• Tue. May 26th, 2026

The Pulse of Southern California

Taylor Swift’s new trademark filings aim to protect voice, likeness

Taylor Swift is entering her trademark era. The global pop star’s company, TAS Rights Management, filed three new trademark applications last week, per the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Two…

Supreme Court wary of barring police from phone searches to find crime suspects

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether the police use of phone tracking data violates the Constitution’s protection against “unreasonable searches.” Most of the justices sounded…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sorry he didn’t report Canada shooting suspect

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman apologized to a Canadian community for failing to alert police about a mass shooting suspect’s conversations with its chatbot. Authorities said Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18,…

Billionaire-tax backers say they have enough signatures — times two — to qualify for ballot

Supporters of a billionaire tax said Sunday that they had gathered nearly twice as many signatures as necessary to qualify the controversial proposal for the November ballot. Opponents of the…

Why Meta is laying off 10% of its workforce

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is planning to lay off 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, in May, as it seeks to cut costs to…

Is baseball next? Ping-pong robot beats elite humans in AI milestone

A few days ago came the astonishing news that the world record in the half-marathon was obliterated by a 5-foot-5 humanoid robot named Lightning in Beijing. Now a robot named…

City officials ask how thousands of sensitive LAPD files got leaked

In the aftermath of a recent data breach that saw hackers make off with a vast trove of confidential police records, L.A. leaders have sought an explanation from the city’s…

Santa Monica Breakfast Club Mad Hatter Tea Party April 26

The Santa Monica Breakfast Club will hold its ninth annual Mad Hatter Tea Party fundraiser Sunday, April 26, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Santa Monica YMCA Event Space,…

Apple’s next era: After Tim Cook’s dream run, new CEO has to help the company catch up

Tim Cook had a lot to prove when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs handed over the reins as chief executive nearly 15 years ago. Jobs was known as a creative visionary,…

Don R McCowan, Santa Monica Civil Servant, Dies at 79

Don R. McCowan passed peacefully at home in his native Santa Monica, California on Sunday, April 12, 2026, after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. Don was a loving and devoted…