August 23, 2026
August 23, 2026
A 6-to-8-foot shark turned a relaxing mid-ocean swim into a real-life Jaws scene for dozens of Coast Guard sailors, forcing an armed watchman to open fire and drive the predator away. On Aug. 21, 2020, the crew of the Honolulu-based Coast Guard Cutter Kimball had wrapped up operations somewhere in Oceania, far from any land or other vessels. After weeks of monotony at sea, about 30 to 40 sailors jumped into the calm Pacific waters for a planned swim call. They brought safety...
A homeless man in Los Angeles has gone viral for constructing an elaborate wooden dwelling that hangs suspended from the underside of a busy freeway overpass, complete with a door, windows, solar panels, a small balcony patio featuring a houseplant and chair, and even water jugs. The striking structure, captured in a driving video circulating widely on X and YouTube since mid-August, appears bolted or suspended high above the street traffic below. Motorists pass underneath as...
Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly signed California’s controversial “Stop Nick Shirley Act” into law on Saturday, August 22, 2026, expanding privacy protections for immigrant aid workers in a move critics say is designed to intimidate citizen journalists exposing taxpayer fraud. Assembly Bill 2624, authored by Oakland Democrat Mia Bonta (wife of state Attorney General Rob Bonta), expands California’s Safe at Home program — originally created for domestic-violence victims...
A sprawling homeless encampment near UC Berkeley student housing has drawn renewed attention after a viral video highlighted piles of tents, debris, and belongings along the streets. In mid-August 2026, ABC7 reporter Lyanne Melendez posted footage of the long-standing camp along the Harrison Street corridor near Eighth Street in West Berkeley while dropping her son off at university housing. The images showed densely packed tents, tarps, shopping carts, furniture, bicycles,...
LOS ANGELES - Graffiti removal is underway at Oceanwide Plaza, the long-abandoned three-tower complex in downtown Los Angeles long known as the "Graffiti Towers," following a bankruptcy court-approved sale to a joint venture of Southern California developer KPC Group and Lendlease. The site, located at 1101 South Flower Street across from Crypto.com Arena, LA Live, and the Los Angeles Convention Center, has stood unfinished and increasingly covered in spray paint since...
Construction cranes are swinging over Santa Monica even as Californians vote with their feet and leave the state. A mixed-use apartment complex is rising on the old Pico Bowl site near Pico Boulevard and Third Street. Senior “affordable” and supportive housing is underway at 14th and Wilshire. Another 78-unit affordable project is climbing at 20th Street near Wilshire. Related towers are advancing toward 26th and Wilshire. All of this is happening while California lost...
On Saturday, August 22, 2026, at approximately 12:49 p.m. PST, a Santa Monica police officer fatally shot a man near the 1400 block of Ocean Avenue in Palisades Park. Officers had responded to a reported domestic violence call in the park (an area known for significant homeless presence). While interviewing witnesses, an unrelated man armed with a knife charged toward them. He ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon and continued advancing. One officer fired a single...
BERKELEY, Calif. — Zvezdelina Stankova, a teaching professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, has described a sharp drop in the mathematical readiness of incoming students, saying some arrive years behind grade level and struggle with concepts typically mastered in middle school. In an opinion piece published in the San Francisco Standard, Stankova wrote that office hours intended for advanced topics such as integrals frequently turn into remedial...
Sacramento just dropped another regulatory bomb on everyday Californians. The California Energy Commission unanimously approved the nation's first replacement tire efficiency standards on Monday, setting strict limits on rolling resistance for tires sold in the state. Phase 1 kicks in for tires manufactured starting in 2029. The tougher Phase 2 hits in 2033. Tire industry representatives say the 2033 standards would eliminate roughly 70% of the replacement tires currently on...
A group of furious parents is taking a wealthy California school district to federal court after their kids were allegedly pushed into Islamic religious practices during a school-sponsored field trip - complete with hijabs for the girls and free Qurans for everyone. Ten families and community members, mostly Jewish along with Hindu and Zoroastrian parents, filed suit against the Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline. They claim the...
In a stunning reversal of their 2020 "Megxit," Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are packing up their life in Montecito and relocating to the United Kingdom later this month with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. The couple, who have made the exclusive Santa Barbara County community their primary home for the past six years, will establish a private, non-royal residence outside London while keeping their California property,...
Nick Shirley is a heroic journalist to those on the right, while those on the left dismiss him as a "Right wing agitator." Either way he gets a rise from people. On a stiff August afternoon outside the California State Capitol, the independent reporter stood tall and erect on the sidewalk, thrusting his microphone into the faces of lawmakers while probing Assembly Bill 2624. Critics had already dubbed the measure the "Stop Nick Shirley Act," claiming Democrats were trying to...
Santa Monica police and fire personnel responded Friday, August 14, 2026, to a death investigation in the 1100 block of 7th Street, where an adult was pronounced dead at the scene following an apparent suicide. The individual, later identified as 90-year-old Maurice Robson, was found on a sixth-floor construction balcony at Westminster Tower, a 17-story residential building undergoing exterior renovations. Preliminary information from the Santa Monica Police Department...
