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Trump escalates attacks on criminal case as history-making court appearance nears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Donald Trump and his allies are escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests as the former president braces for a history-making federal court appearance this week on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified information.Trump's Tuesday afternoon appearance in Miami will mark his second time in as many months facing a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a New York case some legal analysts derided as relatively trivial, the Justice Department's first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say jeopardized national security and that involves Espionage Act charges carrying the threat of a significant prison sentence in the event of conviction.Ahead of his arraignment, Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case, calling Jack Smith “deranged" and his team of prosecutors “thugs" as he repeated without any...

Affordable San Jose homes near Google village advance with real estate deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

SAN JOSE — A housing development that would bring well over 100 affordable homes to a site near the footprint of Google’s transit village in downtown San Jose is pushing ahead after a key real estate deal.The project would produce 154 units, of which 153 would be affordable. The remaining residence would be the manager’s unit.Danco Development, acting through an affiliate, sold the development site to Santa Clara County, according to public documents filed on June 9. The county then immediately leased back the property to Danco, a procedure often followed with affordable housing projects in California.Elevated view of an affordable housing development totaling 154 units located at 266 and 270 Sunol Street in San Jose, concept. (SPGA Architecture and Planning)The development site has addresses of 266 and 270 Sunol Street and also has a frontage on West San Carlos Street. This location is a few blocks from the footprint of Google’s proposed transit-oriente...

Police identify person of interest in mass shooting that wounded 9 during San Francisco block party

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO  — San Francisco police searched Sunday for a person of interest in a mass shooting during a block party in San Francisco Friday night in what investigators said appeared to be a “targeted and isolated” incident.The person of interest is a man believed to be a member of a street gang who detectives have tied to a Mercedes sedan recorded on surveillance video speeding from the scene of the shooting, police said.The man has outstanding firearm warrants from San Mateo and Alameda counties, as well as an outstanding arrest warrant for homicide in Oakland, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.RELATED: One dead, six injured after gunfire breaks out at teen birthday party in East Bay Gunfire erupted shortly after 9 p.m. Friday during an anniversary party hosted by the clothing store Dying Breed near the intersection of 24th Street and Treat Avenue in the Mission District. Among the victims were eight men and one woman, the Chronicle reported. They range in age from 19 to 35.T...

Northern California skate park named for Black motorist fatally beaten in police traffic stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

SACRAMENTO — Officials dedicated a California skate park Sunday in honor of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who spent much of his youth in the state and was killed last January in what prosecutors said was a fatal beating by police in Tennessee during a traffic stop.An avid skateboarder, Nichols spent much time as a youth at the park on the outskirts of Sacramento. City officials and others held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated skate park now named for Nichols.Nichols moved to Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic and lived there with his mother and stepfather. He enjoyed photography — especially taking photos of landscapes and sunsets.Sacramento City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan, right, consoles Tyre Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells, left, at the ribbon cutting celebration for the Tyre Nichols Skate Park, named in honor of the former Sacramento resident who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop in January, on Sunday...

Big Sur Marathon voted No. 1 in California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

One of the more challenging and scenic marathons in the world gathered a prestigious honor as the Big Sur Marathon was named the top marathon in California.RaceRaves announced the top marathon in each state based on votes from across the nation, with Big Sur running away as the 2023 runners’ choice for the Golden State.Related ArticlesOther Sports | Bay to Breakers brings bananas, astronauts, and faux crossing guards to San Francisco’s streets Other Sports | Bay to Breakers: Early BART trains, road closures planned for Sunday race Other Sports | BART to offer special, early morning service for Bay to Breakers race Big Sur was rewarded by voters for its production, race-day support, community involvement and the beauty and character of the race for its region.Big Sur is considered one of the premier bucket-list events in the country, with the world renown Bixby Bridge a part of the course, along with redwoods, Hurricane Point and ...

