CALIFORNIA

A longtime Las Vegas attorney was indicted Wednesday on federal charges that he orchestrated a $460 million Ponzi scheme spanning multiple states, from Nevada and Utah to California and Arizona. The eight-count indictment accusing Matthew Wade Beasley of wire fraud and money laundering comes almost one year to the day after the personal injury attorney was shot and wounded by FBI agents at his $1.1 million home in Las Vegas, leading to a four-hour standoff that ended with his arrest. Beasley has been in federal custody since the standoff — during which prosecutors have said the lawyer, then 49, “repeatedly confessed” to his involvement in the investment scheme while on the phone with a negotiator.

George Rose, who studied with Ansel Adams, has spent decades capturing the landscape of vineyards.

Follow-up launch opportunity on Friday

Photos from NASA show the California landscape turning from brown to green after recent winter storms.

SpaceX will launch 10 satellites for the U.S. Space Force today (March 30), and you can watch the action live.

Flash Shelton, a handyman from Las Vegas, speaks out after he was able to kick out squatters who were living in his mother's California home on "Jesse Watters Primetime."

California wildlife researchers have detected the presence of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in two mountain lions amid an ongoing outbreak.

Seven years later, after a surge in anti-LGBTQ legislation in mostly Republican-led states, California now bans state-funded travel to nearly half of the country. “That's a pursuit that would have made teen Toni — that southwest Virginia girl afraid to be herself back then — so proud.”California's travel ban has been in effect since 2017. The law applies to state agencies, departments, boards, authorities and commissions — including the schools that are part of the University of California and the California State University systems. The team got around the ban because the NCAA, not California taxpayers, is footing the bill for the team's travel. The ban has also impeded academic researchers who often have to travel to other states for their work.

A California lawmaker wants to end a ban on state-funded travel to states with discriminatory LGBTQ laws.

When North Carolina in 2016 banned transgender people from using the bathroom of their gender identity in public buildings, California retaliated by banning state-funded travel to that state and any other state with laws it deemed discriminatory against LGBTQ people. Seven years later, after a surge in anti-LGBTQ legislation in mostly Republican-led states, California now bans state-funded travel to nearly half of the country. The prohibition has caused travel hitches for state employees as well as academic researchers and sports teams at public colleges and universities, prompting state Senate leader Toni Atkins to call Wednesday for the travel ban to come to an end.

A California school district is planning on forming a task force to recommend ways to pay reparations to African-American students who are descendants of slaves.

A whale without a tail is spotted off the coast of California. The gray whale is said to have successfully made the migration from Alaska to Mexico and back, all without a tail.

California's reparations task force was informed that compensating Black residents with reparations would cost the state $800 billion, according to economists they consulted.

Storms have been sweeping across California since last December. Areas with high elevation are forecasted to experience the brunt of this week's extreme weather.

"I was determined to see that my husband's life would not be in vain."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a new law that could penalize oil companies for making too much money.

An overnight shooting on Interstate 5 shut down traffic north of Los Angeles until around sunrise on Tuesday. Authorities recieved calls about someone waving a firearm at a trucker.

The White House has emphasized that Biden is not willing to entertain proposed cuts in programs simply in exchange for lifting the debt limit. But McCarthy and Republicans are insisting he must for debt ceiling legislation to move ahead. “Nearly two month ago, you and I sat down to discuss a path forward on the debt limit,” McCarthy wrote in a letter to Biden dated Tuesday. “It's time for Republicans to stop playing games, pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening our economic recovery,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. They are portraying the White House as inviting the standoff and hoping to shift the blame for any damage to the economy that may result.

Bembidion brownorum, a rare species of beetle, has been named after former California Gov. Jerry Brown. One of the rare beetles was found on Brown's ranch.

Pamela Smith, whose son died in 2016, called out the 'outrageous' disregard by the California State Assembly committee on combating the opioid epidemic.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing fierce scrutiny after she proposed a plea deal to slash the sentence in a triple murder case.

Three small quakes struck Pacifica, California, early this morning.

