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Debt ceiling talks teeter on the brink, as lawmakers leave town for weekend without a deal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, STEPHEN GROVES and KEVIN FREKING (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are pushing debt ceiling talks to the brink, displaying risky political bravado as they prepare to leave town Thursday for the holiday weekend just days before the U.S. could face an unprecedented default that could hurl the global economy into chaos.Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he’s directed his negotiating team “to work 24/7 to solve this problem.”Arriving at the Capitol, McCarthy, R-Calif., said that “every hour matters” in talks with President Joe Biden’s team as they work toward a budget deal. Republican are demanding spending cuts the Democrats oppose, and McCarthy said a deal could come together “at any time.” But it’s clear the Republican speaker — who leads a Trump-aligned party whose hard-right flank lifted him to power — is now staring down a potential crisis.Lawmakers are tentatively not expected ba...

Fort Collins schools employee arrested for allegedly hitting kindergartner with disabilities repeatedly on school bus

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

Fort Collins police officers tasked with ensuring safety at schools have arrested a 36-year-old employee who they say repeatedly hit a kindergarten student with disabilities.The police reviewed surveillance video from a school bus, which they said shows paraprofessional Tyler Zanella striking the student on April 25, May 19 and May 22, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the Fort Collins Police Department.Zanella was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Larimer County jail, authorities said.Zanella faces multiple charges of assault and child abuse: three counts of crimes against an at-risk juvenile, three counts of third-degree assault, and three counts of child abuse.“Officers have reason to believe that there may be additional victims,” the police said.Poudre School District officials on Tuesday alerted police to the possible crimes. Police school resource officers began an investigation into the alleged crimes.On Thursday, school district officials could n...

CCS baseball playoff marathon: Santa Teresa outlasts Leland in 14 innings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

The late game at Sollecito Ballpark in Monterey on Wednesday went late into the night as league rivals from the southern end of San Jose played inning after inning without either side scoring.When the breakthrough came, a flood of runs followed.Eighth-seeded Santa Teresa scored eight runs in the top of the 14th inning to beat fourth-seeded Leland 8-0 in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs.In the third meeting between the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division teams this season, Santa Teresa prevailed in the rubber match to advance to play second-seeded Palma for the title on Saturday at Excite Ballpark in San Jose.Palma advanced in the first game at Sollecito Ballpark on Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over sixth-seeded Salinas.Santa Teresa used two pitchers to cover the 14 innings. Johnny Alvarez went the first seven, allowing three hits and striking out eight. Riley Breton went the final seven, striking out 11 and giving up three hits.They a...

Brentwood council admonishes entire board

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

After having an outburst at a previous meeting, Brentwood Councilman Tony Oerlemans this week was admonished – along with the entire council — in a move to remind everyone to follow the rules.Councilmember Jovita Mendoza had asked her colleagues to consider censuring Oerlemans for policy violations after he had an outburst at the April 25 council meeting and later had a dialogue with a public speaker at the May 9 council meeting.Censure is the most severe of three actions the council could have taken in response to unethical conduct, contempt or serious disorderly behavior, while sanctions are less severe and an admonishment the least.Mendoza on Tuesday laid out her argument, saying she didn’t want to replay the video “because it was too crazy.”The April 25 exchange with Mayor Joel Bryant happened when Oerlemans tried to pull two consent calendar items while a motion was already on the floor to pull two other items, which was then seconded and unanimously passed. Orelemans, he...

CHP officer’s shooting of driver after crash was self-defense, state investigators say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

A CHP officer’s fatal shooting of a driver after a car crash on a Los Angeles County street was in self-defense and prosecution of the officer isn’t warranted, said a report issued Wednesday by the California attorney general’s office.The examination of the 2021 death of Leonel Chavez is the third report issued under a law that requires the state to investigate any shooting by a law enforcement officer that kills an unarmed person. Forty-two shootings have been put on the list since Assembly Bill 1506 took effect in July 2021.Chavez, 24, was shot on the afternoon of Sept. 28, 2021, in an industrial area just beyond the Los Angeles city limit in the Ramona Gardens area. He had been driving home from a gym at 3 p.m. when he was involved in a non-injury crash with one other car. He allegedly tried to drive away from the scene but his car was damaged and made it only 500 feet.When two California Highway Patrol officers — Daniel Castaneda and trainee Jennifer Sanc...

