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El Niño officially arrives early: What it means for California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

El Niño has arrived. The Climate Prediction Center announced Thursday that El Niño conditions were present and expected to grow stronger in the coming months. Forecasters give it a 56% chance of developing into a strong El Niño, and an 84% chance of topping "moderate" strength. This year's El Niño has shown up ahead of the typical schedule. In the past decade, El Niños have started in late summer or early fall. Its early appearance "gives it room to grow," Climate Prediction Center meteorologist Michelle L’Heureux, told the Associated Press. This year's El Niño is expected to keep building and remain strong through the 2023-2024 winter. El Ninos are far costlier than once thought, in the trillions, study says — and one’s brewing now This year is predicted to be the inverse of what we’ve seen the last three years, in which we have had back-to-back La Niña seasons.El Niño typically brings cold, wet winters to the Southern U.S. A strong El Niño, in particular, is associated with lot...

Mayor Bass ‘Feeling Fine’ After Positive COVID Test

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday and is said to be “feeling fine.”The announcement of Bass’ positive test came Thursday at 10:30 a.m., with her office confirming that she had no scheduled public appearances and would be working from her home.“Last night, Mayor Karen Bass tested positive for COVID-19 following a routine test,” a statement from the mayor’s office said. “The Mayor is feeling fine and will continue to work remotely as she follows public health guidelines. Mayor Bass is vaccinated and boosted.”In 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also tested positive for the disease and recovered within a couple of weeks.It is not yet clear how long Bass will be in isolation, but the L.A. Public Health standard is five days, so long as one is without a fever for 24 hours. If symptoms persist after those five days, it is recommended to wear a well-fi...

Best THC Detox: Ultimate Guide to Get Weed Out Of Your System In 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

Sponsored ContentTHC detox involves the elimination of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana, from the body. THC can linger in the system for weeks, posing challenges for passing drug tests or mitigating the effects of prolonged marijuana use. To cleanse the body of THC and its byproducts effectively, a combination of dietary changes, exercise, and herbal supplements is recommended. These methods enhance the body’s natural detoxification processes, expediting THC elimination. Adequate hydration, avoidance of high-fat foods and alcohol, and regular exercise can also aid in flushing out THC. However, it’s important to recognize that there is no universal approach to THC detox, as the process duration and intensity depend on factors such as marijuana usage frequency, metabolism, and body weight. By following a comprehensive THC detox program, individuals can substantially reduce THC levels and achieve a clean system.4 Best THC Detox Prod...

Historic downtown San Jose office building may become housing highrise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

SAN JOSE — The iconic Bank of Italy office tower in downtown San Jose may gain a new mission as a housing highrise, a conversion being discussed with the forbidding backdrop of an office market that continues to wobble.The concept of converting the high-profile tower to residential units could be a winner for the property, considering the shortage of housing in the Bay Area and the post-coronavirus ailments that now afflict the office market in this region.The principal owners of the landmark building have held discussions at San Jose City Hall regarding the potential concept, according to several sources, including some who have direct knowledge of the plans to convert the structure.The building is owned by an alliance of local development firm Urban Community and Westbank, a top-notch developer with a global reach. Bay Area real estate entrepreneurs Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga head up Urban Community.Dillabough, Arrillaga and Westbank declined to comment or couldnR...

‘I really do apologize’: Oakland resident gets 12 years for killing man in 2019 bar shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A city resident who had been charged with killing one man and wounding another in a 2019 shooting outside a bar in Old Oakland has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison through a plea deal, court records show.Before he was sentenced, 26-year-old Deontre Brown penned a letter saying “I really do apologize” to family members of the man he killed, who decried the plea agreement as too lenient. Brown pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the prison sentence, and prosecutors dropped murder and assault charges against him. He was formally sentenced on May 5.The victim, 42-year-old Cassius Stroman, of San Francisco, was shot and killed around 7:45 p.m. on March 10, 2019 in a parking lot in the 800 block of Washington Street, near the Liege Spirits Lounge. Witnesses testified that Stroman got into an altercation with several other patrons at the bar, after he asked a woman for her phone number and was rebuffed.Both prosecutors and the ...

