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Officials said there is no threat of an explosion or chemical leak.All evacuation orders tied to a failing chemical tank in Southern California that sparked fears of a catastrophic explosion have been lifted, local authorities announced Tuesday evening.The Orange County Fire Authority said in a social media post that officials have determined there is no threat of an explosion, fire or chemical leak and no risk to the public.On Monday, officials announced the evacuation zone was shrinking after the "worst-case scenario" of a catastrophic explosion had been averted. But about 16,000 people remained under evacuation orders.Earlier Tuesday, officials said the...

The risk of a catastrophic explosion at a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has been eliminated following a close overnight inspection that confirmed a crack in the tank relieved pressure and cooled the chemical, authorities said Monday. Officials said crews conducted tank temperature checks at night to reduce risks to firefighters, avoiding daytime operations when heat from the tank made conditions around it most dangerous. The overnight mission allowed crews to verify the crack and confirm temperatures were falling, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said Monday morning. Covey said the results of overnight evaluation of the...

Crews responding to the chemical emergency at a Southern California aerospace facility discovered what officials described as a possible crack in the unstable tank that may be relieving pressure inside the vessel. In a video update posted to social media Sunday, Orange County Fire Authority Interim Chief T.J. McGovern said specialized teams entered the hazard zone late Saturday night on a reconnaissance mission and visually identified what appeared to be a crack in the tank at the center of the crisis. "What they found was a potential crack in the tank, which could potentially be relieving some of the pressure...

Gavin Newsom has pleaded with Donald Trump for help in containing the Orange County chemical plant as officials warned there was still a risk of catastrophe. The California governor asked the president to issue a federal emergency declaration to bring in more support as the Garden Grove disaster continued into a fifth day. It comes as officials on Sunday revealed they had found a crack in the container that could be easing pressure in what they described as a “critically positive” moment. Meanwhile around 50,000 people have had their lives upended amid a mandatory evacuation zone in the immediate area,...

(The Epoch Times)—The head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Sunday that a chemical storage tank in Southern California that has forced officials to declare an emergency and prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands residents is likely to fail. Initially, officials said that 40,000 people were ordered to evacuate on Friday, namely in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. That number had risen to 50,000 by Sunday. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the EPA, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that the “most likely scenario” is a “low-volume release” of the tank, where officials...

An estimated 40,000 people in Orange County, California, have been ordered to evacuate the area over fears that a tank containing a toxic chemical may explode, officials said Friday. Authorities in Orange County said they’re unable to control the valves on a tank at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Garden Grove. “It fails or it blows up,” said Craig Covey, the Orange County Fire Authority incident commander at the scene. Initial evacuation orders were issued Thursday after a “vapor release” at the manufacturing site in Garden Grove. The situation seemed to be stable, but on Friday, the valve on a...

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) declared a state of emergency on Saturday evening as experts warned that the chemical tank that is overheating in Orange County could explode. 40,000 residents in Orange County, California, were evacuated on Friday amid a chemical leak at an aerospace facility. On Thursday, a valve overheated on a 34,000-gallon tank used to make plastics. Authorities said the tank, located in Garden Grove, could either explode or spill thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals. Several evacuation centers were opened; however, many residents are still refusing to leave their homes. On Friday evening, Orange County Fire Authority...

Fire officials have released a clear and haunting view of what damage could look like if the toxic Garden Grove tank explodes, with its temperature increasing with each passing hour. OCFA Division Chief Nick Freeman said Friday that blast zones would be divided into severe, moderate, and light blast zones in a radius around the tank. The most severe blast zone will cause “severe structural damage and significant harm,” while the moderate zone will see structural damage and some harm. The lightest zone will see just some structural damage. In addition, an oblong circle above the tank is divided into...

A California Democrat is facing backlash after hosting a Hamas-associated group at his office on Capitol Hill last week. Rep. Derek Tran welcomed a group of leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as part of the "National Muslim Advocacy Day," an annual lobbying event organized by Muslim advocacy groups. CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, was recently designated as a terrorist organization by the state of Texas and Florida following accusations that the group supported funding for Hamas. The group has since filed defamatory lawsuits against Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. Among those in attendance...

Fentanyl sales. Arms dealing. Kidnapping. Extortion. Murder. Court documents from Thursday’s massive Mexican Mafia takedown revealed the terrifying alleged crimes of foot soldiers conducting the gang’s sinister business in Southern California. The California Post watched Thursday as FBI agents executed a raid on the bungalow of Andrew “Speedy” Hernandez — just one of 43 alleged gangsters arrested in 30 stunning raids targeting the Mafia’s crimes in Orange County.

