As gas prices continue to skyrocket, particularly in California, DoorDash is stepping up to assist its drivers by allocating over $50 million this quarter. This initiative is part of an effort to mitigate the financial strain on drivers as fuel costs continue to rise, affecting both consumers and businesses across the nation.

This San Francisco-based delivery company announced on Wednesday that it will provide temporary financial relief to drivers in the US and Canada. This decision is part of a broader strategy to cushion the impact of volatile fuel prices on its workforce.

The relief program was first unveiled in March, a response to the sharp increase in gas prices that followed the escalation of the conflict in Iran. With the global energy market in turmoil, DoorDash recognized the urgent need to support its drivers during these challenging times.

California is feeling the brunt of this crisis more acutely than other states. Officials in the Golden State are increasingly alarmed about the potential for a full-fledged gasoline crisis, as recent developments hint at possible disruptions in supply.

Adding to these concerns, the arrival of the last oil tanker from the Middle East to California this week has heightened tensions. Lawmakers are closely monitoring the situation as the ongoing conflict poses significant threats to global energy supplies.

Democratic and Republican assemblymembers grilled the California Energy Commission on Tuesday as officials scrambled to determine how the state will replace the roughly 30% of its oil supply that typically comes from the Persian Gulf.

America’s war with Iran has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and the tanker that arrived this week was the last known shipment to leave the region for California before the conflict erupted.

The situation is especially precarious for California because the state lacks interstate gasoline pipelines and depends heavily on imported crude to keep refineries operating.

According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.53 on Wednesday, a staggering 44% jump from the same time last year, in California the average sits at $6.16.

California also has more DoorDash drivers than any other state in the country.

As of 2024, hundreds of thousands of Dashers were operating statewide, giving California an outsized stake in the company’s fuel-relief effort.

Unlike some companies that tack on extra customer fees, DoorDash said it plans to pay for the relief effort by redirecting money from other parts of its business.

That distinction carries particular weight in California, where app-based delivery drivers already operate under some of the strongest worker-pay protections in the country.

Under Proposition 22, gig companies are legally required to provide minimum earnings guarantees for drivers during “active time,” the period from when a Dasher accepts an order until it’s delivered.

California drivers are guaranteed at least 120% of the local minimum wage, while the state’s mandatory mileage reimbursement rate is set at 37 cents per mile for 2026.

That means California Dashers are effectively getting two layers of protection against soaring fuel costs, DoorDash’s temporary nationwide gas-relief initiative and the state’s permanent pay guarantees tied to miles driven.

Even with drivers feeling the squeeze at the pump, DoorDash said delivery demand remained resilient during the first three months of the year.

Orders climbed 27% to 933 million from January through March.

The company said it plans to absorb the cost of fuel assistance by scaling back spending elsewhere.

In November, DoorDash said it intended to ramp up investment in new features and services this year, including restaurant reservation tools inside the app and robot-powered deliveries.

On Tuesday, a jury in Texas delivered a verdict of death by lethal injection for a FedEx driver who was found guilty of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a young girl.

Typically, juries deliberate extensively over such serious decisions, often taking many hours or even days to reach a consensus.

However, this case was different.

In less than three hours, the jury swiftly decided to sentence 34-year-old Tanner Horner to death, in a case that has deeply disturbed the nation.

As I sat merely a few feet away from Horner in the Fort Worth courtroom, the trial unfolded over four weeks, revealing the grimmest details of his crimes.

Horner, a new father and fiancé at the time, was delivering packages in rural Paradise, a town of fewer than 500 people about 60 miles outside Dallas, on November 30, 2022.

He was dropping off a box of Barbie dolls meant to be part of Athena Strand’s presents that Christmas – one she never got to experience.

Horner saw Athena playing alone near the driveway and pounced. He grabbed her and forced her into his delivery truck.

What unfolded next is the stuff of nightmares. 

Horner had been delivering a box of Barbies that were due to be Strand’s Christmas present when he took the youngster, strangled her and dumped her body miles from her home. The two are pictured in his FedEx truck following the kidnapping

He covered the truck’s internal camera to hide the depravity he was about to unleash.

But before he could, the lens captured a haunting image that has now become synonymous with the case.

It would become the last picture of little Athena alive. 

It shows the tiny girl, wide-eyed and confused, standing behind the hulking 6ft-tall Horner in the driver’s seat – his eyes wide and alert, like a predator on a hunt (he also later claimed to have been high on cocaine at the time).

While the camera view was obscured, it continued recording audio of the attack.  

