last year.

    “As the jackpot increases, we expect ticket sales to increase,” the association said.

    While the size of the jackpot and the ticket sales have risen, the odds of winning the top prize have not. The chances of winning the jackpot stand at about 1 in 292 million.

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  • Wealthy first-time candidate Cloobeck drops $1.4 million on TV ads in the California governor’s race

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    Wealthy first-time political candidate Stephen J. Cloobeck is spending $1.4 million on television ads starting Tuesday — the first barrage of cable and broadcast messaging that Californians will likely be bombarded with in next year’s governor’s election.

    The ad features images of and commentary about President Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    “Trump is for them,” Cloobeck says in the 30-second ad, as a picture flashes on the screen of Trump, flanked by Epstein, and his long-time accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse girls. “Stephen Cloobeck is for you.”

    The candidate confirmed the size of the ad buy on Monday. Public records of advertising purchases show that Cloobeck bought space in every California market on cable, as well as broadcast television time in Sacramento. He also bought time in New York City and Washington, D.C. — as well as West Palm Beach, the location of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

    A campaign advisor confirmed that the ads would run through Monday and that he was also launching a social-media effort.

    “I will always Fight for California. All Californians deserve the contract to be fulfilled for an affordable livable workable state,” Cloobeck said in a text message. “Watch [the ad] and you will see how a conservative Democrat fights for All Californians.”

    The move comes after former Vice President Kamala Harris opted last week against running for governor, leaving a race without a clear front-runner with a large field that is widely unknown to most California voters.

    The candidates need to raise their name recognition among California’s 22.9 million registered voters, which makes Cloobeck’s early advertising understandable, according to Democratic strategists.

    “It’s unprecedented for regular business. Not for this race,” said Democratic media buyer Sheri Sadler, who is not currently affiliated with a candidate in the contest.

    It’s also not unprecedented for Cloobeck, a Beverly Hills philanthropist and businessman. He announced his gubernatorial run in November with a fusillade of ads and billboards the morning after the 2024 presidential election bearing his slogan, “California, Get a Cloo,” and the California bear.

    While the 63-year-old’s exact net worth is unclear, he made his fortune in real estate and hospitality. He founded Diamond Resorts International, a timeshare and vacation property company, which he sold in 2016. Earlier, he appeared on several episodes of the reality-television show “Undercover Boss,” which sends executives in disguise into low-level jobs at their businesses.

    While Cloobeck has not run for office before, he has long been a prodigious Democratic donor and fundraiser. He also played a critical role in renaming the airport in Las Vegas after the late Sen. Harry Reid, whom he describes as a father figure. The bookshelves at his sprawling Beverly Hills mansion are lined with pictures of himself with Democratic presidents and many other prominent members of the party.

    Cloobeck announced last week that he was contributing $10 million to his campaign, on top of the $3 million he initially seeded it with. His wealth was on vivid display at the California Democratic Party‘s spring convention, where canvassers who said they were paid $25 per hour wore royal blue shirts emblazoned with his name chanted his name. Cloobeck said at the time that his campaign had spent “probably a couple hundred thousand dollars” on the effort.

    Times staff Writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.

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    Seema Mehta

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  • Nixon fire in southern Riverside County spreads rapidly, forcing evacuations

    Nixon fire in southern Riverside County spreads rapidly, forcing evacuations

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    The Nixon fire near Aguanga in southern Riverside County exploded in size after the vegetation fire ignited Monday afternoon, growing to almost 4,000 acres by Tuesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

    Photos and video from the scene showed some buildings destroyed by flames, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many were damaged and if they were homes. About 2,000 buildings were under evacuation orders and warnings, according to Tawny Castro, a spokesperson for Cal Fire’s Riverside County unit.

    Firefighters responded to calls around 12:30 p.m. Monday about the blaze near Richard Nixon Boulevard in Aguanga, not far from Palomar Mountain and Riverside County’s border with San Diego County.

    Within a few hours, the fire saw explosive growth, hitting 1,000 acres by 5 p.m. before almost tripling in size by 8 p.m., according to Cal Fire.