Federal agents arrested 37 accused gang members with ties to the infamous Mexican Mafia Thursday in a series of stunning predawn raids in Orange County meant to put Southern California’s criminal underworld on notice. Dubbed “Operation Gangsta’s Paradise,” agents aimed to disrupt operations of the group, also known as La Eme — a violent, prison-based “gang of gangs” said to control almost all Hispanic street gangs in California.

“ Today at the Board of Supervisors, we recognized for the first time, Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr known as the Festival of Breaking the Fast, marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan—a time observed by Muslims around the world through fasting, prayer, reflection, and acts of charity. It is a time that emphasizes compassion, gratitude, and a deep sense of community....”

Once upon a time in California, I went to the Orange County fairgrounds to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger give the signal for a wrecking ball to drop onto a vehicle. The audience went wild, and Schwarzenegger went on to become governor and deliver on his promise to roll back a car tax increase, thereby blowing a $4-billion hole in the state budget. SNIP “There’s no historical precedent in modern California history for a governor’s race with such a large field or such an amorphous field of candidates,” said longtime political observer Dan Schnur. “Unless you’re paying very close attention, it feels...

In 2012, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif) won election to Congress by ousting 20-term incumbent Democrat Pete Stark in the general election. During the campaign Swalwell mocked Stark, saying "Stark lives in Maryland--2,850 miles from the district he claims to represent. I live in the district. I will make sure that I commute to Washington and always stay connected with my district. That means driving the roads of my district, shopping the businesses of my district, and the basic requirement, sleeping under a roof in the district." Swalwell, now the leading candidate in the race to replace the retiring Gov. Gavin...

At the tail end of my college years, a band from Orange County, Calif., burst onto the national scene. MTV News called this group a “ska-punk band” — it seemed like a lot of new bands in that era received that moniker — but No Doubt’s music was a true fusion of ska (along with rocksteady and reggae) and rock with more of a punk edge than a punch sound and a sparkling pop melodic sensibility.But what set No Doubt apart was its charismatic frontwoman, Gwen Stefani. She had a unique combination of that aforementioned punk edge and SoCal glamor....

WALLKILL - A former state auditor accused of stealing more than $400,000 from the town of Wallkill while reviewing its finances pleaded guilty to a felony public corruption charge. Tobias Otieno, 41, of Hyde Park, admitted Tuesday in Wallkill Town Court that he stole $405,843.25 from Wallkill between June 23, 2022, and Sept. 1, 2024, while assigned to audit the town on behalf of the state comptroller's office. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of four to 12 years when Otieno is sentenced on June 1, according to a release from Orange County District Attorney David...

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who is currently running for governor, got absolutely humiliated during a campaign event in Orange County by Grammy-nominated singer Tish Hyman, who heckled him in a glorious exchange that featured the congressman doing a metaphorical tap dance around whether men identifying as women should be allowed in female locker rooms. The obvious answer is “no,” but Swalwell wouldn’t provide the simple two-letter answer. Hyman stuck it to Swalwell at the event, which comes just a few short weeks after she was kicked out of a Golds Gym in Los Angeles after she confronted a transgender woman...

GOSHEN — The wife of an Orange County highway superintendent charged with attempted murder for shooting a lost DoorDash delivery worker earlier this year was indicted this week for allegedly deleting video evidence related to the case against her husband. Selina Nelson-Reilly, 45, was arraigned on charges that included hindering the prosecution and 17 counts of tampering with physical evidence, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced Friday. Nelson-Reilly’s husband, John Reilly III, was indicted following the May 2 shooting that left the DoorDash worker, a West African immigrant living in Middletown, with severe injuries that required multiple surgeries. Reilly,...

When I found Darshan Smaaladen earlier this month, she had joined several hundred of her neighbors at a “No Kings” demonstration in Orange County, California. Not that she was there to protest. “Rallies are great,” Smaaladen told me, “but they don’t get people out to vote.”A year ago, Smaaladen had helped lead a successful campaign to recall two ultraconservative members of Orange County’s school board. Now the 52-year-old mother of three was using the “No Kings” protest as a campaigning ground for Proposition 50, the ballot measure orchestrated by Governor Gavin Newsom that would redraw California’s district map to add...

A North Carolina police officer who declared he was “Antifa” in a post on the social media app BlueSky was fired Monday by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, according to the News & Observer. Brian Edwards, 37, served as a detention officer for the agency while making the posts and had been promoted to corporal in May, the News & Observer reported. Edwards’ posts included calls for subjecting “traitors” to “war crimes trials” and hinted at executing them. “I maintain that the biggest mistake the US government has ever made was letting the traitors from the civil war back into...