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TexasTowelie's JournalBillionaire Marc Andreessen buys Malibu mansion for $177 million, a California record
In a historic deal, billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has paid $177 million for a sprawling estate in Malibu. It’s the most ever paid for a home in California, shattering the previous record set by Jeff Bezos last year.
Records show the seller was Serge Azria, a fashion mogul behind clothing lines such as Joie and Equipment. He bought the seven-acre property for $41 million from late film producer Jerry Weintraub in 2013 and had been quietly shopping it around for $218 million.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, who handled both ends of the deal, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Andreessen is an investor and software engineer who co-founded the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in 2009 and co-created Mosaic, one of the first web browsers. Forbes pegged Andreesen’s net worth at $1.6 billion at the close of market trading Friday.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2021-10-29/billionaire-marc-andreessen-buys-malibu-mansion-for-177-million-a-california-record
https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3e5bfcb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4517x2541+0+0/resize/840x473!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fea%2Ff4872f61461385ca3ad94778e190%2Ffi-andreessen-malibu.jpg
Judge allows ex-La Habra police chief Alan Hostetter to be his own lawyer at Capitol riot trial
A former Orange County police chief turned yoga instructor and conservative protester facing criminal charges related to the Capitol riot can serve as his own attorney during his federal trial, a judge has ruled.
Alan Hostetter will be allowed to represent himself during the ongoing criminal proceedings, while his former court-appointed attorney will serve as an advisory counsel, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth decided on Thursday.
Hostetter is a San Clemente resident and former deputy chief of the Fontana Police Department who briefly led the La Habra Police Department. Since leaving law enforcement, Hostetter became a yoga instructor, helped organize Orange County Stop the Steal and anti-coronavirus pandemic restriction rallies and emerged as one of the most high-profile of the many Capitol insurrection defendants.
Like other defendants who opt to represent themselves against criminal charges, Hostetter was warned by the judge that going without a defense attorney is almost certainly not in his best interest. In a video that circulated on social media, Hostetter explained that his decision wasn’t based on a rift with his previous legal counsel, but instead due to his concern that paying for a legal defense could bankrupt him.
Read more: https://www.dailynews.com/2021/10/29/judge-allows-ex-la-habra-police-chief-alan-hostetter-to-be-his-own-lawyer-at-capitol-riot-trial/
(Los Angeles Daily News)
Alan Hostetter speaks during a pro-Trump election integrity rally he organized at the Orange County Registrar of Voters offices in Santa Ana, CA on Monday, November 9, 2020.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
This Valley drywall company stiffed its workers. California slaps it with $7.2M in fines
A Visalia-based drywall company faces citations from the state amounting to more than $7.2 million for labor law violations involving wage theft affecting 724 workers.
The fines stem from an investigation launched in 2018 by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office into payroll practices at NGC Construction Inc. That inquiry was sparked by an employee’s report of a labor law violation, and included an audit of the company’s payroll for a three-year period from July 2016 through July 2019.
The investigation determined that NGC Construction paid workers on a piece-rate basis, or a fixed amount per project. Workers installing drywall, doing painting and applying stucco on projects were not paid for rest periods as required by law.
As a result, the agency said, workers’ earnings amounted to less than minimum wage or the contract wages promised by the company and its president/CEO, Julio Mendoza. Some of the company’s truck drivers were also not paid overtime.
-story update-
NGC Construction Inc. has filed an appeal to contest citations from the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for more than $7.2 million.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/article255341046.html
This Valley drywall company stiffed its workers. California slaps it with $7.2M in fines
A Visalia-based drywall company faces citations from the state amounting to more than $7.2 million for labor law violations involving wage theft affecting 724 workers.
The fines stem from an investigation launched in 2018 by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office into payroll practices at NGC Construction Inc. That inquiry was sparked by an employee’s report of a labor law violation, and included an audit of the company’s payroll for a three-year period from July 2016 through July 2019.
The investigation determined that NGC Construction paid workers on a piece-rate basis, or a fixed amount per project. Workers installing drywall, doing painting and applying stucco on projects were not paid for rest periods as required by law.
As a result, the agency said, workers’ earnings amounted to less than minimum wage or the contract wages promised by the company and its president/CEO, Julio Mendoza. Some of the company’s truck drivers were also not paid overtime.
-story update-
NGC Construction Inc. has filed an appeal to contest citations from the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for more than $7.2 million.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/article255341046.html
Fresno teachers 'at the brink,' union says. They'll file labor grievances amid COVID
Union officials representing teachers in the Fresno Unified School District announced Thursday they will file grievances against the district for longstanding issues that they say have grown worse amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three grievances relate to losses in personal time, preparation time and forcing teachers to act as substitutes for their colleagues, according to Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association.
