A dramatic turn of events unfolded in California as a street takeover spiraled into chaos, resulting in a family-owned business being ravaged by looters over the weekend.

Amidst the turmoil, the A-Z Market convenience store, nestled in Bellflower—situated in the southeast of Los Angeles—fell victim to a break-in during the weeks’ street-gridlock.

In a heartfelt fundraiser appeal, the family recounts the ordeal: “A group of individuals used power tools to breach our front window and security gate.”

Surveillance video showed three suspects using tools to break the window’s glass and cut a security gate lock, allowing up to 40 additional suspects to enter and ransack the business for two minutes before blending back into the takeover crowd, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said.

The family said the alleged thieves contributed to a loss of $30,000 between stolen items and damage to the store.

“A-Z Market is more than just a store to us—it is our livelihood and a place we have worked hard to build and serve our local community,” the page said.

Multiple citations were issued for the street takeover, but no arrests were made for the burglary, as deputies could not link anyone on scene directly to the break-in.

Days before the A-Z Market break-in, 26 suspects carried out a coordinated, mob-style burglary at another business in East Los Angeles.

Thieves allegedly broke into an AutoZone, causing costly damage and losses. Investigators believe the suspects robbed the store two days in a row.

Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary saw Rep. Byron Donalds emerge victorious, swiftly overcoming a crowded field of 10 rivals on election night.

With the influential backing of former President Trump, Donalds secured a commanding 49% of the votes. His closest competitor, the state’s current Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, earned 24.7%, while far-right advocate and previous investor James Fishback garnered 10.1%. Having once served as the Florida House Speaker, Paul Renner trailed behind with 8.2% as he contended for the third position.

Standing at age 47, Donalds was the undeniable frontrunner in this race, maintaining an impressive lead of over 30 percentage points against his contenders since October, according to poll averages compiled by RealClearPolitics.

Interestingly, Governor Ron DeSantis, who is ineligible for re-election, chose not to lend his backing to any candidate eyeing his post, including his own Lieutenant Governor.

Throughout the campaign, it was Fishback who constantly grabbed the media spotlight with his incendiary rhetoric. He leveled sharp accusations at Donalds, alleging his intentions to transform Florida into what he referred to as a “Section 8 ghetto,” alongside bold assertions of dispatching civilians equipped with AR-15 rifles to tackle youth violence plaguing the state.

Fishback, 31, also attacked Donalds for his pro-Israel views and acceptance of donations from pro-Israel political action committees — dubbing him “AIPAC Shakur” in a reference to the rapper Tupac Shakur and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — as well as a “token black” and a “slave to his donors.”

The extreme candidate also joined Tinder, ostensibly to meet young female voters, even after a Florida school district cut ties with him in 2022 over an alleged inappropriate relationship with a minor student, NBC News reported.

Donalds ignored virtually all of his younger opponent’s offensive remarks, offering by way of response: “If you want to be ignorant, you’re allowed to be.”

Donalds raised more than $100 million for his campaign as well as committees backing his bid, a windfall that will now be put to use against Democratic nominee David Jolly, who served in the US House as a Republican from 2014 to 2017.

If elected in November, Donalds will become Florida’s first black governor and its fifth consecutive Republican chief executive.

The last Democrat elected governor of Florida was Buddy MacKay, who exited office in January 1999.

Jolly left the Republican Party in 2018 and registered as an independent. In 2022, the ex-House rep joined Andrew Yang’s Forward Party.

By 2025, Jolly, then a regular pundit on the left-leaning MS NOW, had registered as a Democrat to make his run for governor in Florida.

In a poignant final act, Hayden Panettiere lent her voice to animal rights, featuring in her last project: a campaign video for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The actress, revered for her role in “Heroes,” was tragically discovered deceased at 36 years of age. Authorities suspect an overdose at the Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, where she had traveled with her occasional partner, Brian Hickerson, a local resident.

