Latest news with #Sacramento
CBS News
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
New Lego-themed store builds buzz in Sacramento's greenhaven neighborhood
Legos remain popular eight decades after they were first made, and now a new store is opening in Sacramento. We got an inside look at the newest place to play. Dylan Anderson is the general manager of a new Lego-themed store called Bricks and Minifigs in Sacramento's Greenhaven neighborhood. The store has shelves full of new products and will buy, sell, and trade used Legos. The variety seems endless, from pirates and Harry Potter to Fortnite and floral arrangements. Some Lego sets actually go up in value and are worth more than a thousand dollars. The grand opening is this weekend, but Lego fans of all ages are already coming in to take a look. "You're putting all these little pieces together, and eventually, it becomes something big and something that you can show off to everybody," one man said. The store has a community room where people can hold Lego parties and classes. They're also hoping to work with local schools to teach science and engineering lessons using Legos. "We can teach tensile strength, we can teach longitudinal rigidity or any other engineering concept," Anderson said. Whether it's picking up a handful of Legos in the bulk bin or starting a new set from scratch, there are countless ways to begin building memories. "You're imagination is the limit," Anderson said. Bricks and Minifigs is located in the Bel Air shopping center on Rush River Drive. The grand opening is this Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
CBS News
6 hours ago
- CBS News
Sacramento youth cheer, football teams frustrated with unsafe public park bathrooms
A mother is speaking out after she said the bathrooms at the park where her youth football and cheer team practices have become unsanitary and unsafe. The Dragon Youth Organization practices at Lawrence Park in South Sacramento off of Fruitridge Road. Sabrina Lovelady, the team mom, said the organization is made up of 100 children between 4 and 14 years old. They pay about $30 a day for a permit to practice at the park. She said the team has only been there for three weeks, but the issues with the bathrooms are becoming more than just gross. She said they're becoming dangerous. "I saw his private parts and I told my girls, 'Please do not come in here, please walk away,' " said Nevaeh Lovelady, the 16-year-old cheer coach who is also the daughter of Sabrina. Nevaeh was traumatized after taking girls on her team to the women's restroom only to find a man with the stall door open, exposing himself. "I can't even let them go wash their hands without looking over my shoulder 50 times because we have people posted up at every corner and I am not sure if they are going to snatch them up," Sabrina said. Sabrina is calling out the city to do more for the children's safety. She has been documenting what has been happening inside the park restrooms: finding stalls trashed, overflown toilets, drug paraphernalia and said suspicious strangers sometimes stop to watch the children. "We are here to keep the kids off the street and the city voices that it wants to do that and partnership, but where are you guys?" Sabrina said. The city recently repainted the restrooms and added two porta potties on Friday, but by the time the team arrived Monday, it was already trashed. "Porta potties are almost overflown," Sabrina said. "There's two homeless people locked in one bathroom lighting things on fire." The city said the problem is that it does not have the staff or funding. It said it is working on a plan to limit restroom access at the park for only permitted events like practices. "They are just mad at society and it's their way to get back at society for whatever reason," said Trevor Seifferc, who is homeless. The city's park maintenance manager sent an email to Sabrina on Wednesday morning that said in part: "Every person on my team, including myself, wishes to desperately to prevent the terrible things that are happening within Lawrence Park, but it is not within our current capabilities. the awful things that are happening at Lawrence Park are just one representation of similar events that occur at many of our parks across the city. Our society has a problem, and it can only be solved at societal level." The city said it maintains hundreds of parks, so staff is stretched thin. It plans to do more patrols in the area when it can. The City of Sacramento gave CBS13 this statement: "We're currently reviewing options to limit restroom access at this location only for permitted park events. Additionally, Park Rangers will look to increase park and restroom checks during the group's permitted events as staffing allows. These efforts are being evaluated alongside ongoing resource considerations. The City maintains over 200 parks, each with different levels of usage and maintenance needs, and our ability to respond quickly is often constrained by available staffing and funding." CBS13 also reached out to the Sacramento Police Department, but it deferred us to the city park rangers.
