California
Hundreds of modern-day hippies known as ‘Rainbow Family’ ordered to leave California forest — or face fines
Peace out!
Hundreds of modern-day hippies who form a commune known as the “Rainbow Family” are being kicked out of their campsites at a California national forest with the threat of fines and jail time.
The US Forest Service ordered about 500 of the permitless campers to leave Plumas National Forest within 48 hours on Wednesday or face a fine of up to $5,000 and/or prison time of up to six months, according to the vacate order.
The California eviction is the first time the Rainbow Family of Living Light — a loose-knit group of free-spirited people who gather to camp together in a different national forest each year during the first week of July — has been forced to end its annual camping tradition since its first gathering in 1972.
The free annual gatherings attract between 5,000 and 10,000 people each year.
The group calls itself the “largest non-organization of non-members in the world” and as such, organizers do not get the required permits as they claim they do not have leaders to sign them on behalf of the group, according to the US Forest Service.
The leaderless commune then sets up a welcome tent, camping and social areas, parking areas, health care sites and several outdoor kitchens. The members develop water sources and dig trench latrines to use as bathrooms.
The Rainbow Family also designates different areas of the campsite for group gatherings, partygoers, families with children, women and men, according to the park service.
This summer’s camping event was expected to bring roughly 10,000 visitors to the Plumas National Forest, near Quincy in northern California — which officials said would overwhelm the area and its natural environment.
Some 500 Rainbow Family members had already set up camp this week in an area near the Indian Creek Headwaters, about five miles north of Antelope Lake in the national forest.
The US Forest Service ordered the group to vacate “for the protection of natural, Tribal and cultural resources, concerns about fire danger, public health and sanitation, and upholding permitted special uses.”
The order went into effect Wednesday and is being evaluated daily to determine when it can be lifted.
“The Forest is concerned about the 500 plus individuals already dispersed camping in a concentrated area… There are existing and projected impacts on natural and cultural resources and other authorized uses,” Plumas National Forest Supervisor Chris Carlton said in a statement. “Our priority is maintaining public health and safety and the appropriate stewardship of public lands and natural resources.”
Locals were not pleased by the late announced arrival of the band of hippies and fought against their stay in town, according to local reports.
Four tribes in the region, the Mountain Maidu, Paiute, Pit River, and Washoe, each wrote to the Rainbow Family asking them to reconsider their camping location, according to SFist.
And Lassen County Supervisor Jason Ingram had been fighting the incoming since he learned of it, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, my concerns with this gathering were always the illegality aspect, the
increased fire risk this would have created, the environmental impact, and the blatant disrespect shown to our local tribes,” Ingram said. “Events are fine, but not events that blatantly disregard the law and endanger our land and community fire safety.”
He celebrated the news of the commune’s first forced cancellation in over 50 years.
“I believe this is the first rainbow gathering event to be shut down, and you all had a hand in that,” Ingram said.
California
Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years
While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.
It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.
It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.
“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.
The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.
“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”
The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.
“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”
You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.
What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.
“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”
That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.
“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”
While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.
“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”
California
Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter
It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!
The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”
The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.
“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”
We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.
If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’
We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.
In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.
Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies
Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.
When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”
“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”
When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”
Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.
Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.
The primary election is June 2.
No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows
A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
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