    It had swelled to 3,750 acres as of Monday morning with no containment. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

    Further norther in Kern County, the Borel fire continued to expand in and around Sequoia National Forest, growing to 57,306 acres Tuesday morning, according to federal officials. It was 17% contained.

    The massive Park fire burning in Butte and Tehama counties, which has become the state’s fifth-largest wildfire in recorded history, continued to grow overnight, hitting 383,619 acres as of Tuesday morning, with 14% containment, according to Cal Fire.

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    Grace Toohey

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  • California’s largest wildfire doubles in size and destroys scores of buildings

    California’s largest wildfire doubles in size and destroys scores of buildings

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    The Park fire in Butte County — the largest blaze in California this year — exploded to more than 164,000 acres by Friday morning, with its rapid spread destroying scores of buildings and forcing more evacuations.

    The growth of the fire over two days amid steady winds and hot temperatures has been dramatic, with its remote location making it difficult to fight. It was listed at 164,286 acres Friday morning and what little containment crews had on the fire Thursday — listed at 3% — had been lost and containment was reduced to 0%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection website.

    Conditions on the ground are going to continue to be a challenge, forecasters say.

    The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the northern Sacramento Valley through late Friday, including the region where the fire is spreading. Forecasters warned there could be wind gusts up to 30 mph pushing the blaze north combined with low humidity, which “can cause new fire starts and ongoing wildfires to … grow rapidly and dangerously in size and intensity.”

    At least 134 buildings have been confirmed destroyed, and another 4,000 are threatened, according to Cal Fire.

    “This fire is moving very rapidly and very quickly,” said Garrett Sjolund, the fire chief for Cal Fire’s Butte County unit.

    Firefighters remained focused on protecting the communities around the fire Friday, including Cohasset and Forest Ranch, where about 4,000 people were evacuated. Some neighborhoods in northeast Chico were also evacuated, affecting about 400 people, along with several areas of Tehama County, authorities said.

    The fire is burning north into the Ishi Wilderness and Lassen foothills, which experts say hasn’t seen fire activity in decades, if not a century.

    “Once it got into that area, it had a lot of fuel to consume,” said Dan Collins, a Cal Fire spokesperson for the Butte Unit.

    Zeke Lunder, a fire specialist and geographer based in Chico, agreed with Collins and said the lack of recent fires has made the area a jackpot for flames.

    Ronnie Dean Stout II, a 42-year-old Chico man, was arrested on suspicion of starting the Park fire.

    (Butte County District Attorney’s Office)

    “A lot of us who work in fire have kind of been waiting for this fire to happen for the last 25 years,” he said.

    On Thursday, authorities announced they had arrested 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II, a Chico resident, on suspicion or arson. Prosecutors said the man pushed a burning car into a gully, starting the fast-moving fire.

    “It is maddening that we’re here again, and it is particularly maddening that this particular fire was caused by an individual,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea. “During this particular time of year, we are under a very high threat for fire.”

    The Park fire was one of several burning in California:

    Sjolund, the fire chief in Butte County, said he’s hopeful an expected drop in temperatures this weekend could assist in fighting the Park fire and others across the region.

    “It’s kind of a moving target with the way the weather patterns are coming in,” he said.

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    Grace Toohey, Hayley Smith, Joseph Serna

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  • Column: How’d the grandpa debaters do? Three experts on aging size up Biden, Trump

    Column: How’d the grandpa debaters do? Three experts on aging size up Biden, Trump

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    Not a good night for Biden.

    Not a proud night for Trump.

    A sad night for the United States.

    That’s my take after watching the presidential debate, but I didn’t watch alone. I enlisted three experts on aging to share their observations. I was focused on a single question while watching President Biden debate former President Trump. At their advanced ages — Biden at 81, Trump at 78 — is either up to the task of running the country?

