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Letters: Free parks | Homelessness solutions | Take action | Failing fair | Open communication | Regulating ingredients

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Santa Clara Countyshould make parks freeRe: “Marin County makes parks free to support equity” (Page B5, July 7).The article “Marin County makes parks free to support equity” in the July 7 Local section touched a sore spot.My wife and I are frequent visitors to Santa Clara County parks. Thanks to buying a lifetime parking pass for seniors (which are no longer available), we drive in and park freely. I often comment on how underused the parks seem, sometimes even on beautiful weekend days. I also notice folks and families cruising for parking on surrounding streets to avoid the fee.We all fund the county through our property assessments, rents and state taxes. Santa Clara County should follow Marin’s lead and make our parks truly open public places for everyone.Kris SowollaLos GatosHomelessness solutionsabound in regionRe: “50 homeless students will get stipend” (P...

Georgia Supreme Court tosses Trump’s latest legal salvo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

By Marshall Cohen | CNNThe Georgia Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a long shot legal bid from former President Donald Trump to essentially shut down the Fulton County criminal probe into his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.The court said in a five-page opinion that Trump hadn’t demonstrated the “extraordinary circumstances” that would require their intervention at this time. Trump had asked the Georgia justices to throw out the wide array of evidence collected so far in the Fulton County investigation and to block state prosecutors from ever using that material in any future criminal or civil proceedings.“(Trump) has not shown that this case presents one of those extremely rare circumstances in which this Court’s original jurisdiction should be invoked, and therefore, the petition is dismissed,” the ruling said.The decision was unanimous. Eight of the nine members of the Georgia Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors.Trump has other legal cha...

Dragon Balls at Los Gatos Thai restaurant so spicy they caused ‘chemical burns’: lawsuit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

A woman is suing a Thai restaurant in Los Gatos, claiming an appetizer called Dragon Balls was so spicy she suffered chemical burns to her vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril.Harjasleen Walia’s throat and voice “have been damaged” by the appetizer at Coup de Thai, the lawsuit claimed. “She incurred permanent injuries and will forever be damaged,” the lawsuit alleged.Walia is suing the downtown Los Gatos restaurant and its owner, along with the chef who cooked the item, the waitress who took her order, and anyone at the restaurant that day or before who “in any way influenced, designed, prepared, or participated in creating the Dragon Ball dish,” according to the lawsuit.Walia went to dinner with a friend in July 2021 at the downtown North Santa Cruz Avenue restaurant and they ordered appetizers including Dragon Balls, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The dish is cu...

Police identify man killed in June 18 Oakland shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

OAKLAND — The victim of an early morning June 18 shooting has been identified by police as 44-year-old Pasadena native Tamaria Lacy.Lacy was shot and killed on the 1900 block of 73rd Avenue in Oakland shortly before 3 a.m. on June 18, police said. No one has been arrested in connection with the shooting thus far.According to police, three men approached Lacy as he stood next to his parked vehicle on 73rd Avenue. One eyewitness reported hearing multiple gunshots followed by the three men running down the street.When police arrived, Lacy was already dead. A loaded firearm was recovered from underneath his body, authorities say. Investigators also believe a suspect took some of Lacy’s property before fleeing the scene.Authorities have not announced a motive, but say it appears to be a targeted shooting.A GoFundMe page for Lacy describes him as a Pasadena native who went by “T” and was “truly a beloved son, nephew, brother, cousin, dad, uncle, and friend.&#...

SF Giants sign top two draft picks, luring both away from college commitments

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

The San Francisco Giants selected high-school prospects with their top two picks in last week’s amateur draft, and it didn’t take long to lure them away from their college commitments with multi-million-dollar signing bonuses.First-rounder Bryce Eldridge, a two-way prospect from Virginia, and second-rounder Walker Martin, a Colorado prep shortstop, agreed to terms with the Giants on Monday, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis.Eldridge, selected 16th overall, signed for a reported $3.9975 million. By signing for slightly under the $4,326,600 slot value for the pick, it freed up some bonus pool money for the Giants to go over-slot to ink Martin for a reported $2.9975 million, well above the $1,620,800 slot value for the 52nd pick.Martin, the Gatorade player of the year in Colorado, led all prep prospects with 20 home runs and was committed to the University of Arkansas. Eldridge, a power-hitting first baseman with a fastball that touches 96 mph, was committed to the Un...

If Ariana Grande couldn’t make her pandemic marriage last, she’s not alone

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

When Ariana Grande wed luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez in a top-secret ceremony in May 2021, the room “was so happy and so full of love.”But maybe Grande and everyone else shouldn’t have been so quick to believe that she and Gomez would really live happily ever after — and not just because of her history of cycling through romances that don’t last.The durability of Grande and Gomez’s romance probably was questionable all along because it blossomed during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were alone together for an extended amount of time during lockdown. News has now come that Grande, 30, and Gomez, 27, have been separated since the beginning of the year and are headed towards divorce, TMZ, Us Weeky and other outlets have reported.Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez are no longer together. pic.twitter.com/U0gMlkuudT— E! News (@enews) July 17, 2023Many couples who met during the pandemic and enjoyed all that intense time together also found t...

Judge halts Iowa’s new 6-week abortion ban

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

By Hannah Fingerhut | Associated PressDES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa judge on Monday temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, just days after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.That means abortion is once again legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the courts assess the new law’s constitutionality.The new law prohibits almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure in a rare, all-day special session last week, prompting a legal challenge by the ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic. Judge Joseph Seidlin held a hearing on the matter Friday, but said he would take the issue under advisement — just as Reynolds signed the bill into law about a mile away.Abortion providers said they scrambled last week ...

Correction: Cow Palace lowrider show

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

The headline and caption for a photograph of a lowrider exhibit appearing in Monday’s local news section incorrectly said the event took place at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The Cow Palace is in Daly City.

Russia ends grain deal that allowed Ukraine exports

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

By Courtney Bonnell | Associated PressLONDON — Russia on Monday halted a breakthrough wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Black Sea Grain Initiative would be suspended until demands to get Russian food and fertilizer to the world are met. An attack Monday on a bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia was not a factor in the decision, he said.“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said.Russian representatives at the operation center for the initiative were more definitive, calling the decision “a termination,” according to a note obtained by The Associated Press. Russia has complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its agricul...

San Jose roofing company owner caught in insurance fraud scheme

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:06:09 GMT

(KRON) -- The death of a man in San Jose revealed a $460,000 insurance fraud scheme orchestrated by a local business owner, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced in a press release. Two Santa Clara County deputies die in one week in separate incidents Employees of a local roofing business were driving two company trucks in June 2020 when a tire blew out. The driver with the flat tire overcorrected and crashed. One of the employees was ejected from the vehicle and died.Charlie Duong, 64, is the owner of CD All Roofing, and the DA's office says he tried to cover up that his dead employee had been working full time at the company for years. Duong claimed that the victim in the crash only started working at the company days before the fatal crash and that he was only working part time. He also took efforts to prove that the victim was not "on the job" when the crash occurred, even though the crash happened in a company vehicle, the DA's office said. Close ...