Federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. Photo by Chris Stone Two brothers who kidnapped three people without documentation and held them for ransom at an Escondido home in 2023 pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges, prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Virves Pablo-Francisco, 22, and his brother Nicolas Pablo-Francisco, 20, held a father and son from Ecuador and a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan hostage and demanded thousands of dollars from their families in June 2023. The siblings demanded between $4,000 and $10,000 for each person’s release. Virves Pablo-Francisco a ..read more

Tesla’s new Cybertruck is shown on display at a Tesla store in San Diego. REUTERS/Mike Blake Tesla said it will lay off 6,020 employees in California and Texas ahead of its quarterly results on Tuesday when CEO Elon Musk is expected to outline the electric-vehicle maker’s strategy to combat slowing demand and falling margins. Last week, Tesla announced a more than 10% cut in its global workforce under pressure from dropping sales and an intensifying price war among EV makers, without revealing the number of employees the job cuts would impact. Some numbers were disclosed in notices to the ..read more

Gavel photo courtesy of www.weisspaarz.com via Flickr A man who tried to grab a California Highway Patrol officer’s gun during an altercation on Interstate 8 in Mission Valley, leaving the lawman with a gunshot to a leg, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 23 years in state prison. Yuhao Du, 27, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of attempted murder and attempting to take a firearm from a peace officer performing his duties. Du lunged for CHP Officer Antonio “Tony” Pacheco‘s service weapon on April 27, 2022. It caused the gun to discharge as the two men grappled over the pistol. Du previo ..read more

Photo by Alexander Nguyen An out-of-control vehicle veered off an Escondido thoroughfare Tuesday and crashed into a fuel pump at an adjacent gas station, knocking it over and leaving a man trapped underneath it until emergency crews could free him. The accident occurred shortly after 10 a.m., when two vehicles collided at East Valley Parkway and North Rose Street, according to the Escondido Police Department. The impact sent one of the vehicles careening into the gas station, where it smashed into a pump next to a man putting gas into his vehicle, Lt. Joshua Langdon said. The fuel pump fell o ..read more

A coalition of mayors from the state’s largest cities, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Tuesday visited Sacramento to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom and the legislature to make permanent funding homelessness services across California. The Big City Mayors coalition, chaired by Gloria, requested Newsom and legislators avoid making cuts to the Homelessness Housing, Assistance and Prevention program and commit to funding it at $1 billion a year going forward. “The shelters and service programs that big cities up and down California have created with local and state dollars are getting people off ..read more

Photo credit: Alexander Nguyen A suspect with a “very violent criminal history” was in custody Tuesday for allegedly shooting a Los Angeles County sheriff’s motorcycle deputy in the back at a West Covina intersection — with a bulletproof vest saving the lawman’s life. Raymundo Duran, 47, was arrested in San Diego County after being pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on suspicion of DUI and weapons possession, then was subsequently identified by Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives as the suspect in the Monday afternoon shooting of Deputy Samuel Aispuro, Sheriff Robert Luna sa ..read more

Photo via Pexels.com British Airways will increase the frequency of flights between San Diego and London from one flight per day to two, it was announced Tuesday. Since San Diego International Airport first started offering the flights in 2011, British Airways has served about 2 million passengers traveling between San Diego and Europe, according to the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. The market for the flight has grown 50% from 2019 to 2023, the agency said. While London is the final destination for around 60% of the passengers flying this route, the other 40% connect to other ci ..read more

A predawn shooting at a City Heights apartment complex left a young man dead Tuesday. Photo via OnScene.TV A predawn shooting at a City Heights apartment complex left a young man dead Tuesday. The homicide in the 4000 block of 36th Street was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m., according to the San Diego Police Department. The victim, a man in his 20s, was visiting a friend when the shooter walked up to him and, with no words exchanged, shot him in the head before fleeing on foot, according to OnSceneTV. Paramedics took the wounded man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the video new ..read more

FILE PHOTO: Powerball tickets are seen at a liquor store in Washington, July 19, 2023. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery, pushing the estimated jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing to $129 million. One ticket with five numbers, but missing the Powerball number, was sold in New York and is worth $1 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game. The numbers drawn Monday were 12, 16, 33, 39, 52 and the Powerball number was 1. The jackpot was $116 million. The d ..read more

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta speaks at a food bank in San Diego. Image from X video California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been busy lately, or so it would seem from the never-ending stream of press releases from the Department of Justice. If he’s not announcing successful prosecution for possession of child pornography (April 11) or commenting on a U.S. Supreme Court decision (April 12), Bonta’s staging a news conference to announce a lawsuit against the city of Huntington Beach for imposing its own voting requirements (April 14), releasing final regulations of one-li ..read more