Free Republic

A Southern California nonprofit that runs domestic violence shelters has paid its longtime chief executive officer, a Hawaii resident, more than $1.6 million in salary and vacation over two years — far more than local peers. Experts in nonprofit oversight say 1736 Family Crisis Center CEO Carol Adelkoff’s out-of-state residency and compensation raise questions about board governance and ‘reasonable’ pay. Adelkoff said her compensation grew significantly over the last couple of years because she was paid unused vacation time that had accrued over the 40 years she has worked at the nonprofit. As public spending on homelessness has come under...

A man wanted in connection with the sexual assault of a child in Canada more than 30 years ago was arrested in Santa Cruz, according to ICE San Francisco. Charles Peter Billone, 64, was found hiding in Santa Cruz after decades on the run from Canadian law enforcement. He has been wanted since 1991 for allegedly sexually assaulting a child. According to ICE San Francisco, Billone also has previous convictions for possession of stolen property, assault and drug-related offenses. He is currently in ICE custody pending removal. Articles published by Canadian news outlets in 2014 reported that Billone had been...

The city of Pittsburg was the victim of a phishing scam that resulted in a loss of nearly $1 million, the city said Wednesday. In February, a single unauthorized payment of $913,839.81 was sent to a fraudulent account pretending to be a known city vendor, the city said. Staff noticed the issue on Feb. 12 and informed the Pittsburg Police Department, which brought in both county and federal investigators. "The instant this incident was identified as fraudulent by City staff, the City's Police Department acted quickly and immediately froze the account to which the funds were electronically wired," said Pittsburg...

(KRON) — A new competition will award up to $150 million to people with ideas to help improve San Francisco. The initiative, called Boundless San Francisco, will award grants of up to $50 million to as many as three organizations with winning proposals. Eligible nonprofits, businesses, academic institutions, and other organizations from anywhere in the world can apply, as long as their idea is designed to benefit San Francisco. Projects can focus on a variety of issues, including housing, education, public spaces, transportation, homelessness, crime prevention, or other ideas that could make the city a better place to live. Organizers...

LOS ANGELES – A Downey man arrested over the weekend at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles while possessing ammunition on his person and a loaded firearm in his pickup truck was charged today in a federal criminal complaint with a firearm offense. Jeanine John Taele, 38, is charged with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Taele, who also faces criminal charges in Los Angeles Superior Court stemming from the same incident, is expected to make his initial appearance tomorrow in United States District Court in...

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Friends of a Ukrainian woman arrested by ICE last week at SFO say they are hopeful they can get her released pending her removal hearing. It was last Wednesday when Iryna Gorb was forcefully detained and arrested by plainclothes ICE officers at SFO for overstaying her visa. Since the arrest, Gorb has been locked up at the California City ICE detention facility outside Bakersfield. ...

Taylor Fresh Foods has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the former president of its Tennessee subsidiary, his wife and two others of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme that allegedly stole more than $32 million from the company. Taylor Fresh Foods filed the federal lawsuit at the beginning of June, 2026, accusing the former president of its Tennessee subsidiary, his wife and two others of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme that allegedly stole more than $32 million from the company. According to the complaint, Brian Thure served as president of Taylor Farms Tennessee from about 2012 until March 2026 and allegedly...

An armed man, said to be creeping around and monitoring “security-planning activities,” was arrested Sunday with a pistol and ammunition outside Trump National Golf Course Los Angeles — just two days before the president’s visit to the very same location. Jeanine John Taele, 38, from Downey, Calif., was taken into custody outside the Rancho Palos Verdes site by sheriff’s deputies after federal agents first spotted him lurking in the area, taking photos and videos, and monitoring security-planning activities, law enforcement said. When deputies assigned to the Lomita Sheriff’s Station first made contact with Taele, they determined he was being investigated...

Jeanine John Taele, a 38-year-old resident of California, was apprehended on Monday outside the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. Law enforcement officials reported that Taele was found in possession of a concealed firearm while allegedly surveilling security operations in anticipation of President Donald Trump's visit to the venue.

The OCGOP describes the photograph as ‘assassination artwork’ after being denied booth space based on the Fair’s decision to avoid ‘political activity’ *The article has been updated to include a response from Terry Moore, Communications Director of the OC Fair.* A photograph currently on display in the Orange County Fair’s competitive photography exhibit has ignited sharp criticism after videos of the framed work circulated widely online. The entry, titled “The Young Fight” by photographer Alexander Nguyen (Entry #1443), shows a family at a “No Kings” protest in Torrance. Prominent in the image are handmade signs reading “Happy Last Birthday” and...

