Page 2 - California

Musk shows support for California bill requiring safety tests on AI models

California state lawmakers attempted to introduce 65 bills touching on AI this legislative season

California faces summer of extremes, from heat waves and wildfires to snow

An unusually cold weather system from the Gulf of Alaska interrupted summer along the West Coast on Saturday, bringing snow to Washington state's Mount Rainier and a national park in Northern California, causing authorities to close part of a highway that runs through the park. Parts of Highway 89 through Lassen Volcanic National Park in California were closed Saturday after an estimated three inches of snow fell overnight, according to the National Weather Service. Photos posted by the National Weather Service and local authorities showed a white-covered peak from Rainier and a dusting of snow at Minaret Vista, a lookout point southeast of Yosemite National Park in California's Sierra Nevada. Madera County Deputy Sheriff Larry Rich said it was definitely unexpected to see snow at Minaret Vista in August. It's not every day you get to spend your birthday surrounded by a winter wonderland in the middle of summer, he said in a statement. It made for a day I won't soon forget, and a ..

Starbucks CEO to travel 1,600 kms to work by corporate jet

Why does Big Tech oppose California AI bill if it wants it to be regulated?

The proposal would mandate safety testing for many of the most advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to develop or those that require a defined amount of computing power

Starbucks' CEO Brian Niccol to commute 1,600 km to work via corporate jet

Brian Niccol's employment contract provides a corporate jet for his daily 1,600 km commute, requiring him to work from Starbucks' Seattle office at least three days a week

Two killed, 2 others injured in Oakland shooting after verbal altercation

Two people were shot dead and two others injured Saturday morning after a verbal altercation, San Francisco Bay Area police said. Officers were called to the 1600 block of 83rd Ave. in a residential part of East Oakland just after 9 am and found four victims with gunshot wounds, the Oakland Police Department said in a statement. Two of the victims died on site and two others were taken to a hospital, police said in the statement. Several people were engaged in a verbal altercation that became deadly when one of the individuals pulled out a firearm and fired multiple rounds before fleeing the scene in a vehicle, police said. Police are withholding names of the victims until next of kin are notified. Oakland is a city of 400,000 that has struggled with crime and public safety. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faces a recall election in November, as does the county's district attorney, Pamela Price. The home Thao shares with her partner and son was raided by the FBI in June as part of an .

New Starbucks CEO to make over $100 mn in 1st yr, not required to relocate

Incoming Starbucks CEO could make well in excess of $100 million in his first year with the company under an incentive-laden contract, and he will not be required to relocate from his home in California to Seattle, the home of the global coffee giant. Starbucks announced on Tuesday that Brian Niccol would become its chairman and CEO, taking over from Laxman Narasimhan, who stepped down abruptly after spending a little more than a year as the company's top executive. Niccol will become Starbucks' chairman and CEO on Sept 9. Niccol is among the mostly highly sought after corporate executives after establishing a track record of success in turning around companies that have hit a rough patch, including Taco Bell and, most recently, Chipotle. Niccol took the top job at the California chain in 2018 when Chipotle was being roiled by a series of foodborne illness outbreaks that had sickened more than 1,000 of its customers over several years. Revenue at Chipotle has nearly doubled since h

New Starbucks CEO Niccol to work 1,000 miles from company's headquarters

The incoming CEO agreed to commute to the coffee chain's base and travel as needed to do his job

Valley fever: All about the viral infection spread at California music fest

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a warning that Valley fever cases are connected to the Lightning in a Bottle festival at Buena Vista Lake, California from May 21 to 25

Despite new coal plants, India will face more power cuts by 2027: Research

India's power crisis: To avert a looming power shortage, India must accelerate efforts to boost renewable energy capacity, warns new research

Firefighters advance against blaze in California ahead of warming weather

Fire crews worked Tuesday to hold on to the progress made against the largest blaze in California this year ahead of warming temperatures forecast for later this week. Authorities said containment was 14 per cent and lifted evacuation orders in some communities of Butte County, where the Park Fire started last week before spreading to a neighbouring county and scorching an area bigger than Los Angeles. The massive fire continues to burn through rugged, inaccessible terrain with dense vegetation, threatening to spread to two other counties. That's going to be a continued challenge for us moving forward over the next couple of days," said Mark Brunton, an operations section chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Park Fire, now the fifth largest in the state's recorded history, was one of more than 100 large active wildfires burning in the US on Tuesday. It has scorched nearly 600 square miles (1,551 square kilometres), according to CAL Fire. For ...

Disneyland workers in US authorise strike ahead of contract negotiations

Thousands of workers at Disney's theme park and resort properties in California voted late Friday to authorize a potential strike, as contract negotiations drag on over wages, sick leave and other benefits. The strike authorization was approved by an overwhelming margin, nearly 99 per cent of the members who cast votes, according to a union statement. The election was held by a coalition of four unions, which represents 14,000 Disney ride operators, store clerks, custodians, candy makers, ticket takers, parking attendants and other employees. The vote does not mean a strike will happen, only that union leaders now have the option to call a strike in the event that they are unable to negotiate a new contract deal with Disney. Leaders from both sides return to the bargaining table starting Monday. We greatly appreciate the important roles our cast members play in creating memorable experiences for our guests, and we remain committed to reaching an agreement that focuses on what matter

University of California bans political statements on its online homepages

The University of California Board of Regents voted Thursday to ban employees from posting political statements on the homepages of university websites, saying such comments could be interpreted as the university system's official view. Political statements and personal opinions will be allowed on secondary pages and must include a disclaimer saying they don't represent UC's official views under the new policy. University employees can also post political opinions on their personal university webpages or social media accounts. Faculty members, students and members of the community have criticized the policy, saying it restricts free speech. The free speech movement started in the 1960s at the University of California, Berkeley before it spread to college campuses across the nation. Recently, political opinions have mainly been posted on the homepages of ethnic studies departments and carried pro-Palestinian messages. A message on the homepage of the UC Santa Barbara's Department of

Elon Musk to move SpaceX, X headquarters to Texas from California

With these steps, the billionaire, will have relocated Tesla and most of the businesses he controls or heads to Texas

California wildfire: Firefighters make progress but heat, fire risk expand

Firefighters made progress Friday against a California wildfire that triggered extensive evacuation orders, but damage assessments raised the number of destroyed structures to 25, and forecasters said heat and fire risk were expanding on the West Coast. Containment of the Thompson Fire near the Butte County city of Oroville rose overnight from 29% to 46%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire was measured at just under 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometers) after only slight growth overnight. Most evacuation orders covering about 17,000 people were lifted Thursday. Firefighters did a really good job yesterday enforcing containment lines, and wind hasn't been a factor, said Cal Fire Capt. Alejandro Cholico, a fire spokesperson. A new blaze dubbed the French Fire erupted Thursday evening and triggered evacuations in the small Gold Rush town of Mariposa in the Sierra Nevada foothills along a highway leading to Yosemite National Park. Bulldo

Cloaked Audis, covert CEO meeting: How VW's $5 bn Rivian bet transpired

Intense testing followed at the Palo Alto facility of how the US startup's architecture and software - controlling virtually every function - would work in the German cars

California drives US utility-scale battery storage growth in power systems

Total battery storage capacity in the US is currently estimated at around 17.5 GW

California fines Amazon nearly $6 mn for illegal work quotas at warehouses

California has fined Amazon a total of USD 5.9 million, alleging the e-commerce giant worked warehouse employees so hard that it put their safety at risk, officials said. The two citations issued in May by the California Labor Commissioner's Office said Amazon.com Services LLC ran afoul of the state's Warehouse Quota Law at facilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, east of Los Angeles. The law, which took effect in 2022, "requires warehouse employers to provide employees written notice of any quotas they must follow, including the number of tasks they need to perform per hour and any discipline that could come" from not meeting the requirements, the labour commissioner's office said in a statement. Amazon was fined USD 1.2 million at a warehouse in Redlands and USD 4.7 million at another in nearby Moreno Valley. The company said Tuesday that it disagrees with the allegations and has appealed the citations. "The truth is, we don't have fixed quotas. At Amazon, individual

Two killed in plane crash during Father's Day event in South California

Two people were killed aboard a vintage plane that crashed and burst into flames near a Southern California airfield during a weekend Father's Day event hosted by an air museum, authorities said Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration said the twin-engine Lockheed 12A crashed shortly after 12:30 pm Saturday, just west of Chino Airport in San Bernardino County. Firefighters doused the flames within 10 minutes before finding the two people dead inside, said Chino Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Bryan Turner. The victims' names were not released as of Sunday afternoon. Turner described the aircraft as older and historical. The plane belonged to the Yanks Air Museum, the Southern California News Group reported. At this time we are working with local authorities and the FAA. Yanks Air Museum will be closed until further notice as our family deals with this tragedy, and we appreciate your patience and respect for our privacy as we navigate through this difficult time, the air ..

California firefighters continue to battle wildfires east of San Francisco

California firefighters expected to gain ground on Sunday on a wind-driven wildfire that scorched thousands of acres 97 kilometres east of San Francisco, burned down a home and forced residents to flee the area near the central California city of Tracy. The fire erupted on Saturday afternoon in the grassy hills managed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the country's key centres for nuclear weapons science and technology. The cause was under investigation. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the research centre was not under immediate threat from the blaze, dubbed the Corral Fire, which had devoured some 52 square kilometres by Sunday afternoon and was 30 per cent contained. Thousands of people in the area, including parts of the city of Tracy with a population of 1,00,000, were ordered to leave for evacuation centres. Tracy is about 112 kilometres south of California's capital in Sacramento. CalFire Battalion Chief Josh Silveira said o