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New setback for efforts to protect Californians living near oil wells

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

From storming the stage at a Shell shareholders meeting to filing lawsuits over anti-racketeering claims, climate activists are trying a wide range of tactics in attempts to shame fossil fuel companies and hold them financially responsible for the harms their operations can cause.Oil companies are pushing back, spending big money and counting on support from legislators, courts and voters — so far with mixed results.But big oil just scored another big win in California.State Sen. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge who chairs the Appropriations Committee, last week declined to let Senate Bill 556 advance for a full vote in the legislature.The bill from Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, cited research on how pollution from oil wells that leaks into the air, water and soil increases the risks that nearby residents might develop cancer, respiratory illnesses and birth defects. And it would have given the more than 1 million Californians who live within 3,200 feet o...

Harry and Meghan skip awards gala, ‘shocked’ their credibility is under siege

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Meghan Markle reportedly skipped a start-studded awards show in Beverly Hills Tuesday night, which would have provided another headline-making opportunity for the American duchess to be seen in the company of other accomplished female celebrities and to get some positive PR for her media projects that empower women.Instead, she and Prince Harry continue to deal with the fall-out from their disputed claims about surviving a “near-catastrophic” two-hour car chase with “relentless” paparazzi  through in the streets of New York City. They reportedly are “shocked” that people think they “exaggerated” their tense encounter with photographers last week, which occurred after they and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, attended a gala for the Ms. Foundation, during which the former TV actor received another honor for her work on behalf of empowering women.In this image from video, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan exit Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ba...

Dark chapter in history inspires a lively SF jazz concert

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Given just days to pack up after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 empowered the military to detain and relocate Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, 19-year-old George Yoshida grabbed his most precious possessions.“We could take to the camp only what we could carry,” the late drummer, educator and historian told me in a 2001 interview for the Contra Costa Times. “I took a box of 78 rpm records. I still have them — Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington. My sister was very upset because here we’re taking bedrolls and utensils and clothing and I’m taking my records, but I couldn’t part with them.”In the years after World War II, when Japanese Americans reintegrated into American society, many of Yoshida’s fellow internees resisted talking about their experiences in the camps. Not Yoshida, who died in 2014 at the age of 92. At the urging of bassist/composer Mark Izu, he documented the history ...

Pick-your-own cherries season has arrived in the Bay Area; here’s where to go

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

It’s been a wait, thanks to the cold and foul weather, but the most joyful time of the year for fruit lovers is finally here: the annual start of the pick-your-own-cherries season.Two major cherry-growing orchards have released dates for self-picking late this May: the Borello Family Farms aka U-Pick Orchards location in Morgan Hill (opening May 26) and Mike’s U-Pick in Brentwood (opening May 31). Here’s the Facebook announcement and website for Mike’s, which has two locations, and the Facebook announcement and website for Borello, which is opening one of its many locations from May 25-May 29 (with other locations opening soon). A few other places recently announced openings, too, including G&S Farms and Nunn Better Farms in Brentwood, the latter which was the site of much pickin’ last weekend ($4 a pound, two varieties).“Our farming region has had weird weather this year – not doing exactly what’s needed to ripen the fruit as quickly as...

Donald Trump, allies plan effort to steal Ron DeSantis’ 2024 moment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

By Kristen Holmes | CNNDonald Trump and his allies are planning a coordinated effort to upend the media cycle around the presidential campaign launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which will include videos and a social media blitz leaning on high-profile, Trump-aligned conservative commentators, sources familiar with the plans told CNN.The messaging strategy will involve some Trump surrogates appearing in Miami, where DeSantis is set to gather with donors beginning Wednesday. Make America Great Again, Inc., the Trump-aligned super PAC, will also have a presence in the city. The group plans to have a box truck playing a new attack ad as it circles the Miami hotel where DeSantis will be. The 60-second digital ad hits DeSantis on his tenure as a congressman in Washington, painting the Florida governor as a Washington “swamp creature” who was trying to cut entitlements while Trump was entering the White House. The ad presents a side-by-side comparison of Trump’s and DeSantis’ time in DC...

