Los Angeles
Nearly 150,000 mail ballots rejected in California’s primary despite efforts to count every vote
LOS ANGELES | Nearly 150,000 California voters had their mail-in ballots rejected for the state’s June primary, a spike from recent elections even as the state attempts to make voting easier with the goal of boosting participation and counting every ballot. California has become notorious for its ponderously slow vote counts that can drag on […]
Los Angeles medical examiner pushes for greater transparency in high-profile deaths
LOS ANGELES | Autopsy reports rarely come with barbed comments. So eyebrows rose when the autopsy results of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez were released with a statement from the Los Angeles County chief medical examiner saying it was “unfathomable” her grieving parents had to wait months to learn how their daughter died. The autopsy performed […]
Luke Skywalker’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’ lightsaber with severed hand attached auctioned for $3.75M
LOS ANGELES | A lightsaber with Luke Skywalker’s severed hand from “The Empire Strikes Back” has sold for $3.75 million at auction. Heritage Auctions announced the results of its Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction on Monday. The lightsaber, used onscreen by Mark Hamill in the climactic Cloud City fight where Darth Vader declares “I am […]
Los Angeles medical examiner says former child actor Daveigh Chase died of AIDS
LOS ANGELES | Former child actor Daveigh Chase’s death on June 16 was due to AIDS, the office of the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner reported. The cause of death for Chase, 35, was acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, according to online medical examiner records from this week that listed her last name as Schwallier. “Chronic […]
More than 17,000 under evacuation orders as Southern California wildfire threatens homes
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. | More than 17,000 people were under evacuation orders in Southern California on Tuesday as a wildfire threatened suburban homes. The wind-driven Sandy Fire was reported Monday in the hills above Simi Valley, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. By Tuesday morning, it had consumed more than two square […]