Tag Archives: California

FBI paid more than $1.3 million to break into San Bernardino iPhone

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By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Thursday the agency paid more to get into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters than he will make in the remaining seven years and four months he has in his job.

According to figures from the FBI and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Comey’s annual salary as of January 2015 was $183,300. Without a raise or bonus, Comey will make $1.34 million over the remainder of his job.

That suggests the FBI paid the largest ever publicized fee for a hacking job, easily surpassing the $1 million paid by U.S. information security company Zerodium to break into phones.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in London, Comey was asked by a moderator how much the FBI paid for the software that eventually broke into the iPhone.

“A lot. More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months for sure,” Comey said. “But it was, in my view, worth it.”

The Justice Department said in March it had unlocked the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone with the help of an unidentified third party and dropped its case against Apple Inc <AAPL.O>, ending a high-stakes legal clash but leaving the broader fight over encryption unresolved.

Comey said the FBI will be able to use software used on the San Bernardino phone on other 5C iPhones running IOS 9 software.

There are about 16 million 5C iPhones in use in the United States, according to estimates from research firm IHS Technology. Eighty-four percent of iOS devices overall are running iOS 9 software, according to Apple.

The FBI gained access to the iPhone used by Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California on Dec. 2.

The case raised the debate over whether technology companies’ encryption technologies protect privacy or endanger the public by blocking law enforcement access to information.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington; additional reporting by Julia Love in San Francisco; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

California methane leak was biggest ever in U.S., scientists say

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The months-long natural gas leak that forced thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes ranks as the largest known accidental methane release in U.S. history, equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 600,000 cars, scientists reported on Thursday.

At its peak, 60 tons per hour of natural gas was spewing from a ruptured underground pipeline at the Aliso Canyon storage field, effectively doubling the methane emissions of the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area, the researchers said.

Their study, published in the journal Science, represents the first comprehensive effort to quantify a gas leak that sickened scores of people and prompted the temporary relocation of more than 6,600 households from the northern Los Angeles community of Porter Ranch at the edge of the gas field.

From the time it was first detected on Oct. 23 until it was plugged earlier this month, the damaged injection well discharged a total of 97,100 tons – or 5 billion cubic feet (142 million cubic meters) – of methane to the environment, according to the study.

The chief component of natural gas and a far more potent greenhouse agent than carbon dioxide, methane persists in the atmosphere for 10 years. The total release from Aliso Canyon is equivalent to the annual energy-sector methane emissions of a medium-sized European Union country, the study said.

“Our finding means that the Aliso Canyon leak was the largest accidental release of methane in the history of the U.S.,” Tom Ryerson, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and co-lead of the study, said in a NOAA statement about the research.

The 2004 collapse of an underground gas storage facility in Texas actually expelled more natural gas, but it was mostly consumed in an explosion and fire, so that methane never reached the atmosphere, the study said.

“Aliso Canyon will have by far the largest climate impact” and will “substantially impact the state of California greenhouse gas emission targets for the year,” the study said.

In terms of its heat-trapping greenhouse potential, the volume of leaked methane was equivalent to putting 572,000 passenger cars on the road for a year, according to the scientists.

The Aliso Canyon facility, owned by Southern California Gas Co, a division of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, is the fourth largest gas storage field of its kind in the United States.

The volume of methane that escaped represents just 3 percent of its total storage capacity, “raising the possibility of substantial additional emissions” had the leak not been plugged or the field drained of remaining gas supplies, the study said.

Environmental groups have seized on the Aliso Canyon breach to call attention to hazards posed by the state’s aging fossil fuel infrastructure.

The leak also has triggered a wave of legal action. SoCal Gas has pleaded not guilty to criminal misdemeanor charges stemming from the release, which prosecutors said the utility failed to report in a timely manner. Local, state and regional authorities, as well as dozens of residents, have also sued the company.

