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California governor signs bill to clear hurdles for student housing at Berkeley’s People’s Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill aimed at clearing the way for construction of a controversial student housing project in a historic Berkeley park.The University of California, Berkeley, plans to build a $312 million housing project for about 1,100 of its students at the 3-acre (1.2-hectare) People's Park. While university officials said the project would bring much needed housing to its students, opponents wanted the university to preserve the park and build elsewhere. The park was founded in 1969 as part of the free speech and civil rights movement when community organizers banded together to take back a site the state and university seized under eminent domain. Big changes to BART service schedule starting Monday The bill Newsom signed on Thursday, which takes effect immediately, alters a key state environmental law to say that developers don’t need to consider noise from future residents as a form of environmental pollution.Co...

Suspect arrested in Sacramento County foot-licking investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

(FOX40.COM) -- A Sacramento County man was arrested on Aug. 30 in connection to an April 27 child abuse investigation, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. After allegedly entering an apartment along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard through a window, Terrell Abston found a 9-year-old girl and her family sleeping the living room. Rifle painted like Nerf gun seized by San Leandro PD Abston began licking the bottom of the girl's foot while she slept. The girl woke up and Abston motioned for her to keep quiet and the girl hid under a blanket. He then moved to the girl's mother, who was near her, and Abston began licking her foot and sucking her toes while she was also sleeping.The mother woke up and screamed which caused Abston to run from the apartment. DNA samples were taken by responding deputies from the feet of both the mother and the daughter. Human remains found on Alameda shoreline ID’d, murder suspect arrested The Sacramento County Crime Lab obtained a DNA...

California Might Legalize Magic Mushrooms

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

A bill to legalize psychedelics is on a trip to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.On Thursday, the California Senate gave final approval to a bill legalizing certain psychedelics for people who are 21 or older. If Newsom signs the bill, it will go into effect in 2025 and make it legal to possess or grow plant-based psychedelics, including psychedelic mushrooms.Newsom has not said where he stands on the bill, but he has mostly been a critic against the war on drugs, having been a leading voice to legalize cannabis in California and reduce nonviolent offenses like drug crimes to misdemeanors rather than felonies. Last year, however, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed three California cities to operate supervised drug-consumption sites in efforts to combat fatal overdoses.“We respect the legislative process and don’t typically comment on pending legislation,” a Newsom spokesperson told Marijuana Moment on Thursday. “The governor will evaluate the bill on its merits when it re...

How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 9/8/2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

Stocks drifted to a slightly higher finish on Wall Street Friday but still closed out their first losing week in the last three. Treasury yields held relatively steady, helping to keep trading quiet. Strong reports on the economy earlier in the week sent yields higher and raised worries the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer. High rates can slow inflation, but they hurt investment prices. On Friday:The S&P 500 rose 6.35 points, or 0.1%, to 4,457.49.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.86 points, or 0.2%, to 34,576.59.The Nasdaq composite rose 12.69 points, or 0.1%, to 13,761.53.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.21 points, or 0.2%, to 1,851.54.For the week:The S&P 500 fell 58.28 points, or 1.3%.The Dow fell 261.12 points, or 0.8%.The Nasdaq fell 270.29 points, or 1.9%.The Russell 2000 fell 69.28 points, or 3.6%.For the year:The S&P 500 is up 617.99 points, or 16.1%.The Dow is up 1,429.34 points, or 4.3%.The Nasdaq is up 3,295.04...

2 siblings are sentenced in a North Dakota fentanyl probe. 5 fugitives remain

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

Two siblings were sentenced in federal court this week for their part in a sprawling operation that prosecutors say trafficked fentanyl from China to the U.S. and Canada, some of the last cases stemming from an investigation into the overdose death of an 18-year-old in North Dakota.U.S. Chief District Judge Peter Welte sentenced Marie Um, 42, to 23 years in prison and Vannek Um, 45, to four. Both siblings, who are from Montreal, received credit for time served.A jury earlier this year convicted Marie Um of drug-related and money laundering conspiracy charges. She was extradited from Canada to the U.S. in 2021. The jury also found that nine overdoses, including four deaths, in New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota and Oregon “were reasonably foreseeable to her,” according to federal prosecutors in North Dakota.Vannek Um, sentenced Friday, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in March.The two are among more than 30 people charged in North Dakota and Oregon in connection wi...

