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Kratom pills and drinks have been openly sold across California for years, but a recent crackdown by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is shutting down the sale of the popular painkillers, resulting in over 3,300 products seized in three weeks and $5 million worth of product taken off shelves.

California trial set for Florida cosmetologist charged in death of Kim Kardashian lookalike By Tim Fang Updated on: March 2, 2026 / 3:42 PM PST / CBS San Francisco Add CBS News on Google A trial has been set in the San Francisco Bay Area for a Florida woman accused of providing a cosmetic injection that killed a woman who was known as a Kim Kardashian lookalike, prosecutors said. The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office announced Monday that jury selection is set to begin on March 9 in the trial of Vivian Alexandra Gomez, who is charged in the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his administration is monitoring and preparing for the impacts the war in Iran could have on the state's public safety and gas prices.

A powerful San Francisco group is unleashing $10 million this year to kill taxes that they say will destroy the city’s fragile economic recovery — and potentially increase the price of food and goods for already cash-strapped residents. Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a moderate advocacy group, plans to beat back a wave of lefty initiatives and candidates this year that they say will derail years of progress in liberal San Francisco, according to its director Jay Cheng. One of the group’s main targets is a so-called “CEO tax” — a June ballot measure backed by progressives and labor...

More than 20,000 immigrant truck drivers will be able to keep their licenses in California, at least temporarily, despite efforts by the Trump administration and the state of California to revoke them, according to a tentative ruling Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court. The decision puts the state of California in a bind. The U.S. Department of Transportation already has repeatedly pushed the California Department of Motor Vehicles to rescind these licenses, which belong to many asylum seekers and other immigrants with temporary legal status, after the federal government found alleged clerical issues regarding the expiration dates on their licenses....

Well, that was a whiff. The Padres, along with the state of California, struck out when free-agent pitcher Merrill Kelly spurned San Diego to stay in Arizona — even though the Padres dangled a better deal. The deciding factor? Punitive California taxes. “I love San Diego,” Kelly said. “It’s just, like I said, they take too much money out of my pocket, man. The taxes over there are a different level.” Indeed they are. California has long slathered on taxes like so much snake oil from politicians. Kelly, who inked a two-year, $40 million deal with the Diamondbacks, will save...

The BriefA California appeals court ruled Friday that Antolin Garcia-Torres, convicted in the 2012 kidnapping and killing of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar, may be entitled to a new trial because prosecutors improperly combined unrelated 2009 kidnapping charges with the murder case. The teen disappeared in Morgan Hill in March 2012 and was never found. Garcia-Torres was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The man convicted in the 2012 kidnapping and killing of Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar may get a new trial following a court ruling filed Friday. California's Sixth Appellate District Court...

In California’s notoriously expensive Bay Area, living out of one’s vehicle has increasing appeal. Recreational vehicle (RV) parks, once the domain of seasonal workers and adventurous retirees, now host local residents with full-time jobs aiming to cut costs — by avoiding high housing costs altogether. These days, RV parks are filling up even more with state residents aiming to save cash. Among them are brothers Stefan and Sebastian Goins, who recently made the leap to RV living after six years of rent hikes in their Pleasantville apartment. They drained their savings to buy a $24,000 32-foot long traveling trailer. But...

Following months of investigation, a married San Jose couple faces a long-list of charges after Mountain View police said multiple search warrants in the Bay Area led them to discover more than 1,500 pieces of stolen mail. Mountain View police said the case started with a mail theft case in the 500 block of W. Middlefield Road. “During the investigation, Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) detectives worked in coordination with patrol officers to develop actionable leads,” said police in a statement to KRON4. “Subsequent follow-up by CSU detectives resulted in the identification of two suspects.” The suspected duo, identified as Terri...

A convicted California child molester who was set to walk free this week was instead turned over to law enforcement after a new arrest warrant was issued in Placer County, state officials confirmed. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said that at approximately 7:30 a.m., David Allen Funston, 64, was transferred to law enforcement authorities after Placer County filed new criminal charges and issued a warrant for his arrest. Funston had been granted parole Tuesday and was scheduled for release later this week. CDCR said Funston was sentenced in 1999 to life with the possibility of parole in connection...