    This has been a hot topic for months, with many people convinced that Biden has lost his mental sharpness. (Not that Trump’s mental state hasn’t come into question.) I asked my three experts not to do a political analysis, or to make a medical diagnosis, because as I’ve written more than once, that’s a complicated process that can’t be performed from a distance.

    California is about to be hit by an aging population wave, and Steve Lopez is riding it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of advancing age — and how some folks are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.

    What I wanted was their take on command, coherence, competence, composure, reason and skills of communication and articulation. Aging takes a toll, physical and mental, but you can be an old 60-year-old and a young 85-year-old because everyone ages differently.

    Biden froze up early on. He failed to come up with a word he was fumbling for while speaking about the national debt, and he looked lost.

    One of my experts, Dr. Zaldy Tan, director of the Memory and Aging Program at Cedars-Sinai, emailed to say a televised debate can be like a “cognitive stress test” and is “bound to bring about subtle, albeit normal, age-related changes in one’s mental agility.”

    It seemed to me, however, that with a scratchy, weak voice and a sometimes-vacant look in his eyes, Biden might be in trouble.

    He and Trump both seemed pretty agile though during one exchange in which they took off the gloves and went bare-knuckle.

    “You have the morals of an alley cat,” Biden said, staring down his foe while listing a few of Trump’s many transgressions.

    “I didn’t have sex with a porn star,” Trump insisted, and if there’s a political campaign button with that claim on it, I’d like to buy a bushel of them.

    The candidates took turns accusing each other of being criminals, which made me think back on another low point in American politics, when Richard Nixon insisted, as his presidency was in flames, “I am not a crook.”

    Former President Trump speaks during a debate with President Biden in Atlanta.

    Former President Trump and President Biden took turns accusing each other of being criminals during the debate.

    (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

    Another of my debate watchers was Dr. Myron Shapero, an urgent care physician in Beverly Hills. I wanted his perspective because he’s older than either Biden or Trump by a good stretch. Shapero is 90, and he thought Biden did not have a good night.

    “I think it’s obvious that Biden is not Biden anymore,” said Shapero. “What Trump needed was someone sharp, sure, strong, who could counterpunch … and Joe always had that capacity.” On Thursday, “he didn’t have it.”

    Shapero said the word that came to mind, as the night wore on and he studied Biden’s performance, was “flustered.”

    “It’s the aging process, and everyone handles it differently,” said Shapero. “He was vacant. He was not fully present, and it was painful to see.”

    Dr. Tan was more forgiving in his assessment.

    “Besides the speech impediment,” he said, referencing a longtime Biden affliction, “it is possible that he experienced mind wandering, more commonly referred to as losing one’s train of thought. The tendency to mind wander increases with higher stress levels, sleep deprivation and taking certain medications.”

    Caroline Cicero, an associate professor in the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at USC, said she saw a sitting president who was not at his best.

    “Viewers surely noticed that President Biden did not command confidence in his performance,” Cicero said. “His blank stares left me wondering if his strategy was not to react and to stay stone-faced, so that he didn’t appear to be a grumpy old man.”

    Cicero said she wondered why Biden at times did not respond “more directly” to Trump attacks. “Reaction times do slow with age,” she said.

    Three people watch the presidential debate in a lounge in a Chicago neighborhood.

    Tanzella Young, left, Crystal Blakley and Jason Sanford watch the presidential debate at the M Lounge in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago.

    (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)

    Early in the debate, when Biden trailed off, Trump said: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.”

    Trump went in for the kill, as Dr. Shapero saw it.

    “Smelling blood made him nastier and more pathological,” Shapero said. “I feel that substance-wise, [Trump] was filled with lies, but stylistically, I think he came off stronger because he was less maniacal” than he usually is.

    One can ask whether Trump, a man aggressively removed from truth and civility, is fit for office. And Biden scored some points in exposing his opponent’s many barnacles, including the fact that he’s a convicted felon.

    But what I saw in Biden was a decent man and career public servant who is past his prime.

    What I saw in Trump was the usual boast and bluster, with no apparent ability or desire to control his own worst instincts.

    They ended the debate arguing about who had the better golf handicap.

