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Gov. Newsom signs legislation to improve broadband connectivity across California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation from California Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that aims to improve broadband and internet connectivity across California by allowing the state to lease its property to providers for deployment of new infrastructure.Senate Bill 387 aims to give General Services more flexibility in setting lease terms, creating incentives for broadband providers to invest in much-needed infrastructure improvements. Also, it is scheduled to allow the department to execute leases on behalf of other state departments such as Caltrans, Parks and Recreation and Fish and Wildlife, with their consent.“With approval of this new law, the state can use its property to generate revenue while enticing providers to expand their offerings,” Sen. Dodd said in a news release. “It will fill in unserved zones and help get high-speed data to those who need it for work, school and home life. I thank the governor for signing it into law. ”Under existing law, the state Department of Ge...

Site of huge Bay Area housing project is seized in loan foreclosure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

OAKLAND — The future for a huge housing development in Oakland has turned murky now that a lender has seized the project site through its foreclosure of a delinquent real estate loan.The foreclosure casts doubt and uncertainty over the fate of a project that could have produced well over 1,000 homes in West Oakland.Housing tower within the CitySpaces mixed-use development that features 1,032 residences, retail, restaurant and grocery spaces at 500 Kirkham Street in West Oakland, concept. (SiteLab Urban Studio, BDE Architecture)San Francisco-based Panoramic Development had proposed the housing project on a site that’s bounded by Kirkham Street, 7th Street, Union Street and 5th Street, Oakland planning files show.Panoramic bought the site, whose official address is 500 Kirkham Street, for $7.1 million in 2017.Street-level view of the CitySpaces mixed-use development that features 1,032 residences, retail, restaurant and grocery spaces at 500 Kirkham Street in West Oak...

Chick-fil-A buys San Jose site near busy intersection and large retailer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

SAN JOSE — Chick-fil-A has bought a parcel near a choice San Jose intersection in a real estate deal that could mark an expansion for the restaurant chain, public records show.The fast-food restaurant company paid $4.5 million for a parcel near the corner of Silver Creek Road and East Capital Expressway, according to documents filed on Oct. 6 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.Chick-fil-A bought the parcel through an all-cash deal, the county real estate files show.At present, the just-bought parcel is a surface parking lot with frontage on Silver Creek Road.Target sold the parcel to Chick-fil-A, according to the property documents. Target operates one of its big-box stores in the same retail complex.In the wake of the property transaction, Target retained the ownership of its store site and an adjacent surface parking lot, the grant deed and other documents on file with the cunty show.Sometime around 2010, Chick-fil-A became a lightning rod for controversy af...

Walters: California economic uncertainty drives Newsom’s high veto rate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

This is a week of waiting and watching for legislators, lobbyists, journalists, bureaucrats and other denizens in and around the state Capitol.Mostly, they are waiting to see how Gov. Gavin Newsom handles hundreds of bills still awaiting his signature or rejection in the few remaining days he has to act.Newsom appears to be rejecting an unusually large percentage of the bills passed by the Legislature this year — nearly 20% according to lobbyist Chris Micheli, who tracks legislative data as a sideline.Many of Newsom’s veto messages contain the same language, lamenting that after the state dealt with a $30 billion budget deficit, the Legislature sent him measures that “would add nearly $19 billion of unaccounted costs in the budget.”“With our state facing continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined in considering bills with significant fiscal implications, such as this measure,” his boilerplate veto message concludes.That cautionary m...

Judge: Driving car into Bay Area cop wasn’t attempted murder

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

A defendant wasn’t trying to murder a Vallejo police officer when he drove a car into the officer during a burglary this summer, a judge said Tuesday.Following two days of preliminary examination, Judge Robert Bowers found probable cause that 30-year-old Jamazea Kittell committed assault or assault on a police officer June 27 when he hit Officer Brad Kim with a Dodge Charger. But he found no merit to the prosecution’s claim that Kittell – who, according to expert testimony, couldn’t see Kim until it was too late to stop – was trying to kill the other man.“I don’t think there is sufficient cause to hold him to answer for an attempted murder. I don’t see it,” Bowers said in Solano County Superior Court.Ultimately, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office is still in charge of deciding what charges Kittell will face at trial. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Tali said in an interview that he’ll need to speak to “higher-ups” before making that decision. Assaulting a police officer wit...

