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Opinion: Unsafe Skittles? California should ban toxic chemicals in candy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

Food companies shouldn’t be allowed to sell products in the United States made with toxic chemicals while they sell the same products in other countries without them.Yet that’s exactly what happens with certain candies, baked goods and beverages. Manufacturers ship products with safer ingredients to other countries while the inferior versions containing harmful chemicals and additives are sold every day in America.A bill by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, D-Woodland Hills, would prohibit the use of five toxic chemicals found in candies such as Skittles and Sour Patch Kids. Recent scientific evidence has linked certain food additives to serious health problems, including higher risk of cancer, nervous system damage, hyperactivity and other neurological problems.The risks posed by these five food chemicals — BVO, potassium bromate, propyl paraben, red dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide — are particularly concerning for children, who often consume these candies at higher rates than ...

Powerball jackpot grows to an estimated $875 million after no winner in Wednesday’s drawing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

By Michelle Watson and Travis Caldwell | CNNThe Powerball grand prize is growing once again after no winning jackpot tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing.The big prize for the next drawing on Saturday is now an estimated $875 million, according to the lottery’s website, with an estimated $441.9 million lump-sum cash value before tax.Wednesday’s numbers were 23-35-45-66-67 and the Powerball was 20.While no tickets had all six numbers drawn, two tickets sold – one in Florida and one in Indiana – matched the first five numbers for a $1 million prize.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Powerball prize jumps to an estimated $725 million after no jackpot winners Monday California News | Powerball ticket worth more than $350,000 sold in San Jose There have now been 36 consecutive Powerball drawings without a big winner. The last jackpot won was on April 19 when a winning ticket in Ohio earned $252.6 million.The record for the largest-ever Powerball prize ...

Kobe Bryant’s NBA legacy lives on in a new way as 2 rookies bear his name

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

By TIM REYNOLDS | AP Basketball WriterLAS VEGAS — There’s Kobe, wearing the uniform of a team from Los Angeles. There’s Kobe, the last one on the court at practice and getting yelled at because the buses are waiting for him.How fitting. Just like old times.There will never be another Kobe Bryant, of course. And make no mistake – Kobe Brown and Kobe Bufkin would be the first two players at NBA Summer League to insist that there will never be another Bryant. They would never pretend otherwise. But for the first time since the Lakers’ Hall of Famer retired in 2016, the NBA is about to have fans watching guys named Kobe again.Brown is in Summer League with the Clippers. Bufkin is entering his rookie year with the Atlanta Hawks. Both were named for Bryant, who – for now – is the only player named Kobe to make it to the NBA. In a couple of months, that seems likely to change.“It means a lot,” Brown said. “There’s definitely a target on my back, I feel like. A lot of guys, when they hear t...

Opinion: New all-electric homes show how to live without fossil fuels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

From the outside, the rows of tile-roof houses in a new community in Menifee, Calif., don’t look much different from those in other subdivisions cropping up in this fast-growing city in Riverside County. But on the inside, these all-electric homes are revolutionary, offering a glimpse of the zero-emission future we should be hurtling toward to fight climate change and adapt to its effects.All the houses in the Durango and Oak Shade at Shadow Mountain communities, two adjacent KB Home subdivisions I visited in May for an opening event, were built without natural gas hookups or appliances. Each of the 219 homes comes with rooftop solar panels, heat pumps for heating and cooling, induction cooktops and other energy-efficient electric appliances, and a smart electrical panel that manages energy use. In the garage is a battery storage system that can power the home during an outage and in the evenings when the cost of electricity from the grid is higher.I expected these homes to come wit...

