Free Republic

With federal immigration sweeps showing no signs of slowing across Southern California, there is growing concern from top officials, spiritual leaders and business owners that a climate of fear was sending more people underground and changing the rhythm of city life.Once-bustling immigrant hubs, including MacArthur Park, the Garment District, downtown’s produce market and areas of the Eastside have seen a noticeable reduction in foot traffic over the last week, with some businesses forced to close as a result.It comes as social media is rife with videos of people spotting immigration agents at shopping centers, markets and neighborhood streets, and capturing...

Known as the Palos Verdes fault zone, the system runs deep beneath the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It previously was thought to be a segmented network of smaller faults, but a closer look by scientists at Harvard University suggests it’s a system of interconnected, closely spaced planar fractures stretching from the Santa Monica Bay to the waters off Dana Point. The analysis determined the fault system, which runs beneath numerous neighborhoods as well as the ports of Long Beach and L.A., has a much larger surface area that could rupture in the same seismic event, making it capable of a far...

Conservative figures and politicians opposing vaccine and mask mandates have blamed more than 2,000 recent flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines on vaccine mandates, but both the airline and pilots union have said the massive number of flight disruptions had nothing to do with it. That didn't stop some politicians, like former president Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rep. Andy Biggs from Arizona, from trying to link the cancellations to federal vaccine mandates even though they offered no evidence of it. "The weekend challenges were not a result of Southwest Employee demonstrations, as some are reporting," a spokesperson...

... Theft and vandalism of Proposition 8 signs have been reported in Santa Ana, Yorba Linda, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Irvine and Laguna Hills. In Fullerton, five people were taken into custody after police there found 10 torn "Yes on Proposition 8" signs in their car. The suspects told police they had just attended a "No on 8" rally. In Irvine, two citizen arrests have been reported of people stealing or vandalizing "Yes" signs and on Tuesday, three students were stopped by a police officer in an area where several signs had the word "No" spray-painted over several "Yes" signs....