California

SAN DIEGO (AP) — An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election.

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona, California and New Mexico.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Navy SEAL acquitted of killing a wounded war prisoner in Iraq says he’s “happy and grateful.”

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher spoke briefly with reporters Tuesday after a military jury in San Diego found him not guilty of murder and all but one other charge.

The jury is scheduled to sentence him Wednesday in San Diego.

Gallagher could face up to four months confinement after being convicted of a single charge of posing for photographs with a dead war casualty.

NEEDLES, Calif. (AP) — The Old West desert town of Needles, California, is where the beleaguered Joad family crossed the Colorado River into California in John Steinbeck’s classic novel “The Grapes of Wrath” and was a boyhood home to “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz.

These days, Needles is gaining notoriety for another reason. Leaders have declared it a “sanctuary city” for people who believe California’s strict gun laws have encroached too much on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The same military jurors who acquitted a decorated Navy SEAL of murder in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017 will return to court Wednesday to decide whether he should serve any jail time for the single charge he was convicted of: posing with the 17-year-old militant’s corpse.

The final step comes after the verdict Tuesday was met with an outpouring of emotion as the jury also cleared Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher of attempted murder in the shootings of two civilians and all other charges.

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A Facebook mail facility near company headquarters was evacuated Monday after a routine check found mail possibly containing the nerve agent sarin.

Authorities put the site under quarantine as they conducted additional testing. Four buildings were evacuated and three have been cleared for people to come back in, said Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison in a statement. The suspicious package was delivered around 11 a.m. to one of the company’s mail rooms, he said.

“Authorities have not yet identified the substance found,” Harrison wrote.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A woman who was prosecuted in Montana for trying to drown her baby son more than a decade ago has been accused of killing the now 12-year-old boy by drowning him in California, authorities said Monday.

Sheriff’s deputies found the boy and his 7-year-old brother unresponsive in a full irrigation canal near a cornfield. An autopsy said Jackson Telnas died of drowning, and officials said the younger boy is hospitalized in critical condition but didn’t detail what injuries he suffered.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It was called the “The Sewing Circle,” an unlikely name for a secret subsect of Navy SEALs. Its purpose was even more improbable: A chat forum to discuss alleged war crimes they said their chief, a decorated sniper and medic, committed on a recent tour of duty in Iraq.

The WhatsApp group would eventually lead to formal allegations that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher fatally stabbed a wounded Islamic State captive in his care and shot civilians in Iraq in 2017.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday prohibited President Donald Trump from tapping $2.5 billion in military funding to build high-priority segments of his prized border wall in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. in Oakland acted in two lawsuits filed by California and by activists who contended that the money transfer was unlawful and that building the wall would pose environmental threats.

LA CRESCENTA, Calif. (AP) — A hiker who was missing in the mountains north of Los Angeles for a week was found Saturday and has apparently survived in the wilderness by drinking water from a creek, authorities said.

A helicopter crew found Eugene Jo, 73, in a canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains and hoisted him to safety, Sgt. Greg Taylor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department said.

The crew flew him to a hospital to be examined.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple will manufacture its new Mac Pro computer in China, shifting away from a U.S. assembly line it had been using for that product in recent years, according to a report published Friday.

The company intends to assemble the new Mac Pro in a factory near Shanghai, according to The Wall Street Journal , which cited unidentified people familiar with the plan.

Apple issued a statement saying the new Mac Pro will be designed and engineered in California, but wouldn’t say where it will be assembled.