State

SAN FRANCISCO—The charges against two former federal agents were filed in a San Francisco federal court. Both agents belonged to a Baltimore-based task force that investigated the Silk Road website. Silk Road was an online black market where illegal drugs were sold. The market was built to allow users to browse anonymously with no possible tracking. On October 2, 2013 the...

CALIFORNIA—On March 20, one of three teenagers who confessed to sexually assaulting 15-year-old Audrie Pott resulting in her suicide settled a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the victim's parents. On September 4, 2012 Audrie attended a party in Saratoga at a friend’s house whose parents were out of town. Around 10 teenagers showed up and they got drunk on vodka mixed with...

CALIFORNIA—On Saturday, March 7, the Coliseum in Rome was once again defaced—and this time the vandals were two California women, ages 21 and 25. Constructed under the Roman emperors Vespasian, and succeeding him, Titus, the Coliseum, which is also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, accommodated medieval entertainment such as gladiatorial contests, mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, battle re-enactments and...

SANTA MONICA—California Highway Patrol Captain Gregory Hammond filed a lawsuit on February 27 alleging that he was wrongly punished for resisting pressure to find that an officer acted improperly in an altercation with a woman alongside the Santa Monica I-10 Freeway. A bystander, David Diaz, caught the dramatic altercation on video, which shows CHP officer, Daniel Andrew, tackling a woman,...

CALIFORNIA—The University of California has announced that enrollment will not be expanded to in-state applicants and will place a firm limit on the enrollment of out-of-state applicants at the University of California-Berkeley and UCLA. In spite of an increase in total applications, the public university system has stated that it cannot increase enrollment without further state funding. The schools are expected...

LOS ANGELES—The officer-involved shooting on Sunday, March 1 on the 500 block of San Pedro in Los Angeles, has placed national attention upon the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers. The conflict took place on Los Angeles' famed skid row, a place where local homeless gather, pitching tents in the public space for shelter. The shooting took place after...

CALIFORNIA—State Senator Ed Hernandez who represents the 24th Senate district, introduced a bill on January 29, that would raise the legal smoking age in California from 18 to 21 “Tobacco companies know that people are more likely to become addicted to smoking if they start at a young age” Hernandez said in a statement. “We can no longer afford to...

WESTWOOD—After pleading not guilty on two counts of a hit-and-run last week that killed Terry Carter, 55, and injured Cle “Bone” Sloan, 51, Suge Knight was hospitalized after complaining about chest pains in court on Tuesday, February 3. Knight’s former attorney, James E. Blatt, he told reporters that Knight was assaulted in a Compton parking lot and accidently ran over...

WESTWOOD—Co-Founder of Death Row Records, Marion “Suge” Knight was involved in a fatal hit-and-run on Thursday, January 29 in Compton. The victim was Terry Carter, 55, who was killed when Knight put his vehicle in reverse and ran over Carter. Also injured during the incident was Cle Sloan, 51. Knight has been taken into custody by authorities and booked on...

CALIFORNIA—The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) published a report and issued a health advisory on January 28, warning about the dangers of electronic cigarettes. The CDPH, which also operates California’s controversial medical marijuana program, is the state department responsible for California’s public health. The electronic cigarettes the CDPH is speaking of are often referred to as “e‐cigs” or “vapes,” and...