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Late Sunday night, Twitter was abuzz with reports of an active shooter at Los Angeles Inteational Airport and evacuations at several terminals. Police later reported that there was no shooter, but those who were evacuated were required to pass through TSA security again, flights were delayed and traffic backed up around LAX. Reports of an active shooter at LAX briefly shifted the Twitterverse’s focus away from the VMA’s Sunday night. • Related Story: Unfounded fears of shooting at LAX create panic, chaos, gridlock Just before 9 p.m. hundreds reported being evacuated from LAX’s terminals for what they said was an active shooter situation. Within an hour, police officials reported there was n...

PIGEON PASS >> Want to know what it cost to buy more than two-dozen acres for the DonkeyLand wild-burro rescue operation in Reche Canyon? It’s no trick question. Just ask Bob Barker. The former “Price is Right” host donated $400,000 from his DJ&T Foundation to help the small animal-rescue operation run by Amber Levoe and her father, Phil Saavedra, acquire land of its own. The two work tirelessly on behalf of DonkeyLand, an organization they and others founded about five years ago on rented land, in a secluded area north of Moreno Valley, with no identifying sign. When orphaned baby burros are brought to them, and Saavedra, 67, stays up all night, feeding them a special milk-replac...

NORWALK >> A Norwalk man shot and wounded a knife-wielding intruder who broke into his home while his family was inside early Sunday, officials said. The break-in and shooting took place about 2:30 a.m. at a house in the 14400 block of Graystone Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Rene Garcia said. A woman at the home was firs alerted by noises coming from the front of the house, the sergeant said. Children were also present at the home. “The suspect proceeded to go to the rear of the residence, where he broke through french doors armed with a knife,” Garcia said. The male resident shot the armed intruder in the torso, he said. “The suspect fled from the scene, however, he was t...

Long Beach health officials are asking people to take precautions against West Nile Virus in light of state reports confirming the first death this year involving a senior citizen in Sacramento County. Although Long Beach has not documented any West Nile virus activity this year, it has been detected in Orange and Los Angeles counties, prompting Interim Health Officer Dr. Maura Too to remind residents to protect themselves during the summer months. “The first death of a Califoia resident due to West Nile virus is a sad and sobering reminder of the risk posed by mosquito bites,” Too said in a statement. “I would like to take this time to remind Long Beach residents to take precautions to avoi...

Two babies in Califoia are the first in the state to be bo with Zika-related microcephaly, a birth defect that scientists recently linked to the mosquito-boe virus, state health officials aounced Thursday. The two women who gave birth to the infants were infected by the Zika virus during pregnancy after spending time in a country where the virus is endemic, said Dr. Karen Smith, state director for the Califoia Department of Public Health. One woman has retued to her homeland, Smith said. Microcephaly is a birth defect in which a baby’s head is smaller than expected, compared with babies of the same sex and age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies with microce...

Two babies have been bo in Califoia with microcephaly, a birth defect related to the Zika virus, state health officials aounced Thursday. The two women who gave birth to the infants were infected by the Zika virus infections during pregnancy after spending time in a country where the virus is endemic, said Dr. Karen Smith, state director for the Califoia Department of Public Health. Microcephaly is a birth defect in which a baby’s head is smaller than expected, compared to babies of the same sex and age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies with microcephaly often develop smaller brains. • RELATED STORY: Califoia gets ‘critical’ funds to track babies bo with d...

[email protected] @SAbramLA on Twitter Two babies have been bo in Califoia with microcephaly, a birth defect directly related to the Zika virus, state health officials aounced Thursday. The two women who gave birth to the infants were infected by the Zika virus infections during pregnancy after spending time in a country where the virus is endemic, said Dr. Karen Smith, state director for the Califoia Department of Public Health. Microcephaly is a birth defect in which a baby’s head is smaller than expected, compared to babies of the same sex and age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies with microcephaly often develop smaller brains. Both infants were bo this y...

ATWATER >> A crash that nearly sliced a bus in half on a central Califoia highway killed four people, not the initial report of five, a local sheriff said Wednesday. Merced County Sheriff Ve Wake, who also serves as coroner, gave the new total after canvassing hospitals and checking with coroner’s officials in a neighboring county. He said he knew of no deaths among those taken to hospitals. Shortly after Tuesday’s crash, a Califoia Highway Patrol officer at the scene said five people died. The dead include a married couple from Mexico who were traveling to visit a daughter in Pasco, Washington, and a man from Avalon, Califoia, whose spouse was hospitalized, Wake said. A fourth victim...

A growing number of Southe Califoia law enforcement organizations and leaders are voicing objections to a state ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana, saying it would make the state less safe. “I’m vehemently opposed to it,” Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said. “I think that it would be a terrible move for Califoia to make.” San Beardino County District Attoey Mike t said the initiative to legalize marijuana “will do nothing to curb black market activity in Califoia.” He is one of several police officials who are actively opposing the measure, a group that includes Riverside Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and the Califoi...

LOCKHART, Texas >> No one appeared to survive a hot air balloon crash in Central Texas, authorities said Saturday. At least 16 people were on board the balloon, which Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ly Lunsford said caught fire before crashing into a pasture shortly after 7:40 a.m. Saturday near Lockhart. The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that investigators are determining the number of victims and their identities. The FAA is investigating, Lunsford said. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss said that his agency’s investigative team should arrive later Saturday. Weiss said the safety agency knows “very, very little right now” about...

