California
Space X sues California regulators, claiming bias against Elon Musk
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued California regulators Tuesday for alleged politician bias.
SpaceX claimed, in a lawsuit filed in California’s Central District, that regulators denied the company permission to conduct more rocket launches because of Musk’s many controversial and hard-line conservative stances. The decision, the company claims, violates its CEO’s right to free speech.
The space exploration company wanted to launch dozens of rockets each year from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara, California, according to the Wall Street Journal (NWSA), but the California Coastal Commission denied the request.
Commissioner Gretchen Newsom, who is not related to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, criticized Musk before the vote on the decision, saying he had “bigoted beliefs against California’s safeguards and protections over our transgender community.”
She also lambasted him for “hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet,” the Journal reported.
Newsom also questioned SpaceX’s safety record and labor conditions.
The company said in court documents that “rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO.”
Musk criticized the Commission, writing on X: “The Coastal Commission has one job — take care of the California coast,” he said. “It is illegal for them to make decisions based on what they (mostly wrongly) think are my politics.”
Musk claimed to have “done more to advance sustainable energy & help the environment than maybe anyone ever, which is not exactly a ‘far-right’ position.” He called on the commission to resign.
Because SpaceX is a major federal contractor, there is still a chance it could launch more rockets from California.
Col. Mark Shoemaker, a commander at the Space Force who oversees Vandenberg, told the Wall Street Journal, “We are assessing the outcome from Thursday, and it is too soon to comment on launch cadence beyond the current capacity constraint.”
California
California man dies after semi-truck crash on I-44
PHELPS COUNTY, Mo. (KY3) – A man from California has died after a semi-truck crash on I-44 Saturday morning.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the semi-truck was driving west on I-44 around 2 a.m. near the 193-mile marker.
The crash happened when the semi went off the right side of the road and hit a guardrail and a concrete bridge. After hitting the bridge, the semi went airborne and hit an embankment.
The passenger, a 54-year-old man from Hacienda Heights, California, died at the scene. The driver, a woman from California, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
This marks MSHP Troop I’s 33rd fatal crash in 2024.
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California
California to remove racist term for Native American Woman from more than 30 places
Officials in California are working to remove a racist term towards Native American women in more than 30 locations in California, according to the state Natural Resources Agency.
The removal of the term “squaw,” which was deemed “derogatory” by the Secretary of the Interior in 2021, is part of AB 2022, a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. The law asks that the term be removed “all geographic features and place names in the state” by Jan. 1, 2025.
“The term is recognized as a racial, ethnic, and gender-based slur, particularly aimed at Native American women. Its removal is a crucial step in recognizing the ongoing trauma and oppression that Native communities have faced,” officials said in a news release.
In a statement on social media, the agency described the move as a “bold new step towards healing for past injustices.”
PRO-NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVISTS FIGHTING TO SAVE INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS IN NATIONWIDE WAR AGAINST WOKENESS
The full list of new California names is not currently available but has been selected with the help of California’s Native American tribes and will be released shortly, the natural resources agency told The Associated Press in an email.
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Deputy Secretary for Tribal Affairs at the Natural Resource Agency Geneva Thompson said this is an extremely important step for Indigenous people.
“Acknowledging those historical wrongs that were committed against Native Americans is extremely important, but we need to take the next step toward healing,” Thompson said. “While there are differences among folks, we can build communities that reflect and honor and celebrate those differences instead of alienating and perpetuating historical wrongs.”
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The California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names says they will implement approved replacement names by Jan. 1.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the California Natural Resources Agency for comment.
California
Woman Arrested After Allegedly Posing as Nurse and Caring for Around 60 Patients in California Hospitals
A woman has been arrested for allegedly impersonating a nurse and working in multiple California hospitals without a license.
The Burbank Police Department arrested Amanda Leeann Porter on Nov. 7 after hospital staff at the city’s Saint Joseph Medical Center reported she was impersonating a nurse while caring for patients, police said in a statement.
Police alleged that Porter, originally from Virginia, fraudulently applied for a job at the hospital and was hired. She cared for around 60 patients, per the statement, between April 8 and May 8, before staff realized she was impersonating a real registered nurse who did not live in California.
“By the time Porter was terminated, she received two paychecks for the time she was fraudulently employed,” police added.
Porter, 44 — who police said does not hold a nursing license — is also accused of committing a similar crime at the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.
“During this investigation, detectives learned that Porter continued to obtain employment with various local hospitals using a variety of false identities,” the police statement said.
Porter had bonded out of custody from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department after being arrested in Santa Clarita, according to police.
Porter faces charges of felony identity theft, felony false impersonation and felony grand theft. According to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, Porter pleaded not guilty to all of the charges on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
“Ms. Porter’s alleged actions are deeply troubling and egregious as she deceived patients and medical professionals alike, betraying the trust of those who rely on our medical community in their most vulnerable time of need,” district attorney George Gascón said in a statement.
“We acknowledge the profound distress that this situation may have caused those who were treated by the defendant,” the statement continued. “Our office will work relentlessly to hold this individual accountable and ensure that justice is served.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that Porter is also on federal probation for a fraud violation in Virginia, and that a woman named Amanda Porter-Eley pleaded guilty to impersonating a nurse and committing bank fraud in the state.
The outlet reported that Burbank police would not confirm whether Amanda Leeann Porter and Amanda Porter-Eley were the same person, but that their ages match and prior court filings have used both names.
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Porter-Eley was found guilty of impersonating a nurse in Virginia and worked for six months as a nursing supervisor without a license, the U.S. Department of Justice said, per the Times. The woman was accused of using the nurse’s identity from September 2015 to 2016 to open bank accounts and take out loans for cash, services and goods worth around $450,000.
Burbank police said that Porter is being held without bail at the L.A. County Central Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.
Authorities are now seeking more information about Porters’ case, with Burbank police alleging that she “may have committed additional similar offenses in the Southern California area during the past year.”
Anyone with further information is asked to contact local law enforcement or Burbank detectives at (818) 238-3210.
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