East Bay attorney indicted in infamous billion-dollar Ponzi scheme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

A lawyer for the shuttered DC Solar company at the heart of a nearly $1 billion fraud case has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento.Jurors on Oct. 5 returned a 23‑count indictment against Ari J. Lauer, 59, of Lafayette, agreeing there was enough evidence to charge him with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud affecting a financial institution. The allegations were brought for his role in the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a press release issued Monday.A licensed attorney in California, Lauer, from approximately 2009 to January 2019, was outside counsel to DC Solar, which had offices in Solano and Yolo counties and elsewhere in Northern California. He provided legal and business advice concerning DC Solar’s operations.The indictment was unsealed Monday after Lauer’s arrest. He was booked into Sacramento County Jail on Monday but was released, ja...

SF teachers voting today to authorize strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- San Francisco teachers will vote this morning if they are to go on strike. The teachers are looking for a significant pay raise.If San Francisco educators vote for a strike, that means the teachers' union United Educators of San Francisco will be one step closer to telling their teachers to stay out of the classroom.The San Francisco Unified School District is offering as much as a $10,000-a-year pay raise. Teachers say San Francisco is extremely expensive and that’s not enough of a raise. 7 Bay Area high schools make Niche’s top 10 in California The two sides have been trying to make a new two-year contract for the past year.If teachers vote to strike, the union will vote one more time on whether or not to strike. If that happens, it will be the first time San Francisco teachers will not be at work since 1979.

Stellantis picks Kokomo, Indiana, for its second US battery venture with Samsung SDI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Jeep maker Stellantis says it will build a second electric vehicle battery factory in Kokomo, Indiana, that will create 1,400 new jobs.The $3.2 billion joint venture factory with South Korea’s Samsung SDI is to start production early in 2027.Construction already is underway on the companies’ first joint venture factory in Kokomo, which is scheduled to open early in 2025. That $3.1 billion plant also is expected to create about 1,400 new jobs in the area.The city of Kokomo made a compelling case to locate the second factory there, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer for North America Mark Stewart said in a statement early Wednesday. Samsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi said Kokomo will be the company’s largest production base for electric vehicle batteries in North America, helping Stellantis accelerate a transition to a new era of EVs.Stellantis also plans a joint-venture battery plant across the border in Windsor, Ontario. Source

Former DC United coach, Man United great Rooney hired as Birmingham City manager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

D.C. United head coach Wayne Rooney reacts after an MLS soccer match against Orlando City, Sunday, July 31, 2022, in Washington. D.C. United won 2-1. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)(AP/Julio Cortez) D.C. United head coach Wayne Rooney reacts after an MLS soccer match against Orlando City, Sunday, July 31, 2022, in Washington. D.C. United won 2-1. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)(AP/Julio Cortez) MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United and England great Wayne Rooney was appointed manager of Birmingham City on Wednesday.Rooney, who left his position as coach of MLS team D.C. United on Sunday, has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract.“My job is to elevate the club to the next level and I can’t wait to get started,” Rooney sai...

Blinken viaja a Israel en medio de la guerra con Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:51 GMT

WASHINGTON DC – El secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Antony Blinken, viajará el jueves a Israel para expresar su apoyo a las autoridades de ese país ante el ataque sin precedentes de Hamás, que ha derivado en una nueva guerra con Gaza.El portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Matthew Miller, explicó el martes en una rueda de prensa que el jefe de la diplomacia estadounidense se reunirá con altos cargos del Gobierno israelí para “seguir con las conversaciones” que han mantenido por teléfono de los últimos días.“Se reunirá con nuestros socios israelíes para abordar la situación sobre el terreno y cómo podemos ayudarlos en su lucha contra los terroristas que lanzaron estos horribles ataques”, declaró en la rueda de prensa.Está previsto que el avión de Blinken despegue de Washington este miércoles, y que llegue a Israel el jueves. Israel y Hamas en guerra: al menos 2,200 personas han muerto en ambos lados Aerolín...