Judge George Gallagher warned those present they could leave if they did not wish to see it.

‘If you think you cannot watch it or listen to it, leave now. Now’s your time to get out,’ Gallagher said.

Athena’s parents, Jacob Strand and Maitlyn Gandy, both testified during the trial but did not remain in the courtroom during the video.

Jurors sobbed as they were forced to listen to nearly an hour of excruciating sounds while Tanner sexually abused and tried to strangle Athena.

Only sniffing and the sound of jurors reaching for tissues could be heard when the audio stopped playing. 

A jury in Fort Worth sentenced Tanner Horner, 34, to death by lethal injection Tuesday

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Wednesday released the booking photo of Tanner Horner, 34, as he transferred to death row. The man who admitted to the horrific killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand was sentenced to death Tuesday in Fort Worth

When his initial attempt to kill her failed, Horner beat Athena viciously.

The court was shown his muddy shoes, with soles that matched marks found on Athena’s face.

‘You just don’t know when to give up,’ Horner could be heard telling Athena in the audio.

Throughout sentencing, Horner repeatedly stared at me as he was escorted from a holding cell to the defendant’s table.

He locked his eyes on me until he reached his seat, then repeatedly craned his body around to look back at me once seated.

Looking at him stare at me made me realize I was looking into the same face of evil that Athena last saw in her final moments on Earth. 

It was unclear why he focused on me or what he was thinking, but each time I met his cold, lifeless stare it sent a chill through me.

A mental health expert who interviewed Horner on behalf of the prosecution testified to something similar.

‘His stare just went right through me and I didn’t challenge him again,’ said psychiatrist Michael Arambula, M.D. on Monday.

Strand was snatched by Horner as he dropped off a package containing a Christmas gift for the youngster, a box of Barbie dolls  

The box of Barbies that Athena was supposed to receive on Christmas

The defense tried to frame the case as one of opportunism.

They claimed Horner had mental health issues and was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Not in his right mind, they argued, when he took Athena after Tanner claimed the first grader saw him snorting cocaine and he worried he would lose his job and things snowballed in his mind.

Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Arambula, an expert in sex offenders, offered a far more sinister assessment.

He suggested Horner had planned to abduct someone that day and had chosen a location where he believed he would not be seen.

‘When I reviewed the audio recording, it was very clear to me that he abducted her primarily for sex,’ Arambula testified.

‘Soon after he drove to the secluded spot that he had picked out, that’s when he started engaging in sex with Athena.’

The video of Athena’s abduction and the audio of the attack were the key pieces of evidence that decided Horner’s fate when jurors had to choose between life in prison or death row.

But there were other pivotal moments.

During closing arguments, the prosecution showed the jury the black sneakers Horner was wearing on the day of the murder.

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton took them from an evidence bag and dropped them onto a table in front of the jury.

‘This is what it took (pointing at shoes) to beat the life out of her,’ Stainton said.

‘If the facts were not bad enough, if the sexual assault was not bad enough, the level of violence that one person can inflict on a child, including stomping them with a pair of shoes.

As the investigation unfolded, detectives said Horner (pictured) began repeatedly referring to an alter ego called ‘Zero’ 

Horner, 34, has pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the case of seven-year-old Athena Strand (pictured)

‘I’m not wondering where that tread-like print (on her body) came from anymore, because we know.

‘If you want mercy, if you want someone to consider giving you life in prison when you gave no life here (pointing at a photo of Athena) when you gave no mercy here,’ the district attorney said, before handing the case over to the jury.

There was also powerful testimony against Horner, including from several family members.

‘He knows right from wrong,’ his grandmother Jackie testified last week while apologizing to Athena’s family.

No one in Horner’s family attended sentencing.

On the final day of testimony, a man named Billy – who was raised alongside Horner – told the court he had been raped by him as a child.

Horner, clearly disagreeing with what was being said during testimony, shook his head and passing notes to his attorney.

That was the most animated he appeared during the entire trial.

On sentencing day, he showed no emotion.

Even as the entire courtroom – including the judge – wiped away tears after an emotional victim impact statement from Athena’s uncle, Horner remained expressionless.

Less than 24 hours after he was sentenced to die, Horner arrived in Huntsville, Texas after he was transferred from Fort Worth to death row. 

A disturbing incident in Tampa has resulted in the arrest of a 56-year-old man, identified as Joseph Patrick Wren, following a violent attack on an elderly woman. Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the message “No Christ No Life,” the suspect was captured on video brutally assaulting and robbing an 82-year-old woman at a bus stop, according to local law enforcement.

