California
Murder charges filed after second woman killed during conjugal visit in California state prison
The family of a woman who was strangled to death last year during a conjugal visit with her husband at a Northern California prison has called for reforms after a second woman was killed in a similar manner.
Tania Thomas, 47, was killed in July while visiting her husband, Anthony Curry, overnight at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, according to Thomas’ cousin, Jeanine Rojo.
Curry was charged last week with murder in connection with Thomas’ death and is scheduled to be arraigned in April, court records show. Thomas had been strangled to death.
Tania Thomas, 47, was killed in July while visiting her husband, Anthony Curry, overnight at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
(Jeanine Rojo)
Thomas’ family hadn’t spoken out about her killing but decided to come forward after they saw Stephanie Brinson, 62, also killed in November while visiting husband David Brinson, 54, at the same prison.
Brinson hasn’t been charged in connection with his wife’s death. The investigation is ongoing.
Rojo called for more safety precautions for visitors during conjugal visits, including checking in on the meetings and better screening of who should be eligible to receive one.
“They definitely need to make urgent changes, because people’s lives are at stake here,” she said. “If they haven’t stopped these conjugal visits, they definitely have to stop that right now. Procedures need to change to make it safer.”
Thomas met Curry in 1999 and got pregnant, Rojo said. Curry disappeared with another woman when he found out Thomas was pregnant.
When Thomas was in labor, she saw Curry on the news because he was accused of shooting another woman, Synada Browning, in the head and dumping her body that same year. Browning survived the shooting but was blinded and left partially paralyzed. Curry, 48, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for attempted second-degree murder.
But Thomas reunited with Curry while he was behind bars and secretly married him without telling her family in 2023, Rojo said. She added that Curry was denied parole last year but had asked Thomas to “wait for him” before he killed her.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond to a request for comment.
Stephanie Brinson was visiting her husband, David Brinson, at the same prison on Nov. 13, according to the CDCR. Around 2 a.m., Brinson told officers that his wife had passed out. Officers attempted lifesaving measures but she was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m.
Amador County Dist. Atty. Todd Riebe confirmed that Stephanie Brinson was killed during a conjugal visit. He said he hadn’t received the reports from Mule Creek to make a charging decision.
In 1994, Brinson was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for killing four men during a robbery at a Los Angeles apartment, The Times reported. He is currently incarcerated at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton.
Conjugal visits are intended to foster family connections, according to the corrections department. Inmates convicted of sex crimes, under disciplinary restrictions or on death row aren’t eligible for overnight visits.
Visits occur in apartment-like facilities in private and on prison grounds, according to the department. They last from 30 to 40 hours; inmates have to present themselves for a count four times in a 24-hour period.
California
California GOP delegates on LGBT issues, LA decline, Medicaid fraud | Fox News Video
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana join Trace Gallagher to discuss multiple issues impacting California.
California GOP delegates Roxanne Hoge and Elizabeth Barcohana dissect the state’s pressing issues with Trace Gallagher. They criticize the SF Giants’ ‘Pride Night’ controversy and players’ right to religious expression. The delegates also discuss Los Angeles’s economic decline and Sacramento’s expensive homeless campsite, highlighting concerns about over-regulation and social issues. They conclude by addressing California’s large-scale Medicaid fraud, suggesting a lack of accountability.
California
California Central Valley city’s first-ever Pride event moves indoors after pushback
Oakdale’s first Pride event is moving forward this weekend after organizers changed venues following pushback over its original location and a planned drag performance.
Some residents pushed back over the event’s original location at Dorada Park and a planned drag performance.
“I also understand staff has issued a permit for a so-called Pride event,” one speaker said during the latest City Council meeting.
Another speaker raised concerns about the event being advertised as open to all ages, including children, and having a drag queen host.
After the public pushback, organizers moved the event indoors to the Bianchi Center.
“It was a huge upgrade to be able to provide a more accessible space in the heart of Oakdale,” said Ryan Hall, president of CalPride.
Hall said the idea to bring Pride to the city did not come from outside Oakdale, it came from people living there.
“That’s my place as a mom of rainbow kids, absolutely,” said Elizabeth May, owner of Sisters Coffee.