“These are contractually protected rights,” he said Thursday. “These are not only rights, but educators need this time to serve students.”
Many teachers are forced to work longer hours to make up for the time they are missing as the pandemic adds on extra responsibilities, Bonilla said.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article255357081.html#storylink=featured
Florida judge sends Trump suit against Twitter to San Francisco
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit to get his Twitter account restored must be heard in a California court, not a Florida one, under a user agreement covering everyone on the social media platform, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Robert Scola in Miami rejected Trump’s contention that because his Twitter account was suspended during his last days as president the California court requirement did not apply to him.
The requirement, known as a forum selection clause, was in force when Trump originally joined Twitter as a private citizen in 2009, Scola wrote in his order issued Wednesday.
“First, Trump’s former status as the president of the United States does not preclude the application of the forum selection clause. Second, the forum selection clause is valid and mandatory,” Scola wrote in a 13-page order.
Read more: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/10/27/florida-judge-sends-trump-suit-against-twitter-to-california/
Second state worker pleads guilty in California Office of AIDS fraud scandal
A second state worker has pleaded guilty in connection with a $2 million fraud case involving the California Office of AIDS and will cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said.
Christine Iwamoto, 47, a former manager inside the California Department of Public Health, was charged in federal court in Sacramento earlier this month with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and a plea agreement filed in court Thursday says she agreed to plead guilty and pay restitution of up to $600,000.
Iwamoto’s plea follows a guilty plea in February by Schenelle Flores, another Office of AIDS worker accused of defrauding the state by having a Southern California company bill the office for personal expenses, including tickets to sporting events, concerts and restaurants.
Flores also is cooperating with prosecutors in the investigation, which court documents say involved the use of gift cards, phony companies and email accounts.
Read more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article255357711.html
The fast-food model lets corporations escape liability. California might chart a new course
When you pass a McDonald’s you might assume it’s operated by the global mega-corporation. But in many cases, it’s a franchise owned and run as a small business.
This model has been a pathway for entrepreneurs — many of whom are women, immigrants and minorities — to build wealth and become upwardly mobile. But it has also left workers in one of America’s largest industries with little formal recourse for poor wages or unsafe work conditions.
Fast-food workers at stores scattered across California plan to walk off the job Nov. 9 and rally outside McDonald’s locations in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento in a push to expand legal liability beyond individual franchisees to their corporate franchisers and to protest workplace health and safety conditions.
The protests aim to pressure state lawmakers to support AB 257, a proposed law that would establish a statewide Fast Food Sector Council made up of workers, corporate representatives, franchisees and state officials that would meet every three years to negotiate industry standards on wages, work hours and other conditions for fast-food workers.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-10-28/the-fast-food-model-lets-corporations-escape-liability-california-might-chart-a-new-course
In-N-Out closes all Contra Costa County restaurants for indoor dining after vaccine mandate debate
In-N-Out has shut its five Contra Costa County outposts for indoor dining rather than follow the county’s vaccine mandate.
This action came Thursday, two days after Contra Costa County health officials indefinitely shut down the In-N-Out restaurant in Pleasant Hill for defying COVID-19 vaccination rules for indoor dinners. In-N-Out also has locations in San Ramon, Brentwood, Pittsburg and Pinole.
All the restaurants remain open for takeout and drive-through orders.
Last week, the county fined the popular fast-food burger joint $750 for twice violating the rules, which require restaurants to ask customers 12 and older for COVID-19 vaccination cards or proof that they tested negative for the coronavirus in the past 72 hours, Contra Costa Health Services said in an email. The county had first issued a warning after receiving numerous complaints from residents.
The In-N-Out corporation has remained steadfast in its refusal to follow the rules of Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. The chain’s San Francisco location was closed for indoor dining last week after the company’s employees wouldn’t check for vaccination cards, according to officials there.
Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/10/26/contra-costa-county-shuts-down-in-n-out-over-failure-to-follow-vaccine-rules/
Barely half of Fresno County is vaccinated for COVID. Is a holiday surge on the way?
It took 10 months from the time when the first coronavirus vaccinations became available for Fresno County to get at least half of its residents fully vaccinated.
As of Wednesday, more than 518,000 people were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 out of the county’s overall population of about 1,032,000. Those are people who have received either both shots of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna, or a single dose of the one-shot product from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson.
Almost 65,000 more residents are partially vaccinated with one dose of one of the two-shot vaccines.
There remain, however, more than 449,000 people in Fresno County – about 43.5% – who are completely unvaccinated, yet to receive even one shot of one of the medications. And the number of people still unprotected against the virus could spell trouble coming into the winter holiday season of expected family and public gatherings.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/coronavirus/article255355876.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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