How our increasingly changing weather can impact your trees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Trees are all around us, standing tall and silent, doing their important work. As the biggest plants on Earth, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and provide a home to wildlife. They also provide food, shade and can help reduce energy use. They do all this year in and year out, withstanding whatever Mother Nature throws at them. And this year, they were doozies!Sunburn injury to bark increases susceptibility to wood-boring pests. Courtesy of Regents, University of CaliforniaConsider – a year ago we were in the third year of drought after one of the driest winters in history. By September, high temperatures in central Marin reached 110 degrees, with triple digits lasting five days, blistering the environment. December ushered in the first of a dozen atmospheric rivers, causing flooding and standing water in many gardens. Late February brought snow to our hilly peaks and freezing temperatures to low-lying areas. An extraordinary March included more rain and cyc...

Three Twins Ice Cream founder finds new calling in helping first responders look after their mental health

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Neal Gottlieb’s life took an unexpected turn in 2020.In the mist of the pandemic, he shut down his 15-year-old organic ice cream brand Three Twins Ice Cream — where he famously worked at 166 days in a row when he opened his first shop in Terra Linda. A month later his fiancée left him, prompting him to sell his share of their houseboat and move to a fixer-upper in the Muir Woods Park neighborhood.“I think we have a chance to really change lives,” says Neal Gottlieb of Crain. Alan Dep/Marin Independent JournalExperiencing a great sense of loss, Gottlieb did something he’d never done before — therapy. His positive, life-changing experience, along with his desire to help destigmatize it for others, lead him to start Crain, a platform to support first responders with results-oriented mental health tools to combat stress and reduce burnout. He and co-founder Caren Baginski are building an app.Q How did this come about?A I had a difficult period and was very fortunate that I had acce...

Chocolate and supplement research makes strange partnerships, but hints at a little brain boosting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

Emily Willingham Courtesy of Emily WillinghamScientific researchers find funding in strange places, but support for clinical trials from Mars, a company best known for candy bars, has to be among the strangest. Pair it with support from the maker of a well-known brand of multivitamin, and you’ve got the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, or COSMOS, intended to test the health effects of the seemingly disparate combination of cocoa extract and a multivitamin for seniors.Touted as an “important partnership across academic, industry and government collaborators,” COSMOS is sited at two major academic research centers, the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Between them, groups at these institutions have assessed the value of cocoa extract (the Mars association) and Centrum Silver (the multivitamin association) separately and together in offering benefits against cancer and cardiovascular disease...

Maryland counties running dry, showing signs of drought

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

If you’ve noticed that your lawn or garden is looking a little brown or dry this year, it’s no coincidence. In Maryland, and much of the D.C. region, the symptoms of drought are on full display.According to the Maryland Department of the Environment, the state is now about seven inches below where it should be for rainfall this year. The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows the driest counties in the state are Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and Charles.A map shows all of the D.C. region is in a drought, with D0 (yellow) denoting abnormally dry conditions and D1 (beige) denoting moderate drought conditions. (National Integrated Drought Information System)A spokesperson told WTOP that the department is closely monitoring the groundwater-stream and reservoir levels for the state.“[The department] does not see any shortfall in the availability of enough water to meet the needs of the state’s residents and businesses,” the spokesperson said.In additio...

Turkish ‘pizzas’ are a family-friendly dinner to satisfy Dad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:23:24 GMT

In Turkey, Armenia and the Levant, a meat-topped flatbread known as lahmajoun comes topped with spiced ground lamb, tomatoes and bell pepper. With the dough stretched paper-thin, diners typically drizzle the popular dish with lemon juice and roll it up to eat.It’s a tasty, social dish that fills a similar place in the culture as pizza, with equally exacting standards for what makes a good lahmajoun. The toppings are chopped coarsely for a rustic texture, the dough is expertly stretched by hand, and the flatbread cooks in minutes in a roaring-hot oven.Though delicious, authentic lahmajoun is out of reach for kids trying to do something nice for Father’s Day. That’s why we created this recipe for our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples to assemble easy, weeknight meals. Kids can help out, though the recipe does involve a food processor and a very hot oven.We swap the usual homemade flatbread dough for store-bought pita breads. Simply combine the meat mixture in a ...