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Contra Costa D.A. announces “joint civil enforcement action” against Martinez Refining Company

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

Almost exactly one year after the Martinez Refining Company scattered 20 tons of toxic, metal-laden dust on surrounding neighborhoods, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office and other agencies on Thursday announced a “joint civil enforcement action” against the refinery.A civil enforcement action could serve as a precursor to a lawsuit, although that isn’t guaranteed. Instead, attorneys will now enter a process with MRC to “get them back in environmental compliance,” according to Ted Asregadoo, a public information officer with the District Attorney’s office. Those negotiations will be based on the notices of violations that have previously been filed by the various participating agencies.Related ArticlesEnvironment | Letters: Up to voters | Reject Big Lie | Hamas the cause Environment | Sailor’s last message to family during hurricane: ‘Pray for us’ Environment | Richmond-San Rafael Bridge gridlock frustration stokes...

Protesters escalate stakes, traffic impacts with shutdown of Bay Bridge during APEC summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

Chaining themselves to cars and unfurling banners, protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza sought global attention Thursday by shutting down the Bay Bridge and snarling traffic for miles, as some of the world’s most powerful leaders gathered just a few miles away. The protesters kept morning commuters in westbound lanes east of Treasure Island stranded for hours in what became the largest disruption yet tied to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of world leaders in San Francisco. The massive conference has attracted demonstrators for myriad causes as nearly two dozen heads of state — including President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping — meet for San Francisco’s largest gathering of world leaders since World War II.Authorities arrested at least 80 people during the protest, which began around 8 a.m. when organizers blocked traffic and raised massive banners reading “stop the genocide” and “no U.S. military aid to Israel.” In their Oct. 7 atta...

Letters: ASEAN vision | Alzheimer’s caregivers | Republican obstinance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.ASEAN nations advancerespect, sanctity of lifeWhile San Francisco hosts the APEC Summit, the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) defense ministers are meeting in Jakarta. Among the ASEAN nations is Vietnam.ASEAN nations call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the setting up of humanitarian aid corridors there.Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with President Biden and urged him to help bring about a cease-fire.In San Francisco, protesters condemn the deaths among the Palestinians from Israel’s bombardments.In Jakarta, the ASEAN nations are also addressing the issue of China’s ongoing military assertiveness and domination in the South China Sea, and call for freedom of navigation respecting international maritime laws. The world cries out for peace. Let us reclaim our belief in the sanctity of human life, and the principle that nations must learn to live together in mutual respect of ea...

Dead body pulled from ocean near Pacifica

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

PACIFICA – A dead body was pulled from the ocean Wednesday near Pacifica, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Pilot dead after plane out of East Bay crashes in Southern California Crime and Public Safety | Marin coroner identifies East Bay man who died after being swept into ocean Crime and Public Safety | Drivers of boxy SUVs and pickup trucks are more likely to kill pedestrians, study finds Crime and Public Safety | Marin beach visitor dies after being swept into ocean Crime and Public Safety | Fences along beach cliffs near UCSB will be made taller after 13 fatal falls Authorities were called to the 100 block of Esplanade Avenue around 8 a.m. for a report of a body in the ocean, the Pacifica Police Department said in a news release Thursday.A body was later spotted floating in the ocean just south of Mussel Rock, police said.The body was pulled from the water and identified as Robert...

Russian artist gets 7-year sentence for anti-war message

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

By Dasha Litvinova | Associated PressTALLINN, Estonia — A Russian court on Thursday convicted an artist and musician for swapping supermarket price tags with antiwar messages, sentencing her to seven years in prison in one of the highest-profile cases involving the recent crackdown on free speech.Sasha Skochilenko was arrested in her native St. Petersburg in April 2022 and charged with spreading false information about the military after replacing price tags with ones that decried Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“The Russian army bombed an arts schools in Mariupol. Some 400 people were hiding in it from the shelling,” one read. Another said, “Russian conscripts are being sent to Ukraine. Lives of our children are the price of this war.”A customer at the supermarket who found the slogans reported them to authorities.Skochilenko’s arrest came about a month after authorities adopted a law effectively criminalizing any public expression about the war tha...