The study was based on data collected from numerous airborne and ground-based measurements taken during the course of the blowout and analyzed by teams from NOAA, the California Energy Commission, two University of California campuses and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by David Gregorio and Alistair Bell)

California, Minnesota Health Officials Warn of Norovirus Outbreaks

Public health officials in California and Minnesota are warning about norovirus outbreaks, cautioning that the intestinal disease could sicken lots of people in those states this winter.

The California Department of Public Health announced last week that there had been 32 confirmed outbreaks of the disease since October, a number that greatly exceeds the total reported in the same window last year. Hundreds likely fell ill from the disease, officials said.

In Minnesota, the state Department of Health cautioned that the arrival of a new strain of the disease could cause some additional norovirus illnesses this winter. The department said it has investigated at least 20 outbreaks of the GII.17 Kawasaki strain since September. The strain is the same one that spurred many outbreaks in Asia last winter, officials said in a news release.

“Every few years, a new strain of norovirus emerges and causes many illnesses,” Amy Saupe, a foodborne disease epidemiologist with the department, said in a statement. “We don’t know yet if this new strain will lead to an increase in the number of outbreaks reported, but it could.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), norovirus is the top cause of stomach flu in the United States. The highly contagious virus sickens between 19 million and 21 million people, hospitalizes 56,000 to 71,000 and kills between 570 and 800 every year. Common symptoms include fever, diarrhea and vomiting. Most people recover within 1 to 3 days.

People get norovirus from eating tainted food or touching contaminated surfaces, making it relatively easy for the disease to spread in places like schools, daycares and nursing homes.

The Boston Globe reported a sick employee came to a Chipotle restaurant in the city earlier this month and 136 people — including some Boston College students — fell ill. There were some initial fears that outbreak was linked to an E. Coli outbreak at Chipotle restaurants in nine states, but the paper reported health officials ultimately determined that norovirus was at fault.

The CDC and other public health officials say proper disinfection, hand hygiene and food-handling techniques are vitally important to help prevent norovirus from spreading.

“One of the most important things you can do to avoid norovirus and other illnesses this holiday season is to wash your hands frequently with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds,” Dr. Karen Smith, the director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “This is especially important after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and before preparing or eating food. Hand sanitizers are not effective against norovirus.”

California Hospital Warns 350 Newborns May Have Been Exposed to Tuberculosis

A California hospital is warning that about 350 infants might have been exposed to tuberculosis.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose issued a news release Friday saying that a female employee who worked near the newborn nursery had been diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease.

The hospital said in the news release that it is contacting mothers who visited its Mother & Infant Care Center between mid-August and mid-November of this year. The hospital will screen them and their infants for tuberculosis and give them antibiotic medicine that kills the disease.

The hospital said its employee underwent an annual tuberculosis test in September and did not show any signs of the disease — including any symptoms. But when the employee later saw her doctor for an unrelated issue, the physician discovered the employee had in fact been infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tuberculosis is transmitted when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. Nearby people can breathe in the bacteria. If the bacteria multiplies enough, they can develop symptoms like a bloody cough and chest pain.

The CDC said tuberculosis was once the leading cause of death in the United States, but there were fewer than 10,000 reported cases of the disease in 2013. Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body including the brain, kidneys and spine.

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center said it placed the infected employee on leave to cut down the risk of exposing its patients, visitors and staff.

“While the risk of infection is low, the consequences of a tuberculosis infection in infants can be severe,” the hospital’s pediatrics chair, Dr. Stephen Harris, said in a statement. “That’s why we decided to do widespread testing and start preventative treatments for these infants as soon as possible.”

Study Finds Uranium Seeps into Two Major U.S. Aquifers

Researchers have found that about 2 million Americans in the Great Plains and central California are living close to sites that far exceed federal safety guidelines for uranium levels.

A recent study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found uranium levels in the High Plains and Central Valley aquifers, two of the country’s most significant sources of drinking water and irrigation, are far above thresholds set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The research showed that water in the High Plains aquifer, the largest in the United States, had uranium levels as high as 89 times the EPA-established standards. The water in California’s Central Valley aquifer, a source of irrigation for one of the country’s most important agricultural hubs, showed some uranium levels that were 180 times the guidelines set forth by the EPA.

Uranium is an element whose isotopes were famously used in the production of atomic bombs. Past studies have shown long-term exposure to water tainted by uranium can lead to high blood pressure and kidney damage, according to a news release accompanying the Nebraska study.

The researchers found the uranium contamination in most of the 275,000 water samples they collected was directly tied to nitrate, a more common water polluter that is found in chemical fertilizers and animal waste. The scientists say that nitrate interacts with the uranium that’s naturally present in the ground in a way that makes the material dissolve in groundwater.

About 78 percent of the contaminated sites had nitrates present, the study indicated. The researchers said the data indicated that the uranium levels weren’t predominantly the result of mining or any kind of nuclear fuel, but rather the reactions between nitrate and the element.

“It needs to be recognized that uranium is a widespread contaminant,” one of the Nebraska study’s researchers, Karrie Weber, said in a statement accompanying the research. “And we are creating this problem by producing a primary contaminant that leads to a secondary one.”

The researchers said that facilities to treat water can cost seven figures, which makes it hard for some smaller municipalities to buy them. And there are some people who receive their water from private wells and don’t tap into any kind of regulated municipal water system.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the uranium contamination has been so widely underreported that some people living in the affected areas didn’t even know it was an issue.

The news agency said it conducted its own tests on the private wells of five homes near Modesto, California, where officials spent $500,000 on upgrades to its water system that were designed to bring down uranium levels. The report indicated none of the homeowners knew uranium even had the potential to be a water pollutant, yet two of the five wells showed dangerous levels of it.

The High Plains aquifer supplies drinking and irrigation water to eight states from South Dakota to Texas, according to the Nebraska study. The Central Valley aquifer is a major water source for California and the state’s vital agriculture industry, which the state Department of Food and Agriculture said produces half of America’s domestically-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. In all, the department said California growers and ranchers got $54 billion for last year’s products.

“When you start thinking about how much water is drawn from these aquifers, it’s substantial relative to anywhere else in the world,” Weber said in a statement. “These two aquifers are economically important — they play a significant role in feeding the nation — but they’re also important for health. What’s the point of having water if you can’t drink it or use it for irrigation?”

County employee Named Suspect in San Bernardino Killings

By Kami Klein

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguen held a press conference late Wednesday night to identify the suspects in the shooting earlier today at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, CA which caused the deaths of 14 people; 17 were injured.  The suspects killed in a shootout with police were identified as Syed Rizwan Farook (28) and Tashfeen Malik (27) .  According to a report by CBSN, the two had been married for two years and have a 6 month old daughter.  

The U.S. born Syed Rizwan was employed with San Bernardino County as an environmental specialist for the last five years.  He had attended a meeting/ party that has been an annual event for the county and reports were that he left angry.  It is still unclear what the disagreement was about or with whom.   

Chief Burguen says both law enforcement and the FBI feel that although first reports were that there were three suspects, they believe the two that went into the building were the same that were killed in the suspects car and the only shooters.

In an interview with his brother-in-law, CBSN reports that Sayed Riswan and Tashfeen  lived in the house in Redlands, CA that is now being investigated and belongs to his mother.  Syed is the name he went by for work and in public but the family called him Riswan.

Speaking on a motive for the case Police Chief Burgeun stated.

“We do not have a motive at this time.  We understand that when these kinds of things happen, information changes frequently at the beginning of the investigation.  We have not ruled out terrorism at this time.  But we do not yet know a motive.”   

In regards to the crime scenes, Chief Burgeun said that for the last couple of hours they have been working on the explosive devices that have been found.

“We feel that all explosives have been found and disposed of and are just now being able to get in there and process the evidence. Some degree of planning went into this attack.”

Both of the suspects had 223 assault rifles and semi automatic handguns in their possession when the gun battle with police took place.

Chief Burgeun concluded the press conference with a message for his community.  

“ We understand that you are scared and concerned but please understand that we are doing everything we can to keep people safe here. If we see a threat  we will be sure to communicate that to the community to protect you and your families.”

 

Strongest El Niño in 18 Years

The National Weather Service’s Climate prediction Center has announced that  El Niño is already is strong and mature and is forecasted to gain strength.  This El Niño is expected to be among the three strongest on record since 1950.

For drought ravaged California, that is very good news.  This strong  El Niño in the Pacific Ocean is becoming even more powerful, setting the stage for an unusually wet winter in California that could bring heavy rains by January,

El Niño is an anomalous, yet periodic, warming of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. For reasons still not well understood, every two to seven years, this patch of ocean warms for six to 18 months according to Weather.com.  

Generally, El Niño doesn’t peak in California until January, February and March, Bill Patzert, climatologist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge said. That’s when Californians should expect “mudslides, heavy rainfall, one storm after another like a conveyor belt.”

Forecasters predict warmer temperatures in the North over the winter due to El Niño with more precipitation of snow and ice as well as possible tornadoes in the South and Midwest.   

Monday Storm Brings Rain, Snow, Mudslides, and Flash Flooding to California

California and other parts of the western United States – including Sierra, Nevada – saw the first winter-like storm of the season on Monday. the storm brought heavy rain and snow and even caused a 20 car pile up due to gusts of wind bringing up dust. Five people were minorly injured.

San Francisco saw an inch of rain and other Bay Area cities had an inch or more of rain thanks to the cold front from the Pacific Northwest. Traffic accidents and power outages were widespread across the region according to ABC News. Mudslides also blocked roads close to Livermore.

Mountain areas around Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border reported a foot of snow. The Sierra Nevada mountain range had storm warnings for heavy snow from Kings Canyon to Yosemite that were in effect until late night hours. Areas above 9,000 feet saw 5 inches of snow by early evening, and snow levels were expected to fall to 5,000 feet.

Yolo, Lake, and Colusa counties were issued flash flood warnings according to the weather service.

The snow in Sierra could help with the drought that has hit California. California counts on snowpack to feed reservoirs. The storm also hit areas that were burned by wildfires earlier this year.

NASA predicts 99-percent possibility of 5.0 earthquake to hit Los Angeles

NASA’s scientists in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena have predicted that Los Angeles has a 99% chance to experience a possible 5.0 earthquake or stronger within the next 3 years.

Dr. Andrea Donnellan, a JPL geophysicist, came up with this hypothesis by using radar and GPS to measure Southern California’s chances of a good sized earthquake.

“When the La Habra earthquake happened, it was relieving some of that stress, and it actually shook some of the upper sediments in the LA basin and moved those a little bit more,” Dr. Donellan told CBS Los Angeles News.

However, there is still strain within the land, which could produce a more powerful earthquake of up to 6.3 magnitude.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey believe that the chances are slightly lower. They believe there is an 85% chance of a magnitude 5 or greater earthquake hitting the area within the next 3 years. They used fault maps and models to come up with their percentage.

“We all need to be prepared. That’s not new for LA,” Dr. Donellan added.

California Experiencing Flash Floods and Mudslides, Trapping Motorists

As flash floods and large hail hit areas north of Los Angeles, California emergency crews scrambled to rescue motorists that were trapped on roadways.

As some motorists took refuge on top of their cars, excavator trucks were brought to the scenes to scoop and haul mud. Approximately 15 cars were wedged in debris and 5 feet of mud and needed to be towed. Over 100 people were stranded on Interstate 5 and were still waiting for help Friday morning. So far, there have been no reports of deaths or injuries. Firefighters are still searching the roadways and abandoned cars for people who may be stuck and needing help getting to a safe area.

Two major highways and several secondary roads have been closed due to the impassable mud and debris, leaving some residents trapped inside their homes.

Between 4-6 inches of rain fell in parts of Kern and Los Angeles counties, causing the floods that have led to nearly a half dozen of water rescues.

Robert Rocha, a 37-year-old resident, was driving home from work when the storm hit.

“It was getting pretty hairy out there,” he said. “I’ve never seen it rain that hard in such a short period of time, the hail and wind — it was coming down hard,” he said. “The debris was just intense — chunks of wood and rock flowing everywhere.”