Additional bodycam footage is released in the death of pregnant Black mother Ta’Kiya Young

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio authorities on Friday released additional bodycam and surveillance footage of the events leading up to the death of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black mother fatally shot by police in a grocery store parking lot late last month. Young, who was suspected of shoplifting, was killed by a Blendon Township police officer who fired a single bullet into her windshield after she refused to leave her car and it started rolling toward him. Her unborn daughter did not survive.Young’s family members held a funeral for her on Thursday. They have called for the officer, whose name has not been released, to be fired and charged in her death. Earlier this week, police released bodycam footage showing the officer firing the gun. After viewing the footage, the family released a statement calling the officer’s actions a “gross misuse of power and authority,” especially given that Young had been accused of a relatively minor crime. The additional se...

3 former deputy jailers sentenced to prison in Kentucky inmate’s death

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

CATLETTSBURG, Ky. (AP) — Three former deputy jailers at an eastern Kentucky facility have been sentenced to prison in connection with the death of an inmate.Boyd County Circuit Judge George Davis announced the sentences on Thursday for Zachary Messer, Colton Griffith and Jeremy Mattox, based on a mediation agreement, The Daily Independent reported.They were among five former deputies indicted following the November 2018 death of 40-year-old Michael L. Moore, who was found in a restraint chair at the jail. Authorities have said Moore was intoxicated and that the deputies intentionally abused him or knowingly permitted his abuse and that the mistreatment caused Moore’s death.Messer was sentenced to 20 years on charges of first-degree criminal abuse, second-degree criminal abuse and facilitation to manslaughter. Griffith was sentenced to six years for criminal abuse, and Mattox was sentenced to five years for criminal abuse.Attorneys for the men read statements that expressed remorse f...

Blue Jays activate SS Bo Bichette off IL, option McCoy to Triple-A

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette was activated off the 10-day injured list by the Toronto Blue Jays before Friday’s game against the Kansas City Royals and was set to play shortstop and bat second,Bichette leads the Blue Jays with a .314 batting average and 152 hits despite playing only eight games since the end of July. He’d been sidelined because of a strained right quadriceps since leaving an August 27 loss to Cleveland.Bichette didn’t play for the Blue Jays between July 31 and Aug. 19 because of right knee patellar tendinitis. Toronto went 8-8 without the two-time AL hits leader.The Blue Jays went 6-3 in Bichette’s latest absence, a stretch in which Toronto played teams at or near the bottom of the standings in Washington, Colorado and Oakland.Following this weekend’s series against the last-place Royals, Toronto hosts wild card rival Texas for four. The Blue Jays (77-63) held a half-game lead over the Rangers (76-63) entering play Friday.To make room for Bich...

Ingebrigtsen smashes 2,000-meter world record at Brussels Diamond League meet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

Olympic 1,500-meter champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen smashed a 24-year-old world record in the rarely run 2,000 meters by more than a second on Friday.The Norwegian finished in 4 minutes, 43.13 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Brussels.Making his first appearance since last month’s world championships, the 22-year-old Norwegian improved the previous mark of 4:44.79 set in 1999 by Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj.The 2,000 is not part of the Olympics Games program.Also, Jamaica sprint ace Shericka Jackson failed in her attempt at the women’s 200 world record set 35 years ago by Florence Griffith-Joyner.Jackson, the reigning world champion, clocked 21.48. Griffith-Joyner’s mark of 21.34 was set at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.Jackson got off to a fast start and never looked back to outclass her rivals. Anthonique Strachan was a distant runner-up, with a time of 22.31, with American Jenna Prandini completing the podium in 22.47.Originally a 400 specialist, Jackson has been foc...

Watchtower guard is fired as search for fugitive killer in Pennsylvania focuses on botanical garden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:22 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A prison tower guard has been fired after letting a murderer slip out on his watch in a brazen daytime escape last week, county officials said Friday, as the nine-day-old search pressed on amid suburbs, farms and the lush gardens of a vast botanical garden.The guard, an 18-year-veteran of the Chester County Prison, was fired Thursday, county spokesperson Michelle Bjork said. He was on duty in the watchtower on Aug. 31 when Danelo Souza Cavalcante scaled a wall by crab-walking up it, climbed over razor wire and jumped from a roof.Cavalcante’s escape went undetected for more than an hour until guards took a headcount. The guard, who had been on administrative leave after the escape, also had his personal cell phone on him at the time, a violation of the facility’s protocol, the spokesperson said.Bjork said she did not know the specific reason for the firing. Cavalcante, a 34-year-old from Brazil, has since eluded hundreds of law enforcement personn...