The Sacramento Bee

Train carrying over 100 tons of coal derails, spills into Northern California’s Feather River

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Union Pacific train carrying 118 tons of coal derailed Sunday due to a track defect and dumped its contents into and around Plumas County’s Feather River, according to railroad officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Fifteen rail cars chugging west on tracks parallel to the Middle Fork Feather River in Blairsden derailed, spilling the fuel into the river. At least 14 rail cars tipped over or sustained damage, Fish and Wildlife officials said. At least one rail car fell into the water.

Why did Sacramento take this woman’s family photos and childhood Bible in a homeless sweep?

Nicole Casper, whose RV was towed without warning by the city of Sacramento with almost everything she owned still inside it, retrieved some of her possessions from the impound lot Tuesday — but had her access cut off before she retrieved the suitcase in which she frantically had packed her family photos and her childhood Bible. Her Winnebago was set to be demolished two days later, and she walked onto the lot the same day that Chima’s Tow employees were set to begin throwing her property in the garbage. Iran Chima of Chima’s Tow previously told her that, because all of her property was being ...

Deadly bacteria outbreak linked to cheese from California company after decade of reports

A listeria outbreak — linked to cheese, crema and yogurt — has been reported 26 times in 11 states over the last 10 years. Now, investigators know where it came from. Interviews with infected people and recent listeria findings in both cheese and a production facility confirmed queso fresco and cotija from Rizo-López Foods, based in Modesto, are “making people in this outbreak sick,” the CDC stated. The company voluntarily recalled all its cheeses and dairy products made in its facility on Monday due to potential contamination. Eight cases have been reported in California as of Monday, the lar...

‘Su voto es su voz’: Latinos, how important is your vote during this year’s elections?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bianca Carreon learned from her father how important it is to vote. “I do it because my dad is an immigrant,” Carreon, 20, said. “He finally got his papers, but he always says, ‘If we don’t vote, we’re giving up our freedom and our voice being heard.’” She’ll be voting for the second time this year. While Carreon, a Fresno City College student, realizes Latinos often doubt that their voices will actually be heard, she thinks they will. Julián Castro thinks so, too. On a tour of California as the new CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, he echoed the rallying cry of Chic...

Candidates scramble to win House seat held by retired Speaker Kevin McCarthy

Eleven candidates are on the March 5 primary ballot in California’s 20th Congressional District, previously held by retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, left Congress in December after being ousted as Speaker of the House of Representatives in October. In addition to the March 5 primary for a full two-year term to start in Jan. 2025, there is a separate election with a March 19 primary to finish the remainder of McCarthy’s term. Some of the same candidates are running in both, but this page focuses just on candidates for the March 5 primary. California’s 20th, a solidly-red di...

California health care workers won a path to $25 minimum wage. Now they fear a detour

After seven years working as a dialysis technician, Romer Tamayo was still earning less than $25 an hour last October when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a minimum wage law for health care workers. The Brentwood father of two was excited by the wage hikes promised in Senate Bill 525. During his tenure at a Fresenius dialysis center, Tamayo’s pay had never increased by more than a dollar in a single year. He now earns $22.68, up from $18 when he was hired. Under SB 525, Tamayo would receive two annual dollar pay bumps in a row. The measure spells out what dialysis workers should expect — an hourly mi...

Man accused of planting explosives near Sacramento-area roadways pleads not guilty

An Orangevale, Calif., man pleaded not guilty Wednesday after he was arrested last week on suspicion of detonating an improvised explosive device and planting several others across El Dorado and Sacramento counties.

Benjamin Cunha, 41, was arrested last Friday after an investigation by the FBI, California Highway Patrol and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, the CHP and Sheriff’s Office said in statements.

Cunha was arraigned on several felony charges including possessing and exploding an explosive device with the “intent to injure, intimidate, and terrify a person, and to wrongfully injure and destroy...

