California

The date for this Spring's Apple event will take place on April 20, according to Siri. When asked about the date of the next Apple, Siri responded with "The special event is on Tuesday, April 20, at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA. You can get all the details on Apple.com," MacRumors reported.

Pacific Gas & Electric is facing new criminal charges for its role in igniting the 2019 California Wildfires. Five felony and 28 misdemeanour charges have been filed by the Sonoma County district attorney Jill Ravitch, including recklessly causing a fire that seriously injured six firefighters.

PG&E has stated that they "do not believe there was any crime here" but that they "remain committed to making it right for all those impacted and working to further reduce wildfire risk on our system."

Walt Disney's two theme parks in California will reopen on April 30 to a limited number of guests. The company announced on Wednesday, over a year after they closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The resort includes the original Disneyland and the adjacent California Adventure theme parks.

Visitors aged 2 and up will need to wear masks, except when eating, drinking or swimming, and following other safety measures, including temperature checks before entering and social distancing on rides and throughout the parks.

The California Department of Health gave Walt Disney’s Disneyland and other theme parks the go-ahead to reopen, limited to 15% and 35%, from April 1, after a closure of almost a year coronavirus pandemic. Masks and other safety measures will be required, and the parks initially will be open only to state residents.

Authorities also announced that outdoor stadiums and ballparks would also be allowed to reopen at reduced capacity on the same date.

A corona mutation is circulating in California and other U.S. states that could be more contagious and dangerous. The data situation is still unclear, but some things seem worrying.

Now another mutation has emerged in California, it has already spread to other U.S. states and has also been detected in countries such as Australia, Denmark and Mexico. It was first discovered in December, reports the journal Science. Investigations suggest that this variant of Sars-CoV-2 could not only be more contagious but probably also takes more violent courses. According to this, intensive medical care and deaths occur more frequently - however, the data situation here is still very thin.

The researchers call the variants B.1.427 and B.1.429 - it occurs with slightly different mutations. Under a different naming scheme, it is also known as 20C/L452R.

B.1.427 / B.1.429 carries several mutations, but three seem to be particularly relevant. They affect the spike protein that the virus uses to dock with human cells. Mutation L452R, in particular, appears to increase infectivity. It apparently stabilizes the interaction between the spike protein and the receptor used by the virus. None of the three spike mutations are found in the virus variants from Great Britain, South Africa and Brazil.

A segment of Highway 1, California's major north-south state highway, has collapsed into the ocean after heavy rains caused a debris flow from the hillside above the road. The debris overwhelmed "drainage infrastructure, flowed across the highway, and eroded the road resulting in the complete loss of a segment of Highway 1" near Big Sur. No one was injured.

After the FBI issued a warning of potential violence in all 50 state capitals ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 29, state officials are preparing for potentialyl armed and violent protests. National Guard forces have been activated in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida. Washington, DC is bracing for further violent protests following the attack on the US Capitol earlier this month.

Spector, who transformed pop with his "wall of sound" recordings, worked with the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner. "California Health Care Facility inmate Phillip Spector was pronounced deceased of natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at an outside hospital. In February 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead at his house in Alhambra, California with a bullet wound to her head.

Harris plans to leave her post as senator on Monday, two days before she is to be sworn in as the new vice president in Washington. That was announced by staff in her office. She is to be succeeded in office by California Democrat Alex Padilla.

Padilla will be California's first senator with Latino roots. He will take Harris' post for the remaining two years

Gorillas can contract Covid-19. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) today announced confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in three gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California. These are the first gorillas in the United States to be confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2.

The 2021 Grammy Awards, initially scheduled for January 31, have been postponed until March due to a steady rise of Covid-19 infections in California.

"The deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments have all led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do," so the Recording Academy and CBS in a statement. "Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show. We want to thank all of the talented artists, the staff, our vendors and especially this year’s nominees for their understanding, patience and willingness to work with us as we navigate these unprecedented times."

The "Full House" actress Lori Loughlin has been released from a federal correctional facility in Dublin, California, after serving nearly two months for her role in the high profile college admissions scandal. The actress was released early Monday morning.

Loughlin's release comes as her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, continues to serve his five-month prison sentence at a federal facility in Lompoc, California.

Across the entire state of California, the ICU capacity has fallen to 0% on Christmas day.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state had 2.5% ICU capacity on Monday. Wednesday, he reported it had fallen to 1.1%. On Christmas, one day after it became the first state 2 millionth infection, available capacity officially dropped to 0% in California.

In an effort to avoid the EU's privacy laws, Facebook will move all of its users in the United Kingdom into user agreements with the corporate headquarters in California. Google has done a similar move in February. 

"Like other companies, Facebook has had to make changes to respond to Brexit and will be transferring legal responsibilities and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc. There will be no change to the privacy controls or the services Facebook offers to people in the UK," so Facebook's UK arm.

Oracle Corporation has moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas. Oracle became the latest technology company to leave California in the face of the state's higher taxes, steeper cost of living and a broader shift to remote work.

"We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work," spokesperson Deborah Hellinger told CNN Business.

The market new allows farmers, hedge funds, and municipalities to hedge bets on the future price of water and water availability in California.

RBC Capital Markets managing director and analyst Deane Dray has stated that "Climate change, droughts, population growth, and pollution are likely to make water scarcity issues and pricing a hot topic for years to come," and added that "We are definitely going to watch how this new water futures contract develops".

After California certified its presidential election on Friday, assigning 55 electors to vote for the Democratic candidate, President-elect Joe Biden has officially secured enough electors to become the 46th President of the United States.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla's formally approved Biden's win in California, bringing Biden's tally of pledged electors to 279.

After a monolith structure had been spotted in Utah and subsequently been removed by an unknown party, another mysterious metal monolith has appeared in the US. Local media has reported that the monolith stands atop a mountain in California and that unlike its Utah sibling, the monolith in California wasn't strongly attached to the ground and looked like it could be easily knocked over.

One of the most valuable Bitcoin wallets on the planet containing Bitcoins worth almost $1 billion dollars has been emptied on Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney David Anderson has stated that the money came from "criminal proceeds" linked to "the successful prosecution of Silk Road's founder in 2015" adding that "Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day".

The Republican party in California has admitted responsibility for the placement of over 50 ballot drop boxes for mail-in ballots that are not official, but labeled as either "Official Ballot Drop off Box" or as "Ballot Drop Box."

Government officials say the receptacles are illegal and could lead to voter fraud, but the party says it will continue the practice.