Science & Technology

California Uses FEMA Cellphone Broadcasting System to Blast Amber Alert Late Last Night

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Cell phones across California rang out with a jarring Emergency Alert System tone late Monday night as police issued the first statewide Amber Alert using FEMA's new national emergency broadcasting system for handsets.

Accompanying the screeching EAS tone was a text message that had many Californians scrambling to find out more about the town of Boulevard, where a suspected murder and kidnapping in the tiny community near the Mexican border in San Diego County took place on Sunday.