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Melissa Gomez

Melissa Gomez

Reporter at Los Angeles Times

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Location
United States
Covering topics
  • Education
Languages
  • English
Influence score
58
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Melissa Gomez
latimes.com

L.A.'s Oaxacan community rallies after wildfire devastates a region of Mexico famed for its mezca...

The photos and videos began flooding in Feb. 27. In a region of Oaxaca famous for its flavorful mezcal, a wildfire was raging dangerously close to the town of San Lucas Quiaviní. Massive plumes of smoke choked the horizon as the flames drove toward the town of 1,700. At nightfall, local officials put out an urgent call for volunteers to head out the next morning to beat back the fire. They asked for people over 18 who knew the roads and urged them to don helmets and face masks. It would be days…
latimes.com

2 Central Valley Democrats spar to challenge House Republican - Los...

On a recent Friday, state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) mingled with supporters inside the Kern County firefighters’ hall, posing for pictures, chitchatting about politics and raising $36 apiece from those seeking to elect her to replace the area’s Republican congressman. That same night, 30 miles north up State Route 99, Rudy Salas, a former Democratic member of the state Assembly and current Cal State Bakersfield professor, handed out hats and work boots as part of a food and clothing drive…
latimes.com

Beekeeper offers $100,000 reward in Fresno beehive thefts - Los Ang...

Andy Strehlow felt a deep and familiar sting when he saw the beehives were missing. Just days before, the bees had been trucked more than 1,700 miles from his bee farm in South Dakota to a sprawling almond orchard near Firebaugh in Fresno County. He’d unpacked the boxes — 416 hives housing millions of buzzing bees — and placed them strategically around the property so his bees could work their magic, pollinating the almond blossoms in time for a late-summer harvest. Three days later, on Jan. 31,…
latimes.com

High-speed rail is coming to the Central Valley. Residents see a ne...

The piling rig was in position, ready to drive a concrete pillar 40 feet into the ground. Just beyond the rig on this winter afternoon, trucks and cars continued streaming down State Road 198 in Hanford, separated from the construction site by white dividers. Then, the pile-driving began. Foot by foot, the rig’s hammer slammed the pillar into the ground with the rhythmic beat of a metronome. With every blow, the ground shook and exhaust spewed. The beam would be one more in a network of pillars…
latimes.com

Chaotic morning chase, collision in downtown L.A. streets ends in p...

A police pursuit Sunday morning in downtown Los Angeles led to a cruiser slamming into a “fixed object” and officers shooting a motorist. Officers said they saw a “reckless driver” around 9 a.m. in the Rampart area and attempted to make a traffic stop. The driver, a man in his mid-30s, failed to stop, and officers pursued him, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The chase came to a halt as the police cruiser collided with what has been described only as a “fixed object” at 12th Stree…
latimes.com

Pacoima pedestrian dies after being struck by 3 cars. None of them ...

Police are searching for the drivers of three vehicles who failed to stop after striking — one after another — a pedestrian in Pacoima late Friday night. At around 11:45 p.m., a man was crossing mid-block on San Fernando Road south of Montague Street in the San Fernando Valley community when he was struck by a wrong-way driver, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The light-colored pickup truck was traveling northbound in southbound lanes. The man, described as Latino and in his late 20s or e…
latimes.com

Migrants struggle against the elements in San Diego's open-air ... ...

For the last three months, residents in this remote border community in southeastern San Diego County have seen their population nearly double, climbing from 600 to 1,200 as migrants from around the globe cross over from Mexico. They cross into the punishing desert terrain at a point where the 30-foot steel border wall erected across the county in the Trump era abruptly ends, transitioning to erratic fencing and boulders riddled with gaps. Once on American soil, the migrants subsist in makeshift…

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latimes.com

LAUSD, former student settle suit over promoting milk alternatives ...

When Marielle Williamson was a senior at Eagle Rock High School, she wanted to make a difference in how her peers viewed cow’s milk. As the president of the Animal Awareness Club, she sought to educate her peers on the “lesser-known effects” that food choices have on animals and people. Her school hallways were covered in “Got Milk?” posters. But her own research showed how the dairy industry can have negative impact on the environment, including from methane gas emissions, as well as on animal…
latimes.com

California imports doctors from Mexico to fill gaping holes in ... ...

Neri Ortiz tucked her hands in her lap as she earnestly recounted her latest health episode to Dr. Eva Perusquia. Recently at work, where Ortiz packages vegetables overnight, she was hit with a wave of nausea and tears. She managed to pull herself together enough to continue her shift, she told the doctor. But it had been years since she’d experienced such an overwhelming emotional surge. Perusquia listened closely. Ortiz, 42, had been her patient since last year, after seeking out a Spanish-spe…
latimes.com

O.C. bishop dies: Tod David Brown settled church sex abuse suit ......

Bishop Emeritus Tod David Brown, who became known for settling one of the largest sexual abuse cases brought against the Catholic Church, has died, the Diocese of Orange announced. Brown died early Sunday at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange after a long battle with lymphoma, said Msgr. Tuan Joseph Pham, a close friend. Brown was 86. Brown was the third bishop for the Diocese of Orange, which was created from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1976, and the first California bishop to settl…
latimes.com

Soy mexicoamericana. Pero la filtración del audio del Ayuntamiento ...

Como mexicoamericana, me encanta ser de dos mundos. He pensado más en mis raíces y en lo que significa ser oaxaqueño. Luego vino la filtración del audio del Ayuntamiento de Los Ángeles.