On Oct. 31, 1940, Pvt. John G. Winbury gives a hug to his son, Robert Austin Winbury, 2, as he prepares to sail to Hawaii with the California National Guard 251st Coast Artillery unit.

By Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer NEW YORK >> Just two days after being named host of the Academy Awards, Kevin Hart stepped down following an outcry over past homophobic tweets by the comedian. Capping a swift and dramatic fallout, Hart wrote on Twitter just after midnight Friday that he was withdrawing as Oscars host…

A former Orange County CEO accused of providing insider information to ex-Angel’s star Doug DeCinces has agreed to a more than $1 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, leading federal prosecutors to drop the criminal indictment he was facing. After a pair of criminal trials ended in deadlocked juries, the civil settlement…

Riverside police arrested a community college and high school employee from Laguna Niguel on Tuesday, Dec. 4, on suspicion of soliciting a minor for sex. Authorities learned of a male suspect who had offered to pay a person who was presenting themselves as a girl under the age of 18 for a sexual encounter, according…

Retired Newport Beach city manager Dave Kiff will give part-time assistance – free of charge – to Costa Mesa while it seeks a new, permanent city manager. Tammy Letourneau, Costa Mesa’s assistant city manager, has been filling in since Tom Hatch left the post abruptly in November after eight years. Kiff left Newport in August and became…

Search and rescue team members pulled a man trapped by rushing water out of a La Habra wash Thursday afternoon, Dec. 6. Officials with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the wash canal that runs beneath West Lambert Road, near Monte Vista Street, about 12:40 p.m., said Joey Marron, an inspector with the…

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Developers behind the Inn at the Mission San Juan Capistrano project are ahead in the city’s contentious hotel race, at least for now. San Juan Capistrano has two proposals for hotels in its downtown historic district – Inn at the Mission San Juan Capistrano (formerly Plaza Banderas) and Hotel Capistrano by…

An intense storm brought record rainfall for downtown Los Angeles, with nearly two inches of rain measured by midafternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Rainfall measured at the University of Southern California station reached 1.90 inches, beating the previous record of 1.01 inches set on Dec. 6, 1997, the NWS said in a tweet….

Shepha Schneirsohn Vainstein didn’t know where her mom was. The smashed red tile roof of her Agoura Hills home had become the floor. The fireplace was now exposed, its stony chimney set hard against a blue morning sky. A brick oven survived in the kitchen. A washer and dryer a few feet away — scorched…

Portrait of comedian Phyllis Diller with fruitcake.