Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Two people have been arrested over the alleged murder of Christina Downer, the sister of Saturday Night Live writer Jimmy Fowlie, after an investigation by Los Angeles police. Downer, 38, was reported missing in December 2025 after her ex-husband requested a welfare check. Her boyfriend at the time, Delorean Brandon, said she had moved out several months earlier, leaving behind her belongings, car and dog. Detectives began investigating after Downer’s mobile phone washed ashore at Santa Monica Beach. Police identified Brandon as one of the people allegedly responsible for her murder. The second suspect has been named as 34-year-old Kaylee…

A 41-year-old woman has been charged over an alleged bushfire in Perth Hills that threatened homes and caused delays at Perth Airport. Western Australia Police allege the Kalamunda resident visited a firebreak near Holmes Road and Whistlepipe Court in Forrestfield between 1.30pm and 1.40pm on Thursday, October 29. She is accused of using a mobile heat source to start several fires along the firebreak. Police arrested her the following day and charged her with four counts of wilfully lighting or causing to be lit a fire likely to injure or damage. The woman is expected to appear in Perth Magistrates…

Four tankers are on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after striking naval mines, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said. The IRGC said the vessels were travelling along what Tehran described as “unauthorised routes” when they hit the mines. No further details about the tankers or the fires were provided.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is urging voters to back three measures that would reshape the running of City Hall, as the city prepares to decide on Propositions D, E and F in Tuesday’s election. The proposals would tighten the rules for placing measures on the ballot, expand the authority of the city administrator and give the mayor greater power over department heads. Lurie has presented the package as a chance to cut spending and make responsibility within the city government clearer. “We have a generational opportunity to clean up City Hall,” Mr Lurie said. “D, E, and F is…

A 31-year-old man has been extradited from Victoria to Sydney and charged over the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in Epping two years ago. Police allege the woman, who was then 36, was forced into a Toyota Camry by a group of unknown men on the evening of Saturday, April 20, 2024. Officers from Ryde Police Area Command attended at about 6.45pm after receiving reports of a kidnapping. A crime scene was established and detectives from Strike Force Held began investigating. The woman was found at another address in Sydney’s west at about 1pm the following day.…

Jane Fields, the wife of former Ford Motor Company chief executive Mark Fields, is suing an ultra-exclusive Utah mountain community after alleging that she and a friend were removed from a women’s golf competition to make way for male members. Mrs Fields, 65, claims the incident at Wasatch Peaks Ranch led to the couple’s expulsion from the private development and left them unable to use its amenities. The couple are seeking 30 million dollars in damages and are trying to sell the home they built there. The allegations centre on a golf contest in July, for which Mrs Fields and…

Four adults were taken to hospital after a lightning strike near the school bus drop-off area at El Mirage Elementary School in Arizona, as severe storms moved through the region. El Mirage police and firefighters were called to the school shortly after 8.30am on Friday, 30 October, after reports of a lightning strike near the campus. The four adults were conscious when emergency crews arrived and were taken to a local hospital for further treatment. No children were reported to have been injured. Officials later said the adults had not been struck directly but had felt the effects of a…

A sudden downpour at Flemington caught punters off guard as strong gusts swept through the racecourse, turning umbrellas inside out. Groups were forced to hunker down for shelter from the wild weather, with some finding cover among Flemington’s famous rosebushes.

Christa Pike, the Tennessee execution survivor, has spoken publicly for the first time since a failed lethal injection left her in constant pain and facing an uncertain future on death row. Pike, 50, said in a statement released through her legal team that she was struggling to speak after surviving the execution on 30 September. She is being held in solitary confinement while she remains scheduled to die. “There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain,” Pike said, describing the suffering as both “physical and emotional”. Her lawyers allege that two doses of phenobarbital…

Filming on season three of Big Little Lies has begun, but production lasted for only one day at Warner Bros Studios’ Ranch Lot in Burbank, California. Merrin Dungey, who plays Detective Adrienne Quinlan, was involved in the shoot on Thursday. Full production on the HBO series is not expected to get under way until 2027, although an exact date has not been confirmed. Insiders said the brief shoot was carried out to preserve the show’s approved California state tax credit. No director has yet been officially confirmed for the new season. However, the director present for this week’s filming was…