    Lord help us.

    Steve.lopez@latimes.com

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    Steve Lopez

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  • $10,000 reward offered after gold nugget reported stolen in Long Beach

    $10,000 reward offered after gold nugget reported stolen in Long Beach

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    A massive gold nugget was reported stolen Thursday from the Long Beach Convention Center, spurring an offer of a $10,000 reward.

    Bob Campbell, the owner of a coin shop in Salt Lake City, said he brought the gold nugget to the Long Beach Expo — a show that gathers sellers of coins and other collectibles — to sell for more than $80,000. He said its value exceeds its sheer content in gold, as an “original 49er nugget” believed to date back to the Gold Rush.

    “They will lose money if they melt it. It has collector value,” Campbell said. The roughly 27-ounce nugget was about the size of a goose egg, he added, and specimens of that size are “exceedingly rare.”

    Video captured by another coin dealer at the event shows someone appearing to press on the display case, then pocket something. Campbell faulted a defect in the case that allowed the thief to wiggle his hand inside.

    Long Beach police said they are investing the theft, which was reported before noon Thursday. Campbell is also passing out fliers with a photo of the gold nugget and the alleged thief and personally offering a $10,000 reward hinging on the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

    “We’re hoping that this information gets out” and maybe “one of his friends will rat him out,” Campbell said.

    He urged anyone with information to call his Utah shop at (801) 467-8636 or to contact the Long Beach Police Department regarding case number 24-28245.

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    Emily Alpert Reyes

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  • Mayor Karen Bass’ plan for rebuilding the size of the LAPD has fallen short so far

    Mayor Karen Bass’ plan for rebuilding the size of the LAPD has fallen short so far

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    When Mayor Karen Bass laid out her budget proposal for the Los Angeles Police Department last year, she had big plans for rebuilding the size of that agency’s workforce.

    The mayor’s budget called for the LAPD to end the 2023-24 budget year with about 9,500 police officers — a target that would require the hiring of nearly 1,000 officers over a 12-month period.

    Now, a new assessment from City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo — the city’s top budget analyst — shows the department is falling well short of its staffing goal. By June 30, the end of the fiscal year, the department is expected to have 8,908 officers, according to Szabo’s projections.

    That would leave the LAPD with its lowest sworn staffing levels in over two decades.

    Szabo’s report, issued Tuesday, is likely to fuel calls for the council to scale back the LAPD’s hiring goal. Even before it was released, some at City Hall had begun arguing that the annual budget calls for hundreds of officer positions that have little to no chance of being filled.

    “I do not think 9,500 is realistic,” Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said Wednesday. “We can’t be in denial about this. It is not realistic. And the reason it’s not realistic is because … people who are entering the workforce do not want to be police officers.”

    Soto-Martínez has long argued for the idea of shifting certain duties out of the LAPD and into agencies with unarmed responders. He asked for the LAPD’s 12-month hiring projections last month, just as the council began the process of cutting an as-yet-unknown number of civilian city positions — part of a larger effort at reining in a budget shortfall.

    Meanwhile, police staffing is continuing its year-to-year slide.

    The LAPD had about 10,000 officers in 2019, the last full year before COVID-19. In June 2020, not long after the murder of George Floyd, the City Council voted to scale back the deployment to about 9,750.

    Bass took office in 2022. By the time her first budget went into effect, the number of officers had fallen to 9,027. In an attempt to reverse those trends, she negotiated a four-year package of pay increases and higher starting salaries.

    That deal, approved in August, is now a major contributor to the city’s budget shortfall, which could reach as much as $400 million in the coming fiscal year.

    De’Marcus Finnell, a spokesperson for Bass, said Wednesday that the salary agreement with the police officers’ union is producing results, helping to spur recruitment and lower attrition.

    “According to conversations with LAPD, retirement rates could’ve been much higher if we hadn’t taken the action we did,” Finnell said in an email.

