Tag: california

Female Napa Valley winery owner slapped with $4M in fines for putting on wine tasting and yoga classes on 8-acre land

A California winery owner has been slapped with nearly $4 million in fines after losing a court battle over hosting wine tastings and events on her eight-acre property.

Lindsay Hoopes, owner of Hoopes Vineyard in the rolling hills of Napa Valley, has been embroiled in a years-long court battle with Napa County.

The county filed suit in 2022, accusing Hoopes of creating a ‘public nuisance’ by hosting yoga classes and wine tastings, and selling items like greeting cards and hand sanitizer while failing to obtain a permit for a 120-sq-ft chicken coop. 

The legal fight hinges on whether small wineries established before 1990 – prior to new regulations – can host tastings without a permit. Central to the dispute is the ‘Small Winery Exemption,’ which the county argues does not allow such events. 

Hoopes has repeatedly challenged the county’s stance, continuing to allow the public onto her property despite what officials describe as ongoing ‘illegal activities,’ including farm animals on-site and unpermitted string lights. 

In the latest blow to Hoopes, a judge ruled against her, ordering an end to all on-site tastings, public events and sales on her vineyard, according to CBS News.

‘This is the most inhumane thing I’ve ever seen,’ Hoopes told the outlet in response to the ruling.

‘Drinking wine at a winery should never, ever, ever force a business owner/mother to essentially defend her livelihood or protect her children,’ she added. ‘I mean, the whole thing has been so grossly abusive and punitive.’

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Eric Swalwell makes wild claim about secret Kash Patel plot

Congressman Eric Swalwell, a leading Democratic candidate in the California gubernatorial race, accused President Donald Trump this weekend of meddling in the election after reports that his administration is seeking to publicize files about Swalwell’s link to a Chinese spy.

Swalwell appeared in multiple media appearances to capitalize on the report and told CNN that Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel are “dangerous individuals.”

“Donald Trump and Kash Patel do not get to pick the next governor. Californians do,” Swalwell said on Saturday.

Patel is reportedly pushing to release documents around Christine Fang, also known as Fang Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence agent who cultivated ties with American politicians, according to The Washington Post.

Fang developed extensive ties with Swalwell when he was a city council member at Dublin. She bundled donations for his 2014 reelection campaign and recommended staff for his office. Fang allegedly had sexual relationships with at least two mayors.

Swalwell wasn’t immediately removed from a congressional committee over his ties to Fang, but Rep. Kevin McCarthy ordered a House Ethics Committee investigation into the incident after he became House Speaker in 2021.

In a podcast shared with the California Post, Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign insisted he was cleared of wrongdoing.

“The air was cleared immediately by the FBI when there was even a suggestion of wrongdoing,” Swalwell told the Sources Say podcast.

His connections with the Chinese spy have dogged his campaign for governor. The Democrat even got into an online spat with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who commented, “Call me crazy I like my politicians not to get tricked by foreign spies.”

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Vance Says Tim Walz Could be Prosecuted in Fraud Probe, Signals California Voter Fraud Will Also be Investigated

Vice President JD Vance discussed his plans with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in an interview with Benny Johnson on Friday, where he said that Tim Walz and other Democratic officials could “absolutely” be prosecuted for defrauding taxpayers. 

Chaired by Vice President JD Vance, with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson as Vice Chairman, “the Task Force will coordinate measures to improve eligibility verification, implement pre-payment controls, detect high-risk fraud trends, and disrupt and dismantle fraud networks and the mechanisms through which fraud is committed,” according to the order.

Earlier in the interview, Vance stated that Somali Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)  “definitely committed immigration fraud, against the United States of America” and that the task force is looking into what can be done about it, The Gateway Pundit reported. ‘We’re trying to look at what the remedies are. That’s the thing we’re trying to figure out is what are the legal remedies now that we know that she’s committed immigration fraud? How do you investigate her? How do you go after her?” he added, suggesting that she may also be involved in the mass welfare fraud in the Somali community.

When asked about failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, Vance trolled Walz’s horrendous debate performance against him, then said, “We’re going to have to maybe kick him again a little bit.”

“We’re absolutely going to prosecute it,” he said if the investigation shows that Walz engaged in criminal activity.

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Whistleblower Exposes Massive Election Fraud Ring in California — Claims Voter Reg Office Hands Lists of Stolen Names Directly to Gangbangers to Rig Petitions with Paid Homeless Signers

It’s worse than we thought. As the radical left continues to fight tooth and nail against basic election transparency and the SAVE America Act, independent journalists are exposing exactly why they want the system vulnerable.

Higby, working alongside a group dubbed the “Citizen Justice League,” which includes conservative investigative heavyweights like James O’Keefe and Savannah Hernandez, spent weeks disguised as a homeless man on Skid Row to capture this sickening corruption on hidden camera.

