Actor Armie Hammer will not face charges following an investigation by Los Angeles police into an allegation of sexual assault against the actor, the LA District Attorney’s Office told CNN on Wednesday.
“Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them. In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime,” Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of the Bureau of Communications told CNN.
“As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault. Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services. Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Hammer posted a statement to Instagram following the news:
“I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed. I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared.”
The LAPD opened an investigation into the matter in February 2021, after a woman, identified by her attorney at the time as Effie, accused him of raping her in 2017.
Hammer was not charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing, at the time saying through his attorney that the allegation was “outrageous” and that his interactions with the woman and other partners have been “completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.”
CNN reported last month that the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office was reviewing claims of sexual assault made against the actor. They did not specify the identity of the complainant or complainants.
In a statement made on Wednesday to CNN following the DA’s decision, Effie said in part, “I am disappointed with the LA County District Attorney’s decision not to prosecute Armie Hammer. I felt a duty to speak out and file a report in order to try to hold Armie accountable for all the harm and trauma he has caused me and in order to protect other women from experiencing similar abuse.”
A Los Angeles jury on Friday found a man guilty of second-degree murder in the 2018 shooting death of a father who was camping with his young daughters — and of the attempted murders of the two young girls — all at a popular state park in the Malibu area of Southern California.
Rauda, 46, fatally shot Tristan Beaudette in the head while the 35-year-old father, a chemist from Irvine, camped in a tent with his daughters on June 22, 2018, in Malibu Creek State Park, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the jury ruled.
While the jury also found Rauda guilty of one count of attempted murder for shooting at a vehicle four days prior to Beaudette’s killing, he was found not guilty of seven other counts of attempted murder in multiple other shootings.
The jury, however, did find him guilty of all five counts of burglary he faced.
At the time, Beaudette’s slaying — coupled with the revelation of the other mysterious shootings — rattled the surrounding community and shuttered the state park for nearly a year. It did not reopen to campers until May 2019.
The jury exonerated Rauda on a first-degree murder charge but convicted him on the second-degree offense. He faces 40 years to life in prison and will be sentenced next month.
A conviction for first-degree murder requires the government to prove intention and premeditation. Second-degree murder does not.
Beaudette’s daughters, then ages 2 and 4, were not injured but were considered victims of attempted murder. The jury convicted Rauda on the attempted murder counts related to the girls but ruled that Rauda had not acted willfully to kill them or with premeditation.
Rauda had waived his right to appear in court and was not present for the verdict Friday. Prosecutors declined to comment on the outcome.
“I appreciate how careful the jury appears to have been,” Rauda’s attorney, Nicholas C. Okorocha, said after the verdict. “The jury did a good job being careful and detail-oriented.”
While investigating Beaudette’s shooting death, and prior to Rauda’s arrest, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department revealed that there were at least seven other unsolved shootings in the area dating back to November of 2016.
Rauda was taken into custody on Oct. 10, 2018, nearly four months after Beaudette’s slaying, in a canyon near the park carrying a rifle in his backpack. Described by sheriff’s authorities as a “survivalist” who lived outdoors, he was initially apprehended in connection with several burglaries in the area, before being charged with Beaudette’s murder and the other shootings.
Rauda previously served time in state prison for possessing explosives and later for possessing a loaded gun, which is illegal for people with felony convictions. He was on probation at the time of his arrest, authorities said.
Much of Malibu Creek State Park, which has served as a set for movies and TV shows such as “M.A.S.H.,” has been charred in wildfires.
At least two people were injured in an explosion at a minor league baseball stadium in the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore Friday afternoon, about three hours prior to a scheduled game.
At about 4:20 p.m. local time, firefighters responded to a report of a gas leak at Lake Elsinore Diamond stadium to find two people hurt, according to the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.
The two were taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries, the fire department said. They were not immediately identified.
The stadium is home to the Lake Elsinore Storm, a Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. A Lake Elsinore city spokesperson told CBS Los Angeles that the explosion was reported in the home team’s locker room area.
After the explosion, aerial footage from CBSLA showed players on the field appearing to still be warming up.
However, the stadium was evacuated, the city spokesperson said, and surrounding roads were closed.
The Storm had been scheduled to host the Inland Empire 66ers, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. The team later announced that both Friday and Saturday’s games against the 66ers had been postponed due to the incident.
No further details were immediately provided on the exact cause and circumstances of the explosion.
Lake Elsinore is located about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
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Palm Springs, California — In the blazing desert heat, an alluring snapshot towers above what seems to be an endless highway.
“It’s such a simple, beautiful photograph, the actual surface of the road disappearing into the landscape,” Desert X artistic director Neville Wakefield told CBS News of the photograph snapped by the late Tyre Nichols, which is one of several on highway billboards, part of the biennial Desert X exhibition in Palm Springs, California.
Nichols, a California native, died in January, three days after being violently beaten by police in Memphis, Tennessee, during a traffic stop.
The 29-year-old’s death sparked nationwide outrage and led to the arrests of five officers on second-degree murder charges. An autopsy report released Thursday ruled his death a homicide caused by blunt force injuries.
An avid photographer, Nichols is the first ever artist whose work has been showcased posthumously in Desert X.
“I was struck by this incredibly sort of reflective, calm, beautiful aspect of his life, that really we haven’t been so familiar with,” Wakefield said.
Nichols’ work serves as a legacy, bridging tragedy to transformation.
“Hopefully, the contrast by the placement of these images by this busy road, where these kinds of stops take place, and the beauty of them levitated above, makes people consider these things and what they can do about them,” Wakefield said.
Wakefield wants people to know not just how Nichols died, but how he lived.
“We all hope for change,” Wakefield said. “I mean, that’s part of what art can do, is change the hearts and minds of people.”
High speed trains have proved their worth across the world over the past 50 years.
It’s not just in reducing journey times, but more importantly, it’s in driving economic growth, creating jobs and bringing communities closer together. China, Japan and Europe lead the way.
So why doesn’t the United States have a high-speed rail network like those?
For the richest and most economically successful nation on the planet, with an increasingly urbanized population of more than 300 million, it’s a position that is becoming more difficult to justify.
Although Japan started the trend with its Shinkansen “Bullet Trains” in 1964, it was the advent of France’s TGV in the early 1980s that really kick-started a global high-speed train revolution that continues to gather pace.
But it’s a revolution that has so far bypassed the United States. Americans are still almost entirely reliant on congested highways or the headache-inducing stress of an airport and airline network prone to meltdowns.
China has built around 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) of dedicated high-speed railways since 2008 and plans to top 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) by 2035.
