Articles written by Julie Watson
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Los Angeles records more than 300 mudslides during storm that has drenched Southern California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the wettest storms in Southern California history unleashed more than 300 mudslides in the Los Angeles area after dumping more than half the amount of rainfall the city typically gets in a season in just two days, and o...
He spoke no English, had no lawyer. An Afghan man's case offers a glimpse into US immigration court
The Afghan man speaks only Farsi, but he wasn't worried about representing himself in U.S. immigration court. He believed the details of his asylum claim spoke for themselves. Mohammad was a university professor, teaching human rights courses in...
2 US Navy sailors charged with providing sensitive military information to China
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two U.S. Navy sailors were charged Thursday with providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, naval operations and critical technical material. The two sailors, both based in Cal...
Rat ambassadors show off abilities to help humans, wildlife
SAN DIEGO (AP) — As an ambassador for rats, it's never easy to win over the public. There's that hairless tail after all. But Runa at the San Diego Zoo is doing her best to counter the bad press. She is one of a handful of such so-called a...
Americans' fun road trip to Mexico became days of horror
LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — It was supposed to be a fun road trip to Mexico, a post-pandemic adventure for a group of childhood friends. One was treating herself to cosmetic surgery after having six children. It was a 34th birthday celebration for a...
'Fat Leonard' may be Venezuela bargaining chip, experts say
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fugitive defense contractor nicknamed "Fat Leonard" who claims to have incriminating sex photos of U.S. Navy brass could become the latest bargaining chip in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's efforts to win official r...
New model to enlist regular Americans to resettle refugees
SAN DIEGO (AP) — When nearly 80,000 Afghans arrived in the United States, refugee resettlement agencies quickly became overwhelmed, still scrambling to rehire staff and reopen offices after being gutted as the Trump administration dropped refugee a...
Wildfires in West explode in size amid hot, windy conditions
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Wildfires in California and Montana exploded in size overnight amid windy, hot conditions and were quickly encroaching on neighborhoods, forcing evacuation orders for over 100 homes Saturday, while an Idaho blaze was spreading. In C...
Fearful US residents in Afghanistan hiding out from Taliban
Every night in yet another house in Afghanistan's capital, a U.S. green card-holding couple from California take turns sleeping, with one always awake to watch over their three young children so they can flee if they hear the footsteps of the...
Afghan vet: 'What have we ended up with at the end of it?'
Images of the World Trade Center towers collapsing in New York were still fresh in the minds of the first American troops arriving in Afghanistan, as the U.S. launched an invasion targeting the Afghanistan-based al-Qaida leaders who plotted the...
Brighter outlook for US as vaccinations rise and deaths fall
More than three months into the U.S. vaccination drive, many of the numbers paint an increasingly encouraging picture, with 70% of Americans 65 and older receiving at least one dose of the vaccine and COVID-19 deaths dipping below 1,000 a day on...
3 die when car hits 9 people in San Diego; driver in custody
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A driver lost control and veered onto a sidewalk Monday dotted with homeless tents in downtown San Diego, killing three people and injuring six others, police said. The driver — whom authorities identified only as a 71-year-old man...
Biden lifts Trump-era ban blocking legal immigration to US
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday lifted a freeze on green cards issued by his predecessor during the pandemic that lawyers said was blocking most legal immigration to the United States. Former President Donald Trump last spring h...
As pandemic worsens, most US states resist restrictions
PHOENIX (AP) — As the U.S. goes through the most lethal phase of the coronavirus outbreak yet, governors and local officials in hard-hit parts of the country are showing little willingness to impose any new restrictions on businesses to stop the s...
Former sailor details misconduct by SEALs pulled from Iraq
SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Navy intelligence specialist Colleen Grace was asleep on a remote air base in Iraq in 2019 when she was woken up by knocking on the door next to her room, and then a voice she recognized. The voice belonged to a Navy corpsman s...
Marine vehicle deep under sea, complicating rescue search
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A military seafaring assault vehicle that sank off the coast of Southern California is under hundreds of feet of water, putting it beyond the reach of divers and complicating rescue efforts for eight missing troops, officials said F...
Fire still burning on Navy ship in San Diego where 57 hurt
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Firefighters were still battling a blaze Monday on a Navy combat ship that injured at least 57 people and sent acrid smoke billowing over San Diego. The fire began Sunday morning aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, apparently in a v...
Navy SEAL recruits resume training while social distancing
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Navy SEAL recruits and their instructors are being tested for the coronavirus as the candidates in one of the military's most grueling programs return to training with new social distancing guidelines, a top official said Tuesday. E...
GOP governors grapple with whether to accept refugees or not
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An executive order by President Donald Trump giving states the right to refuse to take refugees is putting Republican governors in an uncomfortable position. They're caught between immigration hardliners who want to shut the d...
Fired Navy leader highly critical of Trump in SEAL case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Spencer, who was fired this week for his handling of a SEAL war crimes case championed by President Donald Trump, wrote Wednesday that the commander in chief "has very little understanding" of how the American military w...
Ruling threatens smuggling cases against Marines
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Marine Corps prosecutors were scrambling Tuesday to save numerous cases tied to a human smuggling investigation after a military judge ruled it was illegal for the military to arrest the Marines during a morning battalion f...
Ex-NFL player Winslow Jr takes plea deal before rape retrial
VISTA, Calif. (AP) — Former NFL player Kellen Winslow Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to raping an unconscious teen in 2003 and to sexual battery involving a 54-year-old hitchhiker in a deal that spared him the possibility of life in prison. Winslow i...
Warrants say New Zealand attack inspired synagogue shooting
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Four days after a man killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand, court documents show a San Diego college student expressed regret in a text message that he missed watching the livestream video of the attack and praised the s...
16 Marines arrested in migrant smuggling investigation
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An investigation into Marines accused of helping smuggle migrants into the United States led to the arrest Thursday of 16 of their fellow Marines at California's Camp Pendleton, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In a dramatic m...
Navy SEAL acquitted of murder in killing of captive in Iraq
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A decorated Navy SEAL was acquitted Tuesday of murder in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017. The verdict was met with an outpouring of emotion as the military jury also cleared Special Opera...
