Spring wings A look at our local Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species and share some tips on how to protect them. New conservation tool One of the ways you could help butterflies and moths in your local area is by creating a space with plants they are attracted to. Chris Cosma, a recent Ph.D. graduate from UC Riverside and now at the Conservation Biology Institute, created an online tool that lets you enter your ZIP code (or address) and the Butterfly Net shows the best native plant species to use in your area. The site works for all of California and ranks the value as host and nectar pla ..read more

A 27-year-old man is facing a felony charge after police accused him of drowning a golden retriever puppy in a Cypress hotel room. Richard Benjamin Tolliver was charged Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to one count of cruelty to animals. His next court date is a May 16 pretrial hearing at the West Justice Center in Westminster. Authorities were called to the Extended Stay motel at 5990 Corporate Drive about 8:50 a.m. Monday, May 6 in response to reports of smoke coming from a room, according to Sgt. Cassie Olivas of the Cypress Police Department. Olivas said authorities found an item on fire i ..read more

The California Coastal Commission has drawn a line in the sand: Allow transgender surfers to compete, or you’ll be in violation of the Coastal Act. A two-day surf contest happening this weekend in Huntington Beach found itself at the center of a hotly debated topic: Whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in the gender division they identify with or the gender they were born as – a question many sports organizers are facing as equality and fairness are argued among both sides. A few weeks ago, Australian transgender surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson said she approached the organizer of th ..read more

FX’s Emmy-winning comedy “The Bear” and acclaimed drama series “Reservation Dogs” were among the winners announced today for the prestigious 84th annual Peabody Awards, while the “Star Trek” franchise will receive an Institutional Award for it’s long-running impact on entertainment and culture. The Peabody Awards — which honor “the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and streaming media during 2023” — will be presented this year in Los Angeles for the first time. The ceremony will be held June 9 at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani. “Whether cour ..read more

A Los Angeles-based program that brings Holocaust survivors into classrooms and to community events to share their stories in an effort to counter antisemitism and bigotry is set to expand, officials announced Thursday. Living Links, billed as the first national organization to engage and empower third-generation descendants of Holocaust survivors, will be partnering with USC Shoah Foundation to expand the program and bolster its speaker training efforts. According to Robert Williams, executive director and chair of the foundation, the partnership comes at a moment of “urgency and peril,” when ..read more

Despite record heavy rainfall last winter, the threat of wildfires in Southern California remains significant in the coming months, with the peak of the season looming just around the corner, fire officials said Thursday. CalFire, the Orange County Fire Authority, and several other partnering agencies hosted a press conference at Irvine Lake in Silverado, as part of a multi-agency effort to raise awareness and urge residents to be prepared and help reduce wildfire risks. “Don’t let the green hillsides fool you, we have a year-round fire season,” Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fenness ..read more

A former Orange County School of the Arts student testified this week to receiving “sexually charged” messages from a teenage Samuel Woodward, the man currently on trial for killing his former classmate Blaze Bernstein, a slaying prosecutors allege was a hate crime. With Woodward’s attorney admitting at the outset of his murder trial that Woodward, then 20, killed 19-year-old Bernstein in 2018, the key question for jurors will be whether Woodward was driven by anti-gay and anti-semitic beliefs to carry out the slaying, as prosecutors allege, or if Woodward struggled with his own sexuality and ..read more

An Irvine doctor who specializes in treating liver diseases is suspected of sexually assaulting two female patients. Dr. John Carl Hoefs, 79, was arrested on May 3 and charged with seven counts of sexual battery, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. He was released after posting a $500,000 bond. Hoefs is accused of grabbing the breasts of two patients during exams at a medical office in Irvine affiliated with Hoag Hospital. He is suspected of assaulting a female patient suffering from a liver condition beginning in 2020, and on four other occasions, the district attorney ..read more

Two Southern California colleges have become the latest institutions to face allegations for “caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students,” amid student calls for divestment from Israel. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League announced on Thursday, May 9, that they have filed civil right complaints against Pomona College and Occidental College. Arnold & Porter, a prominent law firm headquartered in Washington D.C., has also joined in the complaint against Pomona. In their complaints, filed wit ..read more

Suchita Farkiwala, a DePaul University senior from Ahmedabad, India, vividly remembers the day she flew into O’Hare International Airport more than three years ago to enroll in undergraduate classes. Despite having no family or friends in the city, she had a crew of DePaul community members who met her at the airport, welcoming her to Chicago. Since that first day in the city, she has assumed the role of mentor to younger students from around the world pursuing higher education. “You never walk alone,” Farkiwala said of being an international student at DePaul. “You walk with support from all ..read more