The Gateway Pundit broke coverage of James O’Keefe Media Group’s devastating undercover videos exposing the full street-level operation on Los Angeles Skid Row.

In Part II of the “Cash for Ballots” series, O’Keefe and Higby captured hidden camera footage of petitioners paying desperate homeless individuals $2–$3 per forged signature to impersonate real registered voters using pre-printed lists of actual California voter names and addresses.

Circulators hovered over the signatures, making sure the homeless forgers got the names and handwriting “just right” before handing over the cash.

O’Keefe and Higby then went door-to-door to the real addresses on those lists, only to find longtime residents confirming the named voters hadn’t lived there in years, yet election mail was still being delivered to ghosts.

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‘Borderline Barbaric’: Troubled Dem Payroll Vendor Accused of Punishing Employees For Taking Paid Family Leave

The human resources software company Rippling emerged as a top Democratic Party vendor after receiving tax breaks from Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hochul. It’s also accused of cultivating a “borderline barbaric” culture that penalizes employees who take paid family leave, according to lawsuits and complaints from several former employees.

Newsom and Hochul, the Free Beacon’s Andrew Kerr reports, awarded Rippling nearly $20 million in combined tax breaks between 2023 and 2025, money that helped the firm build offices in San Francisco and New York City. ActBlue and the DNC have processed more than $23 million in payroll expenditures through Rippling in the 2026 midterm election cycle, campaign finance disclosures show. And while Newsom and Hochul have made expanded paid family leave a cornerstone of their political platforms, Rippling is accused of taking a different approach.

Former employees have alleged in lawsuits that the company fired them after they took family leave or expressed their intention to do so. A March 2025 suit from former engineering manager Fu Zhou alleged that she was fired after taking medical leave to undergo IVF treatments—and that her replacement, a man, was terminated “shortly after expressing his own intention to take family leave.” An anonymous former employee, meanwhile, posted on the employer review site GlassDoor describing the company as “borderline barbaric in today’s workplace culture.”

Rippling responded to the Free Beacon with a legal letter from the leading defamation lawyer Tom Clare, whose firm ClareLocke represented Matt Lauer amid his #MeToo battles, former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler amid revelations of her close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and former Harvard president Claudine Gay amid her plagiarism scandal. Clare, who penned a seven-page letter filled with veiled legal threats—and marked “Confidential—Not For Publication Or Attribution,” a condition to which the Free Beacon did not agree—said the Free Beacon did not afford the company adequate time to comment, demanded the Free Beacon “identify all its sources,” and said Rippling could not comment on pending litigation anyway.

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Mysterious Power Outage Hits California Leaving Over 100,000 People in the Dark

Over 100,000 residents in California lost power on Thursday night.

According to San Diego Gas & Electric, over 100,000 residents in San Diego and South Orange counties were left in the dark after a massive power outage.

SDGE has not released the cause of the outage, and the incident is currently under investigation.

Per ABC 7:

A massive power outage left tens of thousands of people without electricity Thursday night across South Orange County and parts of San Diego County.

San Diego Gas & Electric reported that more than 100,000 customers were initially affected. Video taken near the Civic Center in Mission Viejo showed one of the areas impacted by the blackout. Other areas that were impacted included Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.

The cause of the outage was not immediately known.

“We understand how disruptive outages can be and are working to investigate the cause,” said SDG&E in a statement. “The safety of our customers, employees and communities remains our top priority.”

San Diego Gas & Electric has since issued a press release stating that power has been restored.

“Power has been fully restored to customers affected by a widespread outage impacting multiple communities in North San Diego County and Orange County this evening,” stated SDGE.

“We understand how disruptive outages can be and are working to investigate the cause,” added SDGE.

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Los Angeles Times Columnist Says if a Republican Wins the Race for Governor of California, ‘A Recall Would Begin Immediately’

In 2017, on the same day that Donald Trump was first sworn in as president, the Washington Post ran a story with the headline “The Campaign to Impeach President Trump has begun.”

That’s right, the people on the left who have been telling all of us for years that Trump doesn’t respect our democracy or accept election results are dealing purely in projection. That headline, coupled with their behavior ever since proves it.

Now, they might prove it to us all over again in California.

A columnist for the Los Angeles Times named Steve Lopez is promising that if a Republican wins the race for governor in California (GASP), that an effort to recall that person will begin immediately.

These people are not even waiting to lose elections anymore. They’re just telling us that they will never, ever accept Republican leaders, even if the voters choose them.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Yes, a Republican could be California’s next governor. And a recall would begin immediately

Once upon a time in California, I went to the Orange County fairgrounds to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger give the signal for a wrecking ball to drop onto a vehicle.

The audience went wild, and Schwarzenegger went on to become governor and deliver on his promise to roll back a car tax increase, thereby blowing a $4-billion hole in the state budget.