“Many Americans have no concept of high-speed rail and fail to see its value. They are hopelessly stuck with a highway and airline mindset,” says William C. Vantuono, editor-in-chief of Railway Age, North America’s oldest railroad industry publication.
Cars and airliners have dominated long-distance travel in the United States since the 1950s, rapidly usurping a network of luxurious passenger trains with evocative names such as “The Empire Builder,” “Super Chief” and “Silver Comet.”
Deserted by Hollywood movie stars and business travelers, famous railroads such as the New York Central were largely bankrupt by the early 1970s, handing over their loss-making trains to Amtrak, the national passenger train operator founded in 1971.
In the decades since that traumatic retrenchment, US freight railroads have largely flourished. Passenger rail seems to have been a very low priority for US lawmakers.
Powerful airline, oil and auto industry lobbies in Washington have spent millions maintaining that superiority, but their position is weakening in the face of environmental concerns and worsening congestion.
Some of this will be invested in repairing Amtrak’s crumbling Northeast Corridor (NEC) linking Boston, New York and Washington.
There are also big plans to bring passenger trains back to many more cities across the nation – providing fast, sustainable travel to cities and regions that have not seen a passenger train for decades.
Add to this the success of the privately funded Brightline operation in Florida, which has been given the green light to build a $10 billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas by 2027, plus schemes in California, Texas and the proposed Cascadia route linking Portland, Oregon, with Seattle and Vancouver, and the United States at last appears to be on the cusp of a passenger rail revolution.
“Every president since Ronald Reagan has talked about the pressing need to improve infrastructure across the USA, but they’ve always had other, bigger priorities to deal with,” says Scott Sherin, chief commercial officer of train builder Alstom’s US division.
“But now there’s a huge impetus to get things moving – it’s a time of optimism. If we build it, they will come. As an industry, we’re maturing, and we’re ready to take the next step. It’s time to focus on passenger rail.”
Sherin points out that other public services such as highways and airports are “massively subsidized,” so there shouldn’t be an issue with doing the same for rail.
“We need to do a better job of articulating the benefits of high-speed rail – high-quality jobs, economic stimulus, better connectivity than airlines – and that will help us to build bipartisan support,” he adds. “High-speed rail is not the solution for everything, but it has its place.”
Only Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor has trains that can travel at speeds approaching those of the 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph) TGV and Shinkansen.
Even here, Amtrak Acela trains currently max out at 150 mph – and only in short bursts. Maximum speeds elsewhere are closer to 100 mph on congested tracks shared with commuter and freight trains.
This year, Amtrak plans to introduce its new generation Avelia Liberty trains to replace the life-expired Acelas on the NEC.
Capable of reaching 220 mph (although they’ll be limited to 160 mph on the NEC), the trains will bring Alstom’s latest high-speed rail technology to North America.
The locomotives at each end – known as power cars – are close relatives of the next generation TGV-M trains, scheduled to debut in France in 2024.
Sitting between the power cars are the passenger vehicles, which use Alstom’s Tiltronix technology to run faster through curves by tilting their bodies, much like a MotoGP rider does. And it’s not just travelers who will benefit.
“When Amtrak awarded the contract to Alstom in 2015 to 2016, the company had around 200 employees in Hornell,” says Shawn D. Hogan, former mayor of the city of Hornell in New York state.
“That figure is now nearer 900, with hiring continuing at a fast pace. I calculate that there has been a total public/private investment of more than $269 million in our city since 2016, including a new hotel, a state-of-the-art hospital and housing developments.
“It is a transformative economic development project that is basically unheard of in rural America and if it can happen here, it can happen throughout the United States.”
Alstom has spent almost $600 million on building a US supply chain for its high-speed trains – more than 80% of the train is made in the United States, with 170 suppliers across 27 states.
“High-speed rail is already here. Avelia Liberty was designed jointly with our European colleagues, so we have what we need for ‘TGV-USA’,” adds Sherin.
“It’s all proven tech from existing trains. We’re ready to go when the infrastructure arrives.”
And those new lines could arrive sooner than you might think.
In March, Brightline confirmed plans to begin construction on a 218-mile (351-kilometer) high-speed line between Rancho Cucamonga, near Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, carving a path through the San Bernardino Mountains and across the desert, following the Interstate 15 corridor.
The 200 mph line will slash times to little more than one hour – a massive advantage over the four-hour average by car or five to seven hours by bus – when it opens in 2027.
Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline Holdings, says: “As the most shovel-ready high-speed rail project in the United States, we are one step closer to leveling the playing field against transit and infrastructure projects around the world, and we are proud to be using America’s most skilled workers to get there.”
Brightline West expects to inject around $10 billion worth of benefits into the region’s economy, creating about 35,000 construction jobs, as well as 1,000 permanent jobs in maintenance, operations and customer service in Southern California and Nevada.
It will also mark the return of passenger trains to Las Vegas after a 30-year hiatus – Amtrak canceled its “Desert Wind” route in 1997.
Meanwhile, construction is progressing on another high-speed line through the San Joaquin Valley.
Set to open around 2030, California High Speed Rail (CHSR) will run from Merced to Bakersfield (171 miles) at speeds of up to 220 mph.
Coupled with proposed upgrades to commuter rail lines at either end, this project could eventually allow high-speed trains to run the 350 miles (560 kilometers) between Los Angeles to San Francisco metropolitan areas in just two hours and 40 minutes.
CHSR has been on the table as far back as 1996, but its implementation has been controversial.
Disagreements over the route, management issues, delays in land acquisition and construction, cost over-runs and inadequate funding for completing the entire system have plagued the project – despite the economic benefits it will deliver as well as reducing pollution and congestion. Around 10,000 people are already employed on the project.
Costing $63 billion to $98 billion, depending on the final extent of the scheme, CHSR is to connect six of the 10 largest cities in the state and provide the same capacity as 4,200 miles of new highway lanes, 91 additional airport gates and two new airport runways costing between $122 billion and $199 billion.
With California’s population expected to grow to more than 45 million by 2050, high-speed rail offers the best value solution to keep the state from grinding to a smoggy halt.
Brightline West and CHSR offer templates for the future expansion of high-speed rail in North America.
By focusing on pairs of cities or regions that are too close for air travel and too far apart for car drivers, transportation planners can predict which corridors offer the greatest potential.
“It’s logical that the US hasn’t yet developed a nationwide high-speed network,” says Sherin. “For decades, traveling by car wasn’t a hardship, but as highway congestion gets worse, we’ve reached a stage where we should start looking more seriously at the alternatives.