The Tampa Police Department confirmed that Wren was apprehended on Tuesday and now faces charges of robbery. The shocking attack took place around 7:45 p.m. on May 1, near a busy intersection in the Wellswood area of Tampa.

As reported by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Wren was taken into custody on May 5, four days after the incident that left the elderly victim unconscious.

Authorities detailed the harrowing sequence of events, stating that the victim was simply walking past when Wren allegedly seized her by the hair and violently threw her to the ground, resulting in her loss of consciousness.

Authorities said the woman was walking past the suspect when he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground, causing her to lose consciousness.

Investigators said the suspect then took the woman’s bag and fled the scene on a bicycle. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment and has since been released. She is now recovering at home.

Police launched an investigation and asked the public for help identifying the suspect.

Surveillance video shows the suspect approaching the victim near a bus stop at W. Hillsborough Avenue and N. Habana Avenue in Tampa, Fla., on May 1. (Tampa Police Department)

The case gained momentum after a community member provided detectives with video footage from his Tesla that captured the attack. In the video, the suspect is seen wearing a white T-shirt bearing the phrase “No Christ No Life,” along with a blue hat.

Authorities said the suspect matched the description of a person involved in a bicycle theft earlier the same day, which helped investigators narrow their search.

Police said the suspect was seen wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “No Christ No Life” in surveillance images released during the investigation. (Tampa Police Department)

Officers later spotted Wren near N. Nebraska Avenue and E. Annie Street while patrolling for leads and took him into custody.

“The outstanding investigation, community assistance, and pro-active policing that led to a quick arrest in this case is a testament to the strength of our city,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said. “It should be clear that in Tampa we all work together to hold criminals accountable, especially those who would foolishly choose to target our neighbors.”

Wren is being held without bond in the Hillsborough County Jail.

After spending decades wrongfully imprisoned, a Kentucky man has been granted a historic $24.35 million settlement for a crime he never committed. The case involved the so-called “satanic killing” of a teenage girl three decades ago.

Jeffrey Clark, imprisoned for 22 and a half years, accused police officers and a former coroner of concocting a conspiracy to ensure his wrongful conviction. Last Wednesday, Clark was not only awarded the substantial settlement but also received $75,000 in additional damages, his legal team reported.

“It feels like I’m finally waking up from a 34-year-long nightmare,” Clark expressed after winning his civil suit.

In 1995, Clark and his friend, Keith Hardin, were convicted of the murder of Rhonda Sue Warford, a 19-year-old who was romantically involved with Hardin.

Warford’s body, riddled with stab wounds, was discovered in a field after she left her Louisville home shortly after midnight on April 2, 1992.

Cops honed in on Hardin and Clark – who were just 21 at the time – after Warford’s mother claimed she had pals linked to Satanism, according to the Innocence Project.

Clark was arrested despite telling cops he had not seen Warford since December 1991. Police had claimed they found a fingerprint belonging to Warford in his car.

Investigators seized evidence from Hardin’s home, including a blood-soaked cloth and broken glass. Prosecutors alleged the glass was a “chalice” from which Hardin drank the blood of animals. 

Prosecutors rigorously tried to link Clark to the satanic killing.

During the trial, Clark’s ex-girlfriend, Amy Remsberg, claimed her former flame was involved in satanic practices – and that he had an inverted cross tattoo on his shoulder.

She also claimed he had taken her to a site where several animal sacrifices had supposedly been made.

Clark showed the jury he had no such markings on his arms, while an ex-co-worker claimed he had previously spoken about animal sacrifices at church.

An inmate claimed Clark confessed to him after being arrested – even though he strongly denied any involvement in the crime. 

Hardin and Clark were convicted after prosecutors claimed a hair on her body matched Hardin – which later turned out to be false after DNA testing. Their convictions were overturned in 2016.

In a lawsuit, Clark alleged that ex-Meade County Sheriff Joseph Greer and former coroner Bill Adams manipulated Warford’s date of death.

Adams used white-out to change the date of Warford’s death to April 2 to bypass Clark’s alibi, even though medical examiners suggested Warford likely died between April 4 and 5.

“Defendants framed Jeff for a crime he didn’t commit when he was just a young kid,” Clark’s attorney Elliot Slosar said.

“Jeff lost his life and wasn’t set free until he was in his mid-40s.”

However, Warford’s killer remains at large.

“No amount of money can atone for the catastrophic consequences on Jeff’s life, or the injustice done to Rhonda and her family,” lawyer Amy Staples said.

With Post wires