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Editorial: Stop two Bay Area legislators’ assault on open government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

California lawmakers are trying to use the remote-meeting experience of the COVID pandemic as an excuse to permanently gut public access to critical government boards.In April, we warned about troubling legislation by Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, that would shield local officials like those of a city council or school board from having to appear at public meetings. The Assembly has delayed consideration of Assembly Bill 1379 until next year.Meanwhile, another Bay Area legislator seeks to similarly hinder public access to meetings of powerful state agency boards such as the Public Utilities Commission, Air Resources Board, Coastal Commission, Board of Parole Hearings, and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.If Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, gets his way with Senate Bill 544, commissioners could actually phone it in as they make decisions on everything from setting PG&E rates to protecting our coastline to disciplining bad cops. And members of the pu...

Camilo Doval, SF Giants’ hard-throwing, low-key All-Star finally gets his due

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

SEATTLE — One morning early this spring, Blake Sabol walked into the Giants’ facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona, and peeked at the monitor on the wall to the entrance of the clubhouse. Among his list of duties, as a novice backstop no less, was to catch Camilo Doval.Doval was working on his two-seamer that day. Sabol, who had caught 64 innings above Double-A at the time, won’t soon forget it.“I remember it freaking took off,” Sabol said. “Like, turbo zoom. God, he throws gas and it looks like that, no wonder he’s the frickin’ closer.”Approaching 100 mph, the pitch darted down and away to Sabol’s glove side. His four-seamer, which has touched 104 mph, cuts the opposite direction. He pairs it all with a wipeout slider that comes in 10 mph slower and has generated an obscene 50 percent whiff rate this year. Altogether it has made him one of the National League’s premier closers, posting 26 saves with a 2.63 ERA and a 33.5 percent strikeout...

Opinion: Clear California goals needed to develop future water supply

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

Over the past decade, California has withered and swelled under huge swings in annual rain and snowfall. We’ve endured two of the most severe droughts in recorded state history, two of the wettest years on record, and even one of those rare occurrences — the average water year.The trend, however, is clear. California is getting warmer, and the drought intervals between our wet years are getting longer. State officials estimate climate change could reduce water supplies by about 10% by 2040, resulting in an approximate 8 million acre-feet per year loss. Meanwhile, the Colorado River basin is in steady decline, and scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories estimate warming temperatures will eliminate the Sierra snowpack most years beginning in the 2040s.California’s prosperity depends on a safe and reliable water supply adequate for meeting the future needs of people and the environment. In other words, the future largely depends on how well we answer two questions: ...

1983: 40 years ago, these were the year’s most influential albums

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

Imagine you sent a time traveler back to 1983 to bring back the biggest, most influential album of the year. If your time traveler didn’t return with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” well, you’d just have to send them back to get it right.Yes, we know that it was released on Nov. 29, 1982, so technically it got a head start on the new year in music. But just look at what Michael Jackson and “Thriller” did by the end of 1983:With 32 million copies sold by the time 1984 arrived, it became the top-selling album of all time, a record it still holds though the tally is now estimated at 70 million.Its seven singles – the title track, “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” “The Girl Is Mine,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” and “Human Nature” – all were hits, setting a record for most singles in the Top 10 from a single album that stood until 2021.Grammy Awards? Eight. Music videos? Iconic. By any measure, “Thriller” transcended pop music, becoming a cultural artifact worthy o...

How Oakland A’s DH Brent Rooker survived 400-plus minor league games to become an MLB All-Star

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

OAKLAND — Even on his worst nights — especially on his worst nights — Brent Rooker knew that when he stepped off the baseball field, rolled into the clubhouse and looked at his cell phone, he’d see a text message from his dad, Terry.“Hey man, keep your head up, keep swinging it,” Terry would often write. “You’re doing great. Keep at it.”Tuesday night, Rooker’s entire family will be in the stands at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, where the Oakland A’s designated hitter will be suiting up for the American League as perhaps the most unlikely All-Star after the 28-year-old cycled through four teams in two years, struggling to stay in the big leagues.“It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get in the game, or if he only gets an at-bat and strikes out, it doesn’t matter,” said Terry Rooker. “He’s here. His peers put him here. Other players voted him here… I’ll be the fat guy in the stands crying.”Back when Brent Rooker was a three-sport athlete at Evangelical...