“The magic numbers are centers of population with around three million people that are 200 to 500 miles apart, giving a trip time of less than three hours – preferably two hours.
“Where those conditions apply in Europe and Asia, high-speed rail reduces air’s share of the market from 100% to near zero. The model would work just as well in the USA as it does globally.”
Sherin points to the success of the original generation of Acela trains as evidence of this.
“When the first generation Acela trains started running between New York City and Washington in 2000, Amtrak attracted so many travelers that the airlines stopped running their frequent ‘shuttles’ between the two cities,” he adds.
However, industry observer Vantuono is more pessimistic.
“A US high-speed rail network is a pipe dream,” he says. “A lack of political support and federal financial support combined with the kind of fierce landowner opposition that CHSR has faced in California means that the challenges for new high-speed projects are enormous.”
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), urban and high-speed rail hold “major promise to unlock substantial benefits” in reducing global transport emissions.
Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, argues that rail transport is “often neglected” in public debates about future transport systems – and this is especially true in North America.
“Despite the advent of cars and airplanes, rail of all types has continued to evolve and thrive,” adds Birol.
Globally, around three-quarters of rail passenger movements are made on electric-powered vehicles, putting the mode in a unique position to take advantage of the rise in renewable energy over the coming decades.
Here, too, the United States lags far behind the rest of the world, with electrification almost unheard of away from the NEC.
Rail networks in SouthKorea, Japan, Europe, China and Russia are more than 60% electrified, according to IEA figures, the highest share of track electrification being South Korea at around 85%.
In North America, on the other hand, less than 5% of rail routes are electrified.
The enormous size of the United States and its widely dispersed population mitigates against the creation of a single, unified network of the type being built in China and proposed for Europe.
Air travel is likely to remain the preferred option for transcontinental journeys that can be more than 3,000 miles (around 4,828 kilometers).
But there are many shorter inter-city travel corridors where high-speed rail, or a combination of new infrastructure and upgraded railroad tracks or tilting trains, could eventually provide an unbeatable alternative to air travel and highways.
The US Coast Guard is assisting Mexican navy crews in the search for three American sailors, last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlán, Mexico, according to a Coast Guard news release.
Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross are all “experienced sailors,” according to a joint statement from their families. They were aboard the Ocean Bound, a 44-foot La Fitte sailing vessel, when they left the Mexican city of Mazatlán en route to San Diego, the Coast Guard said.
“The sailors planned to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6 for provisions and to report in before continuing on to San Diego,” the news release said.
“However, there was no record of them arriving in Cabo San Lucas or a report in of their location.”
Rescue coordinators have contacted marinas throughout Baja, Mexico, but there have been no sightings of the vessel, the news release said.
“Urgent marine information broadcasts have been issued over VHF radio requesting all mariners to keep a lookout for the missing persons and vessel,” the Coast Guard said.
Coast Guard officials urge anyone with information on the sailors or the sailing vessel to call the Coast Guard search and rescue coordination center at 510-437-3701.
Cmdr. Greg Higgins, search mission coordinator for the US Coast Guard, said the weather was less than ideal when the trio set out.
“When they began their voyage we know that the conditions were not optimal for that type of trip, though certainly, there were sailing vessels out there during that time. Winds potentially over 30 knots and seas 15 to 20, maybe more, feet at the time of their voyage,” Higgins told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield Saturday.
“It’s a long trip for even in good conditions, from Mazatlán to Cabo. That’s two days, and certainly on to San Diego, which was their eventual destination. And since then it has improved marginally,” he added.
Higgins said he hopes to gather information from witnesses who might have seen the sailors who went missing.
“The Mexican Navy, now based in La Paz, Mexico, has the lead for search efforts, so there are numerous Mexican naval search and rescue assets that are working the case,” Higgins said. “For our portion, to support the excellent partnership that we have with Mexico and the Mexican Navy.
“We’ve conducted search planning, so we’re using computer search tools to identify where the vessel may be based on environmental conditions, winds, and currents, where it may have drifted if they became distressed, as well as Coast Guard aircraft, searching with the permission of Mexico, and Coast Guard cutters searching as well,” Higgins said.
The three Americans “are all experienced sailors,” according to a joint statement from their families.
“Bill has over 50 years of sailing experience and is an extremely talented coastal cruiser. Kerry and Frank have 20 years sailing together and both hold captains licenses with the US Coast Guard,” according to the statement.
Ocean Bound, described as “a sturdy older vessel,” departed Mazatlán on April 4 at about 9:30 a.m. local time. It headed “across the Sea of Cortez, a short stop had been planned in Cabo San Lucas and then to sail up the coast of Baja to San Diego,” the statement said. When they didn’t check in by the weekend, the Coast Guard was notified.
“Cell phone pings on 4/4/2023 show off the coast of Mazatlan as calls to marinas in Cabo San Lucas,” according to the families.
Their families presume they were trying to make slip reservations at the marina. But, because all the calls made were so short, it’s believed the attempts to reach someone were unsuccessful, said the statement. That calls are the last known contact with the Ocean Bound.
According to family, the Coast Guard “has a current ‘travel projection’ if Ocean Bound simply lost radio contact and continued her journey to San Diego at just North or South of Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortugas) on the Baja Peninsula and is focused on searching there, in addition to long aircraft sweeps along the Baja Peninsula.”
The parameters are reassessed each night to redefine the search the next day, according to the statement.
“The sailing community has hundreds of additional vessels looking for our family members,” said the joint statement.
The families thanked the Mexican Navy and US Coast Guard for their search and rescue operations.
“They have communicated all of their efforts with kindness and compassion more than once a day,” said the statement.
The University of Connecticut won its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State University on Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Senior guard Tristen Newton led UConn (31-8) with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Final Four Most Outstanding Player Adama Sanogo, a junior forward, chipped in with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“We weren’t ranked going into the year so we had the chip on our shoulder,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told game broadcaster CBS. “We knew the level that we could play at, even through those dark times,”he added, referencing the team’s six losses in eight games during the regular season.
He said going into the tournament his group had confidence garnered during the season.
“And when you have the type of leaders like Andre Jackson (game-high six assists Monday) and Adama Sanogo, they kept this team together, got us back on track and we knew we were the best team in the tournament going in and we just had to play to our level,” he added.
San Diego State (32-7) was topped by Keshad Johnson who had 14 points.
UConn trailed very early but San Diego State was undone by an 11-minute, eight-second stretch in which they scored just five free throws and missed 12 consecutive shots from the field. The Huskies went from down 10-6 to up 36-24 at halftime.
