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Pipeline operator agrees to guilty plea in California spill

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Pipeline operator agrees to guilty plea in California spill


SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A pipeline operator and two subsidiaries agreed Friday to plead responsible to negligently discharging oil off the Southern California coast in reference to a pipeline break that lined seashores with blobs of crude.

The U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Los Angeles mentioned in an announcement that Houston-based Amplify Power and two subsidiaries agreed to plead responsible to a misdemeanor and pay a $7 million tremendous and practically $6 million in bills incurred by authorities entities, together with the U.S. Coast Guard. The businesses would additionally set up a brand new leak detection system for pipeline and practice workers to establish and reply to potential leaks, the assertion mentioned.

“Our nation’s environmental legal guidelines are designed to guard our communities and oceans from hazardous pollution, together with oil,” mentioned Scot Adair, particular agent answerable for the U.S. Environmental Safety Company’s legal investigation division in California. “Amplify Power’s settlement to plead responsible at present demonstrates that corporations that negligently violate these legal guidelines can be held chargeable for their crimes.”

The plea agreements nonetheless must be accredited by U.S. District Decide David Carter.

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Amplify Power, which owns the pipeline that ruptured, mentioned the corporate has been cooperating with the investigation into the spill and is dedicated to working safely.

“We imagine this decision, which is topic to courtroom assessment and approval, displays the commitments we made instantly following the incident to impacted events,” Martyn Willsher, Amplify’s president, mentioned in an announcement.

The October 2021 leak in a pipeline that ferried crude oil from offshore platforms to the Southern California coast spilled about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of oil into the Pacific Ocean.

Whereas much less extreme than initially feared, the spill about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) offshore shuttered seashores in surf-friendly Huntington Seaside and close by communities for every week and fisheries for greater than a month, oiled birds and threatened wetlands the area has been striving to revive.

“The Orange County oil spill was devastating for our surroundings, our group and our native companies,” mentioned state Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, who represents the realm, in an announcement.

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U.S. prosecutors charged the businesses late final 12 months with the unlawful discharge of oil and failure to answer eight leak detection alarms over a 13-hour interval that ought to have alerted them to the spill. The leak detection system alarm first sounded late within the afternoon on Oct. 1, however staff believed it was triggered by a change within the focus of produced water within the pipeline earlier within the day, in accordance with a replica of the plea settlement.

The alarm sounded repeatedly all through the evening and staff shut down the pipeline to research, then restarted it once more. Earlier than daybreak on Oct. 2, a ship went out and traveled alongside the course of the undersea pipeline with flashlights however didn’t see indicators of a leak, in accordance with the settlement.

It wasn’t till a ship went out after dawn that the spill was recognized, the papers mentioned.

Within the plea settlement, Amplify contends that two ships dragged their anchors throughout the pipeline and broken it throughout a January 2021 storm, however they weren’t notified till after the October 2021 spill. With out this harm, Amplify, which has filed a civil declare in opposition to the ships, has argued that the spill wouldn’t have occurred.

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Eagles’ Don Henley Files Lawsuit for Return of Handwritten ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics

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Eagles’ Don Henley Files Lawsuit for Return of Handwritten ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics


Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (June 28) seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s 1976 album Hotel California.

The civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court comes after prosecutors in March abruptly dropped criminal charges midway through a trial against three collectibles experts accused of scheming to sell the documents.

The Eagles co-founder has maintained the pages were stolen and had vowed to pursue a lawsuit when the criminal case was dropped against rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski.

“These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit,” Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement Friday.

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According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the custody of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which declined to comment Friday on the litigation.

Lawyers for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the legal action as baseless, noting the criminal case was dropped after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding critical information.

“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Shawn Crowley, Kosinski’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to litigating this case and bringing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”

Inciardi’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, said in a separate statement that the lawsuit attempts to “bully” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”

A lawyer for Horowitz, who isn’t named as a defendant as he doesn’t claim ownership of the materials, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

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During the trial, the men’s lawyers argued that Henley gave the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who worked on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who started putting some of the pages up for auction in 2012.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors agreed that defense lawyers had essentially been blindsided by 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates.

Prosecutors and the defense said they received the material only after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.

Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the nonjury trial that opened in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated.”



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Lancaster is California’s most desirable Fourth of July destination, Airbnb says

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Lancaster is California’s most desirable Fourth of July destination, Airbnb says


When thinking about vacations in Southern California, destinations such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs may come to mind. 