Central I-70 express tolls begin Tuesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Beginning Tuesday, you will have to pay to drive the express lanes of Central Interstate 70 through Denver.The tolling was supposed to begin in February for the 10-mile stretch of rebuilt roadway from I-25 to Chambers Road, but the Colorado Department of Transportation ran into some problems. However, CDOT said it has corrected the problems and the grace period is now over. Colorado father, son killed in Florida crash The rates will vary by the time of day.If you’re driving at night, the charge will be $1.50. But in the morning during the rush hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., that jumps to $4.50.If you don’t have a transponder, charges will range between $4.26 to more than $10.  Those driving on the express lanes will be billed by a license plate scanner.  The lanes are free to motorcycles and cars with three passengers. 

Supreme Court justices and donors mingle at campus visits, including in Colorado

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas headlined a 2017 program at McLennan Community College in Texas, his hosts had more than a speech in mind. Working with the prominent conservative lawyer Ken Starr, school officials crafted a guest list for a dinner at the home of a wealthy Texas businessman, hoping an audience with Thomas would be a reward for school patrons -– and an inducement to prospective donors.Before Justice Elena Kagan visited the University of Colorado’s law school in 2019, one official in Boulder suggested a “larger donor to staff ratio” for a dinner with her. After Justice Sonia Sotomayor confirmed she would attend a 2017 question-and-answer session at Clemson University and a private luncheon, officials there made sure to invite $1 million-plus donors to the South Carolina college. Biden administration asks appeals court to block order limiting its contacts with social media The Associated Press obtained tens of thousands of pages of emails ...

Police pursuit ends in crash; no injuries reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

A high-speed pursuit involving police ended in a crash on Tuesday.It happened near Okeechobee Road and 117th Street. 7News, was on the scene as the car was towed away.Police have confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.

A tour around Hialeah’s Amazon facility on Prime Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

One of the biggest shopping days of summer has arrived: Prime Day! At Amazon’s same-day delivery facility in Hialeah, factory employees are working hard to get those packages to local customers. A look inside the warehouse showed robots maneuvering around the floor as they move products for packaging. These high-tech devices are used to work effectively to get the most work done as workers stay in one place to continuously prepare each item for shipment.Approximately 300 people work in the building and contract hundreds of drivers to get the packages out quickly. Employees handled and packaged items as they moved quickly and efficiently as online orders came in. Those packaged items then get moved onto a conveyor belt where a different set of workers handle the sortation process. A woman in a yellow and blue-striped vest was seen scanning each package as she put them into a gray cart which then gets picked up by one of the drivers hired by Amazon to deliver to customers throug...

Ryan Gosling sings his heart out as poor, overlooked Ken in latest ‘Barbie’ trailer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:51:52 GMT

(CNN) — With the “Barbie” movie release date fast approaching, the latest teaser features Ryan Gosling’s Ken bemoaning life in his female companion’s shadow.“I just don’t know who I am without you,” Ken tells Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the trailer, released Monday.We then see Ken singing about the dynamic between the pair, who are best friends.“It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, I’m always number two,” he croons. “No one knows how hard I try.”Ken then reveals his unrequited feelings for Barbie.“I’m just Ken. Where I see love she sees a friend,” he sings. “What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan, and fight for me?”The teaser is part of promotional efforts for the new “Barbie” movie from Warner Bros., which is set for release on July 21. Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.The live-action movie is directed by Greta Gerwig and sees Barbie and Ken leave Barbie Land to explore the “real world.”Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming movie r...