Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 3753
A 133-year-old former Seventh-Day Adventist building owned by LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was destroyed by fire overnight August 26-27, 2026. The blaze began in the basement around 11 p.m., spread through walls and void spaces, and caused floor and roof collapse. The church's main sanctuary next door was undamaged. Fire officials said the cause remains under investigation. The structure, built around 1894, had been slated for renovation...
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...
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 — to empl...
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 rou...
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 s...
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...
Moscow region, Russia - A large fire engulfed Russia's biggest Wildberries logistics hub in the village of Koledino, roughly 40 kilometers south of the Kremlin, early on August 16, 2026, following a reported Ukrainian drone strike, according to open-source intelligence monitors and Ukrainian media. Videos and photographs circulating online showed intense flames and thick columns of black smoke rising from the sprawling complex, which spans more than 200,000 square meters and...
SANTA MONICA - The field of candidates for Santa Monica's November 3, 2026, general municipal election is now largely set after the nomination filing deadline passed this week, producing contested races for every local office on the ballot. According to city candidate filing records dated August 12, 2026, hopefuls who pulled nomination papers in the weeks leading up to the deadline have either submitted their paperwork, withdrawn, or chosen not to file. Some applications...
Santa Monica is moving full steam ahead with a radical scheme to master-lease entire apartment buildings, motel blocks, and individual units across the city and beyond - then fill them with the homeless. City officials announced this week they are actively hunting landlords willing to hand over vacant properties under a new Master Leasing Program. The city or a nonprofit partner would become the "master tenant," pay the rent, handle security and "supportive services," and...
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Two people were found dead inside a home early Sunday after firefighters extinguished a fire that engulfed the structure, according to local officials. Helen and Anthony Spaulding, both 92 and married nearly 70 years, died in the house where they raised five children. Both were reported to have mobility limitations and used wheelchairs. The blaze was reported shortly before 3 a.m. (around 2:50–2:54 a.m.) on August 9 in the 500 block of Lincoln B...
**LEÓN, Spain** - Crowds gathered across northern Spain on Wednesday evening as a total solar eclipse swept over León, briefly turning day into twilight and revealing the sun's shimmering corona just before sunset. The moon's shadow reached the city around 8:28 p.m. local time (CEST), with totality lasting approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds. Partial phases began near 7:32 p.m., peaked at maximum eclipse around 8:29 p.m., and concluded about 9:22 p.m. At the height of t...
Jackie, the internet-famous bald eagle whose nest-cam life with mate Shadow captivated millions worldwide, has died. The Ojai Raptor Center confirmed the 14-year-old raptor - known as Patient 26-519 - passed away in the early hours of Monday, Aug. 10, after more than three weeks of intensive medical care. "It is with profound sadness that we share that Patient 26-519 passed away," the center said in a statement. "Our team is heartbroken. It has been an extraordinary privilege...
CEUTA, Spain - As of 11 August 2026, local authorities in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta continue to estimate that between 8,000 and 11,000 migrants remain in the territory nearly two weeks after a mass border crossing from neighbouring Morocco, a figure far higher than central government estimates of roughly 2,000–2,500. Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas has repeatedly described the situation as "absolutely unsustainable" and rejected claims that the city has re...
LOS ANGELES - Multiple AutoZone stores in East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles were broken into and ransacked over the weekend of August 8–9, 2026, following illegal street takeovers, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and local news reports. No arrests were reported in connection with the primary weekend incidents as of early coverage. In East Los Angeles, the AutoZone at 1131 Atlantic Blvd. (near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Atlantic A...
Two federal detention officers were stalked and beaten by protesters outside a downtown Los Angeles jail Saturday night - and both ended up in the hospital. The attack went down around 10 p.m. near the Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street, where a crowd of 40 to 50 anti-ICE demonstrators had gathered, LAPD said. The protesters followed the off-duty federal employees to their cars in a nearby parking structure on East Commercial Street. There, the group "suddenly...
A woman riding an electric scooter was killed in a collision with a commercial truck on Friday morning, August 7, 2026, in downtown San Francisco. The incident occurred around 8:18–8:30 a.m. near the intersection of Market and Powell streets (also described as Fifth and Market), close to the cable car turnaround. San Francisco Police Department officers responded to reports of a vehicle collision involving injuries. They found the woman in the street with life-threatening i...
Thirteen of the largest coral trees along San Vicente Boulevard in Santa Monica were cut down on August 4 and 5, immediately before a scheduled community meeting about their future, according to longtime resident Caroline "Cai" Dixon. The trees had formed one of Southern California's most distinctive urban landscapes for nearly 80 years. Dixon said approximately 32 coral-tree vacancies had accumulated in only four years. She described the timing of the latest removals as...
A Russian FPV drone chased a 52-year-old vegetable seller around his market van in southern Ukraine before exploding nearby, in footage released by Ukrainian authorities that officials call the latest example of deliberate "human safari" attacks on civilians. The man, identified as Yurii (also reported as Yuriy), a resident of the Mykolaiv region, was setting up his stall with his wife in the Kherson area when the drone appeared overhead. Video from Ukrainian National Police...
As of August 5, 2026, Spanish authorities in the North African enclave of Ceuta are managing the aftermath of a sudden mass migrant crossing from Morocco that began on July 30–31. Spanish Interior Ministry figures put total arrivals at around 72,000 people—mostly young Moroccan men, along with smaller numbers from sub-Saharan Africa and other countries—into a territory of roughly 84,000 residents. Many swam around coastal barriers or rushed the land border near Tarajal. The s...
Perez Hilton (Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.) livestreamed severe self-harm on TikTok on August 4, 2026, appearing nude and covered in blood while repeatedly cutting himself with a knife and expressing suicidal intent before the stream was removed. Miami-Dade deputies responded to multiple calls, confirmed he was alone inside his home after speaking with family, and used de-escalation tactics by tactically disengaging while monitoring the situation to avoid escalation. News...
Electronic Arts Inc. completed its transformation into a private company on August 4, 2026, following the close of a $55 billion leveraged buyout led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), alongside Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. The transaction, the largest leveraged buyout in history, takes the maker of EA Sports FC, Madden NFL, Apex Legends, Battlefield, and The Sims off the public markets after more than three decades as a Nasdaq-listed firm. Shareholders...
SPOKANE, Wash. — Fast-moving wildfires driven by high winds and dry conditions have destroyed hundreds of structures, primarily homes, in and around Spokane, Washington’s second-largest city, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate in what local officials have described as the region’s worst natural disaster. Three blazes—collectively referred to as the Spokane Area Fires or Spokane Complex (Old Trails, Autumn Lane, and Fairview)—ignited on Saturday, August 1, 2026,...
