Beach crowds lead California to increase enforcement of coronavirus public health restrictions

SACRAMENTO, California - California will step up enforcement of coronavirus-related public health restrictions after crowds jammed beaches over the weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday.

Newsom's announcement came after local officials in Orange and Ventura Counties allowed access to their beaches even as state parks remained closed, prompting families and groups to head to the ocean on a warm spring weekend.

The crowds put at risk the state's progress in slowing the advance of the novel coronavirus and possibly could delay a possible loosening of restrictions that was just weeks away, said Newsom, a Democrat.

The beach crowds exemplify the tension that officials throughout the United States are dealing with as residents chafe under stay-at-home orders and some states begin to loosen them.


Newsom said he would not direct state police or park rangers to issue citations to individuals who were just out quietly with their children or walking their dogs.

"I don’t want to be punitive," he said. "They just want to take a rest on the beach and all of a sudden they get a citation - I don’t want to see that. But if there are people thumbing their nose and taking a risk… I think we may have to do a little bit more."

The two counties that opened their beaches are reconsidering their plans after people thronged their shoreline spots, prompting criticism from public health authorities, Newsom said.

Two additional states, Nevada and Colorado, have joined with California, Oregon and Washington to develop a Western regional plan for re-opening the troubled economy and allowing residents to begin at least some more typical social interactions.

But Newsom warned that fatalities and new cases were still ongoing in California, where 45 people died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and 1,300 additional cases were diagnosed.

"The virus is as transmissible as it’s ever been," Newsom said. "It doesn’t take the weekend off. It doesn’t take any time off. It is ubiquitous, it is invisible and it remains deadly." (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Sandra Maler and Dan Grebler)

-reuters-

Over 30 trapped as boat catches fire off California

Rescuers were scrambling Monday to reach more than 30 people who were sleeping below deck when their scuba-diving boat caught fire off the California coast, with reports of "numerous fatalities."

A major rescue operation was underway for the dozens of people trapped aboard the 75-foot (22-meter) boat, near Santa Cruz Island off the coast from Los Angeles, the Coast Guard tweeted.

Bill Nash, a spokesperson for Ventura County, told CNN many people were feared dead.

"It's a large boat, and we know we have numerous fatalities. I don't have an exact number," Nash said.

But US Coast Guard chief Aaron Bemis, also on CNN, said: "Right now we can't confirm any fatalities."

"The five crew members were able to disembark because they were in the main cabin," he said. "The 34 passengers were below decks. The report we got was they were trapped by the fire."

"The fire was so intense that even after it was put out, we're not able to actually embark the vessel and, you know, look for survivors at this point."

"It's still ongoing."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gunman kills 12 in California bar packed with students

THOUSAND OAKS, United States - A gunman killed 12 people, including a police officer, when he opened fire in a country music bar packed with college students in California, officials and witnesses said Thursday.

Police said the gunman was found dead inside the bar on the outskirts of Los Angeles although it was not immediately clear if he was killed by officers or shot himself.

Speaking at press conference in the wee hours of Thursday, a sheriff said that around a dozen other people had been injured. He said the motive of the shooting and the identity of the shooter were not known.

It was the second mass shooting in America in less than two weeks.

Witnesses said that the gunman, who was wearing a black trenchcoat, throw several smoke grenades inside the Borderline Bar and Grill before he started he shooting at around 11:20pm on Wednesday night.

"It's a horrific scene in there. There is blood everywhere," Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters.

"We have no idea if there is a terrorism link to this or not. As you know, these are ongoing investigations and that information will come out as soon as we are able to determine exactly who the suspect was and what motive he might have had for this horrific event."

"Nothing has led me to believe or the FBI there is a terrorism link here. We certainly will look at that option."

Dean said that the dead police officer, who was named as Ron Helus and had been on the force for 29 years, was among the first on the scene.

"They found 11 victims that had been killed," said Dean of the first response unit before detailing that the death of Helus brought the toll to 12, not including the gunman.

The venue in the quiet, upscale Thousand Oaks suburb had been hosting an event for college students, with possibly several hundred young people in attendance, Captain Garo Kuredjian of the Ventura County Sheriff's office said earlier.

Matt Wennerstron, a 20 year old college student and regular at the bar, said the shooter fired a short-barreled pistol that apparently had a 10-15 round magazine.

