press-news

EVERETT, Wash. >> In a surprise move, Donald Trump will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, just hours before the Republican delivers a highly anticipated speech on immigration. Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday night to say he looks “very much forward” to meeting with the Mexican leader. Pena Nieto’s office confirmed the meeting with its own tweet, saying the two men would meet privately. The unexpected trip comes as Trump seeks to clarify his stand on illegal immigration, a contentious issue that has been a centerpiece of his Republican presidential campaign. Trump has long called for deporting people currently living in the U.S. illegally and buil...

Michael Cacciotti walked the dimensions of the concrete Wilson Reservoir in the blazing sun, pleased to find almost no shade and triple digit temperatures. For about $375,000, the city is considering affixing rows of photovoltaic panels on top of the 20-foot deep reservoir and using the sun’s power to defray the cost of pumping water three miles uphill from the site in San Gabriel to residents in South Pasadena. When combined with carports catching rays from solar panels in two city-owned parking lots — sending clean power to light City Hall, the fire and police departments — the city can shave about $70,000 off its $1 million electric bill paid yearly to Southe Califoia Edison. The change w...

A nonprofit known for training people to give great speeches has clammed up about efforts to move its worldwide headquarters out of Southe Califoia. The silence from Toastmasters Inteational executives no doubt stems from an opposition campaign launched by a proud Torrance member who decries the group’s lack of transparency. With 179 employees and 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in 142 countries, Toastmasters will hold a vote this week at its Inteational Convention in Washington, D.C., on a proposal to move to Denver from Rancho Santa Margarita, where the organization’s home base has been since 1990. A two-thirds vote is required for approval. The Toastmasters board recommended in 2015 on i...

The SuperScoopers have landed! Just in time for sizzling temperatures this weekend, the county officially unveiled a huge part of its aerial firefighting fleet Friday. •RELATED STORY: SuperScoopers arrive 3 weeks early to help combat LA County brush fires Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby showcased the recent arrival of two Canadian SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air-Crane. •RELATED STORY: Massive Sand fire nearly contained after more than a week The water bombers landed at Van Nuys Airport Aug. 6 after their flight from their home base in Quebec, Canada. They are usually leased during the fall for work on L.A. County’s fires, but this year they ha...

It’s a once-a-year light show expected to deliver its most spectacular visual explosion in years. This summer’s edition of the Perseid meteor shower is due to peak Thursday evening and last through early Friday moing and make a reprise the following night. Experts say 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. is the best viewing time. The display of “shooting stars” shows up every August when Earth travels through trails of debris left behind by an ancient comet, Swift-Tuttle. The sky show is made of pieces of the comet hitting the Earth’s atmosphere at more than 133,000 miles per hour and buing up. Perseids are also known for their fireballs, which are larger explosions of light and color that can last longer than...

Robyn Gogue will take her twin 5-year-old daughters to their first day of kindergarten next week in Menifee. Her husband, Roy, a Calu2009Fire firefighter, isn’t able to attend the milestone moment. “I know he’s upset that he will miss another first in their lives,” Robyn Gogue said. Corona firefighter John Deyoe was looking forward to a dier date with his daughters and girlfriend, whom he hadn’t seen in 10u2009days, but he had to cancel because of a last-minute work assignment. “My heart dropped to my feet. It was like somebody punched me in the stomach,” Deyoe said. Such is the life of Southe Califoia firefighter families at the height of the wildfire season, where one spouse — in most cas...

DETROIT >> Trying to tu the page after a tumultuous campaign stretch, Donald Trump promised he would provide deep tax cuts and jolt middle-class workers back to prosperity. Trump’s speech Monday to the Detroit Economic Club reflected the Republican presidential nominee’s attempt to reboot and redirect the national conversation to his strength: the economy. Trump offered these new policy specifics: Taxes: Individuals Trump would consolidate the current seven individual income tax brackets for American down to three: 12u2009percent, 25u2009percent and 33u2009percent of income after deductions. Trump revamped his previous proposal by increasing the amount that the highest individual inco...

Bapu Madhu used to fly model airplanes. Until it got boring. “It’s very mellow. You don’t take risks,” said Madhu, 36, who lives in Hemet. “I mean, what’s the fun in that?” So when he heard about the exploding sport of FPV or “first-person view” drone racing, he leaped at the opportunity to give it a whirl. “These are way more complicated to fly,” Madhu said. On a sweltering Saturday in a park hugging the Santau2009Ana River, the weekend drone warrior who holds down a job as a county auditor during the week was honing his goggle-aided navigation skills on a makeshift course. He and two friends who started the Riversideu2009Elite racing club had set up the course at Martha McLean-Anza Narrow...

For years, many dermatologists have urged patients to have a full-body visual check for skin cancer. But a new report by a panel of medical experts concluded for the second time in seven years that there is not enough evidence that these screenings benefit patients to recommend them as a preventive service. In a review published this week in JAMA, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated its 2009 review of visual skin cancer exams, but still issued an “I” rating, which means “the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms.” Dr. Michael Pignone, a task force member and chair at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, emphasized t...

A few months ago, Sam Mikulak joined his USA Gymnastics teammates for a pre-Olympic training camp in Rio de Janeiro. At one point during their stay, Team USA members toured the Rio Olympic Arena in the main Olympic Park, a short walk from the Atlantic Ocean. “When we walked in there I definitely got a chill down my spine,” said Mikulak, the four-time U.S. all-around champion. “You felt like some ghost walked right through you. It was like, ‘Wow, this is where I want to change my life.’” It should come as no surprise that Mikulak retus to Rio for the Olympic Games convinced he is destiny’s child. “The competition of a lifetime,” he said. “This will definitely be the best shape I’ll ever be i...

