Free Republic

A 55-year-old Long Beach man has been arrested and charged with kidnapping in a case that dates back nearly four decades, after newly-analyzed DNA evidence identified him as a suspect, Ventura County authorities said. Bobby Rollins, Jr. has been charged with kidnapping with intent to commit robbery, with enhancements for allegedly using a firearm, and that the crime involved great violence and the victim was particularly vulnerable when the crime was committed. "If convicted of all charges and special enhancements, Rollins could be sentenced to life in prison," said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko during a news conference Thursday....

A raging crowd of rowdy teenagers descended on picturesque Horny Corner beach in the tony Belmont Shore section of Long Beach at dusk Thursday, sparking a wild brawl that led to several teens being detained. The chaos unfolded as the sun began to set on the first night of summer break for students enrolled at many schools in the area, including nearby Woodrow Wilson High, which enrolls more than 3,300. Wild video captured at the scene shows throngs of teens clogging streets and the sand at two busy Southern California beaches, that of Horny Corner and nearby Rosie’s Dog Beach....

Long Beach city officials said the festival was nixed after the nonprofit that organizes it, Long Beach Pride, failed to submit the required information for an event permit. Read more at KTLA.com.

Undeterred by the shocking, last-minute cancellation of the city’s annual Pride Festival, Long Beach’s Pride Parade roared forward Sunday.

One of the largest Pride festivals in the country has been canceled hours before it was set to begin and organizers are slamming the city for the decision, saying it sends the “wrong message” at a critical time for the LGBTQ community. The 42nd annual Long Beach Pride Festival was set to kick off on Friday night, with several day-long events planned on Saturday through Sunday with DJ’s, music, and live performances, drag show, and a ball, per the website. Typically the 3-day-long festival draws up to 80,000 attendees. In a statement on Friday from the city, officials said that...

One person was killed, and two others were injured after a shooting near the late rapper Nipsey Hussle’s restaurant in Long Beach. The shooting was reported around 3:32 p.m. on Pine Avenue during the grand opening of of Marathon Burger, a fast-food chain founded by Hussle and his family. … The restaurant is known for its gourmet smash burgers, which feature a special secret sauce.

Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-Chicago) issued an executive order directing City Police to monitor ICE enforcement officers and look for potential felonies that could be prosecuted. He justified this order, saying "our state and city are sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. ICE is invading us in an attempt to negate our sovereignty over the areas we rule. We have a right to resist and repel this invasion." Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill) praised Johnson's "aggressive defense of his city from the unwanted ICE invasion. I know the Trump Administration has emphasized that its focus is on so-called 'criminal illegal aliens'--those that supposedly have...

A Long Beach mayoral candidate is drawing intense scrutiny after issuing what critics describe as a reckless and potentially dangerous call for gang involvement in opposing federal immigration enforcement. Rogelio Martinez, who is running for mayor of Long Beach, California, posted a statement urging local gang leaders to mobilize against Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of his push to make the city “ICE free.” In the message, Martinez explicitly called on gangs to organize and appear in person at City Hall, language that opponents say amounts to an invitation for confrontation with federal authorities. “I am calling every gang...

Long Beach police have arrested two men accused of stealing plaques from the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at MLK Park late last month, authorities announced Thursday. According to the Long Beach Police Department, the theft occurred in the early morning hours of Nov. 27, when two suspects removed several plaques from the MLK statue and loaded them into the bed of a pickup truck before leaving the area. Detectives launched an investigation immediately, collecting security camera footage, canvassing the surrounding area and reviewing Automatic License Plate Reader data. That work ultimately led to the identification and arrest of...

