California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California, the first state in America to put in place a coronavirus lockdown, is now turning a page on the pandemic.

At the stroke of midnight, California is lifting most of its COVID-19 restrictions and ushering in what has been billed as the state’s “Grand Reopening.”

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Seeking to protect its image as a guardian of personal privacy, Apple maintains it was blindsided and handcuffed by a Trump administration probe that resulted in the company handing over phone data from two Democratic congressmen.

Apple delivered its version of events Friday in response to news reports detailing the U.S. Justice Department’s aggressive attempts to use its legal power to identify leaks tied to an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it has identified more than 3,900 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under former President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on illegal crossings, providing one of the more detailed accounts of a chapter in U.S. immigration history that drew widespread condemnation.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, calling it a “failed experiment” that violates people’s constitutional right to bear arms.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled on Friday that the state’s definition of illegal military-style rifles unlawfully deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most other states and by the U.S. Supreme Court.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A gunman who killed nine co-workers at a Northern California rail yard shot himself twice in the head as sheriff’s deputies raced into a building, according to authorities who on Tuesday released body-camera footage of the tense encounter.

The nearly 4 1/2 minutes of footage is from one deputy who arrived minutes after the first shooting reports and while shots were still being fired at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus and rail yard in San Jose, where 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy opened fire before killing himself.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — An off-duty Los Angeles County firefighter fatally shot a fellow firefighter and wounded another at their small community fire station Tuesday before going to his nearby home, setting it on fire and apparently killing himself, authorities said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The gunman who nursed a seething hatred of his California workplace amassed an arsenal and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at the home he tried to burn down before killing nine co-workers at a rail yard, authorities said after searching the residence.

Samuel James Cassidy’s home in San Jose was a hoarder’s nest of clutter and weaponry that included 12 guns, nearly two dozen cans of gasoline and a dozen or more suspected Molotov cocktails, Santa Clara County sheriff’s officials said Friday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — First, there were gunshots. Then came the screams. And then — silence.

“Hey, what’s going on? Anybody all right? What’s happening?” Kirk Bertolet called out to his coworkers at a Northern California rail yard on Wednesday morning. “It was just eerie.”

Cautiously, Bertolet left his barricaded office at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, hoping he could offer first aid to anyone who needed help. But all he found were bodies.

Los Angeles, May 28 (AP-PTI) Californians will be eligible for USD 116.5 million in prize money for getting coronavirus shots, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday, a windfall aimed at getting millions more vaccinated before the nation's most populous state fully reopens next month.

The state estimates about 12 million Californians 12 and older have not been vaccinated. About 63 per cent of the 34 million eligible have gotten shots, though the pace has slowed markedly in recent weeks as infection rates have plummeted to record lows.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Taptejdeep Singh died trying to save others from a gunman. Kirk Bertolet saw some of his coworkers take their last breaths.

And friends, family and survivors were left to mourn after nine men died this week when a disgruntled coworker hauling a duffle bag full of guns and ammunition opened fire at a Northern California rail yard complex, apparently choosing his targets and sparing others.

Samuel Cassidy, 57, turned the gun on himself Wednesday morning as sheriff’s deputies rushed in at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose.