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Editorial: Bridge toll hike would feed BART’s insatiable appetite for money

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

BART’s insatiable appetite for public money knows no bounds.Refusing to make budget cuts to adjust for plummeting ridership, BART is joining other Bay Area transit agencies in seeking a major bridge toll hike to subsidize service.On the same day that the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a budget deal that includes a $5.1 billion California transit bailout, leaders of BART and other Bay Area transit systems said it won’t be enough.Worse, rather than respect the traditional process of seeking voter approval for Bay Area bridge toll hikes that subsidize transit, the transportation officials and Democratic legislators led by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on Monday announced they are trying to ram the latest one through the Legislature.The toll for cars on the seven state-owned Bay Area bridges, currently $7, would increase $1.50, or 21%, to $8.50 on Jan. 1. That’s in addition to a $1 increase previously approved by voters that would then raise the total to $9.50 o...

Opinion: The role women historians play in preserving history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

Though U.S. history textbooks acknowledge the contributions of Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Marie Curie and Harriet Tubman, multitudes of women whose invention, innovation and entrepreneurship  shaped our world have largely been excluded from the historical record.Women such as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Bessie Coleman, Victoria Cruz, Donna Hitchens, Grace Hopper, Hedy Lamarr, and Junko Tabei deserve to be preserved and shared with future generations. This has been the work of historians. Women historians.These days, the historical profession, as a whole, is besieged by cutbacks, declining enrollments and — worst of all — attacks by authorities in various governmental jurisdictions. In the United States and abroad, these attacks are on critical thinking and truths — particularly but not limited to studies of gender, race and sexuality — that we attempt to impart to our students at all levels of education.As a member of the Berkshire Confe...

Everything you need to know about AI but were too afraid to ask

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

By Samantha Murphy Kelly | CNN Business executives keep talking about it. Teachers are struggling with what to do about it. And artists like Drake seem angry about it.Love it or hate it, everyone is paying attention to artificial intelligence right now. Almost overnight, a new crop of AI tools has found its way into products used by billions of people, changing the way we work, shop, create and communicate with each other.AI advocates tout the technology’s potential to supercharge our productivity, creating a new era of better jobs, better education and better treatments for diseases. AI skeptics have raised concerns about the technology’s potential to disrupt jobs, mislead people and possibly bring about the end of humanity as we know it. Confusingly, some execs in Silicon Valley seem to hold both sets of views at once.What’s clear, however, is that AI is not going away, but it is changing very fast. Here’s everything you need to know to keep up.What is AI?In the public consciousne...

Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson: “The A’s mean something to me.”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

OAKLAND — Josh Donaldson has been back to the Coliseum many times since being traded after the 2014 season, but Tuesday night was the first time since it became clear that the team is leaving town for Las VegasDonaldson marked the occasion by hitting a home run, as he’d done 53 times in his last two seasons in Oakland, both leading to the playoffs.Like everyone else outside Las Vegas, he feels bad for A’s fans.“It might not always be sold out, but the people are huge fans of this team,” Donaldson said. “They believe in the team, they live it, and you respect the fans here.”There were 13,050 in attendance Tuesday night, well above the A’s average (9.688) this season, but hardly great for a Yankees visit and almost 20,000 below the major league average.Donaldson recently criticized A’s ownership, questioning the effort that has been made to build a fan base and lamenting the team’s practice of trading star players rather than paying them. He d...

Four-bedroom home sells for $2.7 million in Fremont

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

179 Recino Street – Google Street ViewA 2,552-square-foot house built in 1974 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 100 block of Recino Street in Fremont was sold on May 12, 2023. The $2,705,000 purchase price works out to $1,060 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a garage. There’s also a pool in the backyard. The unit sits on an 8,352-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:In November 2022, a 1,708-square-foot home on Canyon Heights Drive in Fremont sold for $2,030,000, a price per square foot of $1,189. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 3,690-square-foot home on the 200 block of Clara Court in Fremont sold in July 2022, for $3,360,000, a price per square foot of $911. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.On Mackintosh Terrace, Fremont, in July 2022, a 4,144-square-foot home was sold for $4,000,000, a price per square foot of $965. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. 

