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8 Californians strike gold with Lottery scratchers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

Eight Southern Californians recently struck it rich, winning a combined $13 million from California Lottery Scratcher tickets, Lottery officials announced on Thursday.Lilia Gharbian of Pasadena played a Millionaire Bucks ticket purchased at a Liquor Mart and instantly won the top prize of $5,000,000, officials said.In Carson, Miguel Hernandez scratched his way to a $2 million prize from an Instant Crossword ticket.In San Bernardino County, Efren Figueroa won a cool million playing a Win Big scratcher purchased at the Albertsons in Highland.In Los Angeles County, Dana Treadway won $1 million playing an Xtreme Multiplier ticket purchased in Covina.In Orange County, Francisco Fajardo also struck gold with a million-dollar Perfect Gift! ticket he bought at Bob’s Liquor in Fullerton.Jesus Rojo, Thomas Bockover, and Larry Fox also won $1 million each playing Diamond 8’s tickets purchased in Orange and L.A. counties.The California Lottery is required by law to disclose the names of winners...

San Jose winery tops USA Today’s best new vineyard experiences list

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

San Jose’s Alamitos Vineyards was just singled out as the best new winery experience in the country by USA Today readers in its latest 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.A panel of six travel and wine writers nominated 20 wineries for the ballot, with readers winnowing the list down to 10 stellar picks, including four from the Pacific Northwest. Oregon’s legendary Willamette Valley is home to three of them — Anacréon, Abbott Claim and Nicolas-Jay. Washington’s Bledsoe McDaniels lies in Walla Walla’s wine region.Tech entrepreneurs Shaun Coleman and Chris Maune opened their Alamitos Vineyards’ tasting room to the public just two years ago, offering wine flights from a retro 1964 Silver Streak trailer by reservation. The winery sits on a privately-owned estate at Almaden Quicksilver County Park, so those award-winning sips of syrah and sauvignon blanc are accompanied by stunning views.Alamitos Vineyards proprietors Shaun Coleman and Chris Maune pose...

Feinstein appears to get confused in Senate hearing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

By Kristin Wilson | CNNSen. Dianne Feinstein had to be corrected and told to vote during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday.The California Democrat, who has been in frail health following a shingles diagnosis in the spring, has appeared confused at times since her return to the Capitol.Feinstein, who at 90 is the oldest member serving in the US Senate, has faced questions about her health in recent years, and members of her own party called on her to resign her Senate seat after an extended absence earlier this year following the shingles diagnosis. She returned to Washington in June.During Thursday’s hearing, Feinstein was meant to cast her vote on the Defense Appropriations bill, requiring her to say “Aye” or “Nay,” when her name was called. When she didn’t answer, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state tried to prompt her.“Say aye,” she said, repeating herself three times to Feinstein.Feinstein then started to read from prepared remarks, and was inter...

Oakland A’s reportedly toss out initial Las Vegas ballpark renderings

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

Remember those fancy renderings the A’s released of their proposed Las Vegas ballpark, built right on the Strip?The A’s are now telling people to forget all about them.A’s director of design Brad Schrock spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week and said that the team is telling the architectural groups interested in building the ballpark to ignore the initial renderings.“We told the groups, ‘You saw renderings in the newspaper, but wad those up for now,’” Schrock said. “We are really encouraging them to think creatively about the different ways to solve the problem. It will be fun to see what we get back.”Those renderings were produced just as the A’s were meeting with Nevada lawmakers, seeking approval for up to $380 million in taxpayer money to help build the 30,000-seat, nine-acre stadium that is expected to cost $1.5 billion total. After several special sessions, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed Senate Bill 1 into law on June 15.In some ways, it was obvious from the beginn...

Pac-12 survival: The expansion imperative following Colorado’s (expected) departure

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

The Pac-12 presidents spent a year mulling whether to expand the conference following the announced departures of the Los Angeles schools.Now, they seemingly have no choice.Colorado’s presumptive departure to the Big 12 next summer will leave the Pac-12 with nine teams for the 2024 football season. That’s more than enough to meet NCAA and College Football Playoff requirements but creates a plethora of challenges, with the football schedule near the top of the list.A nine-game conference rotation doesn’t work with nine teams.As much as we’d like to see Oregon and Washington play a home-and-home series each fall, there’s no indication the Pac-12 plans to double up the intra-conference matchups.Sure, it could move forward with nine teams schools drop to an eight-game conference schedule. (The SEC and ACC also play eight league games.) But that approach would require each team to add one non-conference opponent — a tricky and costly proposition at this late date.Most schedules are...