I think it’s fair to say that in the current gubernatorial campaign season, the excitement level is several decibels below what we experienced in 2003. But once again, it’s fair to say we’ve not seen anything quite like this year’s derby…

To break that down, eight Democrats and two Republicans are running in the primary, and here’s the craziest thing about that:

The two Republicans could be the top two vote-getters because the Democrats have arranged themselves into a circular firing squad. While the Dems scramble for votes in the June 2 primary, the two Republicans lead in the polls because they’re splitting the GOP vote, and under the rules of the top-two primary, they could face off in the November election.

Lopez fantasizes about how the recall effort would take shape, should a Republican win:

A wealthy Democratic donor could bankroll the recall campaign, Stutzman said. Or public employee unions might put up the money, given that a Republican winner is likely to create a state version of Elon Musk’s ham-handed attempt to fire nearly everyone on the federal payroll.

“The pitch,” Stutzman said of the recall strategy in an email, would be that “Trump still looms and CA must resist, and a GOP gov is a fluke of weird election law. Difficult to imagine it wouldn’t succeed.”

The most amazing thing about this column is that it barely even touches on why a Republican could win the election. California is losing population for the first time in history. The state has the highest taxes in the country. People are still struggling to rebuild their homes from wildfires that happened more than a year ago. Even the entertainment industry is deserting California.

Instead of focusing on this, the columnist’s entire premise boils down to: Here’s how we can make sure a Democrat wins and how we can sabotage the winning Republican if it comes down to that.

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DOJ sues California towing company for auctioning off US military members’ vehicles

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California-based S&K Towing, Inc., accusing the company of illegally auctioning off vehicles owned by US servicemembers in violation of federal law.

According to the DOJ, the San Clemente towing company sold or otherwise disposed of as many as 148 vehicles belonging to military personnel between August 28, 2020, and April 15, 2025. Many of the vehicles were reportedly towed from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Federal prosecutors allege that S&K failed to comply with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which requires towing companies to obtain a court order before selling or disposing of a vehicle owned by a protected servicemember. The DOJ noted that S&K’s contract with Camp Pendleton required the company to follow all applicable state and federal laws.

“Towing companies must respect and abide by the federal laws that protect members of our Armed Forces,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Dhillon said servicemembers are often away for long stretches because of training or deployment and may not even know their vehicle has been towed.

She added that the SCRA is intended to ensure troops receive basic legal protections, including notice and the opportunity to have towing and storage fees adjusted while they are serving.

First Assistant US Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California said servicemembers “deserve peace of mind” that their legal rights will be protected while they are away serving the country. “It is unacceptable for a business to sell or dispose of servicemembers’ vehicles without abiding by the laws that protect servicemembers,” Essayli said.

The DOJ also alleged that S&K was explicitly warned about the issue in May 2024, when a Military Legal Assistance attorney contacted the company and explained that it was violating the SCRA. According to the lawsuit, a manager at S&K responded: “We do this all the time.”

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Whistleblower Points Finger at Gavin Newsom as Congress Digs Into California Hospice Fraud

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said his committee is focusing its investigation on alleged large-scale hospice fraud in California following a state audit that identified billions in questionable spending.

During a televised exchange, Sandra Smith introduced the issue by pointing to the scope of the allegations, stating, “California focusing on allegations of rampant hospice fraud, another wasteful spending on taxpayer dollars.”

Smith then asked Comer about the direction of the investigation, saying, “Let’s bring in our House Oversight Committee Chairman, James Comer, welcome to you, Mr. Chairman. So where is your energy focused here?”

Comer responded by outlining the committee’s current priorities, saying, “We’re focused solely on hospice fraud in California, specifically in Los Angeles County.”

He referenced the findings of a recent audit, stating, “A state audit just came out and confirmed that there’s at least three and a half billion dollars, billion dollars in hospice fraud, primarily in one county, Los Angeles County, in California.”

Comer emphasized the scale of the alleged fraud relative to federal spending, saying, “That three and a half billion dollar price tag represents over 10% of the total bill for the federal government, for hospice in all 50 states, in every city and every state in America.”

He said the audit raised clear concerns about systemic issues, stating, “So the red flags are there that there was rampant fraud.”

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GOING VIRAL: Self-Proclaimed Murderer Allegedly Freed by Gov. Gavin Newsom from Life in Prison Publicly ENDORSES Him for President 

When California Governor Gavin Newsom decides to run for president, he can apparently count on at least one group of reliably Democratic voters: criminals.

In a video going viral today, independent journalist Nick Shirley asks people whether they would consider voting for Newsom in the next presidential election.

Things get a bit wild when Shirley confronts a man walking backwards. The person drops a bombshell, which leaves Shirley stunned: he says he will vote for Newsom because the governor freed him from a life sentence.

Shirley goes on to say that he can’t blame him for supporting Newsom. Then, he asks the man what he was locked up for.

The man then tells the journalist he was imprisoned for murder, carjacking, and robbery.

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