May’s coffee shop hosts a monthly LGBTQ+ social.
“I had a young man walk in here and say, ‘We don’t have anywhere to have a social here for LGBTQ.’ I said, ‘Heck yes,’” May said.
Still, the backlash has left parents like May concerned.
“How does it feel? Scary. I’m excited, but as a mom of a kid in the community, I’m nervous for them,” May said.
May said the venue change helped ease some of the tension.
“The different venue made a win-win situation for everyone. I was very proud of the kids for making that hard decision,” May said.
For organizers, the drag performance is part of the celebration.
“Enjoy some line dancing, enjoy some live music, enjoy the drag show, and then also enjoy community members and our local businesses, our local artists and partner organizations,” Hall said.
Oakdale Pride is scheduled for Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Entry is free.
California
Newsom urges a national ‘billionaires’ tax’ while fighting one in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is considering a run for president as he approaches the end of his term, called for a national “billionaires’ tax” on Friday even as he fights another proposal targeting the wealthy in his home state.
Newsom also said the U.S. government should own a stake in artificial intelligence companies. His proposals, outlined in a Substack post, aligns him with the Democratic Party’s populist left, and he argued that urgent changes are needed to prevent the elite concentration of wealth and power from undermining democracy.
“It’s time for an economic reset for America,” Newsom wrote.
The governor announced his agenda a day after an influential health care union in California pledged to go forward with a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.
Newsom opposes that measure, as do many of the liberal interest groups that typically favor higher taxes. They fear it would drive billionaires out of California, eroding the state’s tax base over the long term for a one-time influx of cash. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates.
“You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom wrote. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.”
A minimum tax on large net worths
Newsom said the solution is a new national tax policy, rather than a state-by-state system. He proposed a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100 million. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against their stock portfolios to fund their luxury lifestyles tax free.
Newsom said there should be new rules for inheritance taxes, warning that “the transfer of wealth among the ultra-wealthy will lock in a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth.” And he wants to raise corporate tax rates to where they were before President Donald Trump’s first-term tax cut.
READ MORE: Sanders and Newsom clash over proposed tax on California’s billionaires
The need is especially urgent as artificial intelligence threatens to displace workers and further concentrate wealth, he wrote.
“We need to ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI through a national public equity fund that takes a major stake in the new economy,” he wrote. “Simply, as artificial intelligence reshapes the country, every American should own a piece of the future it builds.”
Revenue generated by his proposals could be used to retrain workers, fund universal child care, make college free and increase funding for health care.
‘Money buys influence’
Newsom, who has drawn attention as one of Trump’s most high-profile political antagonists, is getting an early start on laying out a policy framework for his potential White House bid months before the midterm elections, which have typically marked the informal start of overt presidential campaigning.
WATCH: News Wrap: Newsom says Trump ordering DOJ to investigate him and wife
The embrace of a wealth tax by Newsom, a moderate on tax policy despite his liberal reputation, signals a notable shift in the political landscape since Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren struggled to get traction in her 2020 campaign, which she largely centered around a 2% levy wealth tax.
Newsom portrayed the nation’s tax code as a corrupt system built to help an elite few.
“Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules,” he wrote. “Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle.”
A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.
-
Lifestyle2 minutes ago‘Wait Wait’ for June 27, 2026: With Not My Job guest Stephen Malkmus
-
Technology12 minutes agoMargaret Atwood says the problem with AI is ‘garbage in, garbage out’
-
World17 minutes agoGulf countries strongly condemn Iran’s drone attack on Bahrain as rising tensions threaten MOU
-
Politics24 minutes agoJeffries welcomes Democratic Socialists into the fold as critics warn party is revealing ‘exactly who it is’
-
Health27 minutes agoThese leafy greens could help protect your lungs, study suggests
-
Sports32 minutes agoKnicks hand Mamdani-backed candidate cease and desist letter for using team’s logo in campaign: report
-
Technology39 minutes agoEmpty envelopes in your mailbox? Do not scan that code
-
Business42 minutes agoTruck parking lot plans near Port of Los Angeles spark backlash among residents