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10 Freeway shut down in East Los Angeles after pursuit ends in police shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

The 10 Freeway is shut down in both directions in East Los Angeles after a pursuit ended in a police shooting Friday morning.The incident was reported around 10:50 a.m. on the eastbound side of the highway near the Eastern Avenue off-ramp and the southbound 710 Freeway transition, according to the California Highway Patrol.Monterey Park police were chasing a driver when the pursuit ended in an officer-involved shooting, though it is unknown if anyone was injured.The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the incident to assist in the investigation.A SigAlert was ordered in the area, closing both sides of the freeway.Aerial video from Sky5 showed multiple police vehicles on the empty highway in the area, but traffic backed up for miles.No further details about the incident have been released. Check back for updates on this developing story.

Chick-fil-A is bringing back this popular menu item for a limited time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

Chick-fil-A is celebrating the spring season with its Watermelon Mint Lemonade, a popular item returning to participating restaurants nationwide six years after its debut.The seasonal drink will be available starting April 3 and can be enjoyed in three different versions: Watermelon Mint Sunjoy, Watermelon Mint Frosted Lemonade and Watermelon Mint Iced Tea, the company announced Thursday.Chick-fil-A's four watermelon and mint flavored drinks (Chick-fil-A)The Watermelon Mint Sunjoy combines tart and sweet flavors by combining Chick-fil-A’s lemonade with its Sweetened Iced Tea along with watermelon and mint flavors.The Frosted Watermelon Mint Lemonade combines Chick-fil-A’s Icedream dessert with the new lemonade drink and the Watermelon Mint Iced Tea,  which combines iced tea with watermelon and mint flavors, is freshly brewed daily.“Seasonal variations of our signature beverages continue to gain popularity with our customers. Guests loved the Watermelon Mint Lemonade in 2017, so...

Ruben Rodriguez Dies in Multi-Car Accident on Highway 180 [Fresno County, CA]

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

47-Year-Old Driver Pronounced Dead after Two-Vehicle Collision near Sonoma AvenueFRESNO COUNTY, CA (March 31, 2023) – Sunday night, Ruben Rodriguez was killed in a multi-car accident on Highway 180.Authorities responded to the scene around 8:30 p.m, near South Sonoma Avenue on March 26th.Per reports, Rodriguez was heading west in a Chevrolet Malibu and sideswiped an older model Mustang. He then collided with a Toyota Camry.Rodriguez was not wearing a seat belt at the time and was ejected from the vehicle before it bursted into flames. Medics arrived and airlifted 47-year-old Rodriguez, of Antioch to a nearby hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.Meanwhile, paramedics transported the Mustang and the Toyota driver to a nearby hospital for treatment of major injuries.Emergency crews closed off the surrounding area for a brief time during cleanup and preliminary duties. At this time, it was unknown if alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash. Further investigation i...

EPA approves California’s rules phasing out diesel trucks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

By Sophie Austin | Associated Press/Report for AmericaSACRAMENTO — The Biden administration cleared the way Friday for California’s plan to phase out a wide range of diesel-powered trucks, part of the state’s efforts to drastically cut planet-warming emissions and improve air quality in heavy-traffic areas like ports along the coast.The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows California — which has some of the nation’s worst air pollution — to require truck manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks over the next couple of decades. The rule applies to a wide range of trucks including box trucks, semitrailers and even large passenger pick-ups.“Under the Clean Air Act, California has longstanding authority to address pollution from cars and trucks. Today’s announcement allows the state to take additional steps in reducing their transportation emissions through these new regulatory actions,” said EPA Admini...

Federal inmate from California pleads guilty to sex ring leader’s death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

By Mark Hicks |The Detroit NewsA federal inmate pleaded guilty Thursday to the slaying at the Milan Correctional Institution in 2019 of the leader of an international child exploitation ring, the Detroit U.S. Attorney’s office said.Alex Albert Castro, 42, a former resident of Fontana, California, pleaded to second-degree murder before U.S. District Court Judge Jonathan J.C. Grey, records show. He was originally charged with first-degree murder.Castro’s plea agreement calls for a sentence of up to life in prison, which could be imposed concurrently, partly concurrently or consecutively to a 42-year sentence he is serving for an underlying 2017 federal drug trafficking conviction, officials said Thursday.Authorities linked him and two others to the death of Christian Maire, who had been serving time at the Milan facility for a 2018 conviction of running an international child exploitation ring. The three inmates also were accused of conspiring to prey upon smaller, weaker inmate...