"It was just semi-automatic, as many shots as he could pull, and then when it started to reload that's when we got people out of there and I didn't look back."

He said he and others smashed their way out of the bar onto a balcony and then jumped down to safety. "One bar stool and straight through a window," he told reporters.

TV footage showed SWAT teams surrounding the bar, with distraught revelers milling around and using their cell phones as lights from police cars flashed.

Holden Harrah, a young man who saw the incident, cried as he told CNN that a place where he goes every week to have fun with friends had been a scene of carnage.

"A gentleman walked in the front door and shot the girl that was behind the counter. I don't know if she is alive," he said.

- 'He shot a lot' -

The Los Angeles Times quoted a law enforcement official as saying at least 30 shots had been fired.

An unnamed witness told the newspaper that someone ran into the bar around 11:30 pm and started shooting what looked to be a black pistol.

"He shot a lot, at least 30 times. I could still hear gunshots after everyone left," the Times quoted the man as saying.

It was the latest chapter in America's epidemic of gun violence.

Only 10 days ago a gunman killed 11 worshipers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

That shooting was politically sensitive: the suspect, Robert Bowers, who said he wanted to kill Jews, argued that a Jewish advocacy group had been aiding a Central American migrant caravan denounced repeatedly by President Donald Trump in the run-up to Tuesday's midterm election.

Last year a country music festival called Route 91 in Las Vegas was the scene of the worst mass shooting in modern US history. A gunman shooting from the 32 floor of a hotel and casino with high power weapons killed 58 people.

Carl Edgar, a 24 year old regular at the Thousand Oaks club, said he was in the bar with about 20 friends and had not been able to reach some of them since the shooting. They may have turned their phones off, he said.

"A lot of my friends survived Route 91," he told the Times. "If they survived that, they will survive this.”

source: news.abs-cbn.com

At least 11 reported wounded in California bar shooting

WASHINGTON  - A gunman barged into a large, crowded Los Angeles-area country music bar and dance hall and opened fire late Wednesday, wounding at least 11 people including a police officer, US police said.

The venue in a quiet, upscale residential suburb was hosting an event for college students, with possibly several hundred young people in attendance, Captain Garo Kuredjian of the Ventura County Sheriff's office said.

Witnesses told CNN the attacker had a large handgun, wore a black trench coat and glasses and threw smoke grenades inside the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks.

Kuredjian said at around 0915 GMT that the shooter was still confined inside the premises, adding that he did not know if he had been subdued or shot. 

TV footage showed SWAT teams surrounding the bar, with distraught revelers milling around and using their cell phones as lights from police cars flashed.

Holden Harrah, a young man who saw the incident, cried as he told CNN that a place where he goes every week to have fun with friends had been a scene of carnage. 

"A gentleman walked in the front door and shot the girl that was behind the counter. I don't know if she is alive," he said.

Police who responded to reports of a shooting rushed to the scene and engaged the gunman, said Kuredjian.

A deputy sheriff is among the 11 wounded and the injury toll could rise, he added.

The Los Angeles Times quoted a law enforcement official as saying at least 30 shots had been fired.

An unnamed witness told the newspaper that someone ran into the bar around 11:30 pm and started shooting what looked to be a black pistol.

"He shot a lot, at least 30 times. I could still hear gunshots after everyone left," the Times quoted the man as saying.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

California mudslides demolish homes, eight deaths reported

LOS ANGELES - Mudslides unleashed by a ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California, authorities said Tuesday. Eight people were reported killed.

Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) said the bodies were discovered in mud and debris during rescue operations in Montecito, northwest of Los Angeles, according to various reports.

The fire and sheriff's departments weren't immediately available to confirm the deaths, but a further 25 people were reported injured.

The SBCFD said on its Twitter feed it was using dogs to look for victims where multiple homes once stood in Montecito following heavy rain.

The department posted pictures of neighborhoods submerged in mud and roads rendered impassable by fallen trees.

"Firefighters successfully rescued a 14-yr-old girl after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito," it added.

Roads were clogged throughout the region with mud flows shutting down more than 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the 101 Freeway and knocking a number of homes from their foundations.

Pounding rain weakened south-facing slopes above Montecito and flooded a creek, sending mud and huge rocks rolling into housing areas.

