Author: Paul Elias
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Rastafarian pot farm shootout sparks religious-use debate
Heidi and Charles Lepp, who run the Sugarleaf Rastafarian Church, stand in the backyard of their Sacramento, Calif., home on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. The Lepp’s use cannabis as a sacrament in their religion. The shooting of two California deputies responding to a disturbance at the Rastafarian marijuana farm has drawn attention to religious use…
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San Francisco UPS shooting leaves 4 dead, including gunman
SAN FRANCISCO — A UPS employee opened fire at a San Francisco package delivery facility on Wednesday, killing three employees and then himself as officers closed in, police and the company said. San Francisco assistant police chief Toney Chaplin said at a news conference that two others were wounded in the shooting that prompted a…
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Prostitute who gave Google exec fatal drug shot is deported
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal immigration officials said Friday they were deporting a California prostitute to Canada after she completed a jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter for giving a fatal heroin shot to a Google executive she had been entertaining aboard his yacht. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman James Schwab said a judge ordered Alix Tichelman,…
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Oakland found building lacked sprinklers before deadly blaze
OAKLAND, Calif. — Inspectors discovered that a California building in a rundown neighborhood lacked fire extinguishers, smoke detectors in every apartment and a working sprinkler system just three days before a blaze erupted and killed four low-income residents. Officials uncovered multiple fire code violations during an inspection Friday and ordered the owner of the Oakland…
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Evacuation lifted for 200K Californians living below dam
OROVILLE, Calif. — Nearly 200,000 Northern Californians who live downstream of the country’s tallest dam were allowed to return home Tuesday after two nights of uncertainty, but they were warned they may still have to again flee to higher ground on a moment’s notice if hastily made repairs to the battered structure don’t hold. The…
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Investigators to look at electrical system in Oakland fire
OAKLAND, Calif. — Federal officials investigating a fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse plan to bring in engineers to examine the building’s electrical system, as they try to pinpoint the cause of a blaze that has cast a spotlight on similar artists’ colonies around the country that offer cheap…
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Recovery of victims winds down in Oakland warehouse fire; investigation looms
OAKLAND, Calif. — Some people managed to text loved ones goodbye and “I love you” before they died in an Oakland warehouse fire that claimed three dozen lives, officials said, as heart-rending reports of victims’ last moments emerged from the most lethal building fire in the U.S. in more than a decade. Also Monday, the…
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At least 9 killed in Oakland warehouse fire, death toll expected to rise
OAKLAND, Calif. — At least nine people died and authorities said they feared the toll could rise as high as 40 in a fire that broke out during a rave at a converted warehouse in the San Francisco Bay Area. Oakland fire chief Teresa Deloche-Reed said at least another 25 people were unaccounted for as…
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Chains and branded skin: California kidnap case baffles cops
SAN FRANCISCO — Three weeks after Sherri Papini disappeared, the question of whether she was dead or alive was answered when the young mother and wife was spotted waving frantically for help along a California freeway early on Thanksgiving morning. But the mystery over what happened to her during those 22 days just seemed to…
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Big victories for legal pot, but path ahead is uncertain
LOS ANGELES — The number of Americans living in states with recreational marijuana more than tripled after at least three states voted to fully legalize the drug. But the election of Republican Donald Trump and GOP majorities in the Senate and House tempered advocates’ excitement about an easing of federal restrictions. “There is a massive…