Where’s Diggs? Von Miller not concerned by Bills receiver skipping voluntary practices

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Von Miller isn’t the least bit concerned about Buffalo Bills teammate Stefon Diggs missing voluntary spring practices. Nor is the veteran pass rusher reading anything into the cryptic messages the receiver posted on his social media accounts this offseason.Miller is far too familiar with Diggs’ competitive drive, commitment to football and close relationship with quarterback Josh Allen in being able to confidently say he’ll be back in Buffalo when the time is necessary.“He’s not here right now, but I don’t think it should ever be a question is football No. 1 on his mind,” Miller said, noting he anticipates Diggs to be present for Buffalo’s three mandatory practices scheduled to open in three weeks.“He’s going to show that he’s a better version of Stefon Diggs on and off the football field. And for me and my point of view as a teammate … those are really the things that matter to me,” he added. “Is he going to be better than last year? Is he going to c...

Family of Georgia woman who died after falling from moving patrol car files wrongful death lawsuit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The family of a Georgia woman who died last year after she fell from a moving patrol car has filed a civil rights lawsuit, saying sheriff’s deputies improperly arrested her and ultimately caused her death, attorneys announced Wednesday.The deputies who put Brianna Grier in the back of a patrol car to take her to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office failed to close the rear passenger-side door before driving away, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found. The 28-year-old woman suffered brain trauma when she hit her head in the July 15 fall and was in a coma until she died July 21 at an Atlanta hospital, her family said.The federal wrongful death lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Hancock County Sheriff Tomlyn Primus, his brother Lt. Marlin Primus and Deputy Timothy Legette of gross negligence leading to Grier’s death. A message seeking comment was left with a person who answered the phone in the sheriff’s office Wednesday.Grier was arrested after sher...

Tennis player Mikael Ymer disqualified for outburst during match in Lyon

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

LYON, France (AP) — Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was disqualified after slamming his racket into the umpire’s chair during a match at the Lyon Open on Wednesday.The 24-year-old Ymer was upset that the umpire refused to check a line call in the 11th game of the first set of his second-round match against Arthur Fils.Ymer thought the ball went wide and pleaded for the umpire to check.“You saw it clearly bounce on the line, then show me the mark on the line,” the 53rd-ranked Ymer said. “I’ve never witnessed that a ref says ‘I’m not going to go down and check the mark.’ It doesn’t happen.”After that, Fils broke Ymer with a cross-court backhand to take a 6-5 lead.Ymer then twice slammed his racket into the bottom of the umpire’s chair, leaving the stand damaged and his racket in tatters. He was then defaulted.___AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Israeli military court sentences 3 soldiers to prison for abusing Palestinian man, obstructing probe

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli military court has sentenced three soldiers to prison time for abusing a Palestinian and obstructing an investigation into the incident, the army said Wednesday, in a rare punishment against army forces.Two soldiers were convicted of abuse and a third was additionally convicted of exceeding his authority and endangering the man’s life or health, the army said. Military police investigators served up the indictment after the men were arrested last month.The indictments said the three soldiers, as well as a fourth, took the Palestinian man in a military jeep and drove to an unidentified “distant location.” During the drive and afterward, “violence was used against the victim” and he was left in a remote location, the statement said.The soldiers, whose identities were withheld, then “hid the details of the incident from their commanders in an attempt to prevent (military officials) from opening an investigation and coordinated their versio...

UN warns against losing sight of South Sudan peace process amid Sudan crisis

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:00 GMT

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has warned the country’s leaders not to lose sight of the pending implementation of the peace deal that could “make or break” the country” amid the ongoing crisis in neighboring Sudan.The head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom, on Wednesday said even though South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir was mediating in the Sudan crisis, he should also focus on the peace deal in his own country.“This is not the time to take our eyes off the ball,” Haysom said. “What we can learn from Sudan is how quickly matters can unravel if neglected.”Local media had reported that there were concerns that the conflict in Sudan was undermining the peace process in South Sudan, with Kiir now focused on mediation as opposed to implementing the peace deal.South Sudan’s civil war started in 2013 and ended in a peace deal in 2018 leaving nearly 400,000 people dead and more than four million others displaced.Sudan is a guarantor of the South Sudan pe...