Los Angeles, California - Longtime politician Mark Ridley-Thomas and the former dean of the School of Social Work at a university in Southern California were indicted on federal corruption charges that allege a bribery scheme in which a Ridley-Thomas relative received substantial benefits from the university in exchange for Ridley-Thomas supporting county contracts and lucrative contract amendments with the university while he served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

San Jose, California - On October 7, a grand jury returned an indictment against Kenneth Gould, 65, of Clovis, charging him with bank larceny for stealing over $1 million from a federally insured financial institution, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Los Angeles, California - A West Covina man was sentenced today to 36 months in federal prison for laundering more than $900,000 in drug money over a two-year period via a “Black Market Peso Exchange” for Mexico-based drug traffickers.

San Jose, California - Demaiz Inc., doing business as Mex-tamale Foods, a San Jose, California establishment, is recalling approximately 20,759 pounds of pork and beef tamales due to misbranding and undeclared allergen, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The product contains sesame seeds, an allergen, which is not declared on the final product label.

Washington, DC - The United States remains seriously concerned at the continued erosion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including political participation, in Hong Kong. We note in particular the increase in politically-motivated prosecutions, including through the National Security Law, targeting Hong Kong’s teachers, labor unions, lawyers, journalists, health care workers, student unions, and individual citizens.  We again call on the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to release those unjustly detained and cease their crackdown on peaceful civil society organizations.  We once more urge Beijing to abide by its treaty obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Sacramento, California - Amid global disruptions to the goods movement supply chain, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed an executive order directing state agencies to identify additional ways to alleviate congestion at California ports. The executive order builds on earlier efforts this year by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to ease supply chain issues by engaging the diverse network of stakeholders along the supply chain to discuss key challenges and identify short-term and long-term solutions. Record demand for imported goods combined with capacity issues across the entire supply chain have slowed distribution at ports on the California coast.