Emergency responders received numerous unconfirmed missing-person reports, the fire department told the Los Angeles Times.

The highest rainfall total was recorded at five inches (13 centimeters) in Ventura County, according to the National Weather Service Los Angeles.

Much of the affected area is land scorched by the massive Thomas fire last month, where there is no vegetation to soak up the excess water.

About 275 traffic crashes were logged in the California Highway Patrol's jurisdiction in Los Angeles County during the morning commute -- compared with just 30 reported collisions during the same period on Tuesday last week.

A evacuation order was issued in a section of the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, which was hit by a mudslide that pulled cars out of driveways and carried them downstream.

The slide also caused a "significant" gas leak, and repair efforts left homes on the street with no gas, electricity or water.

"There were many homes, about 40 to 45 homes, affected by it, a couple homes damaged," Burbank Fire Department Battalion Chief John Owings told local TV news channel KCAL9.

"We performed two physical rescues at approximately 7 o'clock this morning."

At Los Angeles International Airport, flooding forced the closure of the customs area in Terminal 2.

Forecasters warned that while the rain had appeared to subside by late morning, more showers and isolated thunderstorms were expected through the evening, with periods of very heavy rain.

The storm came after a 10-month dry spell in the area following torrential rains in January and February of last year. In 2017, downtown Los Angeles experienced its driest March 1 through December 31 since 1878, with only 0.69 of an inch of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Southern California fires force 200,000 people to flee

FARIA BEACH, CALIFORNIA - Wildfires roared through canyons, hillsides and residential areas in densely populated Southern California for a fourth day on Thursday as gusting winds hampered efforts to quell the flames.

Some 200,000 people have evacuated ahead of the fires, which have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced hundreds of Los Angeles-area schools to close.

Authorities feared the 4 major fires - ranging from Los Angeles up the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara County - would be whipped up by the region's notorious westward Santa Ana winds that could reach hurricane strength.

The winds, which blow in hot and dry from the California desert, could reach 75 miles per hour (120 km per hour) on Thursday and create "extreme fire danger," according to an alert sent by the countywide emergency system in Los Angeles. The National Weather Service said high winds were expected to continue at least through Saturday.

The fires, which broke out on Monday and Tuesday, have reached into the wealthy enclave of Bel-Air on Los Angeles' West Side. Some major highways in the densely populated area were intermittently closed.

North of San Diego, another blaze called the Lilac Fire grew from about 10 acres to between 100 and 150 acres in less than an hour, destroying two structures and prompting evacuations, the local CAL FIRE agency reported.

No civilian casualties or fatalities have been reported from the blazes but three firefighters were injured, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Firefighters and helicopters sprayed and dumped bucketloads of water to try to contain the flames against a hellish backdrop of flaming mountains and walls of smoke.

About 100 firefighters fended off flames in the seaside enclave of Faria Beach, caught between burning mountains and the Pacific Ocean, northwest of Ventura. Fires spread down the smoking hills, jumping the heavily used U.S. 101 highway, and headed toward clusters of beach houses. Firefighters lined up along a railroad track, the last barrier from the flames.

Surrounded by strong winds and smoke, Songsri Kesonchampa aimed a garden hose at a large pine tree between her Feria Beach house and the fire, attempting to fend off disaster.

“If this tree catches fire, the strong wind will blow the flames towards my house. I need to protect this tree,” she said.

“In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I have never seen anything like this,” she added. As she spoke, a sheriff’s car drove by, ordering residents to evacuate. “The fire is here. You must evacuate your homes right now,” an officer said over the loudspeaker.

Nearby, Ventura resident Shana Dalton was checking on her friends’ house. “One minute the flames were on the mountains and then next thing you know, they jumped the 101 and the train tracks and were right in front of us,” she said.

Because of the heavy smoke, the South Coast Air Quality Management District warned residents, especially the elderly, children, pregnant women and people with respiratory diseases, to stay indoors. Ventura County authorities said air quality in the Ojai Valley area was hazardous with "numbers ... off the charts."

The Thomas Fire, the largest in the area, continued its westward push on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of Santa Barbara County residents and the closing of Highway 101 north of Ventura city. The fire has destroyed more than 150 homes and threatened thousands more in Ventura.