The Aztecs made a run midway through the second half and narrowed the deficit to five at 60-55 with 5:19 to play but the Huskies scored the next nine to take a comfortable lead into the final two minutes.
“We battled. Battled back to five in the second half, but gave them too much separation,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “We had to be at our best. We weren’t at our best. A lot had to do with UConn.”
Senior guard Adam Seiko told reporters they gave themselves a chance with their second half comeback but UConn “just made a little bit more plays” at the end.
“They have a lot of weapons. They were pretty good,” said Matt Bradley, also a senior guard. “To beat them, we had to make shots. I shot poorly. And you had to have a really good game to beat those dudes on the offensive end.”
UConn won each of its six tournament games by at least 10 points, with its closest game being a 13-point win over the University of Miami in the national semifinals.
“I just want to thank my teammates, my coaches who believed in me. If it were not for them I would not be here right now,” Sanogo told CBS.
Jordan Hawkins, who scored 16 points for UConn, talked about winning the crown one day after his cousin, Angel Reese of Louisiana State University, won the women’s title.
“I mean it’s absolutely amazing that we both get this opportunity and I mean the family reunion is going to be great so that’s all I know,” he said.
UConn enters rarefied air as only the sixth team to win five NCAA men’s basketball championships, joining UCLA (11), Kentucky (eight), North Carolina (six), Duke (five) and Indiana (five). All of UConn’s titles have come since 1999 with the most recent before Monday occurring in 2014.
UConn’s women’s teams have won 11 basketball national titles.
For the first time since 1970, there will be three schools making their first Final Four appearances at the men’s NCAA Tournament following victories by No. 5 seed San Diego State University and No. 5 seed Miami on Sunday.
San Diego State University clinched the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance with a closely contested 57-56 victory against No. 6 seed Creighton at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
With the game tied at 56, Bluejays guard Ryan Nembhard was called for a foul on Aztecs guard Darrion Trammell with 1.2 seconds left in the game. Replays showed Nembhard’s left hand on Trammell’s right hip as he jumped up for the shot attempt.
Trammell would be awarded two free throws, missing the first but making the second to give the Aztecs the lead.
“The moment it wasn’t too big for me to do everything I’ve been through,” Trammell said in the postgame news conference. “I feel like the opportunity was just set there for me. It was God’s timing and I just had to believe in that and just having that confidence that, yeah, I missed the first one but I definitely wasn’t going to miss the second one.”
Nembhard addressed the foul call in the postgame news conference, saying, “It’s a tough feeling. We worked so hard all year and it comes down to a play like that. I don’t know I think we could’ve done a little bit more to make it a game that didn’t have to go down to that but it’s a tough way to lose.”
SDSU will play against No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic in Houston, Texas on Saturday, April 1, in a battle of two first-time Final Four contestants.
Meanwhile, the No. 5 seed Miami mounted a second-half comeback to defeat No. 2 seeded Texas 88-81 to advance to the program’s first-ever Final Four in NCAA tournament history.
The Longhorns held a 13-point lead with under 15 minutes left in the game, before the Hurricanes broke off on a 12-2 run to even the game up at 72. After exchanging several buckets, the Hurricanes closed out the game on a 9-2 run in the final minute to close out the victory.
Miami guard Jordan Miller led the way with 27 points, going 7-7 from the field and 13-13 from the free throw line.
“No one wanted to go home,” Miller said to the CBS broadcast on the team’s come from behind victory. “We came together, we stuck together, we showed really good perseverance and the will, the will to just win and get there.”
The Hurricanes will play against No. 4 seed UConn in Houston, Texas on Saturday, April 1.
This year’s men’s NCAA tournament is the first time since seeding began in 1979 no team ranked better than No. 4 has reached the Final Four.
A Delta Air Lines passenger was arrested after opening one of the plane’s doors and sliding down an emergency exit slide as the plane prepared for takeoff from Los Angeles to Seattle Saturday, officials said.
The incident on Delta Flight 1714 took place around 10:40 a.m. local time, while the plane was stationary at the Los Angeles International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane, a Boeing 737, was on the runway holding to taxi for takeoff when the passenger exited the aircraft after activating the emergency exit slide, the FAA said.
The passenger was initially detained by Delta staff before being arrested by local law enforcement, the statement read.
“Customers are being reaccommodated on a new aircraft and we apologize for the inconvenience and delay in their travel plans,” the FAA said.
The FAA is investigating the incident. CNN has reached out to Delta and Los Angeles airport police for additional information.
The Mediterranean-inspired villa occupies a coveted corner lot along the bike path.
Strand Hill Properties
Forbes Global Properties
Rubbing elbows with the Southern California coastline cities of Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach is the more relaxed community of Hermosa Beach. With a laid-back beach town vibe and an active nightlife scene, the city offers 94 acres of public beach along nearly 2 miles of oceanfront.
Sharing this strip of sand with swimmers, surfers and volleyball players are highly sought-after luxury homes that command a premium.
A decorative tray ceiling tops the open-concept dining room, living room and kitchen.
Strand Hill Properties
Among the prized properties currently on the market is 2340 The Strand. Priced at close to $12.6 million, this Mediterranean sits on an oversized corner lot with both front and side yards―a rarity for the area.
The richly landscaped lot is accessed by a wrought-iron gate set into a stone wall. A walkway bridge crosses over a boulder-surrounded water element to reach the wooden double front door. Adjoining the lawn, extensive patio space accommodates a sunken fire pit seating area sheltered by a windbreak, outdoor kitchen and ocean-facing lounging deck.
The elegant kitchen features a two-level island with bar seating.
Strand Hill Properties
Arch-topped windows, balconies and a red tile roof underscore the villa-inspired design. The theme continues inside the 3,615 square feet of living space with spiraling wrought-iron staircases, dark wood trim and built-ins and an elegant center island kitchen. The stainless-steel appliances include two ovens, a six-burner stove and under-counter wine fridge.
A wood-paneled ceiling tops the two-tier home theater on the home’s lower level, which also contains a minibar.
A balcony sits off the ocean view primary suite.
Strand Hill Properties
The primary suite features a rounded bank of wood-trimmed windows, French doors that open to a balcony, raised hearth fireplace and wide-plank wood floors. The ensuite bathroom has dual vanities with vessel sinks, a stand-alone soaking tub and glass-enclosed shower. In all, there are five bedrooms and five bathrooms—three full and two half.
The home is ideally suited for a primary residence or an investor seeking to lease to long-term tenants. The current rent is $30,000 a month. Short-term rentals are not permitted in the city of Hermosa Beach.
The side yard patio provides a perch to watch the action on the beach.
