News, deep dives, and analysis — every Los Angeles story, newest first.
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…
Walmart is bringing drone delivery to Cincinnati through its partnership with Alphabet-owned Wing, planting an autonomous grocery flight operation in the same metro that houses Kroger’s global headquarters. The Ohio launch is part of the 150-store Wing-Walmart rollout announced in January 2026. That January announcement named Cincinnati alongside Houston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Miami and…
The FBI has intercepted more than 300 unauthorized drones at FIFA World Cup 2026 venues across the United States in the first ten days of the tournament, a figure that converts a year of federal counter-drone spending into a hard enforcement count. Individual field offices confirmed their own seizure totals on Monday: 34 drones around…
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…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on May 28 published the actual venue list, dates, and airspace dimensions for its FIFA World Cup 2026 flight restrictions, turning a months-old “No Drone Zone” messaging campaign into a concrete schedule that pilots can now check against their own calendars. Eleven U.S. stadiums get the largest treatment: a three-nautical-mile…
The Orange County Fire Authority says it can find the private drone operators buzzing the Garden Grove chemical tank emergency, and it is reading their Remote ID to do it. OCFA Capt. Brian Yau said the agency has counter-UAS gear that detects a drone in flight, pulls its registration, and traces the operator through that…
On the evening of Wednesday, May 19, 2026, Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel staged 1,600 drones on a light show over Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles to promote the upcoming Masters of the Universe film. The 10-minute display formed Castle Grayskull, He-Man with sword raised, Skeletor’s red-eyed skull, and the phrase “I HAVE THE…
The U.S. Forest Service reported 218 drone sightings over active wildfires in 2025, more than the previous seven years combined. Most happened during the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles, where 184 drones entered restricted airspace, as the Rogue Valley Times reported. The agency wants the public to understand the math. Every unauthorized drone…
One email with the drone news that matters — DJI, FAA, public safety, and everything in between, straight from the newsroom. No spam, no fluff.