    Councilmember Nithya Raman, who voted against the salary agreement last year, has been offering a different assessment, calling the police contract financially irresponsible. Raman, now running for reelection with support from the mayor, has repeatedly warned that the police raises will leave the city with insufficient funds for other government programs.

    “I thought that the size of the raise would be so much that it would create significant budget deficits going forward,” she told an audience last month, adding: “So far, the data has proven me correct.”

    Others on the council say they still support the police raises.

    Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, in an interview, said attrition has “slowed significantly” at the LAPD since the contract was approved. The contract, she said, is “doing what we needed it to do.”

    Bass, as part of her budget, had been hoping to hire 780 new officers during the current fiscal year. She also had been looking to bring 200 retirees back to the department.

    So far, only 15 retirees have come back, Szabo said.

    The decrease in LAPD staffing is producing at least one benefit — cutting costs in the city budget.

    The city’s financial analysts are currently projecting an $82-million shortfall in the LAPD’s sworn salary account this year. Had the department had been successful in reaching the mayor’s hiring goals, that number would have grown to more than $118 million, Szabo said in his report.

    Meanwhile, some categories of crime continue to fall.

    Homicides have decreased by nearly 6% compared with the prior year, according to LAPD figures covering the period ending Jan. 27. Burglaries decreased by nearly 7% over the same time frame.

    Other types of crime are on the rise. Assaults have gone up by 12% compared to the same period last year, according to LAPD figures. The number of shooting victims is up 29% so far this year.

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    David Zahniser

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  • The life-size Psyduck is coming back, and it’s available to pre-order

    The life-size Psyduck is coming back, and it’s available to pre-order

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    The Pokémon Company’s life-size Psyduck is back. It’s up for preorder on The Pokémon Center United States-based store, just weeks after it was restocked on the Japanese site. The Pokémon Company originally released its 31-inch Psyduck plush back in 2020, a blessing to Pokémon fans during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It’s been back in stock a few times before, and here it is again, with perfect timing with Netflix’s Pokémon Concierge, starring Psyduck.

    Psyduck remains exactly the same as it was then, both stunning and perpetually stunned by its chronic headaches. (Psyduck is a migraine-haver’s icon.) Psyduck measures 31 inches in its Pokédex entry, making the big yellow duck true to life. The only problem is that it’s $324.99 — $45 more expensive than it was in 2020. That’s inflation for you.

    The good news, though, is that you now can read user reviews to tell you how awesome owning a life-size Psyduck is:

    Words cannot express how pleased I am with this massive Psyduck. Truly, massive. I’m thrilled that he finally came back in stock, and I had no qualms about purchasing him this time around. He shows up in random places around the house and it’s always a shock at first when I see him (most definitely he is using his confusion attack) but then a calmness quickly washes over me, and I feel comfort in knowing that he too, is confused all the time. Be aware that the shipping box is quite large, and says Psyduck on the outside, so don’t let him sit unattended for too long or someone else might try to capture him! He is way too rare and precious. Trust me – buy him and you will not regret it!! PS…he looks fantastic in hats.

    There are actually two four star reviews out of the total 70 — the rest are top scores. The main gripe is that Psyduck is a little top heavy, so it falls over relatively easily. But for the most part, Psyduck has been worth the purchase for many Pokémon fans:

    He is incredibly rotund and looks confused and distressed at all times, it’s like looking into a mirror! I couldn’t bring myself to place Psyduck on the floor so he takes up half my bed instead. A small price to pay for Psyduck to watch over me while I dream about an Appletun plush restock.

    Also, Psyduck came in a box that was not discrete at all. Anyone will be able to read in big bold letters that a 31” Psyduck plush is inside so be ready to intercept the package once it is dropped off otherwise Team Rocket might steal him away.

    The Pokémon Company expects to start shipping this new batch of yellow ducks in October. If you can’t wait until then but don’t care about what big Pokémon you have, a tall Lucario, big round Spheal, and massive Wailord are all in stock. In the past, The Pokémon Company’s sold big Mareeps, Slowpokes, and Gigantamax Pikachus among several other large dudes.

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    Nicole Carpenter

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