LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ken Johnson, 63, just got a new roommate last week — a black bear living in the crawl space under his home in Southern California.

The bear was seen on video footage clambering out from beneath his house Tuesday. He had installed a camera near the space back in June when he saw what looked like damage caused by an animal.

Nothing showed up on the camera until last week. And now he’s trying to figure out how to make it leave.

“It’s a huge bear,” Johnson said, describing it as tall as a table and bigger than the trash bins in front of his house. “It’s really unnerving because I don’t know if he’s going to tear everything up under there, I don’t know how to get him out.”

Johnson lives in Altadena, an unincorporated community northeast of Los Angeles that was devastated by the Eaton Fire in January. The fire killed at least 19 people and scorched thousands of structures, but it also tore through the Angeles National Forest, displacing wildlife from their natural habitats and destroying their food supply.

Shortly after the fire, at least two bears were found taking refuge in people’s evacuated homes in Altadena. State officials removed a massive, 525-pound (240-kilogram) adult male bear from a crawl space under a man’s home in January because utility crews could not get in to restore his power.

The bear was too large to be tranquilized, so employees from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife set a bear trap before taking it to the Angeles National Forest to be released with a tracking collar, the state agency wrote on social media. In February, another homeowner found himself with an unwelcome roommate, snapping pictures of a bear lounging by the pool and bringing food back to the crawl space at night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“In the foothills of bear country, it’s important to close crawl spaces with bear-proof material in advance of winter months to discourage bears from denning and damaging property,” the CDFW wrote on social media after that incident.

While it’s not cold enough in Southern California for bears to hibernate, they will engage in a behavior called “denning,” where they take long naps but may emerge periodically to eat.

Since Tuesday, Johnson’s bear has come and gone from his house several times. He can hear “all kinds of clunking and booming” under the floorboards, and the bear rummaged through his trash cans on Sunday evening before retreating back to its chosen home.

It has dark brown fur with a tan snoot and two tan marks on its chest. Other neighbors have seen the same bear around the area before and call it Barry, although Johnson said he doesn’t know if the bear is male or female.

Johnson reached out to local law enforcement regarding the bear after it growled at him when he was changing his camera batteries. They told him to call state officials, but he was eventually directed to fill a form out online reporting a bear sighting. He checked a box for “Property Damage” and wrote, “It’s living under my house.”

So far, he hasn’t gotten a response.

CDFW spokesperson Cort Klopping said Monday afternoon that field experts were working on two other bear incidents in the region and would hopefully be able to respond to Johnson “soon.” He confirmed that the yellow tag on the bear’s ear indicated it was the state agency’s jurisdiction and not federal.

Bears in crawl spaces are a common occurrence this time of year, with teams potentially responding to five of these incidents in a week, Klopping said.

If the bear isn’t removed soon, Johnson mused, he might have to take matters into his own hands.

“The plan is, I’m going to buy a bunch of dinner rolls, and line them down the street up to the hole, and have some sandbags ready,” Johnson said. “When he comes down the street to get the dinner rolls, throw sandbags in there and cover it with pepper spray, and just hope he stays away.”

Local authorities in the UK have dramatically increased their use of drones, fueling fears that the government is monitoring or even snooping on people from above, according to reports.

Data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that more than 60 councils have hired staff certified to operate aerial drones, while at least a dozen other authorities are looking for guidance to launch similar programs.

Because the CAA only records pilots sponsored by their employers, experts in the UK have since warned the real number of publicly funded drone operators could be even higher.

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UK watchdog group Big Brother Watch has accused local governments of drifting toward “spies in the sky” tactics that further erode civil liberties in a nation already covered by widespread CCTV monitoring.

Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations, cautioned that while drones can support legitimate tasks such as flood monitoring or land surveys, they must not become tools for unchecked surveillance.

“There may be a role for drones in helping councils monitor flooding or conduct land surveys, but local authorities must not use the technology as spies in the sky” he said.

“Britain is already one of the most surveilled countries on Earth. With CCTV cameras on street corners, we do not need flying cameras too. Councils must make sure that they do not use this technology for intrusive monitoring of their citizens.”

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“Just because it’s possible, it does not mean it’s something they should do,” he added.

Previously, Hurfurt also criticized London’s Metropolitan Police’s use of drones as first responders, warning that the rollout is occurring without clear policies governing when, how or why drones can be deployed.

Without safeguards, he said, the technology risks becoming airborne CCTV or, worse, a way to monitor lawful protest activity.

“Without robust safeguards, there is a real risk of mission creep and drones becoming flying CCTV cameras or watching people lawfully protesting,” he said in a statement shared online.

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“The Metropolitan Police must be transparent about its thresholds for using drones and take care to balance the rights of Londoners with the purported benefits of drone use,” he added.

Despite the concerns, Hammersmith and Fulham Council plans to integrate drones into its 70-member law enforcement team, which issued more than 2,200 fines last year.

The borough says drones will help in combating antisocial behavior, supplementing a lack of police manpower and work alongside CCTV equipped with live facial recognition.

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Sunderland currently operates the largest known council drone fleet, with 13 aircraft and multiple trained pilots.

Their drones are used to detect and prevent crime, enforce environmental rules and oversee public gatherings. 

Other councils, including North West Leicestershire, Stockton-on-Tees, Newcastle, North Norfolk and Thurrock are also said to be using drones for everything from planning enforcement to monitoring coastal disputes, according to GB News.

Threatening emails say ‘2020 election was rigged’, echoing Trump’s false claims about the vote.

The top Democrat in the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer, has said that three of his New York state offices were targeted with emailed bomb threats alleging the “2020 election was rigged”.

In a statement on social media, Schumer said that local law enforcement on Monday received bomb threats referencing his offices in Rochester, Binghamton and Long Island with the email subject line “MAGA”.

“Local and federal law enforcement responded immediately and are conducting full security sweeps,” Schumer said on X.

“Everyone is safe, and I am grateful for their quick and professional response to ensure these offices remain safe and secure for all New Yorkers.”

A law enforcement source confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that police in Suffolk County on Long Island responded to Schumer’s area office, but could not confirm the details of the threat. The person requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

US Capitol Police declined to comment, saying it does not discuss member security for safety reasons.

Schumer condemned political violence, which has surged in recent years in the US, saying that “these kinds of violent threats have absolutely no place in our political system”.

“No one—no public servant, no staff member, no constituent, no citizen—should ever be targeted for simply doing their job,” he said in the statement.

US President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden, but has falsely maintained since then that the vote was “rigged” or “stolen”. The claim, which is not backed by evidence, was a key message of Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run.

Courts across the country have dismissed or ruled against the Trump campaign and its allies in dozens of lawsuits. The 2020 election results were certified by election officials in all 50 states.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani condemned the threats at a news conference during an event in support of Starbucks workers.

Although none of the threats impacted offices in New York City, Mamdani said that a country where political violence is the norm “is one that we should never accept”.

“That is incumbent on all of us to be fighting for that future across this country, no matter party,” Mamdani added.