Strand Hill Properties
Chris Corr of Strand Hill Properties is the listing agent for the ocean- and beach-view home. Downtown Hermosa and the Manhattan Pier are a 10-minute walk away.
Strand Hill Properties is an exclusive member of Forbes Global Properties, a consumer marketplace and membership network of elite brokerages selling the world’s most luxurious homes.
For the first time ever in NCAA men’s basketball tournament history, all four No. 1 seeds have failed to reach the Elite Eight after the top-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide and Houston Cougars were eliminated in the Sweet 16 on Friday.
Top overall seed Alabama was stunned by No. 5 seed San Diego State, 71-64, at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Crimson Tide led by nine points with over 12 minutes left in the game, but the Aztecs went on a 12-0 run to take a 51-48 lead and they never trailed again.
San Diego State guard Darrion Trammell led the way with 21 points and five rebounds, as the Aztecs advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in men’s program history. San Diego State is also the first Mountain West team to ever advance to the Elite Eight.
“It’s just who we are, we feel like we can beat any team in the country, ” Trammell said on the TBS broadcast after the game. “We work hard, and we feel like we have the DNA of a winning team that goes far in March. We have experience, we have grit, and we feel like this is what we’re supposed to do.”
Crimson Tide forward Brandon Miller was held in check on offense most of the night, scoring just nine points on 3-of-19 shooting. He also had six turnovers.
Miller’s and Alabama’s season comes to an end after a tumultuous regular season campaign marred by an off-court issue surrounding the shooting death of a woman on campus.
San Diego State will play against either No. 6 Creighton or No. 15 Princeton on Sunday.
Friday’s action in Kansas City, Missouri, saw No. 5 seed Miami defeat Houston 89-75.
The game was close for most of the first half, before Miami took an 11-point lead early in the second half. Houston cut the deficit to 51-49 with under 15 minutes left in the game but Miami answered with a 16-2 run to put the game away.
Miami guard Nijel Pack scored at will in the victory, dropping 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 7-of-10 from the three-point line to lead the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
“It just shows that we’re one of the best teams in the country now we’re moving to the Elite Eight,” Pack said on the CBS broadcast after the game. “It’s the top eight schools in the country right now, we still have a lot of work to do but it feels great right now.”
Miami will next play No. 2 seed Texas or No. 3 seed Xavier, which face off later Friday.
Tucked into a small art studio at a California university, Sea Krob took their 3-year-old and 7-year-old to graduate school with them because they didn’t have a daycare option this week.
“It’s really frustrating that the one thing that was supposed to be dependable is not,” Krob, 32, told CNN. “And it’s not because the workers are striking, but it’s because LAUSD would rather make time to find volunteers and make plans for our kids not to be in school than just meet the needs of the people that they’ve employed.”
The stakes are high for school workers, including bus drivers, custodians and other support staff represented by Service Employees International Union Local 99 asking for more equitable wages, more work hours and more staffing to provide better student services.
It is the same district that shut down for a six-day strike in 2019, when teachers went to the picket lines to fight for smaller class sizes, more staff and an increase in wages.
This strike has left parents scrambling to find childcare, many cobbling together creative solutions to keep their children on track with school, while also working their full-time jobs.
For Krob, that’s meant notifying individual professors of their situation and asking if they can bring their two children with to classes. Krob is a full-time graduate student pursuing art at California State University, Long Beach.
“My partner is out of sick days for the year already – it’s March – so I am on the whims of whatever professor I have to have my kids come with me,” they said.
For safety and liability reasons, Krob cannot take their children into the art lab where they work, so they had to forgo their lab hours this week, they said. Instead, they are getting creative with how they spend time during the strike and borrowing art supplies from a university office.
“I just stretched out a big piece of paper so that we could color on it for the three days and make art, hang out and do our best,” they said.
Krob commutes on public transit two hours each way to get to the university from their Los Angeles home. It’s been an extra challenge doing that with their two children in the pouring rain this week.
What frustrates Krob, who supports the staff on strike, is that the resources for parents are through the school system, which is shut down, they said. They wish there was more support for parents.
“I think that the people who are striking are totally within their right and they should be able to engage in a strike and parents still have resources to be able to take care of their kids, and that shouldn’t be cut off.”
Sandra Colton-Medici, an online business entrepreneur, has two children in two different situations: Only one of them gets to go to school this week.
Her 5-year-old daughter attends kindergarten at a LAUSD school, while her 3-year-old attends some classes at a private school.
“I had to wake up both of them and say, ‘One of you is going to school and the other one is not,” Colton-Medici said. “That was a little bit difficult for one to say, ‘But what do you mean I’m not going to school?’”
Her 5-year-old didn’t understand that her teachers and support staff are marching outside the school, but they aren’t in school today, she said. The 44-year-old broke it down into simple terms to explain the strike to her children.
“The teachers and the support staff there, they’re going to talk to their employer, their boss, to say we need more to take care of ourselves,” Colton-Medici said. “In order to do that, they have to take a break from school.”
In a moment of innocence, she says her oldest daughter asked, “‘So do they need money? I have money in my coin purse.’”
Her daughter’s teacher provided informational and educational packets to do at home and Colton-Medici is doing her best to act as a fill-in educator – all while running her business from home.
“If I had to grade myself with how I’m dealing with their time off from school and me balancing that thing that people call work-life balance, I would probably say I’m giving myself a 10 for effort and like a six for like completion,” she said. “I know that there’s going to be something that I’ve missed.”
Colton-Medici’s husband is working in the office, but he stayed at home Tuesday morning to care for their older daughter while she took their toddler to her school. She’s grateful she can also call on her mother if she needs backup childcare, especially since she said there was enough advance notice of the strike to make plans.
“I know by Thursday, in a few days, it might be a little overwhelming, especially since I do run my own business from home,” she said.
Colton-Medici said she feels for the support staff when she sees them ushering kids into school, walking them to the nurse or giving them a hug at the end of the day. She knows that some of those staffers work as crossing guards and have double duties.
She said it’s important to support the people on strike and make sure they are valued. She reminds people that some of these support staffers also have children in school, some of whom may be at home because their parents are on strike.
“Yes, we are pseudo inconvenienced, but how do you get inconvenienced by your own child?” Colton-Medici said. “I’m just trying to be better, trying to be more of an educator today, in addition to being able to hug my kids because I think that’s really important too.”
While the strike is inconvenient for parents in the district, Wade Armstrong says he and his wife have the flexibility to make it work with their son, Declan, being out of school.
