LAPD arrests suspect in rough Chinatown robbery caught on camera and is looking for more victims

• October 18, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Detectives urged people Wednesday to contact them with any information about other crimes possibly committed by a man arrested in the September robbery of a Chinatown-area business in which surveillance video showed the suspect repeatedly assaulting a female store employee who tried to intervene.

Courtland Thornton, 31, was arrested Friday in Hawthorne, where he attempted to hide in a backyard to elude officers, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. According to jail records, Thornton is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Thornton is suspected in a robbery that occurred just before noon Sept. 14 on the 800 block of North Broadway near North Spring Street, authorities said.

Surveillance footage captured the suspect going into the business, shoving the female employee to the ground, then removing property from behind the counter. When the employee tried to stop the man, he assaulted her again and shoved her to the floor before fleeing. Police said the woman had to be hospitalized for her injuries.

Courtland Thornton, 31, was captured in Hawthorne on Friday, nearly a month after the Sept. 14 violent Chinatown robbery in the 800 block of North Broadway, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. pic.twitter.com/lyElL3Vfpn

— Asian Dawn (@AsianDawn4) October 15, 2023

Justice finally served. Thornton Courtland, the man responsible for beating a clerk who was trying to stop him from stealing merchandise at a Chinatown store, has been arrested in connection to the robbery. Thankfully, the clerk has since recovered from her injuries.

Full story… pic.twitter.com/gEuUCi2LfM

— Los Angeles Police Protective League (@LAPPL) October 16, 2023

Detectives from the LAPD’s Central Area Robbery Division are investigating whether the suspect might have been involved in other robberies.

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The plea for the public’s help was made at a news conference Wednesday morning at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Los Angeles.

Anyone with additional information was asked to call Det. Huy Nguyen of Central Area Robbery at 213-996-1875. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 877-527-3247. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477, or tips can be sent to www.lacrimestoppers.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings head to Minnesota looking to build off first win

• October 18, 2023

Following a 5-1 romp north of the border, the Kings marched onto Minnesota, where they will face the Wild on Thursday in a second consecutive game to pit a prominent King against his former team.

On Tuesday, Pierre-Luc Dubois opened the scoring and got his first goal (and first point) as a King against his former mates from the Winnipeg Jets. The last time that happened was not that long ago. Last season, Kevin Fiala also got his first goal as a King against his most recent former organization, this same Minnesota Wild club.

Much had been made of the buildup to Tuesday’s match, particularly with Dubois returning to Winnipeg after opting for a trade, which the Jets and Kings completed in June. The reception was somewhat mixed and further abated by the attendance being around 11,000 fans on a Tuesday night.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought, it was a lot better than I expected. They were booing the refs a little bit more than me,” Dubois said.

On the Jets’ end, Coach Rick Bowness started by deploying three former Kings on a line together: Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari. Unfortunately, Vilardi went down with a knee injury after a hit by Blake Lizotte less than six minutes into the match. Vilardi has a sprained MCL and will miss four to six weeks.

Even without Vilardi, the Jets applied heavy pressure early and the Kings were somewhat fortunate to reach the first intermission in a scoreless contest. From there, they played a more direct, composed game and wore down the Jets. While Winnipeg got its first puck past Cam Talbot with just 76 seconds to play, the Kings may not have had a victory, much less a lopsided potential shutout, if not for Talbot’s sterling play in the early going, which Coach Todd McLellan called “essential.”

“You want to be the guy that makes those saves in those situations and gives your team a chance to settle down in a tough building to play in,” Talbot said.

Dubois and Talbot were newcomers to the Kings, but the man of the match was mainstay and Thousand Oaks native Trevor Moore, who compiled a goal and an assist. Arthur Kaliyev returned from his suspension to a comfortable spot on a line with Phillp Danault and Moore, who set up Kaliyev’s first goal of the season.

With their first win bringing their points percentage to .500, the Kings (1-1-1) turned their attention to the Wild (2-1), which has won two of its first three games.

Minnesota is led by Kirill Kaprizov, who is tied with linemate Mats Zuccarello for the team scoring lead with five points. Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury man their crease after Gustavsson’s breakout campaign last year, which earned him a contract extension.

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When Fiala first faced his former franchise, he was not lined up opposite the players for whom he was traded like Dubois was Tuesday. The Wild acquired Kings prospect defenseman Brock Faber in that deal as well as a draft pick that they used on winger Liam Ohgren.

While Ohgren is dealing with a murky injury situation in his native Sweden, Faber made an impact in last year’s first-round series against the Dallas Stars, springboarding him into this season. He had the game-winning goal in a 2-0 victory over Florida in Minnesota’s opener, and his plus-four rating ranked second on the team.

