California
Miss California competition in Visalia could draw thousands of visitors
Visit Visalia has announced the 2024 Miss California and Miss California’s Teen Competitions will be held at the Visalia Convention Center June 8-15.
The event could draw thousands of visitors to the city.
This prestigious and professional development competition is set to begin Saturday, June 8, when Visalia welcomes delegates for a week of interviews, rehearsals, and meaningful community involvement. The young women’s experience will culminate with the crowning of the winners on Saturday, June 15 at the Visalia Convention Center. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.The mission of the Miss California program is to advance the creation, promotion, and support of educational, achievement, and community service opportunities for young women in the State of California. The organization, celebrating its 100th year, focuses on leadership skills, talent, communication skills and educational scholarships and is part of the Miss America organization.The Miss America organization throughout the century has been a champion for advancing women. In its early years, swimsuits were worn as an act of rebellion; women weren’t allowed to wear swimsuits in public. In 1945, Miss America began awarding scholarships rather than prize money, one of the first organizations in the United States to offer college scholarships to women. In the 1980s, Miss America officially made community service a pillar of the program, helping to raise awareness, and millions of dollars, for worthy causes.“It is exciting to see Miss California continue to captivate audiences and to keep pace with societal values reflecting their timeless mission,” said Sherrie Bakke, Visit Visalia executive director. “We congratulate the Miss California organization on their Centennial Celebration and we look forward to welcoming them to Visalia once again.”The reigning Miss California, Sabrina Lewis, was crowned here in Visalia in 2023, chosen from a field of 42 women from across the state. She is an avid equestrian and advocates for Equine Therapy for all. Her year-long reign will come to an end when the new Miss California is crowned on June 15.The Miss California and Miss California’s Teen Competitions will be held at the Visalia Convention Center in Downtown Visalia, California.
- The schedule of events to which the public are invited include:
- Tuesday, June 11: Preliminary Competitions, Miss Delegates
- Wednesday, June 12: Preliminary Competitions, Teen Delegates
- Thursday, June 13: Miss California’s Teen – Finals Competition
- Friday, June 14: Miss California’s Talent Review
- Saturday, June 15: Miss California Centennial Finals Competition
There will be 44 Miss California delegates who range in age from 18-28 and come from all over the state. There will be 24 Miss California’s Teen, ranging in age from 13-18. Of course, they will be supported by family and friends who will come to watch.
Event organizers are estimating 800 to 1,000 attendees. They expect that the Friday night Talent Review will be especially well-attended. People love to see the varied talent that all 44 of the delegates will perform. This night is only about the talent portion of the competition. And with ticket prices at only $10, it makes it very affordable.
Since this year the organization is celebrating its centennial, they are expecting record breaking attendance. The organization has evolved over the past 100 years, staying in step with today’s women and societal values.
Ticket information for all public events, available hotels, and additional details about the event are available at: https://www.visitvisalia.com/miss-california-2024.
California
Man charged with murder, kidnapping their 5-year-old child before fleeing to Mexico
A 40-year-old Los Angeles man was charged with murder after allegedly killing his girlfriend and kidnapping their young child before fleeing to Mexico, according to authorities.
Ruben Fregosojuarez has been charged one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of child abuse under circumstance or conditions other than great bodily injury or death, according to a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office news release. Authorities first identified him as Ruben Fregoso but Los Angeles County prosecutors listed him as Ruben Fregosojuarez.
On Monday around 12:39 p.m., the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a welfare check in the 2600 block of South Alsace Avenue in West Adams, police said in a news release.
Officers found a woman dead inside the home “as a result of violence” and the woman’s daughter missing, police said. On Monday night, the California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert for the child, Daleza.
Photos obtained by NBC4 appear to show Fregosojuarez in a parking garage in San Ysidro with the girl on Sunday. The California Highway Patrol has listed her age as 4 years old but Los Angeles police say the girl is 5. She is also described as the suspect’s daughter.
The alert said that the girl was last seen with Fregosojuarez, who allegedly abducted her in a 2019 Land Rover Discovery, on Sunday at about 4 a.m.
The CHP posted in an update that the vehicle was found but that the child and man were still missing. The girl is described as 3 feet tall, 45 pounds, and having black hair and brown eyes.