ISTANBUL >> Authorities say fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish rebels in the restive southeast of the country has killed eight Turkish soldiers and 35 Kurdish fighters. The office of Turkey’s General Staff headquarters said Saturday the eight soldiers were killed in a clash Friday afteoon with Kurdish militants at a checkpoint in the southeaste Hakkari province. A subsequent operation against the Kurdish rebels left eight Kurds dead, the military said. Separately, a further 27 fighters from the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, were killed in the same province when Turkish troops launched an air-and-ground operation against groups of PKK fighters attempting to infiltrate an area...

Wildfires have become a grim reality for Southe Califoia. With miles of dry sage brush carpeting most of the land — much of it in steep, rugged and inaccessible terrain — there’s plenty of material to fuel a blaze. And five years of drought ensure a future of even bigger fires for the region. The cost to battle these blazes is already high. With thousands of firefighters on the ground and fleets of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft on the scene, the price for fighting an aggressive fire can escalate quickly. The cost for fighting the Sand Fire, which broke out last week near Sand Canyon Road and the 14 Freeway in Santa Clarita, was projected this week to be around $28 million, and that bl...

SAN DIEGO >> Among the rows of booths selling limited-edition figurines, Marvel posters and Double Dare T-shirts at last week’s Comic-Con Inteational sat an indie artist from Los Angeles who’s locked in an epic battle of her own. Tuesday Bassen sells patches, pins and stickers adoed with cartoon women with attitude, strawberries and snarky slogans. Her work is popular among hip, L.A. locals and, according to her, with Zara, the world’s largest clothing retailer . Last week, Bassen accused the companyof stealing her original artwork and reproducing it for their own clothing and accessories. Bassen began collecting examples of the alleged copies in January after fans of her work tipped ...

A 27-year-old Lancaster man who was seen on live online video allegedly starting fires in a remote area of Los Angeles County was charged with starting a brush fire, the L.A. County District Attoey’s Office aounced today. David Artiaga faces one felony count each of arson of a forest and arson of property of another, according to the D.A. • RELATED STORY: Two photographers witnessed an arson, so they called 9-1-1 — and streamed it online He was set to arraigned today in L.A. County Superior Court’s San Feando branch. • VIDEO: See the fires being set near Highway 138 On July 19, the defendant allegedly set fire to brush in a lot on the 26000 block of 269th Street West, near Highway 138 in Ne...

For 24 years, a postage stamp taunted NASA’s top minds, begiing first with a couple of engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The little piece of paper released in 1991 at a special ceremony at JPL depicted all nine planets and the Moon, with the name of the mission that explored each world below. For Pluto, the 29 cent stamp simply read: “Not Yet Explored.” JPL Engineer Robert Staehle arrived late to the unveiling, but he was able to buy a copy of the sheet from JPL’s stamp club. He paused on Pluto and thought to himself: “Why not?” “I viewed it kind of humorously as a challenge,” Staehle said. Staehle and Stacy Weinstein, another engineer, began mulling around the idea for a fast and...

Cooler weather and a roomier waterfront venue will greet the three-day Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival when the aual San Pedro tradition opens Friday, more than two months earlier than usual. Since 1999, the festival has been staged in and around Ports O’ Call Village. But with plans underway to realign Sampson Way as the port prepares to redevelop that area, the Lobster Festival was moved north. The Friday-through-Sunday event this weekend will be set up off of Harbor Boulevard between the Battleship Iowa and the World Cruise Center just south of the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Large tents for dining and a wide span of open wharf space will provide festivalgoers with more room than they had...

North Neighborhood Library in Long Beach is scheduled to close at the end of the month so workers can move the branch’s books and other collections to the plaed Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library. Long Beach city officials aounced the plans on Tuesday. North Neighborhood Library is at 5571 Orange Avenue and it’s set to close at 4 p.m. July 31. Anyone who has checked out materials from North Neighborhood Library may retu them to that branch’s book drops, or take the materials to another Long Beach city library. Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at 5870 Atlantic Ave. The new library is plaed to open on the former site of Atlantic Theater, and the ol...

There are plenty of business-related activities going on in Southe Califoia at any given time. But few are as important as the business of fighting fires. It’s dirty, it’s hard work and it’s often very dangerous. I realize that “business” may not exactly be the right word. But regardless of what you call it, I can personally report that Los Angeles County firefighters and others from the U.S. Forest Service who battled the Sage Fire did a heck of a job in containing the blaze. • PHOTOS: The Sage Fire bus near Santa Clarita The fire ignited a week ago at The Old Road and Calgrove Boulevard near the 5 Freeway just west of Santa Clarita and it quickly grew to more than 800 acres, prompting nei...

After watching her 13-year-old son throw up everything he ate when they got home from a day of jet skiing at Pyramid Lake, Sharyn Martinez was angered to lea last week that the state is now urging the public to avoid the water there because of a toxic algal bloom. Martinez and her family were at the Los Angeles County reservoir on July 9. Days later, the department notified the public about the bloom. “To find out after the fact that this could have been avoided — you put my kid through a little nightmare here and you affected his health,” said Martinez, 45, of Lakewood, who is certain the toxic bloom sickened her son. “They should have, at the very least, given a flier at the gate then we w...

Big rigs are rolling in and out of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports faster thanks in part to the wider use of a trucker appointment system, according to marine terminal operators that run the gate system. So-called tu times, the minutes it takes for a trucker to pull into a terminal, load up or drop off a container and then hit the road, fell to below 40 minutes during May and June. “We are very encouraged with each passing month we see the tu times go down,” said John Cushing, president of PierPass, a private group of 13 terminal operators that runs the gates. “We are optimistic these efforts will continue to provide reduced tu times.” In addition to the expansion of the appointment sy...