Kings at Minnesota

When: 5 p.m. Thursday

Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.

How to watch: Bally Sports West

​ Orange County Register 

Video: Steve Fryer and Dan Albano predict the winners of Week 9’s top football games

• October 18, 2023

OCVarsity’s Dan Albano and Steve Fryer get together for their weekly Gridiron Show to discuss the top high school football games in Orange County this week.

This is Week 9 of the season, and they discuss the matchups and make predictions for: Mater Dei-Orange Lutheran, Santa Margarita-Servite, Troy-Sonora, El Modena-El Dorado and Corona del Mar-Newport Harbor.

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​ Orange County Register 

Forest Service taking applications for permanent seasonal jobs

• October 18, 2023

Looking to earn some money while basking in the great outdoors?

The USDA Forest Service has your number.

The federal agency is accepting applications for permanent seasonal jobs between Thursday, Oct. 19 and Nov. 22. There are hundreds of entry-level forestry-technician and forestry-aid positions available across the U.S., including 307 openings in California.

The Forest Service manages more than 193 million acres of forest and grasslands, and the jobs are as diverse as the landscapes it manages. Forestry aids and technicians work in a variety of natural resource and recreation functions and can help reduce the threat of wildfires while improving habitats for wildlife, decreasing the spread of invasive plant species and enhancing visitor experiences.

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Permanent seasonal positions offer a six-months-on, six-months-off schedule, but that can be increased to full-time work, based on unit needs and funding.

Eligible applicants must be U.S. citizens or nationals who are at least 18 years old. For more information, visit www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/careers/recruitment-events/permanent-seasonal-forestry-careers.

​ Orange County Register 

Drones soon will start dropping prescriptions on doorsteps, literally

• October 18, 2023

By Tom Murphy and Haleluya Hadero | The Associated Press

Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications.

The company said Wednesday that customers in College Station, Texas, can now get prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order.

Also see: Amazon tests humanoid robot in warehouse automation push

The drone, programmed to fly from a delivery center with a secure pharmacy, will travel to the customer’s address, descend to a height of about four meters — or 13 feet — and drop a padded package.

Amazon says customers will be able to choose from more than 500 medications, a list that includes common treatments for conditions like the flu or pneumonia, but not controlled substances.

The company’s Prime Air division began testing drone deliveries of common household items last December in College Station and Lockeford in San Joaquin County.

Amazon spokesperson Jessica Bardoulas said the company has made thousands of deliveries since launching the service and is expanding it to include prescriptions based in part on customer requests.

Later on Wednesday, Amazon announced it will also launch drone delivery at a third U.S. location and cities in Italy and the United Kingdom by the end of next year. The company said it will disclose the exact locations in the coming months.

Amazon Prime already delivers some medications from the company’s pharmacy inside of two days. But pharmacy Vice President John Love said that doesn’t help someone with an acute illness like the flu.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out how can we bend the curve on speed,” he said.

Amazon Pharmacy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vin Gupta says the U.S. health care system generally struggles with diagnosing and treating patients quickly for acute illnesses, something that was apparent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Narrowing the window between diagnosis and treating makes many treatments more effective, he said.

Amazon is not the first company to explore prescription deliveries by drone. The drugstore chain CVS Health worked with UPS to test deliveries in 2019 in North Carolina but that program has ended, a CVS spokesman said.

Intermountain Health started providing drone deliveries of prescriptions in 2021 in the Salt Lake City area and has been expanding the program, according to Daniel Duersch, supply chain director for the health care system. Intermountain is partnering with the logistics company Zipline to use drones that drop packages by parachute.

Companies seeking to use drones for commercial purposes have faced hurdles from regulators who want to make sure things are operating safely. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had predicted a decade ago that drones would be making deliveries by 2018. Even now, the e-commerce giant is only using the technology in a small number of markets.

Lisa Ellman, the executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance, an industry group that counts Amazon as one of its members, said to date, regulatory approvals have been limited to specific geographic areas and “in terms of their scope and usefulness to companies.”

That said, she noted regulators have also been issuing more approvals. Last month, the FAA gave the OK for Zipline and UPS to fly longer-range drones.

Walmart has also been working to expand its own drone deliveries.

Also on Wednesday, Amazon unveiled a new drone called MK30 that, by the end of next year, will replace the drones it currently uses to deliver packages. The company says the new drone flies further, is smaller and quieter, and also has enhanced delivery capabilities.

Amazon has said its drones will fly as high as 120 meters, or nearly 400 feet, before slowly descending when they reach the customer’s home. The drone will check to make sure the delivery zone is clear of pets, children or any other obstructions before dropping the package on a delivery marker.

Amazon has been growing its presence in health care for a few years now.

