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Students' 1976 bicentennial mural on dam near Corona being replaced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

A giant mural that students painted on a California dam for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976 is being recreated after years of controversy over a decision to remove the original.Workers following the original design began painting the new mural on the spillway of Prado Dam this month, Southern California News Group reported.The dam is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control project on the Santa Ana River, about 36 miles (58 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.More than 40 years ago, high school students from the nearby city of Corona used the dam to salute the nation's bicentennial, painting the phrase “200 YEARS OF FREEDOM,” a Liberty Bell silhouette, and the dates “1776-1976.”The mural became a landmark but it suffered from weathering and graffiti, and the Corps announced it would be removed due to lead in the original paint. That led to a lawsuit and a failed effort to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Many of the original painters attend...

Monica Hyun Mi Suh Killed in Fiery Collision on Sunset Boulevard [West Hollywood, CA]

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

31-Year-Old Woman Pronounced Dead after Fiery Single-Vehicle Crash near Roxbury RoadWEST HOLLYWOOD, CA (April 12, 2023) – Early Monday morning, Monica Hyun Mi Suh was killed in a fiery collision on Sunset Boulevard.Authorities responded to the scene around 2:32 a.m., at the 8200 block of Sunset Boulevard near Roxbury Road.Per reports, the driver of a Tesla X lost control and crashed into the center median, a metal lamp post and a tree. The Tesla then hit the Pink Taco restaurant patio and caught on fire.Investigators said the driver managed to get out of the vehicle before it became engulfed in flames. However, the female passenger of the Tesla was trapped inside and died at the scene. Authorities later identified her as 31-year-old Suh, of Los Angeles.Meanwhile, paramedics rushed two women in the backseat to a nearby hospital with unspecified injuries.A third party later picked up the Tesla driver, as LAPD reported. The driver was later located at a hospital in critical condi...

Star2 is Setting the Standards for the Future of Hip-Hop on Latest EP Different Breed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

Star2 is a visionary who imagines a future full of opportunities for Asian-American rappers like himself. He was born at a Thai refugee camp and grew up in San Diego surrounded by violence from a young age. He uses these experiences to pinpoint the intersections of hip-hop and identity on his powerful new EP Different Breed.The project is a joint effort between Star2 and Asian American hip hop icon $tupid Young. Together, these two Asian-American artists are ready to usher in a new era of hip-hop.Different Breed is chock-full of slick beats, growling undercurrents, and vocals that exude an intoxicating darkness. Star2 and $tupid Young write from the depths of adolescence and remark on core memories involving gangs, the police, and survival. On hard-hitting rap anthem “Hooping”, Star2 sings, “Where was y’all at when I was laying flat on my back?” Star2 and $tupid Young draw together an impressive repertoire of featured artists on the EP including Lil Poppa and fellow Asian-Amer...

Randall Robinson dies; American lawyer led fight to end apartheid in South Africa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

By Nicole Chavez | CNNRandall Robinson went from growing up in segregated Virginia to spending decades promoting equity for people of African descent from all over the world.The human rights advocate and lawyer led the fight to end the apartheid in South Africa, lobbied for humane policy for Haitian refugees and called for reparations for Black Americans.On March 24, Robinson died of aspiration pneumonia in the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts, his wife Hazel Ross-Robinson told CNN. He was 81.“Apart from his work as a public figure, he was a very loving, dependable, protective, caring husband and father. He was a joy to know and a joy to love,” Ross-Robinson said. “He was as committed to being a source of stability and security to his family as he was to being a force for fairness and justice in the wider world. He shall be missed very, very much by me and by his family.”Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1941, Robinson grew up experiencing racial discriminat...

Ousted Black lawmaker Pearson will return to Tennessee House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

By Adrian Sainz | Associated PressMEMPHIS, Tenn. — Commissioners in Memphis voted Wednesday to reinstate one of two Black Democrats kicked out of the Republican-led Tennessee House.The Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted to send Justin Pearson back to the Legislature in Nashville.Republicans banished Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones last week over their role in a gun control protest on the House floor after a deadly school shooting.The Nashville Metropolitan Council took only a few minutes Monday to restore Jones to office. He was quickly reinstated to his House seat.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House could return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission vote Wednesday, nearly a week after their banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled them into the national spotlight.A Shelby County Board of Commissioners committee approved a re...

