No matter where you live in California, there is a risk of considerable damage due to an earthquake.  Almost every Californian lives within 15 minutes of an active fault line. And many can still recall some of the strongest quakes to hit the state, from the widespread damage caused by the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake to the building collapses from the Bay Area’s Loma Prieta Earthquake. So, state and federal agencies have a wealth of resources to help residents prepare for the inevitable next quake. Here is what you need to know before during and after the rumbli ..read more

An Arizona grand jury has indicted former Donald Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani along with 16 others in an election interference case. The indictment released Wednesday names 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. It shows seven other defendants whose names were not immediately released because they had not yet been served with the charges. The Associated Press was able to determine the identities of the unnamed defendants based on their descriptions in the ..read more

USC informed its faculty members in its journalism department that they have the option of instructing classes online through the end of the week as pro-Palentine activists conducted a demonstration, calling for the school to cut financial ties with Israel. “Given events on campus, we would like to offer you the option to hold your classes in a hybrid or online modality through the end of the week,” officials from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism said in a message to faculty. Organizers of the USC occupation — identifying themselves as the USC Divest from Death Coaliti ..read more

An innocent bystander was killed in a violent crash that started with police officers chasing a robbery suspect. The collision happened after 6 a.m. as LAPD officers began following a person who they believed was involved in a theft on East 48th and Central Streets. Officers tried to stop the driver, but he continued on, which triggered a short pursuit spanning several blocks within the same neighborhood.  As the driver tried to run away from police, the suspect vehicle struck a bicyclist who happened to be in the area of 45th Street and Hooper Avenue but kept going. “[The suspect’s car ..read more

Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests. At the University of Texas at Austin, dozens of local police and state troopers formed a line to prevent students from marching through the campus, eventually clashing with the protesters and detaining multiple people. And at the University of Southern California, police removed several tents, then got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents before falli ..read more

No, TikTok will not suddenly disappear from your phone. Nor will you go to jail if you continue using it after it is banned. After years of attempts to ban the Chinese-owned app, including by former President Donald Trump, a measure to outlaw the popular video-sharing app has won congressional approval and been signed by President Biden. The measure gives Beijing-based parent company ByteDance nine months to sell the company, with a possible additional three months if a sale is in progress. If it doesn’t, TikTok will be banned. So what does this mean for you, a TikTok user, or perhap ..read more

Arizona doctors could give their patients abortions in California under a proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to circumvent a ban on nearly all abortions in that state. It would apply only to doctors licensed in good standing in Arizona and their patients, and last only through the end of November. Arizona’s 1864 law banning nearly all abortions except if the mother’s life is in jeopardy takes effect June 8. Newsom said protecting access to abortions is “just about basic decency” and “respect for women and girls.” “This Arizona law is the first border-state law that will directly ..read more

Police officers clashed with protesters who set up encampments on the campus of USC as the students took part in the pro-Palestine demonstrations that were growing across the U.S. on Wednesday. Video from NewsChopper4 showed campus police attempting to break down some of the encampments set up for the Gaza Solidarity Occupation demonstrations that took place across the country. The university also sent an alert for students and faculty members, warning them of “significant activity at the center of the UPC campus due to a demonstration.” Colleges & Universities Apr 19 USC cancels comme ..read more

Nine couples in a joint lawsuit have accused Ovation Fertility in Newport Beach of destroying their embryos by exposing them to a lethal amount of poison. At a time when they were hoping to grow their families, they’re demanding to know what happened and blaming Ovation Fertility for a devastating cover-up. “This could have very well been our last chance to have children,” said Ovation Fertility patient Brooke Berger. Berger and her partner Bennett Hardy, one of the nine couples in the lawsuit, shared their painful experience during a press conference Tuesday. “When it didn’t work, we had lots ..read more

Comedian Arj Barker asked a breastfeeding mother and her baby to leave his comedy show at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday night, a decision that has sparked controversy online. In a statement posted to his Instagram page, Barker, an American comedian, said a baby sitting a few rows away from the stage was “talking” at the start of his show, prompting him to make a few jokes about it. But when the baby “called out again,” Barker became concerned. “I then calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay,” he said in the statement. “I fel ..read more