By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor filed involuntary manslaughter charges Friday against the parents of a teen accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school, saying they failed to intervene on the day of the tragedy despite being confronted with a drawing and chilling message — “blood everywhere” — that was found at the boy’s desk. James and Jennifer Crumbley committed “egregious” acts, from buying a gun on Black Friday and making it available to Ethan Crumbley to resisting his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “I expect parents and everyone to have humanity and to step in and stop a potential tragedy,” she said. “The conclusion I draw is that there was abso

CalPERS is at it again. Leaders at the nation’s largest pension plan, brimming with joy over recent strong investment gains, are choosing riskier bets on future returns rather than shoring up the underfunded system with more contributions from government employers and employees. It’s not the first time. The retirement plan’s propensity for risk-taking left it badly exposed during the Great Recession. Assets of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System dropped over two years from 101% of what was needed to pay government workers’ retirement benefits to 61%. That’s because, more than a decade after the Great Recession, and despite an exceptionally strong market this past year, CalPERS has only crawled halfway back to the fully funded target, and much of that gain has been in the pas

Remember back in July 2019 when the FBI raided City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office and the offices of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power? The case has produced its first guilty plea. Attorney Paul Paradis, of Scottsdale, has agreed to plead guilty to one federal count of bribery for accepting a nearly $2.2 million kickback from another attorney. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors said, Paradis admitted to other bribery involving high-level LADWP officials. The federal investigation is ongoing, and Paradis is cooperating. So this is only the beginning. The case stems from the disastrous new billing system that LADWP implemented in 2013, the same year Eric Garcetti was sworn in as mayor. Hundreds of thousands of customers of the city-owned utility were overcharged and there was u

If it’s shocking to you that it’s December already, you’re not alone. Maybe it’s because fall seemed to be a mere extension of summer that then quickly transitioned to winter. Or maybe it’s continued remote work that makes the days blend together. Or maybe we’re all working harder than usual given the nationwide labor shortage. Whatever it is, Christmas lights are proliferating, the first tiny snowflake have fallen, another bout of snow is in the forecast for this coming Wednesday. Bottom line: winter is here, believe it or not. With that, here’s a look back at the most-read local stories of the past week. CarPool to open new Ballston location tomorrow Gunshots fired in Westover yesterday morning, police say Driver flees after striking and seriously injuring pedestrian near W&OD Tra...

All products and services featured by IndieWire are independently selected by IndieWire editors. However, IndieWire may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The global pandemic not only changed how we shop, it changed the way we communicate. Zoom and other video conferencing apps quickly replaced in-person conversations, and if you’ve been working from home and want a clearer, sharper picture resolution, you might want to purchase a new web camera. Regardless of whether you’re video conferencing, vlogging, gaming, distance learning, live streaming, or connecting with family and friends for holidays, we rounded up 10 of the best webcams that will fit every kind of budget. The cameras on...

While the years following 2016’s “Moonlight” have been surprisingly fruitful for high-quality queer film, one might not know it from glancing at Oscar nominations from years past. Last year, Céline Sciamma’s luminous period romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was not even selected as France’s official entry for Best International Feature, despite provoking universal critical reverence. “Parasite” rightfully swept the 2019 ceremony, its double win for Best Picture and Best International left no hope for Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical “Pain and Glory.” The year before that was a bit of an anomaly, with three queer films earning Best Picture nominations, “The Favourite,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Green Book,” that year’s controversial winner. (Only “The Favourite” was actually good,

By STAN CHOE and ALEX VEIGA Wall Street is slumping on Friday following a mixed reading on U.S. jobs, one that investors said was tough to parse, in the market’s latest bout of dizzying trading. The S&P 500 was 1.6% lower in afternoon trading after erasing an early gain. It’s coming off a jolting stretch where it swerved by at least 1.2% in five straight days, pounded by uncertainty about how badly the newest coronavirus variant will hit the economy and about when the Federal Reserve will halt its immense support for financial markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 304 points, or 0.9%, at 34,335 after earlier pinballing from a gain of 161 points to a loss of 375. The Nasdaq composite was 2.6% lower, as of 3:20 p.m. Eastern time. Treasury yields fell, rose and then fell agai

Photo: Scouted/The Daily Beast/Madewell.My wife, Kristin has essentially lived in Madewell jeans for the past decade. Be they black, dark wash blue, pale high-waisted, wide-legged, on it goes. She wore Madewell maternity jeans when pregnant with both of our kids. When we lived in California, Madewell jeans, sandals, and a tee was her go-to outfit. Now here living just outside NYC, it’s Madewell jeans, boots, and a sweater. When I asked her why she likes the jeans so much, she said: “It’s their fit, the way they feel, and it’s the consistency. A small is (actually) a small in every style, and even when they add new cuts and new styles, I know how they’re going to fit me. Also, it’s the brand’s sustainability.” Indeed, Madewell is committed to sustainability—they will even buy used jeans b...

Growth in the services sector, where most Americans work, hit an all-time high in November, overtaking a record that was set the previous month. The Institute for Supply Management reported Friday that its monthly survey of service industries increased by 2.4 percentage points in November from the October record to a reading of 69.1 percent. Any reading above 50 indicates growth. The service sector data is being released against the backdrop of an employment landscape in which hiring appeared to slow in November, but the unemployment rate tumbled from 4.6% to 4.2%. That is a historically low jobless rate though still above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5%. Some of the strength in the services sector is coming from supply chain troubles that are making it harder to meet increased demand. Tho...

After Dr. Mehmet Oz announced Tuesday he was running for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, he was overshadowed in the social media discourse by an even bigger media star: Oprah Winfrey. Writers for prominent publications, as well as people on social media, blasted Winfrey for long using her talk show and other media platforms to promote Oz, the controversial TV personality, cardiothoracic surgeon and “known peddler of medical misinformation.” With one of Oprah’s more dangerous celebrity creations running for Senate, @realNYMarg writes that she can’t avoid reckoning with Oprah's penchant for promoting pseudoscience https://t.co/FMF8k7zLEP — New York Magazine (@NYMag) December 3, 2021 They point out that Winfrey helped Oz launch his own syndicated show in 2009, through which has long di

Janet Setsuda, 87, takes a morning walk through Downtown Pasadena with Compassion in SGV volunteer Kimberly Ong on July 23, 2021. (Photo by Annakai Hayakawa Geshlider)Janet Setsuda loves to walk. The 87-year-old  walks four miles several times a week in her neighborhood of downtown Pasadena. For years Setsuda walked alone. Not any more. For Asian Americans, the streets have gotten less safe in recent months. There were 44 crimes targeting Asian people reported in Los Angeles County last year, the highest recorded in 20 years, according to a recent report based on data from law enforcement, universities and community groups. That topped the previous high of 42 crimes targeting Asians in 2001, the report’s authors said, reflecting a trend that has endured for more than a year, alarming resid