California
23andMe Sued by California Over Massive 2023 Data Breach
California’s attorney general is suing the consumer genetics testing company formerly known as 23andMe, alleging the company failed to protect customers’ sensitive personal information in a massive 2023 data breach that exposed the ancestry and genetic data of nearly 7 million people.
Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit on Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court against Chrome Holding Co., formerly known as 23andMe, accusing the company of failing to properly investigate or respond to numerous warnings that its systems had been compromised. The company’s mail-in self-testing kits became synonymous with DNA testing before it filed for bankruptcy in 2025.
In 2023, cybercriminals breached 23andMe’s systems by using a “credential-stuffing attack,” which involves bombarding online accounts with huge sets of user names and passwords stolen in previous unrelated attacks. Over a period of months, the intruders were able to make off with the personal data of more than 6.9 million people.
“23andMe’s security measures were so lax that the threat actor was able to operate undetected within 23andMe’s systems for over five months, and remarkably, 23andMe only began investigating after the threat actor offered the stolen user data for sale on the dark web and reached out to 23andMe to demand a ransom,” Bonta’s office said in the complaint.
The San Francisco-based company, which allowed people to submit genetic materials and get a snapshot of their ancestry, revealed in October 2023 that hackers had accessed customer information in the prolonged data breach that targeted customers with Chinese or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. The stolen data of more than 1 million Asian-Pacific Islander and Ashkenazi Jewish users was later posted for sale on the dark web.
“The sale of this data on the dark web took place amidst a period of mounting anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander and antisemitic hate and violence,” Bonta said in a press release. “This is disturbing and incredibly dangerous.”
A January 2024 lawsuit accused the company of not doing enough to protect its customers and not notifying certain customers that their data had been targeted specifically. It later settled the lawsuit for $30 million.
23andMe representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
At its peak, 23andMe became the best-known name in the emerging area of DNA self-testing, with users paying upwards of $99 for kits that gave them insights into their genetic makeup, potential relatives and ancestry. But the company’s momentum slowed down in recent years after its $3.5 billion public offering in 2021.
Last July, TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit led by Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s cofounder and former CEO, acquired 23andMe’s assets for $305 million.
California
Newsom signs law to shield California elections from federal interference
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, signed legislation Wednesday that aims to shield California elections from federal interference, saying he expected Donald Trump’s administration to try to meddle in the midterms this year.
The law, which took effect immediately and came days before next Tuesday’s primary, prohibits any person – including federal agents – from accessing voter rolls or election technology without a court order. Law enforcement officers are restricted from disrupting election workers, except in public safety emergencies.
Trump administration officials so far have said they have no plans to send immigration agents to polling locations across the US, a concern raised this year by several Democratic secretaries of state. But Newsom warned “we have to be prepared for everything” because “there’s no rules any more with the Trump administration”.
Voting is already under way in California’s closely watched primary for governor, where a crowded field of Democrats and two viable Republicans are vying for just two spots on the November ballot. Under the state’s open primary system, only the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Newsom, who cannot seek a third term, said the election law is a response to “legitimate anxiety” about Trump’s tactics, primarily in Democratic-led states, where the president has deployed federal agents over the objections of local leaders. The Democratic governor warned against underestimating someone who “doesn’t believe in free and fair elections”.
“I expect the worst with Trump because he’s done the worst,” he said at a news conference.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Associated Press later Wednesday that Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.
“Instead of levying false attacks at the President, Newscum should look in the mirror,” she said in a statement, using Trump’s derogatory nickname for Newsom.
In an interview last year with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, knocked down the idea that Trump would deploy the military to suppress voting, saying it was “categorically false”.
The California law also makes it a crime to knowingly take voted ballots out of the custody of election officials.
Earlier this year, the FBI under Trump seized the 2020 general election ballots from Georgia’s most populous county, which is heavily Democratic and has long been at the center of the president’s false claims that fraud cost him the race. The FBI and justice department also have sought records from previous elections in the largest counties in Arizona and Michigan.
Trump triggered a national redistricting frenzy ahead of the midterms when he urged Republicans in Texas and elsewhere to redraw their US House districts to help the party retain control of the closely divided chamber. Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee also have enacted new maps that could benefit Republicans, and Louisiana is expected to be next.
Republicans so far think they could gain as many as 14 seats from redistricting in November, while Democrats think they could gain six in California and Utah.
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