Driver Who Allegedly Hit Jogger Charged
A West Covina man was charged with murder today after he allegedly fatally hit a jogger in Walnut, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Haissam Massalkhy (dob 4/12/79) is scheduled to be arraigned after 1:30 p.m. today in Department N at the Pomona Branch of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Prosecutors will ask that his bail be set at $1 million in case KA111845.
Deputy District Attorney Casey Jarvis is prosecuting the case.
Massalkhy is charged with one count of murder for the Feb. 15 death of Chi Shao, who was killed near Walnut as he was running in a bike lane. Massalkhy allegedly was driving the vehicle that hit Shao shortly before 6 a.m. in the 20200 block of Barnard Avenue. The complaint includes the allegation that Massalkhy personally used a deadly weapon, an automobile.
If convicted, Massalkhy faces up to life in state prison.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. (DA Office)
Apple opposes judge’s order to hack San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone
Apple is opposing a judge’s order to help the FBI break into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, calling the directive “an overreach by the U.S. government.”
A public letter, signed by Apple CEO Tim Cook and published Tuesday, warns that complying with the order would entail building “a backdoor to the iPhone” — “something we consider too dangerous to create.”
“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals,” the letter said.
Such a move would be an “unprecedented step,” threatening the security of Apple’s customers, it said.
“No reasonable person would find that acceptable.”
The letter called for a public discussion on the order, saying the company was “challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country.”
“We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications,” the letter said. (CNN)
Third-oldest American dies at 113
Helen Ida Wheat, the third oldest American, died Tuesday night at her assisted living facility in Frederick, Md.
She was 113.
“She was just an inspiration to everybody,” said her son, Richard Naylor, proprietor of Naylor Winery in Stewartstown. “She was just so positive about everything. She made the world a better place to live.”
Wheat was born Sept. 16, 1902, the youngest of four children. She was the third oldest living American at the time of her death, according to records kept by the Gerontology Research Group. She was 15th oldest person in the world.
“She always said, ‘I don’t know why the good Lord keeps me around,” her daughter, Janey Andrews, one of her three children, who lives in Frederick, said in September when Wheat turned 113. （USA Today）
Gov. Brown Proposes $176.6M Plan To Expedite Cleanup Around Former Exide Plant
Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Wednesday spending $176.6 million to expedite and expand the testing and cleanup of homes, schools and parks near the former Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon.
The lead-acid battery recycling plant was closed in 2014, with Exide agreeing to pay $50 million for cleanup of the site and surrounding neighborhoods. In August, $7 million in emergency funding was approved to test up to 1,500 homes, parks, schools and daycare centers.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an additional $2 million last October to help speed up the cleanup of the contaminated soil.
“This Exide battery recycling facility has been a problem for a very long time,” Brown said in a statement. “With this funding plan, we’re opening a new chapter that will help protect the community and hold Exide responsible.”
The governor’s plan was outlined in a letter to the chairs of the Senate and Assembly budget committees. The fund would ensure the cleanup of all homes, schools, daycare centers and parks within a 1.7-mile radius of the shuttered facility, where lead levels are highest and potential exposure the greatest. (CBS)
2 LAPD officers charged with raping 4 women, mostly while on duty
Los Angeles Police Department officers James Nichols and Luis Valenzuela are being charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting four women, with most of the times happening when they were on duty, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Nichols, 44, and Valenzuela, 43, worked as partners in LAPD’s Hollywood Division, according to the statement. They allegedly began sexually assaulting women at different locations including in their police vehicle, according to prosecutors, beginning in December 2008 after they became partners and continuing through March 2011.
The four women they allegedly sexually assaulted were arrested by the officers during drug-related crimes, according to the statement. The women, at the time of the alleged assaults, were 19, 24, 25 and 34. (KPCC)