Man sentenced to federal prison for robbing Oakland mail carrier at gunpoint, feds say he hoped to impersonate mailman

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A city resident was sentenced this month to six years and five months in federal prison for robbing an Oakland mail carrier in 2021, court records show.Javon Zachary, 34, was sentenced May 9 by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, after pleading guilty to gun charges and robbery, court records show. He was immediately remanded to the Bureau of Prisons service, and must be on supervised release for three years after his prison term is over.Zachary was originally charged with two robberies, but prosecutors dropped charges as part of a plea agreement. In court filings, prosecutors quoted Zachary’s alleged explanation for robbing a postman, saying that Zachary told authorities he wanted to take the victim’s satchel, “Because if you dress up as a mailman, it keeps the investigators out because nobody knows what you really are.”“It is particularly alarming that the defendant intended to impersonate a postal worker to carry out additional crimes foll...

Hey, California bosses: 2 workers quit for every 3 you hire

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

To: California bossesFrom: Columnist with trusty spreadsheetRe: Your quitting workersI know it’s been a tough few years on the staff retention front. Your workers seem to have forgotten loyalty to the employer and switch jobs as quickly as fashions change.Who knew employees would want better pay and benefits plus the flexibility of working from home – and would leave to get those amenities elsewhere?Ponder what my spreadsheet found inside the federal government’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey – dubbed “JOLTS” by economists – that tracks what’s moving the job market.Seems the quitting fad cooled lately. California quits totaled 4.83 million in the 12 months that ended in March – that’s down 6% from 5.13 million who left voluntarily in the previous 12 months.Yet no reasonable boss should view this chill in quitting as a signal employee loyalty has returned. The history of California quits confirms saying “goodbye, boss” is still very popular.California averaged 3.4 million qu...

Saratoga’s residential burglary rate rises for second year in a row

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

Saratoga is known as a safe, family-friendly city, and while its crime rates are lower than its neighbors’, incidents are on the rise.The affluent area saw its residential burglary rates rise for the second year in a row, according to data presented by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.So far this year there have been 34 residential burglaries in Saratoga, compared to 18 during the same period last year – an 88% increase. There was a total of 75 residential burglaries in the city last year, and 56 in 2021.The last time the city of 30,000 residents saw an increase in burglaries was 2014, when that number rose from 47 to 52 cases during the first four months of the year.Police say that crime rates are increasing across the Bay Area. Capt. Neil Valenzuela, who manages the West Valley Patrol Division of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, presented Saratoga’s data during a May 17 neighborhood watch meeting.“The Sheriff’s Office is stepping up our effor...

What’s long, dark purple, sweet and packed with nutrition?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

“All fruits are beautiful, but the mulberry is the king of fruits.”– Persian ProverbMove over cherry, there’s a new berry in town.Thousands of cherry lovers throughout the Bay Area make their way each spring to one of dozens of U-pick farms in Brentwood for the plump, juicy round fruits, but now – for the first time – there’s another option that is arguably just as sweet: the Himalayan purple mulberry, which looks a bit like an elongated blackberry with tiny clusters of fruit.Not only is Habitera Farms the only one allowing visitors to partake in the picking of the tasty, dark-colored fleshy fruit — the season lasts about eight weeks — but it appears to be the only business selling mulberries on such a large scale commercially in the United States.A farmworker picks mulberries that fell onto nets attached to carts designed to shake trees as part of the harvest season at Habitera Farms in Brentwood, Calif., on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) ...

IndyCar driver Stefan Wilson has surgery to repair fracture in back

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — IndyCar driver Stefan Wilson had surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae that he sustained in practice for the Indianapolis 500, and car owner Don Cusick said Thursday that he was “in great spirits and feeling better.”Wilson was about halfway through a two-hour practice Monday when he was hit from behind by Katherine Legge as they went through Turns 1 and 2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Legge’s car hit the wall with the rear, but Wilson was turned nearly head-on when he made contact. The safety team needed about 10 minutes to remove him from the car.Wilson was taken to Methodist Hospital and underwent surgery Wednesday for a posterior fusion and internal fixation of the fracture. The procedure took about three hours and it was unclear when Wilson would be released.“When he came out of the anesthesia,” Cusick said, “he told the surgeon he was dreaming about running qualifying laps.”Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, who partnered with Cusick Motorsports for the...