Putin says fighting in eastern Ukraine has intensified

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

By Hanna Arhirova and Dasha Litvinova | Associated PressKYIV, Ukraine — Fierce fighting raged Thursday in southeastern Ukraine, where a Western official said Kyiv has launched a major push and Russian President Vladimir Putin said “hostilities have intensified significantly.”Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the over 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons and Western-trained troops against Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.Putin praised the “heroism” with which Russian soldiers were repelling attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast, claiming Moscow’s troops not only destroyed Ukraine’s military equipment but also inflicted heavy losses to Kyiv’s forces.He insisted on state TV Ukraine’s push in the area “wasn’t successful,” although it was not possible to independently verify his report. Putin was in...

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh on NCAA investigation: ‘There’s nothing to be ashamed of’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

By Angelique S. Chengelis | The Detroit NewsIndianapolis — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, facing what likely will be a four-game suspension as part of a negotiated resolution with the NCAA, took the podium on the final day of Big Ten media days and said he couldn’t comment on the penalty or investigation.Harbaugh faced a Level I allegation from the NCAA for allegedly making false statements about recruiting violations during the 2021 COVID dead period in recruiting and for misleading investigators.Related ArticlesCollege Sports | San Jose State football kicks off preparation for tough 2023 schedule College Sports | Pac-12 preseason poll: Stanford dead last, Cal not far ahead College Sports | SJSU’s Cordeiro named MW’s preseason offensive player of the year College Sports | Northwestern fires football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing claims “As you probably know I’m not allowed to talk about any aspect of that ...

California rent hikes on 1-family homes shrink below pre-pandemic pace

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.Buzz: California landlords are shrinking rent increases on single-family homes to below what they sought in pre-pandemic days.Source: The trusty spreadsheet looked at rent indexes for May based on listed asking rates for houses in nine California markets, calculated by CoreLogic.ToplineYes, house rents are still rising in all nine major California markets tracked. But the good news for tenants is that the pace of rent increases is down over the past year and compared with the pre-pandemic norm.Consider that these nine markets averaged 2% annual increases from May 2020. That’s down from a painful 11.6% during the previous 12 months.It’s also below the 4.2% average annual increases seen in 2011-2020 — before anyone without an infectious disease degree knew much about a coronavirusThis is better than the national pace: U....

Hayward cyberattack: Officials restore disrupted emergency dispatch system

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

The city of Hayward has restored its internal computer network following a cyberattack this month that disrupted 911 emergency dispatch systems and other municipal services, officials said Thursday.The city bought back online its computer network Tuesday and said the 911 center’s computer-aided dispatch system, or CAD, was also restored, according to a press release. The CAD system is how the dispatch center receives calls and records and manages information to send police and firefighters to calls for service.“In CAD’s absence, Hayward’s call-takers and dispatchers reverted to pen and paper, and radio communication with responding officers and firefighter-paramedics,” according to the release.Access Hayward, a system through which non-emergency requests for service and other reports of problems are received, was also brought back online, according to the release.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | ‘Systems have gone down’: ...

Niger’s leader, seized in coup, vows democracy will win

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:34 GMT

By Sam Mednick | Associated PressNIAMEY, Niger — Niger’s president defiantly declared Thursday that democracy would prevail, a day after mutinous soldiers detained him and announced they had seized power in a coup because of the West African country’s deteriorating security situation.While many people in the capital of Niamey went about their usual business, it remained unclear who was in control of the country and which side the majority might support. A statement tweeted by the army command’s account declared that it would back the coup to avoid a “murderous confrontation” that could lead to a “bloodbath.” It was not possible to confirm that the statement was genuine.Meanwhile, President Mohamed Bazoum — who was elected in 2021 in Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960 and is a key ally of the West — appeared to have the backing of several political parties.“The hard-won ...