14th-century Ghanian celebration of freedom comes to life in new East Bay show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

Every year, the Anlo-Ewe people of coastal Ghana reenact the foundational story of their exodus, a flight from servitude to freedom.Known as Hogbetsotso, the ritual recounts via music and dance how their ancestors in the 14th century fled the walled city of Notsie (in present day Togo) and made their way west to the Volta region.“It’s a story you grow up with,” said CK Ladzekpo, the Ghanaian choreographer, percussionist, composer and longtime director of UC Berkeley’s African music program.Hailing from an illustrious family of artists and cultural practitioners, Ladzekpo also been a creative force at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, which is where he’s premiering “Hogbetsotso — Day of Crossing Over,” June 10 and 11. Distilling the Anlo-Ewe rituals he absorbed as a youth, the production was made possible due to a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission in Folk and Traditional Arts.Thinking back on the elaborate celebration, Ladzekpo has come to see that the primary m...

Disneyland gets jaw-dropping Groot robot ready for Guardians of the Galaxy dance party

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

A top-secret project that has been under wraps for years could soon be revealed in Avengers Campus as Walt Disney Imagineering inches closer to pushing a jaw-dropping Groot robot out into Disney California Adventure to take part in a Guardians of the Galaxy dance party.Disneyland is conducting play tests of technology from the Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development team for select theme park visitors who are shown a short presentation of the Groot audio-animatronic character.Imagineering’s Project Kiwi version of the Young Groot audio-animatronic may be coming to Avengers Campus this summer, according to MiceChat.The Marvel superhero on the team of intergalactic mercenaries in the “Guardian of the Galaxy” films is a gentle, kind and childlike extraterrestrial tree-like creature who says only one thing: “I am Groot.”The most logical place to test out robot Groot: Next to the Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout in DCA’s Avengers Campus. The behind-the-scenes play ...

‘Ten years of stolen life can’t simply be brushed off’: After overturned Oakland murder convictions and charges against detective, two men sue OPD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

OAKLAND — Two Bay Area men who spent years behind bars for faulty murder convictions are suing the Oakland Police Department and a detective who admitted he paid a key witness after previously denying she’d received financial assistance, court records show.The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Giovante Douglas and Cartier Hunter, accuses Oakland police Detective Phong Tran of obtaining convictions against both men by paying off a witness and committing “clear perjury” to cover it up. The suit says both men spent close to a decade in jail and prison, until their convictions were quietly overturned by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in 2022.Tran was charged in April with multiple felony charges, including perjury and bribery. The criminal complaint alleges Tran lied under oath when he denied making payments to Aisha Weber, the woman who would testify she witnessed the 2011 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Charles Butler Jr., and implicated both men by...

San Mateo catfisher who posed as 15-year-old girl sentenced to prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

(KRON) -- A catfisher who posed as a 15-year-old girl to lure pre-teen boys over social media was sentenced to serve four years in state prison. A San Mateo County judge ordered Wai Kit Ching, 32, of San Mateo, to immediately report to prison following Wednesday's sentencing hearing. Ching was living in San Mateo when he created fake social media profiles posing as a teenage girl, according to prosecutors. Between 2019 and 2020, Ching "enticed five different male victims aged 12-14 to send him videos of them masturbating. His Instagram account and home computer revealed a large amount of child pornography," prosecutors wrote. Detectives with the San Mateo Police Department seized Ching's computers and discovered that several boys had been victimized. Catfishing is a type of online romance scam in which a person pretends to be someone else using fake photos and personas. "Romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust," t...

Bay Area real estate value is fastest dropping in the nation, report says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Real estate values across much of the Bay Area are the fastest dropping in the nation, according to a recent report from RealEstateAgents.com. The report, released late last month, identified the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward market and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara market as the no. 1 and no. 2 fastest dropping markets in the country in terms of real estate values over the past year. More trouble for downtown SF as owner of Hilton, Parc 55 cease payments on hotel properties The study compared median home prices for single-family homes between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022.The SF-Oakland-Hayward market saw a 6.10% decrease in value, with median home sale prices dropping from $1,310,000 in Q4 of 2021 to $1,230,000 in Q4 of 2022, the report said. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara market saw a 5.8% decline over the same time period, with media prices going from $1,675,000 to $1,577,000.The report cites people leaving the SF Bay Ar...