The Modesto Bee

A live host prepares to go live on TikTok Shop to promote products for a brand Most people scroll TikTok to kill time before bed. April Duplantis used that same window to sell $40,000 worth of graphic tees in a single evening. Duplantis is the founder of Poppy Rose Print Company, a business she started from home as a way to earn income while staying with her children. What began on Etsy eventually moved to TikTok Shop, with print-on-demand fueling the growth.

Zella Holmes, 41, is accused of fatally shooting Franklin Martin at a Howard Johnson motel in Ceres. Jurors began deliberating Thursday in the murder trial of an Atwater woman who admitted to police that she shot her longtime partner in the head at a Ceres motel. Her attorney says the couple’s young son was actually the shooter. Zella Latrice Holmes, 41, is charged with murder in the Sept. 25, 2025, death of Franklin Martin, 38, inside Room 230 of the Howard Johnson on Herndon Road.

Two fires burning on the Big Sur coast both continued to grow Friday morning — forcing more evacuations and the closure of a long stretch of Highway 1. The Timber Fire, which ignited on Aug. 9, grew to 23,343 acres southeast of Loma Vista. The blaze was 26% contained, and threatened 661 structures, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation orders surrounding the Timber Fire increased from 11 areas to 14 areas by Friday morning.

On Aug. 27, the Merced County Fire Department was four days into the slow battle against 9,000 flaming tires near Ballico. Firefighters entered their fifth day Friday at a blaze at a tire recycling business near Ballico. The effort could go through the weekend, the Merced County Fire Department said in a Facebook post Thursday. “Due to the nature of this fire, it’s not as simple as spraying it with water,” it said.

A Florida man is the latest person arrested for making threats to harm a witness tied to the ongoing investigation into the death of Nolan Xavier Wells, according to records obtained by the Sun Herald. Brandon Ephriam Washington, 30, of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested Aug. 12. According to booking and other records, Washington is accused of making threats to kidnap or injure. He is expected to face prosecution in federal court in Wyoming.

Gov. Gavin Newsom at an event in front of the Golden Bear Training Ship at Mare Island on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in Vallejo. Newsom announced Friday the creation of a new program to help consumers identify products made in-state. California manufacturers can apply for a new “Made in California” product label after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new program to help consumers identify products made in-state.

California legislators approved a bill on Aug. 26 that could help reduce skyrocketing energy costs for residents by allowing them to install plug-in solar panels as an alternative, portable way to meet household energy needs.

By Jonathan Coles A never-before-seen love letter from Amy Winehouse to her jailed husband has sold for almost £5,000 (nearly $7,800) at auction. The "Rehab" singer sent the Valentine's card to Blake Fielder-Civil in February 2009 while he was locked up in a Suffolk prison. Winehouse penned the romantic note after he had filed for divorce, and while she was on vacation in the Caribbean - where she was rumored to have started a new romance. The letter says: "My husband, my Blake.

"Family Matters" star Reginald VelJohnson made a rare red-carpet appearance this week, stepping out in Los Angeles. The 74-year-old actor, best known for playing beloved patriarch Carl Winslow on the long-running ABC sitcom, attended the Los Angeles premiere of A24's "Onslaught" on Aug. 26. The outing marked VelJohnson's first red-carpet sighting in two years, according to E! News. VelJohnson posed for photos at the premiere, wearing white pants and a cream-colored T-shirt featuring a lion graphic.

President Donald Trump's move to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" is making waves far beyond the Great Lakes, adding a new flashpoint to an increasingly bitter U.S.-Canada feud. Within hours of Trump's Aug. 27 executive order, politicians, celebrities, brands and social media users on both sides of the border weighed in, turning the 400-year-old lake into one of the internet's hottest debates.