California

USA: Small plane that crashed off California coast was among a growing number of home-built aircraft

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A small airplane that crashed into the ocean off the California coast on Sunday was constructed piece by piece over nearly a decade, one of tens of thousands of home-built aircraft that are part of a high-flying hobby taking off across the country.

Federal investigators said they believe four people were aboard the single-engine Cozy Mark IV when it went down in the evening just south of San Francisco. No survivors were found and only one body had been recovered from the waters near Half Moon Bay and identified as of Thursday.

USA: Billionaire backers of new California city reveal map and details of proposed development

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Promoters of a secretive Silicon Valley-backed ballot initiative to build a new city on farmland between Sacramento and San Francisco are releasing more details of their plan as they submit paperwork Wednesday to qualify for the November election.

California Forever, the company that stealthily snapped up more than $800 million of Solano County land in recent years, envisions a new community on roughly 30 square miles (75 square kilometers) between Travis Air Force Base and the tiny city of Rio Vista, according to a presentation by the group.

USA: Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal tax charges after an earlier deal imploded

LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal tax charges filed after the collapse of a plea deal that could have spared him the spectacle of a criminal trial during the 2024 campaign.

Hunter Biden has been accused of nine felony and misdemeanor tax offenses. The charges stem from what federal prosecutors say was a four-year scheme to skip out on paying the $1.4 million he owed to the IRS and instead use the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that by his own admission included drugs and alcohol.

California sets a special election for US House seat left vacant by exit of former Speaker McCarthy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday set a mid-March special election date to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

In a statement, Newsom set the March 19 primary date for the 20th Congressional District contest. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters would advance to a May 21 matchup to fill the seat.

USA: A California law banning the carrying of firearms in most public places is blocked again

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places was once again blocked from taking effect Saturday as a court case challenging it continues.

A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel dissolved a temporary hold on a lower court injunction blocking the law. The hold was issued by a different 9th Circuit panel and had allowed the law to go into effect Jan. 1.

USA: California law banning most firearms in public is taking effect as the legal fight over it continues

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places will take effect on New Year’s Day, even as a court case continues to challenge the law.

A U.S. district judge issued a ruling Dec. 20 to block the law from taking effect, saying it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and deprives people of their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones.

USA: California is expanding health care coverage for low-income immigrants in the new year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More than 700,000 immigrants living illegally in California will gain access to free health care starting Monday under one of the state’s most ambitious coverage expansions in a decade.

It’s an effort that will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year and inches California closer to Democrats’ goal of providing universal health care to its roughly 39 million residents.

New COVID variant JN.1 makes nearly half latest infections in U.S.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new coronavirus subvariant JN.1 is spreading fast in the United States, and is now accounting for nearly half of the latest COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

JN.1 is currently the fastest growing variant and the dominant one in the country. It is responsible for over 44 percent of new infections across the country, up from the previously reported 21.4 percent, according to the CDC.

USA: SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft back to Earth with scientific research samples

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday with scientific research samples and hardware.

According to NASA, Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Time (2205 GMT) on Thursday.

After about 20 hours of flight, Dragon made a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of the U.S. state of Florida on Friday.

USA: Social media platform X down for users globally - Downdetector

Dec 21 (Reuters) - Social media platform X and X Pro suffered outages globally early Thursday, according to Downdetector.com.

Users on X, formerly known as Twitter, were unable to view posts on the social media site with a message that said "Welcome to X!"

Users encountered loading issues on X Pro, formerly TweetDeck, with a message that said "Waiting for posts."

Over 47,000 U.S. users faced access issues with X and X Pro, according to Downdetector data.

Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users.

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