California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have made California the first U.S. state to outlaw caste-based discrimination.

Caste is a division of people related to birth or descent. Those at the lowest strata of the caste system, known as Dalits, have been pushing for legal protections in California and beyond. They say it is necessary to protect them from bias in housing, education and in the tech sector — where they hold key roles.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and two others were injured Thursday morning in a stabbing at a mobile home park in Union City, U.S. state of California, officials said.

Police officers responded to the crime scene where they found three victims with injuries, one of whom died at the scene.

The other two victims were transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A massive health care strike over wages and staffing shortages headed into its final day on Friday without a deal between industry giant Kaiser Permanente and the unions representing the 75,000 workers who picketed this week.

The three-day strike carried out in multiple states will officially end Saturday at 6 a.m., and workers were expected to return to their jobs in Kaiser’s hospitals and clinics that serve nearly 13 million Americans. The two sides did not have any bargaining sessions scheduled after concluding their talks midday Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A small airplane crashed Tuesday evening into a house in Newberg, U.S. state of Oregon, killing two people, officials said.

Witnesses reported seeing a plane "spiraling towards the ground and crashing near North Cedar Street" in Newberg, about 30 kilometer southwest of Portland, according to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

Firefighters arrived on the scene and found two people in the plane were deceased. They rescued another person with serious injuries from the plane and sent him to hospital.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers took to picket lines in multiple states on Wednesday, launching a massive strike that the company warned could cause delays at its hospitals and clinics that serve nearly 13 million Americans.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing about 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationally, approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers walked off the job Wednesday in multiple states, kicking off a major health care strike amid an extraordinary year for U.S. labor organizing and work stoppages.

Kaiser Permanente is one of the country’s larger insurers and health care system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide. The nonprofit company, based in Oakland, California, provides health coverage for nearly 13 million people, sending customers to clinics and hospitals it runs or contracts with to provide care.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has selected Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, to fill the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

In choosing Butler on Sunday, Newsom fulfilled his pledge to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat became open. However, he had been facing pressure from some Black politicians and advocacy groups to select Barbara Lee, a prominent Black congresswoman who is already running for the seat.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An alternative mental health court program designed to fast-track people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders into housing and medical care — potentially without their consent — kicked off in seven California counties, including San Francisco, on Monday.

SAN JOSE, Sept 29 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Costa Rica in Central America intends to declare a state of emergency due to an increased wave of migrants on their way to Mexico and later cross to the United States.

“I have instructed the security ministry to take a firm stance with anyone who takes Costa Rica’s kindness for weakness,” Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said at a media briefing, referring to recent riots by migrants crossing the nation.

Since January, more than 386,000 migrants have passed through the border from Panama into Costa Rica.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump will make a personal pitch Friday to California Republicans in a bid to solidify his support in a GOP presidential contest he has dominated for months, while Ron DeSantis and other rivals get another chance to break the front-runner’s momentum with time fast vanishing to reorder the race.