However, according to Airbnb, none of the three – or maybe any SoCal city you are thinking of – ranked among their top ten trending destinations for this year’s Fourth of July weekend. 

That would be Lancaster. 

The short and long-term rental service’s list of trending July 4 weekend destinations includes locations renowned for scenic landscapes (such as Cle Elum, Washington and Saratoga Springs, New York) and others known for significant Fourth of July celebrations (Marshfield, Massachusetts and Sanibel Island, Florida) in addition to desirable locations as picked by potential renters themselves. 

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An Airbnb listing in Joshua Tree, California. (Photo courtesy Airbnb)

Airbnb’s top ten trending destinations for Fourth of July 2024 are: 

  • Pocono Township, Pennsylvania
  • Saratoga Springs, New York
  • Marshfield, Massachusetts
  • Leadville, Colorado
  • Bangor, Maine
  • Lancaster, California
  • Cle Elum, Washington
  • Wenatchee, Washington
  • Sanibel-Sanibel Island, Florida
  • Fort Myers Beach, Florida

Breaking it down further, Airbnb found the “most wishlisted” home in each state; California’s was the Invisible House, located within Joshua Tree National Park.

A one-night stay at the Invisible House from July 7 to July 8 will cost $2,934 before taxes.

To view Airbnb’s list of trending towns and “most wishlisted” homes, click here.



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California cities dominate list of places with worst commutes

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California cities dominate list of places with worst commutes


(NEXSTAR) – If you’re stuck in traffic every morning and every evening, is it comforting to know you’re not alone? The average American adult spends 219 hours a year – or more than nine full days – commuting every year, a new analysis by MoneyGeek found.

The personal finance site used data from the Census, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, TomTom, plus gas prices to determine where residents have the best and worst commutes.

Six of the 10 worst places for commuters are in California, MoneyGeek found.

It’s not just that drivers in Vallejo, San Jose, Stockton, Modesto and other California cities have to sit in traffic for a long time – though they do – but they have to pay out the nose to do so. Gas prices are high all around California, and residents in further suburbs (like Vallejo and Fairfield) are often driving longer distances to get into the office. (MoneyGeek factored in the cost of gas, but not the cost of public transit, in its report.)

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To make matters even worse, commuters who drive to work risk damage to their car – or their own safety – every time they get behind the wheel. Crash rates weren’t highest in California cities, however. Drivers in Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and San Antonio, Texas, were more likely to experience a crash during their commute, MoneyGeek found.

The study combined these factors – commute time, rush-hour speed, crash rates and gas costs – to give of the country’s 124 largest metro areas a score. The 20 worst communities for commuters are:

Rank Metro area Score Avg. 1-way commute (minutes) Avg. rush-hour speed (mph) Morning commute crash rate Annual gas cost
1. Vallejo-Fairfield, CA 0.0 34 28 0.31 $1,792
2. Stockton-Lodi, CA 5.2 35 28 0.20 $1,791
3. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL 14.3 32 27 0.32 $1,099
4. Modesto, CA 15.0 31 28 0.18 $1,582
5. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 15.5 35 31 0.12 $1,931
6. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 19.5 28 26 0.27 $1,367
7. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 20.1 32 18 0.16 $1,042
8. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 21.3 28 31 0.35 $1,243
9. Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL 21.6 33 27 0.15 $1,133
10. Jacksonville, FL 23.0 28 34 0.54 $1,202
11. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 24.9 29 30 0.45 $1,015
12. Birmingham-Hoover, AL 25.1 29 32 0.25 $1,161
13. Baton Rouge, LA 25.3 29 29 0.48 $1,028
14. Charleston-North Charleston, SC 25.6 30 26 0.36 $941
15. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX 27.5 33 23 0.21 $918
16. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 28.1 33 30 0.06 $1,492
17. Albuquerque, NM 28.4 27 34 0.45 $1,167
18. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 28.5 31 20 0.10 $1,066
19. Worcester, MA-CT 28.8 31 29 0.10 $1,239
20. Port St. Lucie, FL 29.1 31 27 0.15 $1,078
(Source: MoneyGeek)

If you’re looking for someone to be jealous of, look no further than Madison, Wisconsin. Drivers there benefit from low gas prices, rare crashes and short commute times, earning it the No. 1 spot for best commutes in the ranking.

The shortest average commute time overall was found in Wichita, Kansas. Meanwhile, drivers in the McAllen, Texas, metro area pay the least for gas every year. The award for fewest crashes was a three-way tie between Boulder, Colorado; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Trenton, New Jersey.

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