The bodies of eight backcountry skiers who died in the largest avalanche in state history Tuesday will not be recovered Thursday due to hazardous weather conditions, officials said. Recovery operations to extract the group off the mountains are expected to continue into the weekend, according to a social media post from the Nevada County Sheriff's Office. One additional skier is missing but presumed deceased.
If you want to get outdoors, note that this year, Presidents Day falls on Monday, Feb. 16, when all national parks will be free to enter. But things are a bit different than in past years. This year, the freebie days are only for American legal residents. Foreigners will pay much higher fees. These freebies can save you $50, but you should definitely plan in advance and get up to go at the crack of dawn, before it gets crowded with sleepyheads.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favorable to Democrats in this year's elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration. No justices dissented from the brief order. The justices had previously allowed Texas' Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race.
California has regained its bragging-rights ranking as the world's fourth-largest economy. Using gross domestic product as the scorecard, my trusty spreadsheet compared fresh state-level data for the third quarter of 2025 from the Bureau of Economic Analysis with 2025 business output estimates for countries compiled by the International Monetary Fund, released in October. In the third quarter, California's economy produced goods and services at a nation-leading annual rate of $4.296 trillion a 4.5% increase from the previous year, according to the BEA.
Two people are more than $100,000 richer after purchasing Fantasy 5 lottery game tickets at East Contra Costa County gas stations Tuesday, officials said Wednesday. The two each picked all five game numbers and each won $107,996, officials said. It was not known if they have come forward yet. The winning numbers were 1, 4, 22, 33 and 39. The total jackpot was $323,898.
By December of 2025, the 60-year-old was back at work, "un-retiring" as rising costs made retirement unaffordable. She now holds three jobs. Moving from celebration to working six days a week was difficult and disappointing, she said, and meant putting personal projects and creative pursuits on hold - like writing a book.
Highway 1 is an emotional experience for so many people, and its early reopening reconnects the full wonder of Ragged Point, San Simeon and Cambria with our neighbors to the north in Monterey,
California officials are issuing warnings about a new flu strain that is increasing flu-related cases and hospitalizations statewide, with public health experts across the nation echoing the alerts. A newly emerged influenza A strain, H3N2 subclade K, is already wreaking havoc globally and is affecting hospitals and clinics in California, the California Department of Public Health announced on Tuesday. Although the agency did not provide specific data for California cases, it described the seasonal flu activity as "elevated" in the state.
A federal court has upheld the new congressional map approved by California voters last month, giving Democrats a chance to counter the nationwide redistricting effort led by President Trump and his Republican allies. The court challenge to the redistricting plan had been brought by the California Republican Party and the U.S. Department of Justice. The court found that the new district map did not violate laws against racial gerrymandering.
CHP officers, with the help of public safety funding, increased recruitment efforts, legislative action and more solid partnerships, have been able to grow their organized retail crime operations year after year,
Trump administration officials announced a sprawling probe into benefits fraud across California on Friday, citing what they called a massive, coordinated effort by "foreign actors" to fleece government healthcare to the tune of billions of dollars. The crackdown appeared to center on bogus hospice providers first exposed by The Times in 2020 and later investigated by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta. "Eighteen percent of the whole country's home healthcare billing is coming out of Los Angeles County - how is that possible?" said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "It's about $3.5 billion just in L.A. County for hospice and home healthcare."
A panel of the San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling that the state's prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the US constitution's second amendment right to keep and bear arms. About 95% of the population in California, which has had some of the nation's strictest gun-control laws, live in counties of that size.
An estimated 325,000 Californians will have to replace their REAL IDs because of a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) software error. The department says a review of its data systems identified some legal immigrants who were issued REAL IDs that do not expire at the same time as their authorization to remain in the country. The DMV is sending notices in the coming weeks and months to the people impacted about the steps they need to follow to remain in federal compliance, and it is waiving fees to reissue the IDs and expediting the process.
Most monarchs live just a few weeks, but the super generation that overwinters in California lives six to nine months. For much of the year, the butterflies are solitary, but they cluster together at overwintering sites, sometimes by the thousands. Monarchs use the groves to rest, but when it's warm enough during the dayabove around 55 degrees Fahrenheitthey break out of those clusters to search for nectar.
Delta is under an updated flood advisory which was issued by the National Weather Service on Wednesday at 9:45 p.m. The advisory is in effect until Thursday Dec. 25, at 9 p.m. The NWS Sacramento CA said, Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected. Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Water over roadways, according to the NWS. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
During the five days he spent in Brazil, Newsom described Donald Trump as an invasive species and condemned his rollback of policies aimed at reducing emissions and expanding renewable energy. Newsom, long considered a presidential hopeful, argued that, as the US retreated, California would step up in its place as a stable, reliable climate leader and partner. Among the talking points he used to demonstrate California's leadership was its progress on renewable energy and the battery capacity needed to store that power.
Established in 1946, Fosters Freeze was the first fast food restaurant in California, and you can still visit 38 locations today. McDonald's was founded in 1940 in California. However it wouldn't be until 1948 that they revamped the restaurant into a fast food format by adopting what they called a Speedee Service System. Likewise, In-N-Out didn't show up on the scene until 1948, meaning Fosters Freeze had a little time to perfect the idea before the more popular chains caught on.
To judge the burden of overuse of the plastic cards powering your wallet, the number of days of work required to pay off common outstanding credit card debts was calculated. This math says that a typical Californian card balance is equivalent to eight days' worth of the average wage. That ties Connecticut for the fourth-lowest burden among the states. Californians' credit card debt is also below the median 9.9-day burden across 50 states. Only New York (6.3 days), Massachusetts (6.8), and Washington state (7.9) were better.
President Donald Trump's on Thursday signed an executive order that aims to discourage state governments from regulating artificial intelligence and urges Congress to pass a law preempting such regulations. The order is likely to hit hardest in California, which since 2016 has passed more laws to regulate artificial intelligence than any other state, according to a Stanford report from earlier this year. California is also home to the world's leading AI companies, including Anthropic, Google, Nvidia, and OpenAI.
Vega Farms Inc., based in Dixon, issued the recall on Dec. 5 for its branded eggs sold in 12-count cartons and 30-count flats, CPDH officials said in a notice. The affected products, sold in the Sacramento and Davis areas, carry the handler code 2136 and include items supplied to restaurants and farmers markets. The recall covers cartons and flats marked with Sell By dates of Dec. 22, 2025, and earlier.
