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Oakland mayor proposes hiring freeze, delaying programs to balance budget

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is proposing to delay implementing some city programs and freeze hiring to help balance the city's next budget, her office said Monday. The two-year deficit is $360 million, the largest in the city's history, in a budget of $4.3 billion. Missing Petaluma girl located, safely returned home Thao is also proposing to consolidate some city departments to increase efficiency and save additional money. Following a ransomware attack against the city, Thao wants to spend $10 million on upgrading and hardening the city's cyber security technology. She also is proposing over $200 million over the next two years for affordable housing. Thao did not say how many vacant jobs would be frozen or what programs would be delayed. The budget must be approved by June 30. Thao will present her budget to the Oakland City Council at 4 p.m. May 3. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Canadian government proposes ban on assault-style firearms

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

OTTAWA, Canada (AP) — The Canadian government is proposing a ban on assault-style firearms that would apply once legislation now before Parliament comes into force. Under the scheme announced Monday, the government would make regulations through the Firearms Act to ensure that guns are classified correctly before entering the Canadian market.“I want to make it clear that our government is not targeting hunters and law-abiding gun owners,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a news conference. “What we’re doing is protecting families, protecting our children, protection our communities.”The government also plans to recreate a firearms advisory committee that will make recommendations on the classification of guns now on the market.Mendicino said the committee will include rural and northern residents, Indigenous people, industry leaders, law enforcement and gun control advocates.“Guided by the committee’s recommendation we will increase the classifications of firearms for ban...

3 killed in Southern California small plane crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

BIG BEAR CITY, Calif. (AP) — A single-engine plane crashed near a California mountain airport on Monday, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.The Beechcraft A36 went down about 2 p.m. near Big Bear City Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane struck a vacant lot, and there was no fire, fire officials said.The victims weren’t immediately identified. The cause of the crash was under investigation. Weather reports said it was partly cloudy at the time of the crash. Big Bear Airport is in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake, a popular resort area about a two-hour’s drive east of Los Angeles.It was the second deadly small plane crash in three days in Southern California. On Saturday, one person was killed when a single-engine plane slammed into a grassy hillside above homes in a Los Angeles neighborhood amid dense fog, authorities said. The Cessna C172 crashed around 8:45 p.m. Saturday on the city’s west side, about ...

Lakers’ James, Warriors’ Curry to meet again in playoffs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It’s LeBron vs. Steph on the big stage, Take V.With a slightly different look in the playoffs these days for two of the game’s greatest players.“Just two of the most competitive players that have ever played this game,” James said Monday. “We want to etch our name in the history books as much as we can, and we’re playing our own way. I’ve got nothing but the greatest admiration and respect for Steph.”Curry and Draymond Green reflect back on Golden State’s many memorable NBA Finals battles with James and marvel how they’re all still playing such high-level basketball so many years later.Yet this Western Conference semifinal matchup starting Tuesday is new for everybody: Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and these Warriors have never faced LeBron’s Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs — even if they’re plenty familiar with James himself.“It is special to know the first series we played him in Cleveland in the ’14-15 to now, we’re blesse...

Gwyneth Paltrow won’t recoup attorney fees in ski crash suit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow will not recoup the attorneys’ fees she paid to successfully defend herself against a lawsuit from a 76-year-old retired optometrist who claimed she was at fault for crashing into him at a posh Utah ski resort in 2016.In a ruling published on Saturday, a Utah judge said attorneys for Paltrow and Terry Sanderson had agreed to drop the matter of Paltrow’s attorneys’ fees. District Court Judge Kent Holmberg’s final judgment did not detail why the matter of attorneys’ fees that Paltrow sought in her 2019 countersuit was dropped.The judgment affirmed the jury’s unanimous verdict finding Terry Sanderson — the man who collided with Paltrow — to be “100% at fault,” awarding Paltrow the $1 she sought in a countersuit. It also said Sanderson would not appeal the verdict, effectively ending a protracted legal battle seven years after the two crashed on a beginner run near the base of Deer Valley Resort in Utah.Repr...