U.S. states are considering raising the minimum wage to $20. A handful of states considered raising their minimum wage to $15 per hour but the gains were nearly erased due to inflation.

Heavy rain and flooding risks continue for the Gulf Coast and Southeast as wintry weather is forecast to spread over parts of the interior Northeast and Great Lakes regions.

The federal minimum wage in the United States has stayed at $7.25 per hour since 2009, but states and some localities are free to set higher amounts. A growing number of states across the political spectrum have passed legislation that will take their minimum wage above that amount in the next few years, including Florida, Nebraska and Illinois. A bill in New York would raise the state’s minimum wage to $21.25 by 2026, and then adjust it each year going forward for inflation. Right now, minimum wage workers in New York City get paid $15, while the rest of the state is at $14.20. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, proposed tying minimum wage increases to inflation, but with a cap on how much wages could rise in any one year.

Just years after labor activists persuaded a handful of states to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour, workers initially thrilled with the pay bump are finding their hard-won gains erased by inflation.

Hoping to reverse that trend, valley water agencies have built basins to try to capture water in rainy years and allow it to seep back into the ground. Groundwater recharge projects are a “critical, important part of our infrastructure future,” Crowfoot said. “They are the solution.”The idea of using farmland to recharge groundwater has percolated for years. Gavin Newsom signed an order this month making it easier for farmers to divert floodwater to their fields. While some farmers like Cameron are ready to flood their fields now, many others aren't.

With water gushing through California’s rivers, some farmers have started devoting a portion of their land to capture these flows and let them seep into the ground.

A field that has long grown tomatoes, peppers and onions now looks like a wind-whipped ocean as farmer Don Cameron seeks to capture the runoff from a freakishly wet year in California to replenish the groundwater basin that is his only source to water his crops. Taking some tomatoes out of production for a year is an easy choice if it means boosting future water supplies for his farm about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southwest of Fresno. “We knew long-term if we didn’t have water, we’d be out of business,” Cameron said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced that electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal electricity production in the United States for the first time in 2022.

BERKELEY, Calif. — (AP) — Scientists are naming a rare species of beetle in honor of former California Gov. The beetle is brown and tiny at about 5 millimeters (0.20 inch) long, although that is still larger than other Bembidion beetles. Under magnification “it glows with a green and gold metallic shimmer,” according to UC Berkeley. The beetle was named in honor of Brown and his wife, Anne Brown. “I’m very glad that (my ranch) is advancing science in some interesting and important ways,” Brown said in the UC Berkeley statement.

A California mom and her 7-year-old son were both found dead following a search that began after the woman's 3-year-old child reported them missing.

Instead, Newsom and lawmakers agreed to let the California Energy Commission decide whether to penalize oil companies for price gouging. Instead, it's the reams of new information oil companies would be required to disclose to state regulators about their pricing. California's gas prices are always higher than the rest of the country because of the state's taxes and regulations. “There's truly no other explanation for these historically high prices other than greed,” said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Democrat from Chatsworth. Gavin Newsom, said the state has plenty of supply, noting California oil refineries exported 12% of their product to other states last year.

A freight train that was carrying iron ore derailed in the Mojave Desert on Monday. Numerous cars derailed in a remote area, but there were no injuries.

California lawmakers have approved the nation's first penalty for price gouging at the pump.

California's Oakland Zoo recovered five out of the six birds that escaped the storm-damaged aviary. The crow was captured Saturday after an Oakland resident reported it was in her yard.

Gunfire erupted during a Sikh religious celebration in Sacramento, California Sunday afternoon, leaving two people wounded, the sheriff's office said.

Bishop recently suffered catastrophic flooding, and officials are asking visitors not to travel to popular crags

Former California high school teacher Kali Fontanilla criticized lucrative DEI certificate programs offered at several elite U.S. colleges and universities.

Dashcam video captured the heart-pounding moment a car was launched into the air on a Los Angeles-area freeway last week after the vehicle struck a loose tire.

Dashcam video captured the heart-pounding moment a car was launched into the air on a Los Angeles-area freeway last week after the vehicle struck a loose tire.

