In California: After 25 years, arrest in Kristin Smart case brings relief and new anguish
Plus: A huge fight brews over water, Disneyland changes its dress code, and a $48 million mansion goes on sale in Pasadena.
In California brings you top Golden State stories and commentary from across the Paste BN Network and beyond. Get it free, straight to your inbox. I'm Julie Makinen, California editor for the USA Today Network, bringing you Tuesday's key headlines.
Arrest in 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart
Kristin Smart was 19 when she vanished while walking back to her dorm at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. At 6-feet-1-inch tall, she was beautiful and energetic — but also, friends said, could be quite reserved.
She's been missing for almost 25 years. Authorities on Tuesday arrested Paul Flores, a longtime person of interest in the disappearance of the Stockton college student.
Investigators and Smart's family had focused on Flores, the last person seen with her, since the early days of the case. But while his arrest marked a dramatic development, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Smart's body has still not been found.
Flores, 44, was arrested at his home in San Pedro and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail. He has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail, Parkinson said at a press conference. Paul Flores's father, 80-year-old Ruben, was simultaneously arrested in San Luis Obispo County on suspicion of accessory to murder. He is being held on $250,000 bail.
The sheriff talked to the family twice Tuesday and said “they're feeling a bit of relief.”
Parkinson said he has assured the family his investigators will continue to search for Smart's body. “But, as you can imagine, until we return Kristin, to them, this is not over,” he said. “We have committed to them that we are not going to stop until Kristin has been recovered, no matter what the cost, no matter what the time.”
The news comes about a month after the sheriff named Flores, a former Cal Poly student, the "prime suspect" in the case and investigators searched his father's home and property in the city of Arroyo Grande, about 15 miles south of the university, using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs. Authorities were still serving search warrants Tuesday afternoon at Paul Flores’ home and that of his father, Parkinson said.
Read more about who Smart was.
Timeline: The key moments in Kristin Smart's 1996 disappearance
California pauses use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine
When he got vaccinated, Gov. Gavin Newsom got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, Newsom said that “out of an abundance of caution,” California would follow the advice of CDC and FDA officials to pause use of the J&J shot after six women in the U.S. developed serious blood clots within about two weeks of their vaccinations and one died.
The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been making up a steadily greater share of California’s coronavirus vaccinations — about 10% of a total of 8.5 million so far, up from 2% on March 15, according to the Los Angeles Times coronavirus tracker. Pfizer accounts for 48% and Moderna for 41%.
Federal health officials said for those who got the J&J vaccine more than a month ago, the risk of severe complications is low. But those vaccinated in the last three weeks should be aware to look for severe headaches, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath. If any of those occur, they should contact a health provider.
California bill to ban fracking dies, but other oil regulation measures win votes
A tough bill that would have banned oil and gas production across California and required a 2,500-foot buffer between drilling sites and schools, home and playgrounds died in a committee vote in Sacramento on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 467 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Monique Limon (D-San Francisco) failed to muster the five votes needed to move it out of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.
Wiener decried the lack of a statewide public health buffer as "a stain" on California's vaunted global environmental reputation, noting even oil-friendly Texas has one.
"In California it is legal to drill next to someone's home and that is indefensible. And when Texas has setbacks and California doesn't, I think that speaks volumes," said Wiener. "No offense to Texas."
But three other bills to tackle the state's aging oil industry and its long-troubled top industry regulator all advanced, including one by Limon that would raise to $100 million the required industry funds for plugging and abandoning tens of thousands of idle wells. An expert study concluded last year that as much as $5 billion might be needed, and Limon and others said they don't want taxpayers stuck footing the bills.
Tensions rise in water battle along Oregon-California line
One of the worst droughts in memory in a massive agricultural region straddling the California-Oregon border could mean steep cuts to irrigation water for hundreds of farmers this summer to sustain endangered fish species critical to local tribes, Associated Press reports.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water allocations in the federally owned Klamath Project, is expected to announce this week how the season's water will be divvied up after delaying the decision a month.
For the first time in 20 years, it's possible that the 1,400 irrigators who have farmed for generations on 225,000 acres (91,000 hectares) of reclaimed farmland will get no water at all — or so little that farming wouldn't be worth it. Several tribes in Oregon and California are equally desperate for water to sustain threatened and endangered species of fish central to their heritage.
A network of six wildlife refuges that make up the largest wetland complex west of the Mississippi River also depend on the project's water, but will likely go dry this year.
The competing demands over a vanishing natural resource foreshadow a difficult and tense summer in a region where farmers, conservationists and tribes have engaged in years of legal battles over who has greater rights to an ever-dwindling water supply. Two of the tribes, the Klamath and Yurok, hold treaties guaranteeing the protection of their fisheries.
Disneyland adopts ‘gender inclusive’ hair and dress rules for employees — but don't even think of a pink dye job.
The Mouse House is relaxing some of its famously tight rules on what employees can and can't wear while on the job, the Orange County Register reports.
Disneyland will let employees to choose from gender-inclusive hairstyles, fingernail styles, jewelry and theme park costumes that provide more flexibility of personal expression in a major change to the theme park’s dress code.
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced the gender-inclusive policy change to the Disney Look on Tuesday, April 13 in a post on the Disney Parks Blog.
Previously, the Disney Look guidelines had specific rules on the length of men’s hair and sideburns. Men could not wear nail polish in the past. Disney famously did not allow mustaches and beards on men — a policy that has since changed. Previous Disney Look guidelines included specifics on female hairstyles and color.
Hairstyles still must be of a naturally occurring hue. Bright pink, green and blue hair is still not permitted. Nail polish must be of one solid color with no charms or adornments.
An estate with its own museum goes on sale in Pasadena
Despite the pandemic, many Californians are on the move. If you're looking to upgrade your digs, consider this $48 million estate, complete with its own "museum."
The property includes a 12,300-square-foot house with six bedrooms, swimmer's pool, spa, a "lavish pavilion," bbq, pizza oven, putting green, on 2.45 acres of resort-like grounds. The adjoining "Entertainment Gallery" is a 20,000-square-foot structure with a 38-foot high atrium, an authentic Tiki bar, a 46-seat movie theater, game arcade, card room, gym, conference rooms, lounges, catering kitchen plus a guest apartment. And don't worry, on the few days a year it rains, a private underground passage, served by commercial elevators, connects the 2 buildings.
In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Orange County Register. Julie Makinen is California editor for the USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @Julie_Makinen