Free Republic

LOS ANGELES — Jurors convicted a Southern California judge of second-degree murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting his wife while the couple argued and watched television at home. Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was on trial for the 2023 death of his wife Sheryl, 65, in their Anaheim Hills home. Ferguson took the stand in his own defense, admitting to shooting his wife but saying it was an accident. Jurors reached their decision Tuesday afternoon, a day after deliberations began. After the verdict was read in court, Ferguson was given a moment to hug his son before...

Homicide detectives have arrested Orange County Superior Court Jeffrey Ferguson, 72-year-old, for the murder of his wife in Anaheim Hills. According to the Anaheim Police Department, officers were called around 8 p.m. for a reported shooting. When police arrived at the 8500 block of Canyon Vista Drive they found Sheryl Ferguson, age 65, with at least one gun shot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said Ferguson was arrested and booked into the Anaheim Police Department's Detention Facility on a $1 million bail. Detectives have not released any additional details because the investigation is ongoing.

A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson near Malibu Creek State Park, a sheriff's deputy said Sunday. Suren Sahakyan was booked on suspicion of arson at the sheriff's Lost Hills Station and held in lieu of $75,000 bail, said Deputy Byron Ward of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau. An area resident saw the man on shoulder of Stokes Canyon Road near Mulholland Highway, starting a fire using paper and leaves about 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Ward said. The resident stomped out the fire, and Sahakyan fled but was caught by sheriff's deputies a short distance away.

Extremists are threatening an environmental disaster by sparking a series of catastrophic wild fires. We first posted on this last year. Western intelligence agencies fear that Al Qaeda terrorists are planning a “global fireball” in a new departure in its war on the West. Deliberately lighting forest blazes in Europe, the US and Australia would not only stretch emergency services but leave insurance companies facing multi-billion pound damage bills as the credit crunch bites. The fires would also create a pollution disaster, with billions tons of climate change gases escaping into the atmosphere. The so-called “forest jihad” is being championed...

Two structures in Anaheim Hills are ablaze as about 500 firefighters are battling a 300-acre brush fire, and scores of homes in that area and Orange Park Acres are being evacuated...