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Bear hides out under couple’s Sierra Madre house – NBC Los Angeles

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Bear hides out under couple’s Sierra Madre house – NBC Los Angeles


A Sierra Madre couple has few complaints about the reclusive tenant who moved in a few weeks ago.

He mostly minds his own business, leaves late at night, and comes back home early in the morning without bothering anyone, Bob Nesler and Susan Nesler said.

“He does leave piles of scat,” Bob Nesler said. “That’s about my biggest complaint.”

And that’s to be expected, as a black bear is living in the crawlspace under the Neslers’ home in the San Gabriel Valley foothills.

Bear sightings in the community on the southern edge of Angeles National Forest are not uncommon, which helps explain why the Neslers are not overly concerned about the bear they have named “Junior.”

The Neslers have been in contact with wildlife officials but said they only want “Junior” removed if it can be done humanely.

They’ve captured several photos on a motion-activated camera installed by California Fish and Wildlife agents that show what appears to be the face of an older large black bear. One video showed the bear lumbering down North Sunnyside Avenue on a cool September day.

“He comes in, apparently, around 5, 5:30 in the morning and leaves late at night,” Susan Nesler said. “He hasn’t caused any problems for us, other than we need to get him to leave, for safety’s sake.”

Fish and wildlife agents were in the neighborhood Monday.

“We would wait for the bear to leave the crawlspace,” said Kevin Howells, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And then, I would work with the homeowner to maybe get that space boarded up with something more robust.”

Black bears, which can have different color coats, like to feed on plants, insects, nuts, berries and whatever else they think of as edible — such as the contents of trash bins. If food is scarce in their natural habitat, bears are likely to forage elsewhere, bringing them into Southern California foothill neighborhoods.

California’s black bear population has been on the rise over the last two decades, growing from an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 in the early 1980s to between 25,000 and 30,000 — and that’s a conservative estimate, according to the state department of fish and wildlife.

Black bears, recognized by their small, narrow heads and small ears, have coats that range in color from tan or brown to black. Females grow up to about 200 pounds and males can be a hefty 350 pounds with some giants weighing in at more than 600 pounds.

About half of the state’s bear population can be found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and areas to the north and west. Only an estimated 10 percent of the black bear population inhabits central western and southwestern California.

Although its on the state flag, the fearsome grizzly bear no longer can be found in the California wild. The last grizzly bear observed in California was shot in the early 1920s.



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Woman alleges Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped her on video – NBC Los Angeles

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Woman alleges Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs raped her on video – NBC Los Angeles


Another woman sued Sean “Diddy” Combs on Tuesday, alleging that the music mogul and his head of security raped her and recorded it on video at his New York recording studio in 2001.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, the latest of several similar suits against Combs, comes a week after he was was arrested and a federal sex trafficking indictment against him was unsealed.

Thalia Graves alleges that when she was 25 and dating an executive who worked for Combs in the summer of 2001, Combs and Joseph Sherman lured her to a meeting at Bad Boy Recording Studios. She said they picked her up in an SUV and during the ride gave her a drink “likely laced with a drug.”

According to the lawsuit, Graves lost consciousness and awoke to find herself bound inside Combs’ office and lounge at the studio. The two men raped her, slapped her, slammed her head against a pool table and ignored her screams and cries for help, the lawsuit alleges.

At a news conference in Los Angeles with one of her attorneys, Gloria Allred, Graves said she has suffered from “flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts” in the years since.

“It has been hard for me to trust others to form healthy relationships or even feel safe in my own skin,” Graves said, crying as she read from a statement.

She said it is “a pain that reaches into your very core of who you are and leaves emotional scars that may never fully heal.”

Hip hop superstar Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested late Monday after a federal grand jury indicted him on a series of charges including racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Combs remains jailed without bail in New York on federal charges alleging that he ran a vast network that facilitated sexual crimes and committed shocking acts of violence, using blackmail and other tactics to protect Combs and those close to him. Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills and Miami were raided by federal agents earlier this year.

He pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.

NBCLA has reached out to Comb’s attorney for comment on the lawsuit announced Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Graves’ lawsuit also alleges that late last year, after Combs’ former singing protege and girlfriend Cassie filed a lawsuit that began the surge of allegations against him, Graves learned through her former boyfriend that Combs had recorded her rape, shown it to others and sold it as pornography.

Graves’ lawsuit says both Combs and Sherman contacted her multiple times in the years after the assault, threatening repercussions if she told anyone what had happened to her. She was in a divorce and custody fight at the time and feared losing her young son if she revealed anything, the suit says.

Graves said at the news conference that the guilt and shame attached “often made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what happened to me.”

The lawsuit seeks damages to be determined at trial and for all copies of the video to be accounted for and destroyed.

“Defendants should be ordered to account for and destroy all copies of the video,” Allred said.

It also names as defendants several companies owned by Combs, the three-time Grammy winner and founder of Bad Boy Records who was among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.



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Ultrasound machine found abandoned in Whittier – NBC Los Angeles

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Ultrasound machine found abandoned in Whittier – NBC Los Angeles


A pair of puzzled men in Whittier were surprised and amused when they made a $10,000 discovery in the form of an ultrasound machine abandoned on the street.

Troy Silva was inside his restaurant on Whittier Boulevard on Friday when he got a text from his friend, Jason Barrio. The message urged him to go outside and see what his pal found.

“It was funny,” he said. “I mean, we were all laughing.”

Standing next to Barrio was a machine wrapped in plastic. After unpacking it, the men found it was a Hewlett-Packard ultrasound machine.

Confused but amused nonetheless, the two called the police to file a report. That was when they learned more information about the wayward machine.

“While we’re doing this, a van pulls up with two guys in it,” Silva said. “He calls over to me … he says a homeless guy abandoned it right there. He was pushing it down the boulevard and he left it there.”

The Whittier Police Department said it checked with two local hospitals, but neither was missing the machine. An investigator later learned the machine belongs to a local doctor who had recently moved his practice from the area to another location.

That doctor said he thought he’d taken all of his equipment but when he saw an image of the found machine, he realized the movers somehow missed it.

Officers said they plan to reunite the item with its rightful owner on Tuesday.



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Bill that would have allowed undocumented students to work on campus vetoed – NBC Los Angeles

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Bill that would have allowed undocumented students to work on campus vetoed – NBC Los Angeles


Citing concerns about a potential legal fallout, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed undocumented college students to work on campuses in California.

AB 2586 would have prohibited California colleges and universities from disqualifying students from being hired on campus if they were unable to provide proof of federal work authorization. The governor said his reason for the veto was federal funding potentially being at risk for employees and students since the federal law forbids employers from hiring undocumented individuals.

“I have to now struggle to figure out if I can even afford tuition for the next semester,” said Jeffrey Umana Munoz, a UCLA graduate who is studying for his master’s at Cal State LA. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish this master’s program.”

Munoz, who was brought to the US at the age of 2 from El Salvador, is part of a movement called Opportunity for All. The organization rallied across the UC and state college system to allow undocumented students to work.

Assemblymember David Alvarez, who authored the bill, said he found the veto a “profound disappointment” and said his efforts would not stop.

“Students who are legally allowed to study at California’s public colleges and universities should also be allowed to work to pay for their own education,” his statement read. “The students who worked together to bring this bill to the Legislature will continue to fight for it, and I will stand with them, along with the Latino Caucus.”

In the meantime, Opportunity for All will continue championing for its cause and said it plans to attend the UC Regents meeting in January to push for a similar bill.



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