Here’s when Disneyland’s Splash Mountain is closing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

Disneyland’s iconic Splash Mountain ride, which has thrilled and soaked millions of parkgoers since 1989, will close for good on May 31, officials have announced.The closure allows work to begin on a new attraction —Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — which will remake the ride using the theme of the “Princess and the Frog” movie’s continuing story. The ride will also be remade at Walt Disney World. The Splash Mountain attraction in Florida closed in January.The Splash Mountain log flume ride opened in Disneyland’s Critter Country on July 17, 1989. Park designers reused animatronic creatures from the closed “America Sings” ride, and based them on sequences from the 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South,” also adding new characters such as Brer Bear, Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. In total, the ride has 103 creatures.Splash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Splash Mountain is a log flume based on the animated sequences of the 1946 Disney film So...

Middle Class Tax Refund: Early filers can amend 2022 returns to recoup taxes, IRS says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

The IRS reversed course this week, advising early tax filers who included the Middle Class Tax Refund as taxable income to recoup the money by amending their 2022 federal tax returns.The Internal Revenue Service issued an advisory Tuesday, April 11 regarding various tax refunds issued by 21 states, California among them.“Taxpayers who filed before Feb. 10 … should check their tax return to make sure they paid tax on a state refund before filing an amended return,” the IRS said.The agency also suggested taxpayers who worked with a tax preparer or accounting consult with them first to determine if an amended return is necessary.Just two months ago, the agency advised tax filers not to amend their 2022 returns.The MCTR was intended to be a stimulus payment for California residents who were paying more for just about everything thanks to record-high inflation. The Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom set aside $9 billion from the budget’s surplus in order to send taxpayers a “refund” rangi...

Road-rage shooter claimed out-of-body experience during killing of boy, wounding of 3 others, DA says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

Jeremy Webster (Westminster PD) The man accused of killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding three others in a road-rage shooting spree in Westminster. Colorado five years ago told police afterward that he’d watched himself carrying out the attack as though he were out of his body, prosecutors said at the start of his jury trial Wednesday.Jeremy Webster, 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and related counts in connection with the June 14, 2018, attack in the parking lot of a dentist’s office at the corner of West 80th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.Prosecutors with the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday rejected Webster’s claim that he was insane during the shooting and said he should be held criminally responsible for the crime.“Insanity is just an excuse,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Prince said during opening statements in Adams County District Court.The incident began when Megha...

EPA proposes industry-changing vehicle emissions limits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

By Matthew Daly and Tom Krisher | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032, a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales.The proposed regulation, announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, would set tailpipe emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years that are the strictest ever imposed — and call for far more new EV sales than the auto industry agreed to less than two years ago.The new rules do not affect California, which already has the nation’s toughest tailpipe emissions standards. The new rules’ goals for electric vehicles, while groundbreaking nationally, also fall short of California’s existing rules.Last August, at the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Air Resources Board approved landmark rules to prohibit the sale of all new gasoline-powered c...

22 arrested in San Jose sex crimes sweep operation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:00 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- Twenty-two men and women were arrested during a month-long sweep operation targeting sexual assault suspects who have outstanding warrants, the San Jose Police Department announced Wednesday. The 22 suspects are charged with a slew of sex crimes. "All of the suspects are charged with sex crimes ranging from misdemeanor sexual assault to felony cases of sexual assault of a minor and rape. The dates of these cases ranged from as early as 2012 to February 2023," SJPD Officer Steve Aponte wrote. The sweep was conducted in March and went after suspects who were "purposefully absconding from justice," Aponte told reporters at the news conference Wednesday. "Abscond" is a legal term meaning to go in a clandestine manner out of the jurisdiction of the courts, or to be concealed in order to avoid court proceedings. Mugshots released by the San Jose Police Department following a sweep.Police Chief Anthony Mata said, "I would like to thank all the San Jose Police De...