“We’re really lucky because my wife and I, we both work at home,” Armstrong, 47, told CNN. “It’s not such a big impact in terms of we have to find child care and stuff like that, which some of our friends do have to do.”
Yet, the parents are concerned because of the learning time that’s lost for all children during the strike.
“It’s annoying and we’re sad to see the learning loss for our kids,” Armstrong said. “It’s really coming on the heels of the holidays and with spring break coming up soon, it really feels like we’ve barely even had a spring semester.”
Their son is a fourth grader, but this isn’t the first time the 9-year-old has been affected by a strike. He was in kindergarten during the 2019 LAUSD strike.
The previous strike was tougher for the Armstrongs to deal with, as neither of them were working from home and they needed child care. This time around, their son is older and more self-sufficient.
Armstrong said the materials sent home from school aren’t directly related to what’s going on in the classroom, so he’s focusing more on spending time with his son and having some of Declan’s friends over to help other parents.
While Armstrong said he’s “disappointed” that the district and the union couldn’t reach a resolution, he understands why so many staffers are on the picket lines.
Armstrong said his son talks fondly about classroom aides who help special needs students, and they make time to help the whole class with projects. Cafeteria workers are also doing admirable work, especially after feeding so many children during the pandemic, he said.
“There’s a lot of the aides and staff in our schools who really aren’t getting paid much at all and I know how essential they are from what my son tells me about his days in school,” Armstrong said. “I hope they get paid.”
Support staff for Los Angeles public schools has gone on strike, demanding higher wages and more hours for part-time staff. The teachers union is also picketing in solidarity, closing schools for some 400,000 students. Carter Evans reports.
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The 12th atmospheric river of the season has brought more heavy rain and flooding to California. The Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes takes a look at the forecast.
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California state emergency officials have deployed crews across the state to respond to the potentially damaging impacts of yet another atmospheric river slamming the storm-fatigued state.
More than 35 million Californians – most of the state’s population – were under some kind of weather alert Tuesday afternoon.
Powerful winds, thunderstorms and showers were impacting most of central and Southern California Tuesday.
Wind gusts reaching up to 70 mph coupled with the heavy rain could down trees and cut power, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said. More than 170,000 customers across the state were without power Tuesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
State transportation officials reported snow and windy conditions in the mountains of Southern California’s Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Officials recommended residents in the area maintain at least a two-week supply of food, water, medication and fuel ahead of the rapidly strengthening storm’s arrival.
“Visibility is at a big ‘nope’ today,” the state transportation department for the region wrote on Twitter. “Please consider travel when conditions are more favorable. If you must travel, be prepared and stay safe.”
The heavy rain and snow could worsen conditions for communities still flooded from the previous atmospheric river that pummeled the state – and ended just days ago.
“Locally several inches of rainfall is expected by Wednesday morning across especially southern California and this will foster concerns for rapid runoff, flooding and mudslides given the already wet, saturated soil conditions that are in place,” the weather prediction center said.
California has already seen at least 12 atmospheric rivers this winter season that ravaged communities, displaced residents and prompted emergency declarations as floodwater inundated neighborhoods, swelled rivers, damaged roads and sent mud and rocks sliding down hills.
“Now’s the time to ensure you and your family are prepared,” officials from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services urged residents Tuesday.
Swift-water rescue teams, hand crews and bulldozers were also stationed in counties throughout the state.
“This is going to be yet another challenging event – probably not an extreme storm individually by historical standards – but once again, another significant event that, on top of everything that has come before, it’s going to cause some major problems,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a video.
It’s unclear how the climate crisis could be influencing the number of storms that hit the West Coast, but scientists have linked it to an increase in the amount of moisture the atmosphere holds. That means storms, like these atmospheric rivers, are able to bring more moisture inland, leading to an increase in rainfall rates and flash flooding.
Since October 1, Los Angeles has received more than 24 inches of rain — roughly twice as much as it normally gets for this time period. That’s also about 10 inches above their annual average, as the vast majority of California’s rainfall occurs from late fall to early spring.
And it’s not just Los Angeles: cities across the state are seeing very similar numbers.
San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton and Fresno have all seen 150 to 200% of their normal rainfall since October 1.
While the extreme rainfall has triggered flash flooding, mudslides and caused damage, it has also significantly increased critical state reservoirs including Lakes Shasta and Oroville, which have risen by more than 100 and 180 feet respectively since December.
The widespread rain, mountain snow and strong winds across parts of central and Southern California will continue Wednesday and will gradually clear up Thursday, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Sarah Rogowski.
The heaviest impact will likely be felt in southern California, which could see around 1 to 3 inches of rain across lower elevations and 2 to 4 inches across the foothills through Thursday.
The Weather Prediction Center raised the flood threat to a moderate level Monday for areas of Southern California, covering more than 15 million people in coastal areas from Los Angeles to San Diego.
Soils are still overly saturated with water from last week’s storms, setting the stage for more flooding and rapid runoffs.
The powerful storm could also lash Southern California with maximum wind gusts near 75 mph, adding the dangers of fallen trees and powerlines to the mix of hazards Californians are facing this week. More than 30 million people are under alerts for strong winds from California into Nevada and Arizona.
In the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountains, as much as 3 to 4 feet of snow could be piled on top of already buried communities, likely straining infrastructure and making travel difficult, the weather service said.
Thousands were evacuated from two small central California towns, Alpaugh and Allensworth, in Tulare County, where there have been multiple breaches in waterways and repair efforts were “unsuccessful with the amount of water,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said.
Officials worried roads could become impassable and isolate residents, and deputies went door-to-door before dawn Monday asking people to flee.
So far, seven structures were destroyed and more than 680 were damaged by floods in Tulare County, according to Cal Fire.
Amid fears over mud and debris flows from the El Dorado and Apple fire burn scars in San Bernardino County, an evacuation warning was issued for the communities of Oak Glen, Forest Falls, Mountain Home Village, Angelus Oaks and Northeast Yucaipa.
With more rain on the way, protecting people near vulnerable wildfire burn scar areas is among the top concerns for crews.
Scorched soil can’t absorb rain at a normal rate, making it unstable, explained Yucaipa Fire Chief Grant Malinowski, who is part of the operations group keeping watch over the El Dorado burn scar.
The fear is that mud and debris could slide down, make roads impassable, damage homes and strand people, Malinowski told CNN.
Firefighters across the state have been stationed around burn scars each time an atmospheric river menacingly takes aim at the state – and they’ve been doing it a lot this winter season.
“It’s kind of like almost like fire season right now,” Malinowski said, describing thousands of firefighters and crew members from Cal Fire and the National Guard throughout the state responding to recent storms.
