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Jam-packed Merola Opera season features new take on Britten classic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

The Merola Opera Program returns this summer with four events in store: an opening recital, a Schwabacher Summer Concert , the Merola Grand Finale, and — as the season’s centerpiece — a new production of Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia.”Britten’s 1946 opera is one of the English composer’s enduring works – one that, according to San Francisco Opera Center artistic director Carrie-Ann Matheson, still speaks to contemporary issues.“When we choose the repertoire that we present at Merola, we’re guided by the overarching question: ‘What can our artists learn from this?” Matheson noted, adding that Britten’s unique compositional style “offers the program’s artists considerable opportunities for growth and discovery. Performed July 13 and 15 at Herbst Theatre, the new production will be conducted by Judith Yan; Jan Ebinger is the director.Set in Rome in 509 B.C., “The Rape of Lucretia” introduces Tarquinius, son of the Roman king, who is heading Rome’s war again...

Mobile bakery owners buy new van after GoFundMe raises over $18,000

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

(KRON) -- A pair of mobile bakery owners is back in good spirits after the community donated funds to help them purchase a new van for their San Jose business. $10,000 reward offered in Oakland flower delivery homicide Ernesto Botello and Juan Soto, co-owners of Zeledon's Bakery on Wheels, have been serving the San Jose community for over two decades. The pair were baffled when their business van went missing last weekend. The van was later found crashed in Merced County, with all of their equipment and supplies missing.Botello and Soto were unsure when they might get back on their feet, but the community came together faster than they ever could have predicted. In just eight days, over 350 people donated $18,000 to a GoFundMe to replace the bakery's van. Soto was able to find and purchase a new van. He says, it's in great shape. "Yes I’m so happy, and I feel blessed by everyone helping me out and the van feels good," Soto told KRON4. Botello and Soto have been traveling from Lo...

Good Samaritan rescues two people from flaming vehicle after it crashes into a Sunnyvale Walgreens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

(KRON) -- A good Samaritan rescued two strangers when he pulled them from a flaming car after it crashed into a Sunnyvale Walgreens on Sunday, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety confirmed to KRON4. Mobile bakery owners buy new van after GoFundMe raises over $18K The crash happened around 2:25 a.m., when a vehicle collided into a Walgreens on the corner of South Sunnyvale Avenue and Old San Francisco Road. The car then burst into flames. When police arrived on scene, they saw that the driver was unresponsive and trapped in the vehicle, and they were unable to extricate him. He was later declared dead. Speed and alcohol are believed to have played a role in this fatal crash.Police found two passengers nearby, but, at first, it was a mystery as to how they escaped the blaze. However, DPS officers learned that a good Samaritan had pulled both passengers out of the burning vehicle before first responders arrived. An eyewitness who asked to remain anonymous said the good Samarit...

Released Guantánamo Detainees Are Still Being Denied Human Rights, U.N. Report Warns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

The United Nation’s special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, published an exhaustive investigation this week into human rights abuses at Guantánamo Bay. Following a historic visit to the detention center and interviews with current and former detainees, victims of the 9/11 attacks, and human rights lawyers, the report details delayed justice for the victims of terrorist attacks and ongoing injustice for the victims of torture.At the core of the report is the problem of inexplicable indefinite detention. “Arbitrariness pervades the entirety of the Guantánamo detention infrastructure — rendering detainees vulnerable to human rights abuse and contributing to conditions, practices, or circumstances that lead to arbitrary detention,” the report says. Life beyond Guantánamo, for some men, is just another Guantánamo. Those who cannot be repatriated are instead sent to a “third” country like Kazakhstan, where former detainees have been met with more arbi...

Will a DC ambulance arrive quickly, or is it tied up dropping the last patient at the hospital?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

While they are improving, the wait times for ambulances to leave hospitals in D.C. and get back on the streets for more calls still need work, according to new data.According to numbers released by the D.C. Fire and EMS Foundation, on average, ambulances in the District have a 52-minute drop time, which is the time from when an ambulance arrives at a hospital to drop off a patient to when it goes back into service to respond to 911 calls.In September, it was around 70 minutes.“It is progress, but not ideal,” Amy Mauro, the foundation’s executive director, told WTOP. “We’d love to see the city working with the fire department and the hospitals to see those numbers continue to go down.”While it is improving, it is still far from the 2016 drop times, which the foundation said hovered around 45 minutes.Mauro revived the foundation earlier this year to help with progress in the department and raise resources for its employees. Mauro said there is great importance in making th...