California sues Elk Grove over housing project for homeless

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When developers in the California city of Elk Grove pitched two new housing projects last year, the proposals appeared to have much in common: Both would build new housing in a quaint section of the city affectionately known as “Old Town” for its attractive stretch of historic buildings.One project was for people who could afford to purchase homes at the market rate in a state with some of the most expensive home prices in the nation. The other project was for people who were homeless. City officials approved the market rate project. But the homeless project has stalled as officials in the growing suburb of Sacramento argued it was not eligible to be fast-tracked under a 2017 state housing law.Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration jointly sued the Elk Grove, arguing city officials broke the law by denying the project and accusing them of discriminating against low income families. The lawsuit escala...

Met Gala fashion: Bündchen, Lipa, Campbell on vintage train

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Met Gala’s starry carpet was on fire with vintage haute couture Monday as Dua Lipa walked in a Chanel ballgown from the fashion house’s archive and Nicole Kidman chose a look Karl Lagerfeld himself made for her 20 years ago.Welcome to Met Gala mania on fashion’s biggest night of the year. This year, more elegant than wacky as in years past, included many looks accompanied by stories of Lagerfeld, whose work is the night’s “theme.” Many in the crowd of 400 counted him as a friend or worked with him at Chanel, Fendi, Chloe or one of the other fashion houses where he worked in a career that spanned more than 60 years. Lipa, a gala co-chair, wore a Tiffany & Co. diamond around her neck that she called “very special.” The singer’s cream-colored dress, by Chanel from 1992, was also “very, very special” as it has been on her mood boards, she said.Claudia Schiffer wore the gown on the runway for its debut, although hers had a match...

Yanks’ Loáisiga to have elbow surgery, out until August

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga will have arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow and likely will be sidelined until August.New York manager Aaron Boone said head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad will operate Tuesday and Loáisiga will not be able to throw for three to six weeks. Loáisiga, 28, had been out since April 5 with right elbow inflammation.“After a few days of throwing, it wasn’t bothering him throwing, and then he came in one day and had the swelling, which they think is related to that spur. So they got to get it out of there,” Boone said before Monday’s series opener against Cleveland. New York put captain Aaron Judge on the 10-day IL with a strained right hip, a move retroactive to Friday. Center fielder Harrison Bader could be activated during the series against the Guardians. He has hasn’t played for the Yankees since a spring training game on March 8 because of a strained le...

Wounded dean's family speaks as Denver Public Schools releases safety plan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The much-awaited initial Denver Public Schools safety plan has been made public.It addresses several issues, like school resource officers, mental health plans and crisis response training.The Parent Safety Advocacy Group, or P-SAG, had been calling for the plan ever since two deans were shot at East High School in March. The sister of one of those deans, Jerald Mason, spoke to reporters across the street from the East campus on Monday afternoon.“When my mother came into my room, she said, 'Your brother has been shot.' I just looked at her, and every part of my being just shut down,” Mason’s sister, Collinus Newsome, said. Report: Students drew swastikas after middle school Holocaust presentation Newsome spoke on behalf of her brother, who had planned to be at P-SAG's new conference. A spokesman for the group said he was not able to make it because of a medical condition.Newsome said she and her mother went directly to the hospital the day Mason was shot.“We got to...

Aurora golf course using scooters as golf carts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:00 GMT

AURORA (KDVR) -- Golfers are doing double takes at Meadow Hills Golf Course these days, because what they think they see, is actually true — scooters on the golf course.Golf is a game of tradition, so when someone spots something that is not traditional on the links, that someone is going to look. And a golf scooter is most definitely not traditional.“A couple years ago the guys in the pro shop wanted to just offer a different alternative for a way to get around the golf course. Instead of just either riding in a cart or walking,” said Karin “K-Lo” Rivale, Aurora Parks & Recreation.Right now, Meadow Hills is the only Aurora golf course that has the scooters. They cost $4,000 each. They are called PHAT Scooters. They are specially designed with wide tires to use safely on golf courses, similar to golf carts. The best time to water plants, lawns in Colorado Before a golfer is allowed to use a PHAT scooter on the course, a little tutorial on how to operate it is mandatory. It tak...