But unlike with wildfires, residents could have less time to get away from mudslides.
“It’s not like a fire where they can see the fire building and getting closer. This is instantaneous. It just happens and it’s too late for you to react to it,” Malinowski said.
And performing rescues in mudslides is no easy task – so it’s important for residents to obey evacuation orders, which aren’t made lightly, Malinowski said.
“We understand the gravity of asking people to voluntarily leave their homes, but it’s also weighed with the ability for us to rescue people, knowing that it’s going to be a very difficult – if not impossible – task to get through just tons of tons of dirt and debris where we just literally can’t make access,” Malinowski said.
Up in the mountains, the concern is heavy snow stranding people.
“The storm is expected to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday and dump as much as three feet of additional snow on mountain communities that were hit with as much of 10 feet of snow during storms in late February and early this month,” San Bernardino County officials said.
The county said it is activating public works employees for 24-hour snow plowing and storm patrol, having County Flood Control District crews active on split shifts during the storm and adding additional sheriff deputies to routine patrols for the next two weeks.
Still reeling from an onslaught of powerful storms and destructive floods, California is bracing for a 12th atmospheric river that’s expected to bring a new round of heavy snow and rain to the state.
The latest in the parade of storms ushered moisture into California Sunday, lashing the state with high winds and dumping more rain and snow over the region before it was expected to spread inland Monday.
Thousands were under evacuation orders Sunday in two small central California towns – Alpaugh and Allensworth – as officials worried roads could become impassable and isolate residents, according to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office. First responders from dozens of agencies, including the California National Guard, were out Sunday afternoon helping residents evacuate – a sight that has become familiar in the flood-ravaged state this winter season.
“The devastation is indescribable,” Tulare County farmer Brandon Mendonsa told CNN affiliate KFSN. “The water is still coming – this is far from being done.”
The next atmospheric river, mainly taking aim at southern California, is expected to be colder than the last and arrive Tuesday with high winds, heavy rain, mountain snow and the threat of more floods. Soils in the Golden State are still overly saturated from last week’s storm, making the ground vulnerable to more flooding and rapid runoffs, the National Weather Service said.
Though not forecast to be as potent as the atmospheric rivers of previous weeks, the system is expected to bring 1-3 inches of rain across the lower elevations and 2-4 inches across the foothills of Southern California through Thursday. Arizona could also see up to 3 inches of rainfall.
Powerful winds are also a concern. Gusts could reach up to 80 mph – strong enough to down trees and power lines from the central California coast to Southern California, according to the Weather Service.
High wind watches were issued for Southern California, including Los Angeles, for Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountain ranges, snowfall could add up to several feet for some the highest terrain and likely make for hazardous travel over the next few days.
Winter storm watches have already been issued for the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, where an additional 1-4 feet of snowfall is possible late Monday through Wednesday afternoon. The San Bernardino Mountains are also under a winter storm watch, with snowfall expected to reach up to 4 feet through Wednesday with gusts up to 85 mph.
This winter, California was hit with 11 different atmospheric rivers – long, narrow bands of moisture that can carry saturated air thousands of miles like a fire hose. While the storms have upended life for many in the state, damaging homes and forcing evacuations, they’ve also helped put a dent in the state’s historic drought.
Severe drought in California was cut in half from the previous week, now covering only 8% of the state – down from 80.6% just three months ago, according to the US Drought Monitor. Just over a third of the state remains in some level of drought.
The abnormally wet winter – combined with recent storms – wiped out exceptional and extreme drought in California for the first time since 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Moderate to exceptional drought coverage across the U.S. is at its lowest since August 2020 and is likely to continue improving, or end entirely, across much of California and the Great Basin,” NOAA forecasters said.
As the snowpack melts in the coming months, it’s expected to further improve drought conditions across much of the western US, according to NOAA. But, that could also mean more floods.
“Approximately 44% of the U.S. is at risk for flooding this spring,” said Ed Clark, director of NOAA’s National Water Center. “California’s historic snowpack, coupled with spring rain, is heightening the potential for spring floods.”
Brightly colored toys buried in mud. Brown murky water where cars once parked. Family photos floating through a neighborhood.
This is what one Southern California community looked like last week, lifelong Ventura resident Angie Thompson said, after the state’s 11th atmospheric river this winter wrought hurricane-like winds and catastrophic flooding.
“We’re tired,” Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said of a similar mess and clean-up effort hundreds of miles to the north as she joined Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local leaders to tour damage, including the breached Pajaro River levee.
“Everyone is tired.”
Yet again, though, the vast state is bracing for the wet blast of another atmospheric river – a long, narrow moisture band that carries saturated air thousands of miles, then discharges it like a fire hose. It’s due to impact the US West from Monday to Wednesday, with widespread rain across central and Southern California and more snow in the Sierra Nevada.
While the series of storm systems – a regular part of California weather that may be supercharged this year by key climate patterns – is putting a dent in the state’s historic drought, it’s also lashed many of its residents to a carousel of misery with at least one more ride in store.
“We have neighbors that have lost their entire home,” Thompson said. “One person in particular lost everything, and every time they’d get it under control, something else would happen, and the water would reroute and come back right through the family’s home.”
The fatigue reaches far beyond those forced to muck out their living rooms. Evacuees fret over when they might be able to return. First responders ponder more triple-shift days – sometimes with their own relatives in need of rescue. And for some who’ve survived California’s other recent woes – from wildfires to mudslides to the Covid-19 pandemic – it’s another battle in the war with worry.
“Anxiety wants something that no one can have, which is 100% certainty about things,” said Andrea Kulberg, a licensed clinical psychologist who works with Southern California clients highly anxious about disaster.
People, she said, “want answers that no one can give them.”
Thompson’s driveway has been a lake since an atmospheric river in January pushed a creek into the Camp Chaffee neighborhood where she’s lived for four years, she told CNN. Flooding swept away a whole box of wedding albums, baby photos, clothing, appliances and tools likely passed down through generations.
Compared to some neighbors, Thompson’s damage was minimal, she said. But no one remains untouched.
“Cars, yards … It’s affected every single person over here,” she said. “It’s just really horrible to watch people’s lives just wash down the river.”
A four-hours’ drive north, more than 2,000 people were evacuated – and more then 200 rescued – this month in Pajaro. Ruth Ruiz left in hurry before dawn March 11 and couldn’t immediately return, she told CNN affiliate KPIX. She worried about her property – and how long it might take to get back to normal life.
“We don’t really have a plan. We’re just taking it day by day,” Ruiz said. “But we have a feeling it’s going to be months before even insurance can cover any damages.”