Missing 15-foot pet python ‘Big Mama’ reunited with California family after a week on the lam

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

An animal-loving Chatsworth family was reunited Wednesday with Big Mama, their roughly 15-foot pet python who’d been missing for about a week, after a next door neighbor spotted the adolescent snake in his backyard.The family had been searching for the 13-year-old reticulated python after she went missing from her outdoor cage in the family’s backyard on July 4. She was found around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday just as the pet’s owner, Alex Villalta, was doing a phone interview about the missing pet with a news reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Adorable surfboard-hijacking sea otter menacing Santa Cruz surfers California News | It’s that time of year again in San Fermin, Spain California News | New study reveals what can calm snakes in times of stress — and it’s surprisingly relatable California News | California animal rescuers and advocates seek donations, volunteers to help sick sea li...

California teen, initially in custody for killing his mother, must remain behind bars pending new trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

A 19-year-old who killed his mother more than six years ago and later escaped from both juvenile hall and a halfway house should remain in custody while he awaits an upcoming trial for allegedly crafting a shank behind bars, a judge ruled on Wednesday, July 13, rather than be allowed to live in a transition home now to prepare for his eventual release from lockup.Ike Souzer has been behind bars since he was 13 years old, and along with killing his mother was convicted of attacking, a couple of years ago, deputy juvenile correctional officers. But social workers say in the past year he has made great strides, and Souzer told Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven D. Bromberg that he is ready to turn his life around and is willing to face the consequences should he be convicted of his pending felony counts of possessing and manufacturing a deadly weapon as a prisoner.“I just want better for myself,” Souzer told the judge. “Running just makes things worse.”Souzer’s attorney, David H...

Deputy punching mother holding baby was ’completely unacceptable,’ LA County sheriff says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

LOS ANGELES — For the second time in a week, the Los Angeles County sheriff decried the use of force by deputies in the Antelope Valley after the Sheriff’s Department released video on Wednesday of a deputy punching a woman twice in the face as she held her baby.The edited video from body camera footage shows the July 2022 encounter during a traffic stop in Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles.Body camera footage shows a July 2022 encounter between Los Angeles County sheriff deputies and a woman in Palmdale. (GIF created from video courtesy of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) At a news conference, Sheriff Robert Luna said he found the punching “completely unacceptable” and has sent the case to the county district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file criminal charges against the deputy. The FBI also was alerted, Luna said.Luna said the deputy, whom he didn’t name, has been taken off field duty.Last week, Luna said two deputies had been pulled from field dut...

Lakers’ LeBron James is not retiring, will return for 21st NBA season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

Lakers star LeBron James confirmed he won’t be retiring from the NBA and will be returning for his 21st season, though few ever believed his playing days might be over.After winning an ESPY for the best record-breaking performance for breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring record, James made the expected announcement Wednesday that he isn’t done playing.“Can I give everything to the game still? The truth is, I’ve been asking myself this question at the end of the season for a couple years now, I just never openly talked about it,” James said during his acceptance speech at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. “I don’t care how many more points I score. Or what I can or can not do on the floor. The real question for me is, ‘Can I play without cheating the game?’“The day I can’t give the game everything on the floor is the day I’ll be done. Luckily for you guys, today is not that day.”The crowd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood let out a huge cheer.“So yeah, I still got someth...

Opinion: Jailing homeless for sleeping in public is not the solution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

Last week a group of conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit spoke out against allowing homeless people to sleep in public spaces, after the court’s liberal majority decided that those with nowhere else to rest cannot be subject to criminal penalties.It’s the latest ideological battle in a court where President Trump was able to replace four left-leaning judges. Back in 2018, a 9th Circuit panel ruled 2 to 1 that government was barred from imprisoning people for not having a place to live by the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. That decision was upheld in 2022 following legal challenges to ordinances targeting encampments in Oregon.However, with the 9th Circuit now more evenly split, the next test case or the next election could upend how the 8th Amendment is applied and thus change the entire conversation about homelessness — very much for the worse. Instead of pursuing affordable housing and outreach s...

UK government offers millions of public sector workers pay raises in bid to end strikes during cost-of-living crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:42 GMT

LONDON (AP) — UK government offers millions of public sector workers pay raises in bid to end strikes during cost-of-living crisis.Source