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Los Angeles budget praised for homelessness funding, but growing LAPD draws criticism

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

With the City Council's approval on Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has passed her first budget, though not without some controversy.The $13.1 billion budget — 11% more than last year — contains $1.3 billion for combatting homelessness, an investment highlighted by multiple supporters of the budget.“This budget will make Los Angeles more livable for all. It will allow us to confront the emergency of homelessness with the urgency we need and make innovative investments in bold new methods to make our neighborhoods safer," Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.While the budget received overwhelming support from the council, its largest portion raised concerns from critics, including Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who cast the only vote against approval.The Los Angeles Police Department is set to receive $3.2 billion this fiscal year, including funding to replace the 600 or so officers expected to leave or retire and hire 400 new officers on top of that.Hernandez criticized th...

Calling Cadence on Benatar and McCartney

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

Calling Cadence on Benatar and McCartney: Rae Cole and Oscar Bugarin of L.A. lush indie rockers Calling Cadence talked about their Pat Benatar and Paul McCartney experiences.Rae Cole: At the end of my 7th grade year, my teacher at the catholic grade school I attended assigned us a project to report on any historical person of importance. We were to research their biography, design a poster board, and on the day of presentations, dress up as them. Most girls chose major beautiful women figures: Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn. I was determined to choose a singer, since that was what I did and was known around school for. My mom came up with the greatest idea: Pat Benatar.I bought the wig, striped T-shirt, black leather leggings, listened to every album, and learned all about how she came to be. Needless to say, on the big day, all the moms at my school were impressed, my mom was so proud, and none of my classmates knew who I was. But I felt like I was just the coolest p...

Can CBD Replace Opioids or Painkillers for My Chronic Pain?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

View the original article about CBD As a Replacement for Opioids at Real Tested CBD.Cannabidiol certainly has pain-relieving properties, so at first glance, it might be the “wonder drug” that the chronic pain community has been seeking for thousands of years. The link between CBD and pain, however, must be fleshed out further before it can be marked as “safe.” No drug is 100-percent “safe.” The list of daunting side effects that some pitchman speaks about very quickly during television drug advertisements shows that.Some drugs are safer than others. And, if we’re being completely blunt, many people who suffer chronic pain are willing to take the risk and chew a few of “those” gummies as a means both to relieve their pain and to stick it to Big Pharma, whom they see as conspirators to keep them hurting and not cured because “cures are not profitable.”When it comes to pain, the medical community classifies it in one of ...

Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Luke Baker, San Ramon Valley baseball

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAGThe Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send questions to [email protected]. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.San Ramon Valley baseball player Luke Baker is the Bay Area News Group’s high school boys athlete of the week for May 8-13 after he received 46.88% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Live Oak baseball player Landon Stump (31.56%) placed second and Gilroy baseball player Quinn Larson was third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.With his team four outs from defeat in the East Bay Athletic League championship game at home against Granada, the junior hit a two-run homer to give the Wolves the lead. SRV eventually won in nine innings, 3-2. Baker finished the game 2 for 4...

Cupertino: Newly released emails reveal conduct of two council members at the center of a recent investigation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

Two Cupertino councilmembers at the center of a recent investigation accused city staff of cutting backroom deals, criticized them for their work and often made large requests for information, according to hundreds of pages of newly released emails by the city.The 185 emails between Councilmembers Kitty Moore and Liang Chao and City Manager Pamela Wu would normally be exempt from public view but City Attorney Christopher Jensen posted the emails on the city website following a recent council decision to release a portion of the communications included in the investigation.The investigation, which was conducted by Santa Rosa-based employment attorney Linda Daube, revealed a culture of distrust in city staff by Moore and Chao and show how emails sent by the pair were often construed by their recipients as “threatening, accusatory and somewhat coercive.”Tensions have intensified in recent years between councilmembers, particularly those backed by Better Cupertino. Since 201...

Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Justine Valdivia, Wilcox softball

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAGThe Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send questions to [email protected]. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.Wilcox softball player Justine Valdivia is the Bay Area News Group’s high school girls athlete of the week for May 8-13 after she received 50.13% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Sobrato softball player Sofia Ferrante (18.68%) placed second and Mountain View gymnast Alyssa Ong was third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Valdivia, a senior, pitched six and a third innings against Los Altos on Tuesday, and then threw nine innings and walked just one batter against a ranked Milpitas team. Valdivia also went 2 for 4 with an RBI against Milpitas, her second multi-hit ...

SF restaurant that hosted anti-trans dinner has Yelp page disabled amid backlash

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A restaurant in North Beach thought it was hosting a fundraising event for the San Francisco Republican Party. But now that restaurant, American Bites on Greet Street, says it's embarrassed that the dinner turned out to be an anti-trans event.San Francisco Chronicle opinion writer Soleil Ho attended the event last Thursday at American Bites and was the first to report that it was actually an anti-trans meeting. Bay to Breakers street closures for this weekend The restaurant has since admitted that this was true.In their column, Ho said that at the meeting, various anti-trans topics were discussed with participants yelling vulgar comments as high-profile transgender people's social media accounts were shown on a big screen. Dodgers un-invite SF drag group from pride event, appearing to bow to conservative pressure The restaurant has since put out a statement saying that the trans community was heavily targeted in the meeting and apologizing, saying:"As a c...

Bay to Breakers street closures for this weekend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The Bay to Breakers race returns to San Francisco this weekend. The iconic and colorful race will take place Sunday, May 21 beginning at 8 a.m. As one of the largest running events in the world, the Bay to Breakers race attracts thousands annually, many of whom wear colorful costumes and takes runners through nine of the city's most notable neighborhoods. Beginning at the bay and ending on the Great Highway, where the breakers crash onto the beach, the race will result in many street closures from the starting line at Main and Howard streets on the east side of the city to the finishing line on the Great Highway. Bay Area city drops out of Top 10 in most-populous US cities Here is a complete list of expected street closures, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority.Bay to Breakers street closures:Starting line area street closuresThe following streets will be closed starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 20Main, between Mission and FolsomHow...

Profits Skyrocket for AI Gun Detection Used in Schools — Despite Dubious Results

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

“If you are serious about our systems, then let’s jump on a quick call this week,” Anthony Geraci, a sales representative of Evolv Technology, wrote in an email to New Mexico’s Clovis Municipal Schools last November. “This is not a pressure tactic.”There was, however, pressure: If Clovis didn’t purchase the systems by the end of the year on a four-year agreement, Geraci explained, the prices would escalate. “We just want you to know this option exists and don’t want you upset when you hear that others have taken advantage of this option,” Geraci wrote.The tactic eventually worked. It would be another high-priced sale for Evolv, a leading company in the world of weapons detection systems that use artificial intelligence. Join Our Newsletter Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. I'm in Local media reported in March that Clovis bought the tec...

Police officer charged with lying about leaks to Proud Boys leader

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:00 GMT

A police officer was arrested Friday on charges he lied about leaking confidential information to a leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group and obstructed an investigation after group members destroyed a Black Lives Matter banner in the nation’s capital.An indictment alleges that Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond, 47, of Stafford, Virginia, warned former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio that law enforcement had an arrest warrant for Tarrio related to the banner’s destruction.Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before Proud Boys members joined a mob in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Earlier this month, Tarrio and three other members of the group were convicted of seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a plot to keep then-President Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election.A federal grand jury in Washington indicted Lamond on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of m...