Von Berlanga, meanwhile, stayed in Pajaro and watched last week as water started seeping into his garage, he told CNN. His mom’s home had flooded back in January 1995, when an intense winter storm slammed Monterey County with 6 inches of rain, damaging over 100 homes. Three months later, a second winter storm hit already-saturated areas, causing much more damage.
As the latest of this year’s atmospheric rivers pushed toward shore, Berlanga stayed put with supplies, even as the furnace still showed markings from the 1995 flood, he told CNN.
“I was prepared,” he said. “I had 30 gallons of water, food for me, food for my dogs.”
Then as floodwater started seeping into his garage, Berlanga raised his vintage cars out of harm’s way.
“I jacked up my cars real quick. … They’re OK,” he said as he used a wide hoe to push muddy water around the driveway. “I woke up about 4 o’clock this morning and started cleaning.”
During January’s storms, Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Brian McGrath and his team also rushed into action – completing about 80 rescues in one day, he told CNN. Such calls weren’t nearly as frequent last week, he said, crediting residents with being more prepared.
As another atmospheric river revs up, McGrath and his team are, as always, on call, ready to go within 45 seconds – in some cases for 48 hours or more straight – he said.
But being a firefighter in one’s own community can be draining.
“We try to treat everyone around the community as members of our families or friends because a lot of times they are,” McGrath said. “We will make a rescue or end up finding out that it was one of our coworkers friends or family members.”
“That also runs a toll on us because we’re missing so much of our own family.”
McGrath is grateful for support from his colleagues and relatives, he told CNN. Without it, going from a long fire season straight into a long winter storm season would be completely draining.
The state’s varied existential risks – on top of the waning pandemic – also weighs on ordinary Californians.
As clinical director of Anxiety Experts in Southern California, Kulberg treats clients with anxiety stemming from the state’s deadly wildfires, mudslides and now its devastating floods, she told CNN. Some lost their homes or were rescued from their roofs.
People “want to know: How long am I going to be distressed for? When’s it going to end? How bad is it gonna get?” she said. “No human can have that.”
Through a treatment known as exposure therapy, Kulberg works with clients to confront their own stories repeatedly “to habituate to their fear thoughts and memories and visualizations surrounding the story.”
“Then, they no longer are fearful of having their thoughts and memories and body sensations of anxiety surrounding those events,” she said.
For those dealing with higher levels of anxiety during these times, Kulberg offers these recommendations:
• Remember anxiety cannot harm you; it comes in spikes and it will eventually subside.
• Remember thoughts are not threats; thoughts that something terrible might happen as a result of extreme weather don’t mean it is more likely to happen, and most of what we think never comes true.
• Regardless of what body sensations or thoughts of anxiety might be present, try to continue to do things that bring meaning and purpose to life.
A former Eric Garcetti aide, who has accused the former Los Angeles mayor of ignoring allegations of sexual harassment during his time in office, said Monday that he is “unfit” to become US ambassador to India amid his embattled nomination.
“He is unfit to become an ambassador or really to hold public office anywhere in this country or this world,” Naomi Seligman, a former communication’s director for Garcetti, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”
CNN reported last year that the initial nomination of Garcetti, a Democrat, by President Joe Biden had faced headwinds over concerns centered on accusations that he had ignored alleged sexual harassment and bullying. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination for a second time last week, with two Republicans voting with Democrats in favor of advancing Garcetti to the Senate floor.
Notably, a key Democratic holdout – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York – said she would support the nomination after expressing confidence in the review of Garcetti conducted by the foreign relations panel.
Seligman, a self-proclaimed lifelong Democrat, said she briefed nearly a third of the Senate on the alleged misconduct in Garcetti’s office, and called it “devastating” to see lawmakers from her party push on with his nomination.
“Unfortunately, the White House has put undue pressure on Democrats to vote for Eric Garcetti because Eric Garcetti has been a very, very loyal person to President Biden, and that’s unfortunate,” she told Tapper. “These senators that purport to support #MeToo cannot just do it when it’s politically expedient. They have to do it when it matters, even if it’s your own political party.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked last week about the nomination, said Garcetti is “well qualified to serve in this vital role” and urged the Senate to move forward to confirm him.
“The president nominated him because he thought he had the experience to be the US ambassador to India,” Jean-Pierre said.
Throughout the lengthy process of Senate consideration of Garcetti’s nomination, the White House has stood steadfastly behind the former Los Angeles mayor. Garcetti has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the allegations and has met personally with senators in an effort to clear a path to confirmation.
The White House did not have an immediate comment on Seligman’s interview.
Seligman on Monday detailed her time serving in Garcetti’s office, saying she was present when Garcetti witnessed his onetime deputy chief of staff and longtime political adviser “touch people, hug people, kiss people.”
“We were in a work environment where sexual harassment and abuse was tolerated, enabled and ubiquitous. It was as common as checking your texts,” she told Tapper. “It was a very hard, disappointing and toxic environment where Mayor Garcetti enabled, tolerated and at times laughed about the abuse by his top aide and confidant, Rick Jacobs.”
Jacobs stepped down from his political work for Garcetti in the fall of 2020 – several months after a lawsuit was filed against him and the city by LAPD Officer and former Garcetti bodyguard Matthew Garza, who alleged Jacobs made “crude sexual remarks” and inappropriately touched him, The Los Angeles Times reported last year. Jacobs has previously denied harassing anyone and that civil lawsuit is ongoing.
As the allegations were being investigated, Seligman alleged in a deposition that Jacobs had repeatedly harassed her while she worked at City Hall from 2015 to 2017, according to a staff report from Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office last year. She stated that Jacobs’ conduct included “unwanted hugs, kisses (and) sexual comments.” One incident included “a prolonged kiss on the lips without her consent in front of several staff members,” the report stated.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Seligman was referring to the #MeToo movement in a reference to support from Democratic senators.
At least eight people have died after a panga boat capsized near the shore of Black’s Beach in San Diego County, California, officials said.
Authorities responded to the scene Saturday around 11:30 p.m. local time after someone on a separate panga boat, a type of small fishing boat powered by an outboard motor, called 911 to report victims in the water, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
The first rescuers could not access the beach because of the high tide, and had to wade through “knee to waist deep water,” the release said.
Lifeguards initially only spotted seven bodies, but then found another with assistance from the US Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations, the department said.
The bodies were transferred to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office, according to the release.
Several agencies responded to the incident, including the fire-rescue department, the San Diego Police Department, US Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard, the agency said.
Coast Guard and border protection officials are scheduled to hold a joint news conference about the incident on Sunday, officials said.
