It’s been more than four decades yet Rhonda Campbell’s voice still quavered as she stood before a row of television cameras recalling the day in 1981 when a repeat drunk driver killed her 12-year-old sister. She remembers her father crying as he told her what happened, still hears her mother’s scream when the coffin lid closed.
A woman who, while driving and texting, killed a 21-year-old bicyclist and then fled the scene is scheduled to be released after serving less than a third of her nine-year sentence. The victim’s mother is livid.
“How can you do this, be a repeat offender, kill somebody and serve two and a half years of a nine-year sentence?” said Kellie Montalvo, referencing the offender’s time in custody after being sentenced. “It’s completely outrageous to us.”
Costa Mesa, CA – Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris joined Costa Mesa city leaders, including Mayor John Stephens and Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Chavez, along with community members for the groundbreaking of the Ketchum-Libolt Park improvement project, supported in part by $1.2 million in funding she helped secure in the California State Budget. The upgrades reflect a continued commitment to public safety, neighborhood investment, and enhancing quality recreational spaces for Costa Mesa residents.
California lawmakers introduced a bipartisan legislative package to crack down on drunk driving in the state.
"California is the epicenter of America's drunk driving crisis," said State Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, who authored one of the bills.
In addition to longer license suspensions and increased training for law enforcement, the bill package aims to require first-time offenders to install an interlocking ignition device, which requires a breathalyzer test to start a car. Petrie-Norris has tried to push the bill through the state legislature twice before.
California lawmakers are taking aim at the state's dangerous driver problem with a new package of bipartisan legislation announced Tuesday. The proposals seek to address roadway safety issues uncovered by CalMatters' investigative "License to Kill" series, which revealed how weak laws and enforcement have contributed to rising traffic deaths across the state.
Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris and Orange County Coastkeeper hosted a river channel cleanup on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Santa Ana-Delhi Channel near Upper Newport Bay. Volunteers collected nearly 1,000 pounds of trash ranging from large bulky items to plastic bags, bottles, cigarettes and other micro plastics that would otherwise end up in Upper Newport Bay and along the coastline.
Even after the exceptional reporting by CalMatters in its License to Kill series, which demonstrated how California is failing its residents through lax enforcement and weak traffic safety laws, the 2025 Legislature still failed to pass Assembly Bill 366.
A bipartisan group of state Assembly members today announced a package of bills to crack down on dangerous drivers and address some of the roadway safety issues CalMatters uncovered as part of its ongoing License to Kill series.
Costa Mesa, CA – Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris and Orange County Coastkeeper hosted a river channel cleanup on Saturday, January 31, at the Santa Ana-Delhi Channel near Upper Newport Bay. Volunteers collected nearly 1,000 pounds of trash ranging from large bulky items to plastic bags, bottles, cigarettes and other micro plastics that would otherwise end up in Upper Newport Bay and along the coastline.