A 7-year-old boy and his mother went missing last week. The bodies of both the child and his mother have been found since the two went missing.

A victim's family member and police sergeant react after a Yolo County, California, study found that zero-dollar bail put hundreds of criminals back on the streets.

A rare Lamborghini Countach LP500S once owned by Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo is being offered for sale by Gooding & Company for $785,000.

Sebastian Joseph-Day, a defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Chargers, accused TSA agents at John Wayne Airport of sexually assaulting him.

Congresswoman Young Kim, R-Calif., discusses the push to strip China from its developing country classification, arguing that they're taking advantage of said status.

Horse racing’s efforts to clean up the sport and level the playing field are taking another step forward with the launch of a new anti-doping program.

A rare strain of a Toxoplasma gondii parasite have killed four otters in California, and researchers warn that the parasite could also pose a health risk to humans.

A California man is accused of killing a cat after smashing the animal on windshields in Huntington Beach, authorities said. According to Jessica Cuchilla, a spokesperson for the Huntington Beach Police Department, officers responded to a call of disturbing the peace on Tuesday at about 8 p.m. PDT, The Orange County Register reported. Officers said that Watson allegedly smashed the cat against parked cars, breaking two windshields and killing the animal, according to the newspaper. Watson was arrested on Tuesday and bail was set at $20,000, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Office online booking records. Watson is expected back in court for a pretrial hearing on April 4, the Register reported.

HAYWARD, Calif. — A Home Depot employee in California is accused of stealing approximately $80,000 worth of merchandise, authorities said. >> Read more trending newsOfficials found about 600 items after executing a search warrant at the employee’s home in Patterson on Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. Authorities also found $90,000 in cash, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Investigators with Home Depot’s loss prevention department at the Hayward store estimated that the store lost approximately $300,000 in merchandise, according to the newspaper. Officials believe the worker stole the merchandise when the store was closed.

A bill in the California State Senate aims to ensure schools will have at least two locations offering free condoms to students with accompanying information on proper use.

As Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, front-line employees struggled to reassure skittish clients, even as their own equity evaporated.

Helicopter video from FOX 11 Los Angeles shows a woman in California being arrested after leading police on a car chase. A K-9 bit the woman's sweater when police approached her.

Californians did reduce their water use, but only by 6.2% overall, according to data from the State Water Resources Control Board. Newsom never ordered statewide, mandatory water restrictions — but he did require water agencies to impose some limits on their customers. Now, water districts that serve 27 million people will get at least 75% of the water they requested from state supplies. Lund said the drought is over from many perspectives in California, including urban water supply and reservoirs. It dried up wells in rural areas and state officials had to truck in water supplies for some communities.

California is leading a group of Democrat-led states siding with Mexico in a lawsuit claiming that gun makers are responsible for gun violence in the country.

Legislators across the United States are making legislative moves to combat a surge in eating disorders. Some states that are taking action include New York, Colorado, and Texas.

Warford, then a 15-year-old starting volleyball player, bought a food scale and began replacing meals with energy drinks hawked by social media stars. Stories like Warford’s are why lawmakers in Colorado, California, Texas, New York and elsewhere are taking big, legislative swings at the eating disorder crisis. Every year over 10,000 die from an eating disorder, according to data cited by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. The slew of legislation follows a spike in eating disorder cases as pandemic lockdowns pushed youth into long bouts of isolation. Binge eating disorder is a compulsion in the other direction.

A spate of heavy rains in California that have interfered with the strawberry harvest is negatively impacting farm workers and may soon hit consumers in the wallet, too. "For the farms that were flooded, this catastrophe hit at the worst possible time," California’s Strawberry Commission President Rick Tomlinson said in a statement. California's farm workers are also feeling the effects. The community is composed largely of Latino farm workers, and many saw their homes destroyed. Inhalation of wildfire smoke is also harmful to farm workers, and working in extreme heat is a growing health hazard .

Lawmakers in states including Colorado, California, Texas and New York are taking big, legislative swings at the eating disorder crisis.

