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Orange Unified School District approves controversial transgender policy 

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

The latest battlefront in the culture wars unfolded Thursday night at the Orange Unified School District Board meeting where officials voted to approve a controversial parent notification policy regarding transgender students.  After a deeply divisive evening, with vocal opposition and support for the parental notification policy, the vote was still underway late into the night.  The final vote came in just before midnight with the majority of the board voting in favor of the new policy. Three of the board members were absent from the vote.Cheers could be heard from those in attendance when the final approval of the policy was announced. The new policy requires schools in the district to notify parents if their child requests to be identified or treated as a gender other than what’s listed on their birth certificate. The policy would include requests to use pronouns that don’t align with their biological sex or gender or a name different from their legal name. Additionally, pa...

Firefall and Fleetwood Mac

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

Firefall and Fleetwood Mac: Jock Bartley of country rockers Firefall told us about his Fleetwood Mac experience.Jock Bartley: I’ve seen so many amazing live shows in my life and musical career. My band Firefall had the great fortune and timing to tour with Fleetwood Mac frequently in 1976 and 1977. It may sound presumptuous for me to name here a concert that I played on. But our last concert ever opening for Fleetwood Mac during their Rumours tour on May 1, 1977 was in Firefall’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado at Folsom Stadium in front of nearly 70,000 people. The bill that day was Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Bank, Firefall and a late addition of John Sebastian to open the show. Crazy! Only two years earlier, Firefall was playing a little club in Boulder, The Good Earth, preparing to go into Criteria Studios in Miami to make our very first album – and on this 1977 show, we played in front of our largest crowd ever in our home-state of Colorado! Fleetwood Mac...

Is Your Hemp For Industry or CBD? — Clarifying Industrial vs. CBD Hemp

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

For contemporary customers, hemp flowers are virtually synonymous with CBD oil. However, for most of human history, cultivators didn’t care too much about the cannabinoids in hemp flowers. Indeed, most archeological research suggests our ancestors only grew hemp for “practical” purposes like making textiles.Given the new relaxed laws on growing hemp flowers and the huge demand for CBD oil, countless US farmers are now growing hemp specifically for CBD. However, that doesn’t mean hemp doesn’t have industrial uses, nor does it mean every hemp farmer grows this crop for CBD extraction.In an ideal world, only people who grow hemp specifically for CBD would be manufacturing CBD products. Unfortunately, since there’s a lot of “green” to be made in the CBD market, some farmers have been selling inferior “industrial hemp” as “high-CBD hemp.” To spot the best CBD products, customers should know the key differences between these types of hemp flowers.What Do Customers Need to Know About Indus...

Major San Jose trail would link to future BART station by 2031

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

A San Jose walking and cycling trail decades in the making is one step closer to finally happening with the City Council set to vote Tuesday on securing the project’s final chunk of land — all at a bargain price.The long-sought Five Wounds Trail — running north to south on the eastern side of downtown — will allow residents to easily access the coming BART extension in the Little Portugal neighborhood and a smattering of other walkable paths that branch out across the city.When completed, the paved 2.17-mile route would start at the intersection of Story and Senter roads near the Coyote Creek Trail to the south and end at the Lower Silver Creek Trail to the north. The hope is to have the project completed by 2031.“I think this is a very notable, positive and substantial investment in the east side,” said Nanci Klein, director of economic development at the city. “It contributes to great places to be in these neighborhoods, which haven’t gott...

Everything Apple plans to show on Sept. 12: iPhone 15, Watches, AirPods

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

By Mark Gurman | BloombergApple Inc.’s most important new product unveiling of the year gets underway on Tuesday, when the company will introduce the iPhone 15, new smartwatches and the latest AirPods.The event kicks off from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. local time.The most significant new product will be the iPhone 15 Pro line, with more minor refreshes coming to the Apple Watch and the AirPods. The company also is likely to discuss iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10, its upcoming software updates for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.Related ArticlesTechnology | Apple expected to unveil new iPhone at ‘Wonderlust.’ special event at Cupertino headquarters Technology | Apple-leased Silicon Valley office building is bought as value jumps Technology | Appeals court revives bribery charge for Apple security exec in Santa Clara County concealed-gun permit scandal Technology | California...

