News, deep dives, and analysis — every California story, newest first.
An 18-year-old whitewater kayak guide from Grass Valley is building Winter, an autonomous drone that pairs thermal search with defibrillator and water delivery, after losing a friend in a kayaking accident.
Several San Diego County cities are putting police drones in the air this Fourth of July weekend to enforce a fireworks ban and catch the people who ignore it. Oceanside, Escondido, and Carlsbad updated their ordinances this year to pair steep fines with drone-and-ground patrols, following California cities like Chino and San Bernardino that tried…
Santa Maria’s police department is getting its drone-as-first-responder program off the ground with money raised at a charity gala, not a line in the city budget. The Santa Maria Police Council, a nonprofit booster group, pulled in about $95,000 at its annual fundraiser and is handing the department a $97,869 donation to buy the aircraft.…
Two California cities moved to put police drones in the air the same week, and both ran straight into residents who don’t want them there. West Hollywood launches a sheriff-run drone program by the end of July. Berkeley opens bidding on a public safety package that bundles drones with license plate readers and cameras. DroneXL…
The Irvine Police Department’s Drone as First Responder program ended a Walmart shoplifting case the same way it ends most calls these days, with the suspect on the ground and an aircraft watching from above. Officers arrested Guillermo Hazael Martinez Diaz, 26, on June 24 after a DFR drone tracked him from the store to…
Zipline plans to expand its autonomous drone delivery service to Austin later this year, making it the California company’s third Texas market in under 12 months. Dallas-Fort Worth launched in August 2025. Houston followed in April 2026. Austin is next, and the pace of this rollout tells you more than any single city announcement. Zipline…
The Chino Police Department will put several drones over residential neighborhoods this Fourth of July and pair them with 65 officers dedicated to illegal fireworks enforcement, a sharp expansion of a program the city ran with a single aircraft a year ago. Each drone flies with a two-person crew, a pilot and an observer, with…
A drone pilot in Northern California spotted a shark circling a surfer on June 10, then used the aircraft itself to push the man out of the water before anything happened. Nick Bertocchini was flying over Seascape Beach in Aptos when the shark moved in behind a surfer named Rex and began to circle. Instead…
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