Aside from adding a pharmacy, it also spent nearly $4 billion to buy primary care provider One Medical. In August, the company added video telemedicine visits in all 50 states.

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​ Orange County Register 

Amazon tests humanoid robot in warehouse automation push

• October 18, 2023

By Matt Day | Bloomberg

Amazon.com says it’s testing two new technologies to increase automation in its warehouses, including a trial of a humanoid robot.

The humanoid robot, called Digit, is bipedal and can squat, bend and grasp items using clasps that imitate hands, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. It’s built by Agility Robotics and will initially be used to help employees consolidate totes that have been emptied of items. Amazon invested in Agility Robotics last year.

Also see: Will AI take your job? A new report says Californians are at high risk

The retailer, which is the second-largest US employer behind Walmart Inc., has deployed robots in its warehouses for more than a decade, mainly to move inventory to waiting employees. That system, which starts with humans stuffing inventory items into mesh shelving, is undergoing a transformation to container-based storage, which more easily allows robotic arms and other automated technology to sort and pick items, Bloomberg has reported.

In addition to Digit, Amazon is testing a technology called Sequoia, which will identify and sort inventory into containers for employees, who will then pick the items customers have ordered, the company said. Remaining products are then consolidated in bins by a robotic arm called Sparrow, which the company revealed last year. The system is in use at an Amazon warehouse in Houston, the company said in a statement.

Also see: Amazon hiring 16,000 in Southern California

Amazon, which has emphasized quick delivery to fend off challenges from e-commerce rivals, said the Sequoia system reduces the time it takes a warehouse to process an order by as much as 25%. This will also move the process in warehouses closer to an assembly line from the traditional warehouse model of employees searching for items and taking them off shelves.

Company executives have said they aim to use automation in part to free employees from repetitive tasks that can lead to injuries. Amazon is under fire from Washington state and federal regulators for injury rates that exceed industry averages.

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​ Orange County Register 

EPA declares leaded plane fuel a public health threat, paving way for limits

• October 18, 2023

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy | Bloomberg

The Biden administration on Wednesday declared emissions from airplanes running on leaded aviation fuel a threat to public health — a first step toward stamping out a major source of metal pollution linked to developmental delays, kidney disease and other health concerns.

The so-called endangerment finding from the Environmental Protection Agency zeroes in on leaded aviation fuel used primarily in small piston-engine aircraft, where the metal provides octane critical for performance.

Also see: Long Beach pursues plan to reduce leaded fuel at airport

Lead isn’t in the jet fuel used by commercial aircraft, and for decades it’s been banned from gasoline used in cars and trucks. As a result, lead emissions in the air have shrunk 99% since 1980, leaving the roughly 220,000 aging, small planes that rely on aviation gasoline containing the metal as the dominant source of that pollution.

“Exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a news release. The agency’s declaration allows the administration to “propose new standards to protect all communities from the serious threat of lead pollution from aircraft,” Regan said.

The EPA finding doesn’t itself ban or restrict the use, sale or availability of leaded aviation fuel. However, it does trigger a legal obligation under the Clean Air Act to propose standards addressing lead emissions from the affected aircraft engines. And the Federal Aviation Administration can move separately to impose requirements addressing fuels and additives that can limit lead emissions. The agencies will announce timelines for those regulatory moves “as soon as possible,” the EPA said Wednesday.

Also see: Over FAA’s objection, Santa Clara County’s airports will switch to unleaded gas for small planes

Any new standards could have an outsize impact in Alaska, Colorado, Florida and other states where piston-engine aircraft are more prevalent.

Environmental advocates first petitioned the federal government to issue its endangerment finding nearly two decades ago.

Supporters say new limits are key to protecting the health of residents near airports where they fly after a 2021 study documented 20% higher blood lead levels in thousands of children living near one such facility in Santa Clara County.

There is no known safe amount of lead exposure, with just a small amount in blood tied to impaired cognitive ability, putting children at particular risk.

​ Orange County Register 

Girl on way to school struck by hit-and-run driver in Santa Ana

• October 18, 2023

A 12-year-old girl was struck by a hit-and-run driver while walking to school in Santa Ana on Wednesday, Oct. 18, leaving her fighting for her life at a hospital while police searched for the suspect.

The girl was hit about 8 a.m. at Newhope Street and McFadden Avenue while walking to Fitz Intermediate Language Academy, Santa Ana police Officer Natalie Garcia said.

The girl was taken to a hospital in critical condition and undergoing surgery.

Police have a Ring doorbell photo of the suspect vehicle, a blue, newer-model Honda that is lowered and has black-tinted windows, black rims and a black bumper, Garcia said.

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​ Orange County Register