California
Southern California teen whose home laboratory sparked FBI investigation speaks out
LOS ANGELES — The southern California teenager whose home laboratory sparked a nearly weeklong investigation from the FBI last week is speaking out, stating that he’s just a “kid who’s interested in science.”
Last Monday, Irvine Police Department officers were called to a home near Cartwheel and Iluna in a gated Irvine neighborhood after learning of “suspicious materials” discovered by the property’s landlord.
As the investigation continued, both Orange County Fire Authority and FBI investigators were called to the scene after it was determined that the materials were possible indications of chemical nerve agents, according to a source familiar with the investigation. They said that the substances, paired with writings found at the scene, were concerning.
While investigators say that 17-year-old Amalvin Fritz, a pre-medical student slated to graduate from Univeristy of California, Irvine, in the coming months, and his family have cooperated with their investigation, the family still hasn’t been able to return home.
“You know, it’s almost been a week since I’ve been out of my home, and I really want to go back,” Fritz said.
He says that he’s unsure exactly what investigators found that triggered such a chaotic series of events.
“I gave my full cooperation and gave them my phone, and I gave them as much information as possible, but I’m not sure exactly what materials inside the home they would be suspicious about,” Fritz said. “I hope that they can conclude their investigation and we can continue to put this behind us.”
As the investigation progressed, the National Guard’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team was deployed to the neighborhood to assist with the handling of the materials and ongoing probe, which continued over the weekend.
Video from the scene shows FBI personnel dressed in hazardous materials suits and breathing apparatus as they walk to and from the home through the garage. They still haven’t commented on exactly what they discovered as their investigation develops.
Fritz dreams of becoming a doctor one day, according to his attorney, who spoke with CBS LA on Monday. He has posted a few of his home experiments on his YouTube channel, which were also conducted at his home lab.
While he says that anyone can purchase chemicals like acetone online and that he was safe throughout the process, a chemistry professor from California State University, Long Beach, says that his YouTube videos also show his use of isopropylmagnesium chloride and other compounds in an unsafe and inappropriate setting.
“Those experiments needed to be done in a proper lab facility,” said professor Elaine Bernal. She says that acetone is highly flammable, and that the compounds Fritz used would require proper storage due to the risk of a fire or explosion. She also expressed concern over how the chemicals were disposed of, and the escape of gases during the experiments.
“There’s a big environmental and safety concern that I think was worth of investigation. I get that the FBI was there, hazmat was there. I think it’s also important to think of it as the safety of the local community since it’s tight quarters,” Bernal said. “The chemicals that he mentioned are very flammable. My concern is that whatever gases that are emitted, that folks with respiratory issues, sensitive respiratory issues, can be affected.”
Fritz said that his experiments are focused on new therapeutics for cancer and Alzheimers disease, and that he insists nothing he was doing was dangerous. He hopes to enroll in medical school after graduating from UC Irvine.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
It’s been quite the unexpected slog through a field of candidates so numerous that all of their names don’t even fit on a single page of the ballot. Democrats in California have held the governor’s mansion, state House, and state Senate for almost two decades and unrest about that trifecta out West is real. The traditional political alliances are frayed, at best, with socialists backing a billionaire and Trump supporting an immigrant. A sex scandal tanked the hopes of a leading candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell, and Trump’s endorsement of Hilton all but sidelined tough-on-crime Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco. It’s why Hilton, who moved to California in 2012, is in the mix in a race that is set to test assumptions about party loyalty, candidate partisanship, and money’s power. And it carries massive consequences about who will be the de facto CEO of the fourth-largest economy on the planet, between Germany and Japan, and a major player on the national political stage. This is not some backwater local election.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
California air regulators on Friday approved a contentious overhaul of the state’s carbon market, creating a program that could steer billions of dollars in free pollution permits to oil refineries and other major polluters over the objections of environmental groups, key lawmakers and three of the board’s own members.
Ten members of the California Air Resources Board voted to adopt the changes to its cap-and-invest program after two days of lengthy hearings, including a full day dedicated to hundreds of public comments.
The overhaul followed intensive lobbying by the oil industry as well as pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to help keep refineries operating in the state amid rising gas prices.
The approval sets up a potential budget fight in Sacramento. The Legislative Analyst’s Office projects that quarterly auction revenue for state climate programs will drop from roughly $4 billion a year to about $2 billion under the new overhaul.
Such a shortfall would effectively zero out programs lawmakers spent last year fighting to fund: affordable housing, public transit, drinking water in low-income communities and pollution monitoring in California’s most polluted neighborhoods.
The governor’s office praised the measure as a compromise that balanced economic uncertainty with the state’s climate goals. Refinery closures and the Iran-Israel war have driven average California gas prices above $6 a gallon.
Newsom, in a statement, used the moment to draw a contrast with President Donald Trump.
“While Trump sows ongoing chaos and uncertainty, California is staying focused by protecting our economy, safeguarding public health, and doubling down on the clean energy future all Californians deserve,” he said.
Environmentalists warned the changes to the program amount to a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry that weakens California’s only program setting a firm cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
Katelyn Roedner Sutter, California senior director for the Environmental Defense Fund, called the decision “deeply misguided” for prioritizing polluters over communities.
“Newsom’s air regulators are handing billions to oil executives at the expense of our climate, health, and affordability for working families in a rushed process that has shortchanged meaningful public participation,” said Bahram Fazeli, policy director at Communities for a Better Environment.
How the program works — and what changes
California’s 13-year-old carbon market forces major polluters to buy permits while the state lowers the overall cap each year. Friday’s vote will reduce those permits – and creates a new subsidy program carved out of the market.
The program, which may still see changes, could make available a new pool of free pollution permits available to industry valued at as much as $4 billion. Companies that pledge to invest in clean energy and efficiency may qualify for the permits in exchange for investments in clean energy.
The pool will be capped at 118.3 million permits — the same number the air board has said must come off the market for California to hit its 2030 climate target. Environmentalists say the proposal risks wiping out those reductions.
Half are reserved for the fossil fuel sector. A recent Berkeley analysis, by the chair of an independent committee that oversees the carbon market, found refineries could end up with more free permits than they need to cover their emissions.
The air board has defended the design. Officials say the credits will go only to companies undertaking decarbonization projects, will be limited and temporary and can be clawed back if companies misuse them. The plan, they say, is meant to keep California refineries operating at a time of mounting closures and global market pressure. According to air regulators, the amended program will spur clean-energy investment as Trump cuts federal support.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
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.
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