September 18, 2015
A group of drought experts gathered in California this week, and it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to El Niño. They weren’t touting it as the savior that will end the state’s four-year drought. Instead, they were looking at …
September 18, 2015
The Department of Industrial Relations has posted preliminary workplace fatality statistics for California in 2014 that show a decline. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data reflect a total of 334 fatal work injuries statewide in 2014, a decrease of …
September 18, 2015
Constance Gail Fortune, 61, pleaded guilty this week to one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement and one felony count of theft from an elder or dependent adult in a case in which she was charged with scamming members …
September 16, 2015
A pair of massive blazes in the Northern California are a bleak reminder of how bad things can get in a state with persistent drought and windy conditions. A more worrisome thought is California’s official wildfire season has yet to …
September 16, 2015
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a San Diego woman who died after eating Salmonella-tainted cucumbers. KNSD-TV reported that 99-yearold Mildred Hendricks died Aug. 17 after eating the cucumbers and contracting the illness. A second person …
September 16, 2015
A new U.S. Forest Service report shows the continued expansion of housing development near forests, an area referred to as the wildland-urban interface, with direct implications for the cost of wildfire fighting. Increasing densities of people and infrastructure in the …
September 15, 2015
A California wildfire damaged five power plants at Calpine Corp.’s Geysers geothermal complex in Lake and Sonoma Counties. The so-called Valley Fire burned local power distribution lines, cooling towers and communication equipment at the power plants, the Houston, Texas-based company …
September 15, 2015
Two Maricopa County, Ariz. residents have filed a lawsuit against a California company over a salmonella outbreak linked to tainted cucumbers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there have been 341 reported cases of salmonella involving the …
September 14, 2015
Two fast-burning wildfires overtook several Northern California towns, killing at least one person and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and sending thousands of residents fleeing highways lined with buildings, guardrails and cars still in flames. The California Department of …
September 14, 2015
A California brother and sister who owned a landscaping service won’t contest charges that they duped several workers’ compensation carriers out of more than $200,000. Michael George Mello Jr., 37, and his sister Mary Catherine Rodriguez, 38, owners of Sacramento, …