Alarmed by a recent uptick in meningitis cases in the area, Long Beach health officials and a local LGBTQ center are offering a free vaccination clinic in the Rose Park area this weekend. Health officials from Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as Long Beach this week urged all gay and bixesual men to get vaccinated against meningococcal disease, which has been declared an outbreak statewide. “We acknowledge this broadens our prior recommendations, but after careful consultation with the CDC and health officers in other affected jurisdictions, we consider that this expansion of the vaccination recommendations is a necessary step to suppress this outbreak,” Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, L.A....

Alarmed by a recent uptick in meningitis cases in the area, Long Beach health officials and a local LGBTQ center are offering a free vaccination clinic in the Rose Park area this weekend. Health officials from Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as Long Beach this week urged all gay and bixesual men to get vaccinated against meningococcal disease, which has been declared an outbreak statewide. “We acknowledge this broadens our prior recommendations, but after careful consultation with the CDC and health officers in other affected jurisdictions, we consider that this expansion of the vaccination recommendations is a necessary step to suppress this outbreak,” Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, L.A....

The Califoia Public Utilities Commission aounced today it will review whether Southe Califoia Edison violated any rules or regulations and should face fines stemming from repeated power outages that left close to 30,000 Long Beach residents in the dark last summer. The commission opened a “penalty consideration case” against Edison over the outages, which left thousands of customers without power July 15-20 and July 30-Aug. 3, and were highlighted by an underground blast that sent manhole covers flying into the air. According to the CPUC, a staff investigation identified failures dealing with the maintenance, inspection and management of the electrical system in Long Beach, and deficiencies...

PALM COAST, Fla. >> Authorities say a Florida man fired shots at two late-night “Pokemon Go” players in a car outside his house but no one was injured. Flagler County Sheriff’s Office spokesman James Troiano says in a news release that the homeowner awoke to a noise outside about 1:30 a.m. Saturday and saw a car sitting in the road in front of his house. He told authorities he got a handgun and approached the vehicle. Troiano says the two teens in the car sped away and the man fired several shots at them. Later that moing, he says, the mother of one of the teens called the sheriff’s office when they realized the car had a flat tire and several bullet holes in it. She told officials th...

ANKARA, Turkey >> Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the nation Saturday that his govement is in charge after a coup attempt brought a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire across the capital that left dozens dead and at least 150 people wounded. Govement officials said the coup appeared to have failed as Turks took to the streets oveight to confront troops attempting to take over the country. However, the sounds of huge blasts, including at least one bomb that hit the parliament complex, continued to echo across the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul throughout the moing. Addressing crowds outside Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Saturday moing, Erdogan said: “They have pointed...

More than 20 Cal State University students – including 11 from Cal State Long Beach – studying abroad in Nice, France, are safe after an attack there left 84 dead and another 202 wounded, CSU officials said Friday. The students were traveling in the South of France this week as part of an aual summer arts program. They had arrived on Tuesday. In addition to those from CSULB, eight of the students attend Cal State Fullerton and one is enrolled at Cal State Los Angeles, CSU spokeswoman Toni Molle said. “Everyone met quickly after the incident happened and again (Friday) moing,” she said, “which is when the group decided to cancel a plaed field trip to the home of (French artist) Henri Matisse...

NICE, France >> A truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of Bastille Day revelers who’d gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice late Thursday in what some officials and eyewitnesses described as a deliberate attack. The president of the Nice region said at least 60 people were killed. Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said that the truck “hit several people on a long trip” down the sidewalk near Nice’s Palais de la Mediterranee, a building that fronts the beach. She called the incident “an attack.” Nice regional president Eric Ciotti said on France Info radio that “It’s a scene of horror” and gave a figure of 60 dead. He ...

State water officials are urging people to avoid any contact with the water at Pyramid Lake because of a toxic algae bloom that has developed on the Los Angeles County reservoir. In a statement issued Tuesday, the Califoia Department of Water Resources advised the public to not wade, swim or water-ski at the lake and to keep dogs and children away from the water. “Activities near the water such as picnicking and hiking are safe,” the statement read. “Because these blooms can form and die off fairly rapidly, DWR has increased its monitoring of the water quality in Pyramid Lake throughout the summer recreation season and will update this advisory if conditions change.” The algae bloom is made...

WASHINGTON >> The Islamic State group’s Twitter traffic has plunged 45 percent in the past two years, the Obama administration says, as the U.S. and its allies have countered messages of jihadi glorification with a flood of online images and statements about suffering and enslavement at the hands of the extremist organization. Among the images: A teddy bear with Arabic writing and messages saying IS “slaughters childhood,” ‘’kills iocence,” ‘’lashes purity” or “humiliates children.” A male hand covering a female’s mouth, saying IS “deprives woman her voice.” A woman in a black niqab (veil), bloody tears coming from a bruised eye, and the caption: “Women under ISIS. Enslaved. Battered. ...

City officials Friday came one step closer to erecting a new $533 million Civic Center situated in the heart of downtown Long Beach. The project, which will include a new City Hall, Port Headquarters and a Main Library, is an idea 10 years in the making, Development Services Director Amy Bodek said at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday. Spearheaded by former Mayor Bob Foster and Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, the development has been described as the missing puzzle piece and a “jewel in the crown” of the downtown core. “It took a lot of chance and a lot of magic for this to happen,” Lowenthal said at Friday’s event. Mayor Robert Garcia called it a “historic” day for Long Beach, after recounting s...