Gas-powered leaf blowers ban in Novato starts July 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

(KRON) -- The City of Novato will start enforcing a ban of gas-powered leaf blowers starting July 1. Only complying electric leaf blowers can be used within city limits. Victim drove himself to hospital, crashed into officers after SF shooting Properties larger than ten acres will have until July 1, 2024 to comply. The City of Novato adopted this ordinance in September 2022. KRON On is streaming news live now.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }Gas-powered leaf blowers produce a significant amount of pollution, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Suecia aprueba una protesta en la que se quemará el Corán frente a una mezquita

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

(CNN) — Las autoridades de Suecia aprobaron este miércoles una manifestación para quemar coranes frente a una mezquita en el centro de Estocolmo. La quema coincidirá con la festividad musulmana de Eid-al-Adha, una de las más significativas del calendario islámico.La decisión de permitir una protesta tan incendiaria puede amenazar las posibilidades de Suecia de entrar en la OTAN, debido a las objeciones de Turquía.Los funcionarios de la OTAN se encuentran en una carrera contra reloj para evitar el bochorno de ver cómo la alianza incumple su propio objetivo declarado de admitir a Suecia en la alianza antes del 11 de julio, fecha de su próxima cumbre oficial en la capital lituana, Vilna. Los funcionarios temen que el incumplimiento de este plazo envíe un mensaje humillante y potencialmente peligroso a los adversarios de la alianza.ANÁLISIS | Los responsables de la OTAN se encuentran en una carrera a contrarreloj para admitir a SueciaTurquía —un miembro de la OTAN estratégicamente...

German police warn of ‘Blue Punisher’ ecstasy pills after 2 teenage girls die

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German police warned Wednesday of a potentially lethal “Blue Punisher” variety of ecstasy in circulation after the death of two teenage girls was linked to the drug.Police in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania said that a 13-year-old girl from the town of Altentreptow died Monday at a hospital after taking one the blue pills featuring a skull logo associated with the Marvel comic book character The Punisher.Two other teens, ages 14 and 15, were also hospitalized after taking the drug, police said. A 37-year-old German has been detained in connection with the girl’s death. Authorities in the neighboring state of Brandenburg are also investigating the death of a 15-year-old girl who died in the town of Rathenow over the weekend after a suspected narcotics overdose. Prosecutors say an autopsy will determine whether she, too, died after consuming the drug“We warn against any consumption of narcotics, but especially the dangerous ‘Blue Punisher’ p...

Oak Flat: a tract in Arizona sacred to some Native Americans but proposed as a giant copper mine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

OAK FLAT, Ariz. (AP) — Azee Romero climbed barefoot on the wrinkled trunk of the massive Emory oak tree at the center of the Oak Flat Campground.The 5-year-old in his dinosaur t-shirt, with hair tied under a backwards baseball cap, scaled higher and higher until he found the perfect seat. There, cradled by the sturdy trunk, the boy smiled and rested comfortably as if he’d just climbed onto the lap of a grandparent.In fact, that centuries-old oak tree and the ground below it – the sacred, ancestral flats that stretch for miles east of Phoenix — are like kin to Azee’s family.“My little guy, his umbilical cord is buried here,” said Azee’s mother, Lian Bighorse. She said the connection to Oak Flat is physical as well as spiritual. The family is Chiricahua Apache, and Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Bildagoteel, is a consecrated place used for prayer and ritual by them and many other Native American peoples in the region. Elders say the land was blessed by Usen, their Creator, and inhabited ...

UniFirst: Fiscal Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:16 GMT

WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) — WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) — UniFirst Corp. (UNF) on Wednesday reported profit of $24.3 million in its fiscal third quarter.The Wilmington, Massachusetts-based company said it had profit of $1.29 per share.The uniform provider posted revenue of $576.7 million in the period.UniFirst expects full-year earnings to be $5.02 to $5.37 per share, with revenue in the range of $2.22 billion to $2.23 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UNF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UNFSource