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Walters: Despite California’s immense wealth, millions remain in poverty

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

As if it needed one, California received a new reminder Tuesday that, despite its trappings of sybaritic wealth, it’s home to millions of families that struggle each day to put roofs over their heads and food in their bellies.United Ways of California issued updated calculations of real world poverty, revealing that 34% of the state’s families lack enough income to meet basic living costs, primarily because those costs – particularly for housing – are extraordinarily high.The estimate is based on 2021 data, but there’s no reason to believe the situation has improved significantly, if at all, since then.The federal government’s official poverty number is based strictly on income, and California’s rate is not particularly high by that methodology. But the U.S. Census Bureau also has an alternative measure that includes the cost of living and it generally places California at or near the top in poverty among the states.United Way’s methodology is similar to the Census Bureau’s alternat...

Opinion: COVID death rate points to ongoing U.S. public health failure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

Many immunocompromised and older people are still terrified of COVID. As a transplant infectious disease doctor on the front lines, I understand why.In the first five months of 2023, COVID caused more than 37,000 deaths in the United States, a typical toll from the flu in an entire year. Scientists estimate an annual U.S. COVID death rate of at least 100,000, dwarfing other infectious diseases. And the virus continues to evolve: The highly transmissible XBB.1.16 subvariant (Arcturus), currently making up about 15% of cases nationally, is expected to be the dominant strain by summer. Wastewater surveillance is also showing an uptick in the virus in New York City and elsewhere.Meanwhile, the federal public health emergency ended last month, and across the country the pandemic has moved to back of mind. It’s not surprising that the most vulnerable feel left behind.Yet at the same time, health professionals are optimistic about today’s anti-COVID arsenal. Biomedical advances have revolu...

Employee accused of raping resident at Bay Area memory care facility denied release from jail

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

A judge has rejected a Marin County rape suspect’s request to be released on his own recognizance as the case proceeds.Michael Andre Shipe, 65, of Novato is charged with sex crimes against a resident at Cogir of San Rafael Memory Care. Shipe was an employee at the center, which specializes in services for dementia patients and also offers hospice care.Michael Andre Shipe of Novato was booked on May 10, 2023, on allegations he raped a patient at a San Rafael care home where he worked. (Marin County Jail photo) The alleged crimes were reported in September. San Rafael police arrested Shipe last month after receiving DNA test results that linked him to a sperm sample collected during the investigation.Shipe’s bail is set at $200,000. His public defender, Hayden Brown, filed a motion for Shipe to be released during the litigation. Judge Geoffrey Howard held a hearing on the motion on Wednesday.Brown argued that Shipe is at the “lowest risk level” of fleeing prosecution or committin...

Full closure of Highway 9 in Ben Lomond set to begin next week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

BEN LOMOND — Repair work stemming from recent winter storms will continue next week along Highway 9 in Ben Lomond.Caltrans officials have advised that a full closure of the roadway at a slip-out dubbed “Jaye’s Slide” has been scheduled from Monday, June 12 to Monday, June 26.The closure will occur near the slide, which is at Park Way and Shadowbrook Road at the north end of Highlands County Park, according to a Caltrans release.Related ArticlesTransportation | ‘We pay taxes, too,’ says opponent of Los Gatos beach traffic ‘solution’ Transportation | Southbound Highway 17 set for single-lane closure Wednesday, Thursday Transportation | San Jose redesigning roads in hopes of curbing sideshows: Roadshow Transportation | San Jose motorcyclist dies after collision with truck Transportation | Tips for renewing a California driver’s license if you’re 70 or older: Roadshow A de...

How often are sharks near surfers, swimmers? Study ‘shocks’ California researchers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

A new study shows just how close ocean users, such as surfers, swimmers and stand-up paddleboarders, are to young sharks that share the space in the sea – and the results may just change people’s perception of the species.The two-year research study, conducted by Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, used video and photos from 1,500 drone flights over Southern California beaches.The results were published in the journal PLOS, a first-of-its-kind report that documents just how close juvenile white sharks get to people in the ocean environment.Sharks come close to surfers and stand-up paddlers more than researchers previously believed, a new study showed. (Photo courtesy of Carlos Gauna/Shark Lab) The research was conducted by graduate student Patrick Rex, who used aerial surveys of nearshore ocean waters, finding that although there were always people in the water, juvenile white sharks were seen at two major “aggregation” sites, areas where groups of juvenile white sharks gather befo...