CBS News
9 hours ago
- CBS News
Oakland man arrested after $1 million Sacramento County jewelry store smash-and-grab
Authorities announced the arrest of one man in connection with a $1 million smash-and-grab robbery that took place in Sacramento County over the July 4 holiday weekend, as they search for additional suspects. According to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, deputies were called to a jewelry store near Stockton Boulevard and Orange Avenue in South Sacramento around 1:15 p.m. on July 6. Deputies said at least eight suspects arrived at the store in two separate vehicles. One of the suspects pepper-sprayed a security guard as they were entering the store, while a ninth suspect held the door open. Two suspects used blunt objects to smash display cases and ransack the store. Video provided by the sheriff's office showed multiple suspects gathering large amounts of jewelry worth about $1 million. The video then shows the suspects fleeing the scene in the two vehicles, which were parked in front of the store. Multiple customers and employees were in the store at the time the robbery took place, deputies said. Following the incident, deputies were able to identify a primary suspect in the case. The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Leo Smith of Oakland, was arrested in Hayward. According to the sheriff's office, Smith had a loaded firearm in his vehicle at the time of his arrest. Jail records show Smith is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on charges of robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Smith is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. Deputies said they are still working to identify the other suspects in the robbery. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office at 916-874-5115 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jesse Powell cleared by DoJ, slams FBI raid as ‘personally devastating'
Jesse Powell cleared by DoJ, slams FBI raid as 'personally devastating' originally appeared on TheStreet. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has closed its investigation into the co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform Kraken, and no charges were filed. The probe originated from a September 2022 FBI raid on Powell's Los Angeles residence, conducted by agents who claimed they suspected Powell had committed cyberstalking and tampered with the online accounts of the Verge Center for the Arts, a Sacramento-based nonprofit. In 2022, the Verge leadership removed Powell as a board member of the organization for violating the group's basic 'principles'. Powell went on to sue Verge and its leaders for fraud and defamation.A U.S. attorney stated that a properly authorized investigation into allegations of criminal conduct had been opened, according to The New York Times, and the case was closed in April of this year. But the letter also said that authorities hold the option to reopen the investigation later on. In a statement to the New York Times on Tuesday, Jesse Powell said the FBI's raid on his home had been "personally and professionally devastating". He said he plans to press ahead with his lawsuit against Verge, the nonprofit he founded in 2007. Interestingly, on X, the founder wrote, "very glad to have this behind me. It never made sense, but neither does @rstormsf's trial. How quickly you can have your life upended. I am grateful for those who saw through it, and for my stellar legal team now, turning my attention back to Kraken." FBI crackdowns on crypto firms Powell's statement was also in solidarity with Roman Storm, the developer of Tornado Cash—a crypto mixing service that is supposed to make digital transactions untraceable. In 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department blacklisted another DeFi company, Tornado Cash, stating that it had facilitated the laundering of cybercrime proceeds, including over $455 million stolen by Lazarus, a North Korean hacking group, according to FBI also went after Samourai Wallet, in 2024, a Bitcoin wallet service which bears some resemblance to Tornado Cash, arresting its founders on charges of conspiring to launder money. During the administration of President Joe Biden, the crypto industry came under increased scrutiny, with a number of exchanges and their founders accused of money laundering and other crimes. Now, led by President Donald Trump, many of the cases are being dismissed, and some of the people involved were even granted presidential pardons. Jesse Powell cleared by DoJ, slams FBI raid as 'personally devastating' first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 23, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Independent
20 hours ago
- The Independent
Famous peacocks and peahens ‘stolen' from historic hotel
Dozens of peacocks and peahens, a beloved presence at a historic Art Deco hotel in Sacramento Delta, have vanished, with staff suspecting the birds were stolen. The alarm was raised after a customer at the Ryde Hotel reported seeing two men on Sunday placing one of the distinctive birds into a cage on the back of a pickup truck. A subsequent count by staff revealed only four of their exotic flock remained. David Nielsen, the hotel's general manager, expressed the profound distress felt by his team. "We're not sure why anyone would do anything like this, but the staff is absolutely heartbroken," he said. Authorities are now investigating the incident as a property crime. Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, confirmed the male birds are valued at $2,000 each and the peahens at $1,000 apiece. The birds had become a signature of the hotel, having reproduced significantly since the owner acquired an initial five 14 years ago to roam the grounds. Staff fed them leftovers of fillet mignon, prime rib and salmon, and over time, the birds became tamer. They got used to people, and the employees began seeing them as pets, even naming some of them. Rafe Goorwitch, the hotel's catering coordinator, said he fed a group of about 15 peafowls twice every day. He named the biggest one Alibaba, Baba for short, because he would walk through the hotel like he owned the place. 'I joked with the owner that we worked for Baba because he would walk through the dinner rooms, the ballrooms and the garden with this attitude that he was the boss,' Goorwitch said. Peacocks tend to be aloof, but Baba "became like a dog,' he said. Since the news about the missing birds became public, people have been calling the hotel with tips and possible sightings, including reports of neighbors with new peacock pets, Nielsen said. Hotel staff are hoping the birds are found and returned home. For now, the hotel has added better and more surveillance cameras, and there are plans to add more fencing. 'They really meant a lot to us,' Nielsen said.