You might not want to "taste the rainbow" after finding out what's in it.

California prosecutors have dropped domestic violence charges against Justin Roiland, who created the animated series “Rick and Morty” and provided the voices of the show’s two title characters.

California state Sen. Aisha Wahab has introduced legislation adding caste as a protected category under the state's anti-discrimination laws.

A rare tornado left a line of damage across roofs of commercial buildings in the Los Angeles suburb of Montebello.

A strong late-season Pacific storm is bringing wind, rain and snow to saturated California as the first full day of spring shows little change from an extraordinary winter.

A relentless winter at Lake Tahoe has now etched its way into the history books as the Sierra's second-snowiest on record.

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has asked California for permission to test the cars across the entire state.

Prepare to raise your glass and turn into a rockstar for the night because P!nk is coming to Orlando.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's latest plan for the state's homelessness crisis asks voters to fund a major expansion of housing and treatment for residents suffering from mental illness and addiction.

Markelle Fultz scored 12 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, Wendell Carter Jr. had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic snapped their two-game skid with a 113-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Mysterious streaks of light were seen in the sky in the Sacramento area Friday night, shocking St. Patrick’s Day revelers who then posted videos on social media of the surprising sight.

SpaceX is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites from California on Friday afternoon.

A new bill in the California Legislature would give legal protections to doctors who mail abortion pills to patients in other states.

The 59-foot-tall Electron rocket is carrying a satellite for Capella Space.

A potential casualty of the powerful rainstorms that drenched coastal California and flooded rivers is hundreds of acres of strawberries.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the state will pay to build 1,200 small homes to help house the homeless population.

Record snowfall and rain have helped to loosen drought’s grip on parts of the western U.S., even pushing it out altogether in California after consecutive dry years.

San Francisco leaders have backed the idea of paying reparations to Black people to atone for slavery and the systemic discrimination that followed.

A U.S. judge says the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the law when it failed to develop a plan to prevent the harming of humpback whales by West Coast commercial fishermen catching sablefish.

Facebook’s parent Meta will slash another 10,000 jobs and will not fill 5,000 open positions as the social media pioneer cuts costs.

A coalition representing the Maine lobster industry is suing an aquarium on the other side of the country for recommending that seafood customers avoid buying a variety of lobster mostly harvested in their state.

Now that’s a lot of Oscars!

Wet, miserable weather is continuing across huge swaths of California as an atmospheric river that caused major flooding flowed eastward.

The man convicted of killing Kristin Smart, who vanished from a California college campus in 1996, has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

More than 9,000 California residents were under evacuation orders Friday after a new atmospheric river brought heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds, swelling rivers and creeks and flooding several major highways.

Andy Murray grabbed the last three games to come back and beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 across more than three hours in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.

California men’s basketball coach Mark Fox has been fired following the worst season in school history.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued Huntington Beach.

The first in a new series of atmospheric rivers has pushed into California and forecasters warn that widespread heavy rain will raise the threat of flooding in a state still digging out from earlier storms.

News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve Montiero answers viewer questions about the rules of the road every week, helping Central Florida residents become better drivers by being better educated.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is withdrawing a $54 million contract with Walgreens.

Tornadoes touched down in Texas and Louisiana as a powerful storm system that dumped heavy snow in California moved eastward.

SpaceX is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites Friday from California.

Tremendous rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought.

House Republicans have introduced a bill to give parents more of a say in school curriculum.

California's coronavirus emergency declaration has ended.

The leaders of a new House select committee on China are defending Democratic Rep. Judy Chu on Sunday after a GOP lawmaker questioned her loyalty to the U.S. based on her Chinese heritage.

Angela Bassett won entertainer of the year at Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards on a night that also saw her take home a television acting trophy for “9-1-1.”.

Twenty years into climate change efforts, California is now relying heavily on a controversial technology — capturing climate pollution from industry and piping it underground, where it's supposed to remain permanently.

Japanese American activists in their 70s and 80s are fighting for Black reparations as more U.S. cities take up atonement for slavery and discrimination.