A federal lawmaker introduced legislation Thursday aimed at cracking down on alleged fraud within a federal program that paid for dead people’s phone and internet service. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is targeting the federal Lifeline program, which subsidizes the services for low-income Americans, after California was accused of taking in $3.8 million between 2020 and 2025 to cover the costs for 94,000 dead people. “While Californians are taxed to the grave and back, its governor especially can’t pass the buck when the state is allowing providers to enroll dead people in a federal program,” Ernst told The Post. A...

When California Attorney General Rob Bonta set out to sue ExxonMobil, alleging deception in its claims about advanced plastics recycling, he probably didn't expect the company would sue him for defamation. Bonta tried to get the case dismissed, but a federal judge in Texas has given the lawsuit the green light to proceed. California Attorney General Rob Bonta hoped to earn his anti-fossil fuel credentials when he filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil in 2024, alleging the company was engaging in deceptive practices related to its “advanced recycling” program. He probably didn’t expect that the company would fight back the way...

They make Jeffrey Epstein look like Mother Teresa. Even while Epstein drama is consuming the country, David Allen Funston is being set loose. Funston became notorious for luring children as young as four years old in Sacramento into his car with candy and dolls then raping them. A little girl had a knife held to her throat while he raped her so badly she bled. One 5-year-old girl was raped, beaten and left by the side of the road. He raped a little boy and kidnapped two sisters, 4 and 5, before he was finally stopped. Funston was known as...

Fire victims in Pacific Palisades say they are frustrated and confused after receiving brush clearance bills from the City of Los Angeles for properties where their homes once stood. What we know: Nearly 14 months after last year’s deadly fire destroyed thousands of homes across the community, some residents say they were mailed $31 notices citing alleged noncompliance with brush clearance rules — even though their lots remain empty and covered mostly in dirt. "This is one final blow. After everything that happened, they’re still trying to take money," said resident Christine Martinez, whose home was destroyed in the fire....

A Compton man has pleaded guilty to assaulting and injuring a federal officer by throwing chunks of concrete at government vehicles during an immigration enforcement operation last year in Paramount, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday. Elpidio Reyna, 41, pleaded guilty to one felony count of assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury. He has been in custody since July. According to his plea agreement, Reyna assaulted a federal law enforcement officer on June 7, 2025, while the officer was performing official duties. Federal agencies were conducting a joint enforcement operation...

California officials blasted the Trump administration’s plans to launch a full-sale investigation into unemployment fraud as ”purely political” — and blamed lost money on the feds. The US Department of Labor intends to send a “strike team” to dig into COVID-19 pandemic-era fraud involving California’s Employment Development Department, The Post exclusively reported Wednesday. California is believed to have lost as much as tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment payouts. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the Biden administration “turned a blind eye” to stolen money and vowed to fully examine the scope of theft that occurred early in the...

Since California made it easier for sexual abuse survivors to sue government agencies, victims have brought forth more than $3 billion in claims. But even agencies that haven’t been sued are facing financial hardship as a result of the law — through skyrocketing insurance premiums. School districts, counties and other public agencies in every corner of California have seen their liability insurance premiums soar, in large part because of that law, which passed in 2019. Some districts have seen their yearly insurance costs jump by $1 million or more.

(Bloomberg) — US supplies of gasoline are being shipped out of the country to travel thousands of miles via the Bahamas before finally ending up in California, a state battling shrinking fuelmaking capacity and high pump prices. Shipments on the circuitous route are increasing. California imported more gasoline in November than ever before, with more than 40% coming from the Bahamas.

Yesterday, the Colgate powerhouse pentock failed dramatically off of the Bullards Bar Reservoir right there in Yubi County, not very far from the Blanco Global Headquarters, kind of halfway between Grass Valley and the Orville Reservoir.

A pair of women's rights groups is making waves in California with an eye-catching campaign to raise awareness about men being housed in women's prisons. The statewide billboard truck campaign is calling attention to the upcoming rape trial of a man accused of assaulting two women in the female prison that he was allowed to transfer into. NTD's Daniel Monaghan spoke with the director of Women to Women about the campaign. This week, advocacy groups Women Are Real and Woman to Woman launched a statewide billboard truck campaign across California to raise awareness about men being housed in women's prisons...