California

California

Jacob Rajaniemi's exact cause of death is being investigated along with the exact amount of time he'd been in the water before he was found, said Emily Fuller, a public information specialist with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. "Our marine unit is conducting a boating accident investigation and the coroner's office is conducting their death investigation, so once those are both complete we should have a better idea of what happened," Fuller told The Press Democrat.

According to a new report from the California Association of Realtors, you now need an income of $524,000 to buy the median priced home in San Mateo County. "How are you supposed to make that living? Especially as a single person, there's just no way," said Prieya Sahni. The numbers for San Mateo County compare to an income of $326,000 needed to buy a home in the Bay Area as a whole, and just over $223,000 for California overall.

During his tenure as chief, Blackshire was supposed to have received a 3% wage premium for his Emergency Medical Technician certification, the lawsuit, filed on Jan. 7 states. The premium requirements are outlined in a city compensation plan for EMT certified employees. Blackshire, who has had his certification since 1997, was paid the premium during his time as Deputy Fire Chief, according to the suit. But in July 2019, when Blackshire was promoted, the city stopped paying the premium.

Seventeen vehicles, including a big rig, were involved in the crash, which happened at approximately 9:15 a.m. on the southbound side of the highway between North and Cedar avenues, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release. CHP said there were at least two separate crashes happening "moments apart." The pileup began when a couple exited their car during the initial crashes and were hit by another vehicle.

Stone said his vote is influenced by a letter the council received last month from the Santa Clara County Medical Association, which represents more than 4,000 local health professionals. The letter outlined doctors' concerns about the health impacts of synthetic fields, and recommended the council vote against turf. "When our county doctors are telling us that a proposed solution may do harm and offer an alternative, I believe we have the responsibility to choose that safer path even when it's harder," Stone said.

A Menlo Park resident was on his way to work this morning when a truck rammed into his yard, he told the Post. The truck's driver had a medical emergency and drove into the fences of three homes, stopping at his yard at 125 Oak Court at 10:25 a.m., Matt Burr, the "neighborhood pizza guy," said. Burr sells pizzas at Cafe Zoe at 1929 Menalto Ave.

I felt like a hawk catching a gentle breeze as I flew about 400 feet over the oak woodlands and ranchland below me. I was harnessed into the first of three zip lines available at Highline Adventures near Buellton, an expansive adventure park where Californians of every age can find something fun to do - including zooming down the fastest zip line in the state.

Just after 3 p.m., Fremont Police Officers responded to the "major injury collision" - which happened at the intersection of Cushing Parkway and Northport Loop East - involving a pickup truck and a motorcyclist, according to a press release from Fremont Police. "The motorcyclist suffered major injuries and was transported to a local area hospital," according to the press release. "The driver of the pickup was uninjured and remained on scene."

OAKLEY, Calif. -- There is a lockdown for the city of Oakley midday Monday due to an armed suspect at large, the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office says. Officials say the suspect is described as an adult man in his mid 40s, wearing a hat and grey hooded sweatshirt. As of 11:40 a.m., the activity is in the vicinity of the 4300 block of Gold Run Drive near Neroly Road, Oakley Road and Empire Avenue.

He describes turning to steroids after several spine injuries in the line of duty, the nightmares that haunt him from the day a tried to save a 2-year-old girl who drowned in a backyard pool, and the fateful morning where FBI armored cars drove onto his lawn and burst into his home with flashbang grenades while he poured milk into his kids' cereal bowls.

Police described the Oakland shooting as a gangland assassination, where three cars pulled up with four gunmen inside, who opened fire and killed 24-year-old Bert Brigham III. The shooting occurred more than four years ago, and though police say they caught three suspected Funktown gang associates with guns used in the shooting the very next day, everyone has avoided charges until now. On Jan. 7, Alameda County prosecutors charged a 25-year-old suspect, Hanif McLeod, with being one of the four gunmen who killed Brigham.

A pedestrian who was struck by a car on Santa Cruz's Mission Street died on Sunday, the police said.

Police are asking for the public's help identifying a man accused of stealing about $1,700 worth of caviar from a Whole Foods store in Irvine over the holiday season. The theft occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 at the Whole Foods Market on Irvine Center Drive, Irvine Police Department spokesman Kyle Oldoerp said. At first, the caviar culprit appeared to be shopping normally, selecting items and placing them in a basket, police said.

The loss of the federal EV tax credits may have been a huge blow to prospective buyers, but California wants to fill that gap for its residents. Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed budget for 2026-2027, which was released on Friday, includes a "light-duty zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) incentive program" that details a one-time infusion of $200 million. According to the budget summary, this incentive program is "a critical part of the Administration's strategy to keep ZEVs affordable and accessible for all."

Scott Wiener has an unusual distinction in American politics: He upsets almost everybody. In the months before I met the California state senator-who is now running for Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat-he had been harangued at one public meeting after another. In October, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted his campaign's pumpkin-carving event to shout: "Wiener, Wiener, you can't hide; we charge you with genocide." (This was not an isolated incident.) His usual response in these situations is to wait calmly and then carry on as normal.

The ads, from a straightforward-looking news site called the California Courier, often felt a lot like campaign commercials, linking to articles hammering Democrats in the state, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. Few punched in the other direction, toward Republicans. One said, "California Democrats just rewrote their gerrymandering plan so voters will see their partisan map on the ballot this November." Another called Proposition 50, which passed in November, "a scheme critics say is meant to undermine voter-approved protections and entrench one party rule in California."

The Napa Lighted Art Festival is a celebration of creative arts, technology and lights, and supports innovative techniques using light and light technologies as a growing art medium. This walkable outdoor experience is free in Downtown Napa, featuring 15 lighted art installations for 5 weeks from January 17 - February 15, 2026. Projection artwork will be displayed on three iconic downtown buildings for the first 9 nights of the festival: January 17-25, 2026.

After experiencing one of the wettest holiday seasons on record, still soggy California hit a major milestone this week having zero areas of abnormal dryness for the first time in 25 years. The data, collected by the U.S. Drought Monitor, are a welcome nugget of news for Golden State residents, who in the last 15 years alone have lived through two of the worst droughts on record, the worst wildfire seasons on record and the most destructive wildfires ever.

The city of Los Angeles violated the state's open meeting law when council members took up a plan to clear 9,800 homeless encampments behind closed doors, a judge ruled this week. In a 10-page decision, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Curtis Kin said the City Council ran afoul of the Ralph M. Brown Act by approving the encampment strategy during a Jan. 31, 2024, closed session.

Humberto Rodriguez Martinez, 39, is accused of working with a friend to kill his romantic rival outside his ex-girlfriend's apartment in 2017, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Martinez is a Mexican citizen and was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the killing, prosecutors said. Prosecutors charged Martinez in 2017 with the murder of 32-year-old Daniel Reyes, as well as with felony enhancements for allegedly lying in wait and for using a knife.