To combat shoplifters using the five-finger discount, Long Beach is taking aim at self-checkout. Retailers aren't happy about it. In August, the California city rolled out a first-of-its-kind US law limiting how many self-checkout registers major stores can install. The regulation highlights a tension between the rich and the poor in a community that sees hundreds of multi-million-dollar real estate deals each year, while also being home to 22.8 percent of residents who live below the federal poverty line. symbol

"Wen obtained firearms, ammunition, and export-controlled technology with the intention of shipping them to North Korea — a violation of federal law and United States sanctions against that nation," the agency says An illegal immigrant from China was arrested for allegedly shipping "firearms, ammunition and other military items" to North Korea from California, according to a Justice Department indictment released on Tuesday. Shenghua Wen, 41, of Ontario, California, was arrested on Tuesday after hiding the weapons "inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach," the agency said. Wen, who was a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States, was expected...

Shenghua Wen, 42, received around $2 million (€1.7 million) from North Korean officials to ship firearms and ammunition from California. A Chinese national in California has been sentenced to eight years in prison for shipping firearms and ammunition to North Korea. North Korean officials paid Shenghua Wen around $2 million (€1.7 million) to ship two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach in California to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023, according to the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. The 42-year-old pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic...

For many people, a trip to the airport is simply a means to an end. Whether you're traveling for vacation or business, you'll need to catch your flight in order to get there - and that's where the airport comes in. All airports have the same goal, but any traveler knows that all of them aren't created equally. Some airports are sprawling ecosystems with multiple terminals and acres of space, while others can be traversed entirely on foot. One airport may have more opportunities for scenic views, while others offer better food options. The Washington Post recently ranked the best...

Hal Kempfer, a noted international security expert, is getting a roomful of California public health officials and emergency responders to think about the unthinkable – a nuclear bomb exploding at the port of Long Beach, about four miles away...News out of North Korea has created a mini-bonanza for local manufacturers of nuclear fallout shelters. But more important to the vast bulk of the population, Kempfer says, is having some rudimentary knowledge of what it means to “shelter in place"...Sandy Wedgeworth, the public health emergency management coordinator, said she and her staff felt energized, not depressed, by what they learned from...

Wrong, wrong, wrong. And psychologically interesting, as an examination of ideological priors. But mostly wrong. The New York Times has an answer to the question raised by the fires in Los Angeles, and, uh. So here’s how they frame the problem: The city of Los Angeles, with a population of 3.8 million, is one of 88 different cities that make up the county of Los Angeles. That county, with a population of 9.6 million spread across 4,751 square miles stretching inland from the Pacific Ocean, is controlled by a five-person board of supervisors, each one representing 1.9 million people. Each...

The Los Angeles man convicted of shooting and killing a 15-year-old in Long Beach in 2022 was reportedly sentenced to 16 years in prison. Simmons was in discussions to buy Cardenas’ iPhone when Simmons suddenly tried to run with the device, prompting Cardenas to open fire at the fleeing teen. The jury decided that Cardenas was provoked into shooting and reduced the original murder charge to manslaughter.

This is from a July 2024 Zoom meeting of an organization called “White Women for Kamala.”

The City Council of Long Beach, California has authorized a public health emergency in response to a local outbreak of tuberculosis. The city's health officer, Dr. Anissa Davis, declared the emergency last week, after its health department detected 14 tuberculosis cases at a single-room occupancy hotel. The City Council vote on Tuesday night served as the final approval for the declaration. Nine tuberculosis patients have been hospitalized and one has died, according to the health department. As of Monday, about 175 people had been exposed to tuberculosis as a result of the outbreak. In a news release last week, the...

A shopping mall in Southern California was forced to close early on Saturday evening after the venue became swamped by brawling teenagers. Police in Long Beach were quickly on the scene of The Pike Outlets mall after a fight between two girls resulted in an all-out brawl. Footage of the massive scuffle saw about 200 individuals all congregating at the mall after a social media post went viral suggesting there would be a fight between two females, one adult and one juvenile. Officers were on standby ahead of the melee and were quickly able to identify the two females around...

The Long Beach Police Department shut down The Pike Outlets following a large disturbance and multiple fights among juveniles on Saturday Just moments after the fight broke out between the two females, there were reports of a shooting involving a juvenile male. Officers found the boy nearby at The Promenade suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower body. The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in stable condition.