Downtown Disney transformation eyes Thanksgiving 2024 opening as construction begins

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

Construction has finally begun in Downtown Disney on a dirt lot that has sat empty for more than a year as Disneyland pushes forward with plans to reopen the long dormant west end of the outdoor shopping mall in time for the Christmas 2024 shopping season.Disneyland has begun vertical construction on the former AMC Theatre lot in Downtown Disney where work is expected to be complete by late 2024.SEE ALSO: Discounted Disneyland tickets for California residents return this summerBulldozers and excavators are busy on the former AMC lot where work crews have installed cement slabs, rebar supports, steel frames and concrete block walls for new Downtown Disney buildings, according to WDW News Today.PHOTOS: Downtown Disney District Construction Goes Vertical at Disneyland Resorthttps://t.co/79T456qprg— Disneyland News Today (@dlnt) June 2, 2023Disneyland resort president Ken Potrock said at the OC Forum in May that the Downtown Disney transformation would be done in 18 months. That w...

How P-22 and Nick Cave inspired the queer mountain lion in novel ‘Open Throat’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

“They say there is a cougar that roams these parts,” Nick Cave sings in “Hollywood,” the final track from his 2019 album “Ghosteen.” The cat, in Cave’s telling, has “a terrible engine of wrath for a heart … but at night lays trembling in my arms.”When author Henry Hoke heard that song, it took him back to his days in Los Angeles, where he went to graduate school and later taught at the California Institute of the Arts. He was a regular visitor to Griffith Park, which was once home to a beloved Angeleno: P-22, the wild mountain lion who captivated not just residents of Southern California, but also animal lovers across the world (and the Los Angeles Public Library, which issued a limited-edition card featuring P-22 on it).“I thought, ‘Well, at some point, I’m going to run into this cat. It’s going to have to happen,’” Hoke recalls in a telephone conversation from New York, where he now lives. “It didn’t, but just the idea that there was this big cat just out of sight in the park was ...

California school board’s curriculum rejection spurs letter from Attorney General Bonta

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

Temecula’s school board president fired back Wednesday, June 7, at Gov. Gavin Newsom, explaining why he voted to reject a curriculum that mentioned gay rights leader Harvey Milk and why he called the slain activist “a pedophile.”Komrosky said during an afternoon news conference at a Murrieta church that he was not referring to Milk’s sexuality, but to reports that Milk had a relationship with a teenager.RELATED: Temecula teachers, parents protest rejection of curriculum that mentions Harvey Milk“I’ll ask you one simple question, governor,” Komrosky said. “Do you approve of a 33-year-old person, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference, having a sexual relationship with any 16-year-old, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference?”Temecula school board President Joseph Komrosky responds to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s tweet criticizing him during a Wednesday, June 7, 2023, news conference at 412 Church Temecula Valley in Murrieta. (Photo by Nick Koon, Contr...

GameStop slumps after it fires former Amazon executive brought into modernize the gaming retailer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

Shares of GameStop are plunging before the opening bell after the company fired CEO Matthew Furlong, the former Amazon executive that was brought in two years ago to turn the struggling video game retailer around. The company gave no reason for the dismissal and named Ryan Cohen, the company’s biggest investor, as executive chairman. Cohen sent a cryptic tweet that read “Not for long” around the time the company announced Furlong’s firing. GameStop said Cohen will oversee investment and management of the company. Shares tumbled more than 19% in premarket trading Thursday. Furlong was named GameStop’s CEO in June 2021 with the mandate of heading the company’s digital remake. He had been the executive that oversaw Amazon’s Australia business and spent nine years with the company. Furlong was one of two Amazon executives hired at the time, the other being Mike Recupero, hired as GameStop’s chief financial officer. Cohen’s holding company RC Ventures ...

FuelCell Energy: Fiscal Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:59 GMT

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — FuelCell Energy Inc. (FCEL) on Thursday reported a loss of $34.3 million in its fiscal second quarter.On a per-share basis, the Danbury, Connecticut-based company said it had a loss of 9 cents.The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 8 cents per share.The fuel cell power plant maker posted revenue of $38.3 million in the period, surpassing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $23.7 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FCEL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FCELSource