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California retail stores lock up underwear as Newsom vows crackdown on rampant retail crime surge

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California retail stores lock up underwear as Newsom vows crackdown on rampant retail crime surge


Two major retailers have begun to lock up undergarments in their California stores amid a surge of retail theft in the state.

Several retail stores from different corners of the country have kept beauty, hygiene, and cleaning products on lockdown in recent years, but the effort to limit the loss of goods to theft is reportedly making its way into the clothing department in some Golden State stores, according to a report from one local outlet.

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In an effort to prevent the loss of additional merchandise, some Target and Walmart stores in the San Francisco Bay Area have locked up underwear and socks, frustrating customers who have to wait for assistance to receive their desired undergarments.

Highlighted in a report from NBC Bay Area, the effort has garnered the attention of those who shop at the stores and are inconvenienced by the new method.

RETAILERS LOST $112B IN 2022 BECAUSE OF ‘UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS’ OF THEFT

Some Target and Walmart stores in the San Francisco Bay Area have locked up underwear and socks, frustrating customers who have to wait for assistance to receive their desired undergarments. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

“It comes to the point of ‘How ghetto does it look that they have to lock up the socks or whatever it is that they have under the key’?” shopper Olga Leon told the outlet.

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Pointing to problems stemming from the initiative, shopper Curtis Edwards said, “I’d be very upset. . . . I got to call somebody to come up from the counter to get socks.”

Two Target stores in the East Bay area — one in Richmond and another in Pleasant Hill — are already placing the undergarments on lockdown, according to the outlet. One customer reportedly had to wait 10 minutes for an associate at one store to open up the case so he could buy boxers.

Walmart, another major retailer that has been a target point for several organized theft rings in recent years, is also beginning to implement the undergarment lockdown effort.

One Walmart store in the Hilltop area has started locking up underwear, and according to the report, clerks say their store is being ravaged by shoplifters almost every day.

In a statement to the outlet, Richmond City Councilmember Cesar Cepeda said, “The cost will go up as residents will have to pay more, or they’ll have to commute and travel farther to pick up their groceries, to pick up their socks, to pick up their prescriptions.”

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“It’s really going to be hurting our community,” he added.

Two Target stores in the East Bay area — one in Richmond and another in Pleasant Hill — are already placing undergarments on lockdown. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Retail crime continues to rise across the U.S., and last month it was at the center of a congressional hearing.

CALIFORNIA POLICE DEPARTMENT IMPLEMENTS ‘OPERATION GRINCH’ TO CRACK DOWN ON RETAIL THEFT

The House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence held a hearing titled “From Festive Cheer to Retail Fear: Addressing Organized Retail Crime” on December 12.

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Subcommittee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, blamed “soft-on-crime policies” for the problematic trend in a statement announcing the hearing.

“By putting criminals over communities, families and small business owners, hardworking Americans across the country are being forced to pay the financial and emotional costs of these failed policies,” Pfluger said.

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, blamed “soft-on-crime policies” for the problematic retail theft trend last month. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Amid an unprecedented spike in retail crime, reports also suggest many professional shoplifters or boosters are part of a much larger organization of criminals — including transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) that are taking advantage of our open borders,” he added.

Big chain stores like CVS and others have been forced to lock up merchandise behind plastic barriers to keep it from being stolen off the shelves.

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A recent survey by the National Retail Federation found that 70% of retailers believe organized retail theft has become a more prevalent issue in recent years.

Several Target stores have installed locked cases for everyday merchandise due to thefts. (Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Earlier this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, outlined a plan to crack down on retail and property crimes throughout the state.

“Building on California’s existing laws and record public safety investments, I’m calling for new legislation to expand criminal penalties for those profiting on retail theft and auto burglaries,” Newsom said in a Tuesday press release. “These laws will make California safer and bolster police and prosecutor tools to arrest and hold professional criminals accountable.”

The legislative framework proposed by Newsom, according to the release, will increase enforcement tools, aggregate theft amounts, eliminate sunset dates for organized retail crime and strengthen penalties for large-scale stolen goods resellers.

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Earlier this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, outlined a plan to crack down on retail and property crimes throughout the state. ((Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) / Getty Images)

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San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins praised Newsom’s proposal, insisting that it will “make our communities and businesses safer.”

“This vitally needed package of reforms will empower law enforcement and prosecutors to be able to hold prolific thieves accountable and ensure that there are consequences for those who brazenly flaunt our laws,” Jenkins said.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

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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.

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“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.


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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

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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.

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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.”

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“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.

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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.

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