Levi’s Stadium: Is 11 p.m. late enough after Taylor Swift, Beyonce blew past curfew this summer?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

For years, big-name acts like the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and other musicians have coolly blown through the curfews at Levi’s Stadium.It’s been a point of contention ever since the stadium was built in Santa Clara nearly a decade ago among residential neighborhoods, with cutoff times set at 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends to protect residents living in its shadow from loud noise blaring late into the night.Over the years, the San Francisco 49ers, who manage non-NFL events at the venue, have been fined $1,000 each time the curfews are ignored — a paltry amount for a billion-dollar franchise.In 2021, the Santa Clara City Council relaxed the curfew slightly, allowing five weeknight shows a year to go until 11 p.m. But that hasn’t been enough for superstars like Taylor Swift and Beyonce, both of whom broke the curfew this summer to the delight of the tens of thousands of fans in attendance.Swift ended at 11:38 p.m. and 11:26 p.m. during her two-ni...

Covid apathy and fatigue are real. Here’s how to cope

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

By Sandee LaMotte | CNNCovid-19 is here to stay. To prove it, the virus is surging in many places around the world — just as immunity from vaccinations is waning and most people have gotten used to life without masks and social distancing.While we know it’s the smart thing to do, the idea of returning to safety protocols required during the pandemic has many of us repeating a line often heard from our children: “I don’t wanna!”“I don’t wanna either,” said stress management expert Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, a fellow at the American Institute of Stress. “One of the responses to stress is to freeze — to stop living in your tracks. And when it comes to accepting Covid as a reality that requires a set of behaviors to stay safe, some people have just stuck their heads in the sand and decided ‘I’m going to act like there’s nothing there.’“RELATED: How California’s current COVID wave ranks among the pandemic’s Top 5Others might choose the other two classic stress responses of “fight or flight.” T...

Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: A.J Cenizal, Archbishop Mitty football

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

Archbishop Mitty football player A.J Cenizal is the Bay Area News Group’s high school boys athlete of the week for Aug. 28 to Sept. 2 after she received 35.47% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Sobrato football player Noah Taylor (32.56%) placed second and Saratoga football player Keion Ashjaee-Marshall was third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Cenizal, a senior, rushed for 251 and two touchdowns in 24 carries as Mitty outlasted Aptos 41-28 at Foothill College to improve to 2-0.Related ArticlesHigh School Sports | Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Nola Kurtz, Moreau Catholic water polo High School Sports | 10 great books about California football, from the 49ers to Cal and De La Salle High School Sports | Bay Area high school football 2023: Week 3 preview, schedule High School Sports | Former California girls basketball coach sentenced to 150 years for molesting...

49ers’ Colton McKivitz has a Bosa-like challenge in Steelers’ Watt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

SANTA CLARA — With time at a bare minimum going into the opener, Colton McKivitz will have to settle for getting in some work against Maxx Crosby as opposed to Nick Bosa.McKivitz steps in as the starting right tackle Sunday against the host Pittsburgh Steelers, and while he’ll have some help in terms of additional blockers, it will be his responsibility to put his body between edge rusher T.J. Watt and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.Having grown up in Jacobsburg, Ohio, about 90 minutes from Pittsburgh, McKivitz will have friends and family present.“It’s a great way to start. Having joint practices with the Raiders and seeing Maxx was really helpful,” McKivitz said. “I’ve had this one circled. It’s going to be a homecoming for me and I’m excited to go against the best they have to offer.”Watt is the most formidable Steelers defender as an edge rusher in a 3-4 defense. He comes almost exclusively from the left side at 6-foot-4...

Big San Jose office project could be converted to housing highrise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:24 GMT

SAN JOSE — A big office tower that’s proposed for a choice site in San Jose could morph into a housing highrise, the project’s principal developer says, a fresh indicator of Bay Area office woes.The housing could appear at a downtown San Jose site that’s being developed by Urban Catalyst, a real estate firm that’s active in local real estate.The changes might materialize on a property at 147 East Santa Clara Street next to North Fourth Street where Urban Catalyst has proposed a modern office tower that’s nicknamed Icon.Now, the office highrise might be converted into an apartment tower, according to Erik Hayden, founder and managing partner with Urban Catalyst.“We are thinking about developing 650 multifamily units at Icon,” Hayden said during a presentation and panel discussion at a Silicon Valley Breakfast event on Sept. 6 that was organized by law firm Hoge Fenton.The current plans call for a 20-story office building that would tota...