WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued the following letter on Sept. 10, 2024: * * * Subject: APHIS Expands the Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing) Quarantined Area in California To: State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials Effective immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the are  more

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued the following letter on Sept. 10, 2024: * * * Subject: APHIS Expands the Sweet Orange Scab Quarantined Area in California To: State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials Effective immediately, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), is expanding the areas quarantined  more

SAN JOSE, California, Sept. 12 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California issued the following news release: Five members of the self-proclaimed "Murder Squad," a crew of Salinas-based Norteno criminal street gang members falling under the Monterey County Regiment Enterprise affiliated with the Nuestra Familia prison gang, were sentenced to a combined 161 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, announced  more

LOS ANGELES, California, Sept. 13 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for Central District of California issued the following news release on Sept. 12, 2024: Yosef Y. Manela, a Los Angeles-based businessman who owns and operates an accounting firm, law firm and consulting company, has paid $802,341 to the United States to resolve allegations that he and his three companies violated the False Claims Act in connection with six loans the businesses received under the Paycheck Protection Program (PP  more

SAN FRANCISCO, California, Sept. 13 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California issued the following news release: A federal grand jury indicted three defendants in connection with alleged schemes to import from China, fraudulently market, and illegally transport the hazardous chemical trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA), in violation of various U.S. laws and regulations. One of the defendants, Jermoine "Jay" C. Brantley (aka Jay E. Johnson), 52, of Murrieta, Calif.  more