APEC: Biden touts progress smoothing trade, China relations at San Francisco summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — President Joe Biden affirmed the United States’ role as a “Pacific nation” Thursday, committing to providing stability and economic opportunity across the region and to working cooperatively with rival power China.“You can count on the United States,” Biden told a gathering of corporate executives and world leaders at Moscone Center for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2023 forum. “We’re delivering on our promises, and we’re doubling down on our progress. And we’ll soon be your strong and steady partner as we continue working together to realize an Asia Pacific region that’s free and open, prosperous and secure, resilient and connected.”The speech — a day after Biden met for four hours on the Peninsula with Chinese President Xi Jinping and later in a news conference called the Chinese leader “a dictator” — was an opportunity for the president to trumpet economic and d...

Phone, internet networks collapse in Gaza for lack of fuel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

By Wafaa Shurafa, Jack Jeffrey and Lee Keath | Associated PressKHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Internet and telephone services collapsed across the Gaza Strip on Thursday for lack of fuel, the main Palestinian provider said, bringing a potentially long-term blackout of communications as Israel signaled its offensive against Hamas could next target the south, where most of the population has taken refuge.Israeli troops for a second day searched Shifa Hospital in the north for traces of Hamas. They displayed what they said were a tunnel entrance and weapons found in a truck inside the compound. But the military has yet to release evidence of a central Hamas command center that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital, Gaza’s largest, deny the allegations.The military said it found the body of one of the hostages abducted by Hamas, 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, in a building adjacent to Shifa, where it said it also found assault rifles and rocket-p...

Where did San Francisco’s homeless people go during APEC? Not very far

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

Less than a block from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that’s brought thousands of diplomats and world leaders to San Francisco, a young man in the throes of drug addiction lay crumpled into a ball as a city worker with broom and dustpan calmly swept the downtown plaza near Fifth and Mission streets.Down a nearby alley, a half-dozen people huddled around a light post and passed butane lighters, some slowly nodding off after inhaling milky white puffs from glass pipes.Around the corner, just across from a heavily guarded entrance to the summit, a man in a dark hoodie slept on the sidewalk, resting his head on a bright orange backpack as foreign emissaries in neatly pressed suits strode past.If you’ve followed much of the news coverage leading up to APEC, you might be led to believe that San Francisco had, at least temporarily, rid its downtown of scenes like this in hopes of putting its best face forward to the world and flipping the unrelenting “doom l...

2 arrested in connection to woman's body found at Golden Gate Park during Outside Lands

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Two suspects have been arrested in connection to a "suspicious" death in Golden Gate Park on Aug. 13, the San Francisco Police Department said in a news release. Around 7:24 p.m. on the third and final night of the Outside Lands Music Festival, a woman's body was found outside festival grounds.The woman was identified as 37-year-old San Francisco resident Kelly Koike. 5-year-old killed after being stabbed by twin brother in Santa Cruz County: sheriff More than three months later, the cause of the woman's death has not been determined, according to SFPD's news release. However, a man and a woman were arrested earlier this month in connection to the body being found near Fulton Street and 22nd Avenue.Alexander Madden, 26, was arrested by SFPD on Nov. 2. He was arrested on a Ramey warrant for unlawful disposal of human remains and conspiracy. Emilia Beckhusen, 33, was also arrested by SFPD on Nov. 4. She had a Ramey warrant against her for unlawful disposal of...

Why was the Bay Bridge blocked? APEC protests explained

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:28:38 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- San Francisco is in a glaring global spotlight this week hosting billionaire CEOs of major corporations, Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joe Biden, and more presidents for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.Protesters seized the rare opportunity by staging demonstrations on a wide-range of global issues. Some of the protests were peaceful and legal. Thursday morning's traffic-halting protest on the Bay Bridge was illegal, the California Highway Patrol told KRON4. Here is a breakdown of what major protests this week were about:Bay Bridge Protest - Ceasefire In GazaDemonstrators shut down the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge in conjunction with the APEC Summit taking place Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Hundreds of demonstrators shut down the Bay Bridge Thursday morning to demand that President Biden call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as well as end United States military aid to Israel.Some prot...