Rescuers found body in rubble of Paris building that collapsed in explosion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French emergency workers found a body Tuesday in the rubble of a Paris building whose facade collapsed in an explosion last week and are working to remove the remains and identify the person, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The discovery marks the first fatality in the blast, which left six people critically injured and more than 50 people with lighter injuries or psychological shock, according to the Paris prosecutor.Authorities had been digging through debris for days to try to locate a person reported missing since the explosion June 21. The search was complicated by the risk that a neighboring building could also collapse.The identity of the person whose body was found Tuesday was not yet clear, according to the prosecutor’s office.After the discovery, the preliminary investigation opened into the case was expanded to include potential manslaughter charges, the prosecutor’s office said. Prosecutors are looking into whether the explosion was caused by intent...

Struggling Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah allows 11 runs in first minor league game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Toronto Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah was hit hard in his first game after returning to the minors, allowing 11 runs over 2 2/3 innings in a rookie-level Florida Complex League game on Tuesday.The Blue Jays sent the struggling right-hander down on June 6 after the 2022 All-Star and AL Cy Young finalist couldn’t get out of the first inning against the Houston Astros.Pitching for the FCL Blue Jays against the Yankees at New York’s minor league complex, the 25-year old gave up 10 hits, including two homers, two walks against a lineup comprised mostly of teenagers 17 to 19 years old.After Manoah allowed an RBI single to Hans Montero in the first, Roderick Arias hit a second-inning three-run homer that cleared the approximately 30-foot center-field batter’s eye. The 18-year old Arias received a $4 million signing bonus in 2022 from the Yankees.The 6-foot-6 right-handed needed 26 pitches, inlcuding 15 strikes, in the second.Manoah was chased after giving up ...

Pope’s peace envoy arrives in Moscow after the short-lived Wagner rebellion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ peace envoy arrived in Moscow on Tuesday in hopes of helping find “a solution to the tragic current situation” of the war in Ukraine, weeks after making a preliminary visit to Kyiv, the Vatican said.The mission by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives, comes as the Kremlin is reeling from the weekend armed rebellion led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. Russia has since dropped charges against Prigozhin and others who took part in the brief mutiny.Details of Zuppi’s itinerary weren’t immediately clear. When he visited Kyiv earlier this month, he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In Moscow, one likely visit would be paid to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader Patriarch Kirill has strongly supported the war.The Vatican has said Zuppi is hoping to find “paths of peace” in his shuttle missions.On the Moscow leg, Zuppi was accompanied by an official from the Vatican secr...

North Carolina GOP bars promotion of certain beliefs in state government, 1 of 5 veto overrides

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Republican-dominated legislature swept five bills into law Tuesday with veto overrides, placing new limits on wetlands protection rules and barring the promotion of certain beliefs in state government workplaces that some lawmakers likened to critical race theory.The measures, which also address consumer loans and local government finances, became law after a succession of House votes with margins large enough to overcome Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s formal vetoed objections earlier this month. The Senate already voted over the past week to override vetoes on each of these bills. The state constitution deems an override successful if at least three-fifths of the members in each chamber present and voting agree to enact the bill anyway despite the governor’s objections.The overrides exemplify the expanded political muscle of Republicans after electoral seat gains last fall and a House Democrat’s party switch in April gave ...

Parks Canada highlights “On The Road Again” project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:57 GMT

Parks Canada is drawing attention to its On The Road Again conservation project, aiming to improve reptile and amphibian habitats in eastern and central Ontario. The conservation effort is focused on the areas in and around Georgian Bay Islands National Park, Bruce Peninsula National Park and Thousand Islands National Park (about 50 minutes east of Kingston) and is particularly focused on turtles and their nesting season throughout May, June and early July.Project Coordinator Katherine Welch says On The Road Again started officially in 2020 in response to the population decline of reptiles and amphibians due to dramatically altered landscapes.Through the project’s $1.8 million in funding, actions to be taken include installing new under-road animal passageways, that will help species safely cross roadways, supporting habitat restoration, and implementing large scale public engagement initiatives. Through this program Parks Canada has partnered with municipalities, local s...