Sara Gran got hooked on mysteries early, especially the work of Donald J. Sobel, creator of “Two-Minute Mysteries” and the “Encyclopedia Brown” series. “Growing up, he meant so much to me,” says the novelist, short story writer and publisher during a December Zoom interview from her Marina del Rey home. “It’s difficult to put into…
Read more
I’m just sorry that P.T. Barnum isn’t alive to see this. The Greatest Show on Earth is the new Department of Government Efficiency. If it started as a joke (DOGE was an internet meme of a dog and then a sardonically named crypto coin), it’s no joke now. An elected billionaire and an appointed billionaire…
Read more
A newly proposed state bill with bipartisan support would keep CAL FIRE firefighters employed year-round — and help with staffing issues, its supporters said. The Fight for Firefighters Act proposes to transition about 3,000 seasonal firefighters who are employed for nine months a year into 12-month employees to increase the number of firefighters ready to…
Read more
By ZEN SOO, Associated Press Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is reversing course a day after placing a ban on all inbound packages from China and Hong Kong. The post office had announced Tuesday that it would no longer accept parcels from the China and Hong Kong after the U.S.…
Read more
A movement to oppose the early actions of President Donald Trump’s administration is taking off online, with plans to protest across the U.S. on Wednesday. The movement has organized under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Many of the protests are planned at state capitols, with some…
Read more
By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A judge Wednesday threw out a felony indictment against a former Georgia prosecutor, ending her trial on charges that she abused her power by trying to protect the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in 2020. Former District Attorney Jackie Johnson for years denied influencing police who…
Read more
By John Gittelsohn | Bloomberg Economic losses from the fires that tore through Los Angeles County in January range from $95 billion to $164 billion, according to a new report, potentially making the blazes the second-costliest natural disaster in US history. The Eaton and Palisades fires, which both erupted Jan. 7, killed at least 29…
Read more
I am highly motivated by food. This is something you may have already guessed if you’ve met me in person. Whereas online I’ve been known to spend 10 minutes trying to take a selfie of myself that looks skinny, in order to create a false impression on social media. Anyway, back to food. In my…
Read more
By BYRON TAU, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security…
Read more
This one should be a no-brainer. Introduced by Assemblymembers Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, Assembly Bill 253 is the California Residential Private Permitting Review Act. It would speed the approval process for developments of 10 or fewer units, including single-family homes and duplexes. If a city takes longer than 30 days to…
Read more