Hickerson, whose stormy relationship with Panettiere made headlines, was on-site when authorities arrived, accompanied by his brother Zachary. As per the police report, the autopsy revealed no evident trauma contributing to her death, closing some avenues of speculation.

Approaching what would have been her 37th birthday, Panettiere passionately advocated against the captivity of whales and dolphins in aquatic theme parks. In the final weeks of her life, she collaborated on a compelling PETA ad campaign, emphasizing her dedication to animal rights.

On Tuesday, PETA released the poignant video, capturing Panettiere in a bath, symbolically highlighting the confined, unnatural environments that marine creatures endure while in captivity. Her last project stands as a powerful testament to her commitment to change.

‘Imagine spending your entire life in a bathtub. That’s what it’s like for dolphins and whales in tiny tanks at marine amusement parks,’ said Panettiere, a longtime advocate of the rights of ocean animals. ‘We can end this, you and me.’ 

She added: ‘Can you imagine their frustration, their trauma, their depression? All that is important and crucial for their wellbeing is ripped away.’ 

When she was 18 years old, Panettiere participated in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, a condemnation of Japanese dolphin-hunting.

In her segment, filmed in 2007, she joined a group of anti-whaling activists riding surfboards into a killing cove in Taiji and mounting a standoff with the fishermen.

Amid disputed reports that a warrant had been issued for her arrest in Japan, Panettiere held firm to her convictions, inveighing against the ‘outdated, senseless cultural traditions and lazy, bad habits that are resulting in the annihilation of our planet’s resources and the extinction of our species,’ in a statement to VOA News. 

‘I’d do it again,’ she told E! News after her return to Los Angeles. ‘I was very excited that people were interested in what we did. In this town, you tend to only get publicity for not wearing underwear or going to rehab.’

Panettiere died at the end of a long struggle with alcohol and opiates, spending eight months in rehab in 2020 after contracting jaundice and being informed by her doctor that ‘if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years,’ she wrote in her memoir.

In 2018, in order to devote herself to her recovery from her personal demons, Panettiere voluntarily gave up custody of her now 11-year-old daughter Kaya.

Kaya was handed over to the care of her father, Ukrainian boxing star Wladimir Klitschko, with whom Panettiere retained an amicable co-parenting bond.

‘Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life,’ Panettiere wrote in her book: ‘and it’s hard to describe the layers of emotion – including sadness, resentment, and anger – I’ve felt because of it.’

Released months before her death, the book also detailed her fraught equation with her mother Lesley Vogel, who used to be her manager as a child star but from whom she ultimately became estranged.

Panettiere’s PETA ad dropped just after Justin Chatwin, her co-star on her final movie Sleepwalker, reflected on how ‘lonely’ she seemed to him during filming last year.

‘We hit it off great and it was an awesome shoot, but it was about domestic abuse and it was subject matter that may have hit close to home, because she did mention it,’ Chatwin told People. ‘She opened up to me about a lot of things.’

He observed: ‘I could tell she was struggling, and I was like, “I don’t think it’s this movie.” There’s a handful of women that I’ve worked with that I really liked, and I really loved working with her, but I also know that she was really lonely.’ 

The Daily Mail contacted Chatwin’s representatives for further comment. 

Chatwin had met her during the height of her fame on Heroes, which she starred on from 2006 to 2010, but noticed a marked difference in her state of mind by the time they worked with one another on Sleepwalker.

‘Hayden seemed different when I met her this time than when I met her in the early years. I’ve been sober for 15 years, so I know this world of addiction, and Hollywood – it takes, and it takes from youth,’ he said.

‘“I’m sure that everyone else is going to say: “Oh, she’s amazing. She’s such a sweet person on set,” because she was,’ Chatwin noted.

‘But we’re trained to be actors, so we’re acting on set, you know? And she is sweet. She had a beautiful heart. But we’re trained to be on, and I really liked spending time with her because she took that off, and she was authentic with me about her life and she opened up about her struggles with addiction,’ he revealed.

‘And who knows where it comes from? Does it come from Hollywood? Does it come from home? And a lot of times, it’s both.’