SF Giants add two-time All-Star to catching mix: report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

NEW YORK — The Giants were off Friday, but Farhan Zaidi was busy. Apparently still unsatisfied with their unsettled catching situation, the president of baseball operations came to an agreement with another veteran backstop, according to The Athletic.The club is adding Gary Sánchez, a 30-year-old two-time All-Star with the Yankees and one of the last remaining notable free agents, on a minor-league deal, per Ken Rosenthal. Sánchez, who remained unsigned throughout spring training, will first report to the Giants’ Arizona facilities, and San Francisco will have until May 1 to add him to their active roster.The club has yet to announce the deal, and the terms have not been reported.Sánchez, a former top prospect with the Yankees, was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 2016 and earned All-Star nods in 2017 and 2019, when he combined for 67 home runs over the two seasons with an .OPS north of .840 in both years, but New York let him walk after 2021, when he hit .204 with 23 h...

Hotline mailbag: The problem with partial shares for Oregon and UW (in the Big Ten), pondering Tulane and Rice, a Pac-8 and more

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

The Hotline mailbag is published every Friday. Send questions to [email protected] and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject line — or hit me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline.Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.How low would Oregon and Washington go, in terms of partial revenue shares, if the Big Ten comes a-calling? Why be a beta site for streaming college sporting events when you can be a ‘junior member’ of the Big Ten? — Jon JosephYour phrasing cuts right to the heart of the issue: Would Oregon and Washington accept being “junior members” of any conference?We are highly skeptical, especially given that UCLA would have full membership despite possessing a lesser football program than the Pacific Northwest powers.But there’s another piece to the discussion. And to be honest, the Hotline often feels like we’re in the wilderness on this matter while the public narrative focuses on the media revenue: The expanded College Foo...

Italy temporarily bans ChatGPT over privacy concerns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

By Livvy Doherty and Sharon Braithwaite | CNNRegulators in Italy issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT Friday, effective immediately, due to privacy concerns and said they had opened an investigation into how OpenAI, the US company behind the popular chatbot, uses data.Italy’s data protection agency said users lacked information about the collection of their data and that a breach at ChatGPT had been reported on March 20.“There appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to ‘train’ the algorithms on which the platform relies,” the agency said.The Italian regulator also expressed concerns over the lack of age verification for ChatGPT users. It argued that this “exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness.” The platform is supposed to be for users older than 13, it noted.The data protection agency said OpenAI would be barred from ...

Analysis: Your top Trump indictment questions answered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

By Zachary B. Wolfe | CNN(CNN) — Could he still run for president? Why would the adult-film star case move before any of the ones about protecting democracy? How could you possibly find an impartial jury?What’s below are answers to some of the questions we’ve been getting — versions of these were emailed in by subscribers of the What Matters newsletter — about the indictment of former President Donald Trump.He’s involved in four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government — the Manhattan district attorney; the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney; and the Department of Justice.These questions are mostly concerned with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump over a hush-money payment scheme, but many could apply to each investigation.The most-asked question is also the easiest to answer.Can Trump still run for president if he is indicted or convicted?Yes, absolutely.“Nothing stops Trump fr...

Iranian students grapple with English and its ‘ocean of complexity’ in Berkeley Rep play

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:37 GMT

Now making its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Sanaz Toossi’s play “English” explores the different things language means to different people, and how differently a person may be perceived in a foreign language than in one’s own.But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s at stake for the four adult students in Iran (and their teacher) preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language for many different reasons.Toossi is an Iranian American playwright from Orange County. Winner of the 2022 Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding play, “English” premiered off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company last year.“I think there’s been the desire to consume the tragedy of other cultures on stage, and this play doesn’t want to be that,” says director Mina Morita. “It has the joy and simplicity of seeing five people negotiate their own personalities and needs on stage in relationship to this language and their accents and how they’re perceived by the...