Two injured in fiery, head-on collision involving vehicle, school bus: Police
(NEW YORK) — Two people were injured, including a student, after a vehicle collided head-on with a school bus in California in a fiery crash, authorities said.
The crash occurred around 7:30 a.m. PT Tuesday in Santa Cruz County, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A man driving a Kia Forte northbound on Green Valley Road began traveling in the southbound lane “for reasons under investigation,” CHP said in a press release.
A “head-on crash occurred between the Kia and the school bus,” CHP said.
The collision caused a fire and firefighters from CAL FIRE and the Pajaro Valley Fire District responded. Extensive fire damage could be seen to the front of the bus following the crash.
A 13-year-old girl on the school bus was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, CHP said.
The 28-year-old driver of the Kia was also transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, CHP said.
The driver of the school bus, which had 43 children on board, was uninjured, CHP said.
It is unclear what speed the Kia and school bus were traveling at, CHP said.
“The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” CHP said. “It is not believed that alcohol and/or drugs are factors in this crash.”
The bus was transporting students to Aptos junior and high schools, according to a Pajaro Valley Unified School District official.
“Immediate evacuation of all students took place, with first responders arriving promptly,” Jenny Im, the school district’s chief business officer, said in a letter to families. “Our bus driver and transportation department staff acted swiftly in response.”
Im said the incident “has understandably shaken all students involved,” while noting that the district is providing counseling services at both schools.
(NEW YORK) — A female student at Texas’ Rice University was shot and killed on Monday by a man authorities said she had been in a “dating relationship” with.
University police responded to a request for a welfare check around 4:30 p.m. local time and found the student, who was identified as Andrea Rodriguez Avila, deceased in her room. Police also discovered an “unidentified male with a self-inflicted … gunshot wound, who was not a member of the Rice community,” school president Reginald DesRoches told the media.
Chief of Police for Rice, Clemente Rodriguez, confirmed police found a note “written by the suspect” at the scene, leading to their belief that the male shot Avila.
“In general terms, it was a lot about their relationship, and then obviously they were having a troubled relationship at this time,” he said of the note, adding that officials believe it was a “dating relationship.”
DesRoches said the “Rice campus is safe, and there is no immediate threat” to the community.
“And tonight, we will wrap our arms around our students,” he added.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles County is choosing to continue with the “care first, jails last” approach when addressing the more than 75,000 individuals experiencing homelessness in the county, despite recent pressure from California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“We can’t arrest our way out of what’s going on in the streets,” said L.A. Board Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who is one of five board members who unanimously voted this week against Newsom’s executive order on dismantling homeless encampments across the state.
In his executive order on July 25, Newsom announced $24 billion in funding given to local governments across the state to address widespread homeless encampments, saying in a statement there are “simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
The governor’s order follows the Supreme Court’s landmark City of Grants Pass, Oregon, v. Johnson decision in June that gave localities the justification to fine and arrest people for sleeping outdoors on public property.
Barger maintained that she’s not at odds with Newsom’s order but rather supporting the ongoing work the board and its partners have been doing to solve the homelessness crisis in the county.
“The concern we have is if we’re not all on the same page, as it relates to how the Grants Pass decision impacts the ability to clean up encampments, we are going to be just moving people from one city to another,” Barger said of the 88 municipalities within Los Angeles County.
Showing a united front with the board of supervisors, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said during the meeting Tuesday, “Being homeless is not a crime, and we will maintain our focus on criminal behavior rather than an individual’s status.”
Barger believes the pathway to permanent results for the county’s unhoused population is paved with outreach, mental health services and job training, which she says “gets lost” in the conversation.
The “Care First, Jails Last” investment is the Measure J ballot initiative approved by voters in 2020 to set aside at least 10% of existing locally controlled, unrestricted revenues to be directed to community investment and alternatives to incarceration.
Within the measure is the Care First Community Investment (CFCI), which has received $88.3 million in annual allocation from the Board of Supervisors.
Additionally, the Sheriff’s Department’s Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) is a group of law enforcement officers who work with homeless services agencies to help people experiencing homelessness.
Supervisor Hilda Solis told ABC News the law enforcement partnership “has been an integral partner in our Care First approach.”
“Since their establishment, HOST has never resorted to arrests to address encampments in the public’s right of way or that pose a public health concern,” Solis said.
Despite pressure at the state level, Los Angeles City has in fact seen fewer people living on the streets in the last year.
The L.A. City Controller’s office confirmed to ABC News the city saw a 10,000-person decrease in the unhoused population between 2023 and 2024.
This month, the nonprofit policy organization RAND released a 2023 study that showed that in areas with frequent encampment clearings, those encampments returned within two to three months.
After mass clearings of the homeless encampments in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles, the share of unhoused people jumped from 20% to 46%, according to the study.
In a report released in June 2024, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) found that LA Municipal Code 41.18, which allows for encampment removal in certain areas, isn’t effective at reducing encampments or helping to house people — while costing over $3 million in two years, not including enforcement costs.
“I’ve never seen incarceration work to end homelessness, I’ve only seen that extend homelessness,” Downtown Women’s Center CEO Amy Turk told ABC News.
The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) is a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles focused on serving women and gender-diverse individuals experiencing homelessness.
Turk has worked directly with the unhoused population in Los Angeles for two decades, providing trauma-informed outreach, shelter and helping people towards permanent housing.
“When I’ve seen people move toward criminalization, dismantling an encampment and offering no place for people to go, then what you see is people move from one plot of land to another plot of land, and you’re not solving anything.”
However, others say the county and local organizations’ efforts to keep people off the streets are not noticeable on the ground floor, where encampments, they say, continue to impede the lives of other residents.
“I think it’s very clear that the programs and policies both at the city level and the county level, have failed to reduce the number of people on the streets in a significant and sustainable way,” Paul Webster, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for Human Rights (LAAHR), told ABC News.
“Residents, business owners and even people experiencing homelessness themselves, have for years have been told that things are improving and that the city and the county have enacted programs that would end homelessness in Los Angeles, and for years, that has not come to pass,” Webster added.
In 2020, LAAHR sued the City and County of Los Angeles, claiming that the city’s leaders were not doing enough to address the homelessness crisis.
Webster said the lawsuit demanded an increased number of shelter beds, increased access to mental health and drug abuse treatment and a return to the intended uses of public rights of way and public spaces.
In 2022, the lawsuit was settled with the county agreeing to pay $236 million to fund increased services, outreach, and interim housing.
“We’ve seen some progress,” Webster said two years after the suit, adding, “We’re still working to actively monitor and actively hold the city and the county accountable for these commitments.”
(NEW YORK) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging schools across the state to restrict students’ cellphone usage in classrooms, he said in a letter to schools.
Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest district in the U.S. — and Santa Barbara Unified have already implemented restrictions on the use of cellphones in schools.
In 2019, Newsom signed a bill into law granting districts the authority to regulate the use of the devices during school hours.
“Excessive smartphone use among youth is linked to increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 72% of high school and 33% of middle school teachers report cell phone distractions as a major problem,” Newsom wrote in the letter.
“Combined with the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about the risks of social media, it is urgent to provide reasonable guardrails for smartphone use in schools,” the letter said.
Newsom also argued that reducing the use of phones in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes and enhanced social interactions.
The push for limited cellphone usage in schools comes amid concerns from public health leaders that social media platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis among young people. In June, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called for a warning label to be added to social media platforms stating that social media usage can be associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.
Virginia also announced it will restrict cellphone use in public K-12 schools. Restrictions in that state are set to go into effect starting 2025.