In the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, the Creek Fire destroyed at least 30 homes, blackened more than 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares) and forced the evacuation of 2,500 homes and a convalescent center.

Another blaze, the Rye Fire, threatened more than 5,000 homes and structures northwest of Los Angeles.

The Skirball Fire in Los Angeles has forced hundreds of residents in the wooded hills near the Bel-Air neighborhood to evacuate and charred more than 475 acres (192 hectares).

Skirball threatened media magnate Rupert Murdoch's Moraga Estate winery. The property was evacuated, with possible damage to some buildings, Murdoch said in a statement, but “We believe the winery and house are still intact."

The Los Angeles Police Department tweeted "LAPD Working to Save Every Californian, Pets Included" along with a photo of a police officer in a respirator rescuing a cat.

CLASSES CANCELED

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the country's second largest with more than 640,000 students, said it closed at least 265 of its nearly 1,100 schools. The University of California Santa Barbara canceled classes as well.

Dozens of schools also were closed in Ventura County, where the Thomas Fire has charred more than 96,000 acres (38,850 hectares). The school district, with nearly 17,000 students, hoped to reopen on Monday.

San Diego Gas & Electric said it was turning off power to customers in some mountain communities northeast of San Diego to lessen fire danger and warned the outage could last several days.

The fires are the second outbreak to ravage parts of California this autumn. The celebrated wine country in the northern part of the state was hit by wind-driven wildfires in October that killed at least 43 people, forced some 10,000 to flee their homes and consumed at least 245,000 acres (9,900 hectares) north of the San Francisco Bay area.

The California Department of Insurance said the northern California blazes caused insured losses of more than $9 billion.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pinay's tiny home stands for simple luxury

OJAI, California – Filipino-American designer Vina Lustado is showing that a happy home isn't necessarily about living large.

Lustado's home is tucked away in a forest about 80 miles away from the Beverly Hills mansions and downtown LA high-rises.

"I really do think I’m totally living in luxury here. I have a fireplace. I have really nice windows. I think I’m living in a palace," Lustado joked.

Every inch of her 140 square foot cottage is well calculated into a fully functioning-sustainable home, with a kitchen and a bathroom, and a pair of lofts that become bedrooms.

"This feels real comfortable for me. It’s like being in the womb. It’s like outdoor camping luxury style," said Lustado, who also runs and owns Sol Haus Designs.

The home runs off the grid, powered by propane and the sun. The water that comes from Ventura County’s line is eventually recycled, breathing life into a nearby grapefruit tree. At 20 feet tall, it can feel spacious, and well ventilated, thanks to the windows. Many of the furniture have hidden storage compartments, and can be used in multiple ways.

The Quezon province-born Lustado moved to the US at age seven but her humble childhood is engrained in the maple wood home.

"Where I was born in a bahay kubo with this one room, and a kitchen and a living room and I was born literally on the kitchen floor with the bamboo just beneath me. I just think that simple lifestyle of not needing much always stayed with me," she said.

A tiny home like this can cost less than a $100,000 using recycled pieces and a helping hand from her carpenter husband. The home took $40,000 and one year to build.

"Affordability was one of the main things that was a driver for the project because I didn’t want to get into mortgage or loans, large loans to build a project," she said.

As the tiny house movement booms, some are hoping to replicate Lustado’s dream home. She has been in constant with a mobile home factory, but ultimately would like to bring her project back to her native Philippines.

Read more on Balitang America:

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Actress Heather Locklear in hospital after 911 call

LOS ANGELES - "Melrose Place" actress Heather Locklear was taken to the hospital on Thursday after emergency services were called to her home near Los Angeles, police said.

The Sheriff's department in Ventura County, west of Los Angeles said that emergency services responded to a 911 call from Locklear's home and "determined that she needed to be transported to the hospital for further medical attention."

Representatives of the actress did not return calls for comment but celebrity websites TMZ and RadarOnline said Locklear may have mixed prescription drugs and alcohol.

Locklear, who also appeared in the TV comedy "Spin City" has a history of depression, spending time in rehab in 2008.

The actress was married to rock star Tommy Lee and later Richie Sambora in the 1990s. In 2007 she began dating fellow "Melrose Place" actor Jack Wagner but their engagement was called off two months ago. — Reuters

source:gmanetwork.com