Black bear removed from North Lake Tahoe home after trying to hibernate in crawl space

A black bear was removed from under a North Lake Tahoe home Sunday, the Bear League said in a social media post, a nonprofit committed to saving bears. The Bear League said that volunteers from the organization were called to a home on the north shore after a homeowner noticed the bear living in the crawl space. The homeowner had initially called a handyman to scare the bear away and seal the hole, however, the handyman installed bear wires over the opening to the crawl space, unaware the bear was still inside. “The neighbor later saw the bear, who had been hiding back in a corner, trying desp...

Can you see the northern lights in California? Light show expected to peak in 2024

For many star-gazing fans in California, catching a glimpse of northern lights in person seems like a dream. However, that could change this year. In December, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted peak solar activity in January and October of 2024, which could result in more dramatic light displays in the skies above California. The phenomenon, which occurs predominately in high-latitude regions, is known as the northern lights, or, aurora borealis, in Earth’s northern hemisphere and the southern lights, or aurora australis, in the southern hemisphere. “I...

10 days of hell in Sacramento jail: Lawsuit says inmate died after pleas for help ignored

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Norman Fisher Jr. had been in the Sacramento County Main Jail for three months when he became ill last May, vomiting nonstop and unable to eat or drink. “He could barely sit up in his bed, and when he did so, he would vomit,” court papers say. Even after his cellmate, Jacob Smith, alerted jail custody staff that Fisher needed help the pleas were ignored, with one staffer telling Smith that if Fisher needed help he would have to fill out a form himself and ask for it, court papers say. Over the course of 10 days, as Fisher’s condition deteriorated to the point that he could...

California Assembly disrupted by Capitol protesters calling for Israel-Hamas war cease fire

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday shut down the California Assembly on the Legislature’s first Capitol floor session of the new year. Hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish anti-war organizations packed the Rotunda and the Assembly gallery and began chanting and unveiling banners around 1:30 p.m., just as lawmakers reconvened in Sacramento after a months-long recess. The Assembly was conducting routine business and recessed during the protests. The protesters were from groups that included Jewish Voices for Peace, IfNotNow and the International Jewish Anti...

California employers can no longer punish employees for using marijuana outside work

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Beginning Monday, California employers will be barred from discriminating against employees who use marijuana in their off hours. Assembly Bill 2188 requires employers to change how they test for marijuana use among employees, using tests that show current impairment and not just past usage. The law carves out some exceptions, such as for those who work in the construction trades. “Technology to test for marijuana impairment has actually advanced quite a bit, so basically employers can now just test for THC — the psychoactive component in cannabis — and that can show impai...

Dozens of schools facing federal probe of alleged civil rights violations

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The U.S. Department of Education is investigating if nearly 90 elementary, secondary and higher education campuses across the nation — including at UC Davis and other University of California campuses — violated a federal civil rights law after an “alarming” rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab discrimination erupted at schools amid the Israel-Hamas war. In a news release, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights said each campus is under review for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination ...

Woman critically burned in house fire despite husband’s daring rescue

A 39-year-old woman was critically burned Sunday morning in a south Sacramento house fire. Sacramento Fire Department engines responded to a call on the 7700 block of Rotherton Way in the Parkway neighborhood about 3:45 a.m., according to dispatch calls. Firefighters found “heavy fire conditions” stemming from the single-story house’s back bedroom upon arrival, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Capt. Justin Sylvia said. The woman’s husband smelled smoke and went into the back bedroom where she was sleeping, Sylvia said. A flashover — firefighter terminology for when heavy layers of smoke co...

Turkey shorts power line, cutting electricity for 4,000 homes in Sacramento

What better way to say it’s Christmas Eve in Sacramento? Cloudy skies, cool temperatures and a hint of roasted turkey.

A wild turkey made a fatal connection with a power line Sunday afternoon in south Sacramento, briefly cutting power to more than 4,000 customers of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

SMUD said 4,248 homes and businesses of the Little Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods, among others, lost power about 12:15 p.m.