A man who was carrying ammunition was arrested near the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles County over the weekend as the president announced a Southern California visit for a Republican National Committee event on Tuesday. In a news release shared by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, deputies said that plainclothes federal agents reported a suspicious individual on the property at 1 Trump National Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes on Saturday afternoon. "The individual was observed walking throughout the golf course grounds taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities," the release said. When deputies approached...

California's High-Speed Rail Authority repeatedly missed key deadlines to buy its trains, a failure federal officials cited when they pulled $4 billion in funding a year ago. More than a year and a half after the original deadline, the authority still cannot say when it expects to award the contract. The state says that the date remains "TBD." Approved by voters in 2008, the project was originally designed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours with electric trains capable of reaching 220 mph. There's no direct line between the two major cities, and the ride now...

Two years ago, California hit a milestone decades in the making: Nearly every person in the state qualified for health insurance, regardless of immigration status and income, pushing the state’s insured rate to a record 95%. Now that progress is unravelling.

On Monday, the latest video dropped, exposing the cruelty and calculation of former Biden Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra in his oversight of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). But instead of whistleblower testimony, this new release is from an alleged victim of the system that Becerra built. These large-scale refugee ORR encampments were the brainchild of then-HHS Secretary Becerra, who is running against Republican Steve Hilton for the California governorship, and Becerra has bragged about the operation, comparing the farming of minors through the facility as an "assembly line."As RedState reported, Hilton has been releasing these...

California Assembly Republicans ousted Heath Flora as their leader Monday, one day after the California Post revealed that the Central Valley lawmaker is facing two state ethics investigations and spent more than $11,000 in campaign money at a Sacramento dive bar. Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo, a first-term Republican from Tulare who served in Flora’s leadership team, was selected to replace him as minority leader, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. The sudden shake-up ended Flora’s rocky tenure atop the Republican caucus less than a year after he took over the job.

An illegal migrant who poured lighter fluid onto a burning California Highway Patrol vehicle and tossed an electric scooter at cops trapped beneath a freeway overpass in a chaotic anti-ICE Los Angeles riot is headed to federal prison. Yachua Mauricio Flores, 23, was sentenced Monday to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $253,415 in restitution for his role in a pro-illegal immigration riot that rocked downtown LA on June 8 of last year, prosecutors said. Born in Mexico in 2003, Flores came to the US as a toddler and lived in Lincoln Heights. He has no previous...

Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that California’s statewide minimum wage will increase to $17.40 per hour beginning January 1, 2027. The rate is higher than any current statewide minimum wage in the nation and nearly two-and-a-half times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The increase is already automatic under California law, which adjusts the minimum wage annually to keep pace with inflation. Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028, contrasted himself against President Trump in announcing the increase. “For years, Donald Trump and Republicans have blocked efforts to raise the federal minimum wage while handing...

Disneyland guests in Anaheim, California, were sent into a frenzy Tuesday after restaurants and restrooms were forced to close due to a water pressure issue affecting the city. City officials told KTLA 5, ABC 7, and CBS LA that staff members at the park reported problems drawing from groundwater wells causing a drop in water pressure around 6 p.m. PT. Other establishments in the city stated that they had little to no water pressure available at the time. Parkgoers visiting at the time of the water complication told KTLA that employees were standing outside of bathrooms to inform visitors that...

California, the most populous U.S. state and the one with the largest economy, ranked as the 35th best state in a new ranking published by U.S. News on July 28.South Orange County communities near Laguna Beach, Calif., on Oct. 15, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch TimesUtah ranked as the best state, followed by South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.The ranking was based on scores in eight categories such as education, healthcare, economy, and fiscal stability, and it was weighted by survey opinions.Despite a median income of more than $100,000 compared to the national average of $81,600, California ranked last in...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton’s uphill battle to beat Democrat Xavier Becerra in liberal-leaning California is resonating in a key, populous Southern California county. A new poll by the University of California, Irvine taken June 9 to 12 showed Orange County voters giving Hilton 47% of the vote share, above Becerra’s 44%. The same poll also showed that Hilton has more support among his base of Orange County Republicans, at 94%, compared to the 82% of Democrats supporting Becerra there. “We have moved ahead of Becerra in California’s